ageing

ageing

ageing

Increase in human life expectancy is slowing down

The increase in human life expectancy may be slowing down, according to an analysis of data from nine regions around the world, including Spain, over the past three decades published today in Nature Aging. The accelerated rates of increase in life expectancy observed in the 20th century have slowed, especially after 2010: children born in recent years have a relatively low probability of reaching 100 years of age. The authors suggest that there is no evidence that a radical extension of life expectancy has occurred or will occur in the 21st century.

 

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Climate change and an ageing population will accentuate disparities in heat and cold deaths in Europe

A modelling study published in The Lancet Public Health using data from 854 European cities estimates that heat-related deaths will triple in Europe by 2100 under current climate policies. A slight decrease in cold-related deaths is projected, while heat-related deaths will increase in all parts of Europe. The most affected areas will include Spain, Italy, Greece and parts of France. Currently, around eight times as many people in Europe die from cold as from heat, but this proportion is projected to decrease considerably by the end of the century.

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Short-term vegan diet associated with benefits in biological ageing

Eating a vegan diet for eight weeks is associated with reductions in biological age estimates based on levels of DNA methylation, a type of chemical modification of DNA that alters the expression of genes, but not the DNA itself. This is the main conclusion of a study published in BMC Medicine in which 21 pairs of twins participated in a clinical trial. Of each pair, one person followed an omnivorous diet and the other a vegan - and lower calorie - diet during that period.

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Blocking a protein improves health and lifespan in mice

An international group of researchers has shown in mice that inhibiting an inflammatory protein called interleukin 11 improved the animals' metabolic status, health and frailty. In addition, it increased their life expectancy by an average of around 25%. These effects have not been tested in humans, but clinical trials are underway testing an antibody directed against the same protein to see if it benefits cystic fibrosis patients. The results of the new research are published in the journal Nature.

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Increasing proportion of older people exposed to heat that is hazardous to their health

Twenty-three per cent of the world's population over the age of 69 will be living with acute heat exposure by 2050, compared to 14 per cent in 2020, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The research highlights southern Europe, parts of North and South America, Southeast Asia and all of Australia as areas of ‘increasing stress’, where higher heat exposure overlaps with an increasingly ageing population. The effects will be most severe in Asia and Africa, according to the study. 

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What is Prospective Age and Why Does it Give us a Different View on Heat-Related Mortality?

Until now, it was thought that the risk of heat-related death in Spain had decreased among older people. But what if we take into account the increase in longevity? Has it decreased as much as the studies suggested? In this case it is useful to use the concept of prospective age, i.e. the years we hypothetically have left to live, rather than the years we have lived. 

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Reaction: Pregnancy is associated with an increase in biological age

Un estudio analizó la edad biológica de más de 1.700 participantes utilizando seis relojes epigenéticos diferentes. Los resultados mostraban que cada embarazo individual reportado por una mujer se correlacionaba con un envejecimiento biológico adicional de dos a tres meses. Estos efectos persistían incluso cuando se tenían en cuenta el estatus socioeconómico, el tabaquismo, la variación genética y la urbanidad del entorno de los participantes. El estudio se publica en PNAS

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Reaction to study suggesting that accumulation of 'junk proteins' could be a possible cause of ALS

In a paper published in Molecular Cell, a team of researchers led by the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) provides the first evidence that a possible cause of the hereditary type of ALS - familial ALS - is the accumulation in motor neurons of 'junk proteins', proteins with no function that accumulate unduly and prevent the cell from functioning properly. In addition, the research describes a new causal factor in the ageing process: nucleolar stress, which encompasses alterations in organelles called nucleoli. 

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