ageing

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.

People who take multivitamins daily do not have a lower risk of mortality than people who do not use these products, according to a meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open. The study pooled data from more than 390,000 people, followed for about 20 years in three different cohorts in the United States.  

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. 

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. 

An antibody therapy is able to restore the immune system of elderly mice to a more youthful state. The method, published in the journal Nature, rebalances blood cell production and reduces age-related immune decline. Preclinical and clinical studies are needed to determine whether this approach could be feasible in humans. 
 

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. 

Indicators of human longevity are on an upward trend in five groups of countries around the world, and the gap between women and men is narrowing, according to a study published in PLoS ONE. The gender gap in life expectancy resulting from the harmful effect of men's blue-collar jobs will shrink, but will persist in the future because men have a higher risk of certain diseases, the authors write. The research team, which includes scientists from the universities of Alcalá́, Barcelona, Oxford and London (UK), uses data and projections for 194 countries from 1990 to 2030.

A Danish study involving over half a million individuals aged 50 and above, tracked for an average of nearly nine years, reveals that hearing loss is associated with a higher risk of dementia, particularly among those who do not use hearing aids. According to the authors, whose research is published in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, this suggests that hearing aids may prevent or delay the onset and progression of dementia.

A study of more than 5,000 patients has developed a method to predict the biological age of our organs. They have analysed more than 4,000 proteins present in the blood and used machine learning models adapted to 11 different organs. According to the authors, almost 20 % of the population has accelerated organ ageing, which in many cases is associated with an increased risk of mortality of between 20 and 50 %. The results are published in the journal Nature.