Category Health/Medical

Paola Sebastiani, Bharat Thyagarajan, Fangui Sun, Nicole Schupf, Anne B. Newman, Monty Montano, Thomas T. Perls. Biomarker signatures of aging. Aging Cell, 2017; DOI: 10.1111/acel.12557

Levels of specific biomarkers can be combined to produce patterns that signify how well a person is aging and his or risk for future aging-related diseases, according to a new study by researchers at the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine and Boston Medical Center. The study used biomarker data collected from the blood samples of almost 5,000 participants in the Long Life Family Study, funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A large number – about half – had an average “signature,” or pattern, of 19 biomarkers...

The Mediterranean diet includes large amounts of fruits, vegetables, olive oil, beans and cereal grains such as wheat and rice, moderate amounts of fish, dairy and wine, and limited red meat and poultry. Credit: © marrakeshh / Fotolia

A new study shows that older people who followed a Mediterranean diet retained more brain volume over a 3 year period than those who did not follow the diet as closely. But contrary to earlier studies, eating more fish and less meat was not related to changes in the brain. The Mediterranean diet includes large amounts of fruits, vegetables, olive oil, beans and cereal grains such as wheat and rice, moderate amounts of fish, dairy and wine, and limited red meat and poultry.

“As we age, the brain shrinks and we lose brain cells which can affect learning and me...

This is a comparison of wounds healing with and without hair follicles. Credit: Penn Medicine

Breaking ground on method to transform cells. Doctors have found a way to manipulate wounds to heal as regenerated skin rather than scar tissue. The method involves transforming the most common type of cells found in wounds into fat cells – something that was previously thought to be impossible in humans. Researchers began this work at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which led to a large-scale, multi-year study in connection with the Plikus Laboratory for Developmental and Regenerative Biology at the University of California, Irvine.

Fat cells, ie adipocytes are normally found in the skin, but they’re lost when wounds heal as scars...