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    aging tagged posts

    Link made between Genetics, Aging

    February 19, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Rob Pazdro, left, and Yang Zhou led a study looking at a new pathway by which genetics regulates aging and disease. Credit: Cal Powell/University of Georgia

    Rob Pazdro, left, and Yang Zhou led a study looking at a new pathway by which genetics regulates aging and disease. Credit: Cal Powell/University of Georgia

    Uni of Georgia scientists have shown a hormone instrumental in the aging process is under genetic control, introducing a new pathway by which genetics regulates aging and disease. Previous studies have found that blood levels of this hormone, growth differentiation factor 11, decrease over time. Restoration of GDF11 reverses cardiovascular aging in old mice and leads to muscle and brain rejuvenation, a discovery that was listed as one of the top 10 breakthroughs in science in 2014.

    Scientists in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences have now discovered that levels of this hormone are determined by genetics, representing ano...

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    Experiments have Conclusively Proven for the 1st time Mitochondria are Major Triggers of Cell Aging

    February 4, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    This image shows Dr. Joao Passos and Dr. Clara Correia-Melo in the lab. Credit: Newcastle University

    This image shows Dr. Joao Passos and Dr. Clara Correia-Melo in the lab. Credit: Newcastle University

    This brings scientists a step closer to developing therapies to counteract the aging of cells, by targeting mitochondria. In a study, published today in the EMBO Journal and led by Dr João Passos at Newcastle University, they found that when mitochondria were eliminated from aging cells they became much more similar to younger cells. As we grow old, cells in our bodies accumulate different types of damage and have increased inflammation, factors which are thought to contribute to the aging process.

    The team carried out a series of genetic experiments involving human cells grown in the laboratory and succeeded in eliminating the majority, if not all, the mitochondria from aging cells...

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    Circadian Rhythm of Genes in Brain Changes with Aging, research shows

    December 23, 2015, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    Examination of thousands of genes from nearly 150 human brains shows the circadian rhythm of gene activity changes with aging, according to a first-of-its-kind study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. It suggest also that a novel biological clock begins ticking only in the older brain.

    A 24hr circadian rhythm controls nearly all brain and body processes, such as the sleep/wake cycle, metabolism, alertness and cognition. These daily activity patterns are regulated by certain genes that are found in almost all cells, but have rarely been studied in the human brain. “Studies have reported that older adults tend to perform complex cognitive tasks better in the morning and get worse through the day,” Dr. McClung said...

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    Genes for a Longer, Healthier Life found

    December 1, 2015, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Transcriptional control of bcat-1-mediated regulation of lifespan.

    Transcriptional control of bcat-1-mediated regulation of lifespan.

    Out of a ‘haystack’ of 40,000 genes from 3 different organisms, scientists have found genes involved in physical aging. If you influence only 1 of these genes, the healthy lifespan of lab animals is extended – and possibly that of humans, too.

    Until now, this was mostly limited to genes of individual model organisms such as the C. elegans nematode, which revealed that ~1% of its genes could influence life expectancy. However, researchers have long assumed that such genes arose in the course of evolution and in all living beings whose cells have a preserved a nucleus – from yeast to humans.

    Researchers at ETH Zurich and JenAge consortium from Jena have now systematically gone through genomes of 3 different organisms in searc...

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