Facing up to the global challenges of ageing

Abstract

Longer human lives have led to a global burden of late-life disease. However, some older people experience little ill health, a trait that should be extended to the general population. Interventions into lifestyle, including increased exercise and reduction in food intake and obesity, can help to maintain healthspan. Altered gut microbiota, removal of senescent cells, blood factors obtained from young individuals and drugs can all improve late-life health in animals. Application to humans will require better biomarkers of disease risk and responses to interventions, closer alignment of work in animals and humans, and increased use of electronic health records, biobank resources and cohort studies.

Mosaic metabolic ageing: Basal and standard metabolic rate age in opposite directions and independent of environmental quality, sex or lifespan in a passerine

“…Ageing is the change in traits with age, irrespective of their association with 34 residual reproductive value; for example, human hair may turn grey with age but this by itself 35 does not affect remaining lifespan. Major challenges in ageing research are to identify how 36 organisms change with age, the factors affecting those changes and in particular how those 37 changes affect fitness and remaining lifespan (Christensen et al 2010;Nussey et al 2013;Gaillard 38 and Lemaitre 2017; Partridge and Deelen 2018) . 39…”

Heterogeneity in heat shock response dynamics caused by translation fidelity decline and proteostasis collapse

“…Medical breakthroughs, such as antibiotics and vaccines, as well as improved health care have led to a doubling in human life expectancy in developed countries over the last 200 years [1]. The proportion of European population older than 65 years has been projected to exceed 20% by 2025, while in the US, the aged population is expected to double between 2010 and 2050 and reach 89 million [2].…”

“…The proportion of European population older than 65 years has been projected to exceed 20% by 2025, while in the US, the aged population is expected to double between 2010 and 2050 and reach 89 million [2]. However, the extension of lifespan has not necessarily been accompanied by a proportional increase in healthspan -the length of healthy life -and the final 20% of human lifespan is commonly associated with some degree of morbidity [1]. As such, a focal point in ageing research is the formulation of medical interventions that compress latelife morbidity [1][2][3][4].…”

“…However, the extension of lifespan has not necessarily been accompanied by a proportional increase in healthspan -the length of healthy life -and the final 20% of human lifespan is commonly associated with some degree of morbidity [1]. As such, a focal point in ageing research is the formulation of medical interventions that compress latelife morbidity [1][2][3][4]. One major challenge toward this aim is that the beneficial effects and efficacy of therapeutic treatments likely vary among individuals because of the heterogeneity of human ageing [2].…”

New light on exposure to chemicals and cardiovascular diseases

“…Indeed, analysis of disability-adjusted life years shows that CVD is the major contributor to loss of health to mortality and disability in several continents 1. One major contributor to CVD is work environment which can involve multiple risk factors, including exposure to smoke, chemicals and other potentially harmful environmental conditions.…”