News by Subject Social & Behavior

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have discovered that fruit flies with genetic modifications to enhance glucose uptake have significantly longer lifespans. Looking at the brain cells of aging flies, they found that better glucose uptake compensates for age-related deterioration in motor functions, and led to longer life. The effect was more pronounced when coupled with dietary restrictions. This suggests healthier eating plus improved glucose uptake in the brain might lead to enhanced lifespans.

As the vaccination of older adults against COVID-19 begins across the country, new poll data suggests that many of them don't yet have access to the 'patient portal' online systems that could make it much easier for them to schedule a vaccination appointment. The poll finds that 45% of adults aged 65 to 80, and 42% of adults aged 50 to 80, said they hadn't set up an account with their health provider's portal system.

A new study finds that due to COVID-19 deaths last year, life expectancy at birth for Americans will shorten by 1.13 years to 77.48 years -- the largest single-year decline in life expectancy in at least 40 years.

Aging experts synthesize converging evidence that the aging-related pathophysiology underpinning the clinical presentation of phenotypic frailty is a state of lower functioning due to severe dysregulation of the complex dynamics in our bodies that maintains health and resilience. When severity passes a threshold, the clinical syndrome and its phenotype are diagnosable. This paper summarizes evidence meeting criteria for physical frailty as a product of complex system dysregulation distinct from the cumulative-deficit-based frailty index of multimorbiditys.

WRAIR scientists have shown that traumatic brain injury causes coordinated microRNA dysregulation followed by increased amounts of the beta-site amyloid cleaving enzyme, or BACE1, and loss of amyloid precursor protein. BACE-1 cleaves APP to generate amyloid beta peptides, a hallmark of neurodegenerative disease pathology and brain cells loss, which are the focus of several clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease. Future research will characterize the direct role of miRNAs and their relationship to BACE1 within TBI.

The research team plans to study how the changes observed in animal models mimic the deterioration of muscle function in aging humans.

The Gerontological Society of America's highly cited, peer-reviewed journals are continuing to publish scientific articles on COVID-19. The following were published between December 5 and January 6; all are free to access.

If you're a bit more forgetful or having more difficulty processing complex concepts than in the past, the problem may be your menopause stage. A new study claims that menopause stage is a key determinant of cognition and, contrary to previous studies, shows that certain cognitive declines may continue into the postmenopause period. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

The Granzyme B (GzmB) enzyme, which accumulates in certain tissues as we age, has been identified as a driver of itchy and sometimes life-threatening autoimmune conditions known as pemphigoid diseases (PDs), which cause blistering and skin erosion below the skin's surface. New research led by University of British Columbia (UBC) and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) scientists has found that a gel containing a specific and potent inhibitor of GzmB activity, VTI-1002, resulted in significant improvements on skin affected by PDs.