Northwestern University researchers have discovered a drug that slows ? and may even halt ? the progression of Parkinson?s disease. The drug rejuvenates aging dopamine cells, whose death in the brain causes the symptoms of this devastating and widespread disease.
Last month, Dr. George Bartzokis, director of the UCLA Memory Disorders and Alzheimer’s Disease Clinic, suggested in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia that the breakdown of a type of myelin that develops late in life promotes the buildup of toxic amyloid plaques long associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Myelin is the “insulation” that wraps around nerve axons in the brain.
Vitamin D may protect against age-related DNA shortening in women, a known risk factor for heart attacks. Researchers hypothesized that sufficient vitamin D levels may alter aging of chromosomes, which could affect age-related diseases.
Researchers at USC and Caltech slow aging dramatically in fruit flies with a new technique that shows general promise in pharmaceutical development.
Zen meditation, a Buddhist practice centered on attentional and postural self-regulation, has been speculated to bring about beneficial long-term effects for the individual, ranging from stress reduction to improvement of cognitive function.
Can a fitness program for your brain improve thinking and concentration the way lifting weights can increase muscle strength?
The relative amount of protein, carbohydrate, and fat that people choose to eat may be influenced by genetics, according to new research. Jose Ordovas, PhD, director of the Nutrition and Genomics Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (USDA HNRCA), and colleagues found that the apolipoprotein A-II gene (APOA2) is associated with proportions of fat, carbohydrate, and protein in the diet, along with total calories and, therefore, with body-mass-index (BMI).
It?s not yet clear why overweight elderly adults have low levels of vitamin D in their blood. However, researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (USDA HNRCA) have found that lack of sun exposure may not account for low levels of vitamin D in elders who are overweight.
A new book by a University of Arizona researcher challenges long-held notions about how society communicates with its oldest members. The importance of this work is highlighted by the fact that people are living longer, and that seniors now outnumber those under 18.
Researchers at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the University of Pennsylvania have found that deleting a gene important in embryo development leads to premature aging and loss of stem cell reservoirs in adult mice.