Search results for " aging."
showing 10 items of 556 documents
Early Vascular Aging in Normotensive Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
2015
Connective tissue diseases, like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), are associated with early and accelerated atherosclerosis. Recently, the concept of “early vascular aging” (EVA) has been more widely accepted. Aortic stiffness is one of the important markers of EVA. We evaluated EVA and subclinical atherosclerosis, by measuring aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) and carotid intima–media thickness (cIMT), in 50 normotensive patients with SLE (mean age: 39 ± 12 years). We compared these participants with 50 age- and sex-matched patients with essential hypertension (EH) and 20 healthy controls. Each participant underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), aPWV, and cIMT me…
Computed tomography detects changes in contrast agent diffusion after collagen cross-linking typical to natural aging of articular cartilage
2011
SummaryObjectiveThe effect of threose-induced collagen cross-linking on the mechanical and diffusive properties of cartilage was investigated in vitro. In particular, we investigated the potential of Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography (CECT) to detect changes in articular cartilage after increased collagen cross-linking, which is an age-related phenomenon.MethodsOsteochondral plugs (Ø=6.0mm, n=28) were prepared from intact bovine patellae (n=7). Two of the four adjacent samples, prepared from each patella, were treated with threose to increase the collagen cross-linking, while the other two specimen served as paired controls. One sample pair was mechanically tested and then mechanically …
The association between the Mediterranean diet and magnetic resonance parameters for knee osteoarthritis: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative
2018
The Mediterranean diet appears to be beneficial for osteoarthritis (OA), but the few data available regarding the association between the diet and the condition are limited to X-ray and clinical findings. The current study aimed to investigate the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and knee cartilage morphology, assessed using magnetic resonance (MRI) in a cohort of North American participants. Seven hundred eighty-three participants in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (59.8% females; mean age 62.3 years) in possession of a MRI assessment (a coronal 3D FLASH with Water Excitation MR sequence of the right knee) were enrolled in our cross-sectional study. Adherence to the Me…
Assessing Chronological Aging in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
2012
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is one of the most studied model organisms for the identification of genes and mechanisms that affect aging. The chronological lifespan (CLS) assay, which monitors the survival of a non-dividing population, is one of the two methods to study aging in yeast. To eliminate potential artifacts and identify genes and signaling pathways that may also affect aging in higher eukaryotes, it is important to determine CLS by multiple methods. Here, we describe these methods as well as the assays to study macromolecular damage during aging in yeast, with a focus on genomic instability.
Acetic acid and acidification accelerate chronological and replicative aging in yeast
2012
Yeast is widely regarded as one of the most valuable model systems to study aging and particularly the genetics of aging. Researchers have established two different methods to study yeast aging known as the replicative lifespan (RLS) and the chronological lifespan (CLS). These have led to the identification of many mammalian genes that affect aging suggesting that they will continue to shed light on the fundamental biology of aging. In spite of the clear differences underpinning the mitotic cellular potential (RLS) and the survival in the non-dividing mode (CLS), the two models are clearly regulated by partly overlapping regulatory mechanism. This idea is supported by the observation that c…
Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells for the Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes
2014
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease caused by the destruction of endocrine pancreas β cells by T lymphocytes, for which genetic and environmental risk factors have been proposed. Patients require daily infusions of recombinant insulin to overcome the reduced production by their own cells, but there is an increasing demand for a permanent and efficient supplementation which could better modulate the need for the hormone during the normal activities. For this reason, transplant-based therapeutic models have been proposed such as whole organ transplantation and Langerhans islets transplantation. These techniques are limited by many factors such as the lack of donors, the risks linked to t…
Subtle Changes in Clonal Dynamics Underlie the Age-Related Decline in Neurogenesis
2017
SUMMARYNeural stem cells in the adult murine brain have only a limited capacity to self-renew, and the number of neurons they generate drastically declines with age. How cellular dynamics sustain neurogenesis and how alterations with age may result in this decline, are both unresolved issues. Therefore, we clonally traced neural stem cell lineages using confetti reporters in young and middle-aged adult mice. To understand underlying mechanisms, we derived mathematical population models of adult neurogenesis that explain the observed clonal cell type abundances. Models fitting the data best consistently show self renewal of transit amplifying progenitors and rapid neuroblast cell cycle exit.…
Photocatalytic properties of cement-based plasters and paints, containing mineral pigments
2010
Innovative cement-based pre-mix products, for surface coating of buildings, possessing photocatalytic activity, arouse great interest due to achievable results in terms of reduction of the air pollution and in the maintenance of aesthetics.The photoactivity is induced by the presence of a photocatalyst, titanium dioxide, which can accelerate the oxidation processes of air pollutants, particularly nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), mainly produced by incomplete combustion of fuel and present in urban environment through the exhaust gases of motor vehicles. The surfaces which are coated with these products acquire a self-cleaning characteristic (maintenance of origin…
Decreased response to acetylcholine during aging of Aplysia neuron R15
2013
How aging affects the communication between neurons is poorly understood. To address this question, we have studied the electrophysiological properties of identified neuron R15 of the marine mollusk Aplysia californica . R15 is a bursting neuron in the abdominal ganglia of the central nervous system and is implicated in reproduction, water balance, and heart function. Exposure to acetylcholine (ACh) causes an increase in R15 burst firing. Whole-cell recordings of R15 in the intact ganglia dissected from mature and old Aplysia showed specific changes in burst firing and properties of action potentials induced by ACh. We found that while there were no significant changes in resting membrane p…
Premature aging in bone of fish from a highly polluted marine area
2015
Fish species have attracted considerable interest in studies assessing biological responses to environmental contaminants. In this study, the attention has been focussed on fishbone of selected fish species from a highly polluted marine area, Augusta Bay (Italy, Central Mediterranean) to evaluate if toxicant elements had an effect on the mineralogical structure of bones, although macroscopic deformations were not evident. In particular, an attempt was made to evaluate if bone mineral features, such as crystallinity, mineral maturity and carbonate/phosphate mineral content, determined by XR-Diffraction and FT-IR Spectroscopy, suffered negative effects due to trace element levels in fishbone,…