Search results for " centenarian"
showing 10 items of 27 documents
Blood group does not appear to affect longevity a pilot study in centenarians from Western Sicily.
2011
Centenarians are the best example of extreme human longevity, and they represent a selected population in which the appearance of major age-related diseases, such as cancer, and cardiovascular diseases among others, has been consistently delayed or escaped. The study of the long-lived individual genetic profile has the purpose to possibly identify the genes and the allelic variations influencing extended life expectancy, hence considering them as biomarkers of age-related diseases onset and development. The present study shows no significant differences between allelic variations of ABO blood groups among a group of centenarians from Western Sicily.
Centenarian offspring: A model for understanding longevity
2013
Abstract: A main objective of current medical research is to improve the life quality of elderly people as priority of the continuous increase of ageing population. This phenomenon implies several medical, economic and social problems because of dramatic increase in number of non autonomous individuals affected by various pathologies. Accordingly, the research interest is focused on understanding the biological mechanisms involved in determining the positive ageing phenotype, i.e. the centenarian phenotype. In achieving this goal the choice of an appropriate study models is fundamental. Centenarians have been used as an optimal model for successful ageing. However, this model shows several …
Immune parameters identify Italian centenarians with a longer five-year survival independent of their health and functional status
2014
Centenarians are rare and exceptional individuals characterized by a peculiar phenotype. They are the best example of healthy aging in humans as most of them have escaped or substantially delayed the onset of major age-related diseases. Within this scenario, the purpose of the present work was to understand if immune status is associated with survival and health status in centenarians. To this aim, 116 centenarians were concomitantly characterized for their immunological, health and functional status, and followed-up for five-year survival. On the basis of previous knowledge we focused on a core of fundamental and basic immune parameters (number of leukocytes, monocytes, total lymphocytes, …
Genetic signatures of centenarians: Implications for achieving successful aging
2019
The extraordinary rise in the old population in the Western world underscores the importance of studies on aging and longevity to decrease the medical, economic and social problems associated with the increased number of non-autonomous individuals affected by invalidating pathologies. Centenarians have reached the extreme limits of the human life span. They are the best example of extreme longevity, representing selected individuals in which the appearance of major age-related diseases has been consistently delayed or avoided. There is growing evidence that the genetic component of longevity becomes higher with survival at the age of over 90 years. For centenaries, it reaches up to 33% for…
Centenarians' offspring as a model of healthy aging: a reappraisal of the data on Italian subjects and a comprehensive overview.
2016
Within the scenario of an increasing life expectancy worldwide it is mandatory to identify determinants of healthy aging. Centenarian offspring (CO) is one of the most informative model to identify trajectories of healthy aging and their determinants (genetic and environmental), being representative of elderly in their 70th whose lifestyle can be still modified to attain a better health. This study is the first comprehensive investigation of the health status of 267 CO (mean age: 70.2 years) and adopts the innovative approach of comparing CO with 107 age‐matched offspring of non‐long‐lived parents (hereafter indicated as NCO controls), recruited according to strict inclusion demographic cri…
Mediterranean Diet and Longevity in Sicily: Survey in a Sicani Mountains Population
2012
Over the past several years, increasing evidence suggests that the Mediterranean diet has a beneficial influence on several age-related diseases, showing protective effect on health and longevity. Mediterranean diet refers to dietary patterns found in olive-growing regions of the Mediterranean countries. Previous data reported that in Sicily, Italy, the largest Mediterranean island, there are some mountainous regions where there is a high frequency of male centenarians with respect to the Italian average. The aim of the present study was to characterize centenarians living in one of this region, the Sicani Mountains, located in western Sicily. Present data shows that in this zone there are …
Does the longevity of one or both parents influence the health status of their offspring?
2013
According to the findings of some recent studies, the centenarians' offspring appear to represent a promising model for research on longevity and healthy aging. This study compares the health status and the functional status of three groups of subjects: 1. individuals with two long-lived parents (one of whom centenarian), 2. individuals with only one long-lived (centenarian) parent, and 3. individuals with no long-lived parents. The goal is to verify whether the centenarians' offspring display any advantage over the offspring of both non-long-lived parents and to evaluate whether the longevity of the non centenarian parent provides a further advantage. A total of 374 subjects (mean age appr…
Metabolic syndrome in the offspring of centenarians: focus on prevalence, components, and adipokines
2013
With aging, an increased prevalence of a clustering of metabolic abnormalities has been observed. These abnormalities include obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and insulin resistance and are collectively known as metabolic syndrome (MetS), a low-grade, systemic, inflammatory condition associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other adverse health outcomes. A number of studies have demonstrated that centenarians’ offspring have a significant survival advantage and a lower risk of developing the most important age-related diseases. They therefore represent one of the best models with which to study the familiar component of human longevity. The aim of this …
Genes, Ageing and Longevity in Humans: Problems, Advantages and Perspectives.
2006
Many epidemiological data indicate the presence of a strong familial component of longevity that is largely determined by genetics, and a number of possible associations between longevity and allelic variants of genes have been described. A breakthrough strategy to get insight into the genetics of longevity is the study of centenarians, the best example of successful ageing. We review the main results regarding nuclear genes as well as the mitochondrial genome, focusing on the investigations performed on Italian centenarians, compared to those from other countries. These studies produced interesting results on many putative "longevity genes". Nevertheless, many discrepancies are reported, l…
Alpha1-antitrypsin heterozygosity plays a positive role in attainment of longevity.
2007
Genes involved in cardiovascular diseases (CVD) play an opposite role in human longevity. The alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT) is a serine-protease inhibitor required for the prevention of proteolytic tissue damage, by neutrophil elastase. The role of AAT in CVD has not been definitively assessed and its effect on longevity has not yet fully been studied. To clarify these points, we have studied the distribution of AAT allele variants in 3 cohorts: 127 young patients affected by acute myocardial infarction (AMI), 255 young controls and 143 centenarians from Sicily. The Z allele frequency was most frequent in centenarians (13.3%), intermediate in healthy young controls (3.1%) and less frequent in AM…