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People in developed countries are living longer and, just as the aged population around the world is steadily growing, the number of adults eighty-five and older in the United States is projected to quadruple to twenty-one million people by 2050. The aging of our population has huge implications for baby boomers and their children, and has generated a greater interest in the causes and effects of aging. Our Aging Bodies provides a clear, scientifically based explanation of what happens to all the major organ systems and bodily processes—such as the cardiovascular and digestive systems—as people age. The first section is an overview of secondary aging—changes that occur with age that are related to disease and the environment—and include the effect of such things as diet, humor, and exercise. Readers will also learn about primary aging—intrinsic changes that occur with the aging of specific organs and body systems (including the prostate, the heart, the digestive system, and the brain). Throughout the book, Gary F. Merrill weaves in personal anecdotes and stories that help clarify and reinforce the facts and principles of the underlying scientific processes and explanations. Our Aging Bodies is accessible to a general reader interested in the aging phenomenon, or baby boomers wanting to be more informed when seeing their doctor and discussing changes to their bodies as they age.

Cover legend: The cover image is based on the Research Article Smurfness‐based two‐phase model of ageing helps deconvolve the ageing transcriptional signature by Flaminia Zane et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13946 Image Credit: Michael Rera and Aurore Colibert

Ageing of the immune system, or immunosenescence, contributes to the morbidity and mortality of the elderly 1 , 2 . To define the contribution of immune system ageing to organism ageing, here we selectively deleted Ercc1 , which encodes a crucial DNA repair protein 3 , 4 , in mouse haematopoietic cells to increase the burden of endogenous DNA damage and thereby senescence 5 – 7 in the immune system only. We show that Vav-iCre +/− ;Ercc1 −/fl mice were healthy into adulthood, then displayed premature onset of immunosenescence characterized by attrition and senescence of specific immune cell populations and impaired immune function, similar to changes that occur during ageing in wild-type mice 8 – 10 . Notably, non-lymphoid organs also showed increased senescence and damage, which suggests that senescent, aged immune cells can promote systemic ageing. The transplantation of splenocytes from Vav-iCre +/− ;Ercc1 −/fl or aged wild-type mice into young mice induced senescence in trans , whereas the transplantation of young immune cells attenuated senescence. The treatment of Vav-iCre +/− ;Ercc1 −/fl mice with rapamycin reduced markers of senescence in immune cells and improved immune function 11 , 12 . These data demonstrate that an aged, senescent immune system has a causal role in driving systemic ageing and therefore represents a key therapeutic target to extend healthy ageing. An aged, senescent immune system has a causal role in driving systemic ageing, and the targeting of senescent immune cells with senolytic drugs has the potential to suppress morbidities associated with old age.

This article engages with the domestic space in two contemporary transgender narratives, For Nonna Anna (2017) and Wild Side (2004). Building on Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, it argues that these films highlight the domestic sphere as a site of both cultural tradition and queer potential. Contrasting the frequent focus in queer cinema on gay male cruising and public encounters, this essay pivots to the home environment, demonstrating how religious iconography, inherited furnishings, and daily rituals become charged with intergenerational memory and transformative possibilities. Through an analysis of mirror scenes, informed by Foucault’s claim that mirrors act as both utopias and heterotopias, this paper reveals how trans protagonists simultaneously reflect and disrupt normative temporalities. Christina’s relationship with her aging Nonna, for instance, foregrounds reciprocal vulnerability, while Stéphanie in Wild Side fuses past and present by navigating chosen kinship with her mother and lovers. Bringing the work of Sarah Ahmed, Jack Halberstam, Cynthia Port, and Alison Kafer into conversation with Foucault, this essay contends that trans bodies and elderly figures share a marginal relationship to linear futurity, suggesting alternative modes of care and intimacy. By centering aging and trans bodies, the films challenge Lee Edelman’s “no future” paradigm, proposing instead a queer futurity aligned with José Muñoz’s utopian hermeneutics. Far from being mere backdrops, homes in these films operate as heterotopic refuges that accommodate non-normative practices of embodiment, kinship, and care, reimagining the family dwelling as a horizon of queer futurity. In doing so, they offer insight into how domestic environments can reshape cinematic explorations of transness, aging, care, and kinship.

For several decades, understanding ageing and the processes that limit lifespan have challenged biologists. Thirty years ago, the biology of ageing gained unprecedented scientific credibility through the identification of gene variants that extend the lifespan of multicellular model organisms. Here we summarize the milestones that mark this scientific triumph, discuss different ageing pathways and processes, and suggest that ageing research is entering a new era that has unique medical, commercial and societal implications. We argue that this era marks an inflection point, not only in ageing research but also for all biological research that affects the human healthspan. The milestones that mark the advances in ageing research, the medical, commercial and societal implications of ageing and the different ageing pathways and processes that are associated with ageing are discussed.

Background Active aging empowers older adults to maintain physical, social, and psychological well-being as they age, enabling them to participate in social activities according to their preferences and capabilities. However, many older adults face communication and social skills challenges, necessitating interventions to minimize social communication barriers and promote active aging. Despite the importance of communication and social skills in active aging, further studies are essential to explore older adults’ perspectives and develop strategies that support active aging and address potential barriers. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of communication and social skills training on the active aging of older adults. Methods This quasi-experimental trial with randomized allocation study involved 80 older adults from two daycare centers in southeastern Iran in 2024. Participants were randomly assigned to either a control or an intervention group. The intervention group received an eight-session communication and social skills training program, conducted twice a week for two hours in groups of 20. Both groups completed the Iranian Active Aging Measurement Instrument before and one month after the intervention. Results The mean ages of participants in the intervention and control groups were 68.94 ± 7.27 and 67.13 ± 5.09 years, respectively. Training in communication and social skills led to a significant increase in the total score of active aging (98.18 ± 17.77) and its dimensions (mindfulness, active insight, physical-functional dynamics, interactionism, role-playing, and social participation) during the post-test stage compared to the pre-test (148.97 ± 13.19), (t = -25.87, p  < 0.001) and the control group (1.101 ± 8.18), (t = 1.35, p  = 0.18). Conclusion This study contributes valuable evidence supporting psychosocial interventions for active aging. To advance this field, further research should focus on the long-term impact, cultural adaptability, and multimodal strategies that comprehensively address physical, cognitive, and social domains.

The global population of individuals over the age of 65 is growing at an unprecedented rate and is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2050. Most older individuals are affected by multiple chronic diseases, leading to complex drug treatments and increased risk of physical and cognitive disability. Improving or preserving the health and quality of life of these individuals is challenging due to a lack of well‐established clinical guidelines. Physicians are often forced to engage in cycles of “trial and error” that are centered on palliative treatment of symptoms rather than the root cause, often resulting in dubious outcomes. Recently, geroscience challenged this view, proposing that the underlying biological mechanisms of aging are central to the global increase in susceptibility to disease and disability that occurs with aging. In fact, strong correlations have recently been revealed between health dimensions and phenotypes that are typical of aging, especially with autophagy, mitochondrial function, cellular senescence, and DNA methylation. Current research focuses on measuring the pace of aging to identify individuals who are “aging faster” to test and develop interventions that could prevent or delay the progression of multimorbidity and disability with aging. Understanding how the underlying biological mechanisms of aging connect to and impact longitudinal changes in health trajectories offers a unique opportunity to identify resilience mechanisms, their dynamic changes, and their impact on stress responses. Harnessing how to evoke and control resilience mechanisms in individuals with successful aging could lead to writing a new chapter in human medicine. Finding a reference metric for the rate of biological aging is key to understanding the molecular nature of the aging process. Defining and validating this metric in humans opens the door to a new kind of medicine that will overcome the limitation of current disease definitions. We will then be able to approach health in a global perspective and bring life course preventative measures to the center of attention.

È stato inoltre osservato che gli eventi avversi auto-riportati si sono verificati con minore frequenza nel gruppo VNP. Vaporized nicotine products for smoking cessation among people experiencing social disadvantage: a randomized clinical trial. Secondo Thomas McDade, antropologo biologico alla Northwestern University di Chicago, «nelle società non industrializzate, l’infiammazione è attivata in modo molto diverso, spesso da una maggiore esposizione precoce a fattori ambientali che modulano il sistema immunitario in senso protettivo». A Common Assumption About Aging May Be Wrong, Study Suggests.