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Physical exercise is considered an important intervention for promoting well-being and healthy aging. The objective was to determine the effects of moderate-to-high intensity resistance circuit training on different parameters of body composition, functional autonomy, muscular strength and quality of life in elderly. A randomized controlled trial was conducted. A total of 45 subjects (27 females, 18 males) aged between 65–75 years old from Murcia (Spain) were divided by sex, and randomly to experimental group (n = 33, mean age 69 ± 3.2 years old) receiving 12 weeks of moderate-to-high intensity resistance circuit training and control group (n = 33, mean age 70 ± 4.1 years old) receiving no exercise intervention. Intra-group comparison, the experimental group showed a significant increment of lean body mass in women and men, which also presented a decrease of fat mass. Both sex presented a significant improve in functional autonomy, and significately higher values of muscular strength. But no changes were observed regarding quality of life in these groups. The control group did not show any differences pre and post-intervention in women, but in men presented an increment of body mass index and total weight post-intervention. No changes were showed in the other variables. Similar results were founded at inter-group comparison. The moderate-to-high intensity resistance circuit training showed increase in total lean body mass, improvements in functional capacity and significantly increase in upper and lower muscular strength in women and men. Progressive resistance circuit training should be promoted for the elderly as it has the potential to improve physical performance, thereby prolonging healthy independent aging.

Whether brain training programmes are effective and have transferable benefits to wider cognitive abilities is controversial, especially in older adult populations. We assessed, in a randomised controlled intervention study, whether a commercially available brain training programme can induce cognitive improvements in a sample of healthy older adults ( N  = 103). Participants completed a three-month intervention of either an adaptive computerised cognitive training programme (through a brain training app) or active control. Cognition was measured through a comprehensive battery of tasks pre- and post-intervention to assess working memory, processing speed, attention, and language functioning. Participants in the intervention group significantly improved on all tasks that were trained specifically within the brain training programme (i.e. practice effects). However, for the cognitive tasks assessed pre- and post-intervention there was no evidence of any of these practice effects transferring to improvements in cognitive outcome measures compared to the active control group (i.e. transfer effects). Our results indicate that the benefits of brain training programmes appear to be limited to practice effects of trained tasks, while no evidence is found for transfer effects to other, related or unrelated, untrained cognitive tasks.

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.

Background Physical activities can prevent disability in elderly. Aims To evaluate the feasibility and impact on physical function of an adapted physical activity (APA) programme in community-dwelling people of ≥ 70 years old. Methods Non-blinded randomized trial with a waiting list control. Eligible people ( n  = 186) were randomly allocated to 4 months of weekly APA classes of 45 min or in control group performing usual lifestyle activity. Primary outcome: time to walk 400 m. Secondary outcomes: short physical performance battery (SPPB), pain (visual analogic scale, McGill Questionnaire), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), handgrip strength, accesses to Emergency Department and falls. Results Participants were allocated to the intervention ( n  = 130) or to the control ( n  = 56) group (80% females aged 75.6 ± 4.6 years). We found statistically significant difference in the time to walk 400 m only in the subgroup intervention with the lower performance at baseline (p for interaction 0.031). SPPB improved and VAS decreased more in the intervention group. No significant differences for McGill questionnaire, ODI, GDS, accesses to ER and falls were showed. Discussion Despite the good rate of attendance (71%) and satisfaction (97%), our APA programme was associated with no benefit on the time to walk 400 m and small benefit on SPPB and VAS. The efficacy of the intervention was likely limited by the short duration and low intensity and by the already good performance of our population at baseline. Conclusions We designed this initiative as a pilot study intending to implement research of this type in the future.

Yoga-based clinical research has shown considerable promise in varied ageing-related health outcomes in older adults. However, robust frameworks have yet to be used in intervention research to endorse yoga as a healthy ageing intervention to test the multidimensional construct of healthy ageing. This was an assessor-masked, randomized controlled trial conducted among 258 sedentary, community-dwelling older adults aged 60–80 years, randomly allocated to 26-week yoga-based intervention (YBI) ( n  = 132) or waitlist control (WLC) ( n  = 126). The effectiveness of YBI was assessed through two separate global statistical tests, generalized estimating equations and rank sum-based test, against a comprehensive healthy aging panel comprised of ten markers representing the domains of physiological and metabolic, cognitive, physical capability, psychological, and social well-being. The secondary outcomes were individual primary marker scores, Klotho, inflammatory markers, and auxiliary blood markers. We could establish the healthy aging effect of the 26-week YBI over WLC using two models of global statistical test (GEE, β  = 0.29; 95% CI = 0.20 to 0.38, p  < 0.001), and rank sum-based test ( β  = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.19 to 0.36, p  < 0.001). There were also significant improvements in direction of benefit at individual levels of all the aging markers. Exploratory evaluation with adopted indices from contemporary clinical trials also validated the potential of YBI for healthy aging; HATICE adapted composite score (mean difference =  − 0.18; 95% CI =  − 0.26 to − 0.09, p  < 0.001) and healthy ageing index (mean difference =  − 0.33; 95% CI =  − 0.63 to − 0.02, p  = 0.03). The global effect of YBI across multiple ageing-related outcomes provides a proof of concept for further large-scale validation. The findings hold a great translational value given the accelerated pace of population aging across the globe. Trial registration: CTRI/2021/02/031373.

IntroductionAlthough ageing is generally perceived as a biologically determined process, the literature increasingly points to the importance of psychological factors in the ageing process, specifically age-related stereotypes or cognitive mindsets. Such stereotypes reflect self-perceptions and others’ perceptions about the ageing process and can have a strong influence on health and life satisfaction, specifically through self-fulfilling prophecy mechanisms. This study aimed to investigate whether changes in mindsets can change the ageing process.Methods and analysisThis study replicates in large part the original 1979 ‘Counterclockwise’ experiment by Ellen Langer and will involve a group of older adults (aged 75+) taking part of a 1-week retreat outside of Milan, Italy. Participants will be instructed and helped to relive their younger selves, acting as i f they are living in the year 1989. The week-long residential programme is designed to prime this perception by incorporating a completely retrofitted physical environment, as well as providing opportunities to engage in social activities that would have been common in the late 1980s. This ‘counterclockwise’ intervention will be tested as a randomised control trial comprised of the experimental (‘counterclockwise’) group, an active control group (same activities, no time manipulation) and a no-treatment group. Ninety participants will be randomly allocated to one of these three conditions. Every participant will be assessed for medical, cognitive, psychological and age appearance at four time points: at the time of recruitment, after the intervention (ie, after a week for the no-treatment group) and again after 6 and 12 months.Ethics and disseminationThe study has been approved by the Ethics Committees of the Department of Psychology of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Don Gnocchi Foundation. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, scientific meetings and direct presentation to the general population.Trial registration number NCT03552042; Pre-results.

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.

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.

Cognitive ageing research examines the cognitive abilities that are preserved and/or those that decline with advanced age. There is great individual variability in cognitive ageing trajectories. Some older adults show little decline in cognitive ability compared with young adults and are thus termed ‘optimally ageing’. By contrast, others exhibit substantial cognitive decline and may develop dementia. Human neuroimaging research has led to a number of important advances in our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying these two outcomes. However, interpreting the age-related changes and differences in brain structure, activation and functional connectivity that this research reveals is an ongoing challenge. Ambiguous terminology is a major source of difficulty in this venture. Three terms in particular — compensation, maintenance and reserve — have been used in a number of different ways, and researchers continue to disagree about the kinds of evidence or patterns of results that are required to interpret findings related to these concepts. As such inconsistencies can impede progress in both theoretical and empirical research, here, we aim to clarify and propose consensual definitions of these terms.

Background Population aging is one of the most significant global demographic changes of the 21st century, driven by increased life expectancy and declining fertility rates. This phenomenon presents both achievements and challenges for public health systems worldwide. Aims On the one hand, advances in healthcare and socio-economic conditions have contributed to longer lives and improved quality of life for older adults. On the other hand, aging populations are increasingly affected by chronic diseases, greriatric syndromes, and multimorbidity, leading to greater healthcare demands and higher associated costs. Methods This manuscript explores evidence on regards of the impact of aging on healthcare and economic systems, emphasizing the need for a paradigm shift toward healthy aging. Results Healthy aging, as defined by the World Health Organization, focuses on the maintenance of intrinsic capacity, physical, mental, and social well-being throughout life. It highlights the importance of preventive healthcare, proper nutrition, and regular physical activity in delaying the onset of chronic conditions and maintaining functional independence. Furthermore, the manuscript addresses the challenges faced by healthcare infrastructures and pension systems as they adapt to aging populations, with particular attention to the strain caused by workforce shortages and the rising need for long-term care. Discussion A coordinated public health approach is essential to promote healthy aging and mitigate the economic and societal impacts of population aging. Conclusions This paper underscores the need for integrated health policies and multidisciplinary care models to ensure that longer life expectancy is accompanied by better quality of life for older individuals.