The first symptoms of major depression may be behavioral, but the common mental illness is based in biology — and not limited to the brain. In recent years some studies have linked major, long-term depression with life-threatening chronic disease and with earlier death, even after lifestyle risk...
Declining levels of the protein BubR1 occur when both people and animals age, and contribute to cell senescence or deterioration, weight loss, muscle wasting and cataracts. Mayo Clinic researchers have shown that adult progenitor or stem cells -- important for repair and regeneration of skeletal...
Research from Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute sheds new light on a gene called ATRX and its function in the brain and pituitary. Children born with ATRX syndrome have cognitive defects and developmental abnormalities. ATRX mutations have also been linked to brain tumors...
University of Montreal researchers have discovered a novel molecular mechanism that can potentially slows the aging process and may prevent the progression of some cancers. In a recent online edition of the prestigious journal Aging Cell, scientists from the University of Montreal explain how...
The English singer-songwriter Dido just came out with a new album, so she's doing a fair amount of press. And as a female celebrity over 40, she's getting asked about her age. But instead of spouting platitudes about aging, beauty, and confidence (not that we don't love those; we do), she...
Snail cream--i.e. face cream made with snail slime--has been a popular acne treatment and anti wrinkle cream in Korea and Africa for awhile, but thanks to celebrities like Katie Holmes, it could become a new skin care fad in the U.S. soon, too. According to Look magazine, Holmes uses snail cream...
In efforts to understand what influences life span, cancer and aging, scientists are building roadmaps to navigate and learn about cells at the molecular level. To survey previously uncharted territory, a team of researchers at UW-Madison created an "atlas" that maps more than 1,500 unique...
Jude Law is happy that he was cast as Keira Knightley's unattractive husband in Anna Karenina, at least according to a New York Times profile that's making the rounds today for his quote about no longer being a "pretty young thing." In some ways, his reflections on aging in Hollywood sound like...
New research from the US finds that older people who have a positive view on aging are more likely to recover from severe disability than those who hold negative stereotypes about being older. It calls for more studies to investigate whether promoting positive age stereotypes extends...
Patients with diabetes have a significantly higher prevalence of hearing impairment than patients without diabetes, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Study authors note that the finding is likely...
A new MIT study has found that a protein that slows aging in mice and other animals also helps fight against the damages of a high-fat diet, including diabetes. Over a decade ago, SIRT1's longevity-boosting properties were discovered by MIT biology professor Leonard Guarente, who has continued...
Hundreds of mutations exist in leukemia cells at the time of diagnosis, but nearly all occur randomly as a part of normal aging and are not related to cancer, new research shows. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that even in healthy people, stem...
Activity lingers longer in certain areas of the brain in those with Alzheimer's than it does in healthy people, Mayo Clinic researchers who created a map of the brain found. The results suggest varying brain activity may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. The study, "Non-stationarity in the...
New research suggests middle-aged and older women who experience high levels of a common form of anxiety known phobic anxiety, such as being unreasonably fearful of crowds and heights, are more likely to carry a risk factor tied to premature aging: they have shorter telomeres. The effect is...
Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have, for the first time, identified a single gene that simultaneously controls inflammation, accelerated aging and cancer. "This was certainly an unexpected finding," said principal investigator Robert J. Schneider, PhD, the Albert Sabin Professor of...
Efforts to understand how the aging process affects the brain and cognition have expanded beyond simply comparing younger and older adults. "Everybody ages differently. By looking at genetic variations and individual differences in markers of vascular health, we begin to understand that...
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that one-third of U.S. adults with arthritis, 45 years and older, report having anxiety or depression. According to findings that appear today, April 30th, in Arthritis Care & Research, a journal published by...
Shrinkage of the hippocampus occurs with age and is caused by the cumulative effect of various factors. Hippocampal atrophy is a recognized biological marker of Alzheimer's disease, so it is vital that researchers determine the cause of this process. An international study under the French...
Yesterday, Buzzfeed tallied the toll of drugs, sex and rock and roll on some of the world's most famous rock stars. The view wasn't pretty; while some of them have been lucky enough to keep a pretty fresh face into old age (Joan Jett!), the rest were...not so lucky. For comparison's sake, we...
One of the big mysteries in biology is why cells age. Now scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies report that they have discovered a weakness in a component of brain cells that may explain how the aging process occurs in the brain. The scientists discovered that certain proteins...