New research on aging and healthy living, explained. Every night, a few new studies on how we age and what keeps us healthy, in plain language and with links to the original papers.
Old mouse hearts put into young mice became biologically younger, and young hearts in old mice aged faster. Biopsies from 11 heart-transplant patients pointed the same way. The study is a preprint.
Animal and human data
The thymus slowly turns into fat after puberty. In a Danish study of almost 1,300 adults, people living with HIV on long-term treatment had more thymus tissue left than people without HIV, and those with more tissue showed less inflammation.
Observational study in people
Most “biological age” tests are built from mixed data of women and men. A large study built separate clocks for each sex across 15 organ systems and found that they point to different weak spots and predict different diseases.
Observational study in people
In a placebo-controlled trial in Amsterdam, the senolytic drug pair dasatinib and quercetin reduced liver scarring in people with fatty liver disease. The trial was small, and a larger one is needed.
Randomized trial in people
In the NeuroFit trial, inactive adults aged 45 to 65 did 30-minute live online classes three times a week. Their mood improved compared with a control group; the memory skill the trial was designed to test did not.
Randomized trial in people
Blood proteins shift during menopause, more in step with hormone levels than with age. Older women with a more “postmenopausal” protein pattern had faster cognitive decline and a slightly higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Observational study in people
A mouse study links two hallmarks of aging. When a selective protein-recycling system called chaperone-mediated autophagy declines, senescent cells change their signals and the immune cells that should eat them get worse at it.
Animal study
Brains donated by 112 Dutch centenarians show that many kept their minds either by avoiding amyloid build-up altogether, or by carrying amyloid without letting the more harmful tau protein spread. The study is a preprint.
Observational study in people
Mice on a 30% calorie-restricted diet had up to 39% fewer new mutations in their liver cells by old age. Oddly, the protection was strongest in the parts of the genome cells don’t use much.
Animal study
Metformin is thought to work partly through an energy sensor called AMPK, but it does many other things too. A compound that switches AMPK on directly extended lifespan in three species, and only when AMPK was there to switch on.
Animal study
The Long Run