scholarly journals Microbiome and Human Aging: Probiotic and Prebiotic Potentials in Longevity, Skin Health and Cellular Senescence

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 4550
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Lena Boyajian ◽  
Merry Ghebretatios ◽  
Sabrina Schaly ◽  
Paromita Islam ◽  
Satya Prakash

The role of the microbiome in human aging is important: the microbiome directly impacts aging through the gastrointestinal system. However, the microbial impact on skin has yet to be fully understood. For example, cellular senescence is an intrinsic aging process that has been recently associated with microbial imbalance. With age, cells become senescent in response to stress wherein they undergo irreversible growth arrest while maintaining high metabolic activity. An accumulation of senescent cells has been linked to various aging and chronic pathologies due to an overexpression of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) comprised of proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, proteases, lipids and extracellular matrix components. In particular, dermatological disorders may be promoted by senescence as the skin is a common site of accumulation. The gut microbiota influences cellular senescence and skin disruption through the gut-skin axis and secretion of microbial metabolites. Metabolomics can be used to identify and quantify metabolites involved in senescence. Moreover, novel anti-senescent therapeutics are warranted given the poor safety profiles of current pharmaceutical drugs. Probiotics and prebiotics may be effective alternatives, considering the relationship between the microbiome and healthy aging. However, further research on gut composition under a senescent status is needed to develop immunomodulatory therapies.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (139) ◽  
pp. 52-74
Author(s):  
Henrique Espada Lima

Abstract This article examines postmortem inventories and notarial records from Brazilian slaveholders in southern Brazil in the nineteenth century. By discussing selected cases in detail, it investigates the relationship between “precarious masters” (especially the poor and/or disabled, widows without family, and single elderly slaveholding women and men) and their slaves and former slaves to whom they bequeathed, in their testaments and final wills, manumission and property. The article reads these documents as intergenerational contractual arrangements that connected the masters’ expectations for care in illness and old age with the slaves’ and former slaves’ expectations for compensation for their work and dedication. Following these uneven relationships of interdependence and exploitation as they developed over time, the article suggests a reassessment of the role of paternalism in Brazil during the country’s final century of slavery. More than a tool to enforce relations of domination, paternalism articulated with the dynamics of vulnerability and interdependency as they changed over the life courses of both enslaved people and slave owners. This article shows how human aging became a terrain of negotiation and struggle as Brazilian slave society transformed throughout the nineteenth century.


Author(s):  
Irene Rodríguez-Gómez ◽  
Asier Mañas ◽  
José Losa-Reyna ◽  
Luis M. Alegre ◽  
Leocadio Rodríguez-Mañas ◽  
...  

The objectives were to clarify whether the relationship between physical performance and frailty was independently and jointly mediated by movement behaviors and body composition. We analyzed 871 older adults (476 women) from The Toledo Study for Healthy Aging. Skeletal muscle index (SMI) and fat index (FI) were determined using bone densitometry. Sedentary time (ST) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were assessed using accelerometry. The Frailty Trait Scale and The Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) were used to evaluate frailty and physical performance, respectively. Simple and multiple mediation analyses were carried out to determine the role of movement behaviors and body composition, adjusted for potential confounders. ST and MVPA acted independently as mediators in the relationship between SPPB and frailty (0.06% for ST and 16.89% for MVPA). FI also acted as an independent mediator in the same relationship (36.47%), while the mediation role of SMI was not significant. MVPA and FI both acted jointly as mediators in this previous relationship explaining 58.15% of the model. Our data support the fact that interventions should simultaneously encourage the promotion of MVPA and strategies to decrease the FI in order to prevent or treat frailty through physical performance improvement.


1991 ◽  
Vol 73 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1171-1180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Brandon ◽  
J. Mark Loftin ◽  
Jack Curry

Researchers have investigated the effect of exercise on reducing subjects' responsiveness to stress. Results from the initial studies were positive, yet these studies often did not use objective measures of fitness. This investigation applied more rigorous methodology than past experiments to assess the relationship between fitness and reactivity to stress. Maximal oxygen consumption was measured to indicate the fitness of recreational cyclists who were then exposed to three stressful situations (mental subtraction, speech preparation, and the cold pressor test). Heart rate, frontalis electromyographic (EMG) levels, and self-report of tension were monitored during the stress-inducing tasks. Physical fitness was significantly related to heart rate taken during the subtraction and cold pressor tasks, with EMG during subtraction, and with self-report during all three stressor tasks. These results further support the hypothesized association of physical fitness and reducing response to stress.


Author(s):  
Lois Shepherd

This chapter examines three primary public health goals relating to elderly populations: promoting healthy aging (including aging in place), reducing health inequities, and extending life spans. It then considers the ways in which programs or policies to advance population-wide goals are challenged to meet ethical responsibilities to protect older adults from harm, respect their autonomy and dignity, and treat them fairly or justly when resources are limited. Lastly, by looking at a difficult situation commonly faced in hospitals—the discharge of an elderly patient who may not be able to safely return home—the chapter introduces questions about the relationship between public health ethics, clinical ethics, and social justice, and about the future role of public health as a field of inquiry and action.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Stefan T. Kamin ◽  
Alexander Seifert ◽  
Frieder R. Lang

ABSTRACT Research indicates that Internet use positively influences cognitive functioning in later life, but we do not know the behavioral pathways that explain this association. This study explored the role of participation in activities as a potential mediator of the relationship between Internet use and cognitive functioning over a 4-year period. We analyzed representative data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The sample included 8353 European participants between 50 and 97 years of age. We used data from 2013 (T1), 2015 (T2), and 2017 (T3). Participants reported whether they participated in a diverse range of social and leisure activities. In addition, they provided information about their Internet use as well as cognitive functioning measures. Findings from cross-lagged panel analysis indicated a positive association between Internet use and change in cognition over the course of 4 years. This relationship was partly mediated by the number of reported activities. Internet use was positively associated with the change in activities after 2 years, which, in turn, positively predicted cognitive functioning 2 more years later. This is the first study that explores the temporal sequence of Internet use, participation in activities, and cognitive functioning. It sheds light on the mechanisms that account for the positive effects of Internet use on healthy aging.


Author(s):  
Bonnie Lorenzen ◽  
Laura L. Murray

Abstract Purpose: In recent years, research has identified a positive connection between physical fitness and exercise, and cognitive performance in healthy aging (e.g., Colcombe & Kramer, 2003) as well as a number of patient populations (e.g., Mostert & Kesselring, 2002). To increase awareness of the benefits of exercise on cognitive and communicative health, this paper reviews the literature pertaining to the cognitive effects of exercise in healthy individuals, as well as preliminary findings regarding the role of exercise in disordered populations including those with stroke, dementia, traumatic brain injury, and multiple sclerosis. It presents a treatment program combining low-intensity fitness training with speech-language therapy that was developed for an individual with traumatic brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and poor physical fitness. Method: A review of the literature was conducted to summarize and synthesize previously published research in the area of exercise and cognition in healthy and patient populations. Results and Conclusions: There is a growing understanding of the relationship between exercise and cognition in both healthy and aging patient populations. Research with various patient populations reveals positive outcomes and suggests the need to further this line of research in individuals with neurogenic cognitive-communicative disorders.


2021 ◽  
pp. mbc.E21-05-0262
Author(s):  
Taiki Nagano ◽  
Yuto Awai ◽  
Shione Kuwaba ◽  
Taiichi Osumi ◽  
Kentaro Mio ◽  
...  

Cellular senescence is a state of permanent proliferative arrest induced by a variety of stresses, such as DNA damage. The transcriptional activity of p53 has been known to be essential for senescence induction. It remains unknown, however, whether among the downstream genes of p53, there is a gene that has anti-senescence function. Our recent studies have indicated that the expression of SLC52A1 (also known as GPR172B/RFVT1), a riboflavin transporter, is upregulated specifically in senescent cells depending on p53, but the relationship between senescence and SLC52A1 or riboflavin has not been described. Here, we examined the role of SLC52A1 in senescence. We found that knockdown of SLC52A1 promoted senescence phenotypes induced by DNA damage in tumor and normal cells. The senescence suppressive-action of SLC52A1 was dependent on its riboflavin transport activity. Furthermore, elevation of intracellular riboflavin led to activation of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) mediated by the mitochondrial electron transport chain complex II. Finally, the SLC52A1-dependent activation of MMP inhibited the AMPK-p53 pathway, a central mediator of mitochondria dysfunction-related senescence. These results suggest that SLC52A1 contributes to suppress senescence through the uptake of riboflavin and acts downstream of p53 as a negative feedback mechanism to limit aberrant senescence induction.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026540752199043
Author(s):  
Saul McLeod ◽  
Katherine Berry ◽  
Peter Taylor ◽  
Alison Wearden

In the present research, we examined whether attachment anxiety and avoidance in support recipients were related to preferences for specific types of support. In addition, we examined whether stress moderated the relationship between attachment and support needs. Two-hundred and forty-five first-time mothers, currently involved in romantic relationships, participated in study 1, in which support needs and stress were appraised over the previous month using self-reports. High levels of attachment avoidance were related to needing less support, but attachment anxiety was not associated with support needs. There was no hyperactivation or deactivation of the attachment system in response to stress. It is possible that recall bias, associated with cross-sectional methods, may have confounded the results. In study 2, we sought to replicate these hypotheses using an ambulatory method to examine the association between attachment and momentary support needs in the daily life of mothers with babies ( N = 40). Results revealed that attachment anxiety was associated with a preference for high levels of momentary support, but attachment avoidance was not related to any support needs. Stress experienced in the moment was found to moderate the relationships between attachment and support needs, with mothers high in anxiety and avoidance needing more support.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Parr

Abstract This commentary focuses upon the relationship between two themes in the target article: the ways in which a Markov blanket may be defined and the role of precision and salience in mediating the interactions between what is internal and external to a system. These each rest upon the different perspectives we might take while “choosing” a Markov blanket.


Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 212-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Joiner ◽  
Melanie A. Hom ◽  
Megan L. Rogers ◽  
Carol Chu ◽  
Ian H. Stanley ◽  
...  

Abstract. Background: Lowered eye blink rate may be a clinically useful indicator of acute, imminent, and severe suicide risk. Diminished eye blink rates are often seen among individuals engaged in heightened concentration on a specific task that requires careful planning and attention. Indeed, overcoming one’s biological instinct for survival through suicide necessitates premeditation and concentration; thus, a diminished eye blink rate may signal imminent suicidality. Aims: This article aims to spur research and clinical inquiry into the role of eye blinks as an indicator of acute suicide risk. Method: Literature relevant to the potential connection between eye blink rate and suicidality was reviewed and synthesized. Results: Anecdotal, cognitive, neurological, and conceptual support for the relationship between decreased blink rate and suicide risk is outlined. Conclusion: Given that eye blinks are a highly observable behavior, the potential clinical utility of using eye blink rate as a marker of suicide risk is immense. Research is warranted to explore the association between eye blink rate and acute suicide risk.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document