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The physiological parameters characterizing human capacities (the ability to move, reproduce or perform tasks) evolve with ageing: performance is limited at birth, increases to a maximum and then decreases back to zero at the day of death. Physical and intellectual skills follow such a pattern. Here, we investigate the development of sport and chess performances during the lifetime at two different scales: the individual athletes’ careers and the world record by age class in 25 Olympic sports events and in grandmaster chess players. For all data sets, a biphasic development of growth and decline is described by a simple model that accounts for 91.7% of the variance at the individual level and 98.5% of the variance at the species one. The age of performance peak is computed at 26.1 years old for the events studied (26.0 years old for track and field, 21.0 years old for swimming and 31.4 years old for chess). The two processes (growth and decline) are exponential and start at age zero. Both were previously demonstrated to happen in other human and non-human biological functions that evolve with age. They occur at the individual and species levels with a similar pattern, suggesting a scale invariance property.
Public release date: 19-Jun-2011Contact: Dr. Hilary Glover Proteins used to map the aging processLoss of muscle mass is not only associated with disease, such as HIV and cancer, but also with the normal aging process. Anabolic steroids are sometimes used to reverse loss of lean muscle tissue but they can have unwanted side effects. New research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Immunity and Aging, shows that nine proteins, isolated from blood, alter with age and that the profile of some of these proteins can be reversed by testosterone treatment. In a combined study, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and University of Texas Medical Branch compared protein levels in serum samples from two groups of healthy men - young men aged 18-35 and older men aged 60-75. Seven proteins, which were either growth factors (IGF-1, IL-7, IL-12p40, PDGF?), or were involved in immune response (ENA78, MIP-1?, IP-10), and pro-collagen (PIIINP) were all reduced in older men. In contrast the monokine MIG, also involved in immune activity, was elevated. Testosterone treatment increased lean muscle mass, and levels of the appetite suppressing hormone leptin, for both groups of men. Testosterone also increased levels of PIIINP and IGF-1 in young men and the researchers saw a similar increase in a small group of older men. Dr Monty Montano said, "The blood proteins we found that altered with healthy aging also have links to maintenance of muscle, such as IGF-1 and pro-collagen, or are involved in regulation of the immune system, possibly reducing T-cell and neutrophil responses with age. Additionally all of the proteins we found are involved with the signaling pathways controlled by AKT, NF?? and TGF? which are known to be associated with aging." Dr Montano continued, "It is no simple matter to find a one size fits all test for aging – our results suggest that there is a difference in response to anabolic steroids between young and older men, despite both groups increasing in muscle mass. It seems that testosterone replacement does not necessarily mean a restoration of full testosterone functionality for the older man." ###
Notes to Editors
1. Identification of serum biomarkers for aging and anabolic response Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy. Article citation and URL available on request at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it on the day of publication. 2. Immunity & Ageing is an Open Access, peer-reviewed, online journal that considers manuscripts on all aspects of ageing examined from an immunological point of view. 3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.
*************************** J Am Geriatr Soc. 2010 Oct;58 Suppl 2:S298-302. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.03107.x. Predictive health: the imminent revolution in health care.Department of Medicine and Predictive Health, Emory University and the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it AbstractIncreasing social, economic, and political pressures to reform the U.S. approach to medical care makes change likely. A fundamental premise of predictive health is that it should be cheaper (at least per person life-year) and more efficient and have a greater return on the investment of keeping people healthy as opposed to waiting for disease to intervene. The Emory Predictive Health and Society Strategic Initiative and its Center for Health Discovery and Well Being have embarked on a program to define health to the extent that modern science permits in the context of the entire human experience, to identify measurable variables that describe and predict a healthy state, and to use that knowledge to design health-focused interventions that are affordable and effective. Initial results from a study of a randomly selected "essentially healthy" cohort, using extensive assessments and a health partner, are promising. Studies of healthy aging over the entire life spectrum promise valuable normative data for age-specific assessments of health and the setting of realistic health goals.
************************* © 2010, Copyright the Authors. Journal compilation © 2010, The American Geriatrics Society.
Predictive diagnostics and personalized medicine for the prevention of chronic degenerative diseases1 Department of Experimental Pathology, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo 14, 40126, Bologna, Italy 2 Immunosenescence Unit, Department of Pathobiology and Medical and Forensic Biotechnologies, University of Palermo, Corso Tukory 211, Palermo, Italy
© 2010 Licastro and Caruso; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. AbstractProgressive increase of mean age and life expectancy in both industrialized and emerging societies parallels an increment of chronic degenerative diseases (CDD) such as cancer, cardiovascular, autoimmune or neurodegenerative diseases among the elderly. CDD are of complex diagnosis, difficult to treat and absorbing an increasing proportion in the health care budgets worldwide. However, recent development in modern medicine especially in genetics, proteomics, and informatics is leading to the discovery of biomarkers associated with different CDD that can be used as indicator of disease’s risk in healthy subjects. Therefore, predictive medicine is merging and medical doctors may for the first time anticipate the deleterious effect of CDD and use markers to identify persons with high risk of developing a given CDD before the clinical manifestation of the diseases. This innovative approach may offer substantial advantages, since the promise of personalized medicine is to preserve individual health in people with high risk by starting early treatment or prevention protocols. The pathway is now open, however the road to an effective personalized medicine is still long, several (diagnostic) predictive instruments for different CDD are under development, some ethical issues have to be solved. Operative proposals for the heath care systems are now needed to verify potential benefits of predictive medicine in the clinical practice. In fact, predictive diagnostics, personalized medicine and personalized therapy have the potential of changing classical approaches of modern medicine to CDD.
************************* Greater Use Of Preventive Services In U.S. Health Care Could Save Lives At Little Or No Cost
+ Author Affiliations
AbstractThere is broad debate over whether preventive health services save money or represent a good investment. This paper analyzes the estimated cost of adopting a package of twenty proven preventive services—including tobacco cessation screening, alcohol abuse screening, and daily aspirin use—against the estimated savings that could be generated. We find that greater use of proven clinical preventive services in the United States could avert the loss of more than two million life-years annually. What’s more, increasing the use of these services from current levels to 90 percent in 2006 would result in total savings of $3.7 billion, or 0.2 percent of U.S. personal health care spending. These findings suggest that policy makers should pursue options that move the nation toward greater use of proven preventive services. Health Affairs September 2010 vol. 29 no. 9 1656-1660
************************* Public release date: 10-Jun-2011 High Intensity Strength training for Seniors improves Quality of LifePeople lose 30% of their muscle strength between the ages of 50 and 70 years. However, maintaining muscle strength in old age is enormously important in order to maintain mobility and to be able to lead an independent life and manage everyday tasks independently. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Frank Mayer and colleagues from the University of Potsdam conclude that progressive strength (resistance) training counteracts muscular atrophy in old age (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108(21): 359-64). The authors investigated the extent of the effects that can be achieved by strength (resistance) training in elderly persons and which intensities of exercise are useful and possible in persons older than 60 years. They found that regular strength (resistance) training increased muscle strength, reduced muscular atrophy, and that tendons and bones adapt too. These successes in turn had a preventive effect in terms of avoiding falls and injuries. Greater intensities of training yielded greater effects than moderate and low intensities. In order to increase muscle mass, an intensity of 60-85% of the one-repetition-maximum is required. In order to increase rapidly available muscle force, higher intensities (>85%) are required. The optimum amount of exercise for healthy elderly persons is 3 to 4 training units per week. In the coming decades, the importance of maintaining the ability to work and to make a living will increase, as will the need for independence in everyday life and leisure activities. The increase in the retirement age to 67 years from 2012 means that one in three adults of working age will be older than 50 by 2020, and by 2050, the proportion of people older than 60 in Germany's population will rise to an estimated 40%. Currently, the proportion of elderly persons who practice strength (resistance) training is about 10-15%. ###
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