Searcher: Aging

I found THIS article, which is relevant to this weeks discussion on aging. It explains the following information, however, in less detail than I liked. So, I found s journal article that went into more detail. Owing to increased lifespan and subdued fertility, the world population aged 60 and over is anticipated to increase to 21.8% of the total population by 2050 (Lutz et al, 2008). Many individuals in an aging population will be inflicted with aging-associated diseases, such as various neurodegenerative disorders (Lutz et al, 2008). This phenomenon is of public concern and has thus spurred research in this area. It is believed that healthy aging could be accomplished if mechanisms underlying human aging were to be elucidated. Modern biological theories of human aging are classified into programmed theories and error theories. The programmed theories demonstrate that aging is regulated by some intrinsic mechanisms; by altered switch genes, changed hormones or even a dysfunctional immune system. On the contrary, the error theories emphasize cumulative environment-caused damage, such as reactive oxygen species, cross-linked macromolecules, DNA damage, and broken energy machines (Lutz et al, 2008). However, neither of these theories alone can explain all the phenomena and mechanisms at the root of aging. To date, the fundamental mechanisms of human physiological aging remain largely unknown

·       W. Lutz, W. Sanderson, S. Scherbov. “The coming acceleration of global population ageing” Nature, 451 (2008), pp. 716–719