576 research outputs found
Sex and gender affect immune aging
No full textThe proposed review aims to elucidate the intricate interplay between biological factors (sex differences) and socially constructed factors (gender differences) in the context of immune aging. While the influence of biological differences between men and women on various aspects of immune responses has long been recognized, it is crucial to acknowledge that gender, encompassing the social and cultural roles and expectations associated with being male or female, also significantly shapes these processes. Gender can either accelerate immune aging or promote longevity. By recognizing the impact of both biological and social factors, this work seeks to offer a comprehensive understanding of why men and women may experience divergent trajectories in immune aging and varying outcomes in terms of longevity. Discrepancies in perceived roles of the sexes, both within families and at work, contribute to differing patterns of antigen exposure. Additionally, variations in micronutrient intake and access to preventive healthcare facilities may exist. Health promotion knowledge often correlates with educational attainment, which is unequally represented between males and females in many cultures and across generations in the Western world. In countries without a universal healthcare system, access to healthcare relies on family prioritization strategies to cope with economic constraints, potentially limiting access to specific treatments and affecting immune responses negatively. As a result, both biological factors and social and behavioral factors associated with gender contribute to disparities in immune responses, susceptibility to infections, autoimmune diseases, and vaccine responses among older individuals. However, as demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, older females exhibit greater resilience to infections than older males. Given the crucial role of the immune system in achieving longevity, it is not surprising that women live longer than men, and the number of female centenarians surpasses that of male centenarians
Demographic aspects of aging
No full textPopulation aging is occurring in almost all developed countries, albeit with differences in timing and intensity. This unprecedented phenomenon is evident not only in the change in the population age structure, but also in the impressive increase in the average length of life. After describing past, current, and future population trends, this contribution presents theories explaining the reasons for this long-term process that is completely reshaping the age structure of the population. It also describes the inequalities in aging (focusing in particular on the differences by gender, education, and cause of death), and introduces some measures of the individual health and economic consequences of population aging. The conclusions mention the main consequences of an aging society (e.g., problems related to the costs of health and pension programs for old people), and of an increase in individual life span (e.g., the effects on the well-being and life-styles of individuals, and on the social and economic lives of older people and their families)
Climate Change, Socio-Economic Status, and Life Expectancy
No full textThe relationship between climate change, socio-economic status, and life expectancy is complex and interlinked. Climate change exacerbates environmental conditions that disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities, often due to lower socio-economic status. Poorer populations are generally more vulnerable to extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and floods, because they have fewer resources for adaptation and recovery. For instance, they might live in less durable housing, have limited access to healthcare, and face higher exposure to environmental hazards. This increased vulnerability can lead to higher morbidity and mortality rates, thereby reducing life expectancy. Additionally, socio-economic status impacts an individual’s ability to mitigate or adapt to climate-related changes. Those with lower incomes may struggle more with the health impacts of climate change, as they might lack the financial means to afford preventive measures, such as air conditioning or healthcare services. Overall, climate change can deepen existing inequalities by disproportionately affecting those who are already marginalized, contributing to a decline in life expectancy for these vulnerable group
La malattia: dagli sciamani alla medicina di precisione
No full textThis book is not only an introductory refocusing of the foundations of Pathology
general, but it would also be an excellent guide to intelligently instruct a solid, more advanced
and necessary reform of medical curricula. The General Pathology has represented, at the origins and
in the phase of greater scientific development of medicine, the space for meeting and integration between the two
more advanced experimental applications applied to the study of diseases. A little abandoned in its function
of theoretical synthesis from the advent of EBM (evidence based medicine), in the face of the challenges represented
from the flow of genomic data and from the expectations of seeing a new personalized medicine re-emerge
(because even the Hippocratic one in his methodological aspiration was a cropped medicine
on the individual patient), the General Pathology could return to constitute, and this book is one
valid example, a field of reflection able to re-establish the medicine theoretically, procuring
a scientific reference framework capable of acquiring and transmitting to the doctor the relevant topics
of a humanistic nature
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