1,721,113 research outputs found
Vascular genetic factors and lipoprotein metabolism in human longevity
No full textComplex inter-relationships between age-associated illnesses such as vascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) suggest that biological and genetic pathways may be worthy of examination in centenarian populations to provide insights into human longevity. The search for factors involved in aging and longevity has progressed extensively in the recent years because of increased human life expectancy and elevation of the number of elderly people. Different genetic and non genetic factors have been examined in the quest to understand the biological basis of human longevity. Indeed, it can be hypothesised that centenarians have environmental and genetic factors that confer unexpected survival advantage. Examples of such advantage are characterized by marked delay or escape from age-related diseases, such as coronary artery disease (CAD), cerebrovascular disease (CVD), and AD, respectively, the first, the third, and the fourth largest causes of mortality, in the western populatio n. Th us one can suggest that genes and biochemical factors likely to be implicated in these disorders may have a role in human longevity. In this chapter, the authors discuss the evidence that genetic factors, lipids, and lipoproteins, likely to be linked to both vascular disease and AD, may have an additional role in determining human longevity, with special emphasis placed on the APOE and ACE1 genes.Complex inter-relationships between age-associated illnesses such as vascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) suggest that biological and genetic pathways may be worthy of examination in centenarian populations to provide insights into human longevity. The search for factors involved in aging and longevity has progressed extensively in the recent years because of increased human life expectancy and elevation of the number of elderly people. Different genetic and non genetic factors have been examined in the quest to understand the biological basis of human longevity. Indeed, it can be hypothesised that centenarians have environmental and genetic factors that confer unexpected survival advantage. Examples of such advantage are characterized by marked delay or escape from age-related diseases, such as coronary artery disease (CAD), cerebrovascular disease (CVD), and AD, respectively, the first, the third, and the fourth largest causes of mortality, in the western populatio n. Th us one can suggest that genes and biochemical factors likely to be implicated in these disorders may have a role in human longevity. In this chapter, the authors discuss the evidence that genetic factors, lipids, and lipoproteins, likely to be linked to both vascular disease and AD, may have an additional role in determining human longevity, with special emphasis placed on the APOE and ACE1 genes
Amyloid and tau in the brain in sporadic Alzheimer’s disease: defining the chicken and the egg
Full text linkIn the October 2013 issue of Acta Neuropathologica there were three very interesting articles on: Amyloid or tau: the chicken or the egg? In the first article, David Mann and John Hardy argued that the deposition of aggregated amyloid β (Aβ) protein in the brain is a primary driving force behind the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease with tau pathology following as a consequential or at least a secondary event. In the communication that followed, Braak and Del Tredici presented the contrary argument with accumulation of tau protein as the primary event in sporadic Alzheimer’s disease. Attems and Jellinger questioned the concept of a chicken and egg and suggested that the majority of cases of age-associated dementia are not caused by one single primary pathological mechanism
Current knowledge of chromosome 12 susceptibility genes for late-onset Alzheimer's disease
No full textAngiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism in centenarians: different allele frequencies between the North and South of Europe
Full text linkVariants of the angiotensin I converting enzyme (peptidyl-dipeptidase A) 1 (ACE1) gene and the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) have been
suggested to be associated with human longevity. We tested the association between the ACE1 insertion (I allele)/deletion (D allele)
polymorphism and longevity in a population from Southern Italy and examined the impact of geographical variation on ACE1 allele
frequencies on reported associations from other European countries. ACE1 and APOE genotypes were obtained on 82 centenarians and 252
middle-aged, unrelated subjects or volunteers. No statistically significant differences were found in ACE1 genotype or allele frequencies between centenarians and controls in this Southern Italian population nor was there any observed interaction with APOE alleles that are also reputed to be linked to longevity. However, decreasing gradients in ACE1*I allele frequencies, both in centenarians and controls, with concomitant increases in ACE1*D allele frequencies (particularly the ACE1*D/*D genotype) were observed to be statistically significant from Northern to Southern regions of Europe. These findings did not support the previously reported association between ACE1 polymorphism and longevity. However, there were interesting and significant differences, as one moves from Northern to Southern Europe, with regard to the distribution of ACE1 alleles. Such genetic differences in conjunction with differing environmental factors may explain in part previous results suggesting a role of this polymorphism in longevity
Current knowledge of chromosome 12 susceptibility genes for late-onset Alzheimer's disease.
No full textn the last decade, it has become more apparent the important role genes play in the development of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). Great efforts, involving human genome scans and candidate gene studies, have been given towards identifying susceptibility genes for AD. A number of regions on different chromosomes have been reported to demonstrate linkage for AD. Of these, findings on chromosome 12 are some of the most compelling. Worldwide genetic association studies pre-dating and subsequent to recent linkage studies have identified and focused upon a number of genes that map to the areas of reported linkage on chromosome 12, however, analyses of those genes studied to date, on the whole, remain inconclusive and ambiguous. This paper reviews studies that have provided evidence of linkage for AD on chromosome 12 and in turn discusses the work conducted to date on candidate genes that have been identified and map to the chromosome 12 regions of interest
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Shifts in angiotensin I converting enzyme insertion allele frequency across Europe: implications in Alzheimer’s disease risk
Full text link- …
