BACKGROUND Although the concept of healthy ageing has stimulated considerable interest, no generally accepted definition has been developed nor has its biological basis been determined. OBJECTIVE To develop a definition of healthy ageing and investigate its association with longevity and neuropathology. METHODS Analyses were based on cognitive, physical, and post-mortem assessments from 199...

Human longevity is a complex phenotype that has a significant genetic predisposition. Like other biological processes, ageing process is governed through the regulation of signaling pathways and transcription factors. The DNA damage theory of ageing suggests that ageing is a consequence of un-repaired DNA damage accumulation. Intensive research has been carried out to elucidate the role of DNA ...

AIM The aim of this study was to explore and understand the complexity of ageing in relation to factors of importance for extending working life. METHOD Discourse analysis of documents was used in an integrative review including 128 articles. RESULT Four different conceptualisation of ageing are shown to affect older workers' ability to extend their working life: (a) biological ageing peopl...

Tom Kirkwood is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Institute for Ageing and Health at Newcastle University, UK. After training in mathematics and biology at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford he first worked on the measurement of blood clotting and fibrinolytic factors. Early in his career he began an interest in the biology of ageing which he has followed since 1975. In 1977 he pu...

BACKGROUND Human diploid fibroblasts (HDFs) undergo a limited number of cellular divisions in culture and progressively reach a state of irreversible growth arrest, a process termed cellular ageing. Even though beneficial effects of Piper betle, Chlorella vulgaris and tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) have been reported, ongoing studies in relation to ageing is of interest to determine possible p...

BACKGROUND Health behaviour patterns in older groups, including tobacco and alcohol use, are key factors in chronic disease prevention. We explore ageing self-perceptions as motivating factors behind smoking and drinking alcohol in older adults, and the complex reasons why individuals engage harmfully in these behaviours. METHODS Cigarette and alcohol use was assessed in a large cross-section...

1. AGEING Ageing is an integral, natural part of life. The way in which we grow old and experience this process, our health and functional ability all depend not only on our genetic makeup, but also (and importantly) on what we have done during our lives; on what sort of things we have encountered in the course of our lifetime; on how and where we have lived our lives. Lifespan is defined as th...

BACKGROUND Physical activity is associated with improved overall health in those people who survive to older ages, otherwise conceptualised as healthy ageing. Previous studies have examined the effects of mid-life physical activity on healthy ageing, but not the effects of taking up activity later in life. We examined the association between physical activity and healthy ageing over 8 years of ...

In spite of a growing body of research and data, human ageing remains a poorly understood process. Over 10 years ago we developed the Human Ageing Genomic Resources (HAGR), a collection of databases and tools for studying the biology and genetics of ageing. Here, we present HAGR's main functionalities, highlighting new additions and improvements. HAGR consists of six core databases: (i) the Gen...

This essay provides a critical analysis of the ageing-and-innovation discourse. The ageing-and-innovation discourse is a key rhetorical structure that legitimizes very large investments in technologies for older people. In this discourse, ageing is positioned as an imminent crisis that will affect whole societies, both socially and economically. Investing in technological solutions is, in turn,...