Aging and Reproduction in Social Insects – A Mini-Review

Aging and reproduction in social insects--a mini-review.

Perennial social insects are characterized by the extraordinarily long lifespan of their reproductive females, which may be tens or hundreds of times larger than that of non-social insects of similar body size and also greatly surpasses that of conspecific non-reproductives. Evolutionary theories of aging explain this phenomenon from the low extrinsic mortality queens experience once they have ...

Sclerostin and Bone Aging: A Mini-Review.

Sclerostin, mainly produced by osteocytes, is now considered a major regulator of bone formation. Identified from patients with a low bone mass, sclerostin inhibits the Wnt pathway by binding to LRP5/6 and subsequently increases bone formation. Sclerostin may also play a role in the mediation of systemic and local factors such as calcitriol, PTH, glucocorticoids and tumor necrosis factor-alpha....

Humor and aging - a mini-review.

Humor is one of the most important human activities, one that is enjoyed daily by people in every culture and at every age. However, very little is known about how aging affects humor experiences. Research suggests that elderly people enjoy humor more than younger people, but they have increasing difficulties in understanding jokes. Several cognitive mechanisms that may help explain this trend ...

Creativity and Aging: a Mini-Literature Review

Aging of Cloned Animals: A Mini-Review.

The number of species for which somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) protocols are established is still increasing. Due to the high number of cloned farm, companion, and sport animals, the topic of animal cloning never ceases to be of public interest. Numerous studies cover the health status of SCNT-derived animals, but very few cover the effects of SCNT on aging. However, only cloned animals t...