Background. Modifiable factors in adulthood that explain the racial disparity in prostate cancer have not been identified. Because racial differences in utero that may account for this disparity are understudied, we investigated the association of maternal and neonate factors with cord blood telomere length, as a cumulative marker of cell proliferation and oxidative damage, by race. Further, we...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Accumulating evidence suggests that telomere length is a maker for biological aging of the cardiovascular system. Whether stroke is associated with accelerated biological aging as measured by telomere length has not been conclusively demonstrated. Our aim was to determine whether mean leukocyte telomere length is a predictor for the development of stroke. METHODS The re...

Leukocyte telomere lengths (LTLs) are shorter in obese compared with normal weight people. However, it is not known whether sperm telomere length (STL) is related to obesity. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of men's body mass index (BMI) on STL, embryo quality, and clinical outcomes in couples undergoing IVF. In total, 651 couples were recruited, including 345 men with a normal ...

Spermiogenesis Germ cells differentiate and function to transmit the parental genome to descendant generations. All of the attributes of germ cells that distinguish them from somatic cell lines are related to this prime function. Germ cells differentiate by either oogenesis or spermatogenesis to form eggs and sperm, respectively. Meiosis occurs exclusively in the formation of eggs and sperm and...

BACKGROUND Telomere length has been proposed as a marker of aging. However, our knowledge of lifestyle risk factors determining telomere length is limited. METHODS We evaluated the associations between years of rotating night shifts, self-reported sleep duration, and telomere length in 4,117 female participants from the Nurses' Health Study. Telomere length in peripheral blood leukocytes was ...

Telomeres shorten with age, which may be linked to genomic instability and an increased risk of cancer. To explore this association, we analyzed telomere length in normal colorectal tissue of individuals at different ages using quantitative-fluorescence in situ hybridization (QFISH) and quantitative-PCR (Q-PCR). Using Q-FISH, we also examined the histologically normal epithelium adjacent to, or...

In a broad range of species--including humans--it has been demonstrated that telomere length declines throughout life and that it may be involved in cell and organismal senescence. This potential link to ageing and thus to fitness has triggered recent interest in understanding how variation in telomere length is inherited and maintained. However, previous studies suffer from two main drawbacks ...

Telomeres shorten with age, which may be linked to genomic instability and an increased risk of cancer. To explore this association, we analyzed telomere length in normal colorectal tissue of individuals at different ages using quantitative-fluorescence in situ hybridization (Q-FISH) and quantitative-PCR (Q-PCR). Using Q-FISH, we also examined the histologically normal epithelium adjacent to, o...

Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein caps that protect chromosome ends assuring cell division. Single-cell telomere quantification in animals established a critical role for telomerase in stem cells, yet, in plants, telomere-length quantification has been reported only at the organ level. Here, a quantitative analysis of telomere length of single cells in Arabidopsis root apex uncovered a he...

Telomeres play a critical role in maintaining genome integrity. Telomere shortening is associated with the risk of many aging-related diseases. Classic twin studies have shown that genetic components may contribute up to 80% of the heritability of telomere length. In the study we report here that we used a multistage genome-wide association study to identify genetic determinants of telomere len...