Mutations that increase the longevity of the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans could define genes involved in a process specific for aging. Alternatively, these mutations could reduce animal metabolic rate and increase longevity as a consequence. In ectotherms, longevity is often negatively correlated with metabolic rate. Consistent with these observations, environmental conditions that redu...

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) 1 regulates chromatin compaction and gene expression by removing acetyl groups from lysine residues within histones. HDAC1 affects a variety of processes including proliferation, development, metabolism, and cancer. Reduction or inhibition of Rpd3, yeast and fly HDAC1 orthologue, extends longevity. However, the mechanism of rpd3's effects on longevity remains unclear....

Annual performance measurements, age structures of female pig inventories, and by-parity culling rates were abstracted from data files of 110 herds that participated in a data-share program in Japan. Parity at culling was used as a prime measurement of longevity, whereas pigs weaned x mated female(-1) x year(-1) (PWMFY) was a prime measurement of reproductive efficiency. High or low longevity h...

More than 100 years ago, Max Rubner combined the fact that both metabolic rate and longevity of mammals varies with body size to calculate that "life energy potential" (lifetime energy turnover per kilogram) was relatively constant. This calculation linked longevity to aerobic metabolism which in turn led to the "rate-of-living" and ultimately the "oxidative stress" theories of aging. However, ...

OBJECTIVES To assess whether familial longevity can be attributed to sustained hematopoietic capacity. DESIGN Prospective follow-up study of two independent population-based cohorts. SETTING The Leiden Longevity Study and the Leiden 85-plus Study. PARTICIPANTS From the Leiden Longevity Study, 1,001 nonagenarians with familial longevity were included. As age-matched controls, 260 nonagenar...

Leaf longevity determines the annual cost of replacing foliage biomass and influences water and nutrient budgets. Longevity is readily estimated in most evergreen species by annual bud scars along the shoot. However, some species with indeterminate growth do not show these annual markers, making estimation of longevity difficult. One of these species is the widespread and economically valuable ...

The life span of C. elegans can be increased via reduced function of the mitochondria; however, the extent to which mitochondrial alteration in a single, distinct tissue may influence aging in the whole organism remains unknown. We addressed this question by asking whether manipulations to ETC function can modulate aging in a cell-non-autonomous fashion. We report that the alteration of mitocho...

Although theories in both evolutionary biology and economics predict that an individual's health should be associated with the individual's time preference, no prior study has been done to empirically support or refute such predictions. By collecting detailed measures of health, time preference, and expected longevity on a sample of individuals in townships around Durban, South Africa, this stu...