1.
The transcriptional landscape of age in human peripheral blood.
Peters, MJ, Joehanes, R, Pilling, LC, Schurmann, C, Conneely, KN, Powell, J, Reinmaa, E, Sutphin, GL, Zhernakova, A, Schramm, K, et al
Nature communications. 2015;:8570
Abstract
Disease incidences increase with age, but the molecular characteristics of ageing that lead to increased disease susceptibility remain inadequately understood. Here we perform a whole-blood gene expression meta-analysis in 14,983 individuals of European ancestry (including replication) and identify 1,497 genes that are differentially expressed with chronological age. The age-associated genes do not harbor more age-associated CpG-methylation sites than other genes, but are instead enriched for the presence of potentially functional CpG-methylation sites in enhancer and insulator regions that associate with both chronological age and gene expression levels. We further used the gene expression profiles to calculate the 'transcriptomic age' of an individual, and show that differences between transcriptomic age and chronological age are associated with biological features linked to ageing, such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, fasting glucose, and body mass index. The transcriptomic prediction model adds biological relevance and complements existing epigenetic prediction models, and can be used by others to calculate transcriptomic age in external cohorts.
2.
Pomegranate juice is potentially better than apple juice in improving antioxidant function in elderly subjects.
Guo, C, Wei, J, Yang, J, Xu, J, Pang, W, Jiang, Y
Nutrition research (New York, N.Y.). 2008;(2):72-7
Abstract
In the present study, 26 elderly subjects were recruited and randomly divided into 2 groups, that is, apple (low in antioxidant capacity) and pomegranate (high in antioxidant capacity) groups, and 250 mL of juice was consumed daily for 4 weeks. Changes in plasma antioxidant capacity, activity of antioxidant enzymes, contents of ascorbic acid, vitamin E, reduced glutathione, malondialdehyde, oxidized low-density lipoprotein and carbonyls, and the degree of DNA damage in mononuclear blood cells were measured. Urine samples were collected for determination of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine content. Increased plasma antioxidant capacity and decreased plasma carbonyl content were demonstrated after daily consumption of pomegranate juice. In comparison, apple juice consumption presented a less significant effect on antioxidant function in elderly subjects. It is concluded that daily consumption of pomegranate juices is potentially better than apple juice in improving antioxidant function in the elderly. Because the plasma ascorbic acid, vitamin E, and reduced glutathione contents did not differ significantly between the 2 groups in this study, the phenolics may be the functional components contained in pomegranate juice that accounted for the observations.