Throughout history, mankind has been obsessed with discovering a cure for any ailments or disorders that could disrupt or hinder their short lives, especially those to evade the aging process. With society becoming increasingly interested in everlasting beauty and living longer, the race to discover the main contributor toward aging begun in the early nineteen hundreds. In the midst of this quest, several biological theories had been developed. Among these theories is the immunity or immunological theory. This paper will discuss the immunological theory of aging by explaining the theory, giving a history of its origin and a description of further development within the evolution of the theory.
Aging, as exhibited within the immunity theory, was described as a pre-programmed accumulation of damage, decay and decline within the function of the immune system caused by oxidative stress as a result of the Hayflick limit or biological clock (Touhy and Jett, 2012). This limit refers to the idea that aging is the result of cell and organisms containing a genetically predetermined life span (Touhy and Jett, 2012). This suggested that in relation to a cell’s proliferative instinct, aging becomes more relevant within an individual when the cells reach the limit, introducing cellular errors of imperfect proliferations that result into further damage. Furthermore, no cell within the body has seemed to be above this concept, including the B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes of the immune system. In fact, cellular errors within the immune system have been found to cultivate an autoregressive phenomenon in which normal cells are misidentified as foreign and are consequently destroyed by the body’s own immune system (Touhy and Jett, 2012). The dest...
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...otecting them from further dangerous exogenous substances, a price is later paid with a weakened dysregulated immune system, becoming susceptible to aging and age related diseases (DeVeale, Brummel & Seroude, 2004). Despite continued research into the complex aging process, humans are continually aging both physically and mentally. However, just as the immune system is a part of the complexity of the human being, so is aging (Effros, 2005).
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Common sense seems to dictate that we are all going to die one day. As we all get older we crave to keep our youth, and to stay young forever is the ultimate dream. The thought of a possible immortality is just an added benefit. Even though we have strived towards this goal for centuries, have we obtained advances in successfully staying young forever? In Bill Gifford’s book “Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying)” he explores these ideas of life and aging further. In this novel, he goes on a journey to try and debunk the mysteries and questions behind the new science of aging. He gathers information from tests and scientists from around the country to discover what really works to prevent or delay aging and what is just a hopeful hoax. He helps us figure out why we age and why aging
Aging / HSF1 / UPR (Ben-Zvi et al., 2009; Cohen et al., 2012; Denny et al., 2013)
Goldman, Bruce. “Scientists Discover Blood Factors That Appear to Cause Aging in Brains of Mice.”
...nescence is result of a combination of the antagonist pleiotropy theory, mutation accumulation theory and disposable soma theory. The three evolutionary theories claim that natural selection is weak and ineffective in sustaining reproduction, growth, survival and somatic repair during the post-reproductive years causing genetic diseases in older individuals compared to younger individuals. As biological processes shut down, older individuals develop a weak immune system that can no longer fight the deleterious genes and mutations leading to death. Moreover, the evolutionary theories paved way for new research in gerontology that led to the development of new genetic theories of aging. The definite cause of genetic diseases in older individuals is yet to be determined, but all theories suggest that senescence is an inevitable process that all organisms experience.
Norman J. Vetter (1992). Gerald Bennett and Shah Ebrahim, The Essentials of Health Care of the Elderly, Edward Arnold, London, 1992, 207 pp., £9.99, ISBN 0 340 54599 3.. Ageing and Society, 12, pp 406-407 doi:10.1017/S0144686X00005195
Aging is an inevitable process where we as living beings grow old. Aging has some benefits and may bring some problems too. There is a great variety of researches done with different purposes which provide us with some information and statistics.
Aging is a phenomena we are all familiar with, a trait characteristic of all humankind, in fact, of all living organisms. What are the effects of aging, especially those which go beyond the biological aspects and effect the social aspects of changing roles, seniority, and treatment of the aged? What was the original human condition before high-tech medical interventions redefined death and dying, before the industrial age changed the nature of the nuclear and extended family? Going back still farther, what can the behavior of chimpanzees tell us about the origins of our responses to the aging of those around us?
The goal of the Healthy People 2020 initiative is to “improve the health, function, and quality of life of older adults.” (Healthy People, 2015) Regardless of age, everyone is a unique individual, with the same range of values, gifts and flaws as any other person. Young nurses need to help aging people keep their autonomy as long as possible by not doing things for them that they can do for themselves. As nurses, our ultimate goal should be to expand training and research opportunities in this area and eliminate ageism in all facets.
Historically, the first attempt to explain aging from an evolutionary perspective was proposed as the “mutation accumulation” theory, which posits that the force of natural election decreases with age, allowing the accumulation of deleterious genes with age-specific effects on mortality rate. In other words, natural selection is quite effective at eliminating alleles that have deleterious effects early in life, but late in life its force diminishes; evolution allows the accumulation of deleterious alleles by a combination of mutation pressure and genetic drift, unopposed by natural selection (Rose 363-371). This idea, as sketchy as is was unsubstantiated, was further developed into “antagonistic pleiotropy” hypothesis, which basically argues that natural selection favors alleles that have aging as a side-effect, provided they had beneficial effect during youth - they exhibit pleiotropic, or opposite effects at different calendar ages, and senescence is basically a “maladaptive byproduct of selection for survival and reproduction during youth” (Fabian and Flatt).
SÍTAR, M.E., YANAR, K., AYDIN, S. and ÇAKATAY, U., CURRENT ASPECTS OF AGEING THEORIES AND CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO MECHANISMS. .
In conclusion, there are several benefits to thinking about ageing as a lifelong process, and not just as something which affects older people. Combating ageism at any age, celebrating the diversity amongst our ageing population, and the importance of having a healthier lifestyle in the present to prepare our bodies for the challenges posed by ageing are all valid strengths to this reasoning. It is also important to be able to relate these benefits in terms to your own experiences as this knowledge gives you a greater empathy with
As a person ages, the thymus of that person begins to age as well. The phenotype of this aging is seen as withering or shrinkage. This withering or shrinkage is due in part to the stromal cell deficiency. This deficiency is a result of elevated levels of H2O2 and several types of oxidative damage. Dr. Griffith and other researchers discovered that the genetic complementation of catalase in stromal cells can be preserved with antioxidants. By finding this, the conclusion was drawn that there is a direct correlation between antioxidants, metabolism, and normal immune function. To further test this theory, Dr. Griffith is currently following up with this phenomenon in the
Loue, S. and Sajatovic, M. 2007. Encyclopedia of aging and public health. New York: Springer.
Centenarian longevity is very much based on the internal physiological functioning and health input and output of these individuals. Physiological functioning including the immune system functioning has seen to be maintained and even increased for these longevous human beings. Neutrophilic functioning for fighting infection, and gluthathione and catalyst activity are also maintained through the century years. These results show high correlations between the levels of centenarians, and those of young adults. Genetic-wise, the longer the telomere, the longer the lifespan, due to cell division. Polymorphic genes regulate the immune system and other surrounding structures, maintaining its functions. Furthermore, health-conscious individuals are more likely to maintain a longer life, and reach the century age. This is due to maintenance of functioning by adapting healthy routines throughout their lifetime, even through old age. In conclusion, maintenance of the body and physiological aspects similar to young adults at old ages show a great increase in surviving and living beyond 100 years.
Researchers have found out that the aging of cells is a result of damage in the molecules which make up the cells, such as proteins, lipids, DNA and RNA. These building blocks of our cells get damaged over time, this causes the cells to function less well. The cells in their turn build up the different tissues in the human body, therefor if these cells operate less well the entire human body will be affected by this in the form of aging.