Diseases of old age

The recognition that cells such as neurons and muscle or cardiac cells, which were previously considered incapable of proliferating in old age, retain the potential for plasticity and regeneration has opened the way to the study of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that may facilitate tissue repair in neurodegenerative diseases of old age. Likewise, the identification of pluripotent cells, such as stem cells, that are potentially capable of acquiring the structure and function of a variety of specialized cells promises to let us effectively replace lost tissues and functions. 

One should not forget, with the exemption of limited FAD cases. AD is the disease of old age. Aging, amyloidosis, and neurodegeneration appear to be invariably linked. 

Allen NHP, Bums AB. The non-cognitive features of dementia. Rev Clin Ger 1995 5 57-75 Alzheimer A. On certain peculiar disease of old age. Hist Psychiatry 1991 h 71-101 Bryson HM, Benfield P. Donepezil. Dmp Aging 1997 10 234-9. 

Age. Cancer has often been called a disease of old age. For most cancers, the incidence does increase with age, but that is not the case for all cancers. For example, the median age at diagnosis of testicular cancer is 34, and incidence... 

I wonder how far we can take Greenwood s ideas. Where should we draw the line between an autoimmune disease and other forms of illness An autoimmune disease is a condition in which our own immune system mistakenly attacks components of our own body. If ageing is essentially a chronic inflammatory response to oxidative stress, in which immune cells attack components of our own body, should we define the diseases of old age as autoimmune diseases Not in a conventional sense, perhaps, but it is constructive to think of Alzheimer s disease as an autoimmune disease. If so, for example, we would expect the incidence of Alzheimer s disease to be low in tropical Africa and dementia is rare in Africa. This is not just because more Africans die from infections before they reach old age, or because social pressures lead to the real incidence being concealed by rela-... 

We cannot hope to understand the complex degenerative diseases of old age unless we have an evolutionary grasp of their cause. Evolutionary... 

The major causes of death in developed countries today are heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes and cancer. These are not just diseases of old age, although it is true to say that the longer people live, the more likely they are to develop cancer. Heart disease is a major cause of premature death, striking a significant number of people aged under 40. This is not solely a Western phenomenon. As countries develop, so people in the prosperous cities begin to show a Western pattern of premature death from these same diseases. 

---