Evolutionary Gerontology and Geriatrics: Why and How We Age (Advances in Studies of Aging and Health, 2)

This book provides concrete scientific basis that we can conceive the possibility of modifying or even completely canceling aging process, despite the fact that aging is commonly regarded as the result of the overall effects of many uncontrollable degenerative phenomena. The authors illustrate in detail the mechanisms by which cells and the whole organism age. Actions by which it is possible, or will be possible within a limited time, to operate for modifying aging are also debated. The discussion is conducted within the frame and the concepts of evolutionary medicine, which is also indispensable for distinguishing between the manifestations of aging and: (i) diseases that worsen with age, and (ii) acceleration of normal aging rates, caused by unhealthy lifestyle habits and other avoidable factors. The book also discusses the impact of aging on overall mortality and the strange situation that, according to official statistics, aging does not exist as cause of death. This book is a turning point between a gerontology and geriatrics conceived as the study and vain treatment of an incurable condition and one in which these disciplines examine the how and why of a physiological phenomenon that can be modified up to a possible total control. This means transforming the medical prevention and treatment of physiological aging from the greatest failure to the greatest success of medicine. Foreword Terminology + Abbreviations Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Evolutionary Medicine and ``Evolutionary Gerontology and Geriatrics ́ ́ 1.2 Definition of Aging 1.3 Aging in Natural Observation 1.4 A Short History of Aging Theories 1.4.1 The Conception of Aging Up to Nineteenth Century 1.4.2 Aging Theories in the Nineteenth Century and the First Half of the Twentieth Century 1.4.3 Aging Theories from the Second Half of the Twentieth Century to Today 1.4.4 Classification of Aging Theories References Chapter 2: Evolution and Phenoptosis 2.1 Darwinian Definition of Natural Selection 2.2 Supra-Individual Selection 2.3 Definition of Phenoptosis 2.4 Examples of Phenoptosis and Its Wide Diffusion 2.4.1 (A) Obligatory and Rapid Phenoptosis 2.4.2 (B) Obligatory and Slow Phenoptosis 2.4.3 (C) Optional Phenoptosis 2.4.4 (D) Indirect Phenoptosis 2.5 Phenoptotic Phenomena in our Species 2.6 Life Tables and Phenoptosis References Chapter 3: Evolutionary Medicine 3.1 Definition of Evolutionary Medicine 3.2 A Brief History of Evolutionary Medicine 3.3 The Concept of Normality in Evolutionary Medicine 3.4 The Concept of Mismatch in Evolutionary Medicine 3.5 Diseases Caused by Mismatches 3.6 Diseases Caused by Alterations of the Genotype 3.7 The Concept of Holobiont 3.8 Immune Disorders in the Interpretation of Evolutionary Medicine 3.8.1 The Current ``Epidemic ́ ́ of Allergic Diseases 3.8.2 The Current ``Epidemic ́ ́ of Autoimmune Diseases 3.8.3 Causes of the Epidemic of Immune Disorders 3.9 Non-evolutionary Classification of Diseases 3.10 Evolutionary Classification of Diseases 3.11 Meaning and Aims of Evolutionary Medicine References Chapter 4: The Comparison Between the Two Paradigms 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The Paradigm of Aging as a Non-adaptive Phenomenon 4.3 The Paradigm of Aging as an Adaptive Phenomenon 4.4 Arguments and Evidence in Support or Against the Theories Pertaining to the Two Paradigms 4.4.1 Absence of Unlikely Postulates 4.4.2 Non-universality of Aging 4.4.3 Variation of Aging Rhythms in the Comparison among Species 4.4.4 Consideration of Supra-Individual Natural Selection and Phenoptotic Phenomena 4.4.5 Effects of Caloric Restriction on Lifespan 4.4.6 Existence of Age-Related Increasing Mortality in the Wild 4.4.7 In the Comparison Among Species, the Inverse Relation Between Extrinsic Mortality and the Proportion of Deaths Due to In... 4.4.8 Impossibility of Explaining Age-Related Fitness Decline as a Consequence of Genes that Are Harmful at a Certain Age 4.4.9 Age-Related Progressive Decline of Cell Turnover Capacities 4.4.10 Cell Senescence Program 4.4.11 Gradual Cell Senescence 4.4.12 General Evaluation of the Arguments Mentioned earlier 4.5 Aging as an Accelerating Factor of Evolution Theory 4.6 Kin Selection Aging Theory 4.6.1 Definitions 4.6.2 The Evolutionary Advantage of a Shorter ML 4.6.3 Effects of IMICAW on ML 4.6.4 Evolutionary Steadiness of a Gene Causing IMICAW 4.6.5 The Preliminary Conditions 4.6.6 Two Possible Objections 4.6.7 The Methuselah Effect 4.6.8 IMICAW, IMICAC, and t-genes References Chapter 5: Subtelomere-Telomere Aging Theory 5.1 Description of the Subtelomere-Telomere Theory 5.1.1 Limits in Cell Duplication Capacities 5.1.2 Probabilistic Relation Between Telomere Shortening and Replicative Senescence 5.1.3 Suggestions from the Yeast 5.1.4 Gradual Cell Senescence and Cell Senescence 5.1.5 Absence of Relation Between Longevity and Telomere Initial Length 5.2 Metabolic Changes in Aging Cells 5.3 Atrophic Syndrome 5.4 Limits in Cell Duplication Capacities and Other Effects of the Telomere-Subtelomere-Telomerase System Explained as a Gener... 5.5 The Telomere 5.6 The Telomerase Enzyme 5.7 The Subtelomere 5.8 The Heterochromatin Hood Over the Telomere References Chapter 6: Aging in the Human Species 6.1 Alterations Consequent to the Actions of the Telomere-Subtelomere-Telomerase System 6.1.1 Alterations of Cellular Metabolism 6.1.2 Alterations of Cell Turnover 6.2 Direct Aging 6.2.1 Endothelium 6.2.2 Skin 6.2.3 Olfactory Receptor Cells 6.2.4 Other Peripheral Sensory Neuronal Cells (Excluding Olfactory Receptor Cells) 6.2.5 Skeletal Muscle 6.2.6 Heart 6.2.7 Gastrointestinal System 6.2.8 Orofacial Tissues and Organs 6.2.9 Lungs 6.2.10 Kidneys 6.2.11 Pancreatic β-cells 6.2.12 Bone and Joints 6.2.13 Liver 6.2.14 Hematopoietic Cells and Bone Marrow 6.2.15 Testes 6.3 Indirect Aging 6.3.1 Photoreceptor Cells 6.3.2 Neurons of the Central Nervous System 6.3.3 Auditory Neurons 6.3.4 Crystalline Lens 6.4 General Schemes References Chapter 7: The Elderly Subjects and Their Troubles 7.1 Evolutionary Classification of the Troubles of the Elderly 7.2 Age-Related Fitness Decline 7.3 Diseases Due to Genetic Alterations 7.4 Diseases Due to Genetic Alterations That Cause Aging-Like Syndromes 7.5 Diseases Deriving from `Extremes ́ of the Ecological Niche and Relations with Other Living Beings 7.6 Diseases Caused by Mismatches 7.7 Diseases Caused by Mismatches That Speed Up Physiological Aging 7.8 Weight of Physiological Aging References Chapter 8: Prevention and Treatment of the Troubles of the Elderly 8.1 Rationality of the Evolutionary Approach 8.2 Prevention and Treatment of Diseases Identical or Similar at Any Age 8.3 Acceleration of Aging: Prevention and Treatment 8.4 Treatment of Physiological Aging 8.4.1 Telomerase Activation 8.4.2 Elimination of Senescent Cells 8.4.3 Anti-aging Substances and Methods 8.4.4 Genetic Modifications 8.4.5 Ethical Problems 8.5 Current Geriatrics and Society 8.6 Future Geriatrics and Society References Appendices Appendix: Part A Haploid Condition Diploid Condition Case Alpha (Different Effects in Heterozygous and Homozygous Conditions) Case Beta (Recessive Gene) Case Gamma (Dominant Gene) Case Alpha (Different Effects in Heterozygous and Homozygous Conditions) Case Beta (Recessive Gene) Case Gamma (Dominant Gene) Case Alpha (Different Effects in Heterozygous and Homozygous Conditions) Case Beta (Recessive Gene) Case Gamma (Dominant Gene) Appendix: Part B Reference