Immune Cell Distributions in the Blood of Healthy Individuals at High Genetic Risk of Parkinson's Disease.

The immune system likely plays a key role in Parkinson's disease (PD) pathophysiology. Thus, we investigated whether immune cell compositions are already altered in healthy individuals at high genetic risk for PD. We quantified 92 immune cell subtypes in the blood of 442 individuals using multicolor flow cytometry.

There are multiple clocks that time us: Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations among 14 alternative indicators of age and aging.

Aging is a complex process influenced by mechanisms operating at numerous levels of functioning. Multiple biomarkers of age have been identified, yet we know little about how the different alternative age indicators are intertwined. In the Berlin Aging Study II (nmin= 328; nmax= 1,517, women = 51%; 14.

Clinical characterization and mutation spectrum of patients with hypertriglyceridemia in a German outpatient clinic.

Background: Severe hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) has predominantly multifactorial causes (MCS). Yet a small subset of patients have the monogenetic form (FCS). It remains a challenge to distinguish patients clinically, since decompensated MCS might mimic FCS´s severity.

Historical change in trajectories of loneliness in old age: Older adults today are less lonely, but do not differ in their age trajectories.

To check claims of a "loneliness epidemic," we examined whether current cohorts of older adults report higher levels and/or steeper age-related increases in loneliness than earlier-born peers. Specifically, we used 1,068 age-matched longitudinal reports (M = 79 years, 49% women) of loneliness provided by independent samples recruited in the German city of Berlin in 1990 and 2010, n = 257 participants in the Berlin Aging Study (BASE) and n = 383 participants in Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II). Using multilevel models that orthogonalize between-person and within-person age effects, we examined how responses to items from the UCLA Loneliness Scale provided by observation-matched cohorts differed with age and across cohorts, and if those differences might be explained by a variety of individual factors.

Change in body weight of older adults before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: longitudinal results from the Berlin Aging Study II.

Objectives: Change in body weight during the COVID-19 pandemic as an unintended side effect of lockdown measures has been predominantly reported for younger and middle-aged adults. However, information on older adults for which weight loss is known to result in adverse outcomes, is scarce. In this study we describe the body weight change in older adults before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdown measures and explore putative associated factors with a focus on the period that includes the first six months of the COVID-19 containment measures.

Polyvascular atherosclerosis and renal dysfunction increase the odds of cognitive impairment in vascular disease: findings of the LipidCardio study.

Introduction: Growing evidence suggests a causal role for atherosclerotic vascular disease in cognitive impairment and dementia. Atherosclerosis may present as monovascular disease (monoVD) or as widespread polyvascular atherosclerotic disease (polyVD). Evidence on the relationship between monoVD or polyVD and cognitive impairment is limited.

A terminal metabolite of niacin promotes vascular inflammation and contributes to cardiovascular disease risk.

Despite intensive preventive cardiovascular disease (CVD) efforts, substantial residual CVD risk remains even for individuals receiving all guideline-recommended interventions. Niacin is an essential micronutrient fortified in food staples, but its role in CVD is not well understood. In this study, untargeted metabolomics analysis of fasting plasma from stable cardiac patients in a prospective discovery cohort (n = 1,162 total, n = 422 females) suggested that niacin metabolism was associated with incident major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE).

Stability and change of optimism and pessimism in late midlife and old age across three independent studies.

Research across a number of different areas in psychology has long shown that optimism and pessimism are predictive of a number of important future life outcomes. Despite a vast literature on the correlates and consequences, we know very little about how optimism and pessimism change across adulthood and old age and the sociodemographic factors that are associated with individual differences in such trajectories. In the present study, we conducted (parallel) analyses of standard items from the Life Orientation Test (Scheier & Carver, 1985) in three comprehensive data sets: Two-wave data from both the Berlin Aging Study II (N = 1,423, aged 60-88; M = 70.

A Novel Variant in the WRN Gene Detected in a Case of Early-Onset Severe Insulin Resistance Displaying Some but Not All Hallmarks of Progeroid Werner Syndrome.

Objective: Determining the cause of severe insulin resistance and early-onset diabetes in the case of a young woman in which a wide range of differential diagnoses did not apply.

Research Design And Methods: Diagnostic workup including medical history, physical examination, specialist consultations, imaging methods, laboratory assessment, and genetic testing carried out by next-generation panel sequencing.

Results: After ruling out several differential diagnoses, genetic testing revealed a previously unknown homozygous variant within the canonical splice site of intron 4 in the WRN gene classified as pathogenic.

Genome-wide QTL mapping across three tissues highlights several Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease loci potentially acting via DNA methylation.

DNA methylation (DNAm) is an epigenetic mark with essential roles in disease development and predisposition. Here, we created genome-wide maps of methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTL) in three peripheral tissues and used Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to assess the potential causal relationships between DNAm and risk for two common neurodegenerative disorders, i.e.

Prognostic value of gut microbe-generated metabolite phenylacetylglutamine in patients with heart failure.

Aim: Phenylacetylglutamine (PAGln) is a phenylalanine-derived metabolite produced by gut microbiota with mechanistic links to heart failure (HF)-relevant phenotypes. We sought to investigate the prognostic value of PAGln in patients with stable HF.

Methods And Results: Fasting plasma PAGln levels were measured by stable-isotope-dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in patients with stable HF from two large cohorts.

Sex differences in the age-related decrease of spontaneous baroreflex function in healthy individuals.

The baroreflex is a powerful physiological mechanism for rapidly adjusting heart rate in response to changes in blood pressure. Spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) has been shown to decrease with age. However, studies of sex differences in these age-related changes are rare.

Tuberculosis incidence in foreign-born people residing in European countries in 2020.

BackgroundEuropean-specific policies for tuberculosis (TB) elimination require identification of key populations that benefit from TB screening.AimWe aimed to identify groups of foreign-born individuals residing in European countries that benefit most from targeted TB prevention screening.MethodsThe Tuberculosis Network European Trials group collected, by cross-sectional survey, numbers of foreign-born TB patients residing in European Union (EU) countries, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020 from the 10 highest ranked countries of origin in terms of TB cases in each country of residence.

High Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone and Low Free Triiodothyronine Levels Are Associated with Chronic Kidney Disease in Three Population-Based Studies from Germany.

High serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels have previously been associated with a low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), but studies associating thyroid hormone levels with albuminuria revealed inconsistent results. We used cross-sectional data from 7933 individuals aged 20 to 93 years of the Berlin Aging Study II and the Study of Health in Pomerania to associate serum TSH, fT3, and fT4 levels with eGFR and albuminuria. In multivariable analyses adjusted for confounding, we found inverse non-linear associations of serum TSH levels with eGFR, while serum fT3 levels showed a positive association with eGFR.

Sex-specific associations of serum selenium and selenoprotein P with type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension in the Berlin Aging Study II.

Background: Selenium is essential for expression and proper function of a set of redox active selenoproteins implicated in aging-relevant diseases, e.g. type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and hypertension.

Self-reported and accelerometer-based assessment of physical activity in older adults: results from the Berlin Aging Study II.

Physical activity (PA) has a substantial impact on health and mortality. Besides questionnaires that rely on subjective assessment of activity levels, accelerometers can help to objectify an individual's PA. In this study, variables estimating PA and sleep time obtained through the wGT3X-BT activity monitor (ActiGraph LLC, USA) in 797 participants of the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II) were analyzed.

Atlas of gut microbe-derived products from aromatic amino acids and risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Aims: Precision microbiome modulation as a novel treatment strategy is a rapidly evolving and sought goal. The aim of this study is to determine relationships among systemic gut microbial metabolite levels and incident cardiovascular disease risks to identify gut microbial pathways as possible targets for personalized therapeutic interventions.

Methods And Results: Stable isotope dilution mass spectrometry methods to quantitatively measure aromatic amino acids and their metabolites were used to examine sequential subjects undergoing elective diagnostic cardiac evaluation in two independent cohorts with longitudinal outcome data [US (n = 4000) and EU (n = 833) cohorts].