The best years

In a society devoted to the myth of the ever-young, slim, healthy, ready-to-mate and thus aesthetically pleasing human body, ageing has, no wonder, negative connotations. It almost feels as if society considers the very process to be one’s own fault – have you not exercised enough, not eaten properly? Change, however, is a rather popular concept and has probably been even before Barack Obama’s 2008 landslide presidential campaign, to a degree at which ‘change as a vast metaphysical and moral principle’ has replaced not only political content (McClay 2008). It may come as a surprise that ageing is, by scientific definition, nothing more or less than an accumulation of changes over time (Bowen & Atwood 2004). Running gags among scientists include the ‘hot terms’ that will get your paper or proposal accepted, and currently, with both the NIH and the EU focusing their research efforts according to the demographic changes expected for the 22nd century, and sending funds this way, ageing is definitely one of them (guess another). Biologically, and in spite of many a paper published and hour spent at the bench, we do not know what the basis of ageing is. Considerable variations in the rate at which individuals age suggest genetic influences. Single-gene mutations, which influence, for example, DNA repair, oxygen radical formation or apoptosis, are able to prolong the life expectancy of short-lived species such as Drosophila. Although initially met with great enthusiasm and medial echo, the translation of these results to even the smallest mammals has so far been a little less impressive. Interestingly, however, many of the signalling pathways identified in this context are evolutionarily conserved, indicating that some of the results may have the capacity to ‘eventually benefit human health’ with regard to age-related diseases (Heemels 2010). A relatively high percentage of the papers published in Acta Physiologica focuses on the (patho-)physiology of age-related diseases or pathological conditions for which age is a major risk factor. Thus, a number of interesting studies have been published, contributing important pieces to the puzzle that ageing remains to be. Interestingly, a number of studies have demonstrated or confirmed the role of physical exercise or fitness in the prevention of age-related pathologies (Hell et al. 2012, Larsen et al. 2012, Nyberg et al. 2013). While it has become common knowledge how physical exercise positively affects functional ability in the elderly population through its effects on improving muscle function and the primary prevention of agerelated diseases as type II diabetes, atherosclerosis, hypertension and osteoporosis, the senescent immune system also benefits significantly (Bruunsgaard & Pedersen 2000). Maturation, however, is not merely a euphemism for ageing, but rather denotes a process which starts at birth. Smith and Merry (2012) report interesting results of exercise interventions early in life, which positively affect the physiology and regenerative potential of the muscles later on. Hussain et al. (2013) have shown how a post-weaning diet which is rich in fish affects lipid profiles and insulin sensitivity of the adult organism, interesting results to be verified in species for whom fish is a frequent natural component of their diet. Intervention studies targeting the pathophysiology of age-related diseases have to consider a number of influencing cofactors and are thus often limited by the available models. In human studies, subgroup analyses often enable interesting insights into the contribution of individual risk factors, such as carried out by van den Munckhof et al. (2012) on arterial wall thickness. In an invasive animal model approach, Mandal a et al. (2012) evaluated the effect of maturation on cerebral artery function. Snyder et al. (2012) highlight the mechanism of age-related differences in vasoconstrictor function. Obesity is a risk factor for many diseases which manifest later in life, and whose onset may be accelerated by being overweight (Hey-Mogensen et al. 2012, Vella et al. 2012). Therapeutic interventions targeting diseases of civilization have to take into account the differential regulation of the targeted pathways which may occur in elderly subjects, as highlighted by Ishida et al. 2012, Zicha et al. 2012, Van e ckov a et al. 2013. Sometimes, physiologists do not only work with aged subjects, but rather aged test substances – sometimes with surprising effects (Park et al. 2012, Persson & Persson 2012). Human ability to anticipate the future and awareness of mortality is postulated to be linked to the development of language and, thus, to be around 150 000 years old (Sterling & Van Horn 1989, Roshdieh 1996). Evolution has taught us to beware of change. Be suspicious, at least. Maybe this idea may be extrapolated to the modern Western society’s fear and denial of ageing, too. When asked, my 85-year-old grandmother, who had just taught a