Main description:

Human Ageing: A Unique Experience explores the biology of human ageing focusing on the individual. The book begins with the premature ageing disorder Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome and spins a web of interconnected biological domains involving lamins, telomeres, alternative splicing, genetics, epigenetics, and molecular clocks. The profound influence of culture is explored since cultural inheritance and genetic inheritance are the two intertwined processes driving human evolution. An empirical framework is developed to describe human ageing at the individual level and the implications of this framework on the whole concept of diseases are discussed.

Contents:

Biology of Ageing: Lamins; Alternative Splicing; Telomeres; Wnt Signaling; mTOR Pathway; Molecular Clocks; Ageing and Environmental Cues i.e. Experiences: Regulation of Gene Expression; Epigenetics and Ageing; Immediate Early Genes; Effects of Specific Environmental Cues; Domestication: Domestication Process; The Dog; Diseases in Dogs; Social Context and Culture: Gene-Culture Co-Evolution; Society; Culture and Ageing; Framework of Human Ageing: Developmental Programs; Biological Processes; Cellular Senescence; Environmental Cues (Experiences); Niche Construction Practices; Disease Construct and Ageing: History of Disease Construct; Personalized Medicine; Disease or Ageing?;