The Journal of Aging and Geriatric Medicine is a peer reviewed open access journal, which accepts manuscript throughout the world. The aim of the journal is to provide awareness regarding the topic aging, and provide a platform for scientific discussion on aging. The scope of the journal is aging, geriatric medicine and relevant topics like dementia, Parkinson’s disease etc.

Gerontology is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive, and biological aspects of ageing. It is the branch of medicine that specializes in the treatment of existing disease in older adults. Gerontologists include researchers and practitioners in the fields of biology, nursing, medicine, criminology, dentistry, social work, physical and occupational therapy, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, economics, political science, architecture, geography, pharmacy, public health, housing, and anthropology. Geriatric Medicine that includes: Gerontology, Aging Science, Biology of Aging, mechanisms of aging, Aging & Disability, Aging Associated Diseases (Parkinson, Alzheimer), Aging Demographics, Geriatric Psychiatry, Geriatric Diseases and Syndromes, Diagnostics, Treatment and Clinical Interventions in Aging. Wear and tear theories of aging suggest that as an individual ages, body parts such as cells and organs wear out from continued use. Wearing of the body can be attributable to internal or external causes that eventually lead to an accumulation of insults which surpasses the capacity for repair. Due to these internal and external insults, cells lose their ability to regenerate, which ultimately leads to mechanical and chemical exhaustion. Some insults include chemicals in the air, food, or smoke. Other insults may be things such as viruses, trauma, free radicals, cross-linking, and high body temperature.

Free radicals are reactive molecules produced by cellular and environmental processes, and can damage the elements of the cell such as the cell membrane and DNA and cause irreversible damage. The free-radical theory of aging proposes that this damage cumulatively degrades the biological function of cells and impacts the process of aging. DNA damage has been one of the many causes in diseases related to aging. The stability of the genome is defined by the cells machinery of repair, damage tolerance, and checkpoint pathways that counteracts DNA damage.  This theory has changed over the years as new research has discovered new types of DNA damage and mutations, and several theories of aging argue that DNA damage with or without mutations causes aging. Genetic theories of aging propose that aging is programmed within each individual's genes. According to this theory, genes dictate cellular longevity. Programmed cell death, or apoptosis, is determined by a "biological clock" via genetic information in the nucleus of the cell. Genes responsible for apoptosis provide an explanation for cell death, but are less applicable to death of an entire organism. An increase in cellular apoptosis may correlate to aging, but is not a “cause of death”. Environmental factors and genetic mutations can influence gene expression and accelerate aging.

Regards

Katherine Gray| Managing Editor
Journal of Aging and Geriatric Medicine
40 Bloomsbury Way, Lower Ground Floor, London, United Kingdom
gerontol@scitecjournals.com