Epigenetic aging linked to cognitive decline in Hispanic/Latino adults

“[…] acceleration in second- and third-generation epigenetic clocks was associated with decline in cognitive health and cognitive impairment in middle-aged and older Hispanic/Latino adults.”

Impact Journals LLC

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Aging-US is dedicated to advancing our understanding of the biological mechanisms that drive aging and the development of age-related diseases. Our mission is to serve as a platform for high-quality research that uncovers the cellular, molecular, and systemic processes underlying aging, and translates these insights into strategies to extend healthspan and delay the onset of chronic disease.

view more 

Credit: Copyright © 2025 Rapamycin Press LLC dba Impact Journals Impact Journals ® is a registered trademark of Rapamycin Press LLC RAPAMYCIN PRESS ® is a registered trademark of Rapamycin Press LLC

“[…] acceleration in second- and third-generation epigenetic clocks was associated with decline in cognitive health and cognitive impairment in middle-aged and older Hispanic/Latino adults.”

BUFFALO, NY — November 5, 2025 — A new research paper was published in Volume 17, Issue 10 of Aging-US on September 10, 2025, titled “Longitudinal associations of epigenetic aging with cognitive aging in Hispanic/Latino adults from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.”

In this study led by Myriam Fornage, from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, researchers found that faster biological aging, measured by DNA-based epigenetic clocks, is associated with greater cognitive decline and higher risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Hispanic/Latino adults. The results highlight the potential of epigenetic clocks to track changes in brain health over time, helping improve early detection and monitoring of age-related cognitive problems.

Cognitive decline and dementia are major public health concerns, especially among aging populations. In this study, researchers followed 2671 Hispanic/Latino adults (average age 57; 66% women) over a seven-year period. They measured each participant’s biological age using epigenetic clocks and assessed their cognitive performance at two time points.

“We evaluated the associations of 5 epigenetic clocks and their between-visit change with multiple measures of cognitive aging that included a global and domain-specific cognitive function score at each visit, between-visit change in global and domain-specific cognitive function score, and MCI diagnosis at visit 2 (V2).”

Epigenetic clocks estimate biological age based on DNA chemical modifications, called methylation, that accumulate with age. The study evaluated five different clocks, including newer models like GrimAge and DunedinPACE, which are designed to more accurately reflect health-related aging.

The researchers found that individuals with faster biological aging showed lower cognitive function and higher probability of developing MCI over time. Among the five clocks studied, newer models such as GrimAge and DunedinPACE showed the strongest associations with memory, processing speed, and overall brain health. These findings suggest that tracking changes in biological age over time may be more effective than relying on a single measurement to identify those at risk for cognitive impairment.

Importantly, the associations between biological aging and cognitive decline remained significant even after accounting for other known risk factors such as education, language preference, and cardiovascular health. This supports the idea that epigenetic clocks capture unique biological processes that influence brain aging. The study also found that the impact of changes in biological age over time was comparable to that of APOE4, a well-established genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

Overall, this is the first large-scale study to examine these associations in a Hispanic/Latino population, a group that is underrepresented in aging research. By identifying early biological signs of brain aging, this work highlights the potential of epigenetic clocks as tools for routine health assessments. Monitoring changes in these biological markers could help detect individuals at risk for cognitive decline and guide timely interventions to preserve brain health.

Read the full paper: DOI: https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206317

Corresponding author: Myriam Fornage – Myriam.Fornage@uth.tmc.edu

Abstract video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG0Y-F_sods

Keywords: aging, epigenetic clocks, DNA methylation, Hispanic/Latinos, cognitive function, dementia

Click here to sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article.

______

To learn more about the journal, please visit www.Aging-US.com​​ and connect with us on social media:

• Facebook
• X
• Instagram
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Reddit
• Pinterest
• Bluesky
• Spotify, and available wherever you listen to podcasts

Click here to subscribe to Aging-US publication updates.

---

Journal

Aging-US

DOI

10.18632/aging.206317 

Method of Research

News article

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Longitudinal associations of epigenetic aging with cognitive aging in Hispanic/Latino adults from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

Michigan startup reimagines clothing labels for recycling and authenticating brands

Tags get cut off and tagless labels wear away, but new photonic fibers could serve as permanent barcodes

University of Michigan

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

Photos of fabric with photonic fibers

Barcodes woven into fabrics could make clothing and other textiles more recyclable and harder to counterfeit by identifying where and how goods are made, as well as what they are made of. 

 

Fibarcode, a University of Michigan startup, will develop this technology for commercial use with around $1.6 million in support from a National Science Foundation Small Business Technology Transfer Fast-Track grant.

 

Less than 15% of the 92 million tons of clothing and other textiles discarded annually are recycled, in part because they are so difficult to sort. Ordinary tags or tagless labels often don't make it to the end of a garment's life—they may be cut away or wear off. And tags on some counterfeit items may not provide an accurate account of the fabrics used in a garment, nor their source. Recycling, repair operations and counterfeit prevention could be more effective if a difficult-to-fake tag was woven into the fabric, invisible until read.

Photonic fibers could enable this capability. Each fiber can be customized to absorb specific wavelengths of light, ranging from ultraviolet to infrared, by varying the amount and thickness of acrylic and polycarbonate layers inside. While the materials are clear on their own, they bend and refract light when combined, creating optical effects that can look like color—similar to the wings of a butterfly.

 

Unique combinations of absorbed wavelengths act like codes. After the scanner reads the code, it can find and quickly display associated information to help verify the garment's fabric content and designer labels, as well as thread and fabric suppliers. Multiple unique photonic fibers can also be combined to help expand the total possible number of unique codes.
 

The grant will enable Fibarcode to launch its first pilot program and partner with industry stakeholders and recycling centers. The company is actively seeking additional collaborators to accelerate the adoption of its technology across the supply chain.

 

Fibarcode was founded in 2024 by Brian Iezzi, a U-M doctoral graduate of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He co-invented and developed the technology in the lab of Max Shtein, professor of materials science and engineering and chemical engineering, as part of an earlier NSF-sponsored research project. 

 

They both received entrepreneurial education and mentoring from the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps Hub: Great Lakes region, which is led by U-M and helps researchers extend their focus beyond the laboratory to increase economic and societal impact.

 

With the help of U-M Innovation Partnerships, Shtein and Iezzi secured patent protection, and Iezzi launched Fibarcode. Iezzi and the University of Michigan have a financial interest in Fibarcode.

 

Written by Derek Smith

New study finds prepopulated search bars can significantly boost online sales

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

CATONSVILLE, Md., Nov. 5, 2025—A new peer-reviewed study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science finds that prepopulating e-commerce search bars with trending or personalized keywords can meaningfully increase both purchasing and consumer spending. The research provides the first causal evidence on how subtle search bar design choices shape the entire online shopping journey—from query to checkout.

The study, “How Does Prepopulating Search Bars with Keywords Affect Online Consumer Behavior? A Field Experiment,” was authored by Chenshuo Sun of the Business School of Renmin University of China.

The study found that automatic prepopulating the search bar with trending keywords, such as popular product categories, increased purchase incidence by 10.4% and overall spending by 8.8% compared with an empty search bar. When the search bar was prepopulated with personalized keywords, reflecting items the user had recently browsed, purchase incidence rose by 21% and spending by 17%.

Prepopulating with niche keywords, unrelated to the user’s search history or patterns, had little to no measurable effect on consumer behavior.

The research is based on a randomized field experiment involving 72,587 consumers on a major Asian e-commerce platform. Each user was randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions or a control group. In the treatment conditions, the platform’s mobile app displayed a search bar that was prefilled with either a trending category keyword, a personalized keyword based on the user’s browsing history, or a niche product keyword. The control group saw the default empty search bar.

“Search bars are the starting point of most e-commerce journeys,” said Sun. “The findings show that a simple change, pre-filling a search bar with relevant, trending, or personalized terms, can meaningfully influence what people discover and buy online.”

The study also reveals that prepopulated search bars do not reduce consumers’ use of other navigation tools, such as homepage menus or recommendation widgets. In other words, the feature generates incremental sales without cannibalizing other browsing channels.

The research clarified two factors driving user behavior: The first is that trending keywords specifically encouraged exploration of popular categories without discouraging users from entering their own search terms. The second is that personalized keywords focused users’ attention on previously viewed categories, deepening engagement but reducing the likelihood of user-entered searches.

Both strategies ultimately increased sales, though for different reasons. The former by expanding user exploration, and the latter by reinforcing users’ existing interests.

“To my best knowledge, this paper provides the first evidence of the effectiveness of search bar pre-population strategies based on a field experiment conducted on a real-world e-commerce platform,” said Sun. “E-commerce platforms can use this insight to improve both user experience and revenue. Prepopulated search bars save time, add ease of use, and help guide users more efficiently toward products they value.”

Read the full study here.

About Marketing Science and INFORMS

Marketing Science is a premier peer-reviewed scholarly marketing journal focused on research using quantitative approaches to study all aspects of the interface between consumers and firms. It is published by INFORMS, the world’s largest association for professionals and students in operations research, AI, analytics, data science and related disciplines.

INFORMS serves as a global authority in advancing cutting-edge practices and fostering an interdisciplinary community of innovation. With a network of more than 12,000 members across academia, industry and government, INFORMS connects thought leaders and emerging professionals who apply science and technology to solve complex challenges and drive better decision-making.

Through its prestigious journals, world-class conferences, certification programs and professional resources, INFORMS empowers its community to enhance operational efficiency, elevate organizational performance, and promote smarter decisions for a better world.

Discover more at www.informs.org

# # #

---

Journal

Marketing Science

DOI

10.1287/mksc.2024.0793 

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

How Does Prepopulating Search Bars with Keywords Affect Online Consumer Behavior? A Field Experiment

New research demonstrates ’living metal’ could bridge the gap between biological and electronic systems

5-Nov-2025

Binghamton University

Electronics have been transforming from rigid, lifeless systems into adaptive, living platforms capable of seamlessly interacting with biological environments. Researchers at Binghamton University are pioneering “living metal” composites embedded with bacterial endospores, paving the way for dynamic communication and integration between electronic and biological systems.

In a paper recently published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, Professor Seokheun “Sean” Choi, Maryam Rezaie, PhD ’25, and doctoral student Yang “Lexi” Gao share their potentially groundbreaking study on liquid living metal composites that could redefine the future of bioelectronics.

Choi — a faculty member in the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering — is developing innovative technologies to bridge the gap between electronic and biological systems.

Most of Choi’s previous bioelectronic projects employed conductive polymer materials, as liquid metals pose challenges for integration. Their hydrophobic properties hinder adhesion to electronic substrates, and exposure to air or water leads to the formation of an oxide layer that restricts electron flow and disrupts communication between electronic and biological systems.

However, he said, polymers have their own difficulties: “I was not satisfied with the interface — it was not seamless — and although the polymers are conductive, it’s not as much as metal. Also, most bioelectronics will be deployed in very harsh environments, so they are subject to mechanical damage. They must have a self-healing property.”

He believes that electrogenic bacteria — cells which generate small amounts of power — are the key. By combining liquid metal with dormant endospores for the bacteria Bacillus subtilis, which Choi has used to develop biobatteries, the composite material overcomes many of the limitations from liquid metal alone.

“When we combine the spores with the liquid metal droplets, there is a huge attractive force, because the spores have chemical functional groups on their surface that interact with the liquid metal oxide layers. This strong force ruptures the oxide layers so the metal can be conductive.”

The spores can stay inactive under harsh conditions and germinate when the environment is more favorable. The composite also is easily absorbed into device substrates such as paper while keeping the best properties of metal. It even exhibits enhanced electrical conductivity when the spores germinate.

Most importantly, though, the composite shows the self-healing abilities that researchers want to see. When a break in the material happens, the composite autonomously fills the gap— an important breakthrough when a circuit is damaged and can’t easily be replaced.

Before any commercial applications, more experimentation is needed to better control the activation of the endospores and to evaluate the liquid living metal composites for long-term stability in a variety of environments.

In the future, such materials could enable wearable or implantable devices to interface safely and directly with human tissue.

“Biological systems use molecules and ions for metabolism or signaling, while electronics exclusively depend on the electrons, so that will create communication errors,” he said. “Electrogenic bacteria use molecules and ions but also generate electrons. The question is how we can seamlessly integrate this electrogenic bacteria into a living electrode to bridge these two systems.”

About Binghamton University

Binghamton University, State University of New York, is the #1 public university in New York and a top-100 institution nationally. Founded in 1946, Binghamton combines a liberal arts foundation with professional and graduate programs, offering more than 130 academic undergraduate majors, minors, certificates, concentrations, emphases, tracks and specializations, plus more than 90 master's, 40 doctoral and 50 graduate certificate programs. The University is home to nearly 18,000 students and more than 150,000 alumni worldwide. Binghamton's commitment to academic excellence, innovative research, and student success has earned it recognition as a Public Ivy and one of the best values in American higher education.Journal

 

Insect protein added to pasteurized dairy products and brownies as part of a more sustainable diet

UOC researchers promote the first tasting test in the Mediterranean area with mealworm hydrolysate in food products

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

In response to the global increase in demand for food, caused by demographic growth and population ageing, a team of researchers from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has made progress in exploring a very promising alternative, but one that has yet to gain traction in the West: adding insect protein to our regular diet. The results of this project, published as open access in the journal Food Science and Nutrition, may be very valuable in response to the urgent need to reduce the environmental impact of the food system.

The research, led by doctoral student Marta Ros, studied the consumption of foods enriched with flour made from mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) in the form of pasteurized dairy products and brownies, conducting the first tasting in the Mediterranean area to find out how well they are accepted in this cultural and culinary setting. The results were very positive, especially in the case of the brownies, finding that the hydrolysate improved their texture, making them softer and more elastic. This shows that, with the right formulation, products with insect protein can be attractive to consumers and have a place in our cuisine.

According to the authors of the research, including researchers at the UOC Anna Bach-Faig, Diana A. Díaz and Gemma Chiva-Blanch, who are also members of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the Leitat Technological Center and the University of Plymouth, the study shows that not all forms of insect protein have the same potential. Specifically, they found that hydrolysates, a product obtained by the hydrolysis of animal proteins using enzymes or acids, could be key to creating attractive, functional products with a high degree of sensory acceptance, opening up new possibilities for the food industry and public policies on protein diversification. Previous studies had already shown that insect protein in the form of flour, and not as whole foods in themselves, was clearly more acceptable to users, as it can be used in common food products.

The study, led by the Nutrition, Food, Health and Sustainability (NUTRALiSS) research group, worked with two product lines. Firstly, with pasteurized dairy products enriched with Tenebrio molitor flour, using three different types of flavouring: hazelnut, vanilla and both at the same time. The brownies were also made with three recipes: one with insect flour only, a second that added yoghurt and a third combining insect flour with hydrolysate. To assess which of these formulations was most acceptable, two independent tasting tests were carried out: 21 people over 60 years of age participated in the dairy test and another 25 aged between 19 and 73 took part in the brownies test.

In addition to significantly improving the texture of the product, adding hydrolysed protein made from Tenebrio molitor to brownies produced a more balanced nutritional profile, with a better protein/lipid ratio, and was more acceptable to consumers. In the case of enriched dairy products, the combination of hazelnut and vanilla flavours was rated most highly in the tasting, with an acceptability of 52.4%. "These results confirm that not all forms of insect protein have the same potential. The way in which they are incorporated into consumer products is key to achieving foods that, as well as being sustainable and nutritious, are liked by consumers," explained UOC researcher Marta Ros.

 

A sustainable protein alternative

In Europe, very few people eat insects, but it is common in regions of Asia, Africa and parts of America and Oceania. The mealworm is one of the insect species authorized for human consumption by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), and also one of those most studied by science. It is noted for its high nutritional value, especially its quality protein content. Containing all the essential amino acids needed by the human body, it is comparable to traditional sources of protein such as meat and eggs. In addition, its healthy fats include polyunsaturated fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6 (key to cardiovascular and brain health) and monounsaturated fats that can help lower cholesterol. It is also a good source of minerals such as iron, zinc and calcium and vitamins such as B12 and riboflavin.

Mealworm production has a low environmental impact, clearly less than that of conventional sources of animal protein, generating fewer greenhouse gas emissions and using less water and land. Overall this makes the species a sustainable and nutritious alternative in the context of the current climate crisis.

 

New research in progress

One of the conclusions of the study is that, as well as insect meal, new alternatives such as hydrolysates need to be developed and incorporated into new food products that enjoy greater acceptance. Along these lines, UOC researchers affiliated to the eHealth Centre are already working on a new trial to compare conventional biscuits with biscuits made with Tenebrio molitor flour eaten after physical exercise, to determine their effect on blood and anthropometric parameters. "This is not a fad, but a real and sustainable alternative. Insects can be a source of protein of high biological value with attractive gastronomic applications and further research is needed in this regard", said Ros.

 

This study aligns with the UOC's research mission on Planetary health and well-being and contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); in particular 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and 13 (Climate Action).

 

Transformative, impactful research

At the UOC, we see research as a strategic tool to advance towards a future society that is more critical, responsible and nonconformist. With this vision, we conduct applied research that's interdisciplinary and linked to the most important social, technological and educational challenges.

The UOC’s over 500 researchers and more than 50 research groups are working in five research units focusing on five missions: lifelong learning; ethical and human-centred technology; digital transition and sustainability; culture for a critical society, and digital health and planetary well-being.

The university's Hubbik platform fosters knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship in the UOC community.

More information: www.uoc.edu/en/research

---

Journal

Food Science & Nutrition

DOI

10.1002/fsn3.70925