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AGING IN A HIGH INFECTION SOCIETY
by
Sarinnapha Vasunilashorn
________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(GERONTOLOGY)
December 2010
Copyright 2010 Sarinnapha Vasunilashorn
Object Description
| Title | Aging in a high infection society |
| Author | Vasunilashorn, Sarinnapha |
| Author email | vasunila@usc.edu; fahvasu@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Gerontology |
| School | Leonard Davis School of Gerontology |
| Date defended/completed | 2010-12 |
| Date submitted | 2010 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 27 Sep. 2012. |
| Date published | 2012-09-27 |
| Advisor (committee chair) |
Finch, Caleb E. Crimmins, Eileen M. |
| Advisor (committee member) | Sattler, Fred R. |
| Abstract | Increasing evidence suggests that aging is accelerated by exposure to infections and inflammation. Previous studies suggest that in environments where infection is high, the processes associated with aging will accelerate and indicators of the aging process will be more apparent at earlier ages than in environments where exposure to infection is relatively low. To further our understanding of aging and how biological and genetic indicators associated with aging vary in a high infection environment, the Tsimane of Bolivia are studied. The Tsimane are an indigenous population of forager-farmers with little access to modern medicine, high infectious morbidity, and high mortality.; Three specific aims were investigated. The first specific aim found that compared to adults in the U.S., Tsimane adults exhibit higher mean levels of infection and inflammation but substantially lower levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, and body mass index. Among individual Tsimane, high infectious morbidity is associated with lower levels of cholesterol. This finding may reflect a remodeling of lipid profiles, as suggested by findings from the second specific aim. The Tsimane have high levels of infection and inflammation, as indicated by their high parasite load and white blood cell count, which were inversely associated with blood lipid levels. The third specific aim suggests that the strong force of mortality at an early age may be related to differences in genotype frequencies exhibited in the Tsimane.; These findings suggest that living in a highly infectious environment similar to the circumstances of our ancestral past is characterized by a very different biological profile of aging and potentially different genotype distribution with age. |
| Keyword | aging; infection; inflammation; health; biomarkers; gene variants |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA; Bolivia |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3480 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Vasunilashorn, Sarinnapha |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Vasunilashorn-4043 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume48/etd-Vasunilashorn-4043.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | AGING IN A HIGH INFECTION SOCIETY by Sarinnapha Vasunilashorn ________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (GERONTOLOGY) December 2010 Copyright 2010 Sarinnapha Vasunilashorn |
