Recruitment and Screening for the Insight into the Determination of Exceptional

长寿与良好的健康和功能相结合，在生命结束时是大多数人的目标。寻找促进这种情况的方法是国家老龄化研究所（NIA）的一个重要目标。虽然已经对长寿和功能衰退的相关性进行了研究，但我们仍然对为什么某些人在80多岁时仍然健康，而另一些人则更快地失败知之甚少。换句话说，与生理和病理相关的因素如何影响长寿和健康老龄化尚不清楚。可以假设，在逃避疾病和残疾的老年人中，体内平衡机制（抗氧化机制的完整性、对大分子的氧化损伤水平低、炎症低、自主反射未受损、激素水平正常等）应该是相对完整的，几乎没有累积的损坏。了解这些机制可能会为预防残疾提供新的机会。

Longevity combined with good health and functioning at the end of life is the goal of most individuals. Finding ways of promoting this condition is an important goal of the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Although research has been done on the correlates of long life and functional decline, we still know relatively little about why certain individuals live in excellent health into their 80's while others fail much sooner. In other words, how factors related to physiology and pathology affect longevity and healthy aging is not clear. It may be hypothesized that in older persons who escape diseases and disability, homeostatic mechanisms (integrity of anti-oxidant mechanisms, low level of oxidative damage to macromolecules, low inflammation, unimpaired autonomic reflexes, normal hormone levels etc.) should be relatively intact, with little accumulated damage. Understanding these mechanisms may open new opportunities of disability prevention.