Recruitment and Screening for the Insight into the Determination of Exceptional

大多数人的目标是长寿，并在生命结束时拥有良好的健康和正常的功能。寻找促进这种状况的方法是国家老龄研究所(NIA)的一个重要目标。尽管对长寿和机能衰退之间的关系已经做了研究，但我们仍然对某些人活到80岁时身体非常健康，而另一些人则更早衰败的原因知之甚少。换句话说，与生理和病理相关的因素如何影响长寿和健康衰老尚不清楚。可以假设，在逃脱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、对大分子的低水平氧化损伤、低炎症、未受损的自主神经反射、正常激素水平等)应该是相对完整的，几乎没有累积损伤。了解这些机制可能会为残疾预防提供新的机会。

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.