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Article: Accelerated Aging: Human Progeroid Syndromes
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Aging
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ACCELERATED AGING: HUMAN PROGEROID SYNDROMES
Human aging is a complex process resulting from the interaction between a person's genetic makeup, their environment, and time. Individuals mature to adulthood, then undergo a gradual degenerative process that eventually results in death. Most of us go through these processes at roughly equivalent rates; indicating that a carefully controlled developmental program operates until adulthood. It is not clear, however, whether aging is also programmed or whether maturation is simply followed by random deterioration in the decades after our reproductive years. Such questions remain unresolved, although decreased performance of many body systems is ...