The global population is on a trajectory of continuous growth, with estimates projecting an increase from 7.7 billion in 2019 to approximately 9.7 billion by 2050. Longevity is also expected to rise rapidly, with advancements in healthcare contributing to increased life expectancies and an increase in the maximum lifespan. The aging process is accompanied by different changes, often leading to a decline in daily life activities and an increased susceptibility to disease. Age-related changes can cause cellular damage and subsequent cellular death. Oxidative stress and inflammation play significant roles in this process contributing to molecular damage and mitochondrial dysfunction. Active aging has been associated with improved quality of life and a reduced risk of morbidity and premature mortality. In this context, the Mediterranean diet has emerged as a promising approach to promoting healthy aging and sustainability. The phytochemical compounds within the Mediterranean diet have been linked to a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. The findings of peer-reviewed articles regarding the use of the Mediterranean diet as a healthy and sustainable dietary pattern written in Portuguese, Spanish or English were included in this narrative literature review. This dietary pattern\'s emphasis on the consumption of fresh and local food aligns with both health and environmental sustainability goals. This work provides a comprehensive review of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and its components in a healthy aging process and highlights the importance of this dietary pattern as a sustainable approach.

UNASSIGNED: We have been conducting a collaborative study on the thresholds of mutagens. In our previous examinations of cell activity and cell proliferation as endpoints, both displayed hormesis. This time, we conducted experiments to determine thresholds using the micronucleus test as an endpoint.
UNASSIGNED: The micronucleus test was conducted using Chinese hamster CHL/IU cells and mouse lymphoid L5178Y cells. Additionally, we conducted preliminary investigations into the gene expression using human TK6 cells.
UNASSIGNED: When adhesive CHL/IU cells were treated with mitomycin C (MMC), and the hormetic response was examined, hormesis was not observed clearly. When L5178Y cells were treated with methyl methanesulfonate (EMS), AF-2, MMC, and colchicine, all of them exhibited an adaptive response. Additionally, cross-adaptive responses using AF-2 and MMC or EMS and MMC were conducted, both combinations showed a cross-adaptive response. When the gene expression patterns of six genes were investigated by RT-PCR after treatment with MMC, EMS, and H2O2 using TK6 cells, two genes, GADD45 A and P21, were induced in a dose- and time-dependent manner.
UNASSIGNED: Adaptive responses arise from preconditioning. As hormesis is inherently linked to preconditioning, adaptive responses observed in this study strongly suggest that hormesis was induced, hence existence of thresholds.

An analysis of China\'s domestic publications revealed that China\'s hormesis-related research was enormously underestimated. China\'s documented hormesis-related research spans at least four decades, covers a broad spectrum of research areas, and is more abundant than previously thought. These findings should be considered in historical assessments of the concept of hormesis. Moreover, similar to the international literature, different terms have been used to describe the same phenomenon (hormesis), which hampers communication, generalization of findings and accumulation of knowledge. Hence, we advocate that \'hormesis\' should be cited as a keyword in all the relevant publications written in Chinese language.

This paper demonstrates that ginseng mixtures and individual ginseng chemical constituents commonly induce hormetic dose responses in numerous biological models for endpoints of biomedical and clinical relevance, typically providing a mechanistic framework. The principal focus of ginseng hormesis-related research has been directed toward enhancing neuroprotection against conditions such as Alzheimer\'s and Parkinson\'s Diseases, stroke damage, as well as enhancing spinal cord and peripheral neuronal damage repair and reducing pain. Ginseng was also shown to reduce symptoms of diabetes, prevent cardiovascular system damage, protect the kidney from toxicities due to immune suppressant drugs, and prevent corneal damage, amongst other examples. These findings complement similar hormetic-based chemoprotective reports for other widely used dietary-type supplements such as curcumin, ginkgo biloba, and green tea. These findings, which provide further support for the generality of the hormetic dose response in the biomedical literature, have potentially important public health and clinical implications.

Numerous agents (approximately 90) are shown to stimulate hair growth in cellular and animal models in a hormetic-like biphasic dose response manner. These hormetic dose responses occur within the framework of direct stimulatory responses as well as in preconditioning experimental protocols. These findings have important implications for experimental and clinical investigations with respect to study design strategies, dose selection and dose spacing along with sample size and statistical power issues. These findings further reflect the general occurrence of hormetic dose responses within the biological and biomedical literature that consistently appear to be independent of biological model, level of biological organization (i.e., cell, organ, and organism), endpoint, inducing agent, potency of the inducing agent, and mechanism.

Curcumin is shown to commonly induce biphasic dose responses in a broad range of cell types, with particular emphasis on neural cells, including neuronal stem cells. The quantitative features of these biphasic dose responses, with respect to the magnitude and width of the low dose stimulation, are similar to those reported for hormetic dose responses. These hormetic dose responses occur within the framework of direct stimulatory responses as well as in preconditioning experimental protocols, displaying acquired resistance within an adaptive homeodynamic framework. These findings have important implications for study design strategies involving dose selection and spacing, as well as sample size and statistical power considerations. These findings further reflect the broadly general occurrence of hormetic dose responses that consistently appear to be independent of biological model, endpoint, inducing agent and mechanism.

This commentary briefly summarizes the extraordinary resurgence of hormesis within the biological, biomedical, toxicological and risk assessment domains over the past two decades. It places this resurgence within the context of challenging the scientific validity of the threshold and linear dose responses. It argues that conducting research on mechanisms that actuate and regulate the stimulatory response features of hormesis will provide the knowledge needed to develop potentially transformational applications aimed at protecting and enhancing biological resiliency as well as treating/curing a multitude of diverse medical conditions.

The topic of hormesis research funding has been a focus of deliberation within the scientific community for several decades. A common assumption/belief is that most hormesis research is funded by the private sector. With this assumption may emerge questions revolving around potential bias of such research. To provide some clarification to this issue, all hormesis research articles were obtained through online databases for 5-year increments starting with 1995 and ending with 2015 and were subsequently categorized by their funding source. A total of 710 articles were found for those years and 383 of those reported information on funding sources. Reporting funding is not required by law and until more recently was not encouraged or required by funders, research institutions, and/or scientific publishers. The analysis revealed that the assumption that the majority of hormesis research has been privately funded was not supported, with the public sector (i.e. federal and state governmental agencies) exclusively contributing to 78% of the reported research funding. Going forward, funding transparency for scientific research as a whole is essential within the scientific community as it may affect how research may be perceived, accepted, and applied.

This paper tells the story of how hormesis became recognized as a fundamental concept in biology, affecting toxicology, microbiology, medicine, public health, agriculture, and all areas related to enhancing biological performance. This paper assesses how hormesis enhances resilience to normal aging and protects against a broad spectrum of neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, and other diseases, as well as trauma and other threats to health and well-being. This paper also explains the application of hormesis to several neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson\'s and Huntington\'s disease, macrophage polarization and its systematic adaptive protections, and the role of hormesis in enhancing stem cell functioning and medical applications.

In 2006, Henschler disputed the claim of Calabrese and Baldwin that Hugo Schulz should be considered the originator of the hormesis concept. Henschler cited an 1854 paper by Rudolf Virchow on the effects of two agents on the beating of cilia, which showed a hormetic-biphasic dose response. The interpretation of Henschler became broadly accepted over the past decade based on citations in the literature. However, a recent translation of the Virchow paper from German into English reveals that the claims of Henschler are not supported by the article.