Speakman John R
Aberdeen Centre for Energy Regulation and Obesity, School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.
Aging Cell. 2005 Aug;4(4):167-75. doi: 10.1111/j.1474-9726.2005.00162.x.
Comparative differences between species provide a powerful source of information that may inform our understanding of the aging process. However, two problems regularly attend such analyses. The co-variation of traits with body mass is frequently ignored, along with the lack of independence of the data due to a shared phylogenetic history. These problems undermine the use of simple correlations between various factors and maximum lifespan potential (MLSP) across different species as evidence that the factors in question have causal effects on aging. Both of these problems have been widely addressed by comparative biologists working in fields other than aging research, and statistical solutions to these issues are available. Using these statistical approaches, of making analyses of residual traits with the effects of body mass removed, and deriving phylogenetically independent contrasts, will allow analyses of the relationships between physiology and maximum lifespan potential to proceed unhindered by these difficulties, potentially leading to many useful insights into the aging process.
物种之间的比较差异提供了一个强大的信息来源，这可能有助于我们理解衰老过程。然而，此类分析经常会遇到两个问题。性状与体重的共变常常被忽视，同时由于共同的系统发育历史，数据缺乏独立性。这些问题削弱了将不同物种中各种因素与最大寿命潜力（MLSP）之间的简单相关性用作证据，证明所讨论的因素对衰老有因果影响。衰老研究领域以外的比较生物学家已经广泛解决了这两个问题，并且有针对这些问题的统计解决方案。使用这些统计方法，即去除体重影响后对残差性状进行分析，并得出系统发育独立对比，将使生理学与最大寿命潜力之间关系的分析不受这些困难的阻碍而得以进行，这有可能带来许多关于衰老过程的有用见解。
