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Decreased thyroid function due to aging, also known as hypothyroidism, is a condition where the thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormones.

Thyroid hormones regulate the body’s metabolism, temperature, and other functions.When there is not enough thyroid hormone, the body’s processes slow down and cause various symptoms.

Some of the symptoms of hypothyroidism in the elderly are:.

• Fatigue.

• Weight gain.

• Cold intolerance.

• Constipation.

• Dry skin.

• Hair loss.

• Muscle weakness.

• Joint pain.

• Depression.

• Memory problems.

Dry skin is a common symptom of hypothyroidism because thyroid hormones affect the skin’s moisture and elasticity.Low thyroid hormone levels can reduce the production of natural oils and cause the skin to become dry, flaky, and itchy.

Aging affects the immune system in several ways, such as:.

• The immune system becomes less able to distinguish self from nonself, which increases the risk of autoimmune disorders.

• Macrophages, which ingest bacteria and other foreign cells, destroy them more slowly, which may contribute to the higher incidence of cancer among older people.

• T cells, which remember antigens they have previously encountered, respond less quickly to them.There are also fewer white blood cells capable of responding to new antigens.

• The production of B and T cells in bone marrow and thymus is reduced, which affects the adaptive immunity.

• The function of lymph nodes and spleen is impaired, which reduces the ability to mount an effective immune response.

These changes result in a decreased inflammatory response, which is essential for wound healing.Inflammation helps to clear the infection, recruit immune cells, and promote tissue repair.

Therefore, older people may have slower wound healing due to aging of the immune system.

Some possible explanations for the answer are:.

• T-cells are a type of white blood cell that help the immune system fight infections by recognizing and destroying foreign invaders such as bacteria, viruses and cancer cells.

• Aging affects the immune system by causing several changes in the production, function and diversity of T-cells.These changes include thymic involution, mitochondrial dysfunction, genetic and epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, reduction of the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire, naive-memory imbalance, T-cell senescence and lack of effector plasticity.

• Thymic involution is the gradual shrinking of the thymus gland, which is where T-cells mature and learn to distinguish self from non-self.This leads to a decrease in the number and quality of naive T-cells, which are essential for responding to new antigens.

• Mitochondrial dysfunction is the impairment of the energy-producing organelles in the cells, which affects the survival, activation and differentiation of T-cells.Aging causes oxidative stress, DNA damage and reduced autophagy in the mitochondria, which compromise their function and induce apoptosis or cell death.

• Genetic and epigenetic alterations are changes in the DNA sequence or expression of genes that regulate T-cell development, activation and function.Aging causes accumulation of mutations, chromosomal abnormalities and epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation and histone acetylation in T-cells, which affect their gene expression and signaling pathways.

• Loss of proteostasis is the disruption of the balance between protein synthesis, folding, trafficking and degradation in the cells, which affects the quality and quantity of proteins involved in T-cell function.Aging causes increased protein misfolding, aggregation and degradation in T-cells, which impair their antigen recognition, cytokine production and cell cycle regulation.

• Reduction of the TCR repertoire is the decrease in the diversity and specificity of the receptors that recognize antigens on the surface of T-cells.

Aging causes clonal expansion of memory T-cells and contraction.

Decreased sodium level.This is because decreased adrenal function due to aging can lead to lower levels of aldosterone, a hormone that regulates sodium and potassium balance in the body.Lower aldosterone levels can cause sodium loss and potassium retention, resulting in hyponatremia (low sodium) and hyperkalemia (high potassium).