Evaluate the collective function of references cited together in a given text segment.
Classify their combined role into one of the following categories: 'method', 'background', or 'result'.

Text:We focused our analysis on the relationships between the age-upregulated miRNAs and the expression of genes in the Eph/ephrin pathway as Eph signaling regulates synaptic plasticity and loss of EphB2 has been linked to age-related cognitive dysfunction (Klein, 2008; Ciss e et al., 2011).
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