Surfing champion Kelly Slater says Bali beaches are now so polluted surfing at the favourite holiday destination could soon be off limits.
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Monthly Archives: April 2012
Crowds cram Beaches; some say time to target other waterways
The official "opening" of the Beaches is Sunday as a parade snakes through much of Jacksonville Beach, but the onslaught of people jamming the shoreline in increasing numbers has been under way for years.
And some say the crowds cramming the coastline may never thin out, especially during the springtime. This year has already seen tens of thousands of people flocking to the Beaches, especially during key events such as the George's Music Springing the Blues festival this month, the Opening of the Beaches Parade Sunday at 2 p.m. and the Dancing in the Streets festival at Beaches Town Center in May.
"It's gotten larger and larger and larger," Neptune Beach Police Chief David Sembach said.
Beaches officials agree, there's no easy way to deal with the rising number of visitors to the coastline while others say it's time for Duval County to start considering other targets of outdoor water recreational opportunities beyond the beach.
Visitors to oceanfront Hanna Park near Mayport have increased slightly over three years, although there was a dip last year. There were 353,438 people in the fiscal year of 2008-09, 403,248 in 2009-10 and 395,417 in 2010-11.
Jacksonville Beach City Councilman Rick Knight said traffic on Third Street is sometimes backed up to the off-ramp from Butler Boulevard leading to the Beaches on weekends, and weeknights are seeing an uptick in visitors, too.
"The Beaches offer such fun and cheap entertainment that there's not much you can do about it. They're going to come," Knight said.
The crush of people slamming the city was so heavy that Jacksonville Beach was the first and still the only Beaches city to institute paid parking of $5 per vehicle at key parking lots in downtown two years ago. That still leaves dozens of street ends with parking lots that remain free to beachgoers who use vehicles to get to the shore.
"Really, the best way to handle it is paid parking," Knight said Friday.
Neptune Beach considered paid parking at and near the Beaches Town Center shopping hub in 2008. Sembach researched paid parking but the city backed off.
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Crowds cram Beaches; some say time to target other waterways
Astronomy Cast, Ep: 258: Viking Landers
by Fraser Cain on April 23, 2012
Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. He's the forum co-administrator of the Bad Astronomy/Universe Today forum with Bad Astronomer Phil Plait.
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American Airlines to air dangerous antivax propaganda | Bad Astronomy
[UPDATE: American Airlines has agreed not to run the interview! That includes both the audio and print versions.]
[Note: This post contains numerous links to articles showing antivax claims are misleading at best, and pose a huge health risk. I strongly urge you to read those links before leaving a comment.]
In May 2011, an unvaccinated infant infected with measles was brought on board American Airlines flight 3965. Measles is a highly contagious, dangerous, and potentially fatal disease, and because of this public health emergency officials had to track down 100 passengers and quarantine quite a few of them.
This event was not American Airlines fault. However, its hard to see what they learned from it, since they plan on printing and airing an interview with a notorious antivaxxer who makes provably false and incredibly dangerous claims about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases.
The antivaxxer in question is Meryl Dorey, an American living in Australia who has made it her lifes work to spread misinformation about vaccines. Her ability to distort the truth to phrase it kindly is nothing short of herculean. As I wrote about her in 2010:
She has said no one dies from pertussis anymore when little four-week-old Dana McCaffery died of that very disease, because herd immunity in her area of Australia was so low. Dorey is an HIV denier. She thinks doctors lie and poison babies. [...] It goes on and on.
So why on Earth would American Airlines choose to run an interview with her in their in-flight magazine and air that interview on the in-flight TVs?
The interview is her usual passel of untruths about vaccinations: she tries to tie them to worsening diseases and autism neither of which is remotely true and then relies on the discredited research of a man the British Medical Journal outright called a "fraud".
Bizarrely, the interviewer for the American Airlines piece apparently didnt even contact an actual doctor to get professional information on this topic. At the very least (the very least) the ability to show Meryl Doreys claims to be completely wrong is a Google search away, a trivial amount of work for an interviewer to do. Her horrid behavior towards Toni and David McCaffery little Danas parents, who had to suffer through Doreys attacks while still grieving over their daughter is also out there for all to see.
So again, why on Earth would American Airlines choose to run an interview with her in their in-flight magazine and air that interview on the in-flight TVs?
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American Airlines to air dangerous antivax propaganda | Bad Astronomy
Happy 22nd, Hubble! | Bad Astronomy
Today is the 22nd anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. I worked on Hubble one way or another for a decade or so, and it changed not just my life, but the lives of astronomers around the world, and of course forever altered for the better! how the public viewed of astronomy.
To acknowledge this, below is a repost of my "Ten Things You Dont Know About Hubble", first put on the blog in 2010, and which I think still holds up. And what better way to celebrate this observatorys anniversary than to get to know it a little better?
Introduction
On April 24, 1990, the Space Shuttle Discovery roared into space, carrying on board a revolution: The Hubble Space Telescope. It was the largest and most sensitive optical-light telescope ever launched into space, and while it suffered initially from a focusing problem, it would soon return some of the most amazing and beautiful astronomical images anyone had ever seen.
Hubble was designed to be periodically upgraded, and even as I write this, astronauts are in the Space Shuttle Atlantis installing two new cameras, fixing two others, and replacing a whole slew of Hubbles parts. This is the last planned mission, ever, to service the venerable scope, so what better time to talk about it?
Plus, its arguably the worlds most famous telescope (its probably the only one people know by name), and yet I suspect that there are lots of things about it that might surprise you. So I present to you Ten Things You Dont Know About the Hubble Space Telescope, part of my Ten Things series. I know, my readers are smart, savvy, exceptionally good-looking, and well-versed in things astronomical. Whenever I do a Ten Things post some goofball always claims they knew all ten. But I am extremely close to being 100% positive that no one who reads this blog will know all ten things here (unless theyve used Hubble themselves). I have one or two big surprises in this one, including some of my own personal interactions with the great observatory!
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Excerpt from:
Astronomy: It's not just for nighttime viewing
Crave's Nerdy New Mexico series crawls up to 9,200 feet and gawks at the massive Dunn Solar Telescope in the tiny community of Sunspot.
Inside the Dunn Solar Telescope.
SUNSPOT, N.M.--Back in 1950, an order was placed for a grain bin from the Sears Catalog. That bin was delivered up to the far reaches of the Sacramento Mountains in New Mexico, and after some modifications, it became the first solar telescope in Sunspot.
Sunspot may be the geekiest town in America. It's an unincorporated community full of scientists and support staff for the National Solar Observatory. The road leading into town is State Highway 6563, named for a hydrogen emission line wavelength used in stellar astronomy.
Inside a solar telescope We've come a long way from that original grain bin. Built in 1969, the Dunn Solar Telescope is a marvel of engineering and a destination spot for scientists from around the world. It's the largest of several solar telescopes on Sacramento Peak.
This Sears Catalog grain bin became the first telescope in Sunspot. (Click to enlarge.)
An informational plaque inside the telescope building describes it as an iceberg. It rises 13 stories above the ground, but reaches even farther into the earth. The telescope's bottom part consists of 230 feet hidden in the ground. That must have been some dig. The whole thing weighs more than 250 tons.
Visitors are allowed inside the Dunn telescope. It's dim in the observation room, lit only by UFO-looking globes above that cast an orange light. There's a deep hum of instrumentation and a "quiet, scientists at work" vibe.
Massive piles of computers and equipment with colorful glowing lenses surround a lone scientist buried deep in his work. I feel like I've stepped inside a spaceship.
You can't see it from here, but the rotating part of the telescope (all 200 tons of it) is suspended at the top from a massive tank containing 10 tons of mercury. That makes it so easy to rotate, it can be done by hand.
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UPDATE: partial Complete success with American Airlines! | Bad Astronomy
Good news: I just received a tweet from the American Airlines Twitter feed:
Yay! They have decided to not air the audio version of the antivax interview. Thats excellent, and I thank American Airlines for that.
However, as far as I can tell, the interview is still slated to run in their in-flight magazine. I will hopefully have more news about that soon as well.
Update: When I asked about the printed version, I got this reply back very quickly:
Yay again!
Again, I thank American Airlines for considering this issue and making the right decision. I also want to sincerely thank everyone who wrote and tweeted about this.
Remember: we have the power to make sure good, accurate science gets told, and bad, inaccurate misinformation does not spread. Never rest, never tire, and never forget that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
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UPDATE: partial Complete success with American Airlines! | Bad Astronomy
Moline Public Library to host Astronomy Day
Join the Popular Astronomy Club for a National Astronomy Day celebration at the Moline Public Library, 3210 41st St., from 2-9:30 p.m. Saturday. The educational family event will feature displays, astronomy-themed crafts, demonstrations of comet nucleus forming, a weight station to discover your weight on different planets, gravity explanations, door prizes and refreshments.
See the sun safely with specially filtered telescopes until dusk, then tour the night sky until 9:30 p.m., weather permitting. Venus, Mars and Saturn should be visible, along with star clusters. Sky viewing will take place in the back parking lot of the Moline Public Library.
Dr. Robert Mutel from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa will present a program for adults at 3 p.m. on Alien Worlds: The Search for Life on Extra-Solar Planets. The program will explore recent developments in the ongoing search for life outside of our solar system.
The free event is sponsored by the Popular Astronomy Club and University of Iowa Speakers Bureau. For more information, call the library at 309-524-2480 or visit molinelibrary.com.
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Alan Turing: Mathematical Biologist?
His biographer says Turing invented computer science, artificial intelligence, and mathematical biology
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BE Aerospace Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines
BE Aerospace (Nasdaq: BEAV) reported earnings on April 23. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeawayFor the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), BE Aerospace beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.
Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue improved significantly and GAAP earnings per share increased significantly.
Margins grew across the board.
Revenue detailsBE Aerospace reported revenue of $747.3 million. The 16 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated a top line of $703.3 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 25% higher than the prior-year quarter's $600.2 million.
Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.
EPS detailsEPS came in at $0.67. The 15 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged $0.62 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.67 for Q1 were 37% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.49 per share.
Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.
Margin detailsFor the quarter, gross margin was 37.9%, 80 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 17.4%, 70 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 9.2%, 80 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.
Looking aheadNext quarter's average estimate for revenue is $732.8 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.67.
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Aerospace gets new focus at 3M
As the Maplewood-based company exceeded earnings expectations, the CEO told of new avenues for future growth.
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PPG Relocates Toulouse, France-area Aerospace Sales Office to Larger Site
TOULOUSE, France--(BUSINESSWIRE)-- PPG Industries officials have announced the relocation and expansion of the Toulouse, France-area aerospace sales office. In addition to housing staff who serve regional PPG transparencies and coatings customers, the larger facility includes a paint spray booth, and a technical laboratory is being completed for transparency engineering analysis starting later in 2012.
CUTTING-EDGE COATINGS spray booth at the new Toulouse, France-area sales office for aerospace products by PPG Industries is officially opened during a customer event by PPG Aerospace employees, from left, Philippe Jousselin, coatings technical service; Dirk Thelen, business manager, aerospace, South Europe; and Roald Johannsen, general manager for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India. The relocated and expanded sales office provides regional support for PPG Aerospace transparencies and coatings, with a laboratory for transparency engineering analysis to begin operation later in 2012. (Photo by M. Mesquida)
As with PPG aerospace sales offices and application support centers that are located strategically near key customers operations around the world, this new office positions us closer to Airbus and other local customers, enhancing our ability to provide them with quick local sales, customer service, coatings technical service and transparencies engineering support, said Roald Johannsen, PPG Aerospace general manager for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India.
The new facility includes a climate-controlled paint spray booth for product optimization and application training, Johannsen said. Additionally, the facilitys laboratory for transparency engineering analysis will enhance window development and increase convenience for airframe manufacturers and airlines in the region, he said, as PPG now does such analyses at the Huntsville, Ala., and Sylmar, Calif., transparencies plants.
Pascal Chaumel, Airbus nose fuselage architect, said, For PPG to have windshield analysis capability so close to our Toulouse facility will enable us to gain better understanding in the design and development process while being more effective in communicating with our administration, program, aftermarket support and quality departments as well as our customers.
The staff of the new PPG sales office, which is located at 41 avenue Jean Monnet, 31770 Colomiers France, provides regional support to original-equipment and maintenance customers in commercial, business and military aviation as well as military land-based transportation.
PPG Aerospace is the aerospace products and services business of PPG Industries. PPG Aerospace PRC-DeSoto is the leading global producer of aerospace sealants, coatings, and packaging and application systems. PPG Aerospace Transparencies is the worlds largest supplier of aircraft windshields, windows and canopies.
PPG: BRINGING INNOVATION TO THE SURFACE.(TM)
PPG Industries vision is to continue to be the worlds leading coatings and specialty products company. Through leadership in innovation, sustainability and color, PPG helps customers in industrial, transportation, consumer products, and construction markets and aftermarkets to enhance more surfaces in more ways than does any other company. Founded in 1883, PPG has global headquarters in Pittsburgh and operates in more than 60 countries around the world. Sales in 2011 were $14.9 billion. For more information, visit http://www.ppg.com.
Bringing innovation to the surface is a trademark of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.
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PPG Relocates Toulouse, France-area Aerospace Sales Office to Larger Site
Rolls-Royce Opens Office in Sonora Aerospace Cluster
GUAYMAS, Mexico--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, is to open a new supply chain office in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico. This new office will strengthen collaboration with key suppliers in a region that is widely recognized as the leading aerospace industry cluster in Mexico.
Beverly J. Gaskin, Rolls-Royce, Executive Vice President, Supply Chain Management - North America said: Nearly a third of advanced manufacturing companies in the Mexican aerospace industry are based in the state of Sonora. Locating staff in the center of this cluster will help us improve supplier relationships and performance. Delivering excellence in our supply chain is critical in helping us meet our commitments to customers.
Guillermo Padres, Sonora State Governor said: The State of Sonora is proud that Rolls-Royce has chosen to locate one of its global network of purchasing offices in the state. It confirms that Mexico is an increasingly important player in the aerospace manufacturing industry and that the State of Sonora is the Mexican hub for aero-engine components manufacturing. The presence of a Rolls-Royce supply management office in Sonora is a significant tribute and will make a contribution to our aero-engine cluster.
The new office will be located in the Parque Industrial Roca Fuerte which is near several key suppliers to Rolls-Royce. The office will be staffed with six Rolls-Royce employees.
Notes to Editors:
1. Rolls-Royce is a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, and has established a strong position in global markets - civil aerospace, defense aerospace, marine and energy.
2. As a result of this strategy, Rolls-Royce has a broad customer base comprising more than 500 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces, more than 4,000 marine customers, including 70 navies, and energy customers in more than 80 countries.
3. Annual underlying revenue was $17.5 billion* in 2011, of which more than half came from the sale of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at $96.4 billion* at December 31, 2011, providing visibility of future growth.
4. In North America, Rolls-Royce employs more than 9,300 people in 66 locations in 26 states and seven sites in six Canadian provinces. In the United States, Rolls-Royce employs more than 7,700 people in 26 states.
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e2v aerospace and defense releases QP54AC646 to production
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
e2v aerospace and defense today announced that its hi-rel semiconductor operation in Santa Clara has completed full qualification of the QP54AC646 octal transceiver/register, with three-state outputs. This product has been fully re-engineered and manufactured on a mainstream CMOS process, and approved for compliance to the DLA Standard Microcircuit Drawing (SMD). This product serves as a drop-in replacement for the National/Fairchild/RCA 54AC646 device used in key mil/aero applications.
The QP54AC646 is available in three package options: a 24-pin 300-mil ceramic DIP, a 28-pin ceramic LCC, and a 24-pin ceramic flatpack, all manufactured in compliance with the latest revision of MIL-PRF-38535, making them ideally suited for military temperature applications. The QP54AC646 is available as a MIL-STD-883 device or in compliance with the applicable DLA SMD# 5962-89682.
With the addition of the QP54AC646, e2v aerospace and defense has added another DLA compliant device to our catalog of over 3,700 products, said Ron Miller, Corporate VP of e2v aerospace and defense. This octal transceiver was previously discontinued and unavailable, yet still in demand by mission-critical aerospace and defense programs. Our qualification and continued manufacturing of this device allows extended program lifetimes without costly system redesigns.
The QP54AC646 is available to the DLA SMD, Vendor PN, or to an applicable SCD:
QP54AC646 Product Chart
Device Type
Vendor Part Number
QP54AC646
24-pin Ceramic Flatpack
Link:
Nextant Aerospace Awarded Several New Supplemental Type Certificates for 400XT Program
CLEVELAND, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Nextant Aerospace, maker of the 400XT, the worlds only FAA-certified remanufactured business jet, today announced that it has been awarded several new supplemental type certificates (STCs) for the 400XT. In addition to certifying an in-flight entertainment system, Nextant also received STCs for additional avionics options, many of which help to pave the way for final certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
We are proud to attain these coveted Supplemental Type Certificates, which bring us another step closer to final EASA certification, said Jay Heublein, vice president, sales and marketing for Nextant Aerospace. Because of its extended range, the 400XT is well-suited for European operation, and that market in particular has responded extremely well, with several of our earlier orders coming from both Western and Eastern Europe.
The STCs cover several major operational areas, including the Class A Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (TAWS) system, and the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)/Localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV) navigational aid.
Nextant was also awarded STCs for the in-flight entertainment options offered within the 400XTs completely remanufactured cabin. They include the Rockwell Collins Venue in-flight entertainment system and the Aircell AxxessTM cabin communication system that features high speed wireless internet connectivity and dual channel satellite phone service.
Not only have we created an entirely new category of business jet with more range, speed and greater cost-effectiveness, at half the cost of comparable planes, added Mr. Heublein. We also have created an aircraft that provides customers with constant connectivity, be it in the air while using the 400XTs high-speed wireless Internet service or face-to-face upon touchdown.
The 400XT process employs a remanufactured airframe from the Beechjet 400A/XP aircraft, enhanced with new, state-of-the-art technology including the Williams FJ44-3AP turbofan engine, the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 integrated avionics suite, advanced electronics and completely rebuilt interiors. The remanufacturing process takes all life-limited components to zero-time status, either through replacement or complete overhaul, which effectively makes the 400XT a new plane in all material aspects even before the addition of advanced technology.
The resulting aircraft has a 2,003 nautical mile (3,713 km) range and cruising speed of 460 nautical miles per hour (740 km per hour). It supports a remarkable 30 percent reduction in operating costs over the 400XP, fuel efficiency improvements of 20-30 percent, depending on the length of the flight segment, significantly reduced carbon emissions and noise compliance that exceeds Stage IV requirements.
The 400XT is considered to be a new type in the Aircraft Bluebook. Further options include additional avionics features, and an optional seating configuration that allows for the most leg room of any light jet in production without sacrificing seating capacity.
Beechcraft Sales and Service GmbH (Beechcraft Augsburg) serves as Nextants maintenance hub in Europe, offering a full range of factory-approved services for the growing number of European 400XT owners and operators.
Continued here:
Nextant Aerospace Awarded Several New Supplemental Type Certificates for 400XT Program
Global Aerospace and Defense Industry Industry
NEW YORK, April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:
Global Aerospace and Defense Industry Industry
The global outlook series on the Aerospace and Defense Industry provides a collection of statistical anecdotes, market briefs, and concise summaries of research findings. Illustrated with 63 fact-rich market data tables, the report offers a rudimentary overview of the industry, and highlights latest trends and demand drivers. Regional markets briefly abstracted and covered include US, Canada, Europe [France, Germany, Russia, and UK] Asia-Pacific [Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea] Latin America [Brazil, and Mexico] and the Middle East. The report offers a compilation of recent strategic corporate developments and product launches. Also included is an indexed, easy-to-refer, fact-finder directory listing the addresses, and contact details of 513 companies worldwide.
1. INDUSTRY OVERVIEW 1
Cyclical Nature of the Industry 1
A Capital-Intensive Industry 1
Impact of Recession on A&D Industry in Retrospect 1
Recession Fuels Consolidation in the Industry 3
Table 1: A Glance at the M&A Activity in the Global Aerospace
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Sitting Time Correlating with Mortality Independently of Exercise
Here is a large statistical study that claims a correlation between time spent sitting and mortality rate that exists independently of the well known correlations between level of physical activity and mortality rate. More exercise means a longer life expectancy while more sitting means a lower life expectancy even after considering that those who sit more often are most likely exercising less.
Sitting Time and All-Cause Mortality Risk in 222,497 Australian Adults:
We linked prospective questionnaire data from 222,497 individuals 45 years or older from the 45 and Up Study to mortality data from the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Australia) from February 1, 2006, through December 31, 2010. Cox proportional hazards models examined all-cause mortality in relation to sitting time, adjusting for potential confounders that included sex, age, education, urban/rural residence, physical activity, body mass index, smoking status, self-rated health, and disability.
The association between sitting and all-cause mortality appeared consistent across the sexes, age groups, body mass index categories, and physical activity levels and across healthy participants compared with participants with preexisting cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus. ... Prolonged sitting is a risk factor for all-cause mortality, independent of physical activity.
This is not the first study to propose this correlation, of course. There are a range of others from past years. One has to wonder what the mechanism is here, however - my suspicion is that it actually does all come back down to the level of physical activity in the end. In these massive studies the level of exercise and activity is reported by the participants. A person who stands and works is going to be somewhat more active than a person who sits and works, even though that time may not be categorized as physical activity, or reported differently.
Exercise is much like calorie restriction - the effects are so large in comparison to other factors we have easy access to that they are likely to creep into any study.
You might look at a recent study on activity and Alzheimer's disease that was one of the few to use measuring devices rather than reports of activity. One point that emerges is that a fair degree of ongoing low level activity and exercise won't be classified as such by the participants of study without machine measurement. Housework, taking out the trash, the small increase in energy expenditure from standing while waiting versus sitting while waiting, that sort of thing repeated day in and day out. How much you are sitting really does sound a lot like a proxy for how much activity you are undertaking when you are doing things that most people don't really count as activity.
Source:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/latest_rss_feed.cfm
Peroxisomal and Mitochondrial Genes Important in Determining Longevity
Researchers continue to investigate the genetics of natural variations in aging, such as those that can be generated through diet (e.g. calorie restriction) in mice: "Dietary interventions are effective ways to extend or shorten lifespan. By examining midlife hepatic gene expressions in mice under different dietary conditions, which resulted in different lifespans and aging-related phenotypes, we were able to identify genes and pathways that modulate the aging process. We found that pathways transcriptionally correlated with diet-modulated lifespan and physiological changes were enriched for lifespan-modifying genes. Intriguingly, mitochondrial gene expression correlated with lifespan and anticorrelated with aging-related pathological changes, whereas peroxisomal gene expression showed an opposite trend. Both organelles produce reactive oxygen species, a proposed causative factor of aging. This finding implicates a contribution of peroxisome to aging. Consistent with this hypothesis, lowering the expression levels of peroxisome proliferation genes decreased the cellular peroxide levels and extended the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. These findings show that transcriptional changes resulting from dietary interventions can effectively reflect causal factors in aging and identify previously unknown or under-appreciated longevity pathways, such as the peroxisome pathway."
Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22509016
Source:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/latest_rss_feed.cfm
Calorie Restriction Slows Age-Related Autonomic Decline
Another aspect of aging slowed by calorie restriction: "Caloric restriction (CR) retards aging in laboratory rodents. [Little] information is available on the effects of long-term CR on physiologic markers of aging and longevity in humans. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a marker for cardiac autonomic functioning. The progressive decline in HRV with aging and the association of higher HRV with better health outcomes are well established. HRV assessment is a reliable tool by which the effects of CR on autonomic function can be assessed. Time and frequency domain analyses compared 24-hr HRV in 22 CR individuals aged 35-82 yrs and 20 age-matched controls eating Western diets (WD). The CR group was significantly leaner than the WD group. Heart rate was significantly lower, and virtually all HRV significantly higher in the CR than in the WD group. HRV in the CR individuals was comparable to published norms for healthy individuals 20 years younger. In addition, when differences in HR and HRV between CR and WD were compared with previously-published changes in HRV induced in healthy adults given atenolol, percent differences in each measure were generally similar in direction and magnitude and suggested declines in sympathetic and increases in parasympathetic modulation of HR and increased circadian variability associated with CR. These findings provide evidence that CR has direct systemic effects that counter the expected age-associated changes in autonomic function so that HRV indexes in CR individuals are similar to those of individuals 20 years younger eating WDs,"
Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22510429
Source:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/latest_rss_feed.cfm
Managing Expectations
If you are around 40 years of age and basically average in terms of genes and health, the odds are good that in your first few decades you gained little in the way of longevity advantages over someone 20 years your senior, living in the same location. Medical science is progressing, but the young in wealthier regions of the world don't really use or need all that much medical technology once past the point of vaccinations and the standard - and diminishing - brace of infectious childhood diseases. The point here is that the bulk of any technology-dependent difference in your life span has yet to be engineered: it depends on how well you take care of the health basics from here on out, and far more on how rapidly medical technology progresses towards working rejuvenation biotechnology. If that medical technology isn't researched, isn't developed, isn't made available in a competitive marketplace, then the life trajectory of your parents is not an unreasonable model for your life.
If medical technology stopped moving forward now, then, sad to say, most people would not live a great deal longer than their parents. Gains due to medical technology are all in the future - they can be seen, discussed, and worked on in detail, but they are not here yet. What does that mean? It means that if you are 40, you're half-way done. You have half of the hour-glass left in which to make a difference - to help build the technologies that will smash this limitation of the human condition. Here are some recently released tables of European demographic data to reinforce the point:
In 2009 men in the European Union (EU27) could expect 61.3 Healthy Life Years (HLY), representing almost 80% of their life expectancy (LE) at birth of 76.7 years. Women could expect 62 HLY, 75% of their life expectancy (LE) at birth of 82.6 years in 2009.
Life expectancy at birth is an artificial construct - it is a measure of quality of health and medical technology, useful for comparisons, not a number that corresponds to what will happen to people born now or who are alive now. It reflects the life expectancy of a person born now if every statistical measure of health and mortality derived from the present population remained the same into the future. So in an age of advancing technology you would expect life expectancy figures to be lower than what will turn out to be the average age attained by your peers.
But still, it should be clear that unless progress in extending healthy life becomes more radical and less incremental, there are fair odds of 40-year-old you not living to see 80. This is not what anyone wants to hear, but it is what it is - the only way to make this different is to work to make it different. Support the work of the SENS Foundation, for example, or other causes that are involved in the science of extended human longevity and repair of aging.
One other item to keep in mind is that the cultural and financial institutions - such as Social Security in the US - that are ostensibly there to provide for you in old age some decades from now won't be around to help you. The money you're presently giving to your local government that is supposedly for that purpose? It's gone. That was nothing but a wealth transfer from you to someone further ahead in the ranks of the Ponzi scheme that you've all been drafted into. The system as it stands is set for collapse, with bailouts and massive devaluation of national currencies along the way, and that's before we consider the likely increases in longevity above and beyond the prediction models presently in use:
An IMF analysis says advanced economies would need to set aside half of their GDP today to pay for a three-year increase in longevity that is actuarially likely by 2050. ... Over the past several decades, governments have consistently underestimated longevity projections and thus have underestimated their pension liabilities. If people live just three years more than expected in 2050, which is in line with the average underestimates of the recent past, the funding gap to pay retirement benefits would be 1% to 2% per year - an amount equal to 50% of 2010 GDP. This gain in longevity will come as a huge shock to public and private pension schemes that are already woefully underfunded.
The point being this: don't look to the future thinking that anyone else is going to pay your way right at the point when it would be peachy keen to have funds for those new medical technologies that will reverse some of the aspects of your age-related degeneration. For one, do you really want to be just another grasping pawn in this vast game of generational theft, and for two, the odds are that the game will be over before you have the chance to do anything other than pay for someone else's increased standard of living. So make your own plans: save, save, save, and invest wisely.
Source:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/latest_rss_feed.cfm