A new research has suggested that the intake of coffee per day may reduce the risk of a sub-type of breast cancer, ER-negative breast cancer, by sixty percent.

Wonder Coffee

There are many talks and written records on how coffee came to be as what we see it now, but there is that strongest and most accepted legend about the discovery and drinking of coffee.

A goat shepherd named Kaldi noticed the strange behavior of his goats that were jumping and running around in excitement and full of energy after eating the fruits of an unknown bush. Kaldi soon found out that those fruits his goats tasted were cherry-like, and tasted the leaves for himself and soon enough, he became full of energy.

Kaldi took those bush’s fruit and branches to a monastery and the Abbot there decided to cook them. However, it turned bitter and the Abbot threw the entire pot into the fire. The cherries then started to burn, and the beans inside produced a pleasant aroma that made the abbot create a drink of the roasted beans. This is how then coffee came to be.

The black liquid in our morning cup is considered to be one of the most popular beverages after water. After petroleum, it is the most traded commodity in the world.

Before we know coffee as a drink, it first originated from coffee cherries which grow along the coffee tree’s branches. It takes a year for these cherries to mature. Inside the cherries are the coffee beans, and the coffee beans are then grinded on its way to become a beverage.

Scientifically, coffee contains a substance called caffeine. Caffeine is absorbed and distributed, particularly to the brain, quickly and is excreted through the urine many hours after consumption. It acts as a stimulant for the central nervous system ad diuretic. It also relieves fatigue and drowsiness for a short while and also treats migraine head aches. However, caffeine does not reduce he effects of alcohol, for many believe that it can “sober up” an intoxicated person. Excessive intake of caffeine can also result to nausea, vomiting, anxiety, depression, tremors, difficulty in sleeping and fast heart rate.

Taking coffee must be regulated, for research suggests coffee being addictive if taken in certain amounts during the day and can cause depression, chronic headaches, deprivation of sleep and increased blood pressure and sugar. However, proper coffee intake will give you as much benefits as you can get.

Coffee can help in prevention and risk reduction of certain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and liver diseases. It also reduces the risk of diabetes and skin cancer. No one said that coffee can cure it, but knowing that that delicious drink every morning provides many health benefits gives reassurance. Coffee also contains antioxidants that fight the body’s free radicals. It also increases brain power every morning. It helps in mind concentration in the midst of work. Drinking coffee after a work out can also reduce muscle pains.

The Study

A new study suggests the reduction of risks of certain breast cancer types by 60 per cent through high consumption of coffee daily. Breast cancer can be divided into non-hormone responsive (estrogen receptor (ER) negative) and hormone-responsive (ER positive) subtypes.

Results of the study published at the Breast Cancer Research show that drinking five cups of coffee or more daily could help in reducing the risk of anti-oestrogen-resistant oestrogen-receptor (ER-negative) breast cancer, a breast cancer sub type.

Karolinska Institutet-based team of Swedish researchers found out that women coffee drinkers showed lower breast cancer incidence than those who rarely drank coffee by comparing the lifestyle factors of age-matched women with and without breast cancer.

According to Jingmei Li, the lead researcher, and other researchers, no evidence was found to prove that postmenopausal breast cancer overall risk is heightened by consuming coffee. However, ER-negative breast cancer decrease in postmenopausal women was found with high intake of coffee daily. Modest decrease in the overall risk of breast cancer through coffee consumption was also reported by the researchers.

Looking deeper into the study, Li and her co-workers separated the breast cancer sub types. They have found “heavy coffee drinkers”, who take 5 cups or more a day, to have a notable decrease in ER-negative breast cancer.

The Swedish researchers said that because of coffee’s complex chemical make-up, it becomes a light on the aetiology of breast cancer. Some experimental studies have also shown the potential of these chemicals to alter the risk of cancer through significant biological mechanisms. However, they also added that the stand of the scientific community is divided over that beverage’s toxicity.

In simpler words, Li and her co-workers have found out that the risk for ER-negative breast cancer was significantly decreased compared to ER-positive breast cancer with the help of high consumption of coffee. They also added that future studies should now be gradually performed as to verify the significant benefit of high coffee consumption to breast cancer sub types.

Coffee is a complex mixture of polyphenols and caffeine, and with this, previous experimental studies have suggested that it may play a role both as an agent for chemo-prevention and as a carcinogen.

Association between postmenopausal breast cancer risk and coffee were assessed by the researchers in a large population of 6,000 people.

Breast Cancer Prevention

The way to live a healthy and productive life is to keep the body away from diseases and illnesses. Breast cancer, a type of cancer experienced by women, prevention starts with various factors that can be controlled.

• Controlling alcohol intake is important to prevent breast cancer. If wanting to drink alcohol including beer, wine or liquor, make sure to take no more than one drink per day.
• Breast feeding could also help. The longer time you breast feed, the greater the protection you get.
• Overweight people have higher risks of developing breast cancer, especially if obesity occurs later in life, particularly after menopausal.
• Exposure to environmental pollution could also contribute to breast cancer, though further studies are needed. A link between exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from vehicle exhaust and air pollution and breast cancer was found in some researches.
• Getting plenty of physical activity helps you prevent gaining of weight or reducing it, therefore preventing breast cancer development.
• If you are taking hormone therapy for menopausal symptom, its better to discontinue before you develop breast cancer.

No research has yet shown a direct link of diet to breast cancer prevention. Though there are some studies, only minimal effects are shown. Still, taking a healthy diet would help one reduce risk of other diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. In addition, taking a healthy diet helps one maintain healthy weight, a key factor in preventing breast cancer.

Sources
shaka.mistral.co.uk
amolife.com
mayoclinic.com
nutraingredients.com

A new study reveals the possibility of reducing muscle damage from oxidative stress by consuming dark chocolate before exercise.

Chocolate

Cocoa is known to be a key ingredient in many foods.  The wonder and fame of cocoa have invaded people in every part of the globe, however a few only know of its origin. The origin of the chocolate first started when the cacao tree was discovered in the tropical rainforest of Central and South America. The pods of the cacao tree contain seeds which can then be processed into chocolate. The first group known to first discover and make chocolate were the early cultures of Central America and Mexico, and together with the Aztec and Mayan people, they were able to make a spicy drink when they mixed cacao seeds with various seasonings.

The seeds were brought back to Spain by the conquistadors where they created new recipes from the seeds of the cacao plant. Through further development of technology and innovations, chocolate has continuously developed from its texture to taste as it becomes the chocolate we come to know now of, and it remains to be one of the world’s most favorite flavors.

As mentioned, chocolate comes from the seeds of the cacao trees that grows on the shade of tropical rainforests near the equator. The cacao trees produce brightly colored pods and if opened, you’ll find cacao seeds, typically 30 to 50 in number, which are nestled together in one pulp. These seeds undergo certain processes to become the chocolate we now know of.

Dark Chocolate and its benefits

Despite the pleasure and happiness that consuming chocolate gives us, it is also important that we also watch for our health too, even when taking something as irresistible as chocolate.

Not all chocolates are made equally, and with this notion, dark chocolate contains more cocoa, therefore containing more flavonoids, compounds that act as antioxidants that helps ward off free radicals, than other types of chocolates.

A small bar of dark chocolate everyday helps in the healthy functioning of the cardiovascular system, as it helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol level therefore reducing the risk of heart disease. It also lowers insulin resistance levels and can act as effective cough suppressant due to its theobromine content. The positive mood that is created by dark chocolate helps in improving information processing in the brain.

Visual contrast sensitivity and cognitive performance was also developed due to the cocoa flavanols found in dark chocolate, where researchers have observed that blood flow to the retina and brain was improved. This is according to the researchers from the University of Reading, whose work was published in the journal Physiology and Behavior.

Dark chocolates contain much more flavonoids than milk or white chocolate – not to mention that milk and white chocolates are packed with sugar. The flavonoid compounds present in dark chocolate are useful in treating patients with anemia and those with poor dietary habits. It also boosts the immune system and prevents chronic illnesses and detoxifies the body, making the body healthier and sick-free.

Though dark chocolate is known to provide a lot of health benefits for the body, it is still important to take note that too much chocolate may deprive you of the benefits you expect, therefore regulating the amount is important.

Oxidative Stress

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are naturally produced by oxygen-breathing organisms. These ROS play an important role in many body functions. However, when these ROS are over produced in the body due to exogenous sources like cigarette smoke exposure, environment pollution, excess alcohol consumption, asbestos, ionizing radiation exposure, bacterial, fungal or viral infection, intense exercise, and even simple aging, the body’s antioxidant defenses may be overwhelmed and this can lead to oxidative stress.

Generally speaking, oxidative stress is termed as an oxidative damage in a cell, tissue or organ caused by ROS. Oxidative stress is also found to be an underlying mechanism in the development and increased risk of many diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

The Study

A new study has found that possible damage effects of oxidative stress to the muscles may be reduced by dark chocolate consumption before exercising. Findings published in the European Journal of Nutrition states that dark chocolate with 70 percent of cocoa is correlated to oxidative stress blunting after exercise because of a reduction in the levels of the compound F2-isoprostane.

14 healthy mean were recruited by Davison and his co-workers to take part in the study. Volunteers were asked to take dark chocolate of 100 grams, a control bar, or nothing at all. After two hours, they were required to perform 2.5 hours of cycling at a maximal oxygen uptake level of 60 percent.

A boost in antioxidant status prior to cycling and reduced F2-isoprostane levels 1 hour after cycling were observed due to the intake of dark chocolate, compared to the control bar.

A better continuance of concentration of plasma glucose was also achieved for men who took dark chocolate because of increased insulin levels before the trial and after cycling, according to the scientists. In contrast, there were no observed changes in immune response markers, known to be influenced by rigorous exercise.

Glen Davison and his co-scientists from Aberystwyth University in Wales said that the minimal effects in the study is important physiologically, but occurs from metabolic changes because of cocoa, therefore directing to the modulation of the major plasma constituents.

Dark chocolate as well was observed to be effective in blunting the increase in plasma total antioxidant status due to exercise, as was monitored in other trials, supporting the idea that physiological significance is shown by the improved total antioxidant status in dark chocolate.

The findings of the researchers reported that effects were evident after only 100 grams serving of dark chocolate, and that it is possible that through different timing and quantity of dark chocolate ingestion would result to greater blunting on the response of oxidative stress, though further study is still needed.

The researchers also wrote that acute consumption of dark chocolate results is quite similar to those who were observed to be following ingestion of dark chocolate daily for 2 weeks.

The Nestle Research Center funded the study. Affiliations of the other scientists included the Loughborough University, the University of Newcastle in the UK and the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Sources
takbo.ph
nutraingredients.com
fmnh.org
genox.com
foodproductdesign.com

A clinical study showed the effect of practicing Tai Chi for a better quality of life in people with heart diseases.

With the varying types of diseases and conditions that occur all over the world, the best way to prevent the acquiring of such is to live healthy – eating right, exercise and maintaining an active lifestyle. A well-balanced diet is not merely enough as our body also needs to keep moving to ensure healthy blood flow. The body needs regular exercise to work out the muscles and joints, improve endurance and prevent numerous diseases as well. However, not everyone will benefit equally from exercise. We should always be aware of one’s fitness level in order to identify the correct degree of exercise to be performed without straining the muscles.

When talking about exercise, the thing that first pops in our mind are weight training, cycling, running, hiking, swimming, gym trainings or vigorous exercises that produce a lot of sweat and energy. However, there is one specific exercise that won’t stress you out, but instead give you a relaxing feeling while absorbing the benefits it can give.

What is Tai Chi?

Tai Chi Chuan, can be translated to “Supreme Ultimate Force”, where ‘supreme ultimate’ is associated with the Chinese concept of yin-yang, a balance or dynamic duality in everything and ‘force’ is the way in achieving such yin-yang.  Tai Chi Chuan, or simply Tai Chi, is a slow, meditative exercise for health, relaxation and self-defense which originated from China, but is known all throughout America and all over the world for its health benefits.

To the Chinese, illnesses and sickness are all results of imbalances in the flow of chi or “life energy” in the body. This imbalance, as they say, is because of too much yin or yang therefore causing turbulence or delayed flow of blood and chi.

Many practitioners of Tai Chi do not only treat it as a meditative exercise for the body, but also puts importance on its combat aspects. It was treated as a potent art and was used by a few families for self defense. The proper positions for the transmission of energy or “chi” and the methods of single-weightiness, relaxation techniques and control of breath were formed for the purpose of succeeding in combat in a capable and scientific manner. A Tai Chi student must be able to appreciate this martial context because the four major Tai Chi Styles: Chen, Yang, Wu and Sun, places great emphasis in grasping the meaning of Tai Chi and its purposes being for meditative wellbeing and physical health as Tai Chi is also considered an exercise and sports regimen.

Tai Chi aims in developing a calm and tranquil mind, keeping focus in performing precise execution of these exercises. Learning Tai Chi in such a way would help one develop alignment, balance, fine-scale motor control, movement rhythm and many more.

Tai Chi has its origin from martial arts, therefore, it does have some martial arts applications. “Push Hands”, a two person exercise develops the principles of Tai Chi by being sensitive of another person’s “chi” or vital energy. With this, Tai Chi’s martial arts concepts are developed in a slow-tempo combat. However, long-time practitioners could become very skillful in martial arts. What Tai chi puts emphasis on is channeling potentially destructive energy away, in the form of kick or punch, in a way that would drive off the destructive energy in a direction with no danger.

Benefits of Tai Chi

Tai Chi is known to be a slow and gentle exercise unlike any other, but nonetheless, it gives one numerous health benefits for the body. First of all, it addresses the key components of fitness namely muscle strength, flexibility, balance, and aerobic conditioning. Some studies have also shown the possibility of practicing Tai Chi in reducing the fear of falling.

A good number of studies have proven that Tai Chi also benefits many health conditions when combined with standard treatment for medical problems such as arthritis, low bone density, breast cancer, heart diseases, heart failure, hypertension, Parkinson’s disease, sleep problems and stroke.

The Study

Benefits of exercising, as most people see it, can only be acquired through vigorous workouts like weight lifting and the like. However, a clinical study from the April issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine in association with the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that Tai Chi, a Chinese practice, improves systolic heart rate, patient’s mood, quality of life, and self-efficacy.

In the United States, people who are not playing sports, weight lifting, and the like are acquiring a lot of health benefits from practicing Tai Chi, and they are often seen to be moving in a slow flowing motion, transitioning into different poses.

The study published reported the result of the clinical study at the Harvard Medical School in Boston and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. This study observed patients with heart failure taking a Tai Chi class twice a week.

This was done for three months. Later on, it was observed that the patients practicing Tai Chi increased in confidence in performing their everyday tasks and were also able to live their lifestyles more actively than those who took classes in health education. Results can also be compared to the benefits of Tai Chi for stroke.

Results from those who engaged in Tai Chi in previous studies were found to have lowered their blood pressure, improved bone density and immune system, even though these effects might also be acquired from performing thorough aerobic exercises.

This study is only limited to a lesser active form of Tai Chi, therefore not finding improvement in aerobic fitness, but a significant improvement in attitude and health of heart disease patients.

Dr. Gloria Y. Yeh, the study’s lead author, said that the real aim of this activity is to get patients to actively continue exercising.  She also said that adherence is one of the biggest advantages of any exercise regimen and with this, accessibility becomes Tai Chi’s most important component. For 12 weeks, more than three-fourths of the participants of the study continued practicing Tai Chi, and six months later, many were still practicing it.

Ways to promote a Healthy Heart

There are many ways to promote a healthy heart. First off is to follow a heart healthy diet by limiting intake of fats and hydrogenated oils, refined sugar intake from cakes and cookies, using extra virgin olive oil and garlic in cooking to lower cholesterol and adding omega 3 fatty acids in the diet. Regular exercise must also be followed by exercising 3-4 times a week, stretching before training and keeping one hydrated and resting between sets.

Leading a healthy lifestyle is also important by avoiding smoking and second hand smoke which are causes of heart disease, limiting alcohol intake, reducing stress and anxiety and keeping weight within limits.

Blood indicators in the development of heart disease must also be given attention. Watching out for high levels of cholesterol, triglyceride levels, homocysteine levels, and C-reactive Protein levels must be done for these are all potential risk factors in the development of heart diseases.

Sources
naturalnews.com
health.harvard.edu
patiencetaichi.com
chebucto.ns.ca
healthy-heart-guide.com

Open Cures is an initiative that aims to accelerate the development of existing longevity-enhancing biotechnologies demonstrated in the laboratory, but which are not being developed for commercial use in humans - largely due to regulatory barriers.

Open Cures is a volunteer initiative, open to everyone willing to help, that aims to speed the advent of biotechnologies that can slow down or repair aspects of the biological damage of aging and thus extend healthy human life. Our primary long-term goal is to bring together (a) promising but undeveloped biotechnologies of longevity and (b) the developers who can bring them to the clinic.

A fellow named Allen is one of the folk whose interest in the Open Cures vision convinced me that I needed to do more than just talk about it: you can see his comments on the old Vegas Group posts here at Fight Aging!, which contain the ideas that led to Open Cures.

The first phase of the Open Cures initiative aims to produce detailed documentation of existing forms of longevity biotechnology from the laboratory, as that documentation is a necessary precursor to bringing these potential foundations for future therapies to a wider audience. One of these nascent-but-demonstrated biotechnologies is mitochondrial protofection: a way to introduce new and undamaged mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) into mitochondria in an attempt to repair the accumulated defects they bear - defects which contribute meaningfully to aging. You'll want to look back in the Fight Aging! archives for an introduction to that topic.

Mitochondria go bad as a natural consequence of their operation, and if enough go bad in the right way, and manage to escape the natural recycling mechanisms of the cell, then they take over that cell - causing it to malfunction, damage its surroundings, and release harmful reactive molecules that are carried throughout the body. Given enough cells doing this, you will become frail and eventually die as vital systems in your body become too damaged to operate correctly.

Since the launch of Open Cures, Allen has been looking into the published papers on mitochondrial protofection and writing up an outline for a protocol - the detailed step by step instructions that allow a technique in biotechnology to be replicated. The work to date can be found in the Open Cures wiki:

"Protofection" is a word coined by a group of scientists at the University of Virginia. It is the name they have given to a procedure they were developing which could possibly become a way to rejuvenate malfunctioning mitochondria by providing them with a new, undamaged genome.

I have been attempting to write a detailed set of instructions that would allow someone with sufficient knowledge and means to reproduce their work. So far I've come up with a bare-bones skeleton or scaffolding upon which a more experienced and better writer can build - adding detail, correcting errors, and making it more understandable. ... Corrections, additions, improvements, and comments are very welcome.

The next stage in this documentation project, one of many to come, is to find writers - such a grad-level life science students willing to freelance at reasonable rates - to flesh it out into as full a protocol document as can be built from the present state of published scientific work on protofection.

Two of the interesting items we discovered in the course of researching protofection more closely are that (a) a number of research groups attempted to replicate mitochondrial protofection over the past five years but met with no success, and (b) the scientists who initially demonstrated protofection have not yet published a clear explanation of the transcription factor used as a tool when introducing replacement DNA into mitochondria:

TFAM refers to human mitochondrial transcription factor A. This protein plays several roles in the mitochondria. It participates in mtDNA transcription, replication and maintenance. It also non- specifically binds to mtDNA which is the property we want to exploit as we attempt to pull pristine mtDNA into mitochondria which contains damaged DNA

[Missing details: We need to provide the DNA sequence in the format used by DNA synthesis machines. The DNA sequence must be verified as accurate. If we make a mistake here, which would be easy to do, the entire experiment is useless. The amino acid sequence is provided in the 2008 paper and the DNA sequence could be deduced from that, but there are some complications.

A. The published amino acid sequence may not be accurate. For one thing, a ")" symbol appears in the sequence and I have no idea what that means. Also the sequence contains an unusual repeated chain of amino acids which I suspect was not really part of the protofection protein.

B. The DNA will also have to be modified by adding a short sequence to each end of it. These two short sequences must each contain a site that can be cut by EcoI, the restriction endonuclease that will be used to prepare the DNA to be spliced into the bacterial plasmid that will be used later.

C. We also have to carefully check the DNA sequence to be sure that another EcoI restriction site is not found somewhere in the middle of the sequence.]

This second point, the missing definition, doesn't matter as much as you might think for the purposes of producing a good protocol document. When we do eventually find out the correct DNA sequence for the modified TFAM, it will be the work of moments to update the published document, and none of the other materials need to change.

I see this missing information as one good example as to why an initiative like Open Cures is both necessary and helpful: there are gaps that need filling in all these scientific publications and procedures, left there (intentionally and otherwise) because these works are not intended for a wider audience. Yet in order to accelerate progress, that wider audience is absolutely essential.

What are the effects of a large and energetic open development community on an industry? What happens when tens of thousands of people start making their products available for free, sharing data, designs, and improvements openly, and making money for services and expertise rather than through selling protected secrets? Fortunately we don't have speculate on this topic: we know. Look at the software industry, which is presently more vibrant and accomplished than it has ever been, whilst a large proportion of the most important software used around the world is open, freely shared, and constructed by a mix of professional and amateur contributors. Open source software is big business and that community gets things done.

Why is this relevant? It is relevant because what happens in software today will happen in biotechnology tomorrow. The tools and techniques of biotechnology continue to fall in price, and the knowledge of how to use them is already spread widely beyond the ivory towers in which it originated.

Another example of simultaneously boosting life span and reducing cancer in mice in the laboratory - not maximum lifespan, however, or the paper would be much more triumphant. This is the first I've seen of this particular mechanism, so your guess is as good as mine as to what is going on under the hood. Once thing I'm pleased to note is that the researchers controlled for calorie restriction, and considered it important enough to state as much in the abstract. That's progress: "Sulfate (SO(4)(2-)) plays an important role in mammalian growth and development. In this study, hyposulfatemic NaS1 null (Nas1-/-) mice were used to investigate the consequences of perturbed SO(4)(2-) homeostasis on longevity. Median life spans were increased (by ?25%) in male and female Nas1-/- mice when compared with Nas1+/+ mice on identical food intakes. At 1yr of age, serum SO(4)(2-) levels remained low in Nas1-/- mice (?0.16mM) when compared to Nas1+/+ mice (?0.96mM). RT-PCR revealed increased hepatic mRNA levels of Sirt1 (by ?60%), Cat (by ?48%), Hdac3 (by ?22%), Trp53 and Cd55 (by ?36%) in Nas1-/- mice, genes linked to ageing. Histological analyses of livers from 2yr old mice revealed neoplasms in >50% of Nas1+/+ mice but not in Nas1-/- mice. This is the first study to report increased lifespan, decreased hepatic tumours and increased hepatic expression of genes linked to ageing in hyposulfatemic Nas1-/- mice, implicating a potential role of SO(4)(2-) in mammalian longevity and cancer."

Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21651971

Here another study of the long-lived confirms the common wisdom: "Objectives: To identify predictors of extraordinary survival. Design: Longitudinal study of a cohort of elderly people followed up until almost all have died. Setting: Two counties in Iowa; a part of the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly. Participants: Two thousand eight hundred ninety community-dwelling citizens aged 65 to 85 at baseline and surviving at least 3 years. Measurements: Data relating to age, sex, birth order, parental longevity, marital status, education, family income, social support, self-reported health, chronic diseases, blood pressure, body mass index, physical ability, exercise, life attitude and mental health were obtained. Extraordinary survivors (ESs) were defined to include approximately 10% of the longest survivors in their sex group. Results: The 253 ESs were far more likely never to have smoked. In models adjusted for age, sex, and smoking, the earlier-life factors such as parental longevity, being earlier in the birth order (in women only), and body mass index at age 50 were associated with extraordinary survival. In similar models for predictors at age 65 to 85, extraordinary survival was associated with excellent self-reported health, fewer chronic diseases, better physical mobility and memory, and positive attitude toward life, but it was not associated with depression, anxiety, or sleep quality. In multivariable models, attitude toward life was not an independent predictor. Women in the top third of a cumulative score of independent predictors were 9.3 times as likely to reach extraordinary survival as those in the bottom third. Conclusion: ESs had fewer 'classical' risk factors and were in better health than their contemporaneous controls. Possibly genetic factors such as parental longevity and birth order appear to be less predictive in men than in women."

Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21649635

A good interview can be found at h+ Magazine, in which Aubrey de Grey and Ben Goertzel discuss a range of topics. Goertzel is an artificial intelligence researcher who strongly supports the goal of achieving radical life extension, so the interaction between the two fields is one of his interests:

Ben:

On a different note - I wonder how much do you think progress toward ending aging would be accelerated if we had an AGI system that was, let's say, roughly as generally intelligent as a great human scientist, but also had the capability to ingest the totality of biological datasets into its working memory and analyze them using a combination of human-like creative thought and statistical and machine learning algorithms? Do you think with this sort of mind working on the problem, we could reach the Methuselarity in 5 or 10 years? Or do you think we're held back by factors that this amazing (but not godlike) level of intelligence couldn't dramatically ameliorate?

Aubrey:

I think it's highly unlikely that such a system could solve aging that fast just by analysing existing knowledge really well; I think it would need to be able to do experiments, to find things out that nobody knows yet. For example, it's pretty clear that we will need much more effective somatic gene therapy than currently exists, and I think that will need a lot of trial and error. However, I'm all for development of such a system for this purpose: firstly I might be wrong about the above, and secondly, even if it only hastens the Methuselarity by a small amount, that's still a lot of lives saved.

My take on it is that the researchers working on strong artificial intelligence are stretching the point when they discuss the relevance of their work to rejuvenation research - but this is based on my own particular estimate of how the near future of of artificial intelligence development will likely play out. Any and all systems that help biologists manage information will do their part in accelerating progress towards interventions in aging - but the next two decades don't look likely to see much more than incremental advances in expert systems. Better expert systems and knowledge management tools are a good thing, but they aren't strong AI.

I think that the first strong AI will most likely emerge from emulation and simulation of the human brain, and the computing hardware powerful enough to enable that to happen will only just be emerging twenty years from today. Meanwhile, those twenty years between now and 2030 are a vitally important time for longevity science: either we get our act together and build (a) a meaningful, funded, supported research community and (b) the scientific basis for all the necessary biological repair technologies in that time frame, or rejuvenation biotechnology will not arrive in time for those of us heading into middle age today.

So for us, I don't see that strong AI development has an enormous relevance to the future of human longevity - no more so than any line of development likely to spin off incrementally better knowledge management tools. For our descendants, strong AI will absolutely reshape the world. But we're in a far worse position than they will be when it comes to time to wait and the tools at hand - not a hopeless position, but one that requires a great deal more work right here and right now.

Transhumanism is in many ways the urge to self-improvement taken to its logical conclusion - that in addition to improving in ways that are presently possible, we should carry out the foundational work in technology that creates new ways for us to improve ourselves. So it all starts with simple, available tools to improve health, per this post at Sentient Developments: "there are a number of things we can do to extend our capacities and optimize our health in a way that's consistent with transhumanist ideals - even if it doesn't appear to be technologically sophisticated. While the effects of these interventions are admittedly low impact from a future-relativistic perspective, the quest for bodily and cognitive enhancement is part of the broader transhumanist aesthetic which places an emphasis on maximal performance, high quality of life, and longevity. ... Sure, part of being a transhumanist involves the bringing about of a radical future, including scientific research and cheerleading. But it's also a lifestyle choice; transhumanists actively strive to exceed their body's nascent capacities, or, at the very least, work to bring about its full potential. In addition to building a radical future, a transhumanist is someone who will, at any time in history, use the tools and techniques around them to maximize their biological well-being." Which is a slightly different take on the utilitarian considerations of keeping in shape so as to have the best chance of living into the era of rejuvenation biotechnology - with the pace of technology, a few years may matter. The decade or more of change you can exert on your life expectancy via lifestyle choices may make the difference between missing the boat or living a life of centuries. Or longer.

Link: http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2011/06/primal-transhumanism.html

A review paper notes a number of lines of research aimed at introducing new DNA into mitochondria or new mitochondria into cells. Although discussed in the context of introducing specific types of damage to study, the much more important prospect is for repairing mitochondria - and thus the possibility of removing the significant contribution to aging caused by damaged mitochondria: "Maintenance of the mitochondrial genome is a major challenge for cells, particularly as they begin to age. Although it is established that organelles possess regular DNA repair pathways, many aspects of these complex processes and of their regulation remain to be investigated. Mitochondrial transfection of isolated organelles and in whole cells with customized DNA synthesized to contain defined lesions has wide prospects for deciphering repair mechanisms in a physiological context. We document here the strategies currently developed to transfer DNA of interest into mitochondria. Methodologies with isolated mitochondria claim to exploit the protein import pathway or the natural competence of the organelles, to permeate the membranes or to use conjugal transfer from bacteria. Besides biolistics, which remains restricted to yeast and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, nanocarriers or fusion proteins have been explored as methods to target custom DNA into mitochondria in intact cells. In further approaches, whole mitochondria have been transferred into recipient cells. Repair failure or error-prone repair leads to mutations which potentially could be rescued by allotopic expression of proteins. The relevance of the different approaches for the analysis of mitochondrial DNA repair mechanisms and of aging is discussed."

Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21645537

I noticed a recent open access paper (in PDF format) that explains in a very readable fashion how the last few years of new research into mitochondria may imply changes for a few important details in the mitochondrial free radical theory of aging.

Mitochondria are organelles of eukaryotic cells that contain their own genetic material and evolved from prokaryotic ancestors some 2 billion years ago. They are the main source of the cell's energy supply and are involved in such important processes as apoptosis, mitochondrial diseases, and aging. During recent years it also became apparent that mitochondria display a complex dynamical behavior of fission and fusion, the function of which is as yet unknown. In this paper we develop a concise theory that explains why fusion and fission have evolved, how these processes are related to the accumulation of mitochondrial mutants during aging.

If you look back in the Fight Aging! archives, you'll find a layman's explanation of how degenerative aging is caused in part by accumulating mitochondrial mutations. Mitochondria go bad as a natural consequence of their operation, and if enough go bad in the right way, and manage to escape the natural recycling mechanisms of the cell, then they take over that cell - causing it to malfunction, damage its surroundings, and release harmful reactive molecules that are carried throughout the body. Given enough cells doing this, you will become frail and eventually die as vital systems in your body become too damaged to operate correctly.

In this, we're all in the same boat. The interesting part of this process is that mitochondria swarm around a cell in bacteria-like herds, but the real damage only starts after a cell is completely taken over by clones of one particular mutant form of mitochondrion - a different dysfunctional clone army for each dysfunctional cell, each based on a particular random set of mutations. The question all along has been how that clonal takeover happens, and here the researchers propose that fusion is the culprit:

Another important finding of recent years is that individual mitochondria do not exist as permanently distinct entities, as has long been believed, but instead form a dynamic network within which the mitochondria regularly exchange proteins, [mitochondrial] DNA, and lipids by rapid fusion and fission processes ... The fact that mitochondrial fusions do occur revives an earlier idea that the selection advantage of deletion mutants is their reduced size, which allows them to replicate faster ... we propose that mitochondrial fusion is the underlying mechanism that opens the door for the clonal expansion of mitochondrial deletion mutants.

Does this view, if accurate, change any of the existing approaches to dealing with mitochondrial mutation and its considerable consequences to our health and life span? Not really, though one might argue that it complicates the question of what actually happens under the hood during the delivery of new, undamaged DNA into a cell's mitochondria. The problem remains the damaged DNA, and the resulting absence of necessary protein cogs in the mitochondrial machinery of energy generation and other functions - so either deliver fixed DNA, or deliver the needed proteins, and the problem is solved.

In a self-repairing system, a little damage is actually a good thing - it wakes up the repair mechanisms and sets them to work, producing an overall net benefit. Thus a given form of damage may be good or bad for system longevity, depending on its degree, where it happens, and whether it is noticed by the repair mechanisms. This is why you'll see superficially contradictory research papers on reactive oxygen species, the damaging oxidant molecules emitted by mitochondria, and their impact on aging. See this, for example: "researchers have identified a pathway by which reactive oxygen species (ROS) molecules, which are usually implicated in the aging process due to their damage to DNA, can also act as cellular signaling molecules that extend lifespan. ... Increased ROS, and their effects at the cellular level, can lead to oxidative stress, which is involved in many diseases and aging. But ROS are also necessary for the proper functioning of the immune system and other biological functions. ... Inhibiting a signaling pathway called Target of Rapamycin (TOR), which is involved in sensing nutrients and cell growth, increases lifespan in yeast, as it does in mice. ... a key way this occurs is by altering the function of cellular powerhouses called mitochondria so that they produce more signaling ROS. ... The concept that ROS are important cellular signaling molecules, and not just agents of damage and stress, has grown to be widely accepted. Remarkably, in this study, we show that their purposeful production by mitochondria can even provide an adaptive signal that can delay aging. ... Trials targeting the TOR pathway as an anti-cancer strategy in humans are already underway. Our study suggests that carefully augmenting mitochondria and ROS production in humans may also be beneficial in combating aging and associated diseases." Note that "carefully augmenting mitochondria and ROS production" is a fair description of the results of exercise, and is one of the ways in which exercise works to improve long-term health. You may recall that researchers demonstrated that antioxidants applied generally tend to block this effect by mopping up the ROS that act as signals to the body's repair systems.

Link: http://opac.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=8625

It is known that centenarians - and their immediate families - tend to have better immune systems, a capability that is increasingly important in old age as people become more vulnerable to infections. Here is more research to illustrate this fact: "Aging is characterized by a progressive alteration of homeostatic mechanisms modulated by environmental and genetic factors. It is associated with a pro-inflammatory status. In centenarians, an increase of pro-inflammatory cytokine production balanced by anti-inflammatory immune response that would promote longevity is observed. Cytokine dysregulation is believed to play a key role in the proposed remodeling of the immune-inflammatory responses accompanying old age. IL-22 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine belonging to the IL-10 family and represents an important effector molecule of activated [T cells]. We recruited 17 healthy centenarians (4 males, 13 females, range 100-105 years). All ultralongeval subjects were living at home or in a nursing home. Sixteen healthy, sex-matched individuals (4 males, 12 females, range 60-95 years) were also recruited as controls. Centenarians displayed significantly higher circulating IL-22 levels compared to control population. It's well known that IL-22 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine produced by activated T lymphocytes and NK cells. IL-22 stimulates the production of acute phase reactants and promotes the antimicrobial defense. The results of the present study show, for the first time, that there is an increase of IL-22 in healthy centenarians. This pro-inflammatory condition probably is protective against infection, promoting the longevity of these subjects."

Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21640395

What I'll here call hyperactivism is a poisonous sort of dysfunction that you'll find in activist and advocate communities associated with struggling industries or long-standing initiatives that have failed to fulfill early visions of growth. It comes about because the early supporters in any new field tend to be passionate, driven, ornery, and focused: if they didn't have these characteristics, they wouldn't be up for the job of fighting over and again to persuade people to see things their way. If you are trying to build a new venture, then you need these people: they are worth their weight in gold, and they will help you succeed.

When an initiative does succeed attracting broad support and a large community, the energy and quirks of the early activists are tempered by a sea of more sedate, everyday folk. Sometimes the pioneers are quietly airbrushed out of the official histories - once an initiative becomes large enough for its leaders to want it to look like a shiny, official, professional machine, then the original barnstormers and larger than life personalities start to be seen as a liability. Justifiably or not, they are shuffled to one side of the growing crowd. In this way, the ultimate accolade of success is to be made irrelevant in the movement you helped found: accepting that likelihood up front is the way to peace of mind for activists and advocates.

But when things don't go according to plan, and what was intended to be great fails to achieve its original promise, or moves too slowly, then the problems start. Some of the early activists, untempered by large numbers of new volunteers and supporters, become poisonous. Their hyperactivism manifests itself in perfectionism, attacks on members of the community, and other displays of frustration or bitterness: to their eyes, failure was avoidable, and the problem must be the other people involved.

You see some of this going on in the cryonics community, an example of success on the small scale amidst a failure to achieve the grand goals originally envisaged for the movement. Which is to say that the few people who choose to be cryopreserved have a good chance of successfully achieving that goal, thanks to decades of largely volunteer efforts, but the vast majority of people in the world don't know, don't care, and go to the grave and oblivion just as they always have. So, understandably given human nature, you'll find a degree of hyperactivism amongst the long-standing members of the cryonics community. I noticed a perfectly passive-aggressive example of the type from Cryosphere the other day - which is disappointing, given the normally useful output there. It prompted a response in Alcor CEO Max More in his latest update, which I think is somewhat more useful.

Outside of pure mathematics and logic, perfection is not attainable in the real world. Even the flawless achievement of one goal means giving up another goal of inferior but substantial value (the economists' concept of "opportunity cost"). And achieving some aspects of a desired goal will mean giving up others. You may want a car that gets excellent gas mileage, but that will probably mean giving up the level of performance you hoped for. You may want to delay having children until you've accumulated more wealth and experience, but your fertility level may decline.

Tradeoffs clearly exist in cryonics, although you wouldn't know it by listening to most critics. We would all like cryonics to be perfect, but we know that gains come at a cost. We would like the costs of membership dues and cryopreservation charges to be lower. We would like the quality of cryopreservations to be higher. We would like everything to be run by medical professionals at low cost and with total commitment.

You can't have everything, no matter how much a hyperactivists might wish for it. Hyperactivism is something that we're all prone to, being human as we are, and it is also something to watch for when we support our favored organizations. It is important to keep the community honest, to criticize what should be criticized, and help other members of the community achieve success where possible - but if you have come to the point at which you feel that attacking other parts of the community is helpful, then somewhere you crossed the line.

I'm of the mindset that the right response - when you find yourself at that point of frustration with an existing initiative or organization - is to channel your passion into support for an existing alternative, or start such an alternative yourself. It is better to build than to tear down, and if your frustrations are in fact based on a meaningful or useful point then you have a shot at irrefutably demonstrating that point by building a better initiative, a better product, a better community. Many people in the cryonics community have worked on doing just that over the last decade - and progress springs from this impulse to achieve better results, not the impulse to attack those who are somehow not doing things your way.