FORT MYERS, FL –

Hank Graefen’s mother-in-law suffered from dementia. When he and his wife became caretakers in her final years, they studied up on the condition.

“The more you can learn the better you’re going to be and you better understand the disease.”

Often used interchangeably, both dementia and Alzheimer’s are forms of mental degradation. In many ways they seem the same but are actually two different medical terms.

“I tell people that its sort of like dementia is the team and Alzheimer’s is one of the players,” says Dr. Michael Raab, a geriatrician with Lee Memorial Health System.

Dementia covers a number of disorders; Alzheimer’s is most common.

“Depending on who you believe, between 60% and 80% are caused by Alzheimer’s disease,” says Dr. Raab.

Alzheimer’s has physical characteristics in the brain, which most other forms of dementia don’t have.

“When you look at the brain, there are tangles and plaques. The Lewy Body dementias, the vascular dementias, the front dementias, none of them really have any plaques or tangles,” says Dr. Raab.

What’s more, Alzheimer’s involves a gradual progression that can begin in middle age. General dementia is usually found in advanced years, Hank’s mother-in-law was in her 90s.

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Health Matters: Differences between Alzheimer's and dementia

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By Kathleen Doheny HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) — Mothers of children with autism and autism spectrum disorders earn significantly less than what mothers of children who have no health limitations earn, a new study has found.

These moms even earn less than mothers of children with other health limitations.

Mothers of children with autism earned, on average, less than $21,000 a year, the researchers found. That was 56 percent less than mothers whose children had no health limitations and 35 percent less than mothers whose children had other health limitations.

In addition, moms who have children with autism are 6 percent less likely to be employed, and work an average of seven hours less per week than mothers of children with no health limitations, the study found.

While the researchers did not find differences in fathers’ incomes, the overall income in families that have children with autism suffers, said lead researcher David Mandell, associate director of the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and associate director of the Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

“Families of children with autism experience a 28 percent reduction in income compared to families with typically developing children,” he said. The family incomes of parents whose children have autism is also less, 21 percent, than those whose children have other health limitations, Mandell found.

The study is published online March 19 and in the April print issue of Pediatrics.

For the study, Mandell and his colleagues looked at data from the 2002-2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. This ongoing survey of U.S. households collects detailed information on medical conditions, health services use and expenditure, and other data.

The researchers looked at 261 children with autism spectrum disorders, nearly 3,000 with other health limitations and more than 64,000 with no health limitations.

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Mothers of kids with autism earn less

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Rachael Rettner MyHealthNewsDaily

Adriana Lara, a mother in Hutto, Texas, is not able to work because her 5-year old son Joshua has autism. Lara must stay home to give Joshua the care he needs, and to drive him to his therapy sessions five days a week.

“It’s just impossible for me to be able to hold a job and do all these things with Josh,” Lara, 31, said. The family depends on the salary of Lara’s husband, a psychologist at a Veteran’s Affairs hospital.

Joshua’s therapies, including speech, music and occupational therapy, cost about $5,000 a month. Eighty-five percent of the cost is currently covered by a government grant, but the grant will run out this summer, and the family’s insurance policy won’t cover Joshua’s therapies, Lara said.

“We dont know how we’re going to afford it,” Lara said. While public schools offer autism therapies, Joshua’s school does not offer the type of intensive therapies he needs, Lara said. For instance, the therapies provided by Joshua’s school are not one-on-one, Lara said.

A new study highlights the unique financial burden faced by families of children with autism, like Lara’s. The burden is particularly significant for mothers, the study finds.

On average, mothers of autistic children earn $14,755 less per year than mothers of healthy children, and $7,189 less per year than mothers of children with other health conditions (such as asthma and ADHD) that limit their ability to engage in childhood activities, according to the study.

Despite the fact that they tend to have completed more years of education, mothers of autistic children are 6 percent less likely to be employed, and they work on average 7 hours less weekly than mothers of healthy children, the researchers say.

“We don’t think that autism creates more of a strain on the family per se than other chronic conditions of childhood,” said study researcher David Mandell, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “I think the reason these mothers are leaving the workforce is because the service system for children with autism is so fragmented,” Mandell said.

Health care and workplace policies need to recognize the full impact of autism, and alleviate costs for the families with greatest needs, the researchers concluded, writing in the March 19 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

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Cryo-Save Group N.V. (Euronext: CRYO, Cryo-Save, or the Group), the leading international stem cell storage brand and the largest family stem cell bank in Europe, has published its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2011.

Financial highlights

Revenue up 4% to EUR41.9 million (2010: EUR40.4 million) Operating expenses before depreciation and amortisation increased with EUR1.6 million mainly due to further investments in Cryo-Lip() (EUR0.8 million) and acquisition impact (EUR0.7 million) EBITDA(*): EUR6.3 million (2010: EUR7.3 million) EBITA(**): EUR4.5 million (2010: EUR5.8 million) Operating profit: EUR2.9 million (2010: EUR4.5 million) Profit before taxation: EUR3.0 million (2010: EUR3.9 million) Net profit: EUR2.3 million (2010: EUR2.6 million) Basic earnings per share 25.0 euro cents (2010: 27.6 euro cents) Robust net cash from operating activities EUR6.2 million (2010: EUR 2.8 million) Solid cash position of EUR7.0 million as at 31 December 2011 (2010: EUR6.0 million) Dividend per share of EUR0.08, up 14% (2010: EUR0.07) () (*) EBITDA is defined as Earnings Before Interest, Taxation Depreciation and Amortisation (**) EBITA is defined as Earnings Before Interest, Taxation and Amortisation of identified intangible assets

Operational highlights

39,900 new samples stored in 2011, up 4% compared to previous year (2010: 38,300). Of these, 25,200 were new cord blood samples and 14,700 new cord tissue samples 204,000 samples have been stored in total at 31 December 2011 67% of new customers opt for combined service of cord blood and cord tissue storage Acquisition of Serbian distributor Life R.F. for EUR2.3 million in cash and 30,000 Cryo-Save shares Cryo-Save USA founded, to commercialize and develop the Cryo-Lip() service in North America Cryo-Save South Africa joint venture established and stem cell processing and storage laboratory opened in Cape Town together with John Daniel Holdings and Lazaron Biotechnologies A six-year-old girl from Portugal with Cerebral Palsy was treated at Duke University in the US with her own cord blood stem cells, which were stored and released by Cryo-Save

Outlook

* Cryo-Save has a strong strategic position and product portfolio to further enhance its business * Cryo-Save will continue to collaborate with new partners and make acquisitions in line with its strategy to grow in current markets as well as in new geographies * Promising developments continue in the use of stem cell technology in the treatment of diseases. Thus enhancing the added value of Cryo-Saves high- tech storage solutions of stem cells * Fast growing fields of cellular therapy and regenerative medicine offer further attractive market potential for Cryo-Save * The Group is confident it will continue to maintain its market leading position as the leading international stem cell storage brand and the largest family stem cell bank in Europe

Revenue increased with EUR1.4 million to EUR41.9 million, largely due to increased sales volumes in several countries, acquisitions and increased number of new cord tissue samples, partly offset by lower business volume in mainly Southern Europe. The impact of the economic crisis also resulted in a significantly lower number of births in almost all countries. An increasing demand for discounts on the service fee and instalment plans to facilitate the payment of the service fee has been another factor affecting revenue growth.

The gross profit margin decreased with 1% to 66.6%, among others due to an increased demand for higher reimbursements of the collection of the umbilical cord blood and cord tissue in the hospitals. The gross profit margin remained at the same level compared to the second half of 2010 (66.5%).

Operational expenses increased with EUR1.6 million due to incremental expenses related to Cryo-Lip() (EUR0.8 million), and the impact of the acquisitions of Tissue Bank Cryo Center Bulgaria AD (“TBCCB”) and Life R.F. doo, Serbia (“Life”) (EUR0.7 million).

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MONDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) — Mothers of children with autism and autism spectrum disorders earn significantly less than what mothers of children who have no health limitations earn, a new study has found.

These moms even earn less than mothers of children with other health limitations.

Mothers of children with autism earned, on average, less than $21,000 a year, the researchers found. That was 56 percent less than mothers whose children had no health limitations and 35 percent less than mothers whose children had other health limitations.

In addition, moms who have children with autism are 6 percent less likely to be employed, and work an average of seven hours less per week than mothers of children with no health limitations, the study found.

While the researchers did not find differences in fathers’ incomes, the overall income in families that have children with autism suffers, said lead researcher David Mandell, associate director of the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and associate director of the Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

“Families of children with autism experience a 28 percent reduction in income compared to families with typically developing children,” he said. The family incomes of parents whose children have autism is also less, 21 percent, than those whose children have other health limitations, Mandell found.

The study is published online March 19 and in the April print issue of Pediatrics.

For the study, Mandell and his colleagues looked at data from the 2002-2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. This ongoing survey of U.S. households collects detailed information on medical conditions, health services use and expenditure, and other data.

The researchers looked at 261 children with autism spectrum disorders, nearly 3,000 with other health limitations and more than 64,000 with no health limitations.

About 67 percent of the children with autism had mothers who worked outside the home. About 92 percent of the kids with autism had working fathers.

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Mothers of Kids With Autism Earn Less, Study Shows

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Adriana Lara, a mother in Hutto, Texas, is not able to work because her 5-year old son Joshua has autism. Lara must stay home to give Joshua the care he needs, and to drive him to his therapy sessions five days a week.

“It’s just impossible for me to be able to hold a job and do all these things with Josh,” Lara, 31, said. The family depends on the salary of Lara’s husband, a psychologist at a Veteran’s Affairs hospital.

Joshua’s therapies, including speech, music and occupational therapy, cost about $5,000 a month. Eighty-five percent of the cost is currently covered by a government grant, but the grant will run out this summer, and the family’s insurance policy won’t cover Joshua’s therapies, Lara said.

“We dont know how we’re going to afford it,” Lara said. While public schools offer autism therapies, Joshua’s school does not offer the type of intensive therapies he needs, Lara said. For instance, the therapies provided by Joshua’s school are not one-on-one, Lara said.

A new study highlights the unique financial burden faced by families of children with autism, like Lara’s. The burden is particularly significant for mothers, the study finds.

On average, mothers of autistic children earn $14,755 less per year than mothers of healthy children, and $7,189 less per year than mothers of children with other health conditions (such as asthma and ADHD) that limit their ability to engage in childhood activities, according to the study.

Despite the fact that they tend to have completed more years of education, mothers of autistic children are 6 percent less likely to be employed, and they work on average 7 hours less weekly than mothers of healthy children, the researchers say.

“We don’t think that autism creates more of a strain on the family per se than other chronic conditions of childhood,” said study researcher David Mandell, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “I think the reason these mothers are leaving the workforce is because the service system for children with autism is so fragmented,” Mandell said.

Health care and workplace policies need to recognize the full impact of autism, and alleviate costs for the families with greatest needs, the researchers concluded, writing in the March 19 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Higher bills, lower salaries

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For Erna Rosenberg, it's a mystery what's led to her long life.

Now a group of scientists are hoping that Rosenberg's DNA, along with that of other centenerians, holds clues to solving that mystery.

Rosenberg, who turned 100 in July, is one of about 100 with at least a century of life experience including the oldest person in the world 115-year-old Besse Cooper - who have donated samples of their DNA to scientists competing in the $10 million Archon Genomics X prize competition by Medco, a New Jersey-based health care and research company.

I think its a family thing. But I have no one to ask now, Rosenberg said in her Lasell Village apartment in Auburndale. I dont really know, but Im here and thats amazing.

The New York City-born Rosenberg has never had cancer or fought off any other life-threatening diseases. She lived most of the ten decades of her life without suffering any serious illnesses, but was recently diagnosed with a heart valve problem and uses an oxygen tube to help with her breathing.

The curly white-haired lady suspects that her longevity is due to good genes on her mothers side of the family. Her mother lived into her late 80s, Rosenberg said. Her father died in his 70s of heart problems, she said.

My sister, the one who committed suicide, she wouldve had those genes too, Rosenberg said. Then I have a niece who is my sisters daughter. Shes 70 now and shes in perfect health and we laugh about it.

Grant Campany, senior director and prize lead of Archon Genomics, said when the 100 human genomes are sequenced the information will be provided to researchers around the world with the hope that it improves the practice of medicine.

Theres a lot of inefficiencies in how medicine is currently practiced, he said. Medicine is really practiced through trial and error. Basically, you get a physician asking you a series of questions. In most cases, when they do make a diagnosis, they prescribe you a medication and often times those arent effective.

But Campany said creating a genetic sequence could help change the future of medicine by helping patients understand the best course of treatment.

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Auburndale centenarian donates DNA to study

Respected stress expert James L. Wilson DC, ND, PhD is invited by the Australasian Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine to present medical lecture to Australian physicians with new solutions for stress-related depression, adrenal fatigue, and metabolic syndrome

(PRWEB) March 24, 2012

Depression, adrenal fatigue and metabolic syndrome can arise as stress maladaptations and are intimately related, yet are often slow to be recognized, if at all, by conventional medicine. U.S. physician James L. Wilson will present a new series of thought-provoking medical lectures to help Australian medical clinicians diagnose and treat stress-induced depression, adrenal fatigue and metabolic syndrome with increased efficacy.

Dr. Wilson will instruct Australian physicians to identify, differentiate and treat disruptions of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, adrenal dysfunction and imbalances in cortisol, one of the primary hormones secreted by the adrenals under stress.

Dysregulation of the HPA axis is one of the most common findings in patients with major depression and can disrupt optimal physiological and metabolic balance over time, as well as lower stress tolerance. Health problems that result are largely related to the levels of cortisol being produced by the adrenal glands. Cortisol levels affect the expression of neurotransmitters, including dopamine and serotonin imbalances of which are associated with depression.

Cortisol has a profound effect on every organ and system in the body. Both low and high cortisol can negatively affect sleep, libido, concentration, blood sugar metabolism, energy and immune function, among others. Dr. Wilson coined the phrase, The Cortisol Tightrope Walk to illustrate how this hormone affects health at both ends of its expression.

Chronically high levels of cortisol and glucose can lead to metabolic syndrome a symptom complex including high blood sugar, insulin resistance, excess belly fat, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides, high blood pressure, and inflammation. Metabolic syndrome is a predisposing factor in heart disease and diabetes. Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of death in Australia; diabetes is the fastest growing chronic disease and sixth leading cause of death in Australia according to Diabetes Australia. Eroding health ailments such as these prompted the request for Dr. Wilson lecture to Australian doctors on diagnosing and treating stress related health conditions.

With adrenal fatigue at the other end of the spectrum, suboptimal output of cortisol and other adrenal hormones can exacerbate pre-existing health conditions such as hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, allergies, asthma and autoimmune disorders. Inflammatory conditions, PMS and menopausal symptoms can also worsen. Stamina, immunity and libido all decline with adrenal fatigue.

The symptoms of stress today are too often treated as the end point rather than indicators of another cause of imbalance in the patient, said Dr. Wilson, an expert on stress and endocrine imbalances and their impact on health, and author of Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome. The traditional medical model of treating the presenting symptom with prescription medications, rather than with a more comprehensive assessment of the whole person, is not sufficient [for] stress-related disorders said Dr. Wilson. Adrenal fatigue can be the source of many of the most common symptoms of todays stress-related disorders, yet doctors frequently fail to recognize it because they lack the information necessary for its diagnosis and treatment, reported Dr. Wilson.

By the request of the Australasian Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine (A5M), the leading organization advancing longevity science and promoting non-traditional approaches in Australian healthcare, Dr. Wilson will lecture at their conference, A Delicate Symphony: The Interrelationship between Adrenal Fatigue, Depression and Metabolic Syndrome, that is being held in Brisbane and Melbourne, Australia, March 23-25, 2012.

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Is Stress Increasing Our Risk for Depression, Fatigue, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease?

Soosha takes an interest in a photographer using the underwater observation area. The 25-year-old polar bear came to Denver in 1987. (Denver Post file)

A 25-year-old polar bear at the Denver Zoo was euthanized last week because of "severe" declining health, zoo officials announced Tuesday.

Soosha, a female bear, "began to show increased joint pain, decreased mobility and lethargy the past few months," the Denver Zoo said in a statement. "Although she received medications for her joint pain, she did not return to her normal self."

Eventually, Soosha began declining food and quit eating.

"It is always difficult to make this type of decision," Dr. Scott Larsen, the zoo's vice president of veterinary medicine, said in the statement. "As hard as it is, this was the right thing to do."

The typical longevity of polar bears is 20 to 25 years, the zoo said.

Multiple

View photos of polar bear Soosha's life at the Denver Zoo.

In 1987, Soosha arrived in Denver from Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, S.C., and she was one of the first residents of the Northern Shores exhibit.

The Denver Zoo remains home to Soosha's niece, Cranbeary, and Cranbeary's mate, Lee.

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Denver Zoo polar bear Soosha euthanized

News Release

"Because we simultaneously treat obese parents and children with the same program, the benefits extend to the rest of the family, too," says UB's Epstein.

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Release Date: March 14, 2012

BUFFALO, N.Y. Obesity in childhood can create serious compromises to physical and mental health and longevity, but parents who want to encourage healthier eating face significant challenges.

Now, a free, weight-loss program developed at the University at Buffalo, one of the nation's only programs proven to achieve and maintain long term (10 years) weight loss in children is enrolling Western New York families. The program is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

To be eligible, children must be overweight and between 8 and 12 years of age, considered the best age to intervene in creating healthy eating habits; they also must have at least one parent who is overweight.

Nearly 1 in 3 children in the US are now overweight or obese, says Leonard H. Epstein, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and professor and director of the UB program. "The number has doubled in the last 20 years and it keeps increasing. At the same time, nearly 2 out of 3 adults are overweight and 1 of 3 adults in the US is also obese."

Clearly, engaging in behaviors that encourage healthy eating and more physical activity is a tougher challenge than it used to be, Epstein continues. "Children today are faced with many more opportunities for unhealthy eating than they were just twenty years ago. There are many more high-calorie foods available. Portion sizes in restaurants are larger now and children have more opportunities to be sedentary than they used to have."

In spite of these challenges, UB's Buffalo Childhood Weight Control program has shown consistent success. That's because the UB program is one of the nation's very few childhood obesity programs that is evidence-based -- that is, based on the best available evidence from peer-reviewed scientific data. Those data, generated by prominent obesity researchers at UB and elsewhere, have long shown that treatment programs like UB's, involving both parent and child, are the single most effective way to achieve healthy weight in children.

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Families can enroll now in UB's free weight loss program for children and parents, one of the nation's most successful

CLEARWATER, FL--(Marketwire -03/19/12)- Biostem U.S., Corporation (OTCQB: BOSM.PK - News) (Pinksheets: BOSM.PK - News) (Biostem, the Company), a fully reporting public company in the stem cell regenerative medicine sciences sector, announced today the addition of Perinatologist Sanford M. Lederman, MD to its Scientific and Medical Board of Advisors (SAMBA).

As Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, Dr. Lederman is consistently recognized by New Yorker Magazine's list of "Top Doctors" in New York. A specialist in high-risk pregnancy issues, Dr. Lederman has authored a number of scientific papers and is a highly regarded public speaker. He adds a very important dimension to the Biostem Scientific and Medical Board of Advisors by bringing specialized knowledge regarding the potential use of stem cell applications for the health of women and children.

Biostem President Dwight Brunoehler said, "Dr. Lederman is one of the most highly respected Obstetric and Gynecological physicians in the country. Sandy and I have worked together very actively on stem cell projects for over 18 years, including setting up a cord blood stem cell national donation system where all expectant moms have a chance to donate their baby's cord blood to benefit others."

Dr. Lederman stated, "Biostem's expansion plans mesh well with my personal interest in developing and advancing the use of non-controversial stem cells to improve the health of women and children. I have a particular interest in increasing the use of cord blood stem cells for in-utero transplant procedures, where stem cells are used to cure a potential life threatening disease such as sickle cell or thalassemia and other selective genetic disorders in a baby before it is even born."

Prior to accepting his current position with New York Methodist Hospital, Dr. Lederman was Residency Program Director and Vice Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and gynecology at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. At various times, he has served as a partner at Brooklyn Women's Health Care, President at Genetics East and Clinical Associate Professor at the State University of New York. He has served on the medical advisory board of several companies. He previously was Medical Director of Women's Health USA and was a founding member of the Roger Freeman Perinatal Society.

A graduate of Hunter College in New York, he received his initial medical training at Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara School of Medicine. His initial internship was at New York Medical College in the Bronx. During the course of his career, Dr. Lederman has served and studied in various capacities at Long Island College Hospital in the Bronx, North Shore University Hospital in New York, Kings County Medical Center in Brooklyn, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center in California and the University of California at Irvine.

About Biostem U.S., CorporationBiostem U.S., Corporation (OTCQB: BOSM.PK - News) is a fully reporting Nevada corporation with offices in Clearwater, Florida. Biostem is a technology licensing company with proprietary technology centered around providing hair re-growth using human stem cells. The company also intends to train and license selected physicians to provide Regenerative Cellular Therapy treatments to assist the body's natural approach to healing tendons, ligaments, joints and muscle injuries by using the patient's own stem cells. Biostem U.S. is seeking to expand its operations worldwide through licensing of its proprietary technology and acquisition of existing stem cell related facilities. The company's goal is to operate in the international biotech market, focusing on the rapidly growing regenerative medicine field, using ethically sourced adult stem cells to improve the quality and longevity of life for all mankind.

More information on Biostem U.S., Corporation can be obtained through http://www.biostemus.com, or by calling Kerry D'Amato, Marketing Director at 727-446-5000.

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Biostem U.S., Corporation Continues Building Its Scientific and Medical Board of Advisors With Appointment of Leading ...

The immune system falls apart with age in ways that are as much a matter of configuration as wear and tear – it is a machine in which the programming runs awry, leading it to do the wrong things at the wrong time, or just do nothing when it should be doing something. This activity leads to damage, which in turn accelerates aging: “Immune aging is associated with loss of critical immune functions, such as host protection from infection and malignancy. Unexpectedly, immunosenescence also renders the host susceptible to inflammation, which may translate into tissue-damaging disease as the senescent immune system loses its ability to maximize inflammatory protection while minimizing inflammatory injury. On the other hand, chronic inflammation associated with immune-mediated disease represents a profound stress factor for the immune system, affecting cellular turn-over, replication and exhaustion. Immune cell longevity is tightly connected to the functional integrity of telomeres which are regulated by cell multiplication, exposure to oxidative stress and DNA repair mechanisms. Lymphocytes are amongst the few cell types that can actively elongate telomeres through the action of telomerase. In patients with the autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis (RA), telomerase deficiency is associated with prematurity of immune aging. Patients with RA have other defects in DNA repair mechanisms, including the kinase Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), critically involved in the repair of DNA double strand breaks. ATM deficiency in RA shortens lymphocyte survival. Dynamics of telomeric length and structure are beginning to be understood and have distinct patterns in different autoimmune diseases, suggesting a multitude of molecular mechanisms defining the interface between chronic immune stimulation and progressive aging of the immune system.”

Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22396899

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With advancing age – and accumulating damage – the immune system moves into a state wherein it is constantly roused and on alert, exacting a toll on the integrity of tissue and cells through its signaling and activity, but also ineffective at actually tackling pathogens, senescent cells, precancerous cells, and other things that should be destroyed. So you have constant chronic inflammation and all its downsides with none of the compensatory immune activity boost that comes with short-term inflammation in the young. Researchers have given the name “inflammaging” to this progressive and increasingly harmful disarray of the immune system, and you’ll find a few introductions to inflammaging as a concept back in the Fight Aging! archives.

Below is an open access paper that gives an overview of inflammaging and how it relates to some of the forms of cellular damage that cause aging. In this paper, the researchers paint a picture of inflammaging derived from root causes that involve mitochondrial damage and progressive failure of autophagy to clear out that damage, two line items that have been examined a fair number of times here in the past – under the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) viewpoint these two are amongst the fundamental, root causes of aging.

Inflammaging: disturbed interplay between autophagy and inflammasomes

In 2000, Franceschi et al. coined the term “inflammaging” in order to refer to a low-grade pro-inflammatory status appearing during the aging process. They emphasized the role of macrophages as well as cellular stress and genetic factors in the generation of the inflammaging condition. In addition, they hypothesized that this inflammatory environment could predispose the organism to the development of several age-related diseases. During recent years, this scenario has been confirmed by a plethora of experimental evidence. … Interestingly, the aging process is simultaneously accompanied by both the features accelerating inflammaging and the counteracting, so-called anti-inflammaging characteristics. It seems that the balance between these opposite forces controls the outcome of the aging process, either leading to frailty and degenerative diseases or a healthy old age and longevity.

…

The aging process is associated with a decline in autophagic capacity which impairs cellular housekeeping, leading to protein aggregation and accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria which provoke reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and oxidative stress.

Recent studies have clearly indicated that the ROS production induced by damaged mitochondria can stimulate intracellular danger-sensing multiprotein platforms called inflammasomes. [As a result of inflammasome activity, signaling molecules called] cytokines provoke inflammatory responses and accelerate the aging process by inhibiting autophagy.

There has been some good progress in recent years in pulling things together in the big picture – and the more that we see the mechanisms of SENS featured, the better to my eyes. That ways lies increased support for rejuvenation biotechnology that will actually work to reverse aging, rather than the present mainstream course of aiming to slow down aging just a little sometime in next few decades.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

As an official partner of the First World Congress on Healthy Ageing, Pfizer reaffirms the companys commitment to promote healthy and active ageing at all stages of life as a basis for enhanced productivity in the Asia Pacific. Pfizer will lead a luncheon symposium today focused on the relationship between health and economic sustainability and the resulting challenges and opportunities of shifting demographics across the region.

We are seeing an explosion of older populations in Asia and need to adapt our strategies to address this worrying trend, said Theresa Firestone, Regional President, Asia - Emerging Markets for Pfizer. This is a phenomenon we cannot ignore, and Pfizer is proud to support this first-ever Congress as an important step in advancing the good work of the Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society, deepening collaboration with other key stakeholders, and developing solutions to this critical issue.

In many societies in the Asia-Pacific region, populations are ageing at unprecedented rates brought on by increased longevity and lower fertility rates and leading to an explosion in the size and proportion of ageing societies. For instance, Singapore, Vietnam, and China each rank among the most rapidly aging developing countries. In Singapore, the over-60 demographic segment will nearly quadruple, increasing by nearly 450% between 2000 and 2050 to account for a full 38% of its overall population. In Vietnam and China, the increases in percentages will be similar. Yet, for China, the worlds most populous country, this will add up to 437 million people over 60 by 2050, a number equivalent to the entire worlds elderly population in 1985. In Malaysia, the percentage of the over-60 population will increase from 8% today to 20% by 2050.

Pfizers approach to healthy and active ageing will focus on two critical areas aimed at enhancing productivity and economic sustainability as developing Asian societies age:

Speakers during Pfizers expert panel include:

In addition, Pfizer will sponsor a workshop on Wednesday 21 March focused on the importance of adult immunization, to be led by Dr. Christopher Lee, Head and Senior Consultant for the Department of Medicine and the Infectious Disease Unit at the Sungai Buloh Hospital, Malaysia in coordination with Melissa Mitchell from the Global Coalition on Aging and Dr. Vicknesh Welluppillai, Medical Director, Pfizer Malaysia.

The developing Asia region is at a critical juncture requiring a new and strong focus on how governments, NGOs, businesses, physicians and other innovators can come together to find solutions that promote healthy ageing, said Assoc. Prof. Nathan Vytialingam, President of the Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society and Organising Chairman of the 2012 Congress. The Congress aims to find these solutions and prompt a new way of thinking and collaborating for the future.

The First World Congress on Healthy and Active Ageing will take place 19-22 March 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For more information, visit http://www.healthyageingcongress.com

About Pfizer Inc.: Working together for a healthier world

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You’ll find some thoughts on incentives, politicians, and longevity science over at h+ Magazine. I don’t agree with all of them, but then my views on the state as a millstone hung upon the neck of medical progress are known: “After finding out I was an economist, [Aubrey de Grey] effectively challenged me to work out what we should want politicians to do … With over 150,000 people dying every day, I hope governments would respond to the animal experiments by accelerating our journey to [actuarial] escape velocity through massively increasing funding for longevity medical research, because the cost of dying this year goes way up if it causes you to just miss out on the chance to live long enough to live forever. But since a rational world would already make abolishing death a top priority, we can’t count on politicians automatically doing this. Still (as I will explain at the end of this article) people will likely be made aware of any inevitable approach to escape velocity which should cause at least some voters to reward politicians who increase taxpayer support for medical research. … Once we actually reach escape velocity, U.S. politicians would face enormous political pressure to make the necessary medical treatments available to all Americans, regardless of income. The U.S. government might well do this by limiting how much companies could charge for the needed medicines. Predicting this, pharmaceutical companies would have fewer incentives to develop the cures in the first place.”

Link: http://hplusmagazine.com/2012/02/28/the-politics-of-medical-immortality/

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If you’ve been reading Fight Aging! for a while, you’ll recall that I’ve discussed organized crowdsourcing of funding of life science research – and longevity science in particular – for a few years now. This is a concept whose time has come: the Internet is providing great transparency and insight into all fields of endeavor, the cost of biotechnology has fallen rapidly to the point at which graduate students and a few tens of thousands of dollars can accomplish meaningful novel research, and crowdsourcing is achieving critical mass in other markets.

So we have ventures like Kickstarter, which is making a name for itself in art, publishing, and manufacturing projects. That is an example of a successful marketplace, where workers and funders can come together to raise sums comparable to pre-angel investments in start up companies – but on their own terms, and usually far better terms.

If you can raise money for books, art projects, and widgets, why not for discrete life science research projects with determined goals? The LongeCity (previously the Immortality Institute) crowd have been trying this for some years, with a great deal of success considering the limited audience of this community in comparison to the audience available through Kickstarter. It is sad but true that far more people are brought to a state of excitedly opening their wallets for the development of an iPhone widget than for any sort of biotechnology project, even one that will contribute to the reversal of aging.

But regardless, the groundwork is laid – this is the time for growth in crowdsourced funding. For the scientific community, the remaining piece of the puzzle at this time would seem to be a viable first marketplace, some Kickstarter-for-science that captures an audience and replicates the success of Kickstarter in this field. Once that is done a single time, then the idea will be accepted by the public and many such ventures can blossom.

Today, I see a fairly professional offering is put forward as a contender: Petridish:

Petridish lets you fund promising research projects and join first hand in new discoveries. World famous researchers post projects and expeditions that need your help to get off the ground. Each project has a minimum threshold it must hit in pledges, or it will not be funded. Backers in successful projects join the team and get insider rewards such as: Early access to news about progress and findings, souvenirs from the field, acknowledgements in journals, naming rights for new discoveries, or the ability to join an expedition in person.

Crowdsourced funding is a tremendously powerful tool for minority research fields – such as the rejuvenation biotechnology of the SENS Foundation. This is true for exactly the same reasons that make it a powerful tool for indie publishers and other entities largely removed from the traditional funding sources in their industry. In fact, the history of the SENS Foundation and Methuselah Foundation has been one long crowdsourced funding effort, launched by the early interest of the transhumanist community and carried onward by a broader community of people who value longer lives enough to do something about it.

What an organization like Petridish can bring to the table, if successful, is a larger audience and a formalism of the crowdsourced funding process that enables it to proceed much more smoothly – and more successfully. There are economies of scale that emerge quite quickly if you want to break down your fundraising into ten small programs rather than one big one, but it takes something like a Petridish or a Kickstarter to make this work well.

I believe that the SENS Foundation folk should contact the Petridish folk and set something up: there is no shortage of discrete, interesting projects that the Foundation would like to undertake, and I think this would be an excellent test of the waters. This is the future of small to mid-sized project funding, both in the sciences and elsewhere: if you want enthusiastic, knowledgeable supporters, then you have to get them more involved in the nuts and bolts of your work – in the small victories and accomplishments that are the foundation of the bigger picture. This is the best way to do that.

Source:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/latest_rss_feed.cfm

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http://www.longevitymedicine.tv/feed/

Via EurekAlert!: “Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by abnormal deposits in the brain of the protein Amyloid-ß, which induces the loss of connections between neurons, called synapses. Now, scientists [have] discovered that specific antibodies that block the function of a related protein, called Dkk1, are able to completely suppress the toxic effect of Amyloid-ß on synapses. … Dkk1 is elevated in the brain biopsies of people with Alzheimer’s disease but the significance of these findings was previously unknown. Scientists [have] found that Amyloid-ß causes the production of Dkk1, which in turn induces the dismantling of synapses (the connections between neurons) in the hippocampus, an area of the brain implicated in learning and memory. … scientists conducted experiments to look at the progression of synapse disintegration of the hippocampus after exposure to Amyloid-ß, using brain slices from mice. They were able to monitor how many synapses survived in the presence of a specific antibody which targets Dkk1, compared to how many synapses were viable without the antibody. The results show that the neurons that were exposed to the antibody remained healthy, with no synaptic disintegration.”

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/ucl-sdt030512.php

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The near future of organ transplants will become very varied, as a range of different viable types of technology are presently undergoing active development. A short list looks much like this:

• Incremental progress in old-style organ transplants, such as improving the donation system, allowing organs to be stored outside the body for longer periods of time, and so forth.
• Decellularization, in which a donor organ is stripped of cells, leaving only the scaffold of the extracellular matrix. The scaffold is repopulated from the patient’s cells, removing the possibility of immune rejection and need for immunosuppressant drugs.
• Electromechanical and bioartificial organs, including hearts, lungs, and kidneys, continue to improve at a good pace. New types of small artificial organ are becoming possible thanks to advances in materials science.
• Creating organ tissue and scaffolds from scratch through a variety of methods, such as the 3-D printing pioneered by a number of groups.
• Xenotransplantation, the use of animal organs for human patients, is also becoming more viable as a near-term prospect.
• Lastly, there are the researchers who aim to rebuild damaged organs in situ through manipulation of stem cells and signaling processes in normal regeneration.

There will be a great deal of innovation and healthy competition over the next two decades before this larger cycle of technological progress in medicine settles down to a few mature and tried and tested ways of fixing broken and age-damaged organs in the body.

To add to the list of strategies, I noticed an article today on a possible middle path between old-style donor transplants (immunosuppressant drugs and all) and the near future of organs that are populated by the patient’s own stem cells. It may be possible to use the knowledge acquired by stem cell researchers to date in order to minimize or completely remove the risk of immune rejection of a donor organ:

In a standard kidney transplant, the donor agrees to donate their kidney. In the approach being studied, the individual is asked to donate part of their immune system as well. The process begins about one month before the kidney transplant, when bone marrow stem cells are collected from the blood of the kidney donor using a process called apheresis. The donor cells are then sent to the University of Louisville to be processed, where researchers enrich for “facilitating cells” believed to help transplants succeed. During the same time period, the recipient undergoes pre-transplant “conditioning,” which includes radiation and chemotherapy to suppress the bone marrow so the donor’s stem cells have more space to grow in the recipient’s body.

Once the facilitating cell-enriched stem cell product has been prepared, it is transported back to Northwestern, where the recipient undergoes a kidney transplant. The donor stem cells are then transplanted one day later and prompt stem cells to form in the marrow from which other specialized blood cells, like immune cells, develop. The goal is to create an environment where two bone marrow systems exist and function in one person. Following transplantation, the recipient takes anti-rejection drugs which are decreased over time with the goal to stop a year after the transplant.

…

Less than two years after her successful kidney transplant, 47-year-old mother and actress Lindsay Porter of Chicago, is living a life that most transplant recipients dream of – she is currently free of anti-rejection medications and says at times, she has to remind herself that she had a kidney transplant. … Doctors are hopeful that Porter will not need immunosuppressive drugs long-term, given her progress thus far.

You might look on this as creating a form of engineered chimerism. We know that some animals and humans exist with, for example, multiple blood types and genetically distinct systems in their body as a result of the fusion of two zygotes in the womb. These individuals don’t seem to suffer any great harm from being chimeric, which might be taken as a promising sign for the long-term prospects of this form of stem cell medicine.

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http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/latest_rss_feed.cfm

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http://www.longevitymedicine.tv/feed/

Via EurekAlert!: “This paper reports the discovery of one of the first targeted drugs specifically developed to reverse fibrosis and regenerate the kidney. We’re optimistic about the benefits, but the real proof will come from clinical testing. … In the kidneys and other organs, fibrosis develops from normal repair mechanisms that do not stop. Scar tissue slowly builds up and replaces the working cells of the organ. In 2003, [researchers] reported that the destructive fibrosis in mice can be countered by the human protein BMP-7, originally named for its ability to spur bone growth. … However, the large protein needs to be injected or surgically implanted and, therefore, is not useful for long-term treatment protocols. Probing deeper into the biology of the kidney, they identified the protein Alk3 [and] based on the details about the molecular interaction between the BMP protein and the ALK receptor, [scientists] developed a class of small functional peptides, including THR-123, which then underwent further testing. … This receptor must be present for the new molecule to function … Working through the receptor, the molecule suppressed inflammation, cell death and fibrosis formation, as well as reversing established fibrosis and allowing kidneys to regenerate functional cells … Further experiments showed that the test drug worked even better in the mice when given in combination with ACE inhibitors, the anti-hypertensive drugs now considered a standard therapy for chronic kidney disease which work by targeting another molecular process. … Targeting the receptor not only stops fibrosis, it removes established fibrosis, and it works in combination with an existing drug used in patients. The next step is to test this molecule in the clinic.”

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/bidm-stk030712.php

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The Institute for Evidence Based Cryonics is hosting a symposium in Portland in July:

On Saturday July 7, 2012, the Institute for Evidence Based Cryonics and Cryonics Northwest will organize a symposium on cryonics and brain-threatening disorders in Portland, Oregon. The symposium will start at 09:00 am at the offices of Kaos Softwear. Entrance to the event is free.

Some background is provided in another post at the Institute website:

Conventional wisdom in life extension circles is that making cryonics arrangements allows one to benefit from rejuvenation technologies that are not available during one’s existing lifespan. Aside from the risk of high-impact accidents or getting lost at sea, there is one challenge that some cryonicists will face when they grow older; the debilitating consequences of brain-threatening disorders.

One of the unfortunate effects of the increase in human lifespan is a corresponding increase in late-onset identity-destroying brain disorders. We know that some patients at the existing cryonics organizations were cryopreserved after advanced Alzheimer’s disease. Some cryonics organization members who developed Alzheimer’s disease were not preserved at all, due to lapsed insurance and/or cryopreservation arrangements.

The main challenges and risks associated with low-temperature preservation of the brain after death relate to (a) overbearing regulation that prevents sensible end of life decisions and increases risk of a poor preservation, and (b) your removal from the scene as a willful actor, capable of defending your own interests. Neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s are a special case of point (b) – you are still alive, but become incapable of monitoring affairs to ensure that the course of action you desire is carried out.

All the data of your mind may still be largely intact, as appears to be the case for Alzheimer’s until late in its progression, or it may be progressively and irrevocably destroyed by a disease that will have largely consumed you by the time it kills your body. Either way, a lot of entirely disreputable things happen behind closed doors when family members are close to death and cannot look out for themselves – I’m sure we can all recall a tale or two. Which is all fine and well if it’s just an inheritance fight, but when it means the difference between your brain and the data of your mind preserved well at Alcor or rotting away to guaranteed oblivion … well, that’s a much bigger deal.

These are challenges, given that the best we can do today is to try change the laws that prevent voluntary euthanasia, support research into biotechnologies that can repair the brain, and live an exceedingly healthy life. Many of these issues relating to the brain and cryopreservation could be dealt with if Western governments didn’t force people to live to the bitter end, no matter the personal cost. On the general health side of things, it is true that fit older folk don’t tend to suffer Alzheimer’s, which appears to be just as much a lifestyle disease as type 2 diabetes for most people. There are still any number of other degenerations, however, and even the best kept body and brain deteriorate progressively until death.

So, as people tend to point out, support of cryonics is not a complete alternative to support of medical biotechnology – people who will not live to see the advent of true rejuvenation biotechnologies should still be very interested in medical progress in regenerative medicine and other fields likely to support therapies and methods of preventation for the degeneration of the brain with aging.

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http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/latest_rss_feed.cfm

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http://www.longevitymedicine.tv/feed/