A number of genetic modifications that enhance longevity in mice are unambiguously positive: the result is quite literally a measurably better breed of mouse, stronger, with greater endurance, or smarter, or more resilient in some other way. Downsides are minimal or non-existent. Researchers are paying more attention to benefits other than longevity that result from these studies nowadays - there are now so many ways of extending mouse life that announcing a new one won't get you much press unless it has some other novel twist to accompany it.

So here we have a novel twist: a single gene manipulation that improves mood and neural function as well as modestly extending life. Take a look at the abstract or open access PDF paper:

The role of ?1-adrenergic receptors (?1ARs) in cognition and mood is controversial, likely due to past use of non-selective agents. ?1AAR activation was recently shown to increase neurogenesis, which is linked to cognition and mood.

We studied the effects of chronic ?1AAR stimulation using transgenic mice engineered to express a constitutively active mutant (CAM). CAM-?1AAR mice showed enhancements in several behavioral models of learning and memory. ... WT mice treated with the ?1AAR-selective agonist, cirazoline, also showed enhanced cognitive functions. In addition, CAM-?1AAR mice exhibited antidepressant and less anxious phenotypes in several behavioral tests when compared to WT. Furthermore, the lifespan of CAM-?1AAR mice was 10 percent longer than that of WT mice.

Our results suggest that chronic ?1AAR stimulation improves synaptic plasticity, cognitive function, mood, and longevity. This may afford a potential therapeutic target for counteracting the decline in cognitive function and mood associated with aging and neurological disorders.

Some caution is called for however, as is the case for the results of all studies that don't control for calorie intake. Mice are so very sensitive to calorie restriction that any alteration or treatment that incidentally reduces their calorie intake will extend life - and 10 percent life extension is well within the bounds of that happenstance. If you look at the Wikipedia entry for cirazoline, you'll see:

Cirazoline has also been shown to decrease food intake in rats, purportedly through activation of alpha 1-adrenoceptors

So this is a study that should be repeated with calorie controlled mice.

Still, it remains the case that at what is still the dawn of the age of biotechnology, mice can already be tweaked in more than a score of ways to produce a better species. This raises the question of how true this is for other mammals - such as we humans, for example. Nowhere near as much work, testing, and experimentation has been performed on any other mammal species as has been accomplished with varying breeds of rodents. But we all came to have our own specific biological systems through the same general workings of evolution, and if one mammal species can be improved with a few selective genetic modifications, we might well wonder how true is that of the others:

The question for today is whether there exist as yet undiscovered and comparatively simple mutations in humans that will significantly extend healthy and maximum life spans. How likely is this, given what we know to date? Are potential human longevity mutations worth chasing?

The recent cryosuspension of Robert Ettinger has led to a flurry of press articles; this is one of the better ones: "British photojournalist Murray Ballard, who has documented every aspect of cryonics there is to see (beyond the currently unachievable final stage, of course). Ballard's project began while he was studying photography at the University of Brighton, when he was inspired by the story of a French couple who had held hopes of being revived after their death; unfortunately the freezer storing their bodies broke down. Intrigued, the photographer's research led him first to a group of enthusiasts based just along the Sussex coast in Peacehaven, and before long he and his camera made their first trip to the three main cryonic storage sites in the US and Russia. There are around 1,000 people around the world like those in Peacehaven who have signed up to be preserved in the hope they can be reanimated in the future - with 459 having signed contracts with Ettinger's non-profit organisation - but Ballard says that most of those he has met understand it is very much an experimental and unproven science. ... During his project he paid two visits to Ettinger's institute, as well as three visits each to the KrioRus plant just outside Moscow, where another 15 'patients' are currently held in cryostasis, and the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona which holds 104. ... Essentially all you need is the brain. The theory is that the brain is like a hard drive that stores all your memories and your personality. When you are revived at some point in the distant future, a new body will be grown to house your brain, or an entirely new brain may be built for them to somehow upload your personality into it."

Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/cryonics-the-chilling-facts-2326328.html

Via ScienceDaily: "One of the latest attempts to boost the body's defenses against cancer is called adoptive cell transfer, in which patients receive a therapeutic injection of their own immune cells. This therapy, currently tested in early clinical trials for melanoma and neuroblastoma, has its limitations: Removing immune cells from a patient and growing them outside the body for future re-injection is extremely expensive and not always technically feasible. ... scientists have now tested in mice a new form of adoptive cell transfer, which overcomes these limitations while enhancing the tumor-fighting ability of the transferred cells. ... The new approach should be more readily applicable than existing adoptive cell transfer treatments because it relies on a donor pool of immune T cells that can be prepared in advance, rather than on the patient's own cells. Moreover, using a method pioneered [more] than two decades ago, these T cells are outfitted with receptors that specifically seek out and identify the tumor, thereby promoting its destruction. In the study, the scientists first suppressed the immune system of mice with a relatively mild dose of radiation. They then administered a controlled dose of the modified donor T cells. The mild suppression temporarily prevented the donor T cells from being rejected by the recipient, but it didn't prevent the cells themselves from attacking the recipient's body, particularly the tumor. This approach was precisely what rendered the therapy so effective: The delay in the rejection of the donor T cells gave these cells sufficient opportunity to destroy the tumor."

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110725091728.htm

A mixed calorie restriction and intermittent fasting study focused on measuring quality of life rather than biochemical markers caught my eye today.

Efficacy of fasting calorie restriction on quality of life among aging men:

Calorie restriction (CR) has been promoted to increase longevity. Previous studies have indicated that CR can negatively affect mood and therefore the effect of CR on mood and quality of life (QOL) becomes crucial when considering the feasibility of CR in humans. We conducted a three month clinical trial on CR (reduction of 300 to 500kcal/day) combined with two days/week of Muslim sunnah fasting (FCR) to determine the effectiveness of FCR on QOL among aging men in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A total of 25 healthy Malay men (age 58.8±5.1years), with no chronic diseases and a BMI of 23.0 to 29.9kg/m(2) were randomized to FCR (n=12) and control (n=13) groups.

Body composition measurements and QOL questionnaires were ascertained at baseline, week 6 and week 12. QOL was measured using the Short-Form 36, sleep quality was determined using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Beck Depression Inventory II was used to measure mood and the Perceived Stress Scale was used to measure depression. The FCR group had a significant reduction in body weight, BMI, body fat percentage and depression (P<0.05). The energy component of QOL was significantly increased in FCR group (p<0.05). There were no significant changes in sleep quality and stress level between the groups as a result of the intervention. In conclusion, FCR resulted in body weight and fat loss and alleviated depression with some improvement in the QOL in our study and has the potential to be implemented on a wider scale.

One of the common knee-jerk reactions to calorie restriction as a health practice is for people to think that it will make them unhappy: less food is equated with austerity, privation, misery and so forth. Perhaps this is a part of the unintentional indoctrination we all go through in our youth as a result of fiction and history lessons - for the vast majority of human history obtaining enough food was a continual struggle. Still, to equate calorie restriction with unhappiness is a naive view, held by people in the privileged position of being so wealthy in comparison to their ancestors that they can consistently overeat to the point of harming health and shortening life over the long term.

This bottom line: what has come to pass for normal in the modern diet is in fact caloric overkill and then some, and indulging has measurable consequences in the form of poor health and higher risk of age-related and lifestyle diseases. Eating only what is optimal - considerably less that what is now normal in other words - is beneficial in comparison. It enhances some evolved responses in cellular housekeeping mechanisms, removes some of the harm done by eating too much, and generally improves matters. What's not to like?

VIa EurekAlert!: "Approximately 60 million people across the globe have chronic kidney disease, and many will need dialysis or a transplant. [Research] indicates that patients' own kidney cells can be gathered and reprogrammed. Reprogramming patients' kidney cells could mean that in the future, fewer patients with kidney disease would require complicated, expensive procedures that affect their quality of life. In the first study, [researchers] took cells from an individual's kidney and coaxed them to become progenitor cells, allowing the immature cells to form any type in the kidney. Specifically, they inserted several key reprogramming genes into the renal cells that made them capable of forming other cells. In a second study, [researchers] found that kidney cells collected from a patient's urine can also be reprogrammed in this way. Using cells from urine allows a technology easy to implement in a clinic setting. Even better, the urine cells could be frozen and later thawed before they were manipulated. If researchers can expand the reprogrammed cells - called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) - and return them to the patient, these IPSCs may restore the health and vitality of the kidneys. In addition to providing a potentially curative therapy for patients, the breakthroughs might also help investigators to study the causes of kidney disease and to screen new drugs that could be used to treat them."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-07/ason-cpo072711.php

Progress in materials science, and in the areas in which that field overlaps with biotechnology, are enabling many different lines of artificial organ development. The resulting machinery will be competitive with tissue engineering in the decades to come: everything from artificial blood through to artificial hearts and artificial kidneys are on the agenda - even artificial brain sections are under development.

Work on replacement electromechanical and bioartificial solutions for other organs are in earlier stages, and these include artificial lungs. Here, the first necessary step towards enabling lung devices as an implantable option is to make them small enough to fit into the chest cavity. Artificial lungs remain large devices in the popular imagination, but in fact have been shrinking just as rapidly as other medical technologies, as noted in a recent popular science article:

Scientists at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland have designed an artificial lung that uses air instead of pure oxygen as a ventilating gas - an advance that could turn accompanying oxygen cylinders into relics of the past. What's more, the device for use in humans could come in at just 6x6x4 inches, which is roughly the volume of the real human lung, meaning it could conceivably pave the way for implantable artificial lungs. The team first built a miniature-feature mold, layered a liquid silicone rubber over it that hardened into artificial capillaries and alveoli, and then separated the air and blood channels with a gas diffusion membrane. By building a small unit, they were able to maximize the surface-area-to-volume ratio and shrink the distance for gas diffusion to improve efficiency.

This is a prototype technology, tested on blood but yet to be trialed over the long haul in animals. Yet it remains a good indicator of what lies ahead as researchers ever more effectively mimic or integrate biological functions in artificial devices. The mid-term future will feature a competitive race between tissue engineering and prosthetics technology, but in the long term the distinction between biological and non-biological replacement parts will begin to blur. Nanotechnology will lead to artificial cells, artificial immune systems, swarms of tiny machines to replace blood cells, and a range of other foreseeable machinery far better at their jobs than our evolved organs. It's a future worth trying to hang around for, as it will certainly include rejuvenation of one form or another: if you can make it another fifty years, there is a fair chance that you'll have the opportunity to live for centuries - or longer.

Another reason to exercise: "Senescent T-cells accumulate with age, lowering the naive T-cell repertoire and increasing host infection risk. As this response is likely to be influenced by certain lifestyle factors, we examined the association between aerobic fitness (VO(2max)) and the age-related accumulation of senescent T-cells. Blood lymphocytes from 102 healthy males (18-61yr) were analyzed for [marker] surface expression on CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells ... Advancing age (yr) was positively associated with the proportion (%) of senescent [and] CD8+ T-cells and inversely associated with naive CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells. VO(2max) was inversely associated with senescent CD4+ and CD8+. Strikingly, age was no longer associated with the proportions of senescent or naive T-cells after adjusting for VO(2max), while the association between VO(2max) and these T-cell subsets withstood adjustment for age, BMI and percentage body fat. Ranking participants by age-adjusted VO(2max) revealed that the highest tertile had had 17% more naive CD8+ T-cells and 57% and 37% less senescent CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells, respectively, compared to the lowest tertile. This is the first study to show that aerobic fitness is associated with a lower age-related accumulation of senescent T-cells, highlighting the beneficial effects of maintaining a physically active lifestyle on the aging immune system."

Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21784146

Increased intake of selenium through natural methods may reduce the risk of bladder cancer according to recent studies.

Selenium is one of the most commonly found nutrients in plants and animals. Despite its toxicity in high levels, selenium is an essential micronutrient for animals, plants and humans. It occurs as an inactive substance in plants and only serves as a defense from being eaten by animals. But some plants also require selenium to grow, and the growth of such plants like locoweed is an indication of selenium deposits in the soil where it grows. Selenium is a trace element in humans and functions primarily as a co-factor for the thyroid gland in the production of needed hormones.

According to the findings of the Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center led by Dr. Nuria Malats, increased selenium intake shows significant effects in the reduction of bladder cancer risk. The study was a meta-analysis of seven published studies on selenium and bladder cancer and also suggested that the efficacy of selenium is affected by gender; women showed a variance of selenium excretion and accumulation to mm, and women being more susceptible to selenium’s protective value against bladder cancer.

Selenium is an essential micronutrient in humans and is generally treated and used as an antioxidant. Several studies have been dedicated to the discovery of selenium’s health benefits and preventive value against cancer in general.  Results have shown that aside from bladder cancer risk reduction, high levels of selenium intake reduce the risk of developing cancers of the prostate, skin and thyroid. Despite the results of their study, Dr Malats gave a disclaimer that the efficacy of selenium against bladder cancer will require further study at a larger scale to support the initial evidence that the group has acquired.

Furthermore, since selenium can be toxic in excessive dosage, future studies will include evaluating the appropriate dosage in getting the expected effect without subjecting the body to adverse effects brought about by selenium poisoning.

Natural Sources of Selenium

Selenium is not very hard to find. It is one of the primary nutrients contained in most food supplement brands. But selenium is also found in natural sources like nuts, poultry, meats and seafood. However, the most recommended and safest way of getting sufficient dosage of selenium for the body’s nutritional needs, in order to take advantage of its known preventive value against degenerative diseases like bladder cancer, is by eating foods known to contain selenium. This prevents selenium overdose which is also known to have toxic properties that may have dangerous effects to the body.

Selenium can also be found in crops that were grown in soil with high selenium content like brown rice and oats. Here is a list of popular foods and their selenium content in micrograms per 100 grams of food:

• Whole grain wheat flour- 71 mcg
• Brazil nuts- 1910 mcg
• Salted mixed nuts, nuts- 420 mcg
• Tuna – 76 mcg
• Chicken- 56 mcg
• Pork- 50 mcg
• Beef- 43 mcg
• Crustaceans- 43

The recommended daily selenium intake is 70 micrograms for men and 55 micrograms for women. Notice that men have higher needs for selenium compared to women since women have stronger abilities to accumulate and excrete selenium. For individuals with greater needs for selenium, a recommend minimum dosage of 600 micrograms is needed to get the required effects.

Excessive intake of selenium or a daily intake above 600 micrograms may lead to nausea, depression, loss of hair and falling of the fingernails, nervousness, and vomiting. It may even cause bad breath. On the other hand, deficiency in selenium happens in rare cases since selenium is usually present in most popular foods. But in case of selenium deficiency, the individual may easily experience fatigue and weakness of the muscles.

Health Benefits of Selenium

Against Cancer

Selenium has been taking the limelight in recent cancer research due to its preventive and possible curative properties against cancer. In a five-year study conducted by the University of Arizona and the Cornell University, results have shown that taking 200 micrograms of selenium a day reduces cancer-related deaths by 39 percent. It also reduced the risk of prostate cancer by 63 percent, colorectal cancer by 58 percent, and lung cancer by 46 percent. The same study also showed the potential preventative value of selenium against cancer of the pancreas, esophagus, ovaries, rectum, cervix, and liver. Selenium is also being studied for its benefits in curing leukemia.

For a Healthy Heart

The body’s level of good cholesterol also benefits from selenium. The micronutrient has been proven to increase the level of high density lipoprotein (HDL) or good cholesterol over the low density lipoprotein (LDL) or bad cholesterol. Selenium reduces the blood’s stickiness; thus, reducing the risk of a heart attack and stroke for people with heart problems. It is recommended for people who have had a previous case of stroke or heart attack to take selenium to help prevent reoccurrence.

For Proper Cell Function and Eye Health

One of the most significant roles of selenium in the body is activating body cells and helping them to function properly by transforming body thyroid hormones. Selenium is also needed in the prevention of muscular degeneration and cataracts.

For Stronger Immunity

Studies showed that selenium enhances the capacity of white blood cells to protect the body from foreign toxins, bacteria and viruses. Selenium is also being studied for its possible efficacy against Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV.

Tips for Bladder Health

It’s always good to keep yourself well hydrated. Every time you excrete through your bladder, your body eliminates waste products your body no longer needs. To keep the process smoothly going and without any blockages, you need to drink at least 8 glasses of 8-ounce of water a day for adults.

Smoking comprises half of the causes of bladder cancer in men and a quarter in women. Needless to say, smoking has several adverse long term effects to the body including bladder cancer so this is one good reason for smokers to give up the habit.

It’s also important to watch what you eat. Putting more fruits and vegetables on your dinner plate will help keep your bladder in good condition and always check your selenium intake and keep it at a adequate level.

Lastly, avoid being exposed to chemicals with strong odors. Chemicals used in making rubber, paint and other materials have been linked to the development of bladder cancer.

Sources
nutraingredients.com
ehow.com
dietaryfiberfood.com
en.wikipedia.org

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A study conducted by a team of researchers from Sweden found that exercise can help alleviate the symptoms of irritable bowel movement.

IBS or irritable bowel syndrome is a health condition that is commonly associated with diarrhea, constipation, bloating, abdominal pain and frequent cramping in the stomach area. Though IBS does not lead to serious diseases and cause permanent damage to the gastrointestinal tract, the illness results to a great deal of distress and discomfort. Some cases of IBS can easily be managed through prescribed medication, stress management and diet. But some worse cases can be disabling and can, in fact, hinder a person from going to work, travel short distances or attend social events.  According to statistics, approximately 1 out of 5 Americans suffer from IBS; thus, the disorder is considered to be one of the most commonly diagnosed gastrointestinal conditions by medical specialists.

Causes and Symptoms of IBS

The symptoms of IBS can easily be mistaken as symptoms of other digestive disorders. The main symptoms are discomfort, bloating and abdominal pain. But this can differ from person to person. Some people with IBS may experience difficulty eliminating waste, others may have uncontrollable bowel movement and diarrhea, while some people will experience an alternation of diarrhea and constipation. In some cases, the symptoms of IBS can stop for a few months but others may experience continuous and worsening symptoms.

There are a few theories explaining the cause of IBS. One theory explains that the disorder is caused by the colon and large intestine’s sensitivity to stress and certain types of food. There may also be a link between IBS and the immune system. One study conducted to investigate the root cause of IBS found that bacterial infection in the gastrointestinal tract may be causing the disorder. Despite numerous studies, the real cause of IBS is still an open subject.

The Effects of Stress to IBS

Stress, as well as troubled, overwhelmed and angered feelings can result to spasms in the colon area. The colon has numerous nerves that connects to the brain and is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. These nerves are responsible for the normal contraction of the colon when the person suddenly feels stressed and nervous. In IBS cases, the colon becomes over-responsive to stress which then results to the symptoms of the disorder. For people whose IBS triggered by stress, the appropriate treatment is stress reduction, adequate sleep, stress management, and support and counseling.

Traditional Treatment for IBS

Around 70 percent of people with IBS are not getting medical care in order to treat their conditions. People will often resort to over-the-counter medicines which are limited to providing temporary relief. And since the cause of the disorder is yet to be discovered, available treatment for IBS can only deal with the relief of symptoms. Treatments include medication, diet changes and stress management. Medical experts will often suggest dietary modifications such as BRAT for diarrhea (banana, rice, applesauce and toast) and fiber supplementation for cases of constipation.

The Benefits of Exercise to IBS

A study conducted by a team of Swedish researchers found that exercise can significantly help people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome or IBS. The study was conducted primarily at the Alingsas Hospital and the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburgm, Sweden. The researchers gathered a group of 102 study participants diagnosed with IBS and divided them into two groups; half of them served as the control group and were asked to maintain their usual lifestyle while the other half was given exercise programs which increased their daily physical activities. The two groups received calls from a licensed physiotherapist to assist them with their condition. Lead researcher, Elisabeth Johannesson, said that the active group was asked to perform moderate to vigorous exercises between three to five times a week for at least 20 to 30 minutes.

At the beginning of the study, the study participants were asked to provide relevant information regarding their IBS conditions including the intensity of the discomfort, stool problems, abdominal pain and quality of life. The same procedures were also conducted at the end of the 3-month study period. Senior physician, Riadh Sadik, was responsible for determining the results of the exercise program. He said that the control group had an average symptom decline of 5 points while the active group experienced a 51-point reduction.

The researchers also reported that only 8 percent of the study group felt worse after following the exercising program. 23 percent of the control group, on the other hand, experienced deteriorating symptoms. Sadik concluded that the slightest increase in a person’s physical activity can significantly help alleviate the symptoms of IBS. The study was published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Natural Ways to Alleviate IBS

IBS can be treated naturally – and this starts by knowing which factors are triggering the disorder. More often than not, IBS is caused by an overly sensitive colon. In this case, stress management and restricted diet can help alleviate the symptoms. To start with, stress management has been the most common approach for IBS patients.

Stress plays a major in triggering IBS and has been found by different studies to be one of the most probable cause of the disorder. Though further studies are still needed in order to better understand the relationship between stress and IBS, researchers had found that symptoms tend to worsen during periods of anxiety. Stress management programs and relaxation exercises can help relieve the symptoms of IBS. People suffering from the disorder can seek the advice of a qualified stress therapist.

A study conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that people who practice mindfulness meditation to overcome stress can reduce flatulence by up to 22 percent and improve bloating and diarrhea symptoms.

Dietary change is one of the best ways to relieve the symptoms of IBS. Avoiding certain foods that trigger IBS is the most practical and cost-effective approach to the treatment of IBS. Knowing which food types to avoid will help minimize the occurrence and intensity of the symptoms. Examples of foods to avoid are carbonated beverages, high-fat foods, artificial sweeteners (such as aspartame and sorbitol), fried foods, alcohol, gluten and caffeine.

Eating foods with fiber helps normalize bowel movements. Medical experts say that fiber helps decrease abdominal spasms and push waste out of the body. Foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and oats are the best natural sources of fiber.

Sources
digestive.niddk.nih.gov
eurekalert.org
wellbeing-nutrition.com
findarticles.com
quickcare.org

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As you might recall, naked mole rats are interesting to researchers not just because they live nine times longer than similarly sized rodents of other species, but because they don't seem to suffer cancer. At all. There's a primer or two on naked mole rats and cancer back in the Fight Aging! archives:

Naked Mole Rats Do Not Suffer From Cancer

No naked mole rat has been observed to suffer from cancer, a fact that is attracting interest from the cancer research community as this species becomes more widely studied. If the biochemistry that leads to this feat can be understood, it is possible there exists an economical way to port that cancer immunity to humans.

Mechanisms of Naked Mole Rat Cancer Immunity

Like many animals, including humans, the mole rats have a gene called p27 that prevents cellular overcrowding, but the mole rats use another, earlier defense in gene p16. Cancer cells tend to find ways around p27, but mole rats have a double barrier that a cell must overcome before it can grow uncontrollably.

It will be interesting to see whether this line of research pans out into something that looks like a gene therapy for humans. On this topic I see that there's a general interest article on mole rats and their cancer immunity in yesterday's Washington Post:

In the past few years, researchers have been teasing out the biological bases for this cancer resistance, which they say may help explain how naked mole rats manage to live almost 10 times longer than their house mouse and street rat cousins. When Old Man, the oldest known naked mole rat on the planet, died at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio in November, he was 32 years old.

...

Getting old without the usual diseases and diminishments of the aging process has always been an intriguing idea. Vera Gorbunova, a biologist and cancer researcher at the University of Rochester in New York, is among those scientists trying to find out how naked mole rats do it.

...

For many of the experiments her team wanted to do, they needed to grow naked mole rat cells in laboratory dishes, but this proved to be difficult. Whenever the cells touched one another, they stopped replicating. This was frustrating, but it also presented Gorbunova with a clue. She knew that normal mouse and human cells exhibit a less pronounced type of "contact inhibition" and that cancer cells grow into masses because they lack this inhibition.

"In naked mole rat cells," Gorbunova surmised, "we are seeing super contact inhibition." She wondered if there might be a linkage with the mole rats' immunity to cancer.

...

As Gorbunova sees it, living a long time and disease-thwarting mechanisms such as super contact inhibition go hand in hand. Mice are valuable animal models for studying cancer precisely because they get the disease so easily, she notes, and naked mole rats should become just as important for cancer research precisely because they never get the disease.

A similar line of thinking can be applied to the study of whales, species that must also be highly resistant to cancer, given their massive size and life spans that stretch out to more than 200 years in some cases:

Blue whales can weigh over a thousand times more than a human being. That's a lot of extra cells, and as those cells grow and divide, there's a small chance that each one will mutate. A mutation can be harmless, or it can be the first step towards cancer. As the descendants of a precancerous cell continue to divide, they run a risk of taking a further step towards a full-blown tumor. To some extent, cancer is a lottery, and a 100-foot blue whale has a lot more tickets than we do.

There is potentially much that can be learned from the mammalian species - like naked mole rats and the great whales - that share similar cellular biologies but nonetheless manage to be far more resilient or far longer lived than we humans.

An interview with one of the Thiel Fellows: "The goal is to extend the healthy human lifespan. In the past couple of decades, we've learned a lot about the basic science of aging. Now it's time to start translating the basic science into marketable therapies. I want to find and fund the projects creating those therapies. ... When I was eight, my mom told me about death and I couldn't stop crying for days. What a tragedy! Life is incredible, but death is inevitable. I already knew biology was fantastic fun. But that moment, for me, made science more than fun. It made it into a power that could save lives. And I couldn't imagine doing something more fascinating or important. ... When I was twelve, I was lucky enough to meet Cynthia Kenyon (biogerontologist and molecular biologist), who is a pioneer in the field of anti-aging research. She is amazing. I ended up working in her lab, at the University of California San Francisco, for a few years. She had a way of describing scientists as detectives, trying to solve mysteries and catch genetic culprits. Growing up at UCSF, getting to tinker with tiny worms in a biology lab and sit in on classes about genetics and biochemistry ... that was an incredible experience. ... Anti-aging is such an important field, but it is underfunded. Building business around an anti-aging therapy is no mean feat, especially when the FDA does not recognize aging as a disease. The goal here is to create a profitable, self-sustaining structure that will fund a portfolio of anti-aging projects, and then commercialize the research. It will be important that scientists get a stable source of funding for long-term lifespan projects, and a cut of the revenue from the projects they create."

Link: http://www.dailybrink.com/?p=1990

Another consequence of the overeating and lack of exercise that leads to metabolic syndrome and diabetes: "In people with insulin resistance or full-blown diabetes, an inability to keep blood sugar levels under control isn't the only problem by far. A new report [shows] that our arteries suffer the effects of insulin resistance, too, just for entirely different reasons. ... Earlier studies showed that in the context of systemic insulin resistance, blood vessels become resistant, too. Doctors also knew that insulin resistance and the high insulin levels to which it leads are independent risk factors for vascular disease. But it wasn't clear if arteries become diseased because they can't respond to insulin or because they get exposed to too much of it. Now comes evidence in favor of the former explanation. ... mice prone to atherosclerosis fare much worse when the linings of their arteries can't respond to insulin. The animals' insulin-resistant arteries develop plaques that are twice the size of those on normal arteries. Insulin-resistant blood vessels don't open up as well, and levels of a protein known as VCAM-1 go up in them, too. VCAM-1 belongs to a family of adhesion molecules [which sit on the endothelium and bind] white blood cells. ... Those cells can enter the artery wall, where they start taking up cholesterol, and an early plaque is born. ... The results provide definitive evidence that loss of insulin signaling in the endothelium, in the absence of competing systemic risk factors, accelerates atherosclerosis."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/cp-yam042810.php

Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

From the Telegraph: a new methodology "could be used to recycle thousands of donated organs which are at present considered too old or damaged for transplantation. ... Many livers have to be discarded because they are too old or too damaged to be of any use.
The new technique works by effectively chemically stripping the old liver down too its basic 'scaffold' or exoskeleton in a process of called 'decellularisation'. Onto this frame of connective tissue and blood vessels, they then regrow the new liver using stem cells from the patient. Stem cells from embryos could also be used. The effectively brand new liver is then transplanted back into the patient. At the moment the technique will require donor organs but it is hoped that eventually pig's livers or artificial scaffolds can be used instead - effectively avoiding donors altogether. ... This scaffold retains for the most part the detailed microarchitecture of the liver, including essential structures such as the blood vessels. We take advantage of this remaining structure to repopulate the scaffold with liver cells to recreate a functional liver. As we have shown this re-engineered liver performs the most essential liver functions in the lab and can be transplanted into rats and stays intact, with the cells able to survive."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7825180/Livers-grown-in-the-laboratory-could-solve-organ-transplant-shortage.html

Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

A theory that has emerged in recent years points to forms of amyloidosis as the final limiting process for human life span. Extremely long-lived people, who have survived or evaded all the common fatal age-related conditions, appear to die because of amyloid buildup. The evidence is good enough for the SENS Foundation to start funding work on a therapy - like all the mechanisms of aging, this is something that can be fixed through appropriate use of biotechnology. Here's a little more on the topic (and a link to a PDF format research paper): "Supercentenarians are persons who have lived beyond the age of 110. Currently there are only about 80 such known individuals in the world whose age is verified. These people represent the limit of human lifespan. For a variety of reasons not fully understood but including lifestyle choices, genetic variants, and chance, these individuals have escaped the usual causes of death including cancer, heart disease and stroke. However, eventually they too die, with the world record holder being Jeanne Calment who survived until age 122. In a newly published review Drs. Stephen Coles and Thomas Young of the UCLA Gerontology Research Group point out what it may be that is killing supercentenarians: amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is a disease state hallmarked by the deposition of fibers of abnormally clumped masses of transthyretin. The protein transthyretin normally acts to carry thyroid and other hormones. Mutations in the gene make the fibers abnormally sticky and they tend to clump into long fibers which are deposited in multiple organs. Through early onset amyloidosis leads to disease, it is of interests that supercentanarians all seem to have significant amounts of it. Though not proven it is possible the amyloid is killing them. These persons have already escaped the typical causes of death however they have lived for so long, the normally innocuous amounts of amyloid that increase with age may actually become toxic to them because they have lived so many years. Where this line of reasoning gets exciting is that experimental drugs exist which may eliminate amyloid."

Link: http://extremelongevity.net/2012/05/22/is-amyloidosis-the-limiting-factor-for-humans-lifespan/

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Via EurekAlert!: "There is a reason exercise becomes more difficult with age. [Research] ties the weakness of aging to leaky calcium channels inside muscle cells. But there is some good news: the researchers say a drug already in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of heart failure might plug those leaks. Earlier studies [showed] the same leaks underlie the weakness and fatigue that come with heart failure and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. ... It's interesting, normal people essentially acquire a form of muscular dystrophy with age. The basis for muscle weakness is the same. ... Extreme exercise like that done by marathon runners also springs the same sort of leaks, [but] in that case damaged muscles return to normal after a few days of rest. ... The leaks occur in a calcium release channel called ryanodine receptor 1 (RyR1) that is required for muscles to contract. Under conditions of stress, those channels are chemically modified and lose a stabilizing subunit known as calstabin1. ... Calcium inside of muscle cells is usually kept contained. When it is allowed to leak out into the cell that calcium itself is toxic, turning on an enzyme that chews up muscle cells. Once the leak starts, it's a vicious cycle. The calcium leak raises levels of damaging reactive oxygen species, which oxidize RyR1 and worsen the leak. The researchers made their discovery by studying the skeletal muscles of young and old mice. They also showed that 6-month-old mice carrying a mutation that made their RyR1 channels leaky showed the same muscular defects and weakness characteristic of older mice. When older mice were treated with a drug known as S107, the calcium leak in their muscles slowed and the animals voluntarily showed about a 50 percent increase in the amount of time spent wheel running. Now in clinical trials for patients with heart failure, the drug is known to work by restoring the connection between costabilin and RyR1."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/cp-wia072911.php

The membrane pacemaker hypothesis suggests that longevity differences between species are largely determined by the resistance to oxidative damage exhibited by important cell membranes - such as those in mitochondria. Here is some evidence to suggest that this holds up within a species too: "Membrane unsaturation plays an important role in the aging process and the determination of inter-species animal longevity. Furthermore, the accumulation of oxidation-derived molecular damage to cellular components particularly in the nervous and immune systems over time leads to homeostasis loss, which highly influences age-related morbidity and mortality. In this context, it is of great interest to know and discern the degree of membrane unsaturation and the steady-state levels of oxidative damage in both physiological systems from long-lived subjects. In the present work, adult (28?±?4 weeks), old (76?±?4 weeks) and exceptionally old (128?±?4 weeks) BALB/c female mice were used. Brain and spleen were analysed for membrane fatty acid composition and specific markers of protein oxidation, glycoxidation and lipoxidation damage ... The results showed significantly [higher membrane resistance to lipid peroxidation and lower lipoxidation-derived molecular damage brain and spleen in] exceptionally old animals when compared to old specimens ... In addition, the higher levels of the glycoxidation-derived marker observed in exceptionally old animals, as well as in adult mice, could be considered as a good indicator of a better bioenergetic state of these animals when compared to the old group. In conclusion, low lipid oxidation susceptibility and maintenance of adult-like protein lipoxidative damage could be key mechanisms for longevity achievement."

Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22367548

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Accounting Tutor in Sherman Oaks

I graduated from UCLA magna cum laude with college honors. I possess a Bachelor’s degree in economics as well as a specialization in business and a minor in accounting. I have five years of experience as an educator which includes tutoring students at the graduate, undergraduate, high school, and middle school levels as well as working as a drum teacher.

After college, I spent a year working full time for one of the ‘Big Four’ global public accounting firms while simultaneously studying for and successfully passing all four sections of the CPA exam with an average score of 94%. My rigorous work experience and the balance I had to achieve, between working upwards of 55 hours per week and studying, have allowed me to further hone the organizational skills that I picked up as a student. In addition to tutoring students in specific subjects, I am often consulted to help students with organization, planning, time management, and effective study habits so that they can succeed in rigorous academic environments.

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http://www.ilcusa.org/modules/mediablog/rss.php?page_id=43

Guitar Lessons in Sherman Oaks

I teach basic chords and songs, reading as well as advanced chord scales utilized in jazz improvisation.

I am patient and like to see my students progress. This brings me much joy! My schedule is flexible and I am willing to work with students especially who show initiative and want to learn.

For teaching, I often use the Alfred books as I find them thorough and logical.I've taught all age groups and am adept at helping students progress.I have many years teaching at music colleges as well as private lessons.I have 3 CDs released internationally and have performed throughout the world.I enjoy it when students bring in a song they want to learn. That is one of the best ways to internalize music.

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http://www.ilcusa.org/modules/mediablog/rss.php?page_id=43

I first noticed the Russia 2045 initiative late last year, and remarked on it as a contrasting approach to achieving agelessness. A diversity of initiatives is a good thing in any field of human endeavor:

To my eyes, the most interesting aspect of this Russia 2045 initiative is that, unlike any other serious proposal I'm aware of, their focus is on getting out of biology and into machine bodies as rapidly as possible. ... In essence, this is a course to throw away as much of the body as possible as soon as possible - a path based on a different set of preconceptions about difficulty and efficiency on the road leading to an artificial brain hosting a once-biological human mind. If aiming for life spans of thousands of years, this is the exactly same place we'll get to in the end even if we start out by maintaining our biological bodies and brains for as long as possible through rejuvenation biotechnologies.

In essence the Russia 2045 strategy swaps most of the challenges and research goals of rejuvenation biotechnology for a different set of challenges and research goals regarding brain-machine interfaces, supporting the brain outside the body, and maintaining the brain against aging while doing it. Whether this makes for an easier problem space is very open to debate.

But on with the more recent news: there was a Global Future 2045 conference last month, organized by the same group:

"Global Future 2045" is a nonprofit organization with the goal of creating a network community with the world's leading scientists in the field of life extension and to support them as an investment hub, contributing to various projects.

You should peruse the presentation videos, as they give a fair idea as to the focus: to transcend biology as rapidly as possible, and outline the details of that path in much the same spirit as the SENS platform discusses how to retain one's biology in good working condition for as long as desired.

A Wired article provides a little more background on this organization and its backer:

Dmitry Itskov, a 31-year-old Russian media mogul, [has] a massive, sci-fi-esque venture of his own ... Itskov's plan: Construct robots that'll (within 10 years, he hopes) actually store a human's mind and keep that consciousness working. Forever. "This project is leading down the road to immortality," Itskov, who founded New Media Stars, a Russian company that runs several online news outlets, tells Danger Room. "A person with a perfect Avatar will be able to remain part of society. People don't want to die."

...

Until now, most of the work on Itskov's Avatar has taken place in Russia, where he claims to have hired 30 researchers - all of them paid out of his own deep pockets. Now, Itskov plans to take the mission global. "I want to collaborate with scientists from around the world," he says. "This is a new strategy for the future; for humanity."

As a technology program that requires a great deal of research, this project will succeed for the long term only if it expands out into the broader scientific community: relationships built, knowledge exchanged, interest spurred. Pointed, narrow-focus programs within well-funded small groups can achieve their milestones, but they cannot build enough to change the world without large numbers of other participants joining in, competing, filling in the gaps, and building on top of the foundations. This is true of all ventures that aim that high - if the first step is vision, and the second step obtaining resources, then the last is persuasion.

In any case, I look forward to seeing how this develops. The world needs more earnest, vocal people out to build their slice of the science fiction future and persuade as many others as will listen.

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

An open access commentary at Impact Aging: "There is a lively discussion going on as to whether oxidative stress is or is not a cause of (accelerated) aging, fuelled to a significant extent by the finding from Arlan Richardson's group that mice heterozygous for the mitochondrial superoxide dismutase SOD2 showed increased oxidative stress, increased cancer incidence but not accelerated ageing. A new twist to this story was introduced recently when it was shown that connective tissue-specific SOD2 knockouts developed multiple signs of progeria including short lifespan, associated with up-regulation of the cell senescence marker p16INK4A. Mitochondrially generated oxidative stress is both an established cause and a relevant consequence of cell senescence, frequencies of senescent cells in connective tissue increase during mice aging, and destruction of senescent cells can 'cure' some age-related tissue dysfunction. A paper by Judith Campisi's and Simon Melov's groups recently published in Aging now further explores the connection between oxidative stress, cell senescence and aging. The authors demonstrate that mitochondrial dysfunction occurs in the epidermis of old (2 years) mice ... These data enforce two central hypotheses in the field, namely that of mitochondrial dysfunction as a cause of cell senescence, and of cell senescence as a relevant contributor to mammalian aging ... However, a fascinating question remains: Is it really Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) arising from mitochondria that promote cellular senescence in this model?"

Link: http://impactaging.com/papers/v4/n2/full/100432.html

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