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Award-winning Austrian supplement containing "spermidine" is now available to consumers in the US – PRNewswire

Posted on September 11, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

Until recently, fasting has been considered the most efficient method to trigger the critical cellular renewal process, called "autophagy;" however, European aging scientists have discovered that autophagy is also triggered through a substance found in the human body, called spermidine. As the body ages, spermidine levels decrease, along with the self-renewing power of its cells. In search of a way to offset the effects of decreasing spermidine levels, Longevity Labs developed a method to isolate spermidine from plants (wheat germ) and to make it available to humans as a dietary supplement - spermidineLIFE.

TLL The Longevity Labs GmbH ("TLL") launched its first flagship product, spermidineLIFE in the EU 2019, bringing the first commercially available, safety-tested, lab-verified, spermidine-rich supplement to the global market. Quickly becoming a phenomenon in Austria and Germany, in September 2020, TLL has begun distribution of spermidineLIFE in the United States, through its subsidiary, Longevity Labs Inc., via its US website at http://www.spermidinelife.us.

"We began with a common vision to support healthy aging. Spermidine was completely unknown in Austria but the scientific research, quality of our product and its effectiveness convinced the public.spermidineLIFE was voted one of the top 3 OTC product innovations in Austria in 2019 and interest has only continued to grow worldwide," says Vedran Bijelac, CEO of Longevity Labs Inc and Director of Sales and Marketing of TLL.

"We are proud to be the first scientifically tested and naturally-extracted spermidine supplement," says Daniel Dietz, COO of Longevity Labs Inc. "Not only do we want to present the health benefits of spermidine to the American population, we also want to find additional research partners. We are already working with more than 10 research institutions in Europe but the opportunity to work with top US scientists is very exciting."

spermidineLIFE is naturally extracted from European non-GMO wheat germ using TLL's proprietary extraction process in its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Graz, Austria. spermidineLIFE is lab-tested to ensure consistently rich spermidine content and has been tested for safety and tolerability in humans.

spermidineLIFE is available to consumers via its website via a monthly subscription model starting at $99. The supplement will also be available for one or more monthly package orders starting at $109. Wholesale pricing is available for practitioners.

For additional information or questions, please contact [emailprotected].

For more information about spermidineLIFE or to place an order, please visit http://www.spermidinelife.us.

About TLL The Longevity Labs, GmbHTLL The Longevity Labs, GmbH is based in Graz, Austria. With the goal of translating scientific findings into natural solutions for a longer and healthier life, TLL worked with european university research partners to develop its novel product spermidineLIFE, with EU sales launching in 2019 and expanding worldwide. TLL continues to perform best-in-class research on life-extending products and services to bring to the global marketplace. For more information, visit http://www.spermidinelife.com(global) or http://www.spermidinelife.us(United States).

No governmental agency has reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

SOURCE Longevity Labs Inc.

https://www.spermidinelife.us

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Award-winning Austrian supplement containing "spermidine" is now available to consumers in the US - PRNewswire

Longevity app calculates your life expectancy but will it make us healthier? – The Conversation UK

Posted on September 11, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

Would knowing the date of your death influence your actions? It did for Tiberius Caesar. Convinced by the court astrologer Thrasyllus that he had many years of life ahead of him, the paranoid old emperor chose to postpone the murder of his heir Caligula.

But by believing Thrasylluss prediction and letting his guard down, Tiberius inadvertently gave Caligula enough time to poison him first. The rest, as they say, is history which Thrasyllus had altered by deliberately overestimating his employers life expectancy.

While many of us are unlikely to find ourselves in Caesars position, knowing how many years we have left may influence many aspects of our life including when to retire, whether to take a long-awaited vacation, and even whether to opt for certain medical treatments.

My Longevity, a newly developed app from researchers at the University of East Anglia, now allows each of us to be our own life expectancy astrologer. But how much trust should we place in these predictions?

Simply put, life expectancy is how long, on average, members of any given population can expect to life. This is different from lifespan, which is the maximum length of time any member of the species can survive.

Although lifespan has changed very little if at all global life expectancy has soared by more than 40 years since the beginning of the 20th century. This was achieved through a combination of scientific discoveries and public health measures that drove down infant mortality. In the UK, life expectancy at birth is now over 80 years.

Life expectancy depends a lot on where you grow up or live. So the more a disparate population can be broken down into sub-populations who have traits in common but which are still large enough to be statistically significant the more accurate predictions become. Doing this might involve subdividing the population by sex (on average females live longer than males) or smoking status (for obvious reasons) or both.

The team of researchers used a sophisticated version of this approach when developing their app, informed by its previous research. This allows its app to factor in the life expectancy effects of controlled and uncontrolled high blood pressure, the presence of related illnesses such as cardiovascular disease or rheumatoid arthritis, ongoing treatment with statins, and serious risk factors, such as high cholesterol.

Developing the app has involved dealing with some problems along the way in estimating potential health benefits for the overall population based on those seen in clinical trials. This is because discrepancies exist between trial subjects and populations for a number of reasons but usually they are cases of what is known as tight segmentation working against you.

For example, a clinical trial of the effects of orange juice in sailors with scurvy will show profound benefits because they are a tight segment with vitamin C deficiency. But anyone expecting to see the same beneficial effects on health from prescribing orange juice to everyone taking a boat trip today is going to be deeply disappointed.

How seriously you should treat the predictions from an app of this type is basically a function of how accurately it reflects the sub-population into which you best fit. I compared my life expectancy prediction from My Longevity with calculators provided by the UK Office for National Statistics and those of two insurance companies. The predictions varied from 84-90 years. As Im 54, this may not have been a completely fair test of My Longevity because the data the team has used makes the app most accurate for the over 60s.

The major reason life expectancy calculators spit out such different figures is because there are a wide range of factors influencing the results. Being married increases your life expectancy compared to being single, as does being happy. In addition to smoking, levels of fruit and vegetable intake influence life expectancy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, levels of alcohol consumption and exercise make a profound difference to life expectancy. These are concrete lifestyle changes people can make which can add years to their lives.

The East Anglia research team hopes that access to its calculator will encourage users to adopt healthier lifestyles. Although there is some evidence that framing behaviours in terms of their effects on life expectancy is an effective way of encouraging people to embrace healthier lifestyles, superficial discussions of health and longevity often assume that everyone will seek to maximise life expectancy if only they are fed enough of the facts about it.

However, human motivation is emotional and intuitive at its core and is shaped by what a person most values in life. Propositions that accord with a persons values are typically supported. Those that dont are either ignored or rejected.

Another common mistake made by those promoting behaviour change is to assume their own dominant values are shared by the people they want to adopt the behaviour in question. This approach will only convince people who already think and feel like them. But the more developers of such apps recognise that users will only adopt certain behaviours according to their values and beliefs, the more useful these apps will be.

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Longevity app calculates your life expectancy but will it make us healthier? - The Conversation UK

The week in TV: I Hate Suzie; Peter: The Human Cyborg; A Suitable Boy and more review – The Guardian

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

Not Billie Pipers intent, no doubt, to outshine every other actor on screen. It just comes naturally. Her latest outing, I Hate Suzie, which she co-created with Lucy Prebble, is a humdinger, and despite genuine in-depth quality to the cast Leila Farzad, Daniel Ings the eyes are drawn remorselessly to Piper, even walking through a crowd or filling a glass in a corner of a vast country kitchen.

Suzie Pickles is a thirtysomething ex-teen star (as is Piper herself) whose phone photos are hacked from the cloud and leaked online. Cue shame, humiliation, public disdain, marriage meltdown and a wholly new questioning of what it means to be famous in an age famed for its censorious hypocrisy.

Piper is now quite the feted actor she remains, for Yerma at the Young Vic, unique in record-breaking critical garlands and quite the grown-up former teen star, quite apart from a couple of interesting marriages (Chris Evans, Laurence Fox). Yet even she, with relative power, has spoken of frustration at getting broadcasters to admit there might be room for possibly more than one drama about a woman falling apart before our eyes every couple of years.

She and Prebble, then, have saved their powder for Sky Atlantic, and it has done them proud. The opening episode (of eight), shown as part of a double bill on Thursday, certainly showcased this as mainly witty and wise; later it will get significantly darker, and all the better for it.

I especially loved the fact that on the fateful morning, when first her mum and then her scary best friend/agent (Farzad) call to tell her of the leak, the team of hipsters that trooped through her door for a photoshoot pot-plant carriers, dog stylists, photographers et al were supremely aware of Suzies fame, but it was just fame as a nebulous aspirational concept: no one knew what she actually did, because none of them watched telly. This is one of the more obviously in-jokes in a bittersweet satire that teems with subtler digs about the many prices of fame, and those who have the power to confer and wilfully destroy. Immense.

The Unbelievable Story of Carl Beech, aka the Nick of the entirely fabricated VIP paedo ring, must still give some hardened coppers midnight sweats. Its not just the lack of even the most cursory investigation of the laughable list of injuries (snake bites?) imposed by the alleged torturers Edward Heath, Leon Brittan etc, and they didnt even interview Beechs wife until about two years later. But its mainly that.

The normally impressive film-maker Vanessa Engle, while still forensic in her processing, may have let off too lightly both Tom Watson and a few of the media organisations, the BBC included, which had taken up the cudgels (I suspect the programme was carefully lawyered). But she certainly illuminated, by pointing out the danger, post-Savile, of the pendulum being allowed to swing in the entire opposite direction. Surely the absolutism of believing every word a victim ever says is the same absolutism as believing nothing they ever say?

I wish I hadnt watched in the same direct timeline The Truth About Cosmetic Treatments doc and Peter: The Human Cyborg, though at least I managed it in the right order. Had I tackled the impossibly brave story of Peter Scott-Morgan first, I honestly doubt whether Id have had the compassion to tackle a few whiny niggles about crows feet with anything other than withering savagery.

As it was, Michael Mosley, in a double-hander with Mehreen Baig, performed a valuable service in highlighting the strange lacuna that makes the UK about the only place on the globe where the 3bn annual cosmetic industry is almost entirely unregulated. In one survey, 83% of practitioners were found to have no medical training.

For this was not about outright surgery but soft surgery injections of hyaluronics and Botox, of limited longevity, which can be administered on the high street, in salons or by Superdrug, and demand for which has grown exponentially during lockdown. Soft surgery lies, I took from this, somewhere between the hilarious super-scam of sugar-pill homeopathy and the less fun stuff under knockout gas on the slab. And its growingly acceptable even for twentysomethings, who really dont have anything to worry about yet. Yet even Mosley grew, for him, almost cross when he said: I would certainly recommend that you check the qualifications of the person whos about to stick needles in your face.

The concluding episode this week will ask Are selfies to blame for our obsession with cosmetic surgery?, which means at least a third of an hours programme will be about a question that could simply be dealt with in a three-letter answer.

And so to Peter Scott-Morgan, an impressive ebullience of a man who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease a few years ago and decided technology was his only way out of a death sentence. Helped immensely by his being one of the worlds leading roboticists and possibly the leading expert on complex-system dynamics.

From his home in Torbay, Scott-Morgan and his partner of 40 years, Frank, have for four years planned his transformation into a human cyborg. We saw Scott-Morgan, astonishingly, standing, breathing and feeding anew, every vicious little MND attack countered by sheer clever. He was stoic and cheerful in the main, although the poignancy of having to choose ones last few spoken words before the tracheotomy consigned him to voicebox forever, was terribly affecting. This documentary left him in mid-March. An urgent update from Channel 4 soonest, please! Just to let us know hes surviving lockdown lock-in.

A Suitable Boy ended its Sunday run with garlands and sweet smiles, a breathless railway station proposal, a be-petalled wedding, sunsets all round. Lata married the nice safe shoemaker, who unselfishly loved her, rather than eloping with passion; Im hoping the entitled poet and (especially) his truly crap verse never really got a look-in.

While going down well enough with some audiences, Ive always been conscious of this series frustrated desire to do justice to Vikram Seths anvil of a novel, hence it has seemed underwhelming. The performances, and certainly the settings, were there; the ambition wasnt. It suffered perhaps from a six-week-only run, although maybe budgets wouldnt stretch to 10.

I think the mistake was, from the off, to have all characters speaking not Hindi or Urdu but either cut-glass English or an unfortunate singsong simulacrum of the same that just reminded one of dire Milligan-Sellers head-waggery. Subtitles are no longer to be feared: the BBC surely learned that from its Saturday Beeb Four Scandi-dramas, so why not for its mainstream Sunday nights? Patronising? Oh, how clever of you to notice

Once-feted adapter Andrew Davies did well to cram a lot into a relatively tiny sack, and some at least will have learned a vague little about the tense dual birth of the Indian subcontinent. Yet, coming soon after his rightly maligned Sanditon, I suspect Davies will not be counting 2019-2020 as a most suitable year.

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The week in TV: I Hate Suzie; Peter: The Human Cyborg; A Suitable Boy and more review - The Guardian

Across the world, trees are growing faster, dying younger and will soon store less carbon – The Conversation UK

Posted on September 9, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

As the world warms and the atmosphere becomes increasingly fertilised with carbon dioxide, trees are growing ever faster. But theyre also dying younger and overall, the worlds forests may be losing their ability to store carbon. Thats the key finding of our new study, published in the journal Nature Communications.

In a world without humans, forests would exist in equilibrium, taking roughly as much carbon out of the atmosphere as they lose. However, humans have disturbed this equilibrium by burning fossil fuels. As a result, atmospheric CO levels have increased leading to an increase in temperature and fertilising plant growth. These changes have stimulated tree growth over the past decades, even in intact, old-growth forests that have not experienced recent human disturbances. This in turn has allowed forests to take up more carbon than they release resulting in large net accumulation whats often called the carbon sink.

Earth scientists like us often wonder how long forests can continue to be a sink. The extra CO will benefit trees everywhere, and temperature increases will help them grow in colder regions. So you could expect forests to continue soaking up much of our carbon emissions and that is exactly what most earth system models predict.

However, possible changes in tree lifespan may throw a spanner in the works. A few years back when studying old-growth Amazon forests, we noted that initial growth increases were followed by increases in tree mortality. We hypothesised that this could be due to faster growth reducing how long trees live for. If true, this means predictions that the carbon sink will continue may have been overly optimistic, as they did not take into account the trade-offs between growth and longevity. Our new findings provide evidence for this hypothesis.

To study the relationship between tree growth and longevity, we used tree ring records. The width of each ring tells us how fast the tree grew, while counting rings provides information on age and allows us to estimate its maximum lifespan. We analysed more than 210,000 individual tree ring records belonging to more than 80 different species from across the globe. This large undertaking has been possible thanks to decades of work by dendrochronologists (tree ring specialists) from across the world, who made their data publicly available.

Our analysis shows that trees that grow fast, die young. It has been known for a long time that faster growing species live shorter. A balsa tree, for example, grows quickly to 20 metres or more but will live for only a few decades, while some bristlecone pine trees have been growing slowly and steadily for nearly 5,000 years.

We found that this is not only true when comparing different species, but also within trees of the same species. It was a surprise to find that this trade-off occurs in nearly all types of trees and ecosystems, from closed-canopy tropical forests to the hardy trees that brave the Arctic regions. A slow growing beech tree may be expected to live several decades longer than its fast-growing relatives. It is very much like the story of the hare and the tortoise slow but steadily growing trees are the ones that live longest.

In order to study the implications of this we compared how much carbon would be accumulated under two tree simulation models. One simulation included this grow-fast, die-young trade-off, and the other used a model in which trees lived equally long, regardless of their growth rates. We found that trees growing faster and dying younger initially caused the overall level of biomass to increase, but it also increased tree mortality several decades later.

Therefore, eventually the forest starts to lose biomass again and return to the same level as in the beginning, but with faster growing and shorter-lived trees. Our models indicate that faster growth results in faster tree death, without real long-term increases in carbon storage. Some researchers predicted this long ago, and our results support their prediction.

These model predictions are not only consistent with observed changes in forests dynamics in the Amazon but also with a recent study reporting an increase in tree death across the globe.

An intriguing question is why the fast-growing trees, the rock stars of the forest, live much shorter lives. We dont yet have a conclusive answer, but we have looked at some potential mechanisms. For example, it could be that higher temperatures and other environmental variations that stimulate faster growth, also reduce tree lifespans. However, we find that reductions in lifespan are the result of faster growth itself.

One simple hypothesis is that trees die once they reach a certain maximum potential size, and the faster a tree reaches this size the younger it dies. Other possible explanations are that fast growing trees simply make cheaper wood (in terms of energy expenditure), and invest fewer resources in fighting off diseases and insect attacks, or are more vulnerable to drought. Whatever the cause, this mechanism needs to be built into scientific models if we want to make realistic predictions of the future carbon sink and thus how much CO will be in the atmosphere.

Researcher John Craig Venter Is Awarded the 2020 Edogawa-NICHE Prize for His Accomplishment in Human Genome Research – Business Wire

Posted on August 21, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Edogawa NICHE Prize for the year 2020 has been awarded to Dr. John Craig Venter for his contribution to research and development pertaining to the Human genome. This honor reflects Dr. Venter's lifetime accomplishments in the power of the genomics and specifically in the identification of the human genome which has radically transformed healthcare according to Prof. Gary Levy, chair, Edogawa NICHE awards committee (www.edogawanicheprize.org).

Edogawa NICHE Prize was Instituted in 2018, by the Jinseisha trust, and the Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM), which honours scientists or clinicians whose contributions lead to the development of prevention, diagnosis or treatment of any disease, through an inter-disciplinary approach. Alumni of the Fujio Cup Quiz, a part of NCRM NICHE, (www.ncrmniche.org), have priority for nomination, a unique feature of this prize. Previous awardees include Prof James Till, University of Toronto, Canada for discovery of stem cells (2018) and Dr. Steven Rosenberg, National Institutes of Health, USA for his groundbreaking work on T-lymphocyte immunotherapy (2019).

Dr. Venter was born in Salt Lake City Utah on October 14, 1946. He started his college education at the College of San Mateo, CA and later studied Biochemistry in University of California, San Diego under biochemist Nathan O. Kaplan. After obtaining a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology from UCSD, he became a Professor at the State University of New York and joined the National Institute of Health in 1984. He has founded Celera Genomics, The Institute of Genomic Research (TIGR), J.Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and co-founded Human Longevity Inc and Synthetic Genomics.

His path breaking sequencing of the first human genome with the Human Genome Project further progressed to transfecting a cell with a synthetic chromosome, a feat that has opened up opportunities to develop novel solutions not only in healthcare, but also in environmental issues and energy domain.

The awarding of the Edogawa NICHE prize to Dr Venter is the most recent in a string of honors including United States Medal of Science (2008), Gardner Foundation International Award (2002), Paul Erlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (2001) and the King Faisal International Award of Science (2001). He was listed on Time Magazines list of the most influential people in the world.

The award ceremony date will be announced later.

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Researcher John Craig Venter Is Awarded the 2020 Edogawa-NICHE Prize for His Accomplishment in Human Genome Research - Business Wire

I hate this place: Families protest on behalf of long-term care residents, compare isolation to prison – Global News

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

Dozens of Nova Scotians took to the streets of downtown Halifax on Tuesday, protesting on behalf of relatives in long-term care homes (LTCs), who have seldom been able to see their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The marchers alleged the isolation LTC residents experienced is a violation of basic human rights. They called on the provincial government to immediately empower family caregivers to tend to their relatives inside these facilities.

We dont have years to deal with this, or months. We need to do something now, said Catherine Johnston, whose father has severe Parkinsons disease and lives in the Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Building.

Long-term care patients have had such severe restrictions, they dont have the same human rights the rest of us have.

Under current provincial restrictions, outdoor visitation with up to five visitors per resident is permitted at LTCs, and indoor visitation is allowed closely supervised and with personal protective equipment for one person per resident at a time.

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Family can accompany LTC residents to medical appointments and there is no cap on the number of people a resident can designate for indoor visits.

The Department of Health and Wellness has said these rules reflect safety as its top priority.

It said it recognizes the valuable role played by family caregivers, but visitation will remain limited in accordance with Public Health guidance and the abilities of each LTC residence.

We understand that COVID-19 has been particularly difficult on those who live and work in long-term care, as well as their loved ones, wrote spokesperson Carole Rankin on Tuesday.

In COVID-19 Crisis, Older Americans Are More Resilient Than Younger Generations, Edward Jones and Age Wave Research Finds – PRNewswire

Posted on August 5, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Despite COVID-19's severe and disproportionate impact on the health of aging adults, older Americans reported they are coping far better than younger ones, according to the Edward Jones and Age Wave study released today, "The Four Pillars of the New Retirement." The9,000-person, five-generation study in the U.S. and Canada revealed that in the U.S. 37% of Gen Z and 27% of millennials said they have suffered mental health declines since the pandemic began, while only 15% of baby boomers and 8% of silent generation respondents said the same.

"COVID-19's impact forever changed the reality of many Americans, yet we've observed a resilience among U.S. retirees in contrast to younger generations," said Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., psychologist/gerontologist and founder and CEO of Age Wave. "Older Americans tend to recognize the value of a long-term view, and so as they think about their lives, longevity and legacy, they're able to pull from an array of experiences that help them weather current storms, feel gratitude about many aspects of their lives and still plan for the future."

The landmark Edward Jones and Age Wave research uncovered a new definition for retirement, as far more than simply the end of work. The majority of U.S. retirees (55%) defined retirement as a whole new chapter filled with new choices, freedoms and challenges, and they do so in a more holistic way across four important areas of health, family, purpose and finance.

COVID-19's Impact on Family Closeness and Finances COVID-19's initial dramatic impact on the U.S. economy and personal financial situations may very well leave long-lasting implications. Reflecting a great deal of generational generosity, 24 million Americans* have provided financial support to adult children due to COVID-19, and an overwhelming 71% of retirees said they would offer financial support to their family even if it could jeopardize their own financial future. Despite COVID-19's negative impact on finances, 67% of Americans said the pandemic has brought their families closer together. The research also revealed that 20 million Americans stopped making retirement savings contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic and only a quarter of working Americans were on track with their retirement savings prior to the pandemic.[i]

"We've certainly seen COVID-19's disruptive force on finances, with the pandemic influencing retirement timing and financial confidence," said Ken Cella, Edward Jones Client Services Group Principal. "However, this cloud has brought several silver linings in terms of family closeness and important discussions about planning earlier for retirement, saving more for emergencies and even talking through end-of-life plans and long-term care costs."

Social Relationships as Predictor of Health and Purpose While loneliness is pervasive across all five generations, as people age, physical isolation becomes a greater health risk, as deadly as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day[ii], and it is linked to increased risk for heart disease and dementia.[iii]While most retirees (76%) said they derive the greatest sense of purpose from social relationships, specifically time spent with loved ones, 72% noted that one of their biggest fears is becoming a burden on their families.

"Retirees say they miss people and purpose, not paychecks, when they retire, but 31% of new retirees are struggling to find purpose in this stage of life. They want to feel useful, not just youthful, and keep learning and growing at every age," Dychtwald added.

The study found that 89% of all Americans feel that there should be more ways for retirees to use their talents and knowledge for the benefit of their communities and society at large.

Financial Advisors as Connectors and Confidence Builders As Americans redefine retirement in a broader way across the four pillars, the majority of U.S. respondents felt their ideal financial advisor is a guide who can understand them and help them achieve their goals. In fact, 84% of those working with a financial advisor said that their financial advisor relationship gave them a greater sense of comfort regarding their finances during the pandemic.

Further underscoring the fundamental importance of financial security, retirees are often met by new challenges as they enter retirement. Thirty-six percent of retirees said managing money in retirement is more confusing than saving for retirement, and they want help navigating. Fifty-two percent of retirees cited healthcare costs, including long-term care, as the most common financial worry. This concern was also echoed by pre-retirees as more than two-thirds (68%) of those who plan to retire in the next 10 years said they have no idea what their healthcare and long-term care costs will be in retirement.

"Beyond finances, we can help our clients envision and truly realize a holistic retirement, which, we know includes decisions about their health, family and purpose," said Cella. "Empathy and knowledge allow us to better serve our clients in a human-centered way and work together to achieve what's most important to them and their families."

While the above findings feature a selection of respondents' thoughts regarding the new definition of retirement, further examination of the four pillars of health, family, purpose and finances reveal their highly intertwined nature and influence in shaping retirees' overall quality of life. For more details from The Four Pillars of the New Retirement, please visit http://www.EdwardJones.com/NewRetirement.

As part of the study, The Harris Poll conducted an online, representative survey from May 21 through June 4, 2020among more than 9,000 adults age 18+, in the US and Canada, including n=3,000 among a US general population, n=1,000 among a Canadian general population, and oversamples of approximately 500 in each of the following 10 metropolitan regions: Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, St. Louis, and Toronto.Results were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.

*Estimated projections to the US population are calculated based on the 2019 Census Current Population Survey.

About Edward Jones Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P., a Fortune 500 company headquartered in St. Louis, provides financial services in the U.S. and, through its affiliate, in Canada. Every aspect of the firm's business, from the investments offered to the location of branch offices, caters to individual investors. The firm's 19,000-plus financial advisors serve more than 7 million clients with a total of $1.2 trillion in client assets under care. Visit http://www.edwardjones.comor the recruiting website at http://www.careers.edwardjones.com. Member SIPC.

About Age Wave Under the leadership of Founder and CEO Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., Age Wave is the nation's foremost thought leader on population aging and its profound business, social, financial, health care, workforce, and cultural implications. Dychtwald's long-awaited new book What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life's Third Age was just published (Wiley, July 15,2020). Since its inception in 1986, the firm has advised numerous non-profits and over half the Fortune 500. For more information, please visitwww.agewave.com.

About The Harris Poll The Harris Poll is one of the longest-running surveys in the U.S.;tracking public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963. The Harris Poll is now part of Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that delivers social intelligence for transformational times. The Harris Poll works with clients in three primary areas; building twenty-first-century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. Learn more atwww.theharrispoll.com

[i]Federal Reserve, Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2018 - May 2019

[ii]Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB. Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Med., July 2010

[iii]National Institute on Aging, "Social isolation, loneliness in older people pose health risks," April 23, 2019.

SOURCE Edward Jones

https://www.edwardjones.com

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In COVID-19 Crisis, Older Americans Are More Resilient Than Younger Generations, Edward Jones and Age Wave Research Finds - PRNewswire

An ancient dinosaur relative is also related to humansand its DNA may hold the secret to living longer – SYFY WIRE

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

The tuatara is old. 250 million years old. That was when this bizarre creature shared its last common ancestor with other reptiles before it evolved further and diverged. It used to be one of of several Rhynocephalia species that crawled across the antediluvian continent of Gondwana, but is now the only one that remains. Its genome links it not only to reptiles (which it most obviously resembles), but also birds and yes, mammals like humans.DNA from this living relic could also be the elixir of life.

"We found out when the tuatara diverged withevolutionary dating, using the amount of genetic change that has occurred between tuatara and its nearest relatives," Neil Gemmel, a professor of anatomy at the University of Otago in New Zealand, who led a study recently published in Nature, told SYFY WIRE.We can calibrate the level of change over time against established genetic splits across the tree of life that have been established from the fossil record and key geological events.

Amniote vertebrateswhich either hatch from eggs or develop from an egg in the placentaare thought to have first appeared 312 million years ago and then branched off into two groups. Synapsids included early mammals and now-extinct reptiles with mammalian characteristics. Sauropsids were once dinosaurs and other reptilian ancestors that have since died out and were replaced with or evolved into birds or lizards, snakes and other extant reptiles. The tuatara has baffled scientists for so long because of synapsid and sauropsid features that could reveal what we never knew about amniote evolution.

Sauropsid and synapsid advantages of tuatara range from extreme night vision to a sense of smell that could identify potential mates just as well as potential prey. It makes you wonder whether this lizard-thing was the result of a superpoweredserum.

Tuatara have one of the largest vertebrate genomes ever. There are many repeating elements that are unique to the tuatara, which became an entire phylum of its own after it diverged from snakes and lizards. It shares parts of that genome with turtles, chickens and even humans. Stranger still is that the types of repeating elements in tuatara DNA are closer to mammals than birds or lizards. It has evolved specialized genes for immunity, thermal regulation, odor reception and metabolism.

You can probably see where this is going. Replicating such strong MHC genes in humans could save lives in the future.

Understanding the tuataras extremely low metabolism and Methuselan longevity could possibly help us extend the human lifespan. Tuatara can live past a hundred years, which makes them the longest-lived reptiles next to some species of tortoise, and there may be a link to certain proteins in its system along with genes that protect them from free radicals. Major histocompatibility (MHC) genes mean that its tissues are compatible with those of many different individuals without an immune response. Could that make living to at least a hundred a thing for humans?

What we currently know is that tuatara have a few more genes than others species that are known to be protective against DNA damage and cellular aging from work in other systems," said Gemmel. "It therefore seems possible that these gene products may contribute to tuataras longevity, though it would take quite a bit of work to test if these are indeed protective against ageing.Iff they are there, maybe there will be prospects to develop these into supplements of drugs intended to protect against aspects of aging."

Whatever the tuatara is, it is a window into the deep past that could unlock amazing advances for the future.

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An ancient dinosaur relative is also related to humansand its DNA may hold the secret to living longer - SYFY WIRE

Is Keto a fad? And is it safe? – BradfordToday

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

In her latest column, Nonie De Long says a keto diet helps the body become more efficient at using fat for energy

Dear Nutritionist:

Ive been wanting to write in for a while now but the cottage and summer gardening has kept me busy. Ive been trying to lose weight. Im a middle aged female (54) and have done Weight Watchers, but didnt keep the weight off. Im interested in giving Keto a try so I would like to know if you think its a fad and also is it safe?

Many thanks!Betty

Dear Betty,

Thank you for writing in! I get asked this question a lot actually. I will go into my reasons below, but the short answer is no its not a fad and yes, keto is safe for almost all people.

There are some medical conditions that make keto problematic, but that is not the vast majority of folks. Lets unpack the keto diet a bit to understand why its not a fad.

We have all seen diets come and go. Across the board its safe to say they would be unnecessary if we ate only natural food that we are biologically adapted to eat, in the right proportions, with some moderate movement in our daily lives.

Its a myth that dieting is natural. If we look at the vast majority of our history as a species, its food scarcity and not overeating that impacted mortality. In the developed countries to varying degrees we have now gone in the other direction.

Its also a myth that we need to be gym rats to be fit. Just look at 80-year-old farmers around the globe. Staying fit has to do with staying active - and that can be any activity from work to house keeping to gardening to walking the dog to my personal favourite - dancing around the living room. Movement keeps us fit. But diet keeps us slim.

Please read that again if you are interested in losing weight. Body composition is determined by your diet. You can not exercise off a bad diet. And trying to will leave you frustrated and often injured.

Consuming a healthy, biologically appropriate diet will get you to a good body composition - meaning the fat to lean tissue ratio, which is what we are talking about when we talk about weight loss. If you are short and stout by nature, with a lot of muscle, you are never going to diet yourself twiggy. But you can be lean, with a nice shape and healthy fat distribution.

What does that mean?

Well, a healthy person has a little fat just under their skin all over their body. An unhealthy body holds fat in the middle. That is the primary indicator of longevity, heart disease, diabetes, and a whole host of other disease states.

If you want to know your risk, look at your waist to hip ratio. If the waist is bigger or even close to your hips, youre in trouble. If you have a muffin top over your jeans or look pregnant when youre not, you can stand to lose fat, no matter how thin your overall frame is. This will reduce your disease risk more than anything you can do!

This is where keto comes in.

Historically, our ancestors had periods of plenty and periods of scarcity. They would migrate to follow food. They never got to choose a diet, as we do today. They never had processed foods.

Even growing crops and using grains is relatively new in terms of our development! For the vast majority of our development as a species we existed on what we could pick or dig and what we could hunt and catch in terms of animals.

Its also noteworthy that we used the entire animal in times of scarcity and in times of plenty there is evidence that dogs (which co-evolved with humans) ate the muscle meat while we ate the organ meat and bones. The organs were often consumed raw after a kill. Today (when dogs and humans eat natural food) that trend is reversed!

In this respect, our paleolithic ancestors would have naturally had cycles of ketosis because ketosis is what happens when the body runs on fats for fuel rather than carbohydrates or protein.

When game is the primary source of sustenance, fat becomes the natural fuel source for the body. Healthy human bodies dont use protein for energy in the presence of fat. And they dont burn fat in the presence of carbs. In a time when carbs were scarce (fruit in season, which was far less sweet than it is now, and a few tribes that used tubers more often) the body would naturally default to using fats for energy. This is ketosis. It is our natural state of being.

And its why the body stores energy as fat (the primary human fuel source) for times of scarcity. If we look at this even a century ago, we can see that even agricultural societies - before the advent of modern food production and storage technology - would lend itself to ketosis because carb rich foods are ready in the autumn and would be consumed to pad the body for the famine of winter. Then, when winter scarcity set in, the body was using its own fat to survive. This is ketosis!

With a keto diet the body becomes more efficient at using fat for energy - because during that time it burns its own fat stores, which many people now want to take advantage of. It also decreases the strain on the digestive organs and decreases inflammation (as insulin and adenosine are both highly inflammatory and both are down-regulated with this diet).

A keto diet is also very low in allergens and does not contain anti-nutrients that vegetarian proteins contain. Its easier to digest. And it contains bones, the perfect source of minerals. No other mineral source is as healthy or as sustainable. And no other nutrient group is as essential for human health and longevity.

Werent there carbs historically speaking?

For the most recent agrarian part of our development there have been carbohydrate rich foods but there were ways of consuming the carbs that made them healthier for us than what we do today.

First of all, there were no factories and processing them was lengthy so they were less plentiful. Bread was not the sticky, glutenous gooey nonsense we have today. The crop was different and the processing was different. Access was minimal due to the work to process it.

Maize (corn) was not the sweet crop we know today and it was always processed with lime or ash. This process is called nixtamalization. You can read more about it here. When this was not done there was an upsurge in pellagra, which causes psychosis, thinking problems, skin rashes, photosensitivity, and aggression.

Is it a coincidence we now have improperly processed corn in so many of our processed foods and are experiencing so many mental health conditions with these features today? Hmmmm...

Thus, returning to a diet that mimics the natural, evolutionary state of being adapted to using fat for energy (ketosis) is natural and healthy. Its often dismissed as a fad by people who say its not balanced enough or simply because its popular.

But thats what people thought about the automobile when it first came out. A fad. And dangerous. Totally impractical technology. But just because something becomes popular does not make it transitory in nature. Look at televisions. Look at industrialization. There are many many more examples.

The idea that ketosis is dangerous is fueled by people who dont understand metabolism. They confuse it with ketoacidosis, which is very dangerous. But its an entirely different thing. The truth about the keto diet is that it can reverse a host of health conditions that other diets cant. Diabetes and metabolic syndrome alone are good enough reason to hail this diet, as it does more to reverse them than any other.

The only time a keto diet is unhealthy or dangerous is when its composed of processed fatty foods like processed meats and bars and keto snacks. You will still lose weight on them, but they are not natural foods.

In the industry we call this dirty keto. Its far superior to return to a minimally processed animal based diet with natural animal fats and healthy veggies and occasional fruit.

This naturally puts us in and out of ketosis cyclically, with ample nutrients. This is the diet I advocate in my practice, not because it helps with weight loss (although it does) but because it reverses many disease states - even serious mental health conditions like psychosis and seizures. Weight loss is actually just a side effect of eating for health. Its really not the goal.

Thank you, Betty, for the great question. I hope you have a better understanding of it now. As always, if readers have a health or nutrition related question, I welcome you to write to me at nonienutritionista@gmail.com. And if youre looking for more specific health information check out my website at nonienutritionista.com, where I provide 1:1 health coaching for those who need it.

Hope everyone is enjoying this last part of such a lovely summer!

Namaste!

Nonie Nutritionista

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Is Keto a fad? And is it safe? - BradfordToday

In COVID-19 Crisis, Older Canadians Are More Resilient than Younger Generations, Edward Jones and Age Wave Research Finds – Canada NewsWire

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

The landmark five-generation study examines how the pandemic has transformed and impacted the outlook for retirement in Canada across key areas including health, family, purpose and finances.

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Aug. 4, 2020 /CNW/ - Today Edward Jones, in partnership with Age Wave, released a landmark study that takes a comprehensive look at retirement in Canada, focusing specifically on four central pillars: health, family, purpose and finances. The study examines trends affecting the rapid transformation of retirement in Canada as the country's aging population approaches this new stage of life. This includes the impact of COVID-19 which has accelerated many of the trends unearthed in this study.

Despite COVID-19's severe and disproportionate impact on the health of aging adults, older Canadians reported they are coping far better than younger ones. "The Four Pillars of the New Retirement" study of 1,000 Canadian respondents across five-generations revealed that 38 per cent of Gen Z and 36 per cent of millennials said they have suffered mental health declines since the pandemic began, while only 20 per cent of baby boomers and 7 per cent of silent generation respondents said the same. The majority of Canadian retirees (51 per cent) defined retirement as a whole new chapter filled with new choices, freedoms and challenges, and they do so in a more holistic way across four important areas of health, family, purpose and finance.

"We've certainly seen COVID-19's disruptive influence on finances, with the pandemic impacting retirement timing and financial confidence," said David Gunn, Country Leader, Edward Jones Canada. "However, the pandemic has brought families closer and renewed the focus on important discussions about planning earlier for retirement, saving more for emergencies and even talking through end-of-life plans and long-term care costs."

"COVID-19's impact forever changed the reality of many Canadians, yet we've observed a resilience among Canadian retirees in contrast to younger generations," said Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., psychologist/gerontologist and founder and CEO of Age Wave. "Older Canadians recognize the value of a long-term view, and so as they think about their lives, longevity and legacy, they're able to pull from an array of experiences that help them weather current storms, feel gratitude about many aspects of their lives and still plan for the future."

The four pillars to living well in the "new retirement"

The study goes beyond the impacts of COVID-19 and outlines what makes today's retirement "new". Canada's retirement landscape is unique - increasing longevity and a groundswell of Boomers entering retirement make this one of the most significant societal shifts in history. The study found, changing attitudes and aspirations coupled with external forces (i.e. economic downturns, the pandemic, technology, etc.) have drastically changed the expectations of those approaching or entering retirement and will shape what retirement looks like for generations to come.

The study identified four key pillars for living well in the "new retirement":

Health When it comes to living well in retirement, 97 per cent of retirees and 99 per cent of those age 75 and over, say that health is more important than wealth. 91 per cent of Canadian retirees say it's never too late to improve health, however, there is an intention/action gap as 51 per cent of Canadian retirees don't exercise regularly, and 33 per cent say they don't maintain a healthy diet. While physical health usually declines with age, for many Canadians mental health rises.

Family A bright spot coming out of the pandemic is the deepening of family ties. Two-thirds of Gen Z define family as "anyone they love and care for, regardless of whether they are related by blood, marriage or adoption." They believe in "families of affinity" or families of choice. As we approach what is expected to be the largest generational wealth transfer in recent memory, retirees cite they worry about their children more (44 per cent) and are willing to do whatever it takes, personally and financially, to support family members in need, even if it means sacrificing their own financial security (63 per cent). The study also found, 47 per cent of Canadians overall and 30 per cent of Canadians age 65 and over have yet to begin discussing their end-of-life care preferences with their family or close friends.

Purpose Retirees with a strong sense of purpose are happier, healthier and live longer, according to the study. This cohort reports they find their strongest sense of purpose from spending time with loved ones (72 per cent) and many (46 per cent) find purpose by being generous or helping others, particularly women (54 per cent). They are also looking for meaningful ways to carve out their free time. They don't just want to keep busy; they want to make useful and rewarding contributions to community and family. As the country's population continues to age, 89 per cent of Canadians agree that there should be more ways for retirees to help in their communities.

FinancesAccording to the study, a chief financial goal amongst retirees, is to have enough resources to provide security (48 per cent) and the freedom to live the lives they want (47 per cent). Retirees' greatest financial worry is not economic uncertainty like recessions, inflation or taxes, despite the disruption associated with COVID-19. Their greatest concerns are encountering unexpected expenses (54 per cent) and the cost of health care, including long-term care (47 per cent). Pre-retirees express even higher concerns about health and long-term care (59 per cent) with three quarters of those who plan to retire (74 per cent) stating they have no idea what their health and long-term care costs may be in retirement.

"Beyond finances, we can help our clients envision and truly realize a holistic and fulfilling retirement, which, we know includes decisions about their health, family and purpose," said Gunn. "Empathy and knowledge allow us to better serve as a trusted advisor to our clients in a human-centered way and work together to achieve what's most important to Canadians and their families."

While the above findings feature a selection of data regarding the new definition of retirement, further examination of the four pillars of health, family, purpose and finances reveal their highly intertwined nature and influence in shaping retirees' overall quality of life. For the complete study, please visit http://www.edwardjones.ca/newretirement.

MethodologyThis report is based on a large-scale investigation of what it means to live well in retirement that began in November 2019. The study was conducted by Edward Jones in partnership with Age Wave and The Harris Poll. As part of the study, The Harris Poll conducted an online, representative survey from May 21 through June 4, 2020,among more than 9,000 adults age 18+ in the U.S. and Canada, n=1,000 among a Canadian general population and an oversampling of n=500 in Toronto.

About Edward Jones Canada Edward Jones is a full-service investment dealer with more than 850 financial advisors in Canadian communities from coast-to-coast. A member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund, the firm is also a participating organization in the Toronto Stock Exchange. Edward Jones has been ranked #1 for eight consecutive years in the J.D. Power Canada Full-Service Investor Satisfaction Study (2013-2020). For more information, visit edwardjones.ca.

Edward Jones received the highest score in the J.D. Power 2013-2020 Canada Full-Service Investor Satisfaction Studies of investors' satisfaction with their full-service investment firm. Visit jdpower.com/awards.

About Age WaveUnder the leadership of Founder and CEO Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., Age Wave is the North America's foremost thought leader on population aging and its profound business, social, financial, health care, workforce, and cultural implications. Dychtwald's long-awaited new book What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life's Third Age was just published (Wiley, July 15, 2020). Since its inception in 1986, the firm has advised numerous non-profits and over half the Fortune 500. For more information, please visitwww.agewave.com.

About The Harris PollThe Harris Poll has been tracking public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963 and is now part of Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that delivers social intelligence for transformational times. The Harris Poll works with clients in three primary areas; building twenty-first-century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. Learn more atwww.theharrispoll.com@HarrisPoll

SOURCE Edward Jones

For further information: Nisha Mohan, Edward Jones, [emailprotected], (647) 212-6699; Tom Horn, Proof Strategies, [emailprotected], (416) 969-2781

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In COVID-19 Crisis, Older Canadians Are More Resilient than Younger Generations, Edward Jones and Age Wave Research Finds - Canada NewsWire

The Power and the Glory of Comics A Review of "Green Lantern: 80th Anniversary" | A Comics Column – Nation Valley News

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

Cover by Liam Sharp 2020 DC Comics (used for review purposes only)

by Patrick R. Burger

Comics are the very real inheritors of the pulp fiction legacy, and the first appearance of the original Green Lantern in 1940, four years after pulp fiction master Robert E. Howards death, owes a lot to the pulp fiction heritage in general and, I believe, to Howards signal success in creating larger-than-life super-heroic characters (essentially proto-super-heroes). It seems self-evident that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (creators of Superman), Bob Kane (creator of Batman) and Martin Nodell, the creator of the original Green Lantern, were influenced by the pulps. The supernatural-weird fiction pulp influence was apparent in the 1940 Green Lanterns magical powers, as was the detective-crime fiction pulp heritage in the flavour of the stories. With the 1959 re-boot of Green Lantern we were introduced to Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, but wooden art and a 10-year-old reading level, and the whites-only world that existed at that time in DC comics1resisted the emotional resonance of the revolution in comics storytelling that was going on at Marvel at the same time. But DC, and Green Lantern in particular, made up for lost time with the classic Denny ONeil and Neal Adams game-changing relevance stories of the early seventies, especially with this classic sequence:

Green Lantern by Neal Adams 1970 DC Comics (used for review purposes only)

Since then, Green Lantern comics have twinned a social conscience with the hallmark of the pulps and the comics that succeeded them epic adventure and action.

Before dipping into the stories, a comment about the character2and his (her and its) longevity is in order. The interesting thing about the Green Lanterns, particularly Hal Jordan, is that their super-power is essentially willpower. The Green Lantern power rings channel the willpower, but without willpower the rings can do little on their own. While it is a trope of super-heroes (and the pulp fiction heroes they descend from) that their willpower allows them to overcome great obstacles, this is even more significant in Green Lantern stories. Just as Robert E.Howards pulp heroes exhibit a Nietzschean will to power, the Green Lantern concept is essentially founded on that philosophy.

The 80th Anniversary celebration edition opens with a tale of the original Green Lantern from the 1940s, engineer Alan Scott, who survives a sabotage-induced rail disaster thanks to a mysterious green lantern. The story requires knowledge of the original Green Lanterns origin going in, as it is a sparse human-interest moment about Scott visiting the mother of the crash victim who pointed out the mysterious lantern to Scott before dying. The mothers speech wherein she resents Scott for surviving while her son had to die reveals, in perhaps a metaphoric way, that her dying son was the source of the light that saved Scott. James Tynion IVs writing is a bit abrupt, and Gary Franks art is somewhat static but this nod to the original Green Lantern has dignity and gravitas.

Last Will (featuring Hal Jordan for many of us the real Green Lantern) is a powerful and dramatic piece where Green Lantern crash lands on a planet and his malfunctioning power ring cannot tell him where the desolate moon-scape-like place he has landed is. To make matters worse, the ring only has enough energy to send three SOS messages. Heartfelt calls to the Green Lantern Corps, Batman (who Green Lantern reveals is a role model to him) and to Jordans long-time love interest, Carol Ferris, precede the moment where his ring fails and can no longer protect him from the atmosphere. Which he discovers he can breathe! It turns out hes been in the Nevada desert all along and his Justice League of America buddies end up having a laugh at his expense. Although the joke ending is a bit of a let-down, you totally buy the emotional lead-up to the joke-reveal and only then do you start thinking of logical problems: the existence of some vegetation should have tipped Hal off, and an experienced space explorer should have been able to recognize the constellations as being what youd see from Earth. But writer Geoff Johns effort is still commendable while Ivan Reis art is the best in the whole collection, with his flawless anatomy and great perspectives.

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) by Ivan Reis 2020 DC Comics (used for review purposes only).

Of course, no Green Lantern anniversary issue could be without Green Lanterns greatest enemy, and The Meaning of Fear captures Sinestros brilliance, cowardice and cruelty. As he speaks to a dying Green Lantern about fear and willpower, Sinestros explanation about how his willpower is fuelled by his fear has a tragic logic that explains much in our world. When the dying Green Lantern refuses to feel fear, Sinestro kills him, and here writer Cullen Bunn brilliantly uses a trope of Green Lantern stories: how the power ring of a dying Green Lantern will find the nearest worthy recipient. The story ends with Sinestro taking off into space after the ring and we understand now that he has been killing every rookie recipient of that ring before they can amass the experience needed to defeat someone like Sinestro. Doug Mahnkes feathery art style leads to some beautiful panels but his anatomy does not have the perfection and robustness of Reis although his layouts are quite powerful.

The next story was a treat for those of us who bought Green Lantern comics in the 70s, for it teamed the legendary writer Denny ONeil with another DC great, artist Mike Grell. Touted as ONeils last story for DC, Time Alone revisits the early 70s Green Lantern and Green Arrow on their on-the-road discovering of America. For a time in the mid-70s it looked like Grell would be the artistic inheritor of Neal Adams: despite occasional issues with anatomy and perspective, his art was dynamic, sexy and often hit the bullseye. ONeils farewell story captures the hippie flavour of the early 70s Green Lantern stories by foregrounding Green Lanterns reading of Walden by Thoreau, while Grell provides some nice layouts (and a tribute to the 1969 Mercury Cougar), but anatomy issues make one cringe from time to time (especially in comparison to Reis and Mahnke).

Legacy, a story featuring Kyle Rayner, the fourth human to be given a Green Lantern power ring, is a solid, bit run-of-the-mill story with a teamwork message. The script by Ron Marz reminds Green Lantern fans of Kyle Rayners pivotal role in upholding justice when the Green Lantern Corps temporarily disbanded, and Darryl Banks art is capable, with dynamic lay-outs, but with some stiffness in characters bodies and faces. The teamwork message is undercut by the fact that Rayner wills his ring to duplicate the other human Green Lanterns to help him overcome his foe. While this is revealing of Rayners thoughts on teamwork, there is, in fact, no real teamwork, so the story falters on that level.

Heart of the Corps is a story that features the rough-housing, wise-cracking Guy Gardner the third human to receive a power ring and a Green Lantern Corps favourite, Kilowog. This Peter J. Tomasi tale is a classic DC birthday surprise story, with the kicker being that after Guy Gardner has led the morose Kilowog through some Dionysian fighting Kilowogs birthday is the same day that his planet was destroyed. The cheesiness of a birthday story is overcome by the magnitude of the gesture and its healing intention, and Fernando Pasarins art is cosmic and impressive.

Of all the Lanterns, John Stewart the black Green Lantern created by Denny ONeil as a corrective to the whites-only DC world up until the late 60s gets the shortest shrift by being featured (alongside Hawk Girl) in a story by hip comic creators Charlotte (Fullerton) McDuffie and Chriscross. The stylized retro-kind of art seems very cool at first glance, but the story is also retro to the 10 year-old-aimed, wooden story-telling of the early 60s. Sparse, corny and stilted dialogue mars the story, as does an artistic lapse at the climax where the reader doesnt really get what is happening. The least impressive story of the collection.

The next story, Four is one of the most powerful of the collection as it flash-forwards to Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner meeting up as old men to joke and reminisce, especially about Guy Gardner and his self-sacrificing style of heroism. Dialogue between the ex-Lanterns and the waitress make the reader think that Guy Gardner is simply late, like every year, but the final panel has the three gathered before Gardners tombstone. It is a nice homage to the Guy Gardner character, written by Robert Venditti, and Rafa Sandovals art varies between impressive and basic.

The next story features the sixth human Green Lantern, Jessica Cruz. The story begins with Cruz battling an anxiety attack, thus addressing a real concern of modern life. Cruz reveals the horrific origin of her anxiety and as befitting the great tradition of the Green Lanterns she is able to call on her willpower to overcome her anxiety and her monstrous foe. She helps, and is helped by, her partner Green Lantern, the fifth human with a power ring, Simon Baz. Writer Mariko Tamaki does a fine job humanizing the cosmic willpower theme at the core of Green Lantern stories, while artist Mirka Andolfo shines in depicting Cruz as both athletic and waif-like.

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) by Ivan Reis 2020 DC Comics (used for review purposes only)

The final story, Homegrown Hero, features the afore-mentioned Simon Baz. This Muslim characters very existence shows DC addressing the social reality of American (and North American) life, and writer Sina Grace makes sure we see him interacting with with his hijab-wearing aunt and sister in the normalcy of day-to-day life. DC walks an interesting line with this character as he is frequently partnered with Jessica Cruz, whose skin-tight Lantern garb expresses the inherent sexiness of costumed female super-heroes (which aesthetic has for decades now been worn by women throughout the western world). That Baz can accept and co-exist with both liberal western and orthodox Muslim social conventions is a positive signal that DC is emitting with this character. Ramon Villalobos art is capable and has a bit of a European-Heavy Metal feel and it brings across the seediness of the terrorist attempts by white supremacists to shoot up a Muslim art exhibit and a mosque. Baz speech to one of the terrorists is reminiscent of the game-changing speech of the black man in the early 70s Green Lantern cited above: This ring is a lot like my faith. I fight for compassion. It doesnt make me the judge thats HIS job. Being a Lantern, a Muslim its about oneness.

Just as the pulps before them, comics embody an important social function. Just as Robert E. Howards characters and stories pushed against societal norms whether it was Solomon Kane allying himself with an African shaman, or Conan accepting the authority of the female pirate captain Blit we see that same socially-progressive agenda in the Green Lantern comics. Each of the stories in this Green Lantern: 80th Anniversary special carries this tradition forward. The highlighting of willpower in the concept behind the Green Lantern characters is a message about how human will can make change for the better. In a world where nature is being destroyed at a catastrophic rate due to human will, it will take an enormous act of willpower to change course and protect the planet instead of destroying it.

Finally, this collection has something for everyone. For the Green Lantern newbie, this is a perfect introduction to the universe of characters and stories that have emerged from the 80 year tradition of Green Lantern. For the current up-to-date reader, this is a celebration of all that is Lantern in comics today. And for the older reader who grew up with Green Lantern in the 60s, 70s and 80s, it is a wonderful refresher on what has gone before and where the concept is going today.

1In street scenes in Gotham City, Metropolis or Central City all the citizens were depicted as white; in other words, black Americans simply did not exist in the DC comics world.

2Green Lantern is a misleading term, as there are 7,500 Green Lanterns in the universe and no less than six on Earth!

CarthroniX President/Chairman of the Board R. Rex Parris and Carrol Parris Donate $50,000 in Support of Life Extension Research – PRNewswire

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

LANCASTER, Calif., Aug. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- R. Rex Parris, President and Chairman of the Board of biotech company CarthroniX, announced a donation of $50,000 to Denis Evseenko, MD, Ph.D. of the Keck School of Medicine of USC to support continued research in the field longevity.

Dr. Evseenko was recently awarded a $1.69 million research project grant from the National Institutes of Health to address how to slow arthritis in aging joints. He has helped develop breakthroughs in molecular studies that identified and characterized the unique cell populations that form the superficial human joint cartilage zone.

Dr. Evseenko is one of the world's leading medical researchers of arthritis and how gene activity drives cartilage development. "The CDC reports that 23% of all adults, or 54 million people, have some form of arthritis and are limited in their activities due to severe joint pain," said Mr. Parris. "Dr. Evseenko's work will help tens of millions of people in this country and many more worldwide, living with arthritis's daily struggle. Now there is evidence that it will also extend the quality of life and longevity."

CarthroniX is comprised of scientists and surgeons with expertise in regenerative medicine and stem cell research. Their research is focused on creating novel small molecules to stimulate the regrowth of healthy cartilage. Dr. Evseenko's work fits seamlessly with CarthroniX's goals of extending the quality of life for millions of people. Osteoarthritis is one component of the aging process as cartilage degenerates over time, especially after injury and wear and tear.

Recently it was discovered that some of the small molecules studied to treat arthritis also reverse the aging of human cells in vitro. This gift will enable Dr. Evseenko's lab to advance to the next stage of research. The CX-1 small molecule will hopefully slow the aging of mice. If this is confirmed, CarthroniX will seek FDA approval of human trials to investigate CX-1's effect on human longevity and regeneration of vital organs. "This gift will help us explore some fundamental and transformative questions related to life span extension," said Dr. Evseenko.

CarthroniX novel technologies are proven to preserve, repair, and regenerate cartilage in joints and suppress inflammation in large animals. CarthroniX is developing two types of drugs: one that is both regenerative and anti-inflammatory, and a second that is solely anti-inflammatory.

ABOUT CarthroniX

CarthroniX is developing novel small molecules to stimulate the growth and regeneration of articular cartilage in joints. CarthroniX patented, first-in-class small molecule CX-1 activates an established regenerative pathway; they demonstrated this results in cartilage proliferation, cellular migration, and deposition of cartilaginous matrix.

Media Contact: Joe Marchelewski, [emailprotected]

SOURCE PARRIS Law Firm

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CarthroniX President/Chairman of the Board R. Rex Parris and Carrol Parris Donate $50,000 in Support of Life Extension Research - PRNewswire

Sustainability and Covid-19 accomodations can co-exist in hospitality industry, by Jane Bokunewicz – Press of Atlantic City

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

While hospitality organizations have taken steps to slow the spread of coronavirus, in terms of green initiatives, they may have taken a few steps back.

In 2019, a World Wide Fund for Nature study estimated that by the year 2030, plastic pollution would nearly double. By and by, more restaurant operators and food establishments began finding sustainable solutions to reverse this trend. The casual chain Just Salad introduced a $1 reusable plastic bowl to its customers, saving an estimated 75,000 pounds of plastic waste per year. Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts offered low-cost reusable cups. Supermarkets strongly encouraged and in some instances, required reusable shopping bags at checkout. These innovative methods to reduce plastic usage would soon be placed on an indefinite hold in an effort to follow CDC guidelines for COVID-19 and minimize tactile transmission between staff and customers.

In the wake of COVID-19 and the shutdown to follow, local restaurants faced an evident catch-22 contradiction when it comes to reducing trash, plastic and non-recyclables: take-out. As restaurants began to experience major losses in revenue, take-out and delivery deemed permissible by most states seemed to be the only way these establishments could keep their doors open. Customers were happy to provide support and longevity to their local businesses.

However, take-out typically requires single-use packaging and excessive plastic consumption, which poses an environmental concern. A Press of Atlantic City article on July 30 reported a significant increase in litter on the beaches and boardwalks due in part to an increase in outdoor dining and take out orders.

Unfortunately, food and beverage is not the only hospitality sector to have to scale back green initiatives. Pre-pandemic, hotels including Marriott, Hilton and Intercontinental began replacing mini-shampoos and conditioners with bulk pump-top dispenser units in an effort to reduce plastic waste. In todays reality, the pump-top while environmentally conscious could result in guests feeling hesitant to touch something previously used by other guests.

At the present moment, slowing the spread of COVID-19 and saving as many human lives as possible is of higher priority than negative environmental impact. However, whos to say that the two cannot work in tandem? Do customers need the plastic utensils provided for takeout if they are just taking the food home to eat? Just offering a no-utensil option could both reduce waste and save money.

COVID-19 has encouraged the eco-friendly innovation known as contactless technology. McGettigans 19th Hole in Galloway, for example, has a QSR code on each dining table that customers can scan with their smart phone and be directed almost instantly to an online menu, eliminating the risk of contracting the virus via physical menus and reducing the need for disposable paper or plastic-coated menus. Sirens Bar & Grill in Atlantic City has taken QSR coding a step further: once the customer scans the code, they are able to place orders directly from their smart phone, enter their table number, and wait patiently for their food to arrive. Customers can pay the bill and tip from their phones as well, entirely eliminating touch, and paper, from the process.

Without a doubt, the ingenuity on the part of restaurant, hotel and casino operators in adapting to this new normal of COVID-19 precuations has been nothing short of commendable. As operators continue to innovate and rethink previous business models, it is also especially important to keep an eye on sustainability finding ways to both slow the spread and minimize unnecessary waste.

Jane Bokunewicz, of Galloway Township, is coordinator of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute for Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism, and an associate professor of hospitality and tourism management studies at Stockton University,

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Sustainability and Covid-19 accomodations can co-exist in hospitality industry, by Jane Bokunewicz - Press of Atlantic City

HABRI Advocates the Human-Animal Bond – Pet Age

Posted on August 1, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

No matter where you are, the four words in these uncertain times seem to precede every commercial, every newscast and every other piece of media across the globe. True enough, in this brave new world of COVID-19, anxiety and fear seem to be the marching orders of the day. Finding ways to safely destress and maintain mental health becomes a major priority when all the world seems to be falling apart.

We, of course, know that one of the best sources of mental wellness comes directly from pet ownership. Numerous studies have shown that pet ownership and interactions with pets have direct, tangible benefits on a persons health. But, spreading the word of these benefits has become the watchwords for the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI).

Founded in 2010 by leaders throughout the pet industry, HABRI works to advance through science, education and advocacy, the vital role of the human-animal bond in the health and well-being of individuals, communities, and companion animals.

In doing so, the organization maintains the worlds largest online library of human-animal bond research, it funds scientific research to document the health benefits of companion animals, and it serves as a liaison to the public for that research.

HABRIs advocacy takes shape in numerous forms, starting with research. To date, HABRI has funded over $3M across 30-plus scientific research projects, demonstrating the health value of companion animals and pets on their owners. Its research partners have included University of Missouri, Tufts University, University of Georgia, and several other major research institutions. In May 2018, HABRI partnered with Mars Petcare to hold a summit on the role of pets in alleviating loneliness, social isolation and other mental ailments; a partnership which continues through this day.

The results of these HABRI-funded research studies have benefitted nearly every walk of life: pets have been shown to improve reading comprehension, reduce classroom disruptions and increase social skill acquisition for third and fourth grade children, have shown improved family function and reduced stress in homes with autistic children, have shown to reduce PTSD symptoms in veterans, and so much more.

HABRIs research partnerships continue to be in the vanguard, showing the benefits of pet ownership and in animal-companionship on the whole. Other research under HABRIs purview has included pet allergy prevention and immunity research, studies into the benefits of companion animals within the workplace, and the correlation between cardiovascular fitness to dog ownership.

Further, HABRIs research has even resulted in changes at the legislative level. The Pet and Women Safety Act, which passed in December 2018, now provides grants to domestic violence shelters to include service animals to aid in rehabilitating victims of domestic violence. Thanks to the tireless advocacy of those in the pet care community, these animals can now help countless individuals across the country.

This comes in conjunction with HABRIs Pet Night on Capitol Hill, a yearly reception in Washington, DC, that provides members of the pet care community to interact with members of Congress, soundly delivering the message that pets are vital for human health and quality of life. While COVID-19 has prevented an in-person Pet Night this year, HABRI was able to shift to Pet Week on Capitol Hill, which featured a full week of programming between legislators and pet care professionals.

And now, in a world that continually faces social isolation and loneliness due to COVID-19-based restrictions, the role of companion animals on our mental health becomes magnified to a powerful degree. HABRI has responded to this need by sharing numerous infographicsavailable on their websitedemonstrating the benefits of pet ownership on longevity, mental health, and more. In addition, HABRI maintains an active social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, sharing up-to-the-minute information on research initiatives, events within the pet care community, and other content that can easily be shared with all those interested in the bond between pets and their owners. Many thanks to Steve Feldman and Lindsey Melfi for contributing valuable content for this article. For those interested in supporting HABRI, viewing the organizations research or downloading HABRI posters, flyers or infographics, visit habri.org.

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HABRI Advocates the Human-Animal Bond - Pet Age

L.A. Zoo’s lion soulmates euthanized together after age-related health problems – CTV News

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

Hubert and Kalisa were best friends for life.

The African lion duo spent many years together, never having cubs with each other but companions, nonetheless.

But on Thursday, their partnership came to an end. The Los Angeles Zoo made the decision to humanely euthanize the two lions, due to declining health and age-related illnesses.

"Hubert and Kalisa are an iconic part of the L.A. Zoo experience, and our staff and guests have been touched by their loyal companionship," Denise Verret, director of the L.A. Zoo, said in a statement. "Their longevity is truly a testament to the level of expert care our veterinary and animal care teams provide for our elderly animals. These lions will remain a positive part of our history, and they will be greatly missed."

Hubert, born Feb. 7, 1999, and Kalisa, born Dec. 26, 1998 spent six years together at the L.A. Zoo, and even more while at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

The average life expectancy for African lions in the wild is mid-teens, whereas in captivity is about 17 years, the L.A. Zoo said.

Their population in the wild is estimated between 23,000 to 39,000, but declining, the L.A. Zoo said. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the animals as "vulnerable" because of "human-wildlife conflict, prey depletion, the illegal trade of lion body parts for traditional medicine, trophy hunting, and disease," the zoo said.

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L.A. Zoo's lion soulmates euthanized together after age-related health problems - CTV News

NUS-led team uncovers molecule that promotes muscle health when magnetised – Newswise

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

Newswise As people age, they progressively lose muscle mass and strength, and this can lead to frailty and other age-related diseases. As the causes for the decline remain largely unknown, promoting muscle health is an area of great research interest. A recent study led by the researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has shown how a molecule found in muscles responds to weak magnetic fields to promote muscle health.

Led by Associate Professor Alfredo Franco-Obregn from the NUS Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech), the team found that a protein known as TRPC1 responds to weak oscillating magnetic fields. Such a response is normally activated when the body exercises. This responsiveness to magnets could be used to stimulate muscle recovery, which could improve the life quality for patients with impaired mobility, in an increasingly ageing society.

The use of pulsed magnetic fields to simulate some of the effects of exercise will greatly benefit patients with muscle injury, stroke, and frailty as a result of advanced age, said lead researcher Assoc Prof Franco-Obregn, who is also from the NUS Department of Surgery.

The NUS research team collaborated with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) on this study, and their results were first published online in Advanced Biosystems on 2 September 2020. The work was also featured on the cover of the journals print edition on 27 November 2020.

Magnets and muscle health

The magnetic fields that the research team used to stimulate the muscle health were only 10 to 15 times stronger than the Earths magnetic field, yet still much weaker than a common bar magnet, raising the intriguing possibility that weak magnetism is a stimulus that muscles naturally interact with.

To test this theory, the research team first used a special experimental setup to cancel the effect of all surrounding magnetic fields. The researchers found that the muscle cells indeed grew more slowly when shielded from all environmental magnetic fields. These observations strongly supported the notion that the Earths magnetic field naturally interacts with muscles to elicit biological responses.

To show the involvement of TRPC1 as an antenna for natural magnetism to promote muscle health, the researchers genetically engineered mutant muscle cells that were unresponsive to any magnetic field by deleting TRPC1 from their genomes. The researchers were then able to reinstate magnetic sensitivity by selectively delivering TRPC1 to these mutant muscle cells in small vesicles that fused with the mutant cells.

In their previous studies, the researchers have shown that response to such magnetic fields were strongly correlated to the presence of TRPC1, and it included the rejuvenation of cartilage by indirectly regulating the gut microbiome, fat burning and insulin-sensitivity via positive actions on muscle. The present study provided conclusive evidence that TRPC1 serves as an ubiquitous biological antenna to surrounding magnetic fields to modulate human physiology, particularly when targeted for muscle health.

Metabolic changes similar to those achieved with exercise have been observed in previous clinical trials and studies led by Assoc Prof Franco-Obregn. Encouraging benefits of using the magnetic fields to stimulate muscle cells have been found, with as little as 10 minutes of exposure per week. This tantalising possibility, to improve muscle health without exercising, could facilitate recovering and rehabilitation of patients with muscle dysfunction.

Assoc Prof Franco-Obregn shared, About 40 per cent of an average persons body is muscle. Our results demonstrate a metabolic interaction between muscle and magnetism which hopefully can be exploited to improve human health and longevity.

Next steps

This study represents a milestone in the understanding of how a key protein may developmentally react to magnetic fields.

Metabolic health such as weight, blood sugar levels, insulin, and cholesterol are strongly influenced by muscle health. As exercise is a strong modulator of metabolic diseases through the working of the muscles, and magnetic fields exert similar benefits of exercise, such magnetism may help patients who are unable to undertake exercise because of injury, disease, or frailty. As such, the NUS iHealthtech research team is now working to extend their study to reduce drug dependence for the treatment of diseases such as diabetes.

We hope that our research can help alleviate side effects by reducing the use of drugs for disease treatment, and to improve the quality of life of the patients, said Assoc Prof Franco-Obregn.

This project has recently won the Catalyst Award in the inaugural Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awards conferred by the US National Academy of Medicine. The team was recognised for their breakthrough innovation to extend human health and function later in life.

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NUS-led team uncovers molecule that promotes muscle health when magnetised - Newswise

Cognitive Super Agers Defy Decline in Brainpower | NIA – National Institute on Aging

Posted on August 1, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

Although its normal for brainpower to decline as people age, its not inevitable, studies show. Some people remain cognitively sharp into their 80s, 90s, and beyond, defying the common assumption that cognitive decline is a natural part of aging.

These lucky few, called cognitive super agers, perform demonstrably better on memory tests, such as remembering past events or recalling a list of words, compared with other adults their age. NIA-supported researchers are exploring the factors that set these people apart so the knowledge can be used to help others prevent or reverse age-related cognitive decline.

There is a tendency to equate aging with a decline in mental function, said Molly Wagster, Ph.D., chief of the Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience Branch in NIAs Division of Neuroscience. We want to study these cognitive super agers, who clearly break the expectation of cognitive decline, and unravel their secrets.

Atrophy is the strongest correlate of age, said Claudia Kawas, M.D., of the University of California (UC), Irvine. She leads the longitudinal 90+ Study of more than 1,800 people age 90 years and older the fastest growing sector of the U.S. population.

According to Kawas, a 90-year-old brain typically weighs 1,100 to 1,200 grams, and this is 100 or more grams less than the typical 40-year-old brain. Brain shrinkage mostly affects the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, and the cerebral cortex, which is important for complex thought processes. Over time, the brain can also be affected by declining levels of neurotransmitters, changing hormones, deteriorating blood vessels, and impaired circulation of blood glucose. These brain changes can affect thinking, making it harder to recall words and names, focus on tasks, and process new information.

Physically, the brains of cognitive super agers seem to defy wear and tear better than the average brain. Researchers at Northwestern Universitys Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimers Disease in Chicago have tentatively identified a brain signature for cognitive super agers, which they define as people age 80 years and older who have performance on memory tests comparable to people two to three decades younger. The researchers conducted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on 12 cognitive super agers, 10 cognitively normal peers, and 14 cognitively normal people in the 50- to 65-year age range. Comparisons revealed that the cingulate cortex, a brain region considered important for the integration of information related to memory, attention, cognitive control, and motivation was thicker in super agers than in their same-age peers and showed no atrophy compared with the same brain region of the middle agers. In fact, a specific region of the anterior cingulate cortex was significantly thicker in the brains of cognitive super agers than in middle agers brains.

In a separate study, the Northwestern researchers found that super agers brains contained a much higher density of a particular type of cell called von Economo neurons, which are linked to social intelligence and awareness. Their brains had more of these neurons even than the brains of younger adults.

In a third investigation, the Northwestern researchers used MRI to measure brain volume over an 18-month period in a small group of study participants age 80 and older. They measured a 2.24% average annual volume loss in the cognitively normal adults versus a 1.06% loss in the super agers. In short, the super agers brains shrank at a significantly slower rate.

At Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, researchers are studying younger super agers people between age 60 and 80 who have memory recall abilities similar to those of 18- to 32-year-olds. Theyve identified distinctive thicknesses in two neural networks that connect parts of the brain important to memory function. The thickness is nearly the same as in the brains of younger adults. The researchers also found that super agers have a bigger hippocampus than other adults their age.

Researchers with UC Irvines 90+ Study have identified a curious and counterintuitive feature of the super ager brain: sometimes it shows the pathologies that characterize Alzheimers disease and related dementias.

Everyone thinks theres this really strong correlation if you have plaques and tangles, you have dementia, and if you dont have plaques and tangles, you shouldnt have dementia, said Kawas. Through both autopsies and PET scans of the brains of the oldest old, investigators have found that both of those things are often not true.

Researchers are exploring several theories to explain why some peoples cognitive abilities stay intact to the end of life. Perhaps they start out in life with larger, stronger brains. Or perhaps their brains somehow change to compensate for agings damaging effects. Another theory being pursued is whether their brains have stronger defenses against the assaults of aging.

A persons environment may be a factor. Human and animal studies by NIA-supported scientists have contributed to the growing body of evidence that enriching experiences, such as advanced education and mind-challenging occupations, can help brains last longer.

Various exposures throughout the lifetime might help people maintain their brains better or maintain their cognition in the face of age- or disease-related brain changes, explained Yaakov Stern, Ph.D., of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimers Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical College, New York.

Other research focuses on genetic explanations. In an ongoing study of the Longevity Genes Project at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, investigators are comparing the genetic profiles of children of healthy centenarians with the genetic profiles of the children of parents who did not live as long. They are looking for genes that might support strong neural networks and offer protection against mental and physical decline.

Social factors also could play a role in healthy cognitive aging. In one of Northwestern Universitys studies, investigators gave a 42-item questionnaire on psychological well-being to 31 cognitive super agers and 19 cognitively normal peers. The cognitive super agers reported more friends and family connections, a finding that builds on past research showing links between psychological well-being and lower risk of Alzheimers.

Researchers are grappling to explain why some peoples brains resist physical decline and why other peoples brains show physical signs of age- and disease-related deterioration yet continue to function well. Two theories that are being explored revolve around the concepts of cognitive reserve and brain maintenance. Cognitive reserve is the idea that some brains are strong enough to fend off the assaults of aging and disease. Brain maintenance is the idea that some brains have extra power to keep working well even in the face of aging and disease.

As UC Irvines Claudia Kawas, M.D., explained, You can super age by not getting Alzheimers pathology, or you can super age by getting it and somehow managing to not get sick with it.

Yaakov Stern, Ph.D., of Columbia University, uses a computer analogy: Some peoples brains have good hardware that doesnt break down as easily, while others have software that can write around problem areas in the hardware.

What specific changes in the brain and body provoke cognitive decline or, conversely, stave it off? A team of scientists in NIAs Intramural Research Program, led by Peter Rapp, Ph.D., chief of the Neurocognitive Aging Section, is seeking an answer through a project called STARRRS, for Successful Trajectories of Aging: Reserve and Resilience in RatS.

Rats are useful for studying the effects of aging because they are short-lived, and their brains do not accumulate the hallmark plaque and tangle pathology of Alzheimers. The breed of rats used for STARRRS has natural variability; some maintain their cognitive function as they age, and some dont. This makes them particularly useful for comparative studies.

Researchers are observing the behaviors of these rats over their lifetimes and using neuroimaging, tissue sampling (obtained through noninvasive means, so as not to interfere with behavior), and other methods to track whats going on in the brain.

This is a rare and wonderful opportunity to follow individual animals and relate any changes in cognitive performance to changes going on elsewhere in the body and in the brain, said Wagster. STARRS should give us insights into potential targets for prevention and intervention, as well as when it would be most appropriate to intervene.

In April 2017, NIA coordinated the Cognitive Aging Summit III, which was supported by the McKnight Brain Research Foundation (MBRF) through a generous grant to the Foundation for NIH (FNIH). The summit brought together a multidisciplinary group of investigators with shared interest in research on age-related cognitive decline and cognitive reserve and resilience, as compared to cognitive impairment or dementia. Participants identified opportunities for expanding our knowledge in this area, as well as gaps in our knowledge. One of the opportunities highlighted resulted in the STARRRS initiative.

Another new initiative that stemmed from the summit and that also is underway Collaboratory on Research Definitions for Cognitive Reserve and Resilience brings together investigators from around the globe to develop a consensus on uniform definitions for terms such as cognitive reserve, brain maintenance, resilience, and compensation so that the research community will have a common language and understanding for reporting of results. Use of uniform definitions offers many benefits, including the pooling of data across studies to allow for adequately powered analyses and better interpretation of data.

Its one thing to say, life exposures might increase reserve, says Stern, who serves as the primary investigator for the collaboratory charged with the definitions task. Its another thing to say, we propose that the types of occupation people have can allow them to cope better with amyloid pathology. We can measure amyloid, we can measure cognition, and we can show how life exposure actually moderates between the two. In other words, we can turn a concept into a very concrete recipe for analysis.

In February 2020, NIA issued an additional funding opportunity that stemmed from the Cognitive Aging Summit for support of research to understand factors that promote sustained cognitive health in older age: RFA-AG-21-015, Network for Identification, Evaluation, and Tracking of Older Persons with Superior Cognitive Performance for Their Chronological Age. Although chronological age itself remains the strongest predictor of age-related cognitive decline and many forms of dementia, including Alzheimers, it has become clear there are protective factors against these outcomes that are poorly understood. Awarded grants will support aggregation of sufficient numbers of these cognitive super agers to advance the fields understanding of factors that promote sustained cognitive health and those that are not of primary importance. Working in part with funds contributed by MBRF in conjunction with FNIH, NIA invites applications to identify, evaluate, and track individuals with superior cognitive performance for their advanced age across multiple sites. The deadline for submission of applications is October 1, 2020.

Further research on cognitive super agers could lead to strategies that everyone can use in younger years, in midlife, and in older age to maintain thinking and memory skills. Just as important, it could also provide insights into how dementias such as Alzheimers might be prevented or reversed and provide critically important information for the identification of targets for interventions. And by identifying the factors that affect brain health, this research might one day be used to reduce disparities in brain-enriching opportunities so that everyone has a chance to keep their brain at maximum power throughout life.

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Cognitive Super Agers Defy Decline in Brainpower | NIA - National Institute on Aging

Generosity can make us live longer, new research shows. Now, that’s more important than ever – CNN International

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

There is a linear relationship between the amount and frequency of wealth transfers and the lengths of individuals' lives, the study results have shown.

"At the beginning of life you are reliant on others," said lead study author Tobias Vogt, who is an assistant professor in the faculty of spatial sciences at the University of Groningen. "It's a good idea to help others throughout the course of our lives."

The researchers' goal was to track data on how every individual in a given society consumes and saves.

Intergenerational wealth transfers can include money, but they can also include houses, benefits or time.

Wealth transfers are more common where social cohesion is high

The researchers recognized that other factors -- such as country's gross domestic product (GDP) and income inequality -- also affect a population's life expectancy and adjusted their models to include those factors.

One likely reason, Vogt said, for the correlation between countries experiencing greater longevity in the presence of financial transfers was that those countries exhibited stronger social cohesion.

To back that up, he cited a 2010 meta-analysis performed by researchers at Brigham Young University -- with an aggregate of 148 separate studies involving a total of more than 300,000 participants. It found that survival was 50% greater for those with stronger social relationships compared to those with lesser or no social bonds.

Sharing leads to long life

Western Europe and Japan ranked highest on data linking resource sharing and lower mortality levels.

France and Japan, the nations with the lowest mortality risk, showed the highest average individual wealth transfers. Theses countries shared between 68% and 69% of their lifetime income, while reporting mortality rates about twice as low as China and Turkey, where people shared between 44% and 48% of their lifetime earnings, according to the study.

"South American countries also rank high in terms of generosity, as they share more than 60% of an average individual's lifetime income," the researchers reported.

On the low side of the spectrum, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia were those in which people were least able to share portions of their lifetime earnings and experienced shorter life spans.

This research complements findings in the UN's World Happiness Report

Generosity and life expectancy are among the six variables scientists look at when making the World Happiness Report, which is released annually by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations.

This year, even as the coronavirus pandemic swept Europe, Finland held on to its happiest country title for a third straight year.

"Generous behavior is related to trust and mutual regard and a sense of being together," said John Helliwell, co-editor of the World Happiness Report and professor emeritus of economics at the University of British Columbia. "People who are happier are subsequently healthier."

Vogt and his team's research fit in well with the body of science the UN and researchers around the world have been monitoring since 2012 as they have cultivated the happiness index, Helliwell said.

Societies with high mutual trust are more likely to be resilient, and that could be seen in how they have fared recently against the coronavirus, he explained.

Those nations succesfully keeping the virus at bay, such as Norway and New Zealand, are places where people trust each other.

"There's an evolutionary story being told by this (paper)," he said, that our collective endurance as a species isn't about survival of the fittest individuals, but rather about survival of the most cooperative societies.

"To the extent generosity adds to longevity, it's about our resilience to disease, or to earthquakes, or changes in climate," Helliwell said. "Leaders must broaden our capacity to help one another."

These results have relevance to the pandemic

In a year of pandemic, global GDP is expected to drop by 5.2%, according to a World Bank estimate in June.

That means we're in for a lot of lost transfers of value, whether they be a scholarship fund not collecting its annual fundraising goal, a laid-off middle-aged couple struggling with ailing parents' nursing home bills or governments collecting less in taxes during a time of high unemployment.

Although simply spending time with a wiser older relative might be one of the best ways to transfer value from one generation to another, measures such as those would be a subject for a future study, Vogt said.

"We suggest that this support reduces mortality by meeting urgent material needs, but also that sharing generosity may reflect the strength of social connectedness, which itself benefits human health and wellbeing and indirectly raises survival," the researchers wrote in the paper.

As the economic engine grinds to a halt, we're faced with the prospect of our resource crunch resonating in the lives of ourselves, our children and our parents for years to come.

But the social science says there are ways to navigate the dilemma.

"It's important how countries get out of these situations," Vogt said, noting how countries such as Spain and France have high life expectancy and have high social cohesion, characteristics that can help shield them against the worst effects of the pandemic.

One of the most valuable ways to transfer something important to a loved one is to cook and care and read to them, he said.

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Generosity can make us live longer, new research shows. Now, that's more important than ever - CNN International

Global Precision Medicine Software Market in-Depth Analysis, Key Players, Challenges, Segmentation and Forecasts to 2027. – The Think Curiouser

Posted on November 21, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

Latest updated Report gives analysis of Precision Medicine Software market overview, scope, market risks, market driving force and market opportunities. Precision Medicine Software competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers working in Precision Medicine Software industry are analyzed clearly by landscape contrast

The Global Precision Medicine Software Market divides the industry on the basis of the regions by growth, product types and applications, over the forecast period (2020-2027) of the Precision Medicine Software market. It analyzes every majorfacts of the global Precision Medicine Software by specifications of the product, restraints, challenges, andgrowth opportunities. Company profiles of the major leading player with Precision Medicine Software investment forecast, latest technology trends,and future forecast. Detailed global understanding of the Precision Medicine Software market based on present and future size(revenue) and Precision Medicine Software market prediction plot in the form of a list of charts and tables, pie-charts to assist aspirants and major market players in making significant and growing choices.

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The research mainly covers Precision Medicine Software market in North America (United States, Canada and Mexico), Precision Medicine Software Europe industry (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (Southeast Asia, China, Korea, India and Japan), Precision Medicine Software South America industry (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa). The Precision Medicine Software report also performs SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) with XX CAGR values, and XX USD of past(2015-2019) and Precision Medicine Software forecast(2020-2027) on the basis of growth and market condition following with the size of Precision Medicine Software market.

The Global Precision Medicine Software market reportcomprises variouskey manufacturers, application analysis and type analysis:

Key players of the global Precision Medicine Software market:

Abbott Laboratories(US)Syapse, Inc. (US)Roper Technologies(US)Sunquest Information Systems Inc. (US)Pfizer, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc.(US)N-of-One, Inc. (US)NantHealth, Inc. (US)LifeOmic Health, LLC (US)Fabric Genomics (US)Allscripts(US)GlaxoSmithKline plc(UK)Gene42, Inc. (Canada)Foundation Medicine, Inc. (US)Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands)PierianDx, Inc. (US)Translational Software, Inc. (US)Flatiron Health, Inc. (US)IBM Watson Group (US)Sanofi S.A.(France)Tempus Labs, Inc. (US)AstraZeneca plc(US)2bPrecise LLC (Israel)Qiagen(Germany)SOPHiA GENETICS SA (Switzerland)Human Longevity, Inc. (US)

Market Segment Analysis

By Types:

Cloud-basedOn-premise

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Healthcare providersResearch centers & Government institutesPharmaceutical & Biotechnology companiesOther end users

InquiryHere For More Details https://www.globalmarketers.biz/report/others/2015-2027-global-precision-medicine-software-industry-market-research-report,-segment-by-player,-type,-application,-marketing-channel,-and-region/146709#inquiry_before_buying

Segments of the Precision Medicine Software Report:

Global Precision Medicine Software market report figure out a detailed analysis of key Precision Medicine Software market players by referencing their company profiles, supply/demand study, sales margin, gross margin and year to year revenue to have Precision Medicine Software industry better share over the globe. Precision Medicine Software market report also includes development.

The Global Precision Medicine Software industry research report analyses the supply, sales, production, and market status comprehensively. manufacturing market shares and sales market shares are analyzed along with the analysis of capacity, production, sales, and revenue.

Table Of Content Described:

1. Precision Medicine Software Industry Synopsis

2. Global Precision Medicine Software Market Size by Segmentation (2020-2027)

3. Precision Medicine Software Leading Manufacturers Company Profiles

4. Global Precision Medicine Software Market Competitive Study by Players

5. US Precision Medicine Software Market Development Status and Overview

6. Europe Precision Medicine Software Market Improvement Status and Overview

7. Africa Precision Medicine Software Market Development Status and Overview

8. South-America Precision Medicine Software Market Improvement Status and Overview

9. Asia-pacific Precision Medicine Software Market Development Status and Overview

10. Southeast Asia Precision Medicine Software Improvement Status and Overview

11. Precision Medicine Software Market Forecast by Regional Analysis, And By Segmentation (2020-2027)

12. Dynamics of Precision Medicine Software Market

13. Precision Medicine Software Market Growth Factors Study

14. Research Conclusions

15. Appendix

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Layoffs plague nonprofits some more troubled than others – Generocity

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

In the beginning, there were nonprofit agencies about 15,000 in the five-county region.

Then COVID-19 divided them into essential and nonessential organizations. On the necessary side, are the nonprofits that provide the basics that millions of Americans depend upon to survive. On the wrong side of the coronavirus tracks is the arts and cultural organizations whose offerings are deemed wonderful but dispensable in this time of pandemic.

And that inequality has begat escalating unemployment.

Russell Johnson, president and CEO of HealthSpark Foundation, said that its too early to tell the impact statistically but anecdotally there have been many layoffs. We are carefully monitoring this question. Some agencies have laid-off staff. Some were forced to close such as child care centers, senior centers, YMCAs and have either not yet reopened or are slowing reopening.

HealthSpark was a founding partner and investor in the MontCoPA COVID-19 Response Fund, a partnership effort between local philanthropic organizations, nonprofits, government, and public citizens, which has raised nearly $800,000 towards pandemic relief efforts and has supported 127 nonprofits to date most of them health and human service agencies.

"Nearly all organizations that are not providing safety net services are laying off their staff especially as their PPP (Payroll Protection Program) runs out."Nancy Burd

Nearly all organizations that are not providing safety net services are laying off their staff especially as their PPP (Payroll Protection Program) runs out and no further allocation is on the horizon, said Nancy Burd of The Burd Group, a Philadelphia-based strategic planning consultancy for grantmakers.

According to a recent study, there were 242,000 nonprofit employees earning more than $11 billion in annual wages in the five-county Philadelphia region.

In May, the results of the Rapid Response: the PHL Nonprofits and COVID-19 Survey, showed that about one out of every five nonprofits in the 10-county region had already laid off staff and one in four anticipated more furloughs to come within the year. Most of these nonprofits were small agencies with a staff of less than 20 people, a large volunteer force and annual budgets between $1 million to $2.49 million.

The nonprofit sector is one-fourth of the economy of Montgomery County, said Johnson, (This survey) gives you a sense of what the nonprofit sector is going through.

For workers, the pandemic s longevity is turning temporary furloughs into permanent unemployment. For the nonprofits that are hibernating programs versus shutting down completely, (they) are trying to keep some programming alive virtually and would hope to re-open in 2021. At that time they would staff up as programs come back. Maybe the staff will be different, but that is the current strategy for many organizations, added Burd.

In our area, one of the first to announce furloughs was the Greater Philadelphia YMCA of Conshohocken, states largest coronavirus-related layoff. We had to make this really tough choice, CEO and President Shaun Elliott told the Philadelphia Inquirer, so that we could survive as an organization to reopen when its possible.

A $100 million organization, the Greater Philadelphia YMCA was taking in only $500,000 a month on expenses of $45 million after the state shuttered the agency.

The YMCA laid off 4,000 people, about 700 of them fulltime employees, leaving a skeletal staff of about 60 people. Elliott stopped collecting a paycheck and the pay of remaining staff was reduced.

On the stronger side of the corona divide are the health and human service agencies.

Here in Philadelphia, and elsewhere, nonprofits providing important safety net services are responding to greater demand and resources appear to be plentiful at all levels philanthropy, government and individuals, Burd said. The Covid 19 Fund run by the Philadelphia Foundation has raised $17 million+ and has distributed most all of it, but only to the social safety net nonprofits.

However, the cultural and arts sector, which was a $4 billion economic driver in Philadelphia alone, is faring much worse. Donors, who may be historically committed to the arts or their colleges are diverting their philanthropic dollars to those in need, that is their first impulse, Burd explained.

The irony is many nonprofits were traveling the right fiscal path and had diversified their revenue streams to decrease dependency on grants and government contracts. It was, in the time before COVID-19, sound business practice.

The great recession of 2008 was the wake-up call. We had encouraged the sector to increase earned income, to become less dependent upon contributed income which has too many strings attached and little control. And those that intentionally recalibrated their business model, were among the healthiest orgs. They became adept at maximizing earned income by monetizing their assets and using them aggressively all to promote financial health and growth and prepare for crisis, Burd said.

Then she added: But today, these are precisely the organizations who have been hurt the most in this pandemic.

After careful reflection, we have determined that reopening Please Touch Museum at this time presents a significant public health risk as well as a financial one. With that, The Please Touch Museum announced it was extending its temporary closure into 2021. After three rounds of layoffs in six months, the staff dropped from 71 employees to 18. Patricia D. Wellenbach, president and CEO of Please Touch Museum called the decision, agonizing.

(Photo by P. Meyer for Visit Philadelphia)

Before COVID-19 the museum had an operating budget of $700,000 per month, almost 90% of it was funded from earned revenue including ticket sales and facilities rentals. With the shutdown of the state and schools, its operating budget had slid to $200,000 per month.

The Kimmel Center too earned 93% of its income and had reduced its dependency on philanthropy. But that was before large public gatherings were forbidden. With no audience for its money-making shows and concerts, Kimmel Center President and CEO Anne C. Ewers announced it was furloughing 80% of its staff and cutting pay and hours for the others.

In general, nonprofits are waiting for state and federal budgets (to provide funding), Johnson said. In June, Moodys Analytics announced that based on their calculations, states collectively would need to find $312 billion while the local governments would need uncover close to $200 billion to balance their budgets.

We are forever changed, Johnson. We will never go back to the way things were.

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Layoffs plague nonprofits some more troubled than others - Generocity

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