Monthly Archives: June 2022

In 2010, Rebecca Skloot published The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a compelling look at Henrietta Lacks story, her impact on medical science, and important bioethical issues. That book became the basis for the HBO/Harpo film by the same name, which was released in April 2017.

Henrietta Lacks was one of a diverse group of patients who unknowingly donated cells at Hopkins in 1951. The donation of Henrietta Lacks' cells began what was the first, and, for many years, the only human cell line able to reproduce indefinitely.

Her cells, known as HeLa cells for Henrietta Lacks, remain a remarkably durable and prolific line of cells used in research around the world. This guide addresses several important health care, research and ethical themes addressed in the book and in the movie.

Johns Hopkins applauds and regularly participates in efforts to raise awareness of the life and story of Henrietta Lacks. We were proud to support the book research and development of the film by providing full access to the Hopkins archives and granting permission to HBO to film several scenes for the movie on the Hopkins campus.

The publication of Skloots book led Johns Hopkins to review our interactions with Henrietta Lacks and with the Lacks family over more than 50 years. At several points across those decades, we found that Johns Hopkins could have and should have done more to inform and work with members of Henrietta Lacks family out of respect for them, their privacy and their personal interests.

We are deeply committed to the ongoing efforts at our institutions and elsewhere to honor the contributions of Henrietta Lacks and to ensure the appropriate protection and care of the Lacks familys medical information.

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | Johns Hopkins Medicine

Reishi is a traditional Chinese mushroom with adaptogenic properties that provides many benefits.

The purported health benefits of reishi include control of blood glucose levels, modulation of the immune system, liver support, bacteriostasis, and more.

In this article, we will look at the benefits of reishi, its safety, and its history.

Reishi, also known as the Mushroom of Immortality, is a fungus that grows out of decaying wood. It is considered to be one of the most beneficial herbal remedies in traditional Chinese medicine.

In China, this mushroom is called lingzhi.

It is a large, dark brownish-red mushroom with a glossy exterior and a woody texture. The exterior of the mushroom has a varnished sheen to it.

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Reishi has been used for thousands of years for its medicinal benefits.

According to TCM teachers, lingzhi acts to replenish Qi, ease the mind, and relieve cough and asthma, and it is recommended for dizziness, insomnia, palpitation, and shortness of breath (Wachtel-Galor, Yuen, & Buswell, 2011).

Today Reishi is commonly used to aid the immune system. New research also shows that this mushroom may have promising benefits for cancer patients, more on this below.

Considerable evidence supports the use of Reishi mushrooms for supporting the immune system.

Various in vitro (i.e. test tube) studies show that the phytochemicals within Reishi work to increase white blood cells, NK cells, and increase macrophage activity (Wachtel-Galor, Yuen, & Buswell, 2011).

In particular, reishi works to increase innate immune function.

Innate immunity, also known as natural immunity or non-specific immunity, is a series of defense mechanisms that respond quickly to various invading pathogenic microorganisms. They also play an important role in the initiation and effect processes of specific immunity.

Studies have found that a variety of innate immune cells such as natural killer (NK) cells, dendritic cells (DCs), and macrophages can regulate the innate immune response.

Enhancing the bodys non-specific immunity is of great significance to improve the overall immune function of the body.

Recent research shows that Reishi may have some promise in combatting cancer.

The initial research involving reishi and cancer was conducted in the 1980s in animal models. Reduction in cancer growth by 74%-95% was shown in a variety of different trials (Wachtel-Galor, Yuen, & Buswell, 2011).

While the initial animal studies looked very promising, human clinical trials havent been as clear-cut.

Two primary studies showed that reishi mushrooms helped to increase cellular immunity in 80% of the patients involved (Gao et al, 2003). In addition, quality of life scores were improved in around 65% of the patients involved.

Reishi is rich in powerful antioxidants, which have a variety of health benefits.

Antioxidants protect cells from oxidative damage, this helps to decrease the risk of mutations and carcinogenesis and also protect immune cells, allowing them to maintain immune surveillance and response.

Various test-tube studies have been conducted to show the effects of Reishi and its antioxidant properties. In particular, one study showed that reishi extract protects against oxidative damage induced by reactive oxygen species (Lee et al, 2001).

New animal research shows that reishi may be helpful in stabilizing blood sugar.

A trial conducted on mice showed that reishi extract help tolower the serum glucose levels in obese/diabetic mice, with effects seen after the first week of treatment (Seto et al, 2009).

As with all animal trials, this should be taken with a grain of salt. Further human clinical research is needed.

Safety Class: 1 (can be safely used when consumed properly)

Interaction Class: A (no clinically relevant reactions are expected)

Reishi mushrooms are generally well tolerated and safe to be taken by most people. Allergic reactions are rare but have been reported. There are no known contraindications or precautions to taking Reishi (Gardner & McGuffin, 2013).

There are no known cautions with taking reishi during pregnancy.

Tincture (1:5): 45 mL (80100 drops), three or four times per day.

Decoction: Add 12 oz. dried cut/sifted mushroom to 32 oz. water. Simmer slowly for 24 hours until reduced by one-half (16 oz.). Take up to three or four cups per day.

Capsules: Mycelial extracts. Take three 500 to 1000 mg tablets, three times per day.

Scientifically, Reishi is known as Ganoderma lucidum. The word lucidum is latin for shiny, which refers to the varnished appearance of the surface of the mushroom.

The Chinese name of this mushroom is Lingzhi, which translates as spirit plant.

Red reishi is relatively rare in the wild, and throughout the history of China, its use was restricted mostly to the emperor, his court, and the upper classes.

Reishi has been used in Chinese medicine for just over 2000 years.

Wild lingzhi is rare, and in the years before it was cultivated, only the nobility could afford it.

The sacred fungus was said to grow in the abodes of the immortals, on the three aisles of bliss off Chinas coast.

Its reputation as a cure-all, however, may have been enhanced more by its scarcity, and use by the rich and powerful members of Chinese society rather than by its genuine effects.

Nevertheless, theGanodermaspecies continue to be a popular traditional medicine in Asia and their use is growing throughout the world (Winston, 2019).

Reishi contains immunostimulating polysaccharides known as -glucans, bitter triterpenes such as ganoderic acid and ganoderenic acid, and a protein known as ling zhi-8 protein.

Adaptogen, immune stimulant

Reishi is a safe herb with promising adaptogenic and immune-supporting effects, as well as the ability to potentially stabilize blood sugar.

Consider using reishi and helping to naturally support your body.

As always, speak to your doctor before starting any herbal regimen or supplement plan that may interfere with medications you are taking for existing medical conditions.

Gardner, Z., McGuffin, M. (2013). The botanical safety handbook [2nd edition]. American Herbal Products Association

Gao Y. H, Sai X. H, Chen G. L, Ye J. X, Zhou S. F. (2003). A randomized, placebo-controlled, multi-center study of Ganoderma lucidum (W. Curt.: Fr.) Lloyd (Aphyllophoromycetideae) polysaccharides (Ganopoly) in patients with advanced lung cancer. Int J Med Mushrooms. 2003;5:36881.

Lee, J. M., Kwon, H., Jeong, H., Lee, J. W., Lee, S. Y., Baek, S. J., & Surh, Y. J. (2001). Inhibition of lipid peroxidation and oxidative DNA damage by Ganoderma lucidum. Phytotherapy research : PTR, 15(3), 245249. https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.830

Seto, S. W., Lam, T. Y., Tam, H. L., Au, A. L., Chan, S. W., Wu, J. H., Yu, P. H., Leung, G. P., Ngai, S. M., Yeung, J. H., Leung, P. S., Lee, S. M., & Kwan, Y. W. (2009). Novel hypoglycemic effects of Ganoderma lucidum water-extract in obese/diabetic (+db/+db) mice. Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology, 16(5), 426436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2008.10.004

Wachtel-Galor, S., Yuen, J., Buswell, J.A., et al. (2011) Ganoderma lucidum (Lingzhi or Reishi): A Medicinal Mushroom. In: Benzie IFF, Wachtel-Galor S, editors. Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects. 2nd edition. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis. Chapter 9. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92757/

Winston, David. (2019). Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief (2nd ed.). Inner Traditions/Bear & Company.

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Reishi: Benefits, Dosage, Safety, & Preparation - The Botanical Institute

In the third part of this series offering advice on decolonising the teaching of medicine, we discuss the importance of uncovering the full picture, surfacing silenced voices and information that has long been left out of curricula.

Unearthing inventors or inventions, events and issues that may not have been documented accurately or comprehensively is a big task. As educators, we need to be mindful and agile in actively searching for holistic information and hidden, silenced or sidelined voices.

This collaborative resource, which brings in student perspectives, provides examples on how to take the initiative to try to uncover the full picture. There are several questions to help with this process.

When examples of scientists and inventors are provided in the classroom, they are often portrayed for their excellence, inventions or contributions to specific fields. Lecturers are either unaware or leave out the potentially ugly parts of how progress has really been made. Acknowledging colonialism and the long-lasting negative impact it has had on racialised and marginalised communities would require the acknowledgement that much of our knowledge and higher education is also built on a colonial foundation.

In medicine, James Marion Sims is an apt example, because he has been widely celebrated in medicine as the hero of modern surgical gynecology. He is lauded for the development of surgical techniques that his predecessors failed at, and tools such as the speculum, used today for vaginal examinations. Undoubtedly, women are benefitting from the knowledge he produced through his research. Classroom discussions would typically revolve around his expertise, successes, resilience and brilliance.

Keep asking questions: Yet we need to ask, how did he perfect his techniques? Were they ethical? Where are the records of those voices that were part of his surgical experimentation? Sims had practised his techniques on a group of enslaved African American women, performing his surgeries without anaesthetic while using anaesthetic when later operating on white women. Some of the names of these women who were misused for the purpose of medical research were Anarcha, Betsy and Lucy.

Dont hide the ugly parts: While important to acknowledge the advancement in surgical gynaecology, it is equally important to elevate the voices of people who were unjustly treated or oppressed in the name of scientific advancement. These stories might be difficult to tell or read but omitting them and presenting only the success or positive stories continues to perpetuate the violence and oppression marginalised groups have faced in medical history. This is relevant to contemporary medicine and across all disciplines.

Search actively for objective narratives: Educators must look for sources that paint an accurate picture of the ethically dubious practices of researchers in the past, rather than simply glorifying their achievements. A good example comes from an article in the New York Times about Saul Krugman, focusing on his immense contributions to paediatric immunology, which resulted in the development of vaccines for hepatitis and measles, helping millions. However, it does not properly hold Krugman accountable for his role in the controversial Willowbrook study in which disabled children, mostly lacking a social safety net to protect them, were given faecal matter to purposely infect them with hepatitis and study its effects. Educators must acknowledge the failures of the past, include voices outside the Eurocentric lens and make judicious selection of sources.

There is a false assumption that knowledge is produced and disseminated in the Global North. This makes it a responsibility of educators to provide examples of hidden figures whose contributions to the advancement of their field have been systematically unrecognised. But teachers should go further, not only giving proper credit to hitherto unrecognised figures, but making students aware of the epistemicide of knowledge from marginalised groups and the Global South throughout history.

This allows students to critically analyse information they may otherwise accept passively as the objective truth, when in reality it is often clouded by stories told from a colonial lens, particularly in medicine.

Search actively for unrecognised voices: A simple Google search highlights multiple sources pointing to Jonas Salk as the principal inventor of the polio vaccine. An article in History celebrates his contribution to the discovery of the vaccine and his life. However, delving deeper you will find the significant role of multiple African American researchers, including Russel W. Brown, the director of Tuskegees Carver Research Institute, and his assistant James Henderson. Aided by cell culture supervisor Norma Gaillard, and Maria Telkes, who developed a packaging solution to keep cells cool during transport, they created the first HeLa cell factory. Despite their groundbreaking intellectual and practical contribution to the development of the vaccine, the names of these scientists are rarely mentioned or known. It is not unlikely that it is because of the researchers race, and gender. These scientists must be celebrated in the classroom, not just for the sake of diversity but for the authentic contributions they have made, which have been hidden and unrecognised.

Search actively for voices who are not credited: it is of note that HeLa cells themselves derive from the body of a black woman, Henrietta Lacks. Despite her immortal cell lines continuing to allow innovative research, Lacks contribution, through the cancer that ultimately killed her, is often hidden in both research and derived lectures. She gave no consent, and her family is yet to receive any compensation, despite many discoveries coming from and scientists profiting from the research she has facilitated.

With these examples in mind, it is clear that lecturers need a deeper understanding of the history of colonisation in education and research, which will encourage them to uncover the truth: that contributions exist beyond the white, male, cishet perspective. Lecturers understanding of the ethical and educational failures of the past will create more open-minded, critically astute students. This will play a pivotal role in decolonising education and driving research forward.

Musarrat Maisha Reza is senior lecturer in biomedical sciences and Emily Calvo-Hobbs is a second-year medical sciences student, both at the University of Exeter.

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Decolonising medical curricula, part three | THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect - Times Higher Education

From cities in the sky to robot butlers, futuristic visions fill the history ofPopSci. In theAre we there yet?column we check in on progress towards our most ambitious promises. Read the series and explore all our 150th anniversary coveragehere.

In 1923, Popular Science reported that people were drinking radium-infused water in an attempt to stay young. How far have we come to a real (and non-radioactive) cure for aging?

From the time Marie Curie and her husband Pierre discovered radium in 1898, it was quickly understood that the new element was no ordinary metal. When the Curies finally isolated pure radium from pitchblende (a mineral ore) in 1902, they determined that the substance was a million times more radioactive than uranium. At the time, uranium was already being used in medicine to X-ray bones and even treat cancer tumors, a procedure first attempted in 1899 by Tage Sjogren, a Swedish doctor. Coupled with radiums extraordinary radioactivity and unnatural blue glow, the mineral was soon touted as a cure for everything including cancer, blindness, and baldness, even though radioactivity had only been used to treat malignant tumors. As Popular Science reported in June 1923, it was even believed that a daily glassful of radium-infused water would restore youth and extend life, making it the latest in a long line of miraculous elixirs.

By May 1925 The New York Times was among the first to report cancer cases linked to radium. Two years later, five terminally ill women, who became known as the Radium Girls, sued the United States Radium Corporation where they had worked, hand-painting various objects with the companys poisonous pigment. As more evidence emerged of radiums carcinogenic effects, its cure-all reputation quickly faded, although it would take another half-century before the last of the luminous-paint processing plants was shut down. Radium is still used today in nuclear medicine to treat cancer patients, and in industrial radiography to X-ray building materials for structural defectsbut its baseless status as a life-extending elixir was short-lived.

And yet, radiums downfall did not end the true quest for immortality: Our yearning for eternal youth continues to inspire a staggering range of scientifically dubious products and services.

Since the early days of civilization, when Sumerians etched one of the first accounts of a mortal longing for eternal life in the Epic of Gilgamesh on cuneiform tablets, humans have sought a miracle cure to defy aging and defer death. Five thousand years ago in ancient Egypt, priests practiced corpse preservation so a persons spirit could live on in its mummified host. Fortunately, anti-aging biotech has advanced from mummification and medieval quests for the fountain of youth, philosophers stone, and holy grail, as well as the perverse practices of sipping metal-based elixirs, bathing in the blood of virgins, and even downing Radium-infused water in the early 20th century. But what hasnt changed is that the pursuit of eternal youth has largely been sponsored by humankinds wealthiest citizens, from Chinese emperors to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

Weve all long recognized that aging is the greatest risk factor for the overwhelming majority of chronic diseases, whether it be Alzheimers disease, cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, or diabetes, says Nathan LeBrasseur, co-director of The Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. But weve really kind of said, well, theres nothing we can do about senescence [cellular aging], so lets move on to more prevalent risk factors that we think we can modify, like blood pressure or high lipids. In the last few decades, however, remarkable breakthroughs in aging research have kindled interest and opened the funding spigots. Fortunately, the latest efforts have been grounded in more established scienceand scientific methodsthan was available in radiums heyday.

In the late 19th century, just as scientists began zeroing in on germs with microscopes, evolutionary biologist August Weismann delivered a lecture on cellular aging, or senescence. The Duration of Life (1881) detailed his theory that cells had replication limits, which explained why the ability to heal diminished with age. It would take 80 years to confirm Weismanns theory. In 1961, biologists Leonard Hayflick and Paul Moorhead observed and documented the finite lifespan of human cells. Another three decades later, in 1993, Cynthia Kenyon, a geneticist and biochemistry professor at the University of California, San Francisco, discovered how a specific genetic mutation in worms could double their lifespans. Kenyons discovery gave new direction and hope to the search for eternal youth, and wealthy tech entrepreneurs were eager to fund the latest quest: figuring out how to halt aging at the cellular level. (Kenyon is now vice president of Calico Research Labs, an Alphabet subsidiary.)

Weve made such remarkable progress in understanding the fundamental biology of aging, says LeBrasseur. Were at a new era in science and medicine, of not just asking the question, what is it about aging that makes us at risk for all these conditions? But also is there something we can do about it? Can we intervene?

In modern aging research labs, like LeBrasseurs, the focus is to tease apart the molecular mechanisms of senescence and develop tools and techniques to identify and measure changes in cells. The ultimate goal is to discover how to halt or reverse the changes at a cellular level.

But the focus on the molecular mechanisms of aging is not new. In his 1940 book, Organisers and Genes, theoretical biologist Conrad Waddington offered a metaphor for a cells life cyclehow it grows from an embryonic state to something specific. In Waddingtons epigenetic landscape, a cell starts out in its unformed state at the top of a mountain with the potential to roll downhill in any direction. After encountering a series of forks, the cell lands in a valley, which represents the tissue it becomes, like a skin cell or a neuron. According to Waddington, epigenetics are the external mechanisms of inheritanceabove and beyond standard genetics, such as chemical or environmental factorsthat lead the cell to roll one way or another when it encounters a fork. Also according to Waddington, who first proposed the theory of epigenetics, once the cell lands in its valley, it will remain there until it diesso, once a skin cell, always a skin cell. Waddington viewed cellular aging as a one-way journey, which turns out to be not so accurate.

We know now that even cells of different types keep changing as they age, says Morgan Levine, who until recently led her own aging lab at the Yale School of Medicine, but is now a founding principal investigator at Altos Labs, a lavishly funded startup. The [Waddington] landscape keeps going. And the new exciting thing is reprogramming, which shows us that you can push the ball back the other way.

Researchers like Levine continue to discover new epigenetic mechanisms that can be used to not only determine a cells age (epigenetic or biological clock) but also challenge Waddingtons premise that a cells life is one way. Cellular reprogramming is an idea first attempted in the 1980s and later advanced by Nobel Prize recipient Shinya Yamanaka, who discovered how to revert mature, specialized cells back to their embryonic, or pluripotent, state, enabling them to start fresh and regrow, for instance, into new tissue like liver cells or teeth.

I like to think of the epigenome as the operating system of a cell, Levine explains. So more or less all the cells in your body have the same DNA or genome. But what makes the skin cell different from a brain cell is the epigenome. It tells a cell which part of the DNA it should use thats specific to it. In sum, all cells start out as embryonic or stem cells, but what determines a cells end state is the epigenome.

Theres been a ton of work done with cells in a dish, Levine adds, including taking skin cells from patients with Alzheimers disease, converting them back to stem cells, and then into neurons. For some cells, you dont always have to go back to the embryonic stem cell, you can just convert directly to a different cell type, Levine says. But she also notes that what works in a dish is vastly different from what works in living specimens. While scientists have experimented with reprogramming cells in vivo in lab animals with limited success, the ramifications are not well understood. The problem is when you push the cells back too far [in their life cycle], they dont know what theyre supposed to be, says Levine. And then they turn into all sorts of nasty things like teratoma tumors. Still, shes hopeful that many of the problems with reprogramming may be sorted out in the next decade. Levine doesnt envision people drinking cellular-reprogramming cocktails to stave off agingat least not in the foreseeable futurebut she does see early-adopter applications for high-risk patients who, lets say, can regrow their organs instead of requiring transplants.

While the quest for immortality is still funded largely by the richest of humans, it has morphed from the pursuit of mythical objects, miraculous elements, and mystical rituals to big business, raising billions to fund exploratory research. Besides Calico and Altos Labs (funded by Russian-born billionaire Yuri Milner and others), theres Life Biosciences, AgeX Therapeutics, Turn Biotechnologies, Unity Biotechnology, BioAge Labs, and many more, all founded in the last decade. While theres considerable hype for these experimental technologies, any actual products and services will have to be approved by regulatory agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, which did not exist when radium was being promoted as a cure-all in the US.

While were working on landing long-term moon shots like editing genomes with CRISPR and reprogramming epigenomes to halt or reverse aging, LeBrasseur sees near-term possibilities in repurposing existing drugs to prop up senescent cells. When a cell gets old and damaged, it has one of three choices: to succumb, in which case it gets flushed from the system; to repair itself because the damage is not so bad; or to stop replicating and hang around as a zombie cell. Not only do [zombie cells] not function properly, explains LeBrasseur, but they secrete a host of very toxic molecules known as senescence associated secretory phenotype, or SASP. Those toxic molecules trigger inflammation, the precursor to many diseases.

It turns out there are drugs, originally targeted at other diseases, that are already in anti-aging trials because theyve shown potential to impact cell biology at a fundamental level, effectively staving off senescence. Although rapamycin was originally designed to suppress the immune system in organ transplant patients, and metformin to assist diabetes patients, both have shown anti-aging promise. When you start looking at data from an epidemiological lens, you recognize that these individuals [like diabetes patients taking metformin] often have less cardiovascular disease, notes LeBrasseur. They also have lower incidence of cancer, and theres some evidence that they may even have lower incidence of Alzheimers disease. Even statins (for cardiovascular disease) and SGL2 inhibitors (another diabetes drug) are being explored for a possible role in anti-aging. Of course, senescence is not all bad. It plays an important role, for example, as a protective mechanism against the development of malignant tumorsso tampering with it could have its downsides. Biology is so smart that weve got to stay humble, right? says LeBrasseur.

Among other things, the Radium Girls taught us to avoid the hype and promise of new and unproven technologies before the pros and cons are well understood. Weve already waited millennia for a miracle elixir, making some horrific choices along the way, including drinking radioactive water as recently as a century ago. The 21st century offers its own share of anti-aging quackery, including unregulated cosmetics, questionable surgical procedures, and unproven dietary supplements. While we may be closer than weve ever been in human history to real solutions for the downsides of aging, there are still significant hurdles to overcome before we can reliably restore youth. It will take years or possibly decades of research, followed by extensive clinical trials, before todays anti-aging research pays dividendsand even then its not likely to come in the form of a cure-all cocktail capable of bestowing immortality. In the meantime, LeBrasseurs advice is simple for those who can afford it: You dont have to wait for a miracle cure. Lifestyle choices like physical activity, nutritional habits, and sleep play a powerful role on our trajectories of aging. You can be very proactive today about how well you age. Unfortunately, not everyone has the means to follow LeBrasseurs medical wisdom. But the wealthiest among usincluding those funding immortalitys questmost definitely do.

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Radium was once cast as an elixir of youth. Are todays ideas any better? - Popular Science