Category Archives: Human Longevity

Human Achievement
Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, recounts the long, flawed history of pessimistic predictions and invites us to examine the facts behind our ine...

By: Dana Whitesides

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Human Achievement - Video

Dr. Gagan Wig, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Dallas Center for Vital Longevity, recently explained to members of its Directors Research Circle how the human brain networks. He talked about how it changes as people age and compared the human brain to social and tech networks and other systems with interacting parts.

Certain parts of the brain can also communicate like the way people in a neighborhood might interact with each other: Theyre friendly and talkative to some, while less social with others, he said.

Wigs lecture was part of the centers Directors Research Circle speaker series, which was founded by Dallas architect Bill Booziotis and the centers advisory council. The Directors Research Circle is made up of donors who commit to an annual gift of $2,500 or a minimum donation of $12,500 over five years.

Before joining the center, Wig earned a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from Dartmouth College, completed a fellowship at Harvard University and joined the Human Connectome Project at Washington University School of Medicine, where he focused on understanding brain networks using neuroimaging.

His talk during an evening reception at Arlington Hall in Dallas Lee Park was attended by Ocie Kazee-McAllister, Rita Hortenstine, Katherine Frieberger, Don Daseke and Larry Warder, retired CFO at the U.S. Department of Education and current chair of the centers advisory council.

We are delighted to have Dr. Wig offer insight into new methods of understanding the brain that are having a huge impact in our field, said Dr. Michael Rugg, co-director of the center. Thanks to Dr. Wig and his colleagues at the center, were achieving new insights into the aging mind.

The next center event is a free public lecture next Wednesday at the Communities Foundation of Texas. Memory expert Dr. John Jonides of the University of Michigan will speak as the the first guest in the Jean and Bill Booziotis Distinguished Lecture Series, which was established in Jean and Bill Booziotis name. Reservations are required because seating is limited. Call Holly Hull Miori at 972-883-3728.

The Center for Vital Longevity was founded in 2010 by co-director Dr. Denise Park and has grown in the last four years to become one of the worlds leading centers on studying the aging mind. It is home to six research laboratories and a staff of more than 50.

For more information, contact Miori at 972-883-3728 or iori@utdallas.edu or visit cvlinfo.org.

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UTD professor explains how the human brain changes with age

A pair of prairie dogs are pictured on display at the Washington National Zoo.Reuters

Bigger is better

"Large animals live longer for two main reasons," zoologist Kevin Healy of Trinity College Dublin told Discovery News. "The first one is that to be large you need more time and resources for growth so it follows you must live longer just to achieve getting large. The second reason is that, once large, an animal is often shielded from many external causes of death such as predators (too big to tackle) or food shortages (as large animals can store large fat reserves)." Healy led the latest research concerning longevity in birds and mammals. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Mature slowly

Animals that take a while to reach sexual maturity tend to have longer overall lives. Bowhead whales mature slowly and can live 221 years. Smaller and faster maturing pygmy whales bite the dust much earlier. Humans mature relatively slowly, reaching sexual maturity at about age 12 or 13.

Go underground to avoid problems

Burrowing animals tend to live longer than non-burrowing ones, the study found. Healy explained, "burrowing is an extremely effective means to escape predators both as it is hard to detect burrowing animals and also to have access to them. Burrowing might also help animals in bad weather, such as in cold temperatures, or (serve) as safe storage areas when food is running short."

Forage in the trees

When looking for dinner, foraging in trees helps to ward off threats. Food such as fruit is also relatively easy to obtain. An individual just needs to find it and eat it. Edible tubers, on the other hand, require more of energy investment to locate them and to dig them out.

Specialize in day living

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10 ways animals live longer

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

15-Apr-2014

Contact: Christopher James christopher.james@nyu.edu 212-998-6876 New York University

Antiretroviral therapy (ART), the primary type of treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), can reduce sexual transmission, prevent illness, and increase longevity and quality of life for patients. However, according to current data, only an estimated 77-percent of U.S patients on ART therapy have suppressed viral loads. This suggests patients' adherence to the current ART treatment regiments is in need of improvement to reduce the viral load and also to lower sexual transmission risk behaviors.

Now, new research from faculty affiliated with New York University's Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR) at the NYU College of Nursing (NYUCN), published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, shows that computerized counseling is a promising intervention for increased ART adherence and safer sex, especially for individuals with problems in these areas. This is the first intervention to report improved ART adherence, viral suppression, and reduced secondary sexual transmission risk behavior.

"The computer-delivered intervention model, Computer Assessment & Rx Education (CARE+), is a .Net-based custom software application with intervention content based on theoretical frameworks, which acts as additional support for traditional ART treatment," said Ann Kurth, PhD, CNM, FAAN, Professor; Executive Director, NYUCN Global; and Associate Dean for Research, NYU Global Institute of Public Health. "The tool incorporates evidence-based elements shown to improve ART adherence or reduce sexual risk, as well as a personalized printout summarizing feedback, health plan and referral phone numbers."

The objective of the study, "Computerized Counseling Reduces HIV-1 Viral Load and Sexual Transmission Risk: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial," was to evaluate the potential effectiveness of a computerized intervention made specifically to support patients towards positive behavioral change. The study included 240 participants who were randomly divided into two groups: one receiving CARE+ and the other group receiving only a computerized questionnaire.

By focusing on the confidence, motivations and knowledge of the participants, the study reflects a better understanding of how behaviors affect ART adherence and HIV transmission risk. The results were positive and point to a new platform for further studies in HIV self-care and prevention.

"Nearly all CARE+ intervention participants found the tool easy to use, felt the session helped as much or more than face-to-face counseling with a staff person and three out of four even preferred the computer over a human counselor in the future."

After the nine-month period, CARE+ intervention participants overall had an average decrease in HIV viral load, had better ART adherence, and decreased the odds of transmission risks. A majority of participants also stated that their confidence in their health behavior plan success increased by 20-percent by the end of the trial.

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Computerized counseling reduces HIV-1 viral load, sexual transmission risk

Lindsay France/University Photography

Adam Boyko, assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine, plays with a dog.

From ancient alchemical quests to modern biological research, efforts to understand and combat human aging have borne few fruits. Now Cornell scientists aim to bridge the gap between lab research and agings complexities in real life using the power of dogs.

With funding from the National Institutes of Healths National Institute of Aging, they are joining interdisciplinary collaborators from across the country to form the Canine Longevity Consortium the first research network to study canine aging. It will lay the groundwork for a nationwide Canine Longitudinal Aging Study (CLAS), using dogs as a powerful new model system that researchers can study to find how genetic and environmental factors influence aging and what interventions might mitigate age-related diseases.

Dogs offer tremendous potential as a model system for human aging, said Adam Boyko, assistant professor of biomedical sciences and an evolutionary geneticist specializing in canine genomics at Cornells College of Veterinary Medicine. They share many genetic characteristics with humans that let us combine traditional demographic and epidemiological approaches with new techniques like comparative genomics. Unlike any other model system for aging, dogs share our environment and, increasingly, our health care options. Once developed, a canine model holds enormous promise, and we expect it to have a significant impact on aging research.

Until now, researchers have studied aging mostly in short-lived, inbred, lab-based animal models like yeast, worms, flies and mice. Yet a large gap divides these models from humans and other genetically variable populations living in complex environments. For a model system to bridge that gap, its constituents would need to have more genetic variability than lab clones, live in environments similar to humans and age in patterns long enough to closely study individuals entire lifetimes.

Boyko and his colleagues aim to craft the CLAS to see how an individual dogs aging trajectory is shaped by genes and the environment, gain detailed understanding of when and why dogs die, and find treatments to combat age-related illness. The consortium will also develop training opportunities in aging research for junior scientists, veterinarians and the general public.

The researchers will start with pilot projects to choose the best breeds for the study and to determine how best to collect, analyze and share the large-scale data it will produce. The team will conduct an epidemiological analysis of genetic and environmental factors influencing canine lifespan, high-resolution mapping of canine longevity, and a yearlong epidemiological analysis of age and cause of death in all dogs seen within a select group of three private veterinary clinics.

Though past longitudinal studies in humans have lent insight to aging research, Boyko says a longitudinal study in dogs has the potential to test a range of critical ideas at a rapid pace not possible with humans.

Such a study would change the way we understand aging, said Boyko. It would be the first longitudinal study of aging in a controlled genetically variable model system. Unlike in human longitudinal studies, within the context of the CLAS, it would be relatively easy to try treatments that may help extend healthy lifespans in dogs and humans. Ultimately, the knowledge gained through this project has the potential to greatly increase our understanding of aging and our ability to treat age-related disease.

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Aging research goes to the dogs

The Future of Longevity: The Death of Til Death Do Us Part?
The Future of Longevity: The Death of Til Death Do Us Part? Human longevity is drastically increasing. In the coming years, it seems possible that we will li...

By: Maddie Smith

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The Future of Longevity: The Death of Til Death Do Us Part? - Video

The Future of Longevity: Welcome
The Future of Longevity: Welcome Human longevity is drastically increasing. In the coming years, it seems possible that we will live out our extra years or e...

By: Maddie Smith

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The Future of Longevity: Welcome - Video

The Future of Longevity: Can We Ever Retire? Would We Even Want To?
The Future of Longevity: Can We Ever Retire? Would We Even Want To? Human longevity is drastically increasing. In the coming years, it seems possible that we...

By: Maddie Smith

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The Future of Longevity: Can We Ever Retire? Would We Even Want To? - Video

Secrets of Longevity / Mental Health Factors
This video is the "Mind" section of the longevity series, which contains some of the mental health factors inherent to those who live long, happy and healthy...

By: Kendelyn Lane

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Secrets of Longevity / Mental Health Factors - Video

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) April 08, 2014

The nations largest law firms spend billions of dollars each year to recruit, train, and ultimately lose lawyers from their ranks. The Right Profile and JD Match are teaming up to help reduce both the human and monetary costs involved in the legal industrys high turnover rate. The firms have launched a nationwide initiative to offer the online assessment tool free to the legal industry and others for a limited time. The goal is to build a broader database reflecting the full range of career choices made by law school graduates and the personalities that accompany those decisions. The study is available at http://www.attorneyassessment.com.

The goal of the study is to build a broader database reflecting the full range of career choices made by law school graduates and the personalities that accompany those decisions. The Right Profile, is a pioneer in assessing candidate-organizational fit through scientifically validated psychometric instruments, and is best known for its work with professional sports teams. JD Match is the first online platform that connects law students and law firms to deliver the legal industrys first trait assessment tool purpose-built for lawyers, the Sheffield Legal Assessment.

Most assessments developed for the general population arent able to finely discriminate among lawyers, said Bruce MacEwen, President of JD Match. Further, he said We believe the legal industry can benefit from a meaningful, empirically driven toolset that lets firms and individuals understand their particular strengths and weaknesses as lawyers. We believe were creating something not available anywhere else.

Although technology in the legal industry has made huge progress in the last ten years to increase the efficiency of legal research, litigation and document assembly, the human side how law students determine their practice areas, how firms recruit, develop and retain attorneys, and even how college students answer the simple question of should I go to law school?, has changed little in the past 40 years. This lack of focus on the human side results in a huge cost to attorneys, law firms and their clients 46% of new associates are gone within their first three years at a firm, lateral partners see similar turnover rates, but at much higher costs to the law firm, and clients suffer disruptions in service.

The first step in solving any of these issues is better understanding attorneys, said Mark Levin, General Counsel of The Right Profile. He added, as we grow our service, we will better understand the specific trait patterns of an intellectual property attorney versus a litigator or other practice areas, and will be able to help law students know what practice areas might be interesting for them. Moving that later in the career spectrum, we can also help law firms better deploy their talent in areas that actually fit well for the lawyer, and also help firms identify attorneys that might be more predisposed to business development.

Upon completion of the 20 minute assessment, at http://www.attorneyassessment.com, each participant will immediately receive a detailed report that profiles the individuals distinctive characteristics in the traits that are most important to practicing law, and how he or she compares to the collective norm of attorneys across the country in each measured trait. The individual can use these results to understand his or her own strengths and how to leverage them. All data will be aggregated anonymously in the study, with no identifying individual characteristics.

Any law firm, law school or bar association interested in taking part in the study can contact either of the companies or their representatives listed below.

JD Match, the first truly 21st-Century legal recruiting platform, headquartered in New York, has been developed by Bruce MacEwen and Janet Stanton, the same individuals behind industry-leading publishing and management consulting firm Adam Smith, Esq.

The Right Profile (TRP) is the leader in predictive talent selection integrating the latest technologies with predictive methodologies in behavioral science that transforms the way organizations select and develop talent. We harness people-centric science and predictive analytics to help organizations make smarter personnel decisions. TRP is active in multiple markets including professional sports, corporate, legal and military. TRP is headquartered in Chicago and has offices in Orlando and Kansas City, MO.

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Attorney Study Hopes to Find Key to Attorney Longevity and Fit