Category Archives: Human Longevity

The origins of the long-living tuatara have been revealed.

Sequencing of the tuatara genome has shown the reptile, which is only found in New Zealand, shows they have been on their own branch of the evolutionary tree for some 250 million years.

That has excited the team of University of Otago scientists, led by geneticist and lead author, Professor Neil Gemmell, who says urther discoveries lie ahead for tuatara, which can live for 100 years.

The longevity of the tuatara has long been of interest to researchers.

Neil says an examination of some of the genes that protect the body from the ravages of age found tuatara have more of these genes than any other vertebrate species thus far examined.

Could this be one of the keys to their long lifespan?

Tuatara also dont appear to get many diseases, so looking into what genetic factors might protect them is another point of focus for our study, as too we have also explored genetic aspects that underpin the vision, smell and temperature regulation of tuatara.

With the genome now sequenced, the international science community now had a blueprint to examine the many unique features of tuatara biology, which would aid understanding of the evolution of the amniotes, a group that includes birds, reptiles and mammals, Neil says.

It is not far-fetched to suggest that through our new understanding of the tuatara genome, there may be novel insights that emerge that will benefit our understanding of our own biology and health.

The team's finding have been published in the prestigious international scientific journal Nature.

Neil says the sequencing of the tuatara genome was 67 per cent bigger than the human genome, and revealed a genomic architecture unlike anything previously reported.

See original here:
Secrets to tuatara's long life revealed - The Bay's News First - SunLive

There are many articles lately talking about career opportunities one can have without a four-year college degree. Many fields in STEM rely not just on graduates of doctoral, masters and baccalaureate programs but teams of workers trained in technical schools with two-year degrees.

While this can all be true, the numbers offered can often be misleading. Telling an 18-year-old how much she might earn in one year or one hour based on what degree a worker holds gives a very incomplete picture of lifetime income. Over a working life of 40 to 50 years, what you might earn five years from now is only one part of story.

New studies and datasets show that a traditional education that leads to a bachelors degree over ones working life can still yield higher lifetime income. Particularly when analytical and scientific skills are paired with communication and creative skills, the returns to education last years and years after graduation.

Consider the following evidence:

Georgetown Universitys Center for Education and the Workforce recently calculated return on investment for over 4,500 colleges and universities across the nation. They conclude that two-year programs have the highest returns in the short term, 10 years after enrollment, though returns from bachelors degrees eventually overtake those of most two-year credentials.

Research by David Deming and associates at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University demonstrates that returns to a four-year degree in applied sciences have the highest value in the first few years after graduation, but over half of its earning differential disappears after 15 years. He wrote recently in the New York Times, Help-wanted ads for jobs like software developer and engineer were more likely to ask for skills that didnt exist a decade earlier. And the jobs of 10 years ago often required skills that have since become obsolete. Skill turnover was much higher in STEM fields than in other occupations. These same observations apply to the technical fields in our two-year schools.

Last April, Burning Glass Technology looked at over 22 million online job openings at various levels of employment and found as one went up the corporate ladder the skills that hiring officers valued most were not digital skills but human ones like critical thinking, creativity, communication, analytical skills, collaboration, and relationship building. Of senior management positions, 62% required at least one of these human skills, compared with 39% for business skills like project management or 16% for data analytical skills.

Here at St. Cloud State many students who study in a traditional liberal arts discipline end up in well-paying careers that have longevity. We gathered a file of 7,239 alumni of the School of Public Affairs and the College of Liberal Arts and their predecessors between 2004-18 and collected their job titles from surveys and social media. This separates most of the STEM departments as well as our traditional professional schools. The sample contains 913 (13%) educators at the secondary or college level. Another 171 are analysts in some area of part of the economy. Nine are already presidents or vice presidents (remember that the vast majority of these graduates are still under 40) while another 490 have manager in their job title and 137 report as administrators or their assistants. Remarkably, 194 have the word technical or technology in their titles and 25 are engineers. These numbers are just a sample of the great careers launched in the liberal arts.

Please do not take from this discussion that we are championing solely a liberal arts degree. The best-paying jobs and quickest returns on investment really are in STEM when paired with something in the humanities. And the returns last longer too. But the point made is that beyond providing the skills that those in STEM need to succeed in their fields, more traditional liberal education is a launch pad for many in the STEM fields. We have found this works better when students have STEM and liberal education integrated intentionally by a universitys curriculum.

Not every graduating high school senior should start a four-year university right away. And associate degrees and alternative certificates can get someone quickly into a middle-class income, which for some is necessary to meet immediate needs. But popular views about the benefits of university have always swung from oversold to underbought throughout the 20th Century, and we believe the 21st Century is no different. Looking for a happy medium by talking to employers, counselors, financial advisors and parents is the best advice we can give.

King Banaian is an economist and dean of the School of Public Affairs at St. Cloud State University. Michelle Schmitz is executive director of the Career Center at St. Cloud State.

Read more from the original source:
Banaian, Schmitz: Are 4-year degrees oversold? Not at all, even in the liberal arts - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

While humans are all too familiar with the ravages of getting older, many trees seem to handle ageing a lot better.

Certain trees can live for thousands of years and appear to be immortal.

But not everyone is convinced these old timers can escape death due to old age.

Regardless, could humans with their relatively puny lifespans have something to learn from these ancient trees? Some scientists think so.

Establishing how old the oldest living tree is depends a bit on which plants are in the running for the title.

You could argue that Australia's Wollemi pine, which has been cloning itself for more than 60 million years, deserves the title. But that's kind of cheating because this involves multiple stems growing from the one rootstock.

This is why the oldest tree in the world is generally regarded as a single-stemmed bristlecone pine called Pinus longaeva.

This species can live to around 5,000 years and does well where most other plants cannot even grow in rocky, dry, high-altitude areas in the United States.

What's amazing is that scientists have not so far been able to show that getting older directly affects the health of such millennial trees, plant biologist Sergi Munne-Bosch from the University of Barcelona says.

It's because of this, some have suggested these trees are essentially immortal.

But in a recent article, Professor Munne-Bosch argues that it's likely even ancient trees could die from old age assuming something else doesn't kill them first.

He emphasises that there's a difference between ageing, which is about how long an organism has lived, and age-related deterioration, which is referred to as senescence.

"Just because we can't track senescence in long-lived trees doesn't mean they are immortal."

Professor Munne-Bosch points to recent research on centuries-old Ginkgo biloba trees that found no evidence of senescence.

The study was the first to look for evidence of age-related changes in cells of the cambium, a layer just beneath the bark that contains cells that can produce new tissue throughout the plant's life.

It confirmed the long-lived trees, which in this case were up to 667 years old, were just as healthy as younger ones says Professor Munne-Bosch.

"They grow very well, they produce seeds, they produce flowers, so they are healthy."

He points out that even though a 667-year-old tree seems old when compared to a human, it is relatively young for a ginkgo.

"This species can live for more than two millennia."

Professor Munne-Bosch argues that the ginkgo researchers' data shows that older trees had thinner vascular tissue and that this hints at possible age-related deterioration that would be more obvious in even older trees.

Yet despite this deterioration, he says these trees are more likely to die from insects, disease, fire, drought or loggers, than old age.

"For a species that can live for millennia, aging is not really a problem in evolutionary terms because they are much more likely to die of something else."

The problem is there are so few of these long-lived trees that it's hard to get the data to know for certain whether they can die of old age.

"We cannot prove it either way," Professor Munne-Bosch says, adding that age-related deterioration is likely to happen in these trees at such a different pace compared to in humans.

"For a Ginkgo biloba, six centuries is not as physiologically relevant as it is to us."

Brenda Casper, a professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania says it's not clear that the changes found in the older Ginkgo biloba trees were necessarily detrimental to the tree.

But she agrees the low number of millennial trees makes it hard to study their longevity.

"It's difficult to find statistical evidence for senescence."

Even if there were enough trees, she says some of the age-related deterioration may be hard to detect, or we may not know what to look for.

"It's not just internal physiology per se but it's the interaction of the tree with its environment."

For example, she says it would be hard to measure whether age had made a tree more susceptible to disease, or less structurally sound so it's more likely to fall over in a windstorm.

Even if the jury is out on whether millennial trees are immortal, some experts say their longevity could be inspirational for medical research.

Professor Munne-Bosch says such trees can draw on a bag of tricks to help them "postpone death".

First is having a simple body plan with modular-like branches and roots. This means they can compartmentalise any damaged or dead roots or branches and work around them.

"They can lose part of leaves or roots and continue to be healthy..

And he says although 95 per cent of the trunk of a tree might be dead, the living cambium just beneath the bark is "one of the secrets of longevity" in trees.

Millennial trees have used the combination of these features to their best advantage and Professor Munne-Bosch says these tricks are providing a model for scientists researching the negative effects of ageing.

"Imagine if we could regenerate our lungs or circulatory system every year, we would be much healthier than we are."

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Professor of biomedical engineering at the University of New South Wales, Melissa Knothe Tate is one researcher who is inspired by millennial trees.

"They have units and if one unit breaks you can replace it with another unit."

Only a small percentage of an individual long-lived tree may be alive, but she argues it's all about survival of the cells that are able to regenerate the tree.

"Those that survive best, survive longest."

"Millennial trees are the best survivors because they've seen a lot."

While a tree and a human might seem worlds apart, Professor Knothe Tate sees the similarities, pointing to the role of stem cells in maintaining bones in humans.

She says cells add new layers to bone, like tree rings, to increase girth and when bone is injured, stem cells quickly help repair it.

"We're constantly renewing our bones and trees do something similar."

Professor Knothe Tate says she is using stem cells and new biomaterials that emulate tree cambium, to create replacement tissue in the lab, and has several patents for the work.

"I think about plants a lot when I'm up in the mountains and amongst the trees."

Professor Knothe Tate, who draws on her training in philosophy, biology and mechanical engineering for her work, sees other similarities that can inspire research.

For example, she likens the human brain to the network of roots and branches that helps a tree remain resilient if one part is damaged, another part can sometimes take up the slack.

"As parts of the brain are injured or die, it's remarkable what functionality we can retain,

"If we knew which of the brain's networks were essential for certain functions, we may be able to grow them."

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Professor Knothe Tate also set up a science education project for girls that explores the parallels between the biomechanics of trees and bones. It was inspired by her observation of how huge trees sway like a blade of grass in the wind.

She has high hopes for the potential of regenerative medicine research that draws on knowledge from other disciplines like plant biology to extend human life.

"We can then start to think about making ourselves immortal."

Plant biologist Professor Munne-Bosch is also enthusiastic.

"The future of medicine is very similar to what has evolved in millennial trees."

But while regenerating tissues will help humans live much longer, he doubts we will ever be immortal.

"It won't be forever, because we are more likely to die of something else, whether it be an accident or a pandemic."

Get all the latest science stories from across the ABC.

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Are very long-lived trees immortal and what can they teach humans? - ABC News

Newswise A lizard-like creature whose ancestors once roamed the Earth with dinosaurs and today is known to live for longer than 100 years may hold clues to a host of questions about the past and the future.

In a study published Aug. 5 in Nature, an interdisciplinary, international team of researchers, in partnership with Mori tribe Ngtiwai, sequenced, assembled and analyzed the complete genome of the Sphenodon punctatus, or the tuatara, a rare reptile whose ancestors once roamed the earth with dinosaurs. It hasnt changed much in the 150 million to 250 million years since then.

We found that the tuatara genome has accumulated far fewer DNA substitutions over time than other reptiles, and the molecular clock for tuataras ticked at a much slower speed than squamates, although faster than turtles and crocodiles, which are the real molecular slowpokes, said co-author Marc Tollis, an assistant professor in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University. This means in terms of the rate of molecular evolution, tuataras are kind of the Toyota Corollanothing special but very reliable and persistently ticking away over hundreds of millions of years.

Tuatara have been out on their own for a staggering amount of time, with prior estimates ranging from 150250 million years, and with no close relatives the position of tuatara on tree of life has long been contentious. Some argue tuatara are more closely related to birds, crocodiles and turtles, while others say they stem from a common ancestor shared with lizards and snakes. This new research places tuatara firmly in the branch shared with lizards and snakes, but they appear to have split off and been on their own for about 250 million yearsa massive length of time considering primates originated about 65 million years ago, and hominids, from which humans descend, originated approximately six million years ago.

Proving the phylogenetic position of tuatara in a robust way is exciting, but we see the biggest discovery in this research as uncovering the genetic code and beginning to explore aspects of the biology that makes this species so unique, while also developing new information that will help us better conserve this taonga or special treasure, said lead author Neil Gemmell, a professor at the University of Otago.

One area of particular interest is to understand how tuataras, which can live to be more than 100 years old, achieve such longevity. Examining some of the genes implicated in protecting the body from the ravages of age found that tuatara have more of these genes than any other vertebrate species thus far examined, including humans. This could offer clues into how to increase humans resistance to the ailments that kill humans.

But the genome, and the tuatara itself, has so many other unique features all on its own. For one, scientists have found tuatara fossils dating back 150 million years, and they look exactly the same as the animals today. The fossil story dates the tuatara lineage to the Triassic Period, when dinosaurs were just starting to roam the Earth.

The tuatara genome is really a time machine that allows us to understand what the genetic conditions were for animals that were vying for world supremacy hundreds of millions of years ago, he said. A genome sequence from an animal this ancient and divergent could give us a better idea about what the ancestral amniote genome might have looked like.

While modern birds are the descendants of dinosaurs, they are less suitable for this type of research because avian genomes have lost a significant amount of DNA since diverging from their dinosaur ancestors.

But the tuataras, which used to be spread throughout the world, have other unusual features. Particularly relevant to this research is the size of its genome; the genome of this little lizard has 5 billion bases of DNA, making it 67 percent larger than a human genome. Additionally, tuataras have temperature-based sex determination, which means the ratio of males to females in a clutch of eggs depends on the temperatures at which they are incubated. They also have a pronounced third eyea light sensory organ that sticks through the top of their skulls. Mammals skulls have completely covered the third eye, though they still contain the pineal gland underneath, which helps maintain circadian rhythms.

The tuatara also is unique in that it is sacred to the Mori people. This research, for all the scientific knowledge that came from it, was groundbreaking for its collaboration with the Indigenous New Zealanders. The purpose was to ensure the research aligned with and respected the importance of the tuatara in their culture, which has never been done before in genomic research.

Tuatara are a taonga, and its pleasing to see the results of this study have now been published, Ngtiwai Trust Board resource management unit manager Alyx Pivac said. Our hope is that this is yet another piece of information that will help us understand tuatara and aid in the conservation of this special species. We want to extend a big mihi to all of those who have been involved in this important piece of work.

With the genome now sequenced, the international science community has a blueprint through which to examine the many unique features of tuatara biology, which will aid humanunderstanding of the evolution of the amniotes, a group that includes birds, reptiles and mammals.

Here is the original post:
Arizona biologist part of international team to sequence genome of rare reptilian living fossil - Newswise

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Technavio has been monitoring the precision medicine software market and it is poised to grow by USD 882.65 million during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of about 11% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment.

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The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Fabric Genomics Inc., Gene42 Inc., Human Longevity Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Koninklijke Philips NV, NantHealth Inc., Roper Technologies Inc., SOPHiA GENETICS SA, and Syapse Inc. are some of the major market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

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The benefits of precision medicine has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market.

Technavio's custom research reports offer detailed insights on the impact of COVID-19 at an industry level, a regional level, and subsequent supply chain operations. This customized report will also help clients keep up with new product launches in direct & indirect COVID-19 related markets, upcoming vaccines and pipeline analysis, and significant developments in vendor operations and government regulations. https://www.technavio.com/report/report/precision-medicine-software-market-industry-analysis

Precision Medicine Software Market 2020-2024: Segmentation

Precision Medicine Software Market is segmented as below:

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Precision Medicine Software Market 2020-2024: Scope

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. The precision medicine software market report covers the following areas:

This study identifies the digitization of healthcare as one of the prime reasons driving the precision medicine software market growth during the next few years.

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Precision Medicine Software Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights

Table of Contents:

PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT

PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE

PART 04: MARKET SIZING

PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY DELIVERY MODE

PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE

PART 08: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE

PART 09: DECISION FRAMEWORK

PART 10: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES

PART 11: MARKET TRENDS

PART 12: VENDOR LANDSCAPE

PART 13: VENDOR ANALYSIS

PART 14: APPENDIX

PART 15: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO

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Dying of Whiteness (Basic Books)

Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing Americas Heartland, by Jonathan Metzl, Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry and director of the Department of Medicine, Health and Society, has been awarded the 2020 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.

The award was established in 1980 with the proceeds from Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.s best-selling biographyRobert Kennedy and His Timesto recognize a book each year that exemplifies Robert Kennedys values, concerns and legacy.

The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Organization noted in its news release:The book offers an enlightening exploration of white identity politics and how the policies pitched to working-class white voters, promising to make white America great again, are actually making their lives sicker, harder and shorter as a result.

This sense of white identity politics was in some instances a more powerful driver than longevity or well-being for dictating how people behaved, Metzl said. In very pro-gun communities, what happened was that the people who were pushing for guns the most were also putting themselves at the highest risk because most gun deaths are gun suicides. Certain people we spoke to had tremendous medical need but at the same time they were going to reject the possibility of getting this health insurance, not because they didnt need it medically or financiallythey definitely didbut because of this bigger ideology about politics.

The award was announced during a nationally televised ceremony.

More:
Metzls Dying of Whiteness honored with RFK Book Award - Vanderbilt University News

You will get latest updated report as per the COVID-19 Impact on this industry. Our updated reports will now feature detailed analysis that will help you make critical decisions.

The Global Precision Medicine Software Market is expected to grow by 2025 at a CAGR of 12.53%.

Rising prevalence of cancer across the world will significantly enhancement the market development within the forthcoming years. Increasing usage of biomarkers for personalized medicine cancer therapy and advancements within the next generation sequencing further propels the precision medicine market evolution positively. Growing prevalence of chronic and rare diseases propel the necessity to grow technologically advanced tools for rapid integration and analysis of patient data. The bioinformatics system assists in translation of knowledge to form effective clinical solutions. Henceforth, the increasing amount of knowledge within the healthcare system will boost the demand for bioinformatics, enhancing the precision medicine market demand. The event of bioinformatics solutions and software will propel immunotherapy development and enhance microbiome analysis thereby, advancing the sector of precision medicine. Additionally, the event of high throughput technologies like next generation sequencing and microarray will pave the way for bioinformatics market growth which will further drive the market demand within the upcoming years.

Browse Full Report here: https://www.marketresearchengine.com/precision-medicine-software-market

The global Precision Medicine Software market is segregated on the basis of Application as Rare Diseases, Pharmacogenomics, Oncology, and Other Applications. Based on End User the global Precision Medicine Software market is segmented in Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies, Research Centers and Government Institutes, Healthcare Providers, and Other End Users. Based on Delivery Mode the global Precision Medicine Software market is segmented in Cloud-Based Delivery Mode and On-Premise Delivery Mode.

The global Precision Medicine Software market report provides geographic analysis covering regions, such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World. The Precision Medicine Software market for each region is further segmented for major countries including the U.S., Canada, Germany, the U.K., France, Italy, China, India, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, and others.

Competitive Rivalry

Human Longevity Inc, Translational Software Inc, Sunquest Information Systems Inc, Gene42 Inc, Lifeomic Health LLC , Syapse Inc, 2bprecise LLC, Fabric Genomics Inc, Foundation Medicine Inc, Sophia Genetics Sa, and others are among the major players in the global Precision Medicine Software market. The companies are involved in several growth and expansion strategies to gain a competitive advantage. Industry participants also follow value chain integration with business operations in multiple stages of the value chain.

The Precision Medicine Software Market has been segmented as below:

Precision Medicine Software Market, By Application

Precision Medicine Software Market, By End User

Precision Medicine Software Market, By Delivery Mode

Precision Medicine Software Market, By Region

Precision Medicine Software Market, By Company

The report covers:

Report Scope:

The global Precision Medicine Software market report scope includes detailed study covering underlying factors influencing the industry trends.

The report covers analysis on regional and country level market dynamics. The scope also covers competitive overview providing company market shares along with company profiles for major revenue contributing companies.

The report scope includes detailed competitive outlook covering market shares and profiles key participants in the global Precision Medicine Software market share. Major industry players with significant revenue share include Human Longevity Inc, Translational Software Inc, Sunquest Information Systems Inc, Gene42 Inc, Lifeomic Health LLC , Syapse Inc, 2bprecise LLC, Fabric Genomics Inc, Foundation Medicine Inc, Sophia Genetics Sa, and others.

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Customized report as per the requirement can be offered with appropriate recommendations

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Table of Contents:

1.1 Key Insights

1.2 Report Overview

1.3 Markets Covered

1.4 Stakeholders

2.1 Research Scope

2.2 Market Research Process

2.3 Research Data Analysis

2.4.1 Secondary Research

2.4.2 Primary Research

2.4.3 Models for Estimation

2.5 Market Size Estimation

2.5.1 Bottom-Up Approach Segmental Market Analysis

2.5.2 Top-Down Approach Parent Market Analysis

4.1 Introduction

4.2.1 Drivers

4.2.2 Restraints

4.2.3 Opportunities

4.2.4 Challenges

4.2 Porters Five Force Analysis

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Rare Diseases

5.2.1 Market Overview

5.2.2 Market Size and Forecast

5.3 Pharmacogenomics

5.3.1 Market Overview

5.3.2 Market Size and Forecast

5.4 Oncology

5.4.1 Market Overview

5.4.2 Market Size and Forecast

5.5 Other Applications

5.5.1 Market Overview

5.5.2 Market Size and Forecast

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies

6.2.1 Market Overview

6.2.2 Market Size and Forecast

6.3 Research Centers and Government Institutes

6.3.1 Market Overview

6.3.2 Market Size and Forecast

6.4 Healthcare Providers

6.4.1 Market Overview

6.4.2 Market Size and Forecast

6.5 Other End Users

6.5.1 Market Overview

6.5.2 Market Size and Forecast

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Cloud-Based Delivery Mode

7.2.1 Market Overview

7.2.2 Market Size and Forecast

7.3 On-Premise Delivery Mode

7.3.1 Market Overview

7.3.2 Market Size and Forecast

8.1 Introduction

8.2 North America

8.2.1 North America Precision Medicine Software, By Application

8.2.2 North America Precision Medicine Software, By End User

8.2.3 North America Precision Medicine Software, By Delivery Mode

8.3 Europe

8.3.1 Europe Precision Medicine Software, By Application

8.3.2 Europe Precision Medicine Software, By End User

8.3.3 Europe Precision Medicine Software, By Delivery Mode

8.4 Asia-Pacific

8.4.1 Asia-Pacific Precision Medicine Software, By Application

8.4.2 Asia-Pacific Precision Medicine Software, By End User

8.4.3 Asia-Pacific Precision Medicine Software, By Delivery Mode

8.5 Rest of the World

8.5.1 Rest of the World Precision Medicine Software, By Application

8.5.2 Rest of the World Precision Medicine Software, By End User

8.5.3 Rest of the World Precision Medicine Software, By Delivery Mode

9.1 Key Insights

9.2 Company Market Share Analysis

9.3 Strategic Outlook

9.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

9.3.2 New Product Development

9.3.3 Portfolio/Production Capacity Expansions

9.3.4 Joint Ventures, Collaborations, Partnerships & Agreements

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Precision Medicine Software Market 2020: Challenges, Growth, Types, Applications, Revenue, Insights, Growth Analysis, Competitive Landscape, Forecast-...

The study of the intestinal microbiota is important not only for specialists in the field of medicine

The condition of the human body is closely associated with microorganisms this thesis in recent years has become particularly relevant. There is growing interest in studying the role of microbiota in the development of various diseases and also investigated the use of probiotics to prevent diseases, restore health and increase the longevity of active life.

Let us consider, what is it microbiota, what role it plays in maintaining health and longevity, as well as to know the opinion of Professor, doctor of medical Sciences Oleg Shadrina G., President of the Association, Executive Board member, head of the Department of nutrition and somatic diseases of children of early age Institute of Pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology NAMS of Ukraine.

Professor, doctor of medical Sciences Oleg Shadrin

Our body is home to a huge variety of bacteria, viruses, fungi, yeast and protozoa. They form a community of microbiota. Its particular microbiota inhabited every system of our bodies gut, skin, urinary system, vagina, respiratory tract, ENT organs.

The most extensive it is estimated about 100 trillion microorganisms the microbiota. It performs many important functions, to name just a few. Intestinal microflora AIDS in digestion, involved in the synthesis of essential fatty acids, vitamins, hormones, antioxidants. It protects the intestinal cells, performs detoxification and anti-carcinogenic functions, supports the activity of the immune system and inhibits allergic reactions. The balance of the gut microbiota a key to health and longevity.

The balance between the microorganisms of the intestines is of fundamental importance to human health. Various diseases, infections, medications, stress, changes in environment and diet can upset the balance of the microbiota, says Oleg Shadrin. Dysbiosis, i.e. an imbalance of microbiota can lead to the development of not only diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, but also allergic reactions, diseases of metabolism, skin, musculoskeletal, nervous and respiratory systems.

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It should be noted that the partnership of the microorganisms in the gut begins at birth. The childs body colonized by the flora of the mother as it passes through the birth canal, and breastfeeding promotes growth of beneficial microflora. Therefore, the microbiota of infants born by caesarean section or undergoing artificial feeding, greatly different in composition and less diverse than the children, going naturally.

Today, there is evidence of a programming effect of the microbiota in the childs long-term health, including in the adult age, says the Professor.

To maintain balance in the gut microbiota, it is important to conduct a correct lifestyle, and eating variety of foods.

Gut microbiota of a healthy person depends largely on the nature of food and food habits. Improve intestinal ecology plant foods fruits and vegetables and fermented dairy products, says the doctor of medical Sciences.

If the balance of microbiota is disturbed, to restore it possibly affecting the number and diversity of microorganisms. Positively affect the microbiota probiotics. Oleg G. Shadrin explained that it is probiotics:

Currently, in medical literature, most authors refer to the recommendations of the world organization of gastroenterologists, according to which probiotics are live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts have a positive effect on the health of the owner. This effect can be both local and systemic. Modern technologies allow the use of probiotics for the correction of microbiota; prevention and treatment of diarrhea especially occurs with antibiotic treatment, prevention and treatment of allergic diseases, intestinal diseases, and so forth.

Interest in the role of the microbiota in maintaining health and longevity is growing every year as experts in the field of medicine, and those who care about the quality of their lives. All currently available knowledge on the subject, including his extensive experience, gathered at the first major international platform Institute of microbiota Biocodex. In late may, he joined forces in the study of the microbiota with the world gastroenterology organisation (WGO). The platform helps lay the Foundation for extensive research and accurate network data on the microbiota, which will allow patients and medical workers to learn about the most important achievements in this field, and thus, will provide new opportunities to strengthen our health.

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Microbiota: what you need to know about it to be healthy - The Times Hub

Differences in the rate that germline mutations accumulate in healthy young adults could help predict relative lifespan in both sexes and the remaining years of fertility in women, according to the results of research by scientists at the University of Utah (U of U) Health. Their study, believed to be the first of its kind, found that young adults who acquired fewer mutations over time lived about five years longer than those who acquired mutations more rapidly. The researchers suggest that the discovery could eventually lead to the development of interventions that may help to slow the aging process.

If the results from this small study are validated by other independent research, it would have tremendous implications, commented Lynn B. Jorde, PhD, chair of the department of human genetics at U of U Health and a co-author of the study, which is published inScientific Reports. It would mean that we could possibly find ways to fix ourselves and live longer and better lives. Jorde and colleagues reported their findings in a paper titled, Germline mutation rates in young adults predict longevity and reproductive lifespan.

Scientists have long known that DNA damage occurs continually in the body. There are various mechanisms that typically repair this damage and prevent potentially harmful mutations, the authors explained. However, as we get older, these mechanisms become less efficient, and so more mutations accumulate. And, as the investigators pointed out, several classes of DNA damage are known to accumulate through adulthood in both sexes, though at higher rates in men. Older parents, for instance, tend to pass on more genetic mutations through their germline (egg and sperm) to their children, than do younger parents.

The somatic theory of aging proposes that somatic mutations accumulating through life result in cell apoptosis, senescence, and tumorigenesis, or other cell pathologies, which lead to tissue dysfunction, chronic diseases, and death. There do remain a number of questions, however, the authors noted. One of these is how early in life might levels of mutation accumulation predict remaining longevity. Another question is whether levels of mutation accumulation early in life can predict reproductive lifespan. And also, do somatic and germline mutation accumulation rates rise after puberty? This would be predicted by the evolutionary biology principle that the force of natural selection to maintain robust health should begin to decline once the reproductive phase of life is attained, the investigators commented.

Headed by Richard Cawthon, MD, PhD, a U of U associate professor of human genetics, the researchers theorized that accumulated mutations could be a biomarker for rates of aging and potentially predict lifespan in younger individuals as well as fertility in women. To investigate this in more detail the team sequenced DNA from 61 men and 61 women who were grandparents in 41 three-generational families. The families were part of the Centre dEtude du Polymorphisme Humain (CEPH) consortium, which was central to many key investigations that have contributed toward a modern understanding of human genetics.

Germline mutations are passed onto offspring, so the researchers analyzed blood DNA sequences in trios consisting of pairs of grandparents from the first generation and one of their children from the second generation. Mutations found in the childs blood DNA that were not present in either parents blood DNA were inferred to have originated in the parents germlines. The researchers were then able to determine which parent each germline mutation came from, and, therefore, the number of such mutations each parent had accumulated in egg or sperm by the time of conception of the child.

With this knowledge, the researchers were able to compare each first-generation parent to others of the same sex, and estimate their rate of aging. So, compared to a 32-year-old man with 75 mutations, we would expect a 40-year-old with the same number of mutations to be aging more slowly, Cawthon explained. Wed expect him to die at an older age than the age at which the 32-year-old dies.

When the scientists analyzed their data they found that mutations began to occur at an accelerating rate during or soon after puberty, suggesting that aging begins in our teens. The study results also found that some young adults acquired mutations at up to three times the rate of others. Our data suggest that germline mutation accumulation rates in young adults may be a measure of the rate of aging, they wrote. these data suggest that the rate of aging may vary 3-fold between young adults.

After adjusting for age, the researchers determined that individuals with the slowest rates of mutation accumulation were likely to live about five years longer than those who accumulated mutations more rapidly. This is a difference comparable to the effects of smoking or lack of physical activity, according to Cawthon. Women with the highest mutation rates also had significantly fewer live births than other women and were more likely to be younger when they gave birth to their last child. This suggested that high rates of mutation affected their fertility.

Here we have shown that lower sex- and parental-age-adjusted germline mutation rates in young adults are associated with lower all-cause mortality for both sexes, and more liveborn children and older age at last birth for the women, the authors concluded. Together, these observations support the hypothesis that aging begins at or soon after puberty, due to a decline in the force of natural selection to maintain robust health once the reproductive phase of life is attained.

Added Cawthon, The ability to determine when aging starts, how long women can stay fertile, and how long people can live is an exciting possibility. If we can get to a point where we better understand what sort of developmental biology affecting mutation rates is happening during puberty, then we should be able to develop medical interventions to restore DNA repair and other homeostatic mechanisms back to what they were before puberty. If we could do that, its possible people could live and stay healthy much longer.

The authors further suggested how the new knowledge might be used to benefit health. Interventions in adults directed toward returning mutation accumulation rates to the negligible or very low levels that may be present prepubertally would be expected to have broad benefits, greatly lowering the risks for multiple aging-related diseases and dramatically extending the human healthspan, they wrote. Perhaps a relatively small number of genes that are master regulators of gene networks maintaining genome stability and homeostasis generally are downregulated at puberty, but can be reprogrammed or otherwise coaxed back to their prepubertal levels of activity by a combination of lifestyle, dietary, and/or pharmacological interventions.

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Germline Mutation Rate in Healthy Young Adults Predictive of Fertility, Lifespan - Clinical OMICs News

June 24, 2020Timothy Prickett Morgan

You didnt actually think that we would have forgotten that Sunday, June 21st, was the 32nd birthday of the Application System/400, did you? Of course we didnt forget.

It was also Fathers Day and the first day of summer, and to be perfectly frank (Soltis), I got a new smoker from my wife and I spent the afternoon learning about the joys of hickory smoked barbeque ribs. It is a gift that just keeps giving, because I made about 40 pounds of meat in various kinds and flavors because I needed to try everything all at once. Like a certain machine we know that can do just about anything.

As a man of a certain age, whose career nearly perfectly overlaps with the AS/400 and its progeny, I feel a certain kinship to the platform the machine, or rather the system, that taught me the true meaning of the word platform and to the many, many thousands of you who are faithful readers of The Four Hundred and who feel the same way I do, although many of you date back to the System/36 and even the System/38. More than a handful of you can go back to the System/3. I bow to your longevity and am inspired by it.

Aging is a funny thing, and the lesson of the System/38 to the AS/400, with the System/36 carved into its brain in emulation mode, to the AS/400e (remember that one?) to the iSeries to the System i to the Power Systems running IBM i, is that you can change the name but that doesnt affect the underlying flexibility of the system we all love one bit. This machine is truly the last of its kind still standing, and it has done what customers have needed it to do for more than three decades. This is an accomplishment in a world where companies change platforms every decade or so. As I have said before on these occasions, we have to accept the changes, absorb them as we can and learn from them, but it is the things that persist that matter as much. It is very hard to strike a balance between being always modern and yet embodying and supporting history. It takes not just IBM, but the entire ecosystem of software tool makers, programmers, and continued investments by IBM i shops to make this all happen. And I can tell you that we here at IT Jungle are deeply and emotionally grateful that we are part of this absolutely unique ecosystem.

We have played in many different parts of the IT sector, and continue to do so because we have to as a way to earn our keeps, but we have never heard of any community like the AS/400 through IBM i community. And despite the difficulties over the decades too numerous to rattle off in what amounts to a long birthday card to the platform we are still proud of we remain firmly committed to doing our job in this ecosystem. We dont owe that to IBM, by the way. We owe that to you, the IBM i shops who have taught us so much and who we have served for so long.

It is our pleasure to serve. And we serve at your pleasure. Without you, none of this works.

It is funny to contemplate how old the AS/400 is, as if it was a dog with a limited life span compared to humans. Data processing and storage architectures are like that they have dog years, and like I said, tend to last about a decade out there in the world. So like a dog, every year translates into something like six or seven or eight human years. So, in that regard, the AS/400 is something like 224 years old, and the IBM mainframe is nearly 400 years old. This is some Old Testament-class aging, right there.

But a machine is only as old as the applications it feels, to paraphrase a funny adage no longer politically correct from Groucho Marx, which is itself a twist on an old phrase: Youre only as old as you feel.

Most days, I do not feel my age and to be frank (Soltis, again), I have felt 35 most of my life and I am good with that. At this point, with kids ranging in age between 20 and 2, I have no choice but to be 38 and thats my age and I am sticking with it. In this, the AS/400 and me are kin.

So happy birthday, old friend. Er, I mean, young whippersnapper. Or maybe a little of both. And there is nothing at all wrong with that.

Tags: Tags: Application System/400, AS/400, AS/400e, IBM i, iSeries, Power Systems, System i, System/36, System/38

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You're Only As Old As The Applications You Feel - IT Jungle