GVHD is the same as an organ rejection syndrome but this one is for the transplant of bone marrow. The disease is initiated once the immune cells in the donor bone marrow start to mingle with the recipient’s cells and consider the cells as foreign. The immune cells will then start to attach the recipient’s cells. The first signs of the disease are commonly skin rash, so it is very hard to diagnose. However, if nothing is done to stop the disease, GVHD can destroy internal organs. It does also have a proven record of being deadly for up to 30 to 40 percent of all cases. Moreover, GVHD is the main cause of death for patients who have had a bone marrow transplanted.

Clinics do regularly use strong treatment to avoid the deadly risk of GVHD. The initial treatment is to induce a high dose of steroids, which does eventually suppress the body’s immune response. However, without proper diagnosis this approach is perilous. It put one at the risk of infection and the potential of further deterioration for cancer patients. According to James Ferrara of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor the co-author and a pediatric oncologist, the case of “… overtreating some patients and undertreating others” is often a fatal issue in medical care.

However, Ferrara’s team has been working on establishing an early diagnosis method. They took a weekly plasma extract from patients who had recently had a bone marrow transplanted. They examined the volume of elafin, which is an anti-inflammatory protein that is generated by the human body as a reaction to skin GVHD. This scrutiny was conducted on 20 patients who did not have the disease developed and 10 patients who had. In an online report in the Science Translational Medicine it was published that the level of elafin was on average as much as 3 times higher for those who suffered from skin GVHD.

Subsequently, the researchers had a sample size of 159 patients, which they divided into two groups. The first group had a plasma level of elafin, which was above normal. The next group had a level of elafin, which was below average. The two groups were followed to understand their long-term survival. Only after 12 months, it was seen that patients having had a high elafin level was three times much likelier to die from GVHD than those in the low-elafin group. Ferrara suggests that in the future clinical test must be developed to evaluate “elafin levels of a transplant patient with a rash to decide whether to initiate treatment”. The researchers predict that if it is possible to analyse the level of elafin before GVHD symptoms are seen then it might be possible to know if the patient is at risk even before a rash appears.

Corey Cultler who is a hematological oncologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston says that GVHD is commonly spotted with an intense examination of skin rashes. However, the use of more diagnostic test is positive. Finding the risk of GVHD before a rash is seen “…could be extremely valuable,”

Source: Science Magazine

Anti Aging, Bioscience, Health And Aging, Nanotechnology, Stem cells

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This discovery is a vital contribution to the progress in stem cell research and to its prospective regenerative medicine. The study was led by Dr Guillaume Bourque, GIS Senior Group Leader and has been published in the June 2010 issue of Nature Genetics.

By making use of novel sequencing technologies, the scientists examined the genomic locations of OCT4, NANOG and CTCF, three regulatory proteins that are found in the human as well as mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. Fascinatingly, whilst the scientists discovered a great deal of similarities, they also found several differences in the ways and the kinds of genes that are being controlled in human beings. Especially, it was found out that particular kinds of viruses that inserted themselves within the human genomes millions of years before have radically altered the gene regulatory network in human stem cells.

Doctor Cedric Feschotte, an associate Professor at the University of Texas Arlington, said that this study is an experimental and computational tour de force. It offers irrefutable proof that a number of transposable elements that are too frequently dismissed as simply junk DNA are significant components of a regulatory code that underlies human development.

The comparisons that have been made between the mouse and human model system during the study of gene regulatory networks lend a helping hand in advancing the comprehension of the way stem cells differentiate into a variety of cell types of the body. According to Doctor Bourque, this comprehension is vital in the enhanced development of regenerative medicine for illnesses like leukaemia and Parkinson’s disease. He further advances that in spite of the benefits of making use of mouse ES cells during the study of gene regulatory networks; there is a need for more in-depth research that concentrate more directly on human stem cells. This is due to the innate challenges of adapting the results of the studies done from one species to that of the next. There is a need for more research to be done in both non-human and human primate stem cells for discoveries on stem cells to be utilized in clinical application.

In accordance to Professor Raymond L. White, Rudi Schmid Distinguished Professor of Neurology at the University of California, the paper recount very thrilling new findings that set up a novel and basically distinct mechanisms for regulating gene expression. By making a comparison between the genomes of mouse with that of human beings, the scientists were able to demonstrate that the binding sites for gene regulatory factors are very frequently not in the exact place between the two species. This in itself would be indeed much unexpected; however, the investigators go a step further and show that several of the sites are embedded in a class of DNA sequences that are known as “transposable” elements due to their ability to go to novel places in the genome. There are many such elements that are believed to be the evolutionary remaining of viral genomes; nevertheless, it was very amazing to learn that they were actually carrying binding sites for regulatory elements to novel locations. These alterations in regulation would be anticipated to create key changes in the organisms which carry them. In fact, many are of view that regulatory alterations are at the centre of speciation and may have played a great role in the evolution of humans from their ancestors. This is probably going to be a landmark paper in the field.

The Director of the Unites States Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute as well as the Director of the Genomics Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at Berkeley, Doctor Eddy Rubin added that this study making use of a genomics strategy, that is comparative in nature, found out significant human particular properties of the regulatory network in human ES cells. This piece of information is considerable and should contribute to assist in moving the regenerative medicine field forward.

Source: Escience News and A Star

Immortality, Nanotechnology, Stem cells

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In the research that was published in the online journal Aging Cell, the researchers identified a protein interaction that regulates the silencing of Oct4. The Oct4 is an important transcription factor that is vital in order to make sure that the embryonic stem stays pluripotent. The protein WRNp is the result of a gene that is associated with the Werner syndrome. The Werner syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder that is hallmarked by a premature aging. The gene expression in the Werner syndrome strongly looks like that of normal aging, and as a consequence, the Werner syndrome is an established model of aging.

They initially discovered that WRNp gathers at the Oct4 promoter in distinguishing stem cells. Afterwards they found out that WRNp collaborates with another protein known as Dnmt3b to regulate DNA methylation at the Oct4 promoter, based on what researchers that has been led by René Daniel, PhD who is also an associate professor of Medicine.

In the past, Dnmt3b was recognised as having a key role in the DNA methylation of the Oct4 promoter. The DNA methylation of the Oct4 promoter stops the triggering of the Oct4 gene. This inactivation also known as silencing of this gene is crucial for the differentiation of stem cells.

Doctor Daniel stated that they have shown that the depletion of WRNp stopped the recruitment of Dnmt3b to the Oct4 promoter and as result there is a reduction in methylation. It is the reduced DNA methylation that was related with continued Oct4 expression, whose result was attenuated differentiation.

Till now, the studies regarding the role of WRNp in the aging process have focused on telomeres. These studies have illustrated that telomeres go through an increased shortening and also experience a loss in Werner syndrome cells. However, it remains to be proven if this is in fact the key role that WRNp has to play in the aging process.

Doctor Daniel further explains that these results unveil a new function of WRNp, and show that WRNp has an influence on a crucial step in pluripotent stem cell differentiation. Their data supports the rising hypothesis that attenuated stem cell differentiation is in fact involved in aging. This short of differentiated cells may add to the failure in maintaining tissue or organ function in life later on.

Source: Jefferson Hospital and Escience News

Anti Aging, Nanotechnology, Stem cells

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The objective of the team of scientists from Yale was to see if it was likely to fruitfully implant tissue-engineered lungs, that have been cultured in vitro, that could serve the lung’s principal function of exchanging carbon dioxide and oxygen. The scientists took lungs of adult rats and initially removed their present cellular components, conserving the extra cellular matrix as well as hierarchical branching structures of the airways and vascular system in order to be used as scaffolds intended for the growth of novel lung cells.

Afterwards the scientists cultured a mixture of lung-specific cells on the extra cellular matrix, by making use of new bioreactor designed to imitate a few aspects of the fetal lung environment. Under conditions of the bioreactor similar to that of the fetal, the cells repopulated the decellularised matrix with fully functional lung cells. When the lungs were implanted into rats for short periods of time, around 45 to 120 minutes, the engineered lungs exchanged carbon dioxide and oxygen in the same way as natural lungs.

Laura Niklason, the lead author, who is also a professor and vice chairperson of the Departments of Anesthesiology and Biomedical Engineering of Yale University as well as a member of the Yale Medical Group, stated that they were able to engineer an implantable lung in their rat model that could effectively exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen, and could also oxygenate haemoglobin in the blood. She acknowledged that this is an initial step in the regeneration of complete lungs for bigger animals and, ultimately, for human beings.

The team of scientists discovered that the mechanical properties of the engineered lungs were comparable to those of native tissues and when they were implanted they were able to participate in gas exchange. She advanced that cultured and seeded epithelium exhibits noteworthy hierarchical organization in the lung matrix, whilst seeded endothelial cells effectively repopulate the lung vasculature.

The team of scientists from Yale University said that this is a significant initial step, however, a lot more research needs to be carried out to see if completely functional lungs can be regenerated in vitro, then implanted and subsequently sustained in their functioning. According to Niklason, in order for this technology to be applicable to patients, it is probable that years of research with adult stem cells will be required to repopulate lung matrix and create wholly functional lungs.

Source: Escience News and Yale

Nanotechnology, Stem cells

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Apartheid, communist societies and slavery are a few examples of obsolete social, economic and political systems. They are being left behind with all its sorrows and pain caused to human life. The downfall of authoritarianism at various levels of societies is augmenting the fluidity of our ego. We are seeing a more encompassing acceptance and evolution of common markets, international economics, communication satellites, space travel, nuclear energy and biological control of life.

It is the first time ever that our human society is undergoing such a radical restructuring. The social ideologies and institution are now being challenged and opposed. Any movement or revolutions that try to supersede our political, economic or social conditions are literally referred to as being radical. However, the cosmic revolution of science occurring is hard to accept but fundamental for progress. People are still abstaining to the possibility that man will be living on the moon very soon. Yet, it is scientifically very feasible.

Possibilities

The things that are possible are well beyond our notions. However, developments are hindered and defended to maintain traditions and ideologies that have lived for millennia. This explains our resentment for going to the moon, or more drastically, changing the human condition. These are far-reaching ideologies which our intellect and psyche refuse to cope with. People even act with opposition when they are conveyed with the possibility of eternal life.

The altering conditions in time and space are hard to cope with. People can handle old “radicalism” conferred through religions, government and economic conditions. The biological alteration is too emotionally threatening that it bestows resistance. It represents a new order of things and a reorientation of social and psychological facts.

In respect to revolutionary occurrences across time and space, democracy, liberalism and socialism are already old accepted rationalities. The progressive order of things is in the light of a biological revolution. Progress resulting in violence is somehow romantics, archaic and negligible.

Death and Life

In early times, people offered their lives in wars and battles. The supreme sacrifice was believed to have its reward in life after death. Leaders proclaimed that one could give his life for a cause and to live in an afterlife. Today, leaders can no longer promise life after death. Death is regarded as the wildest tyranny. It is tantamount to the demise of freedom and progress.

Nowadays, life is too valuable to be sacrificed. What people would refer to as common sense in the past is now connoted as stupidity. An example is “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”. We all know that soldiers’ who are fighting today will have been forgotten by year 2050. They will join the batch of billions of faceless, nameless and forgotten soldiers’ who have died in fierce battles on our mother earth.

A New Battle; Against Aging

The new battle has just commenced. However, we will no longer fight against one another. The battle will be to stay alive to year 2100, and in year 30,000 and even in year 3,000,000. This is certainly the most radical determination that mankind has ever upraised.

The deployment of intellectual capital in militant behaviour does no longer impress anyone else than maybe a girlfriend. It is no longer considered as being revolutionary. The upcoming revolutionaries are no longer soldiers but rather geneticists, physicists, biotechnologists, cryonologists, biologists, nuclear scientists, cosmonauts, inventors and many others. These ingenious people will bring enhancement to human society far beyond what the ideologies of the old orders (soldiers) have done.

There are promising solutions emerging for various sturdy concerns of the past like for famine answers are surfacing. The possibility to alleviate famine is no longer solely feasible by increasing food production it can also be achieved by synthetic nourishment.

Solving biological Inequality

Some people are born weak others strong, some beautiful while other ungainly, some shorts and other tall as well as some brilliant while others are dumb. There is no biological equality in this world. In reality, all the social inequalities that exist are unconstitutional. The biological inequality is the ground for all the flopping impoverishing inequalities that evolve in society. In other words, some people are born more fortunate than others.

However, one right that scientists are proclaiming to sustain is living forever. This revolutionary ideology can only be convened if the tyranny of death is overthrown. All humans should also be considered equal; we are all living in the third world & we are all proletarian.

The future of immortality is regarded as a science fiction. However, scientists are claiming that a future with biological immortality is within our reach. The mysterious of the future such as eternal values of human longevity is something which goes beyond space and time.

Related Articles:
1. Cyberspace Can Emancipate Us from Death
2. Transhumanism v.s Humanism; the Gate-way To Longevity
3. How To Attain Immortality, Sort Of
4. Aubrey De Grey’s Thoughts on Living to a Thousand
5. Bringing Common Sense to Humanity; We Can Live Longer

Source: Alephe : Towards New Ideologies

Anti Aging, Immortality, Lifestyle, Nanotechnology, Stem cells

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There are roughly 150,000 humans who die per day. Many of these are elders. However, old age should not be a death sentence. Besides, not only elders will die but also young adult and children due to diseases. There is an absence of treatments for illnesses and diseases, which are responsible for this terrifying death toll per day.

It is definitely time to end all the precursors of death. There is an immense effort being done daily to combat diseases and alleviate the pain that they bring with them. There is even great research being conducted to eradicate the aging process once and for all. This is how Robert Ettinger proclaimed the cycle of life.

“Being born is not a crime, so why must it carry a sentence of death?”
By Robert Ettinger

It is thus highly possible that death will be overturned in the years to come. The court of science and technology will ideally execute the manoeuvre of the demise of death in our lifetime.

Interfering in The Natural Order

The hubristic attitude of believing that death is natural and man shall not interfere to play god prevents science to progress. Nonetheless, humans have always tried their best to improve comfort, security and efficacy of life by deploying their creativity and resourcefulness.

In contemporary marketing most products are promoted as being “natural”. But, what is natural or unnatural? An accurate definition to what is natural is that everything that happens in the world (synthetic or not) is bound to be natural. The very fact that humans are an element of nature means that every handcraftsmanship or invention produced by humans such as machines are also natural. They become incorporated to nature through our natural presence. However, most people do not consider ‘natural’ through this definition. They consider that all events, occurrences or products that are generated without the involvements of humans are natural. For instance, milk generated by cows is natural. However, the milk that is bought in the supermarket is practically unnatural.

Other more important debates about the word ‘natural’ are related to the spur to defeat aging and death. The many scientific measures initiated to enhance human conditions were at their development phase scorned as intolerable and unacceptable, but today they are universally accepted. There are various examples from vaccination to anaesthesia; blood transfusions to organ transplant; birth control pills to abortion. Now let us imagine how the world without the so called ‘unnatural’ development and improvement produced by man would be like. Some of the natural things that humans have overcome are Polio, Tooth decay, Cholera, but without these “unnatural” cures developed by humans, we would still be at the battle against death in face of these very diseases. More significantly, death is natural but must it be an accepted hubris.

It is certain that creativity and innovation must be deployed to improve human life. It has been done for ages. The benchmarks are just around us; fire (ignition with wood to matches), electricity (fossil fuel slowly changing to renewable), antibiotics, organ transplants, etc. It is absurd not to use science and technology for our well-being. If technology can be used to alleviate natural limits such as aging and death, it is thus best to use it towards this end. The idea of determine what is wrong or right by questioning whether it is natural or unnatural is simply unrealistic.

It is not claimed that moral and ethical issue should be ignored. It is definitely sure that concerns of safety, individual choice, overpopulation, resource distribution and environmental challenges must be addressed at an equal stance. This is all possible when an arena of progressive thinking is harnessed.

The Journey Towards Emancipation of Death

There is probably a great deal of people who still believe that opposing death is unnatural and wrong. It shall be remembered that some centuries ago opposing slavery was considered as a dystopia and foolish idea.

Arthur C. Clarke Revolutionary Ideas

Arthur C. Clarke, says that revolutionary ideas mainly go through 3 phases. The first reaction of people is that “It’s completely impossible.” They will then re-think as the current situation is worsening and claim that it “Maybe it’s possible to it, but it would cost too much”. The final say to revolutionary ideas is “I always thought it was a good idea”.

The observation by Clarke is aligned with the truth of human psychology. The analogy of human slavery reveals a ground-breaking example of challenging something taken for granted. In history, humans have since time possessed other humans in the form of slavery. It had even become a way of living. The emancipation of freedom and fundamental rights has only been present for a century or two. It took years to end slavery. It went through the phases of being “impossible”, to “possible but too costly” and thereafter to our current position as being a “good idea”.

The abolition of death will soon come to the foreground. Humans are enslaved and condemned by death. Scientists are those who will be fighting the battle to unleash us from our enslavement of death.

Nano-medicine and biotechnology hold prospective solutions to alleviate illnesses, diseases and to assure youthfulness forever. This will finally free us from our decrepit precursors of natural death. We will surpass physical frailty and ill healthy by new wondrous technological advancement.

The dream is to live without the fear of death. However, there is a multi-facet agenda of solution to extend our lifespan. The most advanced solution might be to extract our personality and inject it into an indestructible robot. This would require a sophisticated process to dislocate our brain away from our feeble body and implant it into a futuristic robot. Nonetheless, this process would probably be done by creating a digital copy of the content of our brain and thereby downloading it into a robot. The advantage of opting for an “upload and download” approach is that a backup copy of our personality can be maintained in case something cataclysmic happen to the robot structure. This would for sure make us truly immortal; we could even have copies of “ourselves” stored in various corners of the universe.

The Birth of Immortality

It is a bit repugnant to see an incredible creation such as the human brain enclosed in a feeble, fragile and ephemeral structure, which is our human body. The human body might be attractive and stunning, but it is disappointingly short-lived. The body that we live in is unfortunately not a creation of extreme intelligence. It has been created or has evolved mainly for reproduction and survival.

The human body is also being forced by biological and social conditions to turn into an attractive design. This is why our body has stunning and beautiful contours, which establishes a standard behaviour model. It is thus hard for us to deviate from the standard preconceptions evolved over-time. This is why people tend to shy away when they come across an individual with missing limbs or a disfigured face. It is also one of the reasons why humans are opposing the substitution of our natural body with an artificially developed one. The body that we inhabit has been subject to directionless modifications. It is a derivate of cumbersome, dumbness, and tortuous evolution through millions of years.

The body was not designed to yield maximum benefits. It is rather a product of auspicious twists occurring through its evolution. Moreover, our body is still evolving with the derived genetic mutations based from ancestors to a descendant. We are lucky that we have evolved into a highly intelligent being. We can now anticipate our own future development. The use of marvelous tools and our creative mind we can produce a new body. An intelligent body that does encompass our preferences and needs.

In our short life span, we have already seen dozens of new prototypes of automobiles and aircrafts. In addition, engineers are able to speed up the pace of progress through simulated environments, which are both cheaper and easier to manipulate. The use of intelligent computers with well elaborated programs enables tests to be conducted under normal and extreme conditions.

The future lies in something that scientists refer to as a “Posthuman Body”. The new sophisticated simulation approach is making it possible to abstain from the cumbersome effort to construct a molecule by molecule and then test them one by one. Simulation in a virtual reality environment is making it feasible to test molecular changes easily without this manual burden of building and testing each piece.

Moreover, simulations are also advancing at rocket speed. It is certain that soon the experience of entering a simulated body will be inseparable from the physical reality. Life and virtual life will converge as the same. People might even want to inhabit into this virtual reality. A world where every experience is as in the real world and one can enjoy and interact with close-friends and families.

Many people would retreat from the ideology of living in a virtual realm. However, an advanced simulation could make the experience practically synonymous with our real experience today. Let us consider our actual physical body as an organic robot. When we enter the physical world our brain and mind are the only criteria that distinguish an individual in terms of identity and personality. Furthermore, the organic robot body can hear, see, touch, smell and taste. These sensors are sent to the brain via electrical pathways just like processing in a computer system. A computer system could produce the same process, as the organic robot, which would practically make us aware and believe that this is “me” in the real world. The whole concept of virtual reality is based on creating such an environment. A surrounding that creates experiences that is true. We could be on earth simulating a robot that is physically on the surface of Mars. The definition of virtual environment will gradually change as we progress.

It is believed that in a century or even less, many people will be having their human personality living in the cyberspace. There will definitely be hurdles such as new types of emotions and sensations felt in comparison to what we know today, but it is a step worth taking. Cyberspace is no longer mere science fiction. The actual trends in computing technology are even making it feasible that living in cyberspace will occur within 2 to 3 decades.

An Inconceivable Future

Something unimaginable today but perhaps soon a question too many is whether we should live in one, two or three bodies. The very fact that we have a wild imagination makes it hard to anticipate the future. It is hard to know what type of creature we will become in the upcoming centuries.

The lowest prediction of tomorrow’s evolution of humans is that we would merely be as we are today. However, the wildest speculations suggest that we might inhabit in several bodies at once. This appears similar to a recent Bruce Wills Film, entitled: Surrogates In the film, people can live in various bodies and can buy different clones, or rather body structures to live in. However, such a radical change could change our personal identity, consciousness, and body functioning as well.

The emergence of immortal super-beings is something that probably will happen in the future. This can be a possible path towards the evolution of Posthumans. However, in the years to come the first aims in extending longevity is in the sphere of medical improvement and regenerative medicine.

References
1. Mike Treder .(2004) The scientific conquest of Death, Imminst.org

Related Article:
Transhumanism v.s Humanism; the Gate-way To Longevity

Immortality, Longevity, Nanotechnology, Stem cells

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Last year at TEDMED, Aubrey de Grey gave details of how a ‘Maintenance Approach” could boost longevity. It deploys a systematic methodology to address accumulating damages caused to our tissues (body) through the disease of ageing.

Regenerative Medicine: Video 1

The video from TEDMED (available below) will certainly make you poised and eager to see regenerative medicine curing aging.

The term regenerative medicine consists of a group of treatments from immune system training to complex genetic therapies. People are more familiar with stem cell therapy. It is attracting more public interest, and it involves growing new organs or even bodies in laboratories. It is an incredible technology which is already being used to grow organs such as the bladder.

These are all medical researches aimed at treating injuries or weaknesses that develop in our body. On this stance, Aubrey de Grey is suggesting that with a few additions to regenerative medicine, we will be able to assure fitness and healthiness of elders. The regenerative medicine will offer something far beyond our expectations. We will enjoy an exponential boost in longevity.

There are practically seven different classes of damages that occur within the body. These are outlined in the TEDMED Video (12:15). They are:

1. Junk – Inside Cells (unwanted bi-products of cells)
2. Junk – Outside Cells
3. Cells – Too few (cells are not replaced)
4. Cells – Too Many (cells expands to rapidly, a likely cause of cancer)
5. Mutations – Chromosomes
6. Mutation – Mitochondria
7. Protein Crosslink

In addressing the damages enlisted above, it is possible to address the accumulate damage occurring to a body. This might also put an end to the spell of aging.

The maintenance approach, suggests that repairing damage can enable us to live for quite some time. The best of it is that people will live in a healthy state. In essence, of his method to overcome the disease of aging, he supersedes the myth of old age frailness with the notion of complete healthiness.

Regenerative medicine is progressing fast and may very soon provide a repair mechanism at cellular levels. It is of paramount importance that people redefine and accept this new philosophy of aging. It might only be our apathy in supporting and engaging in this sort of research, which holds us back from an extreme enhancement in longevity.

Video 1 From TEDMED 2009 –

Video 2 from TED – 2005

Source: TED and Singularity Hub

Anti Aging, Immortality, Longevity, Nanotechnology, Stem cells

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The research is offering new ways to boost longevity of genetically engineered mice. Their life span increased with as much as 20 percent in comparison to normal mice.

The newly engineered mice were set with a body temperature which was roughly 0.5 to 0.9 degrees below that of typical mice. The experiment conducted on female mice showed an average lifespan of 662 days, which is 112 days more than contemporary female mice. The experience for male mice gave a median lifespan of 805 days, which are 89 days more than normal male mice.

According to the lead author Bruno Conti, a biologist at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, a small but gradual reduction in body temperature tends to positively influence aging and lifespan. It could practically increase human life span by roughly 7 to 8 years, which would be a marvelous progress in longevity.

It has been known by scientists for years that calorie restriction tends to extend lifespan. It has also been shown that calorie restriction for animals leads to lower body temperature. Conti conducted the research to understand whether a lower body temperature alone would be sufficient to boost longevity.

According to Conti, earlier studies conducted on body temperature were performed on animals that had their temperature influenced by the environment. However, this study was the first one conducted to change the temperature of warm-blooded animals.

The study involved modifying cells in each of the mouse’s hypothalamus, which is a part of the brain responsible for controlling body temperature. The cells induced more heat than for typical mice.

It is similarly to a thermostat, used in a room to control temperature. The brain acts in the same way as the thermostat. If you would take a something very hot near a thermostat it would trigger air conditioning to restore the heat back to normal levels. The brain induces a similar mechanism to regulate the temperature of the body.

In the study, there was a total of 79 experimental mice that enjoyed the same treatment as 67 normal mice.

The study showed that we can boost longevity by lowering our body temperature. However, this is not yet practicable for human beings. According to Conti, studying the mechanism of the human thermostat can help in developing pharmacological treatment to increase lifespan, in the future.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Bioscience, Longevity, Nanotechnology, Stem cells

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In phase II of the study, it was shown that injecting SERCA2a responded positively in minimising the severity of heart failure. Early this week, this information was presented at the Heart Failure congress of the European society of Cardiology in Berlin. Jill Klaman, MD, Associate Professor, Medicine, Cardiology, director of the Cardiomyopathy Program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine said that SERCA2a seems to be a “safe and Effective” means to treat patients with advanced heart failure.

Moreover, Klaman also highlighted that there is an insignificant availability of treatment for this patient population with heart failure. It appears that SERCA2a will be a potential solution for the group.

A CUPID trial was conducted. There was a total of 39 patients who suffered from severe heart failure that was enrolled to the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. The study was geared to test the efficacy and safety of SERCA2a. The patients were randomly picked to receive SERCA2a gene delivery in one of three doses or placebo. They were then evaluated over a period of six months. Moreover, this treatment is directly delivered into a patient’s heart through contemporary outpatient catheterization procedures.

CUPID stands for: (Calcium Up-regulation by Percutaneous administration of gene therapy In cardiac Disease

It was found that patient having been injected with SERCA2a experienced an improvement in their heart functions and decrease severity of heart failure. The patients did also benefit from a less frequent occurrence of cardiovascular events. The study also proved that SERCA2a was safe to consume. There were no signs of adverse events, laboratory abnormalities or disease related issues.

SERCA2a

The gene SERCA2a was created by a team led by Roger J. Hajjar, MD, Research Director of Mount Sinai’s Wiener Family Cardiovascular Research Laboratories and the Arthur & Janet Ross Professor of Cardiology, Medicine, and Gene and Cell Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The team did early in 1999 identify the potentials of SERCA2a as a gene therapy treatment.

Members of Mount Sinai Heart said that they remain committed in providing further ground breaking therapies to the surface. Moreover, they are also interested in continuing and seeing how crucial this treatment will be in the future.

General Heart Facts

The U.S Centers for Disease Control & Prevention estimates that there are around 5.8 million Americans that have heart failures. There are also 670,000 new cases diagnosed per annum. Studies have also shown that out of every 5 individuals diagnosed having heart failure, one of them dies within a year post to the diagnosis. The cost in America related to heart failure will account for $39.2 billion in 2010. This includes the cost of medication, health care and lost in productivity.

Moreover, heart failure is treated with device therapies and medicines but have no real cure available yet. The symptoms associated with heart failure are breathing problems, feeling of tiredness, and having angles, legs or feet swollen.

Sources: Mount Sinai and E-science News

Anti Aging, Health And Aging, Nanotechnology, Stem cells

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The debate whether we should or should not play “GOD” is an increasingly tense topic. Many humanists have gone towards an atheist perspective believing that there exists no divine creator or purpose-giver to act affirmatively. Nevertheless, humanists who are deeply pro-science do however somehow fear the Promethean sentence of going against religious dogmas.

The fear held by the humanists can be seen in reactions and belief. For example, humanists do not think that physical immortality or agelessness can be achieved through technological advancement. Humanists do blemish agelessness as unnatural or eternal life as being useless. Although humanists do not believe in a divine creator they stay keen to the notion of living an allotted time on earth, in other words a limited lifespan. They even refute the idea of physical immortality and superhuman (post-human) ability and intelligence are observed with fear rather than as competitive source of knowledge.

These tales of immortality might for many be stories coming from Frankenstein, Icarus, and The Tower of Babel: Humans Should Just Accept Their Limits, and many others. The apprehension of overcoming the impossible or the unlikely makes people tremble. Where does our innate fright of conquering death and aging as well as going beyond the sky come from? Moreover, medical science is mostly viewed as a method to cure the sick and not necessarily to enforce the healthy, but this is what longevity studies are trying to unravel.

Humanist to Transhumanist

The values and goals of most humanists are limited. Most people with a belief in superior knowledge and posthumans refer themselves as transhumanists. A transhumanist is ready to anticipate how life will be as posthumans emerge into the modern society. A well-known group of transhumainsts is the Extropy institute which refers to themselves as Extropians.

The emergence of Extropians (tranhumanists) is guided by similar principles such as self-transcendence, intelligent technology, dynamic optimism and boundless expansion that can take any particular order. The philosophy is to support optimism instead of pessimism and to think of a world different from what it is today; one where life would be eternal.

The idea is not to play “GOD”. The real focus is to transcend to posthuman. However, we should try to conceive all the feasible future of ourselves as well. In respect to god as being a superior being, we might become extremely powerful and maybe immortal, however we will not be some kind of supernatural ghost creature, questioned by physics. It is thus better to put gods aside. The question that we are really trying to crack is whether:

1. Are Posthumans Really Possible?
2. Are Posthumans Really Desirable?

Are Posthumans Really Possible?

Can humans really enjoy a transition to become posthumans, this is a question that only physic can challenge. In simple terms, we can transcend to posthumans only when our neurophysiology, physiology, inherited genetics and neurochemistry become sufficiently distinguished so that we are no longer categories as Homo Sapiens. Posthumans are memetically derived from humans. However, they will have a more complex motivational structure. This could include ability to control emotional response, control sexual orientation or in other words manipulate neurochemistry.

There are already many steps that have been taken in the becoming posthumans. Humans genetic structure is being changed to compensate for the failure rooted from nature. There are pills and medications such as Piracetam, Prozac, Deprenyl, and Hydrergine that are being consumed to change our psychology, improve our brain power and to decrease the speed of aging. There are by now more efficient neuro-chemical modifiers being in laboratory testing. The use of molecular biology with highly advanced computer systems is making it easier to alter our genetic structure to the betterment of humankind.

We are somehow integrating humans and machine into one being. More modern machines are both intelligent and also capable of self-modifying. The various topics of study that are concentrating on the machine human or so called cyborgs are AI, intelligent agent, neural networks, fuzzy logic and machine intelligence. We are not far from becoming cyborgs. Technology is in many aspects being used to replace joints. In laboratory development we have artificial retinas that might soon be commercialized. The next step according to many researchers is to connect electronic components to our neurons. This would enable us to communicate directly to our PCs, PDAs, Mobile phone and any other accessories. There is probably only a decade or two left until computers are implanted into our brain system. It might take as well up to 50 or 60 years but bet on it, it will soon come.

The emergence of even more fascinating advancement is engineered virus. A virus with the potential to modify the genetic structure of practically any cell in our body would give us an endless opportunity to manipulate our morphology and physiology. The rate at which progress is surfacing for molecular nanotechnology would probably ascertain that engineered virus will soon be a feasible product. It would perhaps even be possible to construct atom by atom in the body. The result of such a radical advancement in science and technology would be first the dusk of aging, immortality and the accomplishment of alchemists’ dream.

More intricate is that a group of machine intelligence research, cognitive scientists and roboticists predict that more stunning posthuman can be achieved. It might be possible to upload or download our physiology, emotions, memories, feelings and values from our biological brain to one that has synthetically been created. In other words, we could change our brain to one that have a million or not even a billion times faster processing capability compared to our natural brain.

So yes, Posthumans are highly feasible.

Are Posthumans Really Desirable?

The reason why human continually strive to go beyond limits and unfold the unachievable is simply due to our natural eagerness to improve and for comfort. Progress and enlightenment is from the humanistic perspective viewed as possible. We live in an era of grand adventure where technology, science and reason can help us to surpass the weaknesses that have been confined in our past. Human can absolutely achieve much. The application of our determination, intelligence and optimism is likely to lead to an evolution of our kind. An evolution, which is already directing towards enhancing our neurology capacity. Human creativity is looked in the boundaries of our imagination and intelligence, and with more intelligence the boundaries keeps on expanding.

The inhibitor to human enlightenment is aging and death. There are many who refer to death as Alan Harrington does “Death is an imposition on the human race and no longer acceptable” It is a blatant truth that death and aging are at the determent of complete wisdom. It takes years to accumulate knowledge and as a modicum of intelligence and wisdom has been achieved, aging or death resets the progress. This infuriating cycle is deemed to be challenged. It is worth to conquer aging and death so that wisdom can be increasingly accumulated.

There are many who believe that life will be meaningless if the traditional life cycle of aging and death was radical altered. The Extropians/Transhumanists view such an attitude as being rational and common. It is sure that our lifestyle will require intense revision if the posthuman lifespan was to be concretized, today. The change to human lifespan is definitely worth the effort. In reality, ageing and death itself is to many a source rendering life miserably futile. The accomplishment of immortality will probably not be at the detriment of theological belief; it would rather support the rationale behind it.

On the medical paradigm, this new culture has a distinction from previous approaches. The contemporary way to view medical science is to cure diseases while the new medical paradigm focuses on brining functionality of the existing one to incredible levels. Doctors and medical practitioners view their job as to cure or alleviate diseases and not as to increase the health of someone who is already healthy. This is once again some of the limited conception of the belief in “natural”. The very fact that we only cure a defect means that we are trying to bring it back to its natural state (God created stage). However, improving our brain or body potential is seemed as unnatural. This is why we consider psychiatric drugs as normal but intelligence-boosting drugs are rejected due to the fact that we are already mentally well.

In some way, we should consider that transhuman is also something natural; a natural endeavour to transcend into new complexity and forms. Moreover, by Nietzsche, it would be referred to as the “universal will to power”. There are many theories that proclaim our effort to unravel complexity or universal will to power. For instant, evolutionary theory, complexity theory, neurocomputing and artificial life are all related to overcoming limits deemed as being innate to humans. Human have an internal drive that is geared to change the environment as well ourselves as a being.

There will not be a punishment or a Pandora ’s Box for bringing posthumans intelligence and agelessness to our doorstep. Old myths that emerged when human was at the edge of extinction shouldn’t keep us back. Life has radically changed, but YES it is certain that we must take upmost precaution when altering our brain function, genes and physiology.

Progress shall not be subject to stagnation. It can transform manifold until dynamic of this exuberant process is reaped. The communal goal of moving forward, farther and higher has inherently been a conscious strive of human kind.

The supernatural being “GOD” is a rather primitive notion developed by superstitious people, people having just hatched out from unconsciousness and ignorance. The conception of god is oppressive in the sense that it is much more powerful than us. The introduction of posthuman might act as a means to change perception and add another dimension to the human evolution. It is of paramount importance to understand that we aren’t the zenith of nature’s development rather only a crucial part. We have to be able to consciously evolve and control our future.

We shall leave assumptions behind, and bring posthumanity to the foreground. Living forever, immortality and superior wisdom are what are awaiting us in the future.

Source:Maxmore

Anti Aging, Gerontology, Immortality, Longevity, Nanotechnology, Stem cells

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