At the same time the death rate of Americans has experienced a drop of 0.5% in one single year; from 2009 to 2010. The United States death rate has witnessed its lowest rate that it has ever known. In accordance to the recent set of information received from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, there are 746.2 deaths for every 100,000 persons, which is an extremely low figure.

America has been able to see a decline in its death rate as the nation’s principal killers, cancer and heart diseases, which accounted for 47% of the country’s mortality in the year 2010, have also experienced a decrease. Death due to heart disease decreased by 2.4%, and those linked with cancer went down by 0.6%.

The report has based itself on 98% of death certificates that have been made accessible to the NCHS. Certificates were obtained from the District of Columbia as well as from fifty other states.

Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine’s acting regional chair, Dr. David McClellan, stated that all these statistic is leading to the fact the there is an improvement in the nation’s health; people’s life expectancy has increased and this is great news. However, on the other hand, age-related illnesses are beginning to become more significant.

For example, pneumonitis, also known as aspiration pneumonia usually occurs when a person becomes so old and incapacitated that they are not able to swallow. Dr. David McClellan explained that this could be a result of dementia or even the after effects usually associated with stroke.

He furthermore stated that there is still much to be done regarding the fight against the obesity, smoking epidemic and unbalanced diet as well as insufficient exercise. He is of view that if the outbreak of smoking could at least be brought under control, America death rates would drop even more.

The hematology/oncology’s chairman of Ochsner Health System, located in Baton Rouge, Brooks, is even more optimistic; in his point of view, this is excellent new. Americans are being able to have a better grip on heart diseases and cancer by bringing a decrease in smoking.

Additionally, Brooks said that statins also have a significant role to play in the reduction of mortality toll due to heart disease, whereas cancer screening is proving to be beneficial in saving lives as well.

Minor changes in the positions of other grounds of mortality have also been observed.
Pneumonitis has replaced homicide, which was positioned in the first 15 category since the year 1965.

Influenza/ pneumonia and kidney disease exchanged places. The former is ranked 9th while the latter is in the 8th position.

A serious drop has been seen in influenza and pneumonia. Winthrop University Hospital’s, located in Mineola, New York, chairman of medicine, Dr. Michael Niederman, explained that some time back, they were ranked among the top six most important causes of death.

He views this being truly encouraging as according to him America is currently dealing with an older population which comprises of patients who suffer from pneumonia regularly. However, this confirms the national precedence on vaccination; pneumococcal as well as influenza.

Parkinson’s, hypertension, liver disease, septicemia, suicide, kidney disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, accidents, stroke and chronic lower respiratory diseases are among the other principal reasons of mortality.

According to Brooks, it is noteworthy that the majority of these illnesses are directly linked to the ageing population.

That is not all, mortality rates also went down for accidents (by 1.1%), respiratory diseases (by 1.4%), stroke (by 1.5%), septicemia (by 3.6%) and pneumonia and influenza (by 8.5 %) .

On the contrary, Parkinson’s disease has increased by 4.6%, cirrhosis and liver disease by 3.3%, pneumonitis by 4.1%, kidney disease by 1.3% and Alzheimer’s disease by 3.3%.
These diseases remain among the five top causes of death.

Between the year 2009 and the year 2010, a decline of 13.3% in the mortality rate of HIV/AIDS was seen. Even though the latter was not found among the fifteen principal killers, it was treated as being a considerable concern, in particular for persons aged between 15 and 64.

Infant death rate also witnessed a decline; it went down by 3.9% as from the year 2009.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that Lenox Hill Hospital’s, preventive cardiologist, Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, put in a word of caution against being too enthusiastic regarding the findings.

She expressed that while this remains good news, there is no reason to be overjoyed. The high rate in diabetes, obesity, cholesterol, blood pressure, is leading people to start getting sick much younger.

Source: Your Life USA Today

Read: Poor American Longevity Raises Questions

Anti Aging, Longevity

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Recently, a group of research from University of Pittsburgh confirmed that they had found the secret behind a rodent’s fountain of youth.

In the University, there is a colony of progeria mice; mice which have been infected with a rare disease, inducing them to die from old age after 21 days. Yet, when the researcher group took these progeria mice, which were just about to die and injected them with stem cells taken from younger and healthier cousins the dying mice recovered and stayed alive for an addition 2 to 4 weeks.

Dr. Laura Niedernhofer, lead research said that the size and lifespan of these progeria mice could be triple through this method.

It is more than a century that researchers have been using mice for medical experiments. The mice used nowadays are tweaked and engineered, sharing blood, livers as well as brain tissues of other groups of species. The Pittsburgh progeria mice are, however, quite different from human and will probably not provide an immediate answer on how to increase human longevity.

Even so, engineered or so called re-made rodents are increasingly becoming alike to human; the disparity between man and mouse are slowly vanishing. Not only are the differences fading but researchers do nowadays even have a deeper knowledge of rodents than human and any other creature found on earth. For research, rodents are indispensable.

Some History: Mice & Laboratory Research

Ostensibly, the first vaccination against cancer was done on a mouse. In addition, mice do already have treatments for baldness as well as capsules to save them from Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, mouse is the only animal to have been involved in hoverboard-style levitation as well, they have had their brain simulated in a computer. They were even the first non-human mammal to have had their whole genome mapped.

Everything began in 1902, when a scientist named William Castle, brought pet mice to the Harvard Genetics Laboratory, and now rodents have been the back-bone of almost all the key drug treatments as well as medical procedures used in modern medical care. According to Dr. Janet Rossant, who is the senior scientist as well as chief research at Tornoto’s SickKids Research Institute, almost all the major drugs marketed today have been the result of mouse models in developing drugs.

Statistics are surprising; in 2010, a total of 1,132,706 mice had been killed in Canadian laboratories. In any year, mice make up to 50 percent of the animals used in laboratories, and the second most commonly used animal is rats.

There are strong similarities between humans and mice. They both have immune system, circulatory systems and skeletons. In addition, mice and human can suffer from similar health predicaments such as diabetes, cancer, heart diseases, and with some minor genetic modification, mice suffer even from Alzheimer’s disease and cystic fibrosis. In laboratory terms, using mice makes sense; they are cheap, have a lifespan of 12 weeks and are easy to maintain. In other words, in the term of a single semester, several studies can be completed.

According to Dr. Michele Martin, who is a veterinary director at the University of Victoria, apparently ‘almost any disease’ you can find you will come to know that there is ‘a mouse model’ that has been used to ‘describe it’.

In 1929, the Lab Mouse Pioneer C.C. Little, Jackson Laboratory was founded, which is today’s leading supplier of so called genetically modified mice. There are more than 5,000 different strains of mice in the laboratory. The cost for a classic ‘dilute brown’ mouse, which is the oldest in the catalogue is roughly $30 a piece. It was first developed in 1909.

In the beginning mice were changed in the same way as dog breeders had changed wolves into Chihuahuas; selective inbreeding. However, in the 1980s, genetic engineering was available and since then it has been much easier to tweak and create customized mice.

In 2002, the first non-human animal, the rodent had its whole genome mapped. The mice had 99% of its gene shared with humans. This gave rise to a whole new agenda of scientific research.

In modern research, mice are no longer kept in wire-bottom cages; they are placed in large collective cages. This makes the mice happier and for research, it is better to have normal animals involved in research for more accurate results.

From 2000 to 2009, the number of mice euthanized in Canadian Laboratory experiments amounted to 10 million, which are equivalent to 3,000 mice per day.

Universities in China, Korea and Japan have an annual memorial day every year to serve homage to all animals that have been killed in research as well as experiments. The ceremony is a way for research communities to show their indebtedness to laboratory animals; as today almost every pill bottle sold in pharmacy across the globe are the result of thousands of mice.

In 1929, penicillin was first discovered, but it was only in 1940 that Oxford University could understand how penicillin worked, and it was thanks to research conducted on mice. Similarly, meningitis as well as polio vaccines are mainly a result of the lab mice.

According to Dr. Rossant, mice are ‘very, very powerful systems’ to comprehend the distinct pathways of severe diseases. Yet, lab mice are not perfect. There is a dozen of cures available for cancer which works on mice but not yet on humans. In addition, Thalidomide is a drug that caused defects to almost 10,000 children, noting that it had no negative effects on mice.

The degenerative disease, ALS, which Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist suffers from have various rodent-based therapies – yet – the 70 years-scientist will probably not live long enough to see the therapy available for humans.

In the 100 years that mice have been used for research, the aim has always been to change the rodent into a so called tiny human being. Nowadays, rodents have human blood, humne immune system, human organs, and they even have the bad human traits such as violence, alcoholism, drug addiction as well as gluttony.

In December 2011, the U.S Based national Institute of Health, reduced funding for additional research on chimpanzees as a progressive step to prevent research on chimpanzee. Chimps have been considered to human to have laboratory experiments justified. Several countries around the world have mirrored the widespread discontent of chimpanzee research through the so called ‘save Gabon’

Yet, mice are increasingly becoming like human, as the engineered mice aren’t really as the traditional mice.

Source: national Post

Anti Aging, Bioscience, Stem cells

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A group of research from University of California, San Diego found that good sex can add up to a decade of life expectancy. Satisfying sex can help people in their 80’s to enjoy a high quality of life.

From Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego the researchers found that sexual satisfaction for elderly women was highly correlated to successful aging as well as highly quality of life.

This study was released online in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society. The report indicates that quality of life; successful aging and sexual satisfaction were strongly related even in age of 60 to 89 were women experience a decline in physical health.

In the research, 1,235 women who were involved in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) was scrutinized. WHI has been a major research program sponsored by the National Institute of health since 2003, focusing on finding causes of disability, death, and levels of quality of life for above 160 thousands vigorous post-menopausal women.

In research, groups were stratified into various age groups:

- 60 to 69 years
- 70 to 79 years
- 80 to 89 years

The researchers found at the end of the study that 61 percent of the group aged 80 and above said they had a satisfied sex life.

This same study was given emphasis when published in Indian News, giving various indicators of how sexual life contributes to longevity.

A recent TNN report suggests that regular sex enhance the brain power as well as positive hormone levels of an individual. In addition, orgasm has positive effects to the immune system as well. It strengthens the infection-fighting cells by approximately 20 percent.

Surprisingly, when couple experience orgasms they should hug each other as it facilitate the excretion of oxytocin hormone, which is directly linked to life expectancy.

It is really fascinating, cuddling increase’s people’s longevity, and in addition, being in relation reduces the risk of depression and chronic diseases.

According to the research, cuddling can increase life expectancy by as much as seven years.

Besides, satisfied sex keeps you physically and mentally healthy. It enhances your heart, brain and several hormones.

Men who are involved in at least three or more times of physical relationship in a week have 50 percent less risk of stroke and heart attack.

At any age, sex induces endorphins, which make you feel good and therefore lower stress significantly.

So simply by establishing planned sex a couple can increase their longevity by 2 to more years. Generally, sex is restricted to only night hours, but this need not necessary be so. Couples should enjoy sex whenever they feel the moment is right.

In addition, healthy food is essential for an individual to be able to have an enhanced sexual performance, and therefore, healthy food is directly and indirectly linked to longevity.

If you aren’t used to practice exercise, than sex can help you to boost the blood circulation and to burn some calories. Good sex can provide the same benefit as regular exercises.

So the prescription for planned sex provides the same benefits as regular exercises; 20 minutes of active sex can augment your metabolism and burn 30 calories.

For the case, of women sex does also reduce the risk of osteoporosis problems. Apparently, middle-aged women who have sex weekly have as much as 100 percent stronger protection to bones (Oestrogen levels) in contrast to women who do not have regular sex.

So a balance diet can boost the endurance, and thereafter help to promote satisfied sex experienced, which are pleasurable and at the same time fun.

It is a great strategy to add another decade to your life expectancy; satisfied sex life.

Source: India blooms

Anti Aging, Gerontology, Health And Aging, Longevity

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People need to know is what leads to high cholesterol and what can be done to reduce the cholesterol levels. Diets have a crucial role in the process of lowering cholesterol levels.

The Five best foods that should be consumed to reduce Cholesterol levels are:

1. Oatmeal
2. Omega 3 Fatty Acids – Fish
3. Walnuts
4. Oliver Oil
5. Margarine

- High Fiber Foods like Oat Bran and Oatmeal

In oatmeal, there is soluble fiber, which can easily lower the intensity of low-density lipoprotein {LDL} or so called ‘bad’ cholesterol. It should also be noted that soluble fiber can be found in pears, barley, prunes, beans and kidney beans.

Consuming 10 grams of soluble fiber can significantly reduce the absorption of cholesterol, into an individual’s bloodstream, therefore, lowering LDL cholesterol. The consumption of one and half-cup of cooked oatmeal provides 6 grams of fiber. The consumption of fruits like able will increase the amount of fiber by 4 grams.

- Omega-3 Fatty Acids – Fish

Fish is known to have a high volume of omega-3 fatty acid, which is good for the heart. It can lower the blood pressure and therefore, decreases the potential risk of having additional blood clots.

For people who have already experienced a heart attack – the consumption of fish oil can lower the potential risk of an instant death.

Doctors do generally recommend consuming two servings of fish per week.
The fish with the highest amount of omega-3 fatty acid is found in:

1. Mackerel
2. Lake trout
3. Herring
4. Sardines
5. Albacore tuna
6. Salmon
7. Halibut

In addition, while cooking fish people should avoid putting in unhealthy fats. For those who do not like fish can get omega-3 fatty acids from canola and flaxseed oil.

- Almonds, Walnuts as well as other types of nuts

Nuts help to decrease blood cholesterol. The density of polyunsaturated fatty acids in almonds and walnuts assures that blood vessels are healthy. The Food and Drug administration recommends the consumption of 42.5 grams of nuts per day. This includes all types of nuts, pistachio nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts, almonds and walnuts, as they have properties, which decrease the risk of heart diseases.

Yet, the nuts shouldn’t be coated with sugar or salted –

Nuts are also rich in calories so one handful should be enough. Consuming too many nuts can lead to weight gaining.

- Olive oil

There is strong evidence that olive oil, have special properties, which help to reduce ‘bad’ cholesterol, but it leaves ‘good’ cholesterol.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, two tablespoons of olive oil added to your diet will spur heart-healthy advantageous. It is common to add olive oil to vegetables, marinade, or even diets. For example, while basting meat; olive oil can be used instead of butter. However, do note that olive oil has a high amount of calories so do not consume too much, or else you will gain weight.

The best type of olive oil is the extra-virgin olive oil which is less processed and contains more heart-healthy antioxidants. It also has stronger cholesterol-reduction effects.

- For Example Margarine – Food with plant sterols/stanols

There some foods that have this substance found in plants sterols and stanols which inhibits the absorption of cholesterols.

For instance, orange juice, margarines and yogurt drinks having added plant sterols can lower LDL cholesterol with above 10 percent. Daily at least 2 grams of plant sterols should be consumed, so a fortified orange juice with plant sterols a day would be an ideal power drink.

Plant sterols as well as stanols do not affect good cholesterol as well as triglycerides.

Lesson learnt
People should change both diet and lifestyle. It is essential to c food with high sources of high-density lipoprotein/ good cholesterol.

Source: mayo Clinic

Anti Aging Products, Health And Aging, Lifestyle

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In the Time Magazine, in May 1933, the secret of why Li was able to live long was explained in an article entitled “Tortoise-Pigeon-Dog”. The key to longevity was defined by four behaviours:

1. Maintain a quiet heart
2. Be idle like a tortoise
3. Move actively like the pigeon
4. Rest like a Dog

It was believed that Mr. Li has some uncommon habits. He abstained drinking, smoking and had his meals only on particular times. In addition, he was a vegetarian and did often drink wolfberry tea.

In his lifestyle, he did also have a regulated sleeping pattern, sleeping early and waking up early. As when time permitted him, he sat straight with closed eyes and his hands on the lap, motionless for hours.

On free-time, he played cards and lost enough money for his counterpart to buy a meal for the day. He was loved by everyone thanks to his generous behaviour.

As education, Mr. Li devoted his time to scrutinize Chinese herbs to try to reveal the secrets of longevity. It involved travelling to various Provinces in China and going even as far as to Thailand to find herbs to cure illnesses.

Of course, it is still unknown whether Mr. Li really lived as long as claimed. But what we do know about him, is that his finding matches modern research done on herbs supporting longevity.

Modern Research

In 2009, the book “ The Blue Zones” were written by Dan Buettner. The subtitle of the book was: “Lessons for Living Longer from the People, Who’ve Lived The Longest” explored condition which promoted longevity across cultures, populations, geographic location and lifestyles from all over the world.

It included groups such as: Okinawans, Costa Ricans, Sardinians, and the Californian Adventists, who actually have the highest rate of people reaching their 100th birthday. In these areas which Dan Buettner named as “blue zones” people do on average live at least 12 years more than the average.

In the research carried-out by Buettner, there were herbal similarities to all the blue-zone groups, meaning that all blue zones had a diet emphasized on legumes. For example, the Adventists in Loma Linda, California ate a high amount of greens & legumes, as stated in the Bible. The Sardinians ate whole-grain bread, special wine, and cheese produced from fresh grass-fed animals.

As a conclusion, the research suggested that low-calorie diets extend the lifespan of people in these regions. The okinawans, they do strictly follow Confucian rule of only eating until the stomach is 80 percent full.

For Mr Li, the wolfberry tea must have helped him to live to an advanced age. Specialists from France and Britain were extremely fascinated by Li’s longevity and decided to conduct elaborate research on wolfberry. Surprisingly, a new vitamin named “vitamin X” or so called “beauty vitamin” was found. Their study concluded that wolfberry stops the accumulation of fat as well as encourage the development of new liver cells, lower cholesterol and blood glucose… and the list goes on.

Wolfberry has a rejuvenation role: it boosts up endocrine glands and brain cells; improves the production of hormones; eliminate toxins that are formed in the blood, this assures that the body sustains its typical function of tissues and organs.

Meditation

In addition, to consuming tea, an exercise that usually follows is meditation. From the University of Massachusetts Medical School, neuroscientists carried out an experiment on highly stressed technology-related employees. The employees were split into two groups; one of the groups was said to meditate for eight weeks while the second group continued to work in their stress.

In the research published in Psychology 2003 “showed a pronounced shift in activity to the left frontal lobe.” Such change in mental focus reduces the bad effects of stress, anxiety and mild depression. It was also noted that there was a lower activity level in the amygdale, a region where the brain deals with fear.

Apart from only being a stress relief, mediation improves mood and inhibits the speed at which the brain shrinks while aging.

From Buettner’s Blue Zone research, it was found that relaxation time does significantly reduce inflammation, a product of stress. As for the Adventists in California who preserved their 24-hour Sabbath day had a time to pray, reflect and to have fun within their social circles.

Longevity & Society

According to Buettner’s research, the society in which you live in does influence how long you live. For instance, Okinawans have many friends and with whom they like to share everything with. The Sardinian show great respect to elders and the Adventists are highly family oritented.

The study suggests that sense of belonging with family and healthy friends encouraging people to live healthy, actually support longevity.

The so Rosetans, which is an Italian group of people who has migrated to Bangor, Pennsylvania, has a low risk of heart diseases. This was found in a study carried out by Malcolm. Apparently, it was neither their diet nor gene that supported their remarkable healthy survival rate.

The secret of the Rosetans potential to live longer was the social structure that isolates them from the stress of the modern world. The environment and surrounding that they had created supported their health.

Buettner’s study also found that across the blue-zone, people weren’t interested in retirement. Their emphasis was on continuing to do what they were already doing.

For the Sardinians as well as Okinwans the sunset years represent the symbol of purpose of life. In these areas, centenarians were seen climbing hills and climbing. Contrary, to the western civilisation who exercise for a purpose, these centenarians simply have an active life.

Source: The Epoch Times.

Bioscience, Lifestyle, Longevity

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So does multi-vitamin really increase longevity? This is a still a debatable area and various studies produce different results.

In a review published in, ‘The New York Times’ in 2009 found after comparing various researches that supplement or vitamins did neither prevent chronic disease nor extend human lifespan.

A ‘Copenhagen University study’ which reviewed 815 different clinical trials related to the advantages of Vitamins A, E, and C, selenium and beta-carotene found no real benefits of taking such supplements. The research revealed that consuming these vitamins tended to raise the risk of death rather than longevity.

In addition, on a site called ‘Insider-medicine’ a study of a meta-analysis of 67 randomly selected clinical trials with above 200,000 participants suggested that consuming vitamins had no conclusive benefit to longevity.

Fascinating as it is, studies that are financed by pharmaceutical companies tend to reveal only the positive side of supplements and vitamins. In other words, those studies are or only good for the readers and not the users.

The fact that several studies report the same conclusion; supplements do not necessary promote longevity, gives us a doubtful trust on vitamins. Furthermore, there is a wide range of recognised institution that claims that supplements have only a minor positive effect. This makes us confused as it is contrary to our common belief.

So Does Vitamin Only Deplete Our Bank Balance?

On general people spend $75 a month of supplements and vitamins. However, this might end up being a waste of money. So why not reduce spending to $50 and the accumulative cash saving will be as much as $22k in 25 years. Instead of having consuming vitamin to live longer, save some of the money, and you will have a nice retirement pension.

There is a general belief that poor diets can be replaced with high intake of vitamins. However, the only solution to poor diets seems to be a good diet. People should consume vegetables, lean protein, fats and fresh fruits.

Nevertheless, the fact that some studies say that vitamins and supplements aren’t good for longevity doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consume them for medical conditions. For instance, men suffering from prostate cancer should consume various vitamins. A generalist is likely going to suggest some vitamins with some new lifestyle activities.

In America, the annual expenditure on vitamins and supplements is $23 billion.

Source: CBS News

Anti Aging, Longevity

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Ray Kurzweil, an inventor, futurist as well as author of The Singularity is Near has developed documentary film: Transcendent Man.

Ray’s film is inspirational to all ages, and will possibly help to motivate funding for development of technology that can rejuvenate our organs as well as the body.

The Transcendent Man is a derivates of Kurzweil’s famous singularity prediction. New technologies starting from the simple printing press to Google are tools, which are rapidly helping new technologies to evolve even faster. In other words, the pace of innovation is an exponential curve that accelerates.

Moore’s law has been significantly explained in Kurzweil’s prediction and applied to social connection as well as informative technology. For instance, if the trend of computer was to be extrapolated, we can see super-computers occupying full-sized room, now being reduced to the size of only a laptop.

Biology is also being transcended into an informative science with progress in genomic sequencing. Machines are not only supporting research. They are even promoting better health and enabling us to overcome body limitations. In the near future, it might be even feasible to introduce nanobots into our blood stream to fight real viruses.

According to Kurzweil, in three decades henceforth singularity will be achieved, and machines will be so intelligent that human won’t be necessary to continue to innovate. The inventions will solve all possible traceable issues associated with aging and death.

Most of us considered singularity to be a provocative prediction. However, Kurzweil has made several accurate predictions such as in 1970s he said that in 1998, computer will become the world’s most performing chess player. In the 1970s this seemed impossible.

Singularity is something highly feasible; it is in line with physics laws. So it is rather a question of when it will happen than if it will happen.

Who is Ray Kurzweil, in the 1960s he was a teenager when he made a computer which analyzed as well as composed classical music. He achieved this at MIT. After school, he produced an optical character recognition (OCR) system. innovation that followed was manifold including large-vocabulary speech recognition software as well as text-to-speech software for people who were blind.

At the age of 35 years, Ray suffered from diabetes a disease that his father died from. However, instead of sitting back waiting for his grave, he decided to comprehend the chemistry behind diabetes. After fully understanding the condition, he designed a regime of various medical supplements. Currently, he claims that he has been able starve-off the havoc of age. He has even published two books on his medical research.

The film predicts that humanity will be able to go way beyond the current biological boundaries. The aim is to one day be able to overcome death and to become immortal. So in 2 decades microscopic robots should be able to heal most of our potential health predicaments.

Anti Aging, Immortality, Longevity, Nanotechnology

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A group of researchers from National Taiwan University & Johns Hopkins have managed to alter the lifespan of typical single-celled yeast organisms. This was achieved by comprehending how to restore and remove protein associated with the aging of yeast.

The biologist found that whenever the age-related enzyme variant was removed the lifespan of the organism was significantly reduced. However, restoring the same protein led to a radical extension to the lifespan.

Jef Boeke, Director of the Hit Center & Technology Center for Network & Pathways, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said for yeast, the study unveiled that a particular molecular component associated to the aging pathway appeared similar to the pathway that regulates the lifespan and longevity of humans.

According to Boeke, this is the first research that found a particular bio-chemical pathway of youth and aging, which is totally unrelated to diets.

Boeke says that a particular chemical type called acetylation forming part of the acetyl group of molecules goes on and off. It is similar to another enzyme Sip2, which works in the same way as decoration. It goes on and off.

Besides, acetylation is a necessary protein to enable organisms as well as systems to better and faster adapt to environments.

The researchers found that acetylation of the enzyme Sip2 influenced longevity in a particular way. It dictated how frequently the yeast cell could divide thus influencing the replicative life span.

In general, the replicative lifespan of yeast is 25 years. However, when the yeast was genetically modified to be able to restore the chemical alteration the lifespan of the yeast increased to 38, which is a rise of approximately 50 percent.

The scientists did manipulate the lifespan of the yeast by mutating various chemical residues, to create a similar effect to the acetylated and de-acetylated type of the enzyme Sip2.

This study was published in the Cell, September, 16. According to Jin-Ying Lu, M.D., PH.D., from National Taiwain University, the next step is now to test whether the same is true for other mammalian cells.

Source: Times of India

Anti Aging, Bioscience, Lifestyle

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Based on scientific research in both medicine and computer science, there are lots of authors that predict that humans could really live forever. For example, a British gerontologist by the name Aubrey de Grey believes that gerontology, the “ageing science”, has made huge steps in annihilating ageing; so huge and fast that, in 2008, he said that the first millennial child had already been born.

Another famous futurologist, the American Ray Kurzweil, wrote a book in which he also predicted immortality, but in a different manner. Published in 2005, “The Singularity Is Near” refers to a special moment in the development of artificial intelligence, when the human mind could be “downloaded” into hard drives and, consequently, operates in an artificial form until the end of time. Kurzweil so strongly believes his prediction that he has embarked on a vegetarian dieting and workouts, hoping he would live forever-up to 2030 – the year his foretell would fulfill.

Living “alive” or in a computer memory could prove, in the end, of total futility, dare other specialists say. A counter-strike theory was developed by academics who showed that, paradoxically, ageing and dying are for the better advantage of the species; though these processes are far from any individual human’s desire. For the Homo sapiens in general ageing and dying are profitable, because they contribute to adaptability and thus to the historical survival of mankind.

In other words, the counter-theory pretends that mortal people could exterminate the “immortals,” on a long-range period, leading to the restore of mortality.

The one to arbitrate the two currents was the evolutionary biologist Andre Martins of the University Of Sao Paolo Brazil. In a computer model, he simulated two antagonistic groups, competing over the control of a territory. Martins succeeded to prove that the “mortal” population could have the upper hand, in certain conditions. Martin filled a square with an equal number of blue (“mortals) and red (“immortals) dots; in the end, following the logic pattern and the conditions furnished by the software. The blue dots on the model square managed to “kill” their “enemies” and “conquer” most of the red territory.

Andre Martin's simulations 'pitted' two populations - one red, one blue - against one another, simulating their lives as they battled to 'control' an environment. Under some circumstances, it can be an 'advantage' for a species to 'prune' itself by dying

Source of Image: Daily Mail

Any computer model is far from having the complexity of natural phenomena; this proved to be true with Martins’ simulation, too: his populations acted very differently under very small software tweaks. In the initial stage, the “immortals” were in advantage (at least, those who were not killed in accidents). Then, Martins introduced random elements (mutations, for example) and found out that the balance tilted towards the “mortals.” The computer model showed that aging and dying helps our specie to adapt.

According to the Brazilian Scientists, as more random elements were introduced – such as mutations – the populations that were exposed to aging had benefits over the immortals. In other words, mutation is an explanation of why we age. In addition, it illustrates our inadequate understanding in how eliminating aging can alter our complex natural world.

Martin concluded that immortality of species can drive it own existence into extinction. Changes in mutation, is something that human adapts to as long as we reproduce, and die. Our future generation do slightly adapt to new conditions and changes.

Of course, Martins’ mathematical modeling aroused reactions. Bryan Appleyard, the author of the best-selling “How to Live Forever – or Die Trying” has attacked Martins’ conclusion: Saying that currently death doesn’t induce significant evolution. Our genes simply genes simply impoverish after our mid-twenties – followed by falling health.

According to Bryan Appleyard, the real world experience is likely going to be quite different from Martins’ computer model. The more common disadvantage of immortality is boredom of the mind. So a good reason to die might ironically be that people feel bad of being themselves to long.

Source: Daily Mail

Anti Aging, Gerontology, Longevity

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A newly born Australian baby girl could very well look forward to living up to 100 years even in the present day, owing to the developments in medical expertise; standard of living and health services offered the general public.

Now with the introduction of new therapies of stem cells; the development of new medicines to enable the human body to heal itself is reaching higher levels of applications.

Professor Smith, who is the UNSW Medicine Dean, said that the current circumstances offer a lot of hope that the human race would be able to enjoy an increase in longevity by a few decades. He said that being alive for as long as 150 years may feel scary to some. However, it would be an excellent experience provided you are fit and fine until the last years of your life. According to him, the objective is not merely to squeeze out additional years but to also provide for long and healthy years.

However, the main topic of discussion of Professor Smith’s lecture on 17th October 2011, bearing the title ‘Happy and healthy ageing: paradox or possibility?’ was, the grave challenges that society would have to face due to increased lifespan of humans.

The professor said that people would surely not wish to spend several decades at home doing nothing after retiring from their duties at the age of 65.

Oxford University neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield also predicts that people would start to have more than one career. Some people would begin their second careers at the age of 65 and engage in knowledge oriented activities rather than physical jobs.

However, for people to survive up to an age of 150 years the priority should be to deal with conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. If these aging diseases aren’t addressed than longer life would result as a social and economic disaster, she said.

Harvard University’s ageing expert from Australia, David Sinclair, said that the pace at which the human body age is controlled by a cluster of genes. According to him, the human body’s ability to heal itself is remarkable.

It was shown by Professor Sinclair that red wine contains a plant compound called resveratol, which is capable of adding to the longevity of fungi, worms, flies and mice, by secreting sirtuins – a type of proteins.

GlaxoSmithKline acquired the company co-founded by him in 2008 for a price of 720 Million USD. He said that synthetically generated molecules, which are 1000 times stronger than resveratol, are being clinically tested on humans suffering from age-related ailments such as Diabetes 2, and they are proving to be capable of producing early side-effects. The first and foremost objective of the trials is to deduce medicines to heal the aged sick people and after that, try to postpone the setting in of age-related disorders. He said that although it is a too early stage in the trials, they seem to be witnessing the start of a revolutionary technology that could soon enable humans to touch an advance age of 150 years.

In September 2011, scientists from Britain questioned the authenticity of the connection between increased lifespan in worms and flies, and sirtuins. This was reported in the international journal ‘Nature’.

To this, Professor Sinclair responded by saying that even though ageing is such an area of science which generates a controversy even today, he has confidence in the strong foundation upon which his team’s research stands. – Human lifespan is likely to continue to increase.

Source: SMH

Gerontology, Longevity

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