Updated: 2012-02-29 14:02:55
A mere 40% extension of life span in nematode worms via a novel method is a part of the general background noise of aging research nowadays: "The planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway is highly conserved from Drosophila to humans and a PCP-like pathway has recently been described in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The developmental function of this pathway is to coordinate the orientation of cells or structures within the plane of an epithelium or to organize cell-cell intercalation required for correct morphogenesis. Here, we describe a novel role of VANG-1, the only C. elegans ortholog of the conserved PCP component...
Updated: 2012-02-29 13:35:02
The core point of SENS, the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, is explained in this short interview: "Could you elaborate on the idea mentioned on SENS: that it isn't necessary to know, from an 'engineering' perspective, everything about the degenerative processes that occur at the cellular level in order to treat aging in the way you envision? ... The basic point we're making there is to contrast the regenerative approach with the more traditional idea of trying to make metabolism create molecular and cellular damage more slowly. In order to do the latter, we would need to understand our biology...
Updated: 2012-02-29 02:20:49
The INDY gene in fruit flies was one of the earlier discoveries in the genetics of longevity. The initials of the name stand for I'm Not Dead Yet, an allusion to a Monty Python scene and one of many unusual names given to fly genes. You'll find a range of posts on INDY back in the Fight Aging! archives, following the research highlights over the years. Here is an open access review paper that provides an introduction the INDY and the present state of knowledge regarding its operation when mutated to extend fly life span: Single gene mutations that extend...
Updated: 2012-02-28 13:52:02
Here is a commentary on rapamycin research results (only available in PDF format, I'm afraid to say), which you might compare with an earlier commentary on the same work: "Anisimov et al. report that lifelong administration of rapamycin, starting at 2 mo of age, increases the maximum lifespan of female 129/Sv mice. This finding corroborates, in a different genetic background, the landmark discovery by the National Institute on Aging Intervention Testing Program (ITP) that rapamycin increases mouse lifespan in both sexes when given orally starting at either 9 or 20 mo of age. In contrast to the ITP study, Anisimov...
Updated: 2012-02-28 13:16:56
Progress in stem cell medicine may lead to ways to restore the capacity for memory lost with aging by intervening in the activity of neural stem cells: researchers "have discovered an answer to the long-standing mystery of how brain cells can both remember new memories while also maintaining older ones. They found that specific neurons in a brain region called the dentate gyrus serve distinct roles in memory formation depending on whether the neural stem cells that produced them were of old versus young age. ... In animals, traumatic experiences and aging often lead to decline of the birth of...
Updated: 2012-02-27 14:20:47
Calorie restriction slows more or less every measure of aging, and here is another - a small study to measure decline in the nervous system cells that control a portion of the intestines: "The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of caloric restriction (CR) on myenteric neurons in the duodenum of Wistar rats during aging. Thirty rats were divided into three groups: the C group (six-month-old animals that were fed a normal diet from weaning until six months of age), the SR group (18-month-old animals that were fed a normal diet from weaning until 18 months of...
Updated: 2012-02-25 01:39:54
Telomeres are the ends of the chromosome, caps of repeating DNA sequences that shorten with each cell division and lengthen according to the activity of the enzyme telomerase - this is a very dynamic process, responding differently to circumstances in different cells and tissue types. Telomere length somewhat acts as a countdown clock, moving a cell towards shutdown after a certain number of divisions rather than permitting continued replication, but as for all matters biological the telomere-telomerase-chromosome system considered as a whole is exceedingly complex. It influences and is influenced by many other important cellular systems and feedback loops: mitochondrial...
Updated: 2012-02-24 13:19:49
Via Extreme Longevity: "Progeria is a rare disease in which children age very rapidly, acquire diseases of the elderly and typically die in teenage years with the phenotypical appearance of the elderly. The disease has been found to occur due to mutations in the LMNA gene which codes for the nuclear envelope proteins called lamin-A and lamin-B. These proteins are responsible for the security and integrity of the nuclear membrane surrounding the cell's DNA. When these proteins are mutated the DNA is poorly protected and quickly and extensively damaged leading to accelerated aging. In this study the researchers hypothesized that...
Updated: 2012-02-24 02:40:20
Join us for an intellectually stimulating evening with best-selling author and tech analyst Sonia Arrison! Dinner and drinks will be served h’orderve/tapas-style at 7pm; Sonia will present at 8pm, with personalized, small-group Q&A on the future of technology to follow. Wednesday March 21, 2012 at Ristorante Don Giovanni, 235 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA 94041 [...]
Updated: 2012-02-24 02:04:05
A couple of years ago, Chinese researchers demonstrated modestly extended longevity in mice through transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells. This sort of thing is a very brute-force approach to enhanced regeneration: it's more or less the least and first possible action that can be taken after developing the technology to extract, purify, and culture stem cells outside the body. Researchers are still in the midst of gathering a full understanding of what exactly goes on under the hood in the variety of circumstances and methodologies whereby tissue is flooded with additional stem cells. But as is demonstrated by the trials...
Updated: 2012-02-23 17:25:55
, Institute for Evidence Based Cryonics Home About Organization What is cryonics Scientists' Open Letter on Cryonics Depressed Metabolism Blog Mailing Lists Sitemap Legal Protection of Cryonics Patients , Part 1 Written by : Keegan Macintosh on February 23, 2012. In a previous article Aschwin de Wolf argues that it might be easier to persuade others that cryonics patients are still alive according to existing criteria of death , than to argue for the adoption of a more progressive definition , such as information-theoretic death. Presumably though , if we are to go to the trouble at all , it will not be solely to alleviate our subjective discomfort with the idea of being labelled dead , but rather because achieving such recognition would accrue practical benefits to present and future
Updated: 2012-02-23 13:24:56
An article on recent sirtuin research - while extended longevity is demonstrated, I don't think it changes the big picture on sirtuins all that much: "Mammals, including humans, have seven types of sirtuins, called SIRT1 to SIRT7. Scientists aren't sure what these proteins do, although there is some evidence suggesting that they might help prevent chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. For example, resveratrol, the nutrient found in grape skins (and red wine), has been shown to have a positive effect on heart health, and it may work by activating the SIRT1 gene to make more SIRT1 protein....
Updated: 2012-02-23 13:17:56
A novel viewpoint is outlined in this article, though as always it remains to be seen how important the effect is in comparison with other concrete manifestations of aging: "For decades, scientists have looked for explanations as to why certain conditions occur with age, among them memory loss, slower reaction time, insomnia and even depression. They have scrupulously investigated such suspects as high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and an inactive lifestyle. Now a fascinating body of research supports a largely unrecognized culprit: the aging of the eye. The gradual yellowing of the lens and the narrowing of the pupil that...
Updated: 2012-02-23 02:07:36
A set of machine learning programs can now predict properties of small organic molecules as accurately as can calculations based upon the Schrödinger equation, but in milliseconds rather than hours.
Updated: 2012-02-23 01:06:18
The long term goals for the field of stem cell medicine tend to come back around to include rejuvenation at some point. It's unavoidable, really: the medical conditions most obviously suited to treatment via stem cell therapies are the malfunctions and disrepair of old age - failing muscles, hearts, livers, and other more complex organs. But stem cell populations and their supporting infrastructure in the body also fail right at the time when they are most needed. (That progressive failure of stem cell capacity with age goes some way to causing the time of greatest need, of course, but it's...
Updated: 2012-02-22 08:13:58
Institute for Evidence Based Cryonics Home About Organization What is cryonics Scientists' Open Letter on Cryonics Depressed Metabolism Blog Mailing Lists Sitemap Institute for Evidence Based Cryonics update Written by : Aschwin de Wolf on February 22, 2012. The Institute for Evidence Based Cryonics website and the Depressed Metabolism blog have now been completely . integrated In 2007 the Institute for Evidence Based Cryonics was established as a 501(c 3 tax exempt non-profit organization to educate the general public about cryonics and launch projects to improve the science and practice of cryonics . The Institute publishes the Depressed Metabolism blog about cryonics and life extension , hosts the Scientists’ Open Letter on Cryonics and runs two mailing lists about personalized cryonics
Updated: 2012-02-21 06:36:28
A new book documenting tremendous strides toward a better future reached #1 on both Amazon and BarnesAndNoble.
Updated: 2012-02-13 00:41:20
A field-effect tunneling transistor comprising a vertical heterostructure of atomically thin layers of graphene and boron nitride or molybdenum disulfide may pave the way for computer chips based on graphene nanotechnology.
Updated: 2012-02-10 23:19:27
ideo of a superhydrophobic spray-on coating shows chocolate syrup shooting off a white shoe leaving it spotless.
Updated: 2012-01-31 18:16:40
Scientists at Kyoto University and the University of Oxford have combined DNA origami and DNA motors to take another step toward programmed artificial molecular assembly lines.
Updated: 2012-01-09 00:55:02
Institute for Evidence Based Cryonics Home About Organization What is cryonics Scientists' Open Letter on Cryonics Depressed Metabolism Blog Mailing Lists Sitemap Annotated bibliography of cryoprotectant toxicity Written by : Aschwin de Wolf on January 8, 2012. Introduction Cryoprotectant toxicity should be distinguished from other mechanisms of cryopreservation injury such as chilling injury injury produced by too low temperatures as such and cold shock  injury produced by rapid cooling Cryoprotectant toxicity itself can again be divided into general cryoprotectant toxicity and specific cryoprotectant toxicity General cryoprotectant toxicity involves concentration water substitution effects of cryoprotectants and specific cryoprotectant toxicity involves the effects of individual
