Category Archives: Longevity Medicine

Via EurekAlert!: "Two methods of extending life span have very different effects on memory performance and decline with age. ... While the nematode C. elegans is already well known for its utility in longevity research, previously it was not known how the memory of C. elegans compares with that of other animals, or whether longevity treatments could improve learning and memory. To answer these questions, [researchers] designed new tests of learning and memory in C. elegans, then used these tests to identify the necessary components of learning, short-term memory, and long-term memory. They found that the molecules required for learning and memory appear to be conserved from C. elegans to mammals, suggesting that the basic mechanisms underlying learning and memory are ancient. The authors also determined how each of the behaviors declines with age, and tested the effects of two known regulators of longevity - dietary restriction and reduced Insulin/IGF-1 signaling - on these declines. Surprisingly, very different effects on memory were achieved with the two longevity treatments: dietary restriction impaired memory in early adulthood but maintained memory with age, while reduced Insulin/IGF-1 signaling improved early adult memory performance but failed to preserve it with age. These results suggest not only that longevity treatments could help preserve cognitive function with age, but also that different longevity treatments might have very different effects on such declines."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/plos-pmw051210.php

Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

A headline reporting a new Harris Poll survey stated that “Very few Americans find statements by financial institutions completely believable.”  One specific item of interest was that 51 percent of the respondents said that a statement made by someone who works for a health insurance company was believable (2 percent completely believable, 49 percent somewhat believable) while 49 percent answered not at all believable.  Banks, investment firms and government agencies that regulate financial institutions all fared poorly in the believability research. 

These results are not shocking in light of the health care debate and economic stresses that reverberate throughout the economy.  However, the survey shows the depth of the difficulty people have with companies and government agencies that are indispensible to their financial well being. 

This is a good time for intermediaries, whether they are trusted authors, financial advisors, academics and others to fill the void that is obviously missing in the public’s confidence in key industries.  Changes in health care, for example, are sure to cause people to have to rethink sometimes decades old strategies to financing coverage.  The health insurance industry will play a key role in the implementation of health reform, so designing a system in which the public has a basic level of trust is not a trivial matter.

From the Guardian: “The human body has tremendous capacity to repair itself after disease or injury. Skin will grow over wounds, while cells in our blood supply are constantly being manufactured in our bone marrow. But there is a limit to the body’s ability to replace lost tissue. Cartilage cells are notoriously poor at regrowing after injury, for example. As a result, accidents and illnesses – including cancers – often leave individuals with disfiguring wounds or life-threatening damage to tissue. The aim of Molly Stevens, a nanoscience researcher at Imperial College, London, and founder of the biotech firm Reprogen, is a simple but ambitious one. Working with a team of chemists, cell biologists, surgeons, material scientists and engineers, she is developing techniques that will help the body repair itself when it suffers damage. This is the science of regenerative medicine. … One approach that we have had considerable success with involves taking quite straightforward materials including simple polymers and using them to boost bone growth in a person. We made them into gels that we could inject into bones. The key to this technique lies with the fact that our bones are covered in a layer of stem cells. We inject our material under that layer and that wakes up those stem cells. They start to multiply and produce lots of new bone.”

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/may/16/bright-idea-get-body-grow-spare-parts

Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

Researchers here demonstrate that comparatively simple stem cell transplants may be effective in regenerating lung injuries: “Human stem cells administered intravenously can restore alveolar epithelial tissue to a normal function in a novel ex vivo perfused human lung after E. coli endotoxin-induced acute lung injury (ALI) … ALI is a common cause of respiratory failure in the intensive care units, often leading to death. It can be caused by both direct injury such as aspiration and pneumonia, and indirect injury such as sepsis and from trauma. … Yearly, ALI affects approximately 200,000 patients in the US and has a 40 percent mortality rate despite extensive investigations into its causes and pathophysiology. Innovative therapies are desperately needed. … we found that intravenous infusion of [stem cells] preferentially homed to the injured areas of the lung, which means that the cells find their way from the bloodstream to the sites in the lung of injury. … In addition to having restored function of alveolar epithelial cells, lungs treated with [stem cells] showed a reduction in inflammatory [cytokine] levels suggesting a favorable shift away from a proinflammatory environment in the injured alveolus.”

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/ats-scr051010.php

Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

Researchers here demonstrate that comparatively simple stem cell transplants may be effective in regenerating lung injuries: "Human stem cells administered intravenously can restore alveolar epithelial tissue to a normal function in a novel ex vivo perfused human lung after E. coli endotoxin-induced acute lung injury (ALI) ... ALI is a common cause of respiratory failure in the intensive care units, often leading to death. It can be caused by both direct injury such as aspiration and pneumonia, and indirect injury such as sepsis and from trauma. ... Yearly, ALI affects approximately 200,000 patients in the US and has a 40 percent mortality rate despite extensive investigations into its causes and pathophysiology. Innovative therapies are desperately needed. ... we found that intravenous infusion of [stem cells] preferentially homed to the injured areas of the lung, which means that the cells find their way from the bloodstream to the sites in the lung of injury. ... In addition to having restored function of alveolar epithelial cells, lungs treated with [stem cells] showed a reduction in inflammatory [cytokine] levels suggesting a favorable shift away from a proinflammatory environment in the injured alveolus."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/ats-scr051010.php

Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

From the Guardian: "The human body has tremendous capacity to repair itself after disease or injury. Skin will grow over wounds, while cells in our blood supply are constantly being manufactured in our bone marrow. But there is a limit to the body's ability to replace lost tissue. Cartilage cells are notoriously poor at regrowing after injury, for example. As a result, accidents and illnesses - including cancers - often leave individuals with disfiguring wounds or life-threatening damage to tissue. The aim of Molly Stevens, a nanoscience researcher at Imperial College, London, and founder of the biotech firm Reprogen, is a simple but ambitious one. Working with a team of chemists, cell biologists, surgeons, material scientists and engineers, she is developing techniques that will help the body repair itself when it suffers damage. This is the science of regenerative medicine. ... One approach that we have had considerable success with involves taking quite straightforward materials including simple polymers and using them to boost bone growth in a person. We made them into gels that we could inject into bones. The key to this technique lies with the fact that our bones are covered in a layer of stem cells. We inject our material under that layer and that wakes up those stem cells. They start to multiply and produce lots of new bone."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/may/16/bright-idea-get-body-grow-spare-parts

Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/