MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'activism advocacy'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:32:44 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181722&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F09%2Fcreating-people-seems-like-a-necessary-but-not-terribly-nice-thing-to-be-doing.php Less us ponder the subject of having children in the face of the existence of aging coupled with the possibility of progressively defeating aging - perhaps to the point where some of us alive today will escape age-related death by the skin of our teeth. Or perhaps not if we don't get our act together here and now. Evidently we need to have children in order to have the chance of incrementally defeating aging by building ever better versions of a biological repair kit to reverse ever more of the damage that causes degeneration and death. This task is one of decades, long enough that it may be today's researchers who start the job, but it'll be younger hands that finish it - their children and grandchildren. Yet creating people is somewhat like drafting them into a war and a human condition ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181722 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5181722 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5174581&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fchanging-the-mythology-thoughts-on-sonia-arrisons-100-plus.php The latest book to emerge from the longevity advocacy community is entitled "100 Plus: How the Coming age of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith", and is penned by Sonia Arrison, whom you might have heard of. The foreword is by Peter Thiel, whose name you should certainly know by now - you might recall his $3.5 million funding of the SENS Foundation's program of rejuvenation biotechnology, back when it was a branch of the Methuselah Foundation. Thiel makes a point in the opening pages, and it's one to keep in mind when reading the rest of the book: Unlike the other animals, we have knowledge of death. The origins of language, of culture, and of religion can perhaps all be traced to that point in the distant past when our ancestors first acq... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5174581 Sun, 28 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5174581 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5130713&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=35049&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nakedmedicine.com%2Fis-pharma-ready-for-a-conversation-on-facebook Jonathan at Dose of Digital talks about pharma’s fear of Facebook pages centering around 2 issues that pharma thinks require 24/7 monitoring: Adverse Events and negative publicity. I hear the same excuse on why pharma companies are so scared to look at patient comments on blogs: adverse events. I’m sorry, but adverse events are happening [...] (Source: NAKEDMEDICINE.COM) NAKEDMEDICINE.COM blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5130713 Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:28:26 +0100 5130713 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125703&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fnobody-is-arguing-that-radical-life-extension-is-impossible.php Discussions on "when" can probably be skipped as lacking rigor: no-one knows. All the meaningful timelines depend greatly on seeds sown now that will only bear fruit in the 2030s - the course of twenty years remains a matter of long term planning and great uncertainty in specific outcomes while we're stuck living lives that top out at a century (and that with great luck). The beginnings of a larger research community, the outcome of the debate over strategy in longevity research, and so forth. It is interesting to ponder and plot the windings of future events, but that time is probably better spent on influencing the "how" discussion or materially contributing to progress. As to the discussion on whether engineering longevity is desirable, or should be blocked by people in power - I think... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125703 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5125703 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077633&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fpartaking-of-the-hope.php If you go through the first half of your life basically healthy, there are actually only a few important differences between your situation and that of your ancestors a century or two ago when it comes to health and medical technology. For all that we live in the opening years of an era of advanced biotechnology, and in an age of far greater wealth, a healthy person benefits only through (a) the reduced burden of infectious disease, and (b) through the insulating effects of wealth against malnutrition, exposure, and other environmental misfortunes. These two points are enough to explain much of the steady rise in life expectancy that occurs with growing wealth and advancing medical technology over the past centuries. What is the point of mentioning this? It is to remind us that we are no... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077633 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5077633 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069420&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fwe-dont-need-to-persuade-everyone.php The point of advocacy and education for the development of rejuvenation biotechnology, such as evangelism for the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, is not to persuade everyone. It's to persuade enough of the right people: enough to ensure that progress occurs and ways to significantly reverse aging and its diseases are produced within our lifetimes. That doesn't have to be a sizable fraction of the population: the plausible cost of achieving radical life extension in mice is one to two billion dollars over a decade. Most of the really big pharmaceutical companies each spend that much on the development of two or three mainstream drugs, all costs included. A billion dollars is small change when considered against the economic output of even small segments of the human race. ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069420 Sun, 24 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5069420 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4992643&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fthere-is-no-i-dont-know-what-to-do-with-my-life.php There should be no such thing as "I don't know what to do with my life." Scratch that statement away and erase it, as it should be "I will aid the development of life extension technology until I do know." It should be no surprise to anyone that many, or perhaps even a majority of people at any given time have no real idea as to what they want to do with their lives. No vision, no grand dream that captures them, no burning desire to achieve a specific great work. That isn't because they are incapable - far from it, it is because they haven't found their own personal blue touch paper yet. The space of ideas and ideals is vast, and even the most aggressively autodidactic internet-addicted polymath cannot embrace more than a fraction of the sphere of human knowledge. Yet you cannot know you... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4992643 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4992643 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968436&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fanother-crowdsourced-research-funding-success-for-longecity.php I'm pleased to see that the Immortality Institute / Longecity has completed fundraising for their latest project, an investigation of the potential benefits of microglia transplants in the aging brain: After months of fundraising we are now delighted to announce that the project has started! Through many donations large and small, the community has raised sufficient funds to initiate the project. Last month, we passed the 80% mark and knew that full success would only be a matter of time. Then, something amazing happened: though promoting this effort, a far sighted investor has stepped forward who can see the potential in developing this research project. The angel [committed] a substantial contribution towards a research arm that is closely aligned to the project LongeCity is funding. Th... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968436 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4968436 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934056&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fconfusion-abounds-especially-when-religion-and-spirituality-become-involved.php Confusion is an important barrier to overcome when advocating engineered human longevity. For those folk who are not paying much attention to the topic - which is, sadly, 99.9% of the present roster of the human race - there's little apparent difference between advocacy for real, plausible scientific development and the nonsense of the "anti-aging" marketplace. It's pretty much all the same to them, and that's a big problem. One of the long term projects for the advocacy community is to raise the general level of education and awareness, such that a far greater number of people do know that they should support SENS research and not the ramblings of the pill and potion vendors if they do have an interest in living longer. Not a small project, but we can all help. Things become somewhat w... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934056 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4934056 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921360&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fopen-cures-a-protocol-outline-for-mitochondrial-protofection.php Open Cures is an initiative that aims to accelerate the development of existing longevity-enhancing biotechnologies demonstrated in the laboratory, but which are not being developed for commercial use in humans - largely due to regulatory barriers. Open Cures is a volunteer initiative, open to everyone willing to help, that aims to speed the advent of biotechnologies that can slow down or repair aspects of the biological damage of aging and thus extend healthy human life. Our primary long-term goal is to bring together (a) promising but undeveloped biotechnologies of longevity and (b) the developers who can bring them to the clinic. A fellow named Allen is one of the folk whose interest in the Open Cures vision convinced me that I needed to do more than just talk about it: you can see h... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921360 Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4921360 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4911432&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fhyperactivism-considered-harmful.php What I'll here call hyperactivism is a poisonous sort of dysfunction that you'll find in activist and advocate communities associated with struggling industries or long-standing initiatives that have failed to fulfill early visions of growth. It comes about because the early supporters in any new field tend to be passionate, driven, ornery, and focused: if they didn't have these characteristics, they wouldn't be up for the job of fighting over and again to persuade people to see things their way. If you are trying to build a new venture, then you need these people: they are worth their weight in gold, and they will help you succeed. When an initiative does succeed attracting broad support and a large community, the energy and quirks of the early activists are tempered by a sea of more sed... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4911432 Mon, 06 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4911432 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883538&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fan-introduction-to-open-cures-at-h-magazine.php I recently wrote an article that introduces the Open Cures initiative and explains the backdrop of medical research and regulation that makes Open Cures - or something very much like it - absolutely necessary. The piece is presently published at h+ Magazine: You may recognize me as the author-slash-editor of Fight Aging!, a long-running news and advocacy site focused on progress towards reversal of aging and engineering longer human lives. There is more to progress in the general sense than just the underlying science, however, and with that in mind I recently announced the launch of Open Cures, a volunteer initiative with the aim of greatly speeding up the development of clinical applications of longevity science. Participation is open to anyone who can help with the goals listed in the ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883538 Mon, 30 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4883538 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4872044&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=35049&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nakedmedicine.com%2Fstop-pretending-you-dont-know-pharma-companies I remembered years ago I was speaking to a Forest employee who told me how proud she was to be working at Forest because of how ethical the company and the CEO was. That same employee was critical of me for talking to the WSJ about some of the less ethical practices that pharma companies [...] (Source: NAKEDMEDICINE.COM) NAKEDMEDICINE.COM blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4872044 Fri, 27 May 2011 17:24:42 +0100 4872044 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4872038&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fcountries-medical-tourism-law-a-research-project-for-the-open-cures-initiative.php I am looking for volunteers to undertake some light, spare-time research for Open Cures: An open volunteer initiative that aims to speed the advent of biotechnologies that can slow down or repair aspects of the biological damage of aging and thus extend healthy human life. Our primary long-term goal is to bring together (a) promising but undeveloped biotechnologies of longevity and (b) the developers who can bring them to the clinic. The Open Cures roadmap looks a way past the present foundational work (website, writing, organizational details, and so forth) and past the forthcoming efforts to build a repository of documentation for longevity-enhancing biotechnologies. Beyond all of that lies a process of building relationships with the medical tourism industry and developers outside the... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4872038 Thu, 26 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4872038 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862477&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fthree-parallel-tracks.php There are three parallel tracks along which the future development of longevity science must progress, and we'll reach the end goal only as rapidly as the slowest of the three tracks moves. 1) Science and Biotechnology The most obvious of the tracks is that the technologies of rejuvenation must be developed. We can see what the form that these technologies must take: damage repaired, waning cell populations renewed, waste byproducts broken down and removed, cancer thwarted. Initiatives like SENS can describe the needed procedures in great detail, at the level of cells and molecular machinery, as we truly are within a tantalizingly close reach of their creation. But the biotechnologies of rejuvenation don't yet exist, and the many technology demonstrations of long-lived mice, flies, and ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862477 Tue, 24 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4862477 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862480&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fthe-latest-rejuvenation-research-and-the-most-important-debate.php I'd missed the emergence of the latest issue of Rejuvenation Research last month, which opens with this: Possibly the biggest battle that I have had to fight over the past decade is to persuade people to take seriously the idea that it is time even to think about "reversing aging" while we remain so negligibly able even to slow aging down. The flaw in that logic is simple: it is that rejuvenation, i.e. the restoration of an organism's physiological state to how it was at an earlier age, will be achieved not by reversing the processes of aging but by repairing the accumulated damage that those processes create. To get back to where we came from, in other words, we do not need to retrace the route we took from there to here. Any route will do, and in this case there turns out to be a vastly... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862480 Mon, 23 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4862480 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862483&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fannouncing-open-cures.php I'm pleased to announce that Open Cures has launched. This is the volunteer initiative sprung from discussion of the Vegas Group concept that has been taking place here for the past few months. More than a dozen ways to extend life in mice have been demonstrated in laboratories Yet the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) forbids commercial therapies for aging Thus the best biotechnologies for human longevity languish, undeveloped... But this is a shrinking world, linked by the internet and medical tourism Advanced, safe clinical development takes place in many countries We can work around the FDA, and this is how it will be done » Looking at the future of commercial medical development and rejuvenation biotechnology, it seems clear that something has to be done. The present ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862483 Sun, 22 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4862483 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4762734&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fpotential-early-documentation-projects-for-the-vegas-group.php What is the Vegas Group initiative setting out to achieve, in a nutshell? I'm still working on that short explanation, but here is one attempt at it. Thanks to the present regulatory situation in the US - where aging is not recognized as a disease, and therefore no therapy for aging can be legally developed - there are any number of potentially useful biotechnologies presently languishing without further development. These are methods and techniques shown to extend life in mice or repair and reverse specific biochemical aspects of aging, but for which there is no further funding for clinical development. Nothing may be happening for these technologies in the US, but there are active biotechnology and medical development communities in other parts of the world who are not so encumbered by l... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4762734 Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4762734 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4758721&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fsens-foundation-is-hiring-for-the-lysosens-project.php LysoSENS is the SENS Foundation initiative to build a platform for medical bioremediation capable of breaking down the damaging byproducts of metabolism that build up in old cells and degrade their ability to recycle garbage. The short of is that we know that out there somewhere are bacteria that can eat these compounds, such as the lipofuscin that contributes to many age-related conditions. There is no buildup of prominent components of lipofuscin in graveyards, for example - so something is consuming it. That bacterial something will be armed with enzymes, biological knifes and saws that might be turned into a therapy to destroy lipofuscin if identified and introduced into the human body. You might recall that the early LysoSENS volunteers ran a contest for soil samples from obscure loc... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4758721 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4758721 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753647&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fan-update-on-early-vegas-group-discussions.php The Vegas Group is a recently launched initiative that aims to speed up translation of existing longevity-enhancing biotechnologies from the laboratory to human therapies. There is little incentive for commercial entities to work on these technologies in the US because the FDA does not recognize aging as a disease, and will therefore never approve a therapy for aging. But if these technologies, currently documented only in the prickly, dense scientific literature, can be brought into the open biotechnology arena, explained, and made accessible, they will be picked up by semi-professionals, developers, and commercial ventures in less restricted parts of the world. Protofection, for example, is a technique for introducing replacement mitochondrial DNA into all the cells of the body - a way... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753647 Sun, 24 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4753647 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734019&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fa-mailing-list-for-discussion-of-the-vegas-group-initiative.php I have created a mailing list - actually a Google group - for discussion on the Vegas Group initiative, as outlined in past posts here at Fight Aging!: The Vegas Group: a so far fictional community of the next ten years that will merge the longevity advocacy and open biotech communities in order to (a) reverse engineer the most promising life-span-enhancing techniques demonstrated in the laboratory, (b) translate that work into human rejuvenation biotechnologies, and (b) make these therapies available for use via medical tourism to Asia-Pacific region clinics. I suppose it's not quite so fictional now that a small group of people are talking about how to make it happen. The present focus - for me at least - is on kickstarting a narrow, exploratory project of documentation and reverse eng... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734019 Sun, 17 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4734019 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4719872&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Freversing-engineering-protofection-as-a-first-target-for-the-vegas-group.php The Vegas Group is a yet-to-be-built community initiative intended to bring longevity science to the open biotechnology and DIYbio communities - and from there reverse engineer and make ready for human use the most promising longevity-enhancing technologies demonstrated in mice in the laboratory. We are entering an age of medical tourism, and the clinics and laboratories of Asia will be happy to accept business and open source biotechnologies generated by DIYbio work in the US. At this stage, I'm still thinking through the project: breaking it down into manageable chunks, and considering what I should work on first: The path to this future involves networking and community building in a whole new and different direction from that taken by much of the longevity advocacy community - and the... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4719872 Wed, 13 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4719872 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4714705&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Freversing-engineering-protofection-as-a-first-target-for-the-vegas-group.php The Vegas Group is a yet-to-be-built community initiative intended to bring longevity science to the open biotechnology and DIYbio communities - and from there reverse engineer and make ready for human use the most promising longevity-enhancing technologies demonstrated in mice in the laboratory. We are entering an age of medical tourism, and the clinics and laboratories of Asia will be happy to accept business and open source biotechnologies generated by DIYbio work in the US. At this stage, I'm still thinking through the project: breaking it down into manageable chunks, and considering what I should work on first: The path to this future involves networking and community building in a whole new and different direction from that taken by much of the longevity advocacy community - and the... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4714705 Wed, 13 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4714705 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693252&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fa-few-large-numbers.php Some numbers to consider, since everyone and their dog seems to be talking about the disposition of inordinately large sums of money - and little else - at the moment: Between 1970 and 2000, increasing life expectancy added $3.2 trillion in effective wealth. The yearly cost of natural death: more than 50 million lives and $100 trillion in wealth. The estimated cost of developing robust rejuvenation in mice via SENS, the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence: $100 million per year over ten years. The 2010 budget for the US National Institute on Aging: $1 billion. The 2010 budget for the US National Institutes of Health: in the vicinity of $35 billion. The NIH comprises perhaps a third of medical research funding in the US. The cost of acquiring sirtuin research company Sirt... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693252 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4693252 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4631454&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fan-approach-to-step-one-of-the-vegas-group-bootstrapping-the-codex.php The Vegas Group: a so far fictional community of the next ten years that will merge the longevity advocacy and open biotech communities in order to (a) reverse engineer the most promising life-span-enhancing techniques demonstrated in the laboratory, (b) translate that work into human rejuvenation biotechnologies, and (b) make these therapies available for use via medical tourism to Asia-Pacific region clinics. So I have been pondering how best to make the vision of the Vegas Group a reality: what steps do we take so that we wake up six or seven years from now to an open source biotech community whose members are working on enabling the best longevity therapies produced by the formal research community - and who have the overseas connections to enable responsible use of resulting therapie... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4631454 Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4631454 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4592340&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fhow-to-make-the-vegas-group-a-reality.php Elsewhere, in the land of wishful thinking: The Vegas Group came together formally sometime in 2016, though the first kick-off meeting was the year prior at one of the bi-annual conventions for longevity research held in California. ... The Vegas Group was a natural outgrowth of a decade of advocacy and anticipation for human enhancement technologies, coupled with the frustrating realization that no such technologies would be meaningfully developed, never mind made available to the public, under the regulatory regimes then in place in the US and Europe. ... by 2017 the direct action contingent of the Vegas Group consisted of about a hundred people all told. Their declared objective was a distributed collaborative effort to (a) develop human versions of the most successful longevity and me... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4592340 Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4592340 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4560218&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fcloser-but-still-so-very-far-away.php I noticed a recent New York Times article on the interests of one of the world's few hundred billionaires: Because [David Murdock] is 87, it makes an unusually robust specimen, which is what he must be if he is to defy the odds (and maybe even the gods) and live as long as he intends to. He wants to reach 125, and sees no reason he can't, provided that he continues eating the way he has for the last quarter century: with a methodical, messianic correctness that he believes can, and will, ward off major disease and minor ailment alike. ... His affluence has enabled him to turn his private fixation on diet and longevity into a public one. I went to see him first in North Carolina in late January. It is there, outside of Charlotte, in a city named Kannapolis near his lodge, that he has s... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4560218 Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4560218 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4414516&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Funcertainty-over-life-expectancy-becoming-a-mainstream-concept.php Following on in the theme of last week's post on the spreading ideas of longevity science, I think it's fair to say that uncertainty in projected life expectancy is now a fairly mainstream concept. Vast sums of money - the massive industries of pensions, life insurance, and so forth - rest upon reasonably accurate actuarial projections of life span and mortality rate. Long term projections of life span continue to trend upward as the actuaries revise their opinions on biotechnology - but I believe they still fail to account for potential revolutionary advances in medicine that lie ahead. The level of uncertainty at least is fairly well grasped now within the actuarial industry, but for various political reasons it is only slowly seeping into official projections. Unfortunately for these... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4414516 Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4414516 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4386267&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Ffifty-years-from-now-youre-either-dead-or-dying-so-do-something-about-it.php Much of the more active end of the present transhumanist community is very concerned with existential risk on a grand scale: the Singularity Institute, the Lifeboat Foundation, the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, and so forth. It doesn't hurt to have some people thinking about the end of the world - it seems like a good plan, given the balance of risk and odds as we presently understand it. A tiny risk, gargantuan consequences, a lot of people in the world, and just a few thinking meaningfully about how it might all fall into the pit. A sort of inverse Pascal's Wager, if you like. As a fraction of the community of folk focused seriously on advancing technology and pushing out the horizons of what is considered possible - as opposed to those who are short-sighted or merely along for... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4386267 Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4386267 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4377542&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fthe-ideas-of-longevity-science-are-spreading.php When it's working, advocacy for longevity science funding and progress towards rejuvenation biotechnology is a steady process of growth; an accumulation of articles, conversions, acts of persuasion, and new advocates. It continues year after year, and perhaps it is sometimes hard to tell whether we're better placed in 2011 than we were in 2010, but we can certainly look further back to see clear and meaningful progress over the past five or ten years in public awareness of longevity science, media attention, and support for bold action in the scientific community science. Turning a formerly fringe idea into a mainstream vision for the future - persuading the world, in other words - doesn't happen overnight, sad to say. But it does happen, and it is well underway for the goal of greatly ext... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4377542 Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4377542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4313977&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fsupport-real-progress-in-life-extension.php When it comes to a motto and a goal in life, you could do far worse than "support real progress in life extension." I may be biased on this topic, of course: As we start the new year, it is helpful to draw attention to the sobering fact that no credible human rejuvenation therapies are available today, and it is doubtful that such therapies will see the light of day in the short term. ... There is a broad consensus in the life extension community that more resources need to be allocated to combating aging as such, as opposed to increasingly futile efforts to extend life by treating aging-associated diseases. Unfortunately, the objective to launch a serious rejuvenation research program has limited mass appeal so far. As a consequence, we will have to get involved ourselves. Hopefully we... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4313977 Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4313977 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4302108&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Fthe-methuselah-foundation-needs-a-smart-reliable-technical-volunteer-linux-php-mysql.php The Methuselah Foundation, founded back in 2003, aims to promote and support scientific progress towards defeating age-related disease, repairing the damage of aging, and greatly extending the healthy human life span. To that end the Foundation has raised more than $10 million in funding pledges, and their initiatives include the Mprize for longevity science, the recently launched NewOrgan Prize, investment in tissue engineering startups such as Organovo, and - prior to the establishment of the SENS Foundation as a separate entity - the funding of Aubrey de Grey's research program for rejuvenation biotechnology. These activities, and the networking to support them behind the scenes, have had a great impact upon the state of the aging research community, media treatment of longevity scienc... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4302108 Fri, 31 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4302108 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4298606&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Fwealth-does-not-grant-vision.php There is a discussion that takes place with great regularity within any community of advocates. It builds from the eternal triad: (a) exceedingly wealthy people exist, (b) their wealth could change the world for the better if applied in the right way, and yet (c) they are not applying their wealth in this right way. Pick your "right way" from any of the paths you consider valuable - for me, it's generating meaningful progress towards the prevention and reversal of degenerative aging, the universal medical condition that kills more than 100,000 people every day. But perhaps you have something better, more beneficial to humanity in mind. After all, we're all very sure of the causes we support. Some folk seem to thrive on the outrage they can generate by considering just how many dollars of ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4298606 Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4298606 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4294595&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Fimmortality-institute-fundraising-for-microglia-stem-cell-study.php The present fundraising initiative at the Immortality Institute is another in their series of small research projects that can, despite their modest price tag, contribute to progress in longevity and aging science: Cognitive functions of the brain decline with age. One of the protective cell types in the brain are called microglia cells. However, these microglia cells also loose function with age. Our aim is to replace non-functional microglia with new and young microglia cells derived from adult stem cells. We will inject these young microglia cells into 'Alzheimer mice' - a model for Alzheimers disease. After giving the cells some time to work, we will sacrifice the mice and measure microglia activity, neurogenesis, proliferation of neuroprogenitors and plaque density in the brain. A ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4294595 Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4294595 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4167932&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F11%2Fsuggestions-for-year-end-charitable-donations-to-further-longevity-science.php The end of 2010 approaches - blink and it'll be the winter solstice already. Time flies. It seems somewhat traditional here on the American side of the watery divide for people to make their charitable donations near the year-end, and so here are three suggestions for those of us interested in advancing the cause of engineered human longevity. 1) SENS Foundation The SENS Foundation funds research into rejuvenation biotechnology, and aims to encourage greater adoption of the repair-based engineering viewpoint espoused by biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey. Repair the known forms of biochemical damage that cause aging, in other words, and thereby reverse and prevent the diseases and frailty of aging. This is sadly a minority position in the aging research community, and few researches... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4167932 Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4167932 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4036611&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F10%2Fthe-rational-use-for-excess-money-is-longevity-science.php Let me be far from the first to observe that humans, collectively, are grandly and suicidally irrational. I point to war and destructive waste of institutional government as the primary symptoms, but there countless others. We humans are instinctive builders of social hierarchy, and aggressive optimizers in short-sighted search of the local maxima of our personal wellbeing. We'll ignore any number of fascinating mountains on the the horizon to climb to the top of the pitcher's mound right in front of us. These two aspects of human nature - the short-sighted quest for gain and the need for hierarchy - combine to form a collective insanity, and are the root of the grand and depressing cycle of human societies. Production of wealth in a free society leads to the creation of a violence-backe... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4036611 Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:00:00 +0100 4036611 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4013122&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F09%2Fthe-future-of-aging.php Via Maria Konovalenko, I see that the book The Future of Aging will be published soon. It's a collection of chapters written by well known names in the field of aging and longevity science, spanning a wide range of the present field - and its goals for the next few decades. Just as the health costs of aging threaten to bankrupt developed countries, this book makes the scientific case that a biological "bailout" could be on the way, and that human aging can be different in the future than it is today. Here 40 authors argue how our improving understanding of the biology of aging and selected technologies should enable the successful use of many different and complementary methods for ameliorating aging, and why such interventions are appropriate based on our current historical, anthropologi... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4013122 Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:00:00 +0100 4013122 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3924860&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F09%2F20000-for-a-plan-to-remove-buildup-of-the-age-glucosepane.php The SENS Foundation recently teamed up with InnoCentive to spur movement in the development of AGE-breakers for human use. I'd mentioned this over at the Longevity Meme, but the initiative seems worth more time and attention than just a link. So here we are: but what is an AGE-breaker, and why should we care? In short, it has been known for some time that one of the unpleasant changes that takes place with aging is the accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts, or AGEs, in our biochemistry: Your body needs certain proteins in order to work properly; the creation of AGEs involves taking two or more of these proteins and sticking them together with chemical gunk, preventing them from doing their jobs. This is known as crosslinking; day in and day out, it is taking place in your body. S... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3924860 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3924860 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3924861&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F08%2Ffundraising-success-for-mitochondrial-uncoupling-project.php A little while back, I pointed out the Immortality Institute's present fundraising program for modestly sized research projects. The Institute volunteers solicit proposals from life science researchers, showcase the most worthy, and match donations with funds from from the Institute coffers. The latest project will run in a Singaporean research laboratory and investigate mitochondrial uncoupling. I believe that this model for fundraising represents the future of research funding: a very transparent process, in which donors can educate themselves about the science, pick and choose exactly the projects they are willing to fund, and engage with the researchers in dialog and feedback. Many small projects compete for funding in place of one large umbrella grant, adding an additional layer of ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3924861 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3924861 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3920801&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F08%2Ffundraising-success-for-mitochondrial-uncoupling-project.php A little while back, I pointed out the Immortality Institute's present fundraising program for modestly sized research projects. The Institute volunteers solicit proposals from life science researchers, showcase the most worthy, and match donations with funds from from the Institute coffers. The latest project will run in a Singaporean research laboratory and investigate mitochondrial uncoupling. I believe that this model for fundraising represents the future of research funding: a very transparent process, in which donors can educate themselves about the science, pick and choose exactly the projects they are willing to fund, and engage with the researchers in dialog and feedback. Many small projects compete for funding in place of one large umbrella grant, adding an additional layer of ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3920801 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3920801 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3914994&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=38368&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FDisruptiveWomenInHealthCare%2F%7E3%2FpKo4bfVXKQ0%2F By Glenna Crooks. I still remember the first patient advocate I ever met – Henrietta Aladjem. She outlived predictions of imminent death from Lupus and despite her condition helped others, providing information, inspiration, advocacy and hope everywhere she went. Gracefully. Persistently. Since then I’ve met more than 10,000 advocates – some of them children – in 26 countries. In their work they help millions of patients and families address hundreds of diseases and the consequences patients face to get insurance, education, housing, employment and civil rights. In many cases, they or a loved one were in dire need of help they did not receive, so they vowed to help others. It was  a way to reclaim  power, to work through grief or to constructively use anger. It’s impos... Disruptive Women in Health Care blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3914994 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:14:43 +0100 3914994 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3899357&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F08%2Fhazy-on-the-topic-of-how-aging-relates-to-the-diseases-of-old-age.php The latest issue of Rejuvenation Research is available online for those of you who like to keep up with the scientific journals. In the opening commentary, Aubrey de Grey points to the recent position paper issued by noteworthy biogerontologists and folk from the Lifestar Institute. In his view, it is a sign of noteworthy progress in the long struggle to turn the institutions of life science research towards a more productive approach to human aging: Most nonbiologists, and even quite a few biologists, are spectacularly hazy on the topic of how aging relates to the diseases of old age. The prevailing biogerontological approach has long been that aging is not a disease, or at best that it predisposes to disease. Regular readers will know I'm not going to agree with that, and that I view it... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3899357 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3899357 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3889054&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F08%2Ffundraising-for-mitochondrial-uncoupling-research.php As you might recall, the Immortality Institute started their search for a new research project to fund earlier this year. This is a follow-on to raising funds for laser ablation of lipofuscin last year. I am hopeful that the Institute can make this a regular yearly feature, and not least because establishing reliable methods for crowdsourcing life science funding is an important development for the future of research. The Institute has settled on the project to be funded, which is an investigation of the phenomenon of mitochondrial uncoupling: Scientific research is the only way to conquer the blight of involuntary death. The ImmInst.org community isn't rich, so we pick our priorities quite carefully. The mitochondroial uncoupling project ticks all the important boxes: it investigates ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3889054 Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3889054 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3865230&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F08%2Fthe-balancing-act-of-longevity-research-advocacy.php Advocacy for longevity research is a balancing act informed by ongoing developments in raising funds, actual progress in the fields of interest, and the growth of the community of supporters. In an ideal world, these three factors will all advance steadily: an upward curve of success. In practice things are never that easy. A supportive community of a given size will only contribute so much in the way of resources: are those resources assigned to research, which tends to produce newsworthy results at irregular intervals in addition to actual progress, or to outreach and education? What will best grow the community so as to grow the resource pool of donations, and in turn help to achieve research goals more rapidly? Life science research is an unreliable beast by its very nature: progress ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3865230 Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3865230 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3858119&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F08%2Fescaping-the-hand-you-were-dealt.php We all grow up indoctrinated; bathed in the the common views and short-cut truths of the society in which we were raised. The early rebellious years don't tend to change this state of indoctrination all that much. For every obvious thing to rebel against, there are a hundred viewpoints layered deep - opinions and teachings left unexamined for so long that they become axioms. Those are the chains and walls that matter: the things that nearly everyone takes for granted, that place bounds upon how you view the world. But people tend to rebel against the color of the wallpaper - whilst taking it as read, just like their parents and peers, that the wall must exist and must be made of bricks. Unless you are particularly willful, it can take a lifetime to escape the formative shaping of your min... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3858119 Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3858119 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3805789&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F07%2Fthe-tedium-of-discussing-boredom-in-connection-with-enhanced-longevity.php It seems I have become jaded - one might even say bored - by repeated discussion of the potential for longevity-induced boredom. My capacity to enjoy the novelty of each new appearance of this fairly simple exchange of views has been blunted. For now, at least - it'll take a couple of years for that to wear off. There really isn't much to it: one side says, without any real evidence to back it up, that longer lives will inevitably lead to the boredom of repetition, and a dulled, meaningless existence. Those of us with more sense and imagination pull out the numbers to show that this viewpoint is nonsense however you choose to look at it. There is more to be experienced than any person could undertake in a million years, even in this limited world of ours today. And if you have the prospec... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3805789 Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3805789 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3726587&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F07%2Fon-the-view-of-death-as-oblivion.php Here are two quotes from writers of antiquity, letters in a bottle to demonstrate that for all the great differences in time and place, the core of human nature in complex civilizations remains much the same. So far, at least: Death: There's nothing bad about it at all except the thing that comes before it - the fear of it.   - Seneca I think the slain care little if they sleep or rise again.   - Aeschylus Insofar as death is oblivion, the destruction of the self, it is rational to be unconcerned about being dead. You won't exist to have feelings on the matter - which is exactly the same situation as for all time prior to the point in your development at which you like to think that you became yourself. Equally, it is rational to be very concerned about be... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3726587 Sun, 04 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3726587 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3522611&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F04%2Fcolorful-brochures-from-the-methuselah-foundation.php The Methuselah Foundation volunteers have released a couple of fine-looking PDF format brochures. One outlines the initiatives and mission of the Foundation, while the second introduces the recently announced NewOrgan Prize. They should be put to good use at conventions, for friends, and as handouts - so get to it!   From the first brochure: Aging is inevitable. Or is it? Alzheimer's, cancer, stroke and heart attack are among the familiar and dreaded results of aging. Knowing - but not wanting to accept - that fate we looked deeper to explore how and why our bodies age. We found that some of our questions had no answers even though scientists believe there is great untapped potential for understanding, reversing and solving the ravages of ag... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3522611 Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3522611 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3515311&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F04%2Fanimal-studies-in-medical-research-are-horrible-and-terrible.php Animal experimentation is horrible and terrible. Even in the most ethical of studies suffering is inflicted upon animals that otherwise would not have happened; entire genotypes of animals doomed to additional suffering have been bred in some cases. But the alternative is far worse: to not perform these animal studies, or rather for some privileged group to use force to prevent others from performing such studies. For without animal studies there would be no meaningful progress in medical science. It is a harsh and unpleasant aspect of the human condition that forcing suffering upon animals in the course of scientific studies is necessary to advance both human and veterinary medicine. A few suffer for the benefit of many - an equation that should make any sane and compassionate person unco... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3515311 Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3515311 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3331262&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F03%2Fa-steady-flow-of-new-donors-at-the-methuselah-foundation.php You should go and take a look at the donor list for the Methuselah Foundation. While the pace of large donations from high net worth individuals seems to have slowed these days, the steady influx of new donors from the public at large has picked up. The screen capture below is a representative slice of February, for example: Its worth repeating that these are entirely new donors; folk from beyond the community of early supporters who dug deep to boost the Foundation's launch and sustain its growth in the first few years of operation. This view doesn't include the more than 200 people who are members of the 300, and who make recurring donations to the Foundation that average out to around $85/month each. You'll see from the graphic above that new members of the 300 are amongst the new fa... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3331262 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100 3331262 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3269673&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F02%2Fencouraging-transparency-in-life-science-fundraising.php Transparency in fundraising and early stage research is the wave of the future. Young biotechnologists - and especially those in the open source biology movement - should be out there blogging their ongoing work, itemizing their costs, and engaging in microscale fundraising. These days many people could start a company if they wanted to. Direct costs (not opportunity costs, founder labor, etc) for the sort of low capital investment entrepreneurial ventures that catch all the attention are in the $5-20,000 range. That is roughly the amount of money taken to answer the question "is this worth chasing any further?" Similarly, many people could fund the answer to an important piece of scientific research if they so desired. Biotechnology is cheap nowadays, and only getting cheaper as time a... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3269673 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100 3269673 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3175840&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F01%2Fthe-campaign-against-aging.php The health and vigor of an advocacy community might be measured by the number of different initiatives presently underway. This is a marker for the number of people who feel strongly enough and sure enough about the envisaged end goals to get out there and spend their own money and time to make a difference. More of these people will bring a greater diversity of ideas to the community, and enable a more rapid exploration of what works and what doesn't work. Many hands make light work, and this is as true in advocacy as anywhere else. So that said, allow me to point you towards the most recent addition to the stable of grassroots longevity science advocacy groups, the Campaign Against Aging. Insofar as science goes, the founders support the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence v... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3175840 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100 3175840 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3163746&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F01%2Fa-project-for-2010-10000-people-1-million-for-longevity-science.php As we inch our way into 2010, let me point out a worthwhile fundraising project that I think you should strongly consider help to achieve its goals. Last year a few earnest folk started and publicized a Facebook Cause, a group pledge that aims to gather 10,000 members in support of the longevity research carried out by the SENS Foundation. This research aims to reverse critical biochemical changes that cause age-related degeneration, frailty, and disease, and thereby eliminate suffering and restore the aged to health: SENS Foundation would like to draw your attention to an exciting initiative organised by a group of our supporters. The 10,000 people, $1 million to defeat aging Cause on Facebook asks each member to pledge just $100, which becomes payable once a total of 10,000 individuals ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3163746 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100 3163746 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3149015&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F01%2Fon-life-span-and-legacies.php As a general rule, human organizations and human initiatives are not very long-lived. Those that make it out of the nascent stage in which 90% fail or are abandoned don't tend to last much longer than five to ten years. They either calcify and are superseded by new, more relevant ventures, or change so radically as to be effectively a different organization. Those human organizations that have lasted for decades in a fairly consistent form - many of which are familiar to all of us, I'm sure - are outliers, and very unusual. This line of thinking applies just as much to advocacy as any other form of endeavor. You should expect that the organizations you support today - and that did not exist five years ago - will not exist five years from now. They will use your donations to important acco... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3149015 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100 3149015 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3118844&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F12%2Fthe-maesgarreau-tendency.php "Trust but verify" is a good way to lead one's life. Ideally, we'd never take anyone's word for anything, and have the time and means to dig up supporting evidence for any position or statement that we encounter. But who has the time for that? We have to organize our busy lives around blocks of selective ignorance, portions of human knowledge and culture wherein we choose to take statements at face value, or follow the consensus viewpoint without doing the necessary groundwork to validate it. Books can and have been written on how to best go about this: acquiring and processing information costs time, and time is the most valuable resource most us of possess. There exist a growing number of people propagating various forms of the viewpoint that we middle-aged folk in developed countries m... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3118844 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100 3118844 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3059707&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F12%2Fnews-from-the-methuselah-foundation.php The latest Methuselah Foundation newsletter is now available online. If you haven't been keeping up, you should dive into the archive over there and read the last couple of months of newsletters. The contents well illustrate the current focus and direction of the Foundation: It's time to celebrate! It has been a great year at Methuselah and a great year for advances in aging research. Television, newspapers and websites have covered stories on calorie restriction, resveratrol and rapamycin. Leading biologists working in longevity research are finally grabbing the attention of other scientists (this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine is a very real example of this), the media and the general public. Methuselah Foundation is energetically working on new initiatives, connecting with more resea... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3059707 Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100 3059707 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3044714&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F11%2Fvote-for-longevity-science-in-the-chase-community-giving-initiative.php Over the past year or two, the grassroots community of longevity science supporters and advocates have been getting a lot of practice in networking and persuasion. There is a growing trend amongst large organizations to crowdsource some of their charitable contributions: it's great publicity and seems to generate much more goodwill and awareness for the recipient causes than a straight donation. So everyone wins. In this, we can see the effects of competition at work; initiatives generally involve voting or some other form of popularity contest that can be won by through grassroots social networking and organization. Longevity science supporters have won some and lost some over the past year, seeking to direct funds to the SENS Foundation or Methuselah Foundation. It's all good experience... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3044714 Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100 3044714 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2992647&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F11%2Fmethuselah-foundation-psa-videos.php I'm slipping behind the times here, it seems; the recently produced batch of Methuselah Foundation public service announcement video slots were mentioned by the deathist authors at Futurisms before that topic made it to the head of my "yet to post" list. Those folk write well, actually; it is a pity that they feel, like Leon Kass, that the spirit and purpose of their conservatism is to stand in support of present suffering and barbarism against a bright future of cures, change, and progress. History will judge them unkindly, if it recalls them at all. In any case, here are some of the videos that the Methuselah Foundation volunteers have been working on of late. See what you think: (Source: Fight Aging!) Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2992647 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100 2992647 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2967259&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F11%2Fevaluating-an-industry-that-doesnt-exist.php Imagine an industry poised to burst into existence. The signs are there: the advocates, the tinkerers, the potential business models and user demand, the promising early scientific work yet to be fully exploited. But how you determine whether this is real or all an illusion? How to find out whether an explosion of progress and growth is just about to happen, or whether the seeds of this nascent industry will continue to germinate at low levels of activity for years longer? There is only one useful method: invest a significant amount of money and see how much interest, activity, and follow-on investment it attracts. This is one of the lines of reasoning behind the most adventurous of venture capital deals, behind research prizes, and behind large philanthropic donations to young fields of ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2967259 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100 2967259 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2939261&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F10%2Fwhy-advocacy-for-longevity-science.php Why advocacy for longevity science? Why is it important for us to be building megaphones, educating people about the scientific foundation for extended healthy life, and persuading everyone we can to help? Put simply it is because this advocacy is a necessary part of the only reliable, proven path to establishing a research community capably of getting the job done. One of the most active Immortality Institute activists, brokenportal, sent me the text below today, which I reproduce with his permission. The dedication is a reminder to the rest of us just what it takes to make things happen in this world of ours: Will we reach the point of Longevity Escape Velocity, and thus live on in good health for centuries, sustained by ever more effective advances in longevity medicine? Many of us a... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2939261 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 2939261 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2751900&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F08%2Fthere-is-no-overpopulation-only-waste-corruption-and-inhumanity.php Advocates for rapid and widespread development of engineered longevity are making some progress in dismissing the Tithonus Error - the common and mistaken belief that longevity-enhancing medicine would make a person spend more years as a frail and decrepit elder rather than more years in the prime of life. As more people come to see a future of longevity therapies as personally beneficial, however, a more insidious form of opposition will come to the fore. By far and away the most common reason I see given these days in opposition to engineered longevity is fear of overpopulation. Environmentalism has become almost a religion in its own right now, and many strands of that religion are essentially death cults: loose networks of like-thinking people who fervently believe, for whatever reaso... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2751900 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0100 2751900 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2734030&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F08%2Fworking-on-the-methuselah-foundation-website-1.php As a few of you might know, I've spent the past couple of months rebuilding the Methuselah Foundation web presence and support systems on a quasi-volunteer basis. What's above the waterline and visible to the public is now largely beaten into shape and reinforced with steel rods, set in the form it will occupy going forward. While I take a break from all that for a little while, it'd be nice to hear what you folk think of the result; does it do it for you? More importantly, it would be helpful to gather outside and unbiased opinions both on what does exist on the website and what might exist in the future - whether in your eyes there are areas of the Foundation website that could be improved or extended. What would you like to see? (Source: Fight Aging!) Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2734030 Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0100 2734030 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2719686&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=35049&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nakedmedicine.com%2Fwhich-side-are-you-really-on-jane-chin I received what is probably the most passionate email from a reader of this blog that I’ve ever gotten since creating NakedMedicine.com in 2006. The email concludes with this: I can’t figure out what your agenda is Ms Chin. Are siding with the poor hard working physicians who are fighting a losing battle with their idiot patient’s lifestyles? Are you siding with the tirelessly industrious pharmaceutical scientists who are selflessly dedicating their efforts to cure our ills? Are you siding with the poor neglected suffering individuals who are bravely pushing onward in their lives, struggling with disease, possible disease, possible pandemics, or just plain plainness requiring cosmetic medicine? Doctors, business, persons, for whom are you advocating? I was shocked by the ... NAKEDMEDICINE.COM blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2719686 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:42:29 +0100 2719686 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2712092&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F08%2Ffundraising-success-for-laser-ablation-of-lipofuscin.php The good news for today is that the longevity science grassroots centered at the Immortality Institute have successfully raised $8,000 to fund research into laser ablation of lipofuscin. Those funds will be matched up to $16,000 at the SENS Foundation and put towards work on a method of eliminating one form of damaging metabolic byproducts that build up with age: Lipofucsin is an aggregate of many different biochemical byproducts that builds up in your longest-lived cells, leading to dysfunction and disease. Lipofuscin levels are a very straightforward difference between old and young people, and removing it at regular intervals should have a noticeable impact on age-related degeneration. This is in fact an aspect of one of the seven avenues of Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senesce... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2712092 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0100 2712092 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2691469&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F08%2Flaser-ablation-research-fundraising-deadline-is-monday-august-17th.php As you no doubt know by now, the Immortality Institute is raising $8000 in public donations that will then be matched up to $16,000, that money going towards the validation of laser ablation of lipofuscin as a longevity therapy. From the project and donation page: This research proposes to further study the use of laser pulses to destroy lipofuscin. The technical term for this approach is Selective Photothermolysis. LEDs, lasers, and infrared light have already found their way into many clinical and cosmetic applications. This research will investigate the use of laser pulses to improve human health at a much more fundamental level. Mr. Schooler has conducted preliminary qualitative research using laser pulses to destroy lipofuscin in nematodes (round worms). VIDEO HERE. This investigati... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2691469 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0100 2691469 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2605963&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F07%2Frejuvenation-research-for-june-2009.php The latest edition of Rejuvenation Research (volume 12, number 3) is available online - I'd already noted what I consider the most interesting scientific paper over at the Longevity Meme, an argument for DNA damage as an important cause of aging. Here, however, I'll note that this edition of the journal opens with a characteristically punchy editorial from biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey: A brief perusal of my publication record will reveal something about my recent activities that may - indeed, probably should - strike you as sad: I hardly contribute anything to the biogerontology literature any more, essentially restricting myself instead to my characteristic outbursts in this space and the occasional invited book chapter. Unltimately, however, this is not a reason for sympathy,... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2605963 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:00:00 +0100 2605963 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2601978&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F07%2Fthe-campaign-for-aging-research.php Let me direct your attention to the Campaign for Aging Research, a recently formed non-profit group that focuses on advocacy and research fundraising for engineered longevity. Their organizational viewpoint on the science is informed by the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS), and the Campaign volunteers have a very post-blog, social network look to their online outreach efforts. The Campaign for Aging Research is about "More time." More time to live, more time to understand the world and more time to discover. C.A.R offers a different perspective on life and the future. The same way we get contact lenses instead of accepting bad eye sight or take aspirin to overcome a strong migraine, aging is natural like the bad eye sight and the migraine, yet it is a handicap that ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2601978 Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:00:00 +0100 2601978 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2570409&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F07%2Faging-and-death-are-good-and-needed-is-still-the-expected-opinion.php When you spend time following aging and longevity research, thereby becoming immersed in a comparatively small community and conversation, it's easy to lose track of just how unusual your knowledge and viewpoints are in comparison to what passes for the norm. This is true of any group, culture, or endeavor, and is a natural consequence of the economics of learning - most people don't need to know anything about the countless communities outside those they belong to in order to be successful, and you only have a set amount of attention to divide amongst all the things you consider to be important. So "the norm" is really a collective measure of decided ignorance about any given topic. The "the norm" on aging, death by aging, and engineered longevity is what a specialist in some other field ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2570409 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:00:00 +0100 2570409 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2550211&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=35049&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nakedmedicine.com%2Fpharma-industrys-job-is-not-disease-prevention-thats-your-job I’ve heard the argument, so have you. “Those evil pharma companies aren’t interested in prevention! They want people to get sick and stay sick because that’s how they make their money! On the drugs!” Recently I had railed against the pharma companies that are capitalizing on increasing trends of people using certain prescription drugs as “lifestyle drugs” – not to mention appearing on the Wall Street Journal this past Friday to rail against pharma companies that abuse the role of medical science liaisons, so I have my own pet peeves and criticisms with pharma. What irks me is when a criticism about any industry is not based on a fundamental flaw in that industry, but is simply born of politicking sensationalizing this-is-how-I-get-more-reader... NAKEDMEDICINE.COM blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2550211 Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:12:57 +0100 2550211 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2527781&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F06%2Fhelp-the-immortality-institute-fund-research-into-laser-ablation-of-lipofuscin.php I'm pleased to see that the Immortality Institute folk have set up an $8000 matching fund to help contribute to one line of research aimed at removing one cause of the damage of aging. This is exactly the sort of positive development enabled by falling costs in biotechnology - small groups of interested people can raise enough money to support meaningful early stage research: In case you have not yet heard or read, the Immortality Institute is providing a matching grant for research into laser ablation of lipofuscin. Read all about it here: http://www.imminst.org/archive/articles/laser-research-grant Listen to Nason Schooler describe the proposed research here (2008), or here (2009) I am particularly interested to see the results of the worm lifespan studies to confirm whether or not l... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2527781 Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:00:00 +0100 2527781 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2510340&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F06%2Fbid-in-a-charity-auction-for-a-portrait-of-aubrey-de-grey.php One of the fine folk at the Immortality Institute has painted a good-looking portrait of Aubrey de Grey, and is auctioning it at Ebay. The auction proceeds are presently planned to go towards the Institute's matching grant for laser ablation of lipofuscin. The Immortality Institute is excited to announce a new matching grant for anti-aging research. The Institute will match every contribution up to $8,000 for the study of laser ablation of lipofuscin - research that will be conducted by Nason Schooler [at] the SENS Foundation Research Center in Tempe Arizona. The science underlying the use of lasers to this end is explained in a presentation from the Understanding Aging conference archived at Future Current. In short: lipofuscin, a mix of metabolic byproducts and other compounds tha... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2510340 Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:00:00 +0100 2510340 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441227&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F05%2Fmethuselah-foundation-update-rationale-for-the-my-bridge-4-life-initiative.php With the recent reorganization of the Methuselah Foundation, its varied initiatives were split into three categories: short term (the new My Bridge 4 Life), mid-term (the Mprize for longevity science), and long term (MLife Sciences - currently SENS and support of Organovo). Many of us following along at home were not quite seeing the rationale behind the new short term initiative, however. So for today, let me point you to Dave Gobel's explanation: The reason for MB4L is that we are working to reduce the "aha! gap" or conceptual hurdle for the billions of folks for whom a leap straight to the idea of extending healthy life is too vast and daunting a gap. ... The new effort - focused on the short term and exemplified by MB4L - is designed to gain the positive attention of the 99.9% of th... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441227 Wed, 27 May 2009 04:00:00 +0100 2441227 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2441232&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F05%2Fto-what-extent-is-persuasion-required-beyond-the-scientific-community.php I believe that widespread public understanding and support of longevity science is a necessary step towards a large and well-funded scientific community focused on achieving engineered longevity. On longer timescales (a decade, a generation), resources for research and development most reliably flow towards the areas of greatest public knowledge, desire, and approval. Just look at the many, many projects that have long been technically possible yet not been accomplished in the past decades: the creation of an orbital flight industry, for example, colonizing the sea, or irrigating the Sahara. Engineering the reversal of aging is a large and multi-faceted project that will run over a generation or more, even once the research community is fully engaged and progress is well underway. Ergo, pu... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2441232 Wed, 20 May 2009 04:00:00 +0100 2441232 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2414761&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=35049&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nakedmedicine.com%2Ffemale-sexual-dysfunction-pharmas-next-lifestyle-market I’m posting this from one of Steve Woodruff’s blog posts that I shared via my Facebook profile, which turned into a full blown debate between me, Dmitriy Kruglyak, and Yvette - one of my FB friends. Jane Chin’s Profile Jane Chin I’m pro-pharma, but I’m NOT happy w/ female sexual dysfunction disease mongering I expect to see from pharmacos! http://ow.ly/4xQH Dmitriy Kruglyak at 8:18am April 30 Where do you draw the line between “disease mongering” and “disease awareness”? Jane Chin at 8:21am April 30 When the ‘awareness” generated makes patients who otherwise are not candidates for the drug pressure docs to write the Rx. Dmitriy Kruglyak at 8:23am April 30 Ah, but who gets to decide “who are the candidates” and wh... NAKEDMEDICINE.COM blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2414761 Sun, 17 May 2009 04:56:10 +0100 2414761 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2398618&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F05%2Fmicrofunding-of-earlystage-scientific-research.php These days many people could start a company if they wanted to. Direct costs (not opportunity costs, founder labor, etc) for the sort of low capital investment entrepreneurial ventures that catch all the attention are in the $5-20,000 range. That is roughly the amount of money taken to answer the question "is this worth chasing any further?" Similarly, many people could fund the answer to an important piece of scientific research if they so desired. Biotechnology is cheap nowadays, and only getting cheaper as time advances. The range of $5-20,000 will buy you a postgrad who knows what he's doing and lab access for long enough to answer an interesting question or produce a proof of principle - roughly the same as "is this worth chasing any further?" Can you use lasers to destroy lipofuscin... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2398618 Thu, 07 May 2009 04:00:00 +0100 2398618 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382288&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2009%2F05%2Fis-the-term-life-extension-lost-to-scum-and-writhing-worms.php I'm written in the past of the demise of the term "anti-aging" as anything other than a marker for scammers, marketeers, cosmetics salespeople. It's now a signifier for those who either have little to no interest in actual, working longevity science, or who are actively harming the prospects for actual working longevity science by convincing people that it's all nonsense. Anti-aging is beyond salvage as a term for discussion; we should move on and use other language to describe the technologies of healthy life extension and advanced medicine to extend healthy life spans. ... But I'm stubborn, and so kept at it for a while, to see what the balance of voices looked like. Ultimately I took my own advice and moved on to terms like "repair of aging" and "longevity science." You need a bigger... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382288 Fri, 01 May 2009 04:00:00 +0100 2382288 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2375906&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=35049&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nakedmedicine.com%2Fhow-to-see-through-pharma-ad-bs Like all marketing campaigns, the aim of any pharma advertisement is to get you to think that you need a certain product or a service. I understand that all pharma companies will say that they want to educate patients on the condition first and foremost, but I guarantee that when pharma companies are forking over multimillion dollar checks to ad agencies, they’re looking for more product sales as a return on investment (ROI). This is not a “bad” thing - this is business. Let’s say you’re an inventor and you created a program that would improve the amount of sassing teenagers give to their parents. Would you pay an agency half of your annual paycheck so that parents can be educated about the prevalence of sassing by teenagers? NO! You want parents to buy your ... NAKEDMEDICINE.COM blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2375906 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:49:26 +0100 2375906 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2306855&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001710.php The mind of humanity dwells somewhat in the now, a great deal in the recent past, and very little in the future. The greatest attention is focused on what is and what recently was - an outcome of our evolutionary history. You can imagine how a focus on learning to live in the world of the the recent past was a predictor for success under most circumstances for our more primitive ancestors. These days, stand still to ruminate upon recent events and you're liable to have a building erected above you while you pause, and fifteen new technologies dropped into your lap to boot. The evolved biases stand, however: while a great many people claim to look foward with wisdom and sagacity, few do more than transpose the fundament and structure of last week ahead by seven days. We humans just don't p... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2306855 Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:00:00 +0100 2306855 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2182628&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001676.php When looking at a goal of research and development programs that could stretch across two decades or longer, such as those proposed to repair aging in the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) outline, you have to settle in for the long haul. Fundraising and advocacy is important in the here and now - if you don't get started, you don't get started - but you have to think for the long haul. In the broader research community, thinking for the long haul means setting out to build a community of interested, networked researchers. It also means culturing the students who will be researchers of note five or ten years from now. This is one of the goals of the Methuselah Foundation's Undergraduate Research Initiative: it's not just that talented students can help accomplish ear... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2182628 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:00:00 +0100 2182628 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2167714&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=35049&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nakedmedicine.com%2Fwill-healthcare-become-a-moral-question-are-we-already-there By Jane Chin This morning I was skyping with one of my favorite people, Bhupesh of Ethnicomm, when we began talking about the current state of healthcare. Bhupesh lives in Canada, where healthcare is socialized in a way that has become apparently very attractive to various healthcare “activists” and interest groups here in the U.S. Right now many people here in the U.S. are tremendously upset with insurance companies because of the way these companies make financially based decisions about people’s lives. The stereotype, for example, is the image of a middle-aged MBA-educated executive sitting in front of a spreadsheet that gets him to conclude that letting a chronically ill patient die may be cheaper than approving for reimbursement certain “non-standard” med... NAKEDMEDICINE.COM blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2167714 Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:46:11 +0100 2167714 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2092605&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001652.php Time flies: it doesn't seem as though more than two years have passed since entrepreneur turned fund manager Peter Thiel made a $3 million matching pledge to the Methuselah Foundation. Every two dollars of a donation to Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) research aimed at repairing the damage of aging and reversing its effects draws an additional dollar from this matching fund. Over that time, $1.3 million have been drawn from the fund, boosting the $2.6 million raised for research. That leaves another $1.7 million to go - and a little under 12 months until this matching pledge expires. Three years seems an eternity when it's ahead of you, but when you're done you wonder where it went so quickly. Thanks to solid fundraising over the years of its existence, the Methuse... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2092605 Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:00:00 +0100 2092605 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1742776&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001558.php There are three days left - until September 1st - in which to vote and comment on the submitted Amex Members Projects to determine the top 25 that will move on to the next stage. The combination of votes and public interest will ultimately determine how American Express awards $2.5 million in philanthropic funding. From the website: We're inviting you to come together to share ideas for projects that could make a difference in the world. Then it's up to you to support, and ultimately vote on, which projects get $2.5 million in funding from American Express. As you no doubt know, the Methuselah Foundation volunteers have a well-formed longevity science proposal in the running: Create a program that utilizes college undergraduates to perform research in a variety of scientific venues surr... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1742776 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1742776 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1674899&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001537.php It takes 20 years, give or take, for a new technology to move through multiple cycles of development, commercialization, and competition necessary to evolve from experimental prototype to widespread maturity. A look back at the past few decades of medical progress suggests that 30 years is more likely in that field - there's one effect of regulation for you, a slowing of the technologies that manage to make it over the regulatory hurdle in the first place. What does this pace of progress in medicine mean for middle-aged and younger people today? It means that the 2030s will see widespread, cost-effective use of the medical technologies you presently read about in the science press. A small selection: Replacement organs will be grown to order from your own cells. Stem cells will be creat... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1674899 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1674899 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1352040&cid=t_391807_133_f&fid=35098&url=http%3A%2F%2Fclub166.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F04%2Fkathleen-slapped-blogs-slap-back.html photo credit-azrainmancreative commons licenseI had heard of SLAPP suits (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) before in the context of lawsuits against environmental groups, but had never really paid much attention to them. Evidently the whole purpose of them is to harass people who are speaking out by costing them great deals of money to defend themselves.I'm sure that most everyone has heard about the ridiculous subpoena that Kathleen Seidel has been served with. While it appears that she has not been sued, this subpoena is pretty much an all encompassing fishing expedition meant to pursue one purpose, and one alone-silencing Kathleen Seidel. No one could reasonably believe that there was some grand conspiracy that involved paying off Kathleen to write her blog on neurodivers... Club 166 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1352040 Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:06:00 +0100 1352040 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1301845&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001436.php It was something like two years ago that I noted the pointlessness of trying to use the term "anti-aging" to describe longevity science or research into the repair of aging. Unfortunately, some topics just can't be discussed well in email, blog and website; they are drowned out by the efforts of those trying to make money. So it is with scientific anti-aging research and the vast sea of static produced by the purveyors of useless, all brand and no cattle "anti-aging" products. Just take a look at what is seen when searching for any sane, non-monetary, responsible discussion of anti-aging science on Google, Google News, Google Blog Search and Technorati - a blizzard of junk and nonsense. It's the same everywhere you look, a storm of short-termist profit seeking that destroys the primary ut... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1301845 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1301845 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1233262&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001416.php At the end of last year, during the very successful Methuselah Foundation donation drive, I said: The Longevity Meme Folding@Home team has been steadily rising through the ranks since its inception, thanks to the volunteer efforts of the many team members. The team is closing in on rank 200, a point that has been marked as a milestone for while. The lower ranks are a tough slog, but the team has been doing well - growing and producing results. I have decided that the best thing to do to mark the passage of rank 200, rather than send out another round of Longevity Meme tchotchkes, is to donate a chunk of change to the Methuselah Foundation, where it can be put to good use in advancing longevity science. Here is my incentive for the team: pass rank 200, and stay beneath that level for a we... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1233262 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:00:00 +0100 1233262 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1118217&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001380.php Videoblogging, much like those newfangled social networks, is passing me by - but online video has proven to be a tremendously effective tool for reaching people, and more power to those who are making it work: My End Aging Challenge is simple: Create and post a reply to this video on YouTube explaining why you support Dr. Aubrey de Grey's and the Methuselah Foundation's mission to end aging. I will donate $10 to the Methuselah Foundation for every video response. If you have the means, I also suggest that you offer in your video response to match me with a donation of your own for every video. After you shoot your video, follow this link to post your video reply. Good show. If you want something done, no matter how daunting or large the task, the best way to go about it is to get out th... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1118217 Wed, 26 Dec 2007 05:00:00 +0100 1118217 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=907088&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001315.php I should point out that the Methuselah Foundation is offering a free copy of Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime, autographed by biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey, with any donation of $100 or more to Foundation-sponsored longevity research: In Ending Aging, noted biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey takes us on an engaging journey, detailing the path to a future in which we do not have to become frail and decrepit as we grow old and wise - and showing how we can get there within our lifetimes. You can help support this goal and get a free autographed copy of Ending Aging with a donation of $100 or more to the Methuselah Foundation, a 501(c)(3) registered charity. Donations by US citizens are tax-deductible and all donation... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=907088 Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:00:00 +0100 907088 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=815186&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001289.php With the addition of a generous donation from entrepreneur Brian Cartmell, the Methuselah Foundation now has seven six-figure pledges to its name, the other foward-looking supporters of healthy life extension research being Gary Hudson, Brad A. Armstrong, David Fisher, the Scott B. and Anne P. Appleby Charitable Trust, the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research and one anonymous philanthropist. Above that, two seven-figure pledges, from Peter Thiel and an anonymous philanthropist. Below that, 140 or so $25,000 pledges from members of The Three Hundred, of which twelve have donated five-figure sums already. I point this out because I realized it wasn't all that long ago that the five-figure pledges were beginning to roll in to the Foundation on a regular basis, and I marked it as a real sig... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=815186 Tue, 21 Aug 2007 04:00:00 +0100 815186 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=651085&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001230.php Cultural norms of knowledge, belief and intent bear no necessary relationship with fact, sanity and sense. Humans are hardwired to respect the norm: any set of concepts widely held are valued highly for that fact, while new or rare ideas have a real hurdle to acceptance. One aspect of this facet of the human condition is illustrated by Russell Blackford: science is by its nature a process of generating new ideas that are not widely held by the world at large, even when those ideas have come to be generally accepted within the scientific community. Hence demonstrating truth through science is by necessity a great deal harder than it might be in a more just universe: Bloom and Weisberg conclude that resistance to scientific thinking will continue beyond childhood into adulthood if the scien... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=651085 Thu, 31 May 2007 04:00:00 +0100 651085 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=645118&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001226.php The folk of the Calorie Restriction (CR) Society are continuing their efforts to raise funds to broaden human CR research with a fundraising event in August. As for many successful health-oriented organizations, the Society prospers through close ties with the research community - just look at any of their conferences in recent years. As Mary Robinson relates: At last year's CR Conference, we all told Dr. Spindler that we would raise the money for him to do a human study on gene expression in CR - on us. This is a cool idea in so many ways. From all the moaning and groaning from the calorie restriction researchers at the conference, it is very clear that they are having a hard time getting funding from NIH. It's not a disease, after all - aging. Or is it? Spindler also thought it would be... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=645118 Sun, 27 May 2007 04:00:00 +0100 645118 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=638153&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001222.php Research prizes for medicine work, which is we're seeing more of them these days. It's very hard to institutionalize innovation, to build a conveyor belt for radical new ideas, but the contest model has traditionally worked well for this purpose. If you look back at the history of prizes for scientific and technical achievement, they draw healthy multiples of the prize purse in funding for novel lines of research, and empower worthy developers who would traditionally not have made much headway in the mainstream. The Mprize for longevity research is perhaps the most familiar initiative for readers here. a scientific competition designed to draw attention to the ability of new technologies to slow and even reverse the damage of the aging process, preserving health and wisdom in a world that... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=638153 Wed, 23 May 2007 04:00:00 +0100 638153 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=515228&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001170.php A discussion is presently ongoing at the Immortality Institute, kicked off by thoughts on the frustrations and vicissitudes inherent in persuading people that healthy life extension to the degree of decades and centuries is plausible and desirable. Perhaps more importantly, that the process of developing the needed technology merits material support today. Some time ago I decided to try and see how the concept of radical life extension would be accepted with some students from my university. So I introduced the idea to some of my acquaintances. Well, I was faced with some religious arguments, which was to be expected, but the most overwhelmingly popular response was that of ridicule and unwillingness to accept that anything like this would EVER be possible. I felt like everyone thought... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=515228 Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:00:00 +0100 515228 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=486143&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001158.php By way of a reminder, the Methuselah Foundation recently set up a forum accessible to the public; if you'd like to hobnob with the researchers and volunteers presently working on Foundation science projects, or discuss the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence and other directions for near-future longevity research, then this is the place to be. See, for example, a posted overview of the MitoSENS project, and thoughts on RAGES and bioremediation: When trying to bioremediate AGE crosslinks from aged tissues, a major concern would be that the crosslink might be buried by the protein fibers it crosslinks, so that the bioremediation enzymes might be unable to access it. The utility of using enzymes to bioremediate AGEs has been questioned based on this (Furber, 2006). I think a p... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=486143 Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:00:00 +0100 486143 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=482270&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001149.php I position I wholeheartedly endorse from Veritas, posting at Betterhumans: We pour over the newest science and technology magazines. We visit tons of future-oriented sites (or better yet, subscribe to their RSS feeds). We keep an ear to the wind, straining to hear any mention of advances in nanotechnology, AI, VR, renewable energy, healthy life extension research, or the latest hint of a cure for cancer. But too many of us have been complacent for too long. "I'm just a student" "I don't have enough money to make a real difference." "What can one person do?" Wrong, wrong, and so damn wrong. There's plenty of stuff you can do. You futurists in the audience, those looking forward eagerly to a world of advanced technology and medicine capable of defeating ageing, think on this: just who... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=482270 Sun, 11 Mar 2007 05:00:00 +0100 482270 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=482276&cid=t_391807_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F001143.php Advocates and scientists supportive of healthy life extension research, like the nanotechnologists, are looking ahead to a timeline of development that spans decades, the time between now and the first meaningful waypoints on the road to defeating age-related frailty, suffering and death. Given the length of planning, just how important is it to direct some efforts towards talking to the younger folk - those who may be embarking upon scientific careers in the late 2010s and early 2020s, or themselves decide, as did I, that advocacy and support is vital? WIth that in mind, I note that Shannon Vyff recently asked me, a couple of times, to point out her new children's book. Vyff and her family generously support the present Methuselah Foundation initiatives, so I see no issue with a little e... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=482276 Mon, 05 Mar 2007 05:00:00 +0100 482276