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 'biotech'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:55:05 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181725&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fmixing-old-and-young-blood-is-informative.php In recent years a number of researchers have used blood transfusions and mixing to discover and investigate systematic differences in biochemistry between old and young mammals. Many of the body's distributed systems use the circulatory system as a means of carrying signals and instructions throughout the body. Thus introducing old blood into the young or young blood into the old can bring about measurable biochemical changes that tell us more about the specific changes that occur with aging. Aging is damage, but all of our biological systems are highly responsive to changing circumstances - so where there is damage, there will also be an evolved response to that damage. In theory that will be a coping response, but what evolution considers "coping" might not match with your opinions on t... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181725 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5181725 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181728&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fanother-potential-approach-to-boosting-cellular-housekeeping.php One of the reasons that work on heat shock proteins are attracting interest in the research community is that these proteins are deeply involved in cellular housekeeping processes. They are one of the components of the machinery of hormesis, wherein the body is improved by mild stress and a little cellular damage, because that stress causes repair and housekeeping systems to spring to life and work earnestly to make everything shipshape. Heat shock proteins are so named because they were first identified in the response to molecular damage caused by heat - but they are brought into play by all sorts of stresses that can cause damage to the delicate protein machinery of cells. As is the case for autophagy, it is worth thinking about where we might be taken by the ability to boost the heat ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181728 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5181728 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5169513&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008256.html Got a cavity on a tooth? No problem. Just paint on a special peptide solution and the tooth will repair itself. (a peptide is chain of amino acids) It's a vicious cycle, but one that can be broken, according to researchers at the University of Leeds who have developed a revolutionary new way to treat the first signs of tooth decay. Their solution is to arm dentists with a peptide-based fluid that is literally painted onto the tooth's surface. The peptide technology is based on knowledge of how the tooth forms in the first place and stimulates regeneration of the tooth defect. It is amazing that the solution to tooth decay can be this simple. "This may sound too good... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5169513 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5169513 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5158901&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fcopy-number-variations-correlate-with-mortality-rates.php A copy number variation is either a large deletion or repeat of a sequence in your DNA. We all have them, and some people have more than others: Copy-number variants (CNVs) are a source of genetic variation that increasingly are associated with human disease. However, the role of CNVs in human lifespan is to date unknown. To identify CNVs that influence mortality at old age, we analyzed genome-wide CNV data in 5178 participants of Rotterdam Study (RS1) and positive findings were evaluated in 1714 participants of the second cohort of the Rotterdam Study (RS2) and in 4550 participants of Framingham Heart Study (FHS). First, we assessed the total burden of rare (frequency 1%) CNVs for association with mortality during follow-up. ... We observed that the burden of common but not of rare CNVs ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5158901 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5158901 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5158904&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fmammals-dont-generate-blastemas-even-when-regenerating-fingertips.php Researchers are spending a fair amount of time on understanding why regeneration in mammals differs from - and is much worse than - regeneration in lower animals like salamanders. A salamander can grow back a limb any time it needs to, a mouse or a human not so much. But we can do the full regeneration trick to a far lesser degree, as humans and mice can both regrow the tip of a finger or toe when very young or very lucky, for example. You might also recall the MRL mice, an engineered species that can regenerate much more effectively than is normal for most mice. One of the questions that researchers aim to answer is whether the mechanisms for salamander-like regeneration lie buried in mammalian biology, perhaps turned off for reasons involving cancer suppression. If they are there, perha... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5158904 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5158904 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5158907&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fhow-far-can-boosted-autophagy-take-us.php Mitochondria in your cells damage themselves in the course of their vital, life-sustaining operations, and these damaged mitochondria contribute to aging. It's a progressive and complicated process of many steps, by which incidents of atomic-scale damage in the power plants of your cells steadily overwhelm evolved countermeasures and repair systems, corrupting a fraction of your cells and blossoming into a flow of damaged molecules throughout the body. That in turn produces the roots of atherosclerosis and many other age-related forms of degeneration and malfunction. We would like to be able to do something about this - by hook or by crook restore the damage state of an old person's mitochondria to the way things were when he was young. There are many possible paths forward, most understo... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5158907 Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5158907 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5158895&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008247.html Direct-to-consumer genetic testing company 23andMe used customer data and volunteered health information from customers to confirm over 180 known genetic associations with diseases and human characteristics. As the number of people who have gotten themselves genetically tested goes up by orders of magnitude so too will the ability of genetic testing services provides to find more associations between genes and assorted diseases and attributes of humans. MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – (August 17, 2011) – 23andMe, Inc., a leading personal genetics company has replicated over 180 genetic associations from a list of associations curated by the National Human Genome Research Institute’s Office of Population Genomics ("GWAS Catalog") demonstrating that self-reported medical data is effective and reliabl... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5158895 Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5158895 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139659&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fthe-next-five-years-will-be-a-transformative-period-in-tissue-engineering.php Looking at the near time, it seems that the next five years will see the tissue engineering community move from a few trials and some impressive demonstrations to real, commercialized work available in a scattering of clinics. Few of those clinics will be in the US, of course, as the FDA will add a cost of years and vast sums through the entirely unnecessary process of going from "can do" to "can do and allowed to do" - but the capabilities will exist. Take this, for example: Stem cell researchers in Hong Kong and the United States are trying to grow spare parts for the human heart that may be ready for tests on people within five years ... When you get a heart attack, there is a small time window for a cure when the damage is still small. You can cure with a patch, a small tissue, so you... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139659 Wed, 17 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5139659 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139665&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fanother-possible-avenue-to-partial-rejuvenation-of-the-aged-immune-system.php The aged immune system begins to fail at its job for a variety of reasons that seem to have more to do with its evolved structure and control systems than with the outright incapacity of immune cells, or the inability to generate more immune cells. The immune system evolved to work very effectively in younger life, and that comes at the cost of controlling processes that fall down badly in the long term. A small reserve of memory cells is needed to respond effectively to previously encountered threats - one reserve per threat. The more threats you have encountered, the more cells become devoted to memory; eventually you don't have enough naive T cells left to mount any sort of effective defense. Given the capabilities that remain in the body, an aged immune system could, in theory, get ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139665 Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5139665 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139658&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008243.html Longer life thru genetic engineering. (PHILADELPHIA) -- In a cancer treatment breakthrough 20 years in the making, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine have shown sustained remissions of up to a year among a small group of advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients treated with genetically engineered versions of their own T cells. The protocol, which involves removing patients' cells and modifying them in Penn's vaccine production facility, then infusing the new cells back into the patient's body following chemotherapy, provides a tumor-attack roadmap for the treatment of other cancers including those of the lung and ovaries and myeloma and melanoma. The findings, published simultaneously today in the New England... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139658 Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5139658 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125701&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008237.html Too good to be true? You might think this is impossible. Now, in a development that could transform how viral infections are treated, a team of researchers at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory has designed a drug that can identify cells that have been infected by any type of virus, then kill those cells to terminate the infection. It works against 15 viruses tested so far. In a paper published July 27 in the journal PLoS One, the researchers tested their drug against 15 viruses, and found it was effective against all of them — including rhinoviruses that cause the common cold, H1N1 influenza, a stomach virus, a polio virus, dengue fever and several other types of hemorrhagic fever. When they infect... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125701 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5125701 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125702&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008235.html Laser light summoned the stem cells from out of the dark bone marrow to do battle in the heart of the beast. Prof. Oron, who has long used low level lasers to stimulate stem cells to encourage cell survival and the formation of blood vessels after a heart attack, was inspired to test how laser treatments could also work to heal the heart. He and his fellow researchers tried different methods, including treating the heart directly with low level lasers during surgery, and "shining" harvested stem cells before injecting them back into the body. But he was determined to find a simpler method. After a low-level laser was "shined" into a person's bone marrow — an area rich in stem... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125702 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5125702 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125706&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fmore-cautiously-evaluating-the-consequences-of-excess-fat-tissue.php Wealth, in the most general sense, is a blade of many edges. Let us consider food, for example, which has moved over the centuries of growing wealth from being expensive and unreliably supplied to its present state of being cheap and exceedingly reliable in supply in all the stable regions of the world. That has been a passage of stages: from the bootstrapping of early longevity gains and better land use in the 1700s, all the way through to the stunning advances in productivity that resulted from applications of the first wave of modern biotechnology in the 60s and 70s. Unfortunately we humans are not well adapted for an environment of abundant and cheap food: by following our instincts and ingrained preferences we wind up fat and sedentary, a state that causes significant harm to health a... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125706 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5125706 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118579&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008233.html The number of genetic variants which are related to risk of multiple sclerosis has just doubled. Given the continued rapid rate of decline in the costs of genetic testing and genetic sequencing the corresponding explosion in genetic discoveries as in this report should not come as a surprise. Dr. John Rioux, researcher at the Montreal Heart Institute, Associate Professor of Medicine at the Université de Montréal and original co-founder of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium is one of the scientists who have identified 29 new genetic variants linked to multiple sclerosis, providing key insights into the biology of a very debilitating neurological disease. Many of the genes implicated in the study are relevant to the immune system, shedding light... (Source: FuturePund... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118579 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5118579 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118584&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fan-example-of-the-promise-of-advanced-immune-therapies.php The immune system is a powerful tool for the selective destruction of unwanted cells, and researchers are a fair way down the road of engineering the activity of the immune system to form therapies. You might look at granulocyte transplant therapy as an example of the sort of tools that are under development. Here is an article on another line of research that has just reached the stage of early tests in humans: In the research published Wednesday, doctors at the University of Pennsylvania say the treatment made the most common type of leukemia completely disappear in two of the patients and reduced it by 70 percent in the third. In each of the patients as much as five pounds of cancerous tissue completely melted away in a few weeks, and a year later it is still gone. ... the researche... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118584 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5118584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118587&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fanother-important-human-muscle-structure-built-in-the-lab.php Good news is now arriving frequently from the tissue engineering community, who really seem to be hitting their stride of late, especially when it comes to muscle. Recreating structured muscle is the simple stuff on a relative scale of difficulty - at least in comparison to lungs and other intricate organs - but this is still a very challenging task. Dumb muscle isn't just dumb muscle: it has to be the right shape, have the right nerve structures, the right distribution of tiny blood vessels, the right layering and fiber types, and so forth. Don't underestimate just how much work was involved in coming to the point at which researchers can announce this latest advance: Researchers have built the first functional anal sphincters in the laboratory, suggesting a potential future treatment fo... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118587 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5118587 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107899&cid=t_112104_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FRkVSK5_Bu9Y%2F Good morning, everyone, and nice to see you again. We hope the weekend was invigorating. Now, of course, the time has come to resume the routine of meetings and deadlines, even if it is a slow time of year. To get started, yes, we are brewing that mandatory cup of stimulation, so feel free to join us. Meanwhile, here are some tidibts from around the world. Hope your day goes well and stay in touch… Pfizer And UCSD Collaborate On Early Drug Discovery (San Diego Union Tribune) China’s Healthcare Push May Curb Sales For Brand-Name Pharma (Bloomberg News) Nestle Eyes Pfizer Formula Milk Powder Business (Business China) EU Approves Botox For Treating Urinary Incontinence (Reuters) Takeda Pharmaceuticals Faces Rising Number Of Actos Lawsuits (Associated Press) Bayer Is Eyeing Pfizer ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107899 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:50:32 +0100 5107899 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107470&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fan-addendum-to-the-destructive-rejuvenation-of-b-cell-immune-function.php You might recall that researchers published earlier this year on a demonstration of the ability to rejuvenate B cell populations in old mice and thereby improve failing immune function. This was achieved by essentially culling the cells - which fits in with the idea that much of what is wrong with the aging immune system involves the configuration of the controlling biological programs, not incapacity of the cells themselves or of the ability of the body to produce new cells. Collectively, our results suggest that immunosenescence in the B-lineage is not irreversible, and that depletion of the long-lived B cells in old mice rejuvenates the B-lineage and enhances immune competence. .... depletion of B-cells in old mice was followed by expansion of [populations of progenitor cells that crea... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107470 Sun, 07 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5107470 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5103322&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fbecoming-aware-of-the-influence-of-bacteria-upon-aging-and-longevity.php There exists a fair-sized research community whose members think about extending healthy human life by manipulating the long term operation of metabolism. They are looking at small and incremental gains, however, and don't expect success in their work over the next ten to twenty years to go much beyond providing a few additional years of life and generally better health throughout life. This will be achieved through ways of mimicking calorie restriction or other life-extending genetic and epigenetic alterations discovered in mice. This is a far cry from the quality and quantity of life extension we'd expect to emerge from a mature SENS technology base, focused on repair of the low-level biological damage that causes aging, but it is the focus of the mainstream - much as we'd like that to b... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5103322 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5103322 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096136&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fsome-people-live-long-despite-poor-lifestyles-but-that-doesnt-mean-youll-be-one-of-them.php This study suggests that centenarians may possess additional longevity genes that help to buffer them against the harmful effects of an unhealthy lifestyle. ... Although this study demonstrates that centenarians can be obese, smoke and avoid exercise, those lifestyle habits are not good choices for most of us who do not have a family history of longevity. We should watch our weight, avoid smoking and be sure to exercise, since these activities have been shown to have great health benefits for the general population, including a longer lifespan. Why rely on having a genetic buffer against subtle forms of self-harm when the odds are good that you have no such thing? The only reliable ways to ensure that you live for a long, long time in good health will come from progress in medical technol... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096136 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5096136 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096139&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fa-reminder-that-calorie-restriction-grants-brain-cells.php Up until comparatively recently the scientific consensus was that neurogenesis, the process by which new neurons are created and assimilated into the workings of the brain, simply didn't happen in adults to any significant degree. Fortunately we are supplied with a modest flow of new brain cells as life goes on, and this post is a reminder that, amongst all the other benefits caused by calorie restriction, it also increases neurogenesis. Eat fewer calories whilst still obtaining an optimal amount of nutrients and you gain more functional brain cells as a result: Adult neural stem cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus are negatively and positively regulated by a broad range of environmental stimuli that include aging, stress, social interaction, physical activity, and dietary modul... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096139 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5096139 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086127&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2Fthe-steady-advance-of-bioartificial-materials-and-their-application-to-medicine.php If you have to replace a part of the body, it's not necessary to replace it with an exact replica of what was there before: it just has to perform the same job, and perform that job at least as well. With this in mind, the medical research community has in recent years produced a range of ways to sculpt biological materials, such as collagen, as well as produce biodegradable scaffolding material that can be colonized by a patient's own cells to build new tissue. Thanks to these and other closely related technologies, many of the structural components of the body will be amenable to clinical repair and replacement via scaffolds and bioartificial prosthetics by the time the 2020s have rolled around - the list includes joints, bones, muscles, tendons, soft tissues of the face, and so forth. ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086127 Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5086127 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5086124&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008212.html Of course it will work in a suburban tract home too. New York, NY—July 31, 2011—Samuel K. Sia, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, has developed an innovative strategy for an integrated microfluidic-based diagnostic device—in effect, a lab-on-a-chip—that can perform complex laboratory assays, and do so with such simplicity that these tests can be carried out in the most remote regions of the world. In a paper published in Nature Medicine online on July 31, Sia presents the first published field results on how microfluidics—the manipulation of small amounts of fluids—and nanoparticles can be successfully leveraged to produce a functional low-cost diagnostic device in extreme resource-limited settings. Sia and his team performed testing in Rwanda over... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5086124 Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5086124 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096313&cid=t_112104_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fflorida_biotech.php © jurvetsonThe biotech industry in Florida continues to grow while the number of biotech companies nationwide decreased over the past three years, according to research by the University of Florida. The number of companies in Florida was up 21%, with 29 new companies started since 2008 for a total of 165 statewide. Southeast Florida and North Central Florida led the state in the number of biotech startups. However, nationwide the US biotech sector lost between 15-25% of public companies and 5-10% of private companies ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096313 Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:45:59 +0100 5096313 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077636&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fa-single-gene-modification-that-improves-both-mood-and-longevity-in-mice.php A number of genetic modifications that enhance longevity in mice are unambiguously positive: the result is quite literally a measurably better breed of mouse, stronger, with greater endurance, or smarter, or more resilient in some other way. Downsides are minimal or non-existent. Researchers are paying more attention to benefits other than longevity that result from these studies nowadays - there are now so many ways of extending mouse life that announcing a new one won't get you much press unless it has some other novel twist to accompany it. So here we have a novel twist: a single gene manipulation that improves mood and neural function as well as modestly extending life. Take a look at the abstract or open access PDF paper: The role of α1-adrenergic receptors (α1ARs) in cognition an... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077636 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5077636 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077639&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fcalorie-restriction-improves-quality-of-life.php A mixed calorie restriction and intermittent fasting study focused on measuring quality of life rather than biochemical markers caught my eye today. Efficacy of fasting calorie restriction on quality of life among aging men: Calorie restriction (CR) has been promoted to increase longevity. Previous studies have indicated that CR can negatively affect mood and therefore the effect of CR on mood and quality of life (QOL) becomes crucial when considering the feasibility of CR in humans. We conducted a three month clinical trial on CR (reduction of 300 to 500kcal/day) combined with two days/week of Muslim sunnah fasting (FCR) to determine the effectiveness of FCR on QOL among aging men in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A total of 25 healthy Malay men (age 58.8±5.1years), with no chronic diseases a... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077639 Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5077639 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069417&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fa-modest-early-step-towards-implantable-artificial-lungs.php Progress in materials science, and in the areas in which that field overlaps with biotechnology, are enabling many different lines of artificial organ development. The resulting machinery will be competitive with tissue engineering in the decades to come: everything from artificial blood through to artificial hearts and artificial kidneys are on the agenda - even artificial brain sections are under development. Work on replacement electromechanical and bioartificial solutions for other organs are in earlier stages, and these include artificial lungs. Here, the first necessary step towards enabling lung devices as an implantable option is to make them small enough to fit into the chest cavity. Artificial lungs remain large devices in the popular imagination, but in fact have been shrinkin... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069417 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5069417 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069414&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008201.html While the rabbits are still gloating about gene therapy to prevent clogged rabbit arteries the mice are are cheering development of the capability to grow replacement mouse teeth. Japanese researchers have successfully grown full teeth from stem cells in a mold and then transplanted the teeth into one month old mice. The teeth enabled the mice to chew and eat. Here is the abstract from the Plos One research report. Note that you can read the full article for free. Donor organ transplantation is currently an essential therapeutic approach to the replacement of a dysfunctional organ as a result of disease, injury or aging in vivo. Recent progress in the area of regenerative therapy has the potential to lead to... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069414 Sun, 24 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5069414 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5057704&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008193.html What's important here is the meta. A number of drugs can help lower dangerously high cholesterol, but as many as half a million people worldwide are resistant to existing therapies. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leader in the development of therapies using RNA, aims to begin human tests of a treatment that could make a drastic dent in drug-resistant high cholesterol. Another drug for lowering cholesterol is not so important in the long run. What is at stake: If an RNA drug can work then that opens the door to a huge number of highly effective drugs that can do things that conventional chemical compound drugs can never do. An RNA drug delivers more information and can alter the cell's execution of... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5057704 Sat, 23 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5057704 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5051238&cid=t_112104_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FbCFE16uqAmc%2F And so, another working week will soon draw to a close. As you know, this is our welcome signal to daydream about weekend plans. Our agenda is modest - a dip in the pool, an evening of soccer with one of the short people and catching up on some reading. What about you? Given the heat, a few indoor activities may be in order. How about an air-conditioned drive in the country or a movie marathon (if you avoid paying for more than one flick, you have a bargain). You could take a trip to the mall and spur the economy. Or you could stay home and turn on the telly for updates on the debt talks. Whatever you do, have a good time and stay cool. See you soon… Bristol-Myers Buys Amira Pharmaceuticals For Up To $475M (Xconomy) Merck And Simcere Pharmaceutical Form Joint Venture (China Daily) Ex... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5051238 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:44:20 +0100 5051238 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050470&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008192.html A fluorescent dye injected into the skin will change its fluorescence based on concentrations of a target chemical in the blood (e.g. sodium or sugar) and then a smart phone add-on can read the dye to measure blood levels of a the chemical of interest. Using a nanosensor "tattoo" and a modified iPhone, cyclists could closely monitor sodium levels to prevent dehydration, and anemic patients could track their blood oxygen levels. Heather Clark, a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Northeastern University, is leading a team working to make this possible. The team begins by injecting a solution containing carefully chosen nanoparticles into the skin. You can imagine a series of small bars of dyes added to the... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050470 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5050470 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050471&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008191.html Rabbits the world over are celebrating the good news that a gene therapy for rabbits prevents clogging up of arteries. Rats and mice seethe in jealousy and resentment. A one-dose method for delivering gene therapy into an arterial wall effectively protects the artery from developing atherosclerosis despite ongoing high blood cholesterol. The promising results, published July 19 in the journal Molecular Therapy, came from research in rabbits. The gene therapy turns on a protein thought to be involved in delivering the benefits of high HDL blood cholesterol. The deployed gene produces a protein that is likely responsible for the beneficial effects of high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, commonly known as good cholesterol. This substance is apolipoprotein A-1, or apoA-1. It pumps... (Source: Fut... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050471 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5050471 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050473&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008187.html The objective of the trial was to determine whether delivery of autologous (meaning one's own)... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050473 Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5050473 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050475&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008183.html Sam W. Lee and Anna Mandinova of Massachusetts General Hospital have accidentally discovered a compound that kills cancer cells by suppressing enzymes that detoxify free radicals. A cancer cell may seem out of control, growing wildly and breaking all the rules of orderly cell life and death. But amid the seeming chaos there is a balance between a cancer cell's revved-up metabolism and skyrocketing levels of cellular stress. Just as a cancer cell depends on a hyperactive metabolism to fuel its rapid growth, it also depends on anti-oxidative enzymes to quench potentially toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by such high metabolic demand. Scientists at the Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have discovered a novel compound that blocks... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050475 Sat, 16 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5050475 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5036213&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fthree-studies-on-the-genes-and-biochemistry-of-human-longevity.php In this study we examine the association between other potential biomarkers related to CR and extended lifespan in healthy humans. .... Based on the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, "long-lived" participants who survived to at least 90 years of age (n=41, cases) were compared with "short-lived" participants who died between 72-76 years of age (n=31, controls) in the nested case control study. Circulating levels of ghrelin, insulin, leptin, interleukin 6, adiponectin and testosterone were measured from samples collected between the ages 58 to 70 years. ... At the time of biomarkers evaluation (58-70 yrs), none of the single biomarker levels was significantly different between the two groups. However, after combining information from multiple biomarkers [the] global score differentiate... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5036213 Thu, 14 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5036213 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028096&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fan-open-cures-progress-report.php This article, then, is an answer of sorts: what is the role of documentation, and why is it important enough to need dedicated organizations that do it well? Read the whole thing, as the answer to that question isn't easily summarized in a single sentence - and that in and of itself is actually a part of the challenge. Complex ideas are hard to convey, and that fact places constraints on support for new technologies. On the topic of producing documentation, you can see some of the early work in the Open Cures Wiki, such as a protocol outline for DIYbio participation in LysoSENS, and a similar protocol outline for mitochondrial protofection. For reference, a protocol is the name given to the step by step directions followed by a researcher or technician when carrying out a procedure in th... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028096 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5028096 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028099&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fways-to-accelerate-biological-damage-are-not-necessarily-interesting.php If you spend time following life science research, you'll see a fair amount of work in which scientists remove a piece of biological machinery in laboratory animals so as to try to figure out what it does - the changes that occur in the studied animals will hopefully allow researchers to piece together the surrounding biology and place the machinery in the full context of what is already known. In many cases this reduces life span or accelerates the pace of some form of damage that normally increases with aging - but that outcome doesn't necessarily mean that the machinery removed is connected to aging in any significant way, or that it has any relevance to ways to slow aging and extend healthy life. I'm sure, if you put your mind to it, you could think of a dozen ways to slowly ruin the ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028099 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5028099 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028386&cid=t_112104_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F07%2F12%2Fbrain-gear-a-conference-on-neurodevices%2F I am repeatedly thrilled by news of events arranged by the European Neuroscience & Society Network (ENSN). If it does not clash too much with my planned research stay at BIOS in London in September, I will definitely find my way to Groningen for this conference as it fits very nicely with the next part of my ph.d.-project. See the conference description below. In a museum context, I am also curious to see what kinds of objects the conference will contain. I have been thinking that it is very difficult to make neuroscience tangible, but maybe this will give some clues as to how it might be done. Neurodevices could be seen as very powerful objects in the sense that they literally touch upon (or mess with) the merging of self and materiality. Interesting stuff! BRAIN GEAR – Discuss... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028386 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:17:19 +0100 5028386 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028102&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Ftissue-engineered-mouse-tooth-grown-implanted-and-functional.php This study also provides the first reported evidence of entire organ regeneration through the transplantation of a bioengineered tooth. The age of bad teeth, old teeth, and artificial teeth will soon enough be coming to a close, I think. For my money, the most interesting parts of the paper relate to the challenges inherent in coaxing suitable dental stem cells into growing into teeth that have the right shape. The methodology that the researchers found worked was as follows: To generate the shape- and length-controlled bioengineered tooth unit so that a suitable size was obtained, [the] tooth germ was inserted into a ring-shaped size-control device and then transplanted into a subrenal capsule. Width was controlled by placing a barrier around the growing material, and the length contro... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028102 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5028102 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028106&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fstem-cells-can-repair-other-cells-by-donating-component-parts.php Every so often I run into an especially intriguing paper, and a recent open access work on the interaction between stem cells and other cells is a good example of the type. If you've been following stem cell research over the past decade, you'll know that one of the important questions has been how stem cell transplants cause regeneration. At present, the best answer appears to be some combination of creating new cells and issuing chemical signals, with much more of the latter taking place in most of the earlier therapies, such as stem cell transplants for heart disease. This paper looks at another mechanism that has been known for a while, but is far less well explored: a stem cell can form a thin connecting tunnel to a damaged cell and use that tunnel to donate some portion of its inter... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028106 Sun, 10 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5028106 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028089&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008176.html Some U Penn researchers injected RNA from heart cells into astrocytes and fibroblasts and in each case the cells converted into the cell type that the RNA came from. PHILADELPHIA - For the past decade, researchers have tried to reprogram the identity of all kinds of cell types. Heart cells are one of the most sought-after cells in regenerative medicine because researchers anticipate that they may help to repair injured hearts by replacing lost tissue. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are the first to demonstrate the direct conversion of a non-heart cell type into a heart cell by RNA transfer. Working on the idea that the signature of a cell is defined... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028089 Sat, 09 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5028089 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028399&cid=t_112104_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fharvard_bioscience_buys_preclinical_unit_of_cma_microdialysis.php © Idaho National LaboratoryHarvard Bioscience has taken over CMA Microdialysis' preclinical unit. Harvard Bioscience, also known as HBIO is the producer, marketer and developer of scientific apparatus and other specialized goods. They took over the preclinical unit of the company by way of purchasing assets. CMA Microdialysis is a Swedish company- founded in 1984- which is a market leader in the manufacture of microdialysis products. Since Harvard Bioscience is a market leader when it comes to providing tools for research and other such purposes, this ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028399 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:25:18 +0100 5028399 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028401&cid=t_112104_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fchina_to_put_in_funds_on_biotechnology.php © Idaho National LaboratoryChinese State Councilor Liu Yandong has announced major funding of the biotechnology sector in the next 5 years. The announcement was made at the International Conference for Bio-Economy to spend $308.5 billion on developing biotechnology. This funding of biotechnology will be to enhance the standard of living of people as well as economic development. The five year plan also envisages strong strides in bio-pharmacy, bio-agriculture, bio-manufacturing and bio-engineering. The plan is to use biotechnology to alleviate problems like natural disasters, protect the ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028401 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:34:40 +0100 5028401 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028402&cid=t_112104_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fbiotechnology_a_solution_to_global_problems.php © Idaho National LaboratorySteve Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Companies, gave a short retrospective of his experience of 25 years in the biotechnology industry and his views about the current state of biotechnology industry at BIO 2011 in Washington, D.C. last Tuesday, The program started with the representation of the 25 former annual reports (of Mr. Burrill describing his involvement in financing biotechnology companies. He mentioned the early stages of commercial biotechnology with the making of ALZA as a spinout from Syntex, but very soon, ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028402 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:44:20 +0100 5028402 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008099&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Ftissue-engineered-synthetic-trachea-successfully-transplanted.php It seems that this is a week for announcing significant progress in tissue engineering. You might recall that one of the groups involved in recellularization research transplanted a trachea into a human recipient a couple of years ago. The organ was from a donor, stripped of all its cells, and the remaining natural scaffold of the extracellular matrix repopulated with cells from the recipient. The end result was a transplanted organ that would not be rejected by the immune system. The same researchers have now gone one step further and successfully transplanted an entirely synthetic trachea grown from the patient's cells on an artificial scaffold - no donor organ required. Surgeons have performed the first transplant operation using an organ wholly grown in a laboratory to give a man a ne... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008099 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5008099 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008102&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fgrowing-a-new-section-of-small-intestine-in-mice.php Publicity materials for a good-looking incremental advance from the tissue engineering community are doing the rounds in the press at the moment. Researchers at The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles have successfully created a tissue-engineered small intestine in mice that replicates the intestinal structures of natural intestine - a necessary first step toward someday applying this regenerative medicine technique to humans. ... Working in the laboratory, the research team took samples of intestinal tissue from mice. This tissue was comprised of the layers of the various cells that make up the intestine - including muscle cells and the cells that line the inside, known as epithelial cells. The investigators then transplanted that mixture of cells within the abd... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008102 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5008102 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008105&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2Fnaked-mole-rat-genome-sequenced.php Prioritizing the few exceptionally long-lived mammal species for full genome sequencing has been a few years in the making as a project, but I see that the researchers who initiated that effort have now completed the first item on their list: Naked mole rat's genome 'blueprint' revealed The industrious but unlovely naked mole rat is the latest creature to have its genome sequenced by scientists. A genetic blueprint for this bizarre-looking rodent could help researchers understand why it is so long-lived. Scientists sequence DNA of cancer-resistant rodent For the first time, scientists have sequenced the genome of the naked mole-rat to understand its longevity and resistance to diseases of ageing. Researchers will use the genomic information to study the mechanisms thought to protect ag... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008105 Mon, 04 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5008105 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008090&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008171.html If your immune system is too weak or excessively active your genes probably play a role in making them that way. WHAT: A trio of large-scale genome-wide association studies, or GWAS, have identified more than 15 gene variants responsible for the diversity of white blood cell counts among whites, African-Americans, and Japanese. Supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, each study examined the genomes of tens of thousands of people. Combined, the studies offer the first comprehensive analysis into why some people, and some populations, have more or fewer white blood cells than others. All three articles will be published online June 30 in PLoS Genetics. White blood cells are part of the immune system, which fights infections... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008090 Mon, 04 Jul 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5008090 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028403&cid=t_112104_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fnow_showing_british_bioinformatics_researches_in_australia.php © tmaioliUniversity of Queensland in Brisbane launched its mirror facility last month which will give Australian Scientists access to the British arm of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute. EMBL Australia's chairman Richard Larkins believes that the mirror facility will make downloading bioinformatics faster and less time consuming. Nadia Rosenthal, scientific head of EMBL Australia, holds that the facility will play a crucial role in the development of personalised medicine. The Australian Academy of Science's secretary for science policy, geneticist Bob Williamson thinks ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028403 Mon, 04 Jul 2011 06:09:59 +0100 5028403 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4984403&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fceh-23-can-induce-longevity-in-nematodes.php As you may know, a range of ways to extend life in nematode worms (such as the common laboratory species Caenorhabditis elegans) involve interfering in the operation of mitochondria. This is also true in a range of other lower animals - mitochondrial operation is apparently strongly coupled to the natural range of longevity enjoyed by a given species. But what are mitochondria? They are a roving swarm of tiny power plants, present inside every cell, and inside each mitochondrion there can be found an array of intricate molecular machinery that gives rise to what is called the electron transport chain. This is a critical component in the process of building stores of chemical energy - in the form of ATP - used to power the operation of the cell. It is alterations in the operation of the ele... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4984403 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4984403 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4984406&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fconsidering-why-type-2-diabetes-is-an-age-related-condition.php Type 2 diabetes is the poster child for an avoidable age-related condition: barring the worst of genetic bad luck, calorie restricted, well exercised people will not suffer from type 2 diabetes. But this is, undeniably, an age-related illness. Becoming ever more obese and sedentary will hasten the onset of diabetes into ever earlier years of life, but older obese and sedentary people are still far more likely to suffer type 2 diabetes than are equally overweight and sedentary younger counterparts. So while failing to take care of your health at any age is just another form of self-harm, there are other, less avoidable processes taking place at the level of cells and organs that make older people more vulnerable. Here is an open access paper that reviews what researchers presently know of ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4984406 Mon, 27 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4984406 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975806&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fmore-progress-on-engineered-blood-vessels.php Tissue engineering of larger blood vessels has started to move more rapidly these past couple of years - this is the sort of work in which the vessels are constructed individually for implantation, rather than the very different approaches taken for capillaries and other small vessels that are essential in building three dimensional tissue of any meaningful size. News of a recent trial of blood vessel transplantation has been in the press today, and links to a couple of representative articles follow. Blood Vessels Grown in Lab Safely Used in Dialysis Patients Blood vessels grown in a laboratory were safely implanted in three kidney disease patients, enabling them to have regular dialysis without relying on traditional shunts that caused complications and failed, researchers said. The fo... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975806 Sun, 26 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4975806 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960009&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Ftowards-dna-methylation-as-a-biomarker-of-age-and-aging.php You have at least two ages: your chronological age, how long you have lived, and what we might call your biological age - which is a measure of how damaged you are. Aging, meaning the process of physical degeneration, is really just a matter of damage at the level of cells and molecular machinery. The more damage, the greater your biological age. If you are 56, you might have the damage load of the average 50 year old or the average 60 year old. Or worse, or better - and in either case that will reflect in your current health and remaining life span. In actual fact, biological age is probably far more complex than this. There is every reason to expect different systems in your body to suffer different rates of damage accumultion. Consider the immune system in AIDS patients for example, wh... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960009 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4960009 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960008&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008151.html An article in Wired reports about how drivers respond to dynamic speed display signs (with built-in radars by slowing down. FuturePundit wonders whether a cell phone tell that would tell you (unsolicited) when you've exceeded your calorie allotment would have a similar effect. The results fascinated and delighted the city officials. In the vicinity of the schools where the dynamic displays were installed, drivers slowed an average of 14 percent. Not only that, at three schools the average speed dipped below the posted speed limit. Since this experiment, Garden Grove has installed 10 more driver feedback signs. “Frankly, it’s hard to get people to slow down,” says Dan Candelaria, Garden Grove’s traffic engineer. “But these encourage people to do the... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960008 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4960008 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952758&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008150.html An article in Technology Review about synthetic biology (e.g. create custom organism to make stuff) includes an interesting fact at the end: the costs of DNA synthesis is dropping as fast as the cost of DNA sequencing. Fortunately, the cost of DNA synthesis technology, much like that of DNA sequencing technology, is dropping rapidly. George Church, director of the Center for Computational Genomics at Harvard, noted in his talk that the costs of both DNA synthesis and sequencing technologies have been decreasing at an astonishing rate—lately by a factor of 10 each year. The dropping costs for DNA synthesis will accelerate the rate at which scientists try out new designs of genes and organisms. Where does this lead in the... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952758 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4952758 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952765&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fcalorie-restriction-slows-a-possible-mechanism-of-age-related-kidney-decline.php It is not controversial to state that the practice of calorie restriction slows aging - the evidence is overwhelming, and the most important remaining open questions relate to the degree to which it slows aging in humans, and how that effect manifests in health in later life. Are you practicing calorie restriction? It is certainly something you should look into - or at least discuss with your physician. That said, there are still a near endless series of explorations that might take place into the biology of aging and how it changes with calorie restriction. The greater the capabilities of modern biotechnology, the more that opportunities open up for further and deeper detailed examination of the way in which humans work, and the way in which we change over time. The complexity of any gi... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952765 Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4952765 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952760&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008148.html Conscious of their aging ovaries more women are having their eggs flash frozen for later use with in vitro fertilization (IVF) to make babies. In a Manhattan office building on a recent evening, two dozen women — all in their 30s and 40s — sit in folding chairs, balancing cellphones and glasses of wine. They're gathered for a seminar called "Take Control of Your Fertility." Dr. Alan Copperman of Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York wastes no time laying out this harsh reality: By the time a woman hits her 40s, 90 percent of her eggs are abnormal. The chances of a typical 40-year-old getting pregnant in any given month? Ten percent. Unless, that is, she gets pregnant with her... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952760 Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4952760 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4945196&cid=t_112104_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FJchz9jURj0s%2F Hired someone new and exciting? Promoted a rising star? Finally solved that hard-to-fill spot? Share the news with us and we’ll share with it others. That’s right. Send us your announcements and we’ll find a home for them. Don’t be shy. Everyone wants to know who is coming and going, especially with all the layoffs. Despite the downsizing, there is movement. Here are some of the latest changes. Recognize anyone? And here is our regular feature. Send us a photo and we will spotlight a different person each week. This time around, we note that ABC Laboratories hired Brad Benson as a senior consulting scientist in its CMC Development Services team. In his new role, he will work in program design and technical consultation for both large and small molecule drugs. Most recently, he was ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4945196 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:15:28 +0100 4945196 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934280&cid=t_112104_107_f&fid=34860&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.corporeality.net%2Fmuseion%2F2011%2F06%2F11%2Fthe-diy-biotech-movement-is-working-up-steam%2F Back in 2006, I wrote a couple of posts (here and here) about the possibility for an emerging DIY biotech movement, concluding that although most science, technology and medicine today originates in ’Empire’, not in ‘Multitude‘, the Multitude nevertheless has the potential to build its own biotech future. Since then, not only has garage biotech worked up steam, it’s also beginning to receive some institutional recognition. Especially here in 2011: In April, Marcus Wohlsen published Biopunk: Kitchen-Counter Scientists Hack the Software of Life, an overview of the DIY biotech movement, and in May-June DIYbio.org (which started in 2008) has organised conferences in San Fransisco and in London. And next week, Science Gallery in Dublin hosts a 5 day workshop with DIY b... Biomedicine on Display blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934280 Sat, 11 Jun 2011 17:35:46 +0100 4934280 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921354&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008135.html The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking to fund the development of scalable bio-factories where cells or materials normally found in cells will make assorted products. A recent call for research by the Pentagon’s mad science agency proposes a new program called “Living Foundries.” The idea is to use biology as a manufacturing platform to “enable on-demand production of new and high-value materials, devices and capabilities.” Click thru and read the details. Looks like we will get biological factories long before Eric Drexler's nanoassemblers. What I wonder: Do we need specialized lab artificial intelligences to do sufficiently rapid scientific experiments on nanoassemblers to search the potential solution space to find ways to make nanoassemblers workable? Read the... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921354 Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4921354 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952761&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008135.html The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA_ is looking to fund the development of scalable bio-factories where cells or materials normally found in cells will make assorted products. A recent call for research by the Pentagon’s mad science agency proposes a new program called “Living Foundries.” The idea is to use biology as a manufacturing platform to “enable on-demand production of new and high-value materials, devices and capabilities.” Click thru and read the details. Looks like we will get biological factories long before Eric Drexler's nanoassemblers. What I wonder: Do we need specialized lab artificial intelligences to do sufficiently rapid scientific experiments on nanoassemblers to search the potential solution space to find ways to make nanoassemblers workable? ... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952761 Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4952761 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921355&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008134.html Getting closer to a medical tricorder. A simple technique for stamping patterns invisible to the human eye onto a special class of nanomaterials provides a new, cost-effective way to produce novel devices in areas ranging from drug delivery to solar cells. The technique was developed by Vanderbilt University engineers and described in the cover article of the May issue of the journal Nano Letters. The new method works with materials that are riddled with tiny voids that give them unique optical, electrical, chemical and mechanical properties. Imagine a stiff, sponge-like material filled with holes that are too small to see without a special microscope. What I want: a very powerful miniature home medical test lab. Get your blood, and assorted... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921355 Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4921355 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921358&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008129.html At the end of a press release from UC Davis about a research cooperation deal struck with a big genomics research institute in China the Chinese center's genome sequencing capacity is mentioned and it is quite large. BGI was founded in 1999 as the Beijing Genomics Institute. It now has several branches and subsidiaries including: BGI-Shenzhen, a nonprofit research institute; BGI-Hong Kong, a private institute that manages international collaborations and transfers profits to BGI; and BGI-Americas, located in Boston, which just celebrated its one-year anniversary and announced new joint projects with the Broad Institute and the United Kingdom. BGI has about 4,000 employees and the capacity to sequence the equivalent of 1,600 complete human genomes each day. What caught my... (Source: Future... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921358 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4921358 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4911429&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fsubtle-twists-in-the-mitochondrial-free-radical-theory-of-aging.php I noticed a recent open access paper (in PDF format) that explains in a very readable fashion how the last few years of new research into mitochondria may imply changes for a few important details in the mitochondrial free radical theory of aging. Mitochondria are organelles of eukaryotic cells that contain their own genetic material and evolved from prokaryotic ancestors some 2 billion years ago. They are the main source of the cell's energy supply and are involved in such important processes as apoptosis, mitochondrial diseases, and aging. During recent years it also became apparent that mitochondria display a complex dynamical behavior of fission and fusion, the function of which is as yet unknown. In this paper we develop a concise theory that explains why fusion and fission have evol... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4911429 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4911429 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4911435&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fpitching-the-effects-of-cancer-as-accelerated-aging.php An novel take on the immediate biological consequences of cancer can be found in a recent research brief: "People think that inflammation drives cancer, but they never understood the mechanism," said Michael P. Lisanti, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and a member of the Kimmel Cancer Center. "What we found is that cancer cells are accelerating aging and inflammation, which is making high-energy nutrients to feed cancer cells." In normal aging, DNA is damaged and the body begins to deteriorate because of oxidative stress. "We are all slowly rusting, like the Tin-man in the Wizard of Oz," Dr. Lisanti said. "And there is a very similar process going on in the tumor's local environment.... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4911435 Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4911435 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893354&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2Fa-demonstration-to-show-that-the-immune-response-accelerates-aging.php The activity and changing configuration of the immune system is intimately connected with aging in a number of ways. In early life, exposure to infections that require an energetic immune response in effect burns your candle faster by generating more biochemical damage to your body in the process of defending it from the effects of disease. In later life, when the immune system runs beyond its evolutionary warranty, it falls into a state of constant, futile activation and damage - and that damage also adds up. When you look at the reliability theory of aging, or any like consideration of aging as the consequences of accumulating damage to a complex system, it becomes clear that the immune system is an important component in the model. For example, it is generally accepted that much of the... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893354 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4893354 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4847929&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fcomparative-biology-and-the-membrane-pacemaker-hypothesis.php One of the most interesting things to emerge from a rigorous comparison of the biology of aging between species is the role of cell membrane composition, as outlined in the membrane pacemaker hypothesis. The membrane pacemaker hypothesis predicts that long-living species will have more peroxidation-resistant membrane lipids than shorter living species. Resistance to oxidative damage is of particular importance in mitochondria, cellular power plants that progressive damage themselves with the reactive oxygen species they produce as a byproduct of their operation - and that gives rise to a chain of further biochemical damage that spreads throughout the body, growing ever more harmful as you age. Less damage to the mitochondria should mean slower aging, and thus more resistant mitochondrial... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4847929 Wed, 18 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4847929 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841403&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fregenerative-research-in-lower-animals-planarians-and-zebrafish.php Many lower animals can regenerate from injuries that mammals cannot naturally heal - yet the fundamental components of their biology are much the same when considered at a high level. It's all cells and signalling molecules under the hood, and we're all sitting on branches of the same evolutionary tree. So it seems very plausible that there is something to be learned about regeneration from the biochemistries of species that can regrow lost limbs, completely heal heart injuries, or even grow half a body when needs must. Here is a small selection of research from the past week or so, illustrative of the work of a number of scientists investigating animals ranging from flatworms to salamanders. Zebrafish Regrow Fins Using Multiple Cell Types, Not Identical Stem Cells What does it take to r... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841403 Mon, 16 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4841403 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813218&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008076.html One problem with gene therapy is how to deliver the genes. The immune system will react to gene carrier packages, the liver potentially could filter out the gene therapy packages, and genes usually should go to only a small number of cell types and organs Packaging gene therapy into microbubbles enables better control and success for delivering gene therapy into cancer cells in prostates. Richmond, Va. (May 10, 2011) – Cancer researchers are a step closer to finding a cure for advanced prostate cancer after effectively combining an anti-cancer drug with a viral gene therapy in vivo using novel ultrasound-targeted microbubble-destruction (UTMD) technology. The research was conducted by scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, VCU Institute of Molecular... (Sourc... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813218 Wed, 11 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4813218 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813224&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2Fa-selection-of-studies-on-aging.php I'll point out the results of a demographic and an associative study today: many of the leads followed up by life science researchers are first identified by showing there is some association between a particular trait or aspect of our biology and people who live longer, or have better health in old age. Firstly, I see that the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging has published a weight of material, and a press release for those who like their summaries pre-digested: TILDA is the most comprehensive study ever conducted on ageing in Ireland. Between 2009-2011, over 8,000 people aged 50 and over were randomly selected across the country and interviewed about many aspects of their lives including issues such as health, financial circumstances and quality of life. Almost 85 per cent of the part... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813224 Tue, 10 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4813224 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4770736&cid=t_112104_139_f&fid=38879&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FVirologyBlog%2F%7E3%2Fj7WGBpLMldg%2F Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Dickson Despommier, and Brad Thompson Vincent, Alan, and Dickson chat with Brad Thompson, CEO of Oncolytics Biotech, about using reovirus to treat cancer. Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #131 (42 MB .mp3, 97 minutes). Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Links for this episode: Patrick Lee’s path to reolysin Reoviruses commonly infect humans Reovirus at ViralZone Onyx-411, an anti-tumor adenovirus BioVex, developers of OncoVEX GM-CSF This Week in Pediatric Oncology – TWiPO (iTunes) TWiV on Facebook Letters read on TWiV 131 Weekly Science Picks Dickson – Angels and Insects Alan – Sc... virology blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4770736 Sun, 01 May 2011 18:45:41 +0100 4770736 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4742350&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Folder-parents-probably-not-so-good.php One of the predictions of the reliability theory of aging and longevity is that we are all born damaged. Reliability theory evolved from the theories used to predict failure in mechanical systems; as such, it is a less an attempt to explain the roots of aging and more an attempt to frame an understanding of the way in which accumulating damage at the most fundamental levels of our biochemistry produces the observed patterns of aging. The models of reliability theory only match up with reality if we assume that life starts with a certain level of preexisting biological damage, and that damage goes some way to determining later health and life expectancy. What happens in early life matters a great deal, it seems. This is why we are interested in such topics as the potential effects of sola... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4742350 Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4742350 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4742364&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=36224&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.wsjonline.com%2F%7Er%2Fwsj%2Fhealth%2Ffeed%2F%7E3%2FaPMAMVCOXis%2F By Matthew Quinn, deputy editor of CFO Journal, WSJ’s forthcoming website for corporate finance executives. When Amgen announced Thursday its first ever dividend payment — and the first ever for the biotech sector as a whole — the move underscored the growing confidence among corporates that the recovery has taken firmer hold and they can make steady commitments to distribute cash to shareholders. But it also marked a significant step in the maturation of Amgen. Of course, admitting that you may be the old man in a young man’s world like biotech can be a painful process. Larger biotech companies have typically produced higher growth and used their cash to invest in their expansion, but Amgen’s stock has stagnated in recent years, Dow Jones Newswires explains. In t... WSJ.com: Health Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4742364 Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:32:19 +0100 4742364 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734016&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fmuddy-waters-when-it-comes-to-quahog-biochemistry-and-longevity.php Yes, we're back to clams again: four hundred year old clams in this case. The ocean quahog, Arctica islandica, is a very long-lived bivalve that, like other unusually long-lived species, is attracting the attention of researchers. How is it that these animals manage to live so much longer than their near relatives? You'll find some background reading in the archives: Ageless Animals, Clam Edition Digging Into Clam Biochemistry Ageless Animals, the Pearl Mussel Edition Researchers to date have focused on resistance to oxidative damage in quahogs, but the more research is done, the more ambiguous that picture becomes. It doesn't seem to be the case that we can simply point to very high levels of antioxidants or an aggressive antioxidant response that preserves cells from the accumulating d... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734016 Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4734016 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4723909&cid=t_112104_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fintensification_needed_biotechnology_brings_about_welfare.php © emilius da atlantideThe welfare of the public depends largely on the demand and supply for food especially during the time of crisis. Intensification is believed to be part of the solution, or better yet the improvement of human life. Biotechnology is a very essential form of intensification that is not quite recognized simply because there is not much known about this field. Most of the time, biotechnology are seen without looking at its positive effects. Because of the wrong concepts of biotechnology and ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4723909 Mon, 18 Apr 2011 05:28:42 +0100 4723909 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4723777&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fan-example-of-the-relevance-of-autophagy.php Time and again, autophagy, the process by which cells recycle their broken machinery, shows up as being important in methods of altering life span in lower animals: "The acetylase inhibitor, spermidine, and the deacetylase activator, resveratrol, both induce autophagy and prolong life span of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans in an autophagy-dependent fashion. Based on these premises, we investigated the differences and similarities in spermidine and resveratrol-induced autophagy. The deacetylase sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) and its orthologs are required for the autophagy induction by resveratrol but dispensable for autophagy stimulation by spermidine ... SIRT1 is also dispensable for life span extension by spermidine. Mass spectrometry analysis of the human acetylproteome revealed that resv... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4723777 Sun, 17 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4723777 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4704605&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fan-update-on-leishmania-and-mitochondrial-dna-repair.php The ability to repair accumulated damage to our mitochondrial DNA is one necessary item in the rejuvenation biotechnology toolkit of the future. You can look back in the Fight Aging! archives to see why this the case, but the short version is that your mitochondria damage their DNA as a natural consequence of their operation, and this damage is the start of a chain of events that ultimately spreads harm and dysfunction throughout the body. Mitochondrial DNA damage is thus one of the causes of aging. Fortunately, there are a number of promising avenues for repair technologies. One of the newer approaches involves adopting a mechanism observed in the tropical parasite Leishmania: Dr. Samit Adhya of the Division of Molecular and Human Genetics at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology is ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4704605 Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4704605 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4696675&cid=t_112104_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Fthe_new_bioinformatics_center_berkshire_county_massachusetts.php The fast growing field of bioinformatics is now going to have a hub at Berkshire County too. © Svadilfari The working of three colleges, in the county, together will provide students to get exposure to latest information on biotechnology and bioinformatics, which can be construed from WAMC's Berkshire Bureau chief Charlie Deitz's announcement. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is overlooking ongoing construction of a 50 million dollar center for biotechnological, bioinformatics and general science related innovations. This place will be housing the bioinformatics cluster, when it ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4696675 Sat, 09 Apr 2011 09:18:36 +0100 4696675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4696599&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008010.html A mildly interesting discovery turns up a gene that might some day help lead to a treatment for insulin-resistant diabetes. But the actual discovery isn't the most important part of it. LA JOLLA, CA – New research by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and collaborating institutions has identified a key regulator of fat cell development that may provide a target for obesity and diabetes drugs. In a paper published in the latest issue of Cell Metabolism, the scientists describe a protein called TLE3 that acts as a dual switch to turn on signals that stimulate fat cell formation and turn off those that keep fat cells from developing. TLE3 works in partnership with a protein that is already the... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4696599 Fri, 08 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4696599 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693255&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fgrowing-a-retina-in-a-dish-from-embryonic-stem-cells.php The process of understanding how to manipulate stem cells goes hand in hand with being able to coax them into forming more complex structures, recapitulating the path taken during the original development of the body when young. The state of the art at the present time is crude in comparison to what takes place in our bodies: the only way that researchers can presently obtain complex tissues is by using the extracellular matrix extracted from donor tissue as a guide for new growth. That guidance is as much chemical as structural, which is illustrated in the following recently announced research. 'Retina in a Dish' is the Most Complex Tissue Ever Engineered in the Lab: Researchers in Japan have grown a retina from mouse embryonic stem cells in a lab, but this isn't just another incrementa... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693255 Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4693255 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684236&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fhell-let-folk-know-when-the-worm-zapping-commences.php You might recall that the Immortality Institute raised funds for a test of laser ablation of lipofuscin, to run on nematode worms using commercially available laser equipment: 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. Lipofuscin is the name given to a collection of various waste products of metabolism that are hard for the body to break down. They build up inside cells, collecting in the recycling mechanisms of lysosomes and causing cellular housekeeping to progressivel... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684236 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4684236 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684239&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fp16-and-the-balance-between-cancer-and-aging.php The evolutionary view of cancer and aging is that these end points stand in opposition: complex organisms such as mammals evolve to some point of balance between risk of cancer and certainty of accelerated aging. This happens because the mechanisms that suppress cancer also inhibit the necessary regenerative capacity to maintain tissue function: it's largely a matter of how free cells are to divide and multiply, taking into account the increasing levels of damage and mutation with age - which increase the chance of a cancer developing. In research focused on this balance between aging and cancer, two genes - and the proteins they produce - are especially important: p53 and p16. Both can suppress cancer, but at the cost of accelerated aging: On p53 and Aging Understanding a Tumor Suppres... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684239 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4684239 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4670085&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2Fresting-metabolic-rate-predicts-human-mortality.php Allow me to point you to the results of a long-running study on metabolic rate and mortality: Higher metabolic rates increase free radical formation, which may accelerate aging and lead to early mortality. ... Our objective was to determine whether higher metabolic rates measured by two different methods predict early natural mortality in humans. ... Twenty-four-hour energy expenditure (24EE) was measured in 508 individuals, resting metabolic rate (RMR) was measured in 384 individuals. The study ran with hundreds of participants over more than twenty years and concluded that there is a good correlation between these measures of metabolic rate and risk of death: For each 100-kcal/24 h increase in EE, the risk of natural mortality increased by 1.29 in the 24EE group and by 1.25 in the RMR... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4670085 Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4670085 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4664121&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007997.html The rare genetic variants and not the common variants contribute the most to disease risks. DURHAM, N.C. – New genomic analyses suggest that the most common genetic variants in the human genome aren't the ones most likely causing disease. Rare genetic variants, the type found most often in functional areas of human DNA, are more often linked to disease, genetic experts at Duke University Medical Center report. We all carry at least hundreds of rare genetic variants. So one has to read "rare" to mean that each rare variant is not covered by large numbers of people even though the total number of rare variants is very high. These results make sense because any genetic variant that makes a big... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4664121 Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4664121 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4658353&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fbacteria-complicate-the-picture-for-ages-and-aging.php The many types of advanced glycation endproducts, or AGEs, build up with age. These are forms of sugary gunk that glue together important components in your cellular machinery, and enough of that going on would ultimately become a fatal problem. AGE levels are probably (for most people) more of a contributory cause than principle cause of age-related degeneration, however. The other things kill you first - but it's all a matter of accumulation, and every form of unrepaired biological damage plays its part in hastening the end. It is likely that the way in which AGEs cause issues has just as much to do with making cells act in counterproductive ways as it does with outright destruction of essential mechanisms. An important focus of research is RAGE, the cellular receptor for AGEs, which is... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4658353 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4658353 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653292&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fregeneration-of-the-pancreas-demonstrated-in-mice.php Amongst the fast track papers at Rejuvenation Research, there is one that describes a stem cell therapy for regenerating damage to the pancreas. We demonstrate that intravenous delivery of human, or rat, pancreas-derived pathfinder (PDP) cells can totally regenerate critically damaged adult tissue and restore normal function across a species barrier. One of the more interesting aspects of this demonstration is that rat or human pathfinder cells introduced into mice spur rapid regeneration that produces overwhelmingly mouse tissue rather than rat or human tissue - and all without causing immune issues. These "pathfinder cells" are a form of stem cell found in adult tissues; the name is a branding effort by the for-profit research group Pathfinder, LLC, and is aimed at distinguishing in th... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653292 Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4653292 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653302&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=36224&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.wsjonline.com%2F%7Er%2Fwsj%2Fhealth%2Ffeed%2F%7E3%2FhwRtyvA75SQ%2F This year, when it comes to eyeing board seats for Biogen Idec, Carl Icahn is finally standing pat. For the first time since 2007, the activist investor isn’t nominating new candidates to contest for Biogen’s board at its annual shareholder meeting in June. That means he seems to like his hand – which includes three board seats and the drug maker’s new chief executive George Scangos. “Under George’s leadership, the company has obviously made significant progress,” Alexander Denner, a managing director of Icahn Partners LP, said in an interview Monday. Denner is a Biogen board member and played a key role in recruiting Scangos last year. The move (or lack thereof) doesn’t mean Icahn won’t push for change in the future, but he has spent years pressuring the comp... WSJ.com: Health Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653302 Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:11:10 +0100 4653302 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636404&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fwe-age-because-the-world-changes.php Aging is an inevitability, or so we have to assume: the processes of evolution blindly but efficiently explore the space of possible living creatures, and have been doing so for a very, very long time. Surely a very long-lived or ageless species would have a great advantage in evolutionary competition, its individual members able to produce descendants for far longer than their competitors in a short-lived species that ages. Yet virtually all species - with only a very few exceptions - age in easily measured ways. The species that age are also the species that have won in evolutionary terms, and therefore prospered and spread. Why is this? A recent open access paper (in PDF format) explores one of the approaches used to answer this question, and does so in a very readable fashion: Living... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636404 Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4636404 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4626777&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fan-overview-of-the-molecular-mechanisms-by-which-exercise-impacts-aging.php Exercise slows many of the degenerations of aging and - much like calorie restriction - this appears to be the result of changes in a multitude of biological processes and systems. In effect exercise adjusts the operation of your metabolism, moving it into a better configuration. If you'd like a look under the hood, an overview of what is presently known of the biology that links exercise to improved long term health, you might read this recent open access review paper. It focuses on the heart, but the underlying mechanisms are of general interest: It is generally accepted that regular exercise is an effective way for reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Physical inactivity and obesity are also increasingly recognized as modifiable behavioral risk factors for a wide range of... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4626777 Wed, 23 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4626777 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4622213&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007980.html The field of microfluidics holds the promise of orders of magnitude cheaper biological assays of blood and other samples. Plus, it will enable fast testing without sending off to a lab. Well, an international group of researchers has developed an autonomous lab-on-a-chip. BERKELEY — A major milestone in microfluidics could soon lead to stand-alone, self-powered chips that can diagnose diseases within minutes. The device, developed by an international team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, Dublin City University in Ireland and Universidad de Valparaíso Chile, is able to process whole blood samples without the use of external tubing and extra components. The researchers have dubbed the device SIMBAS, which stands for Self-powered Integrated Microfluidic Blood Anal... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4622213 Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4622213 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4622217&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Ftowards-validation-of-the-role-of-nuclear-dna-damage-in-aging.php Our DNA accumulates damage as we age. It is very clear that mitochondrial DNA damage is important in aging, putting efforts to develop mitochondrial repair biotechnologies high on the priority list, but is the accumulation of nuclear DNA damage also important in aging? It is well settled that the level of nuclear DNA damage and mutation exhibited by an organism rises over time. It is also well settled that higher levels of nuclear DNA damage and mutation mean a greater cancer risk - this is one of the reasons why cancer is predominantly a disease of the old. The more cells that suffer DNA damage, the more likely it is that one or more cells experience exactly the type of damage needed to run amok as the self-replicating seeds to a cancer. But is nuclear DNA damage and mutation a cause of ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4622217 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4622217 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4621846&cid=t_112104_139_f&fid=38879&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftraffic.libsyn.com%2Ftwiv%2FTWiV125.mp3 Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Marc Pelletier This Week in Virology and Futures in Biotech join together in a science mashup to talk about a virophage at the origin of DNA transposons, and unintended spread of a recombinant retrovirus. Right click to download TWiV #125 (59 MB .mp3, 81 minutes). Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, by email, or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Links for this episode: A virophage at the origin of large DNA transposons (Science) EurekAlert! on virophage Sputnik, the first virophage (Nature) Unintended spread of BSL2 recombinant retrovirus (Retrovirology) TWiV on Facebook Letters read on TWiV 125 Video of this episode – download large or... virology blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4621846 Sun, 20 Mar 2011 15:55:46 +0100 4621846 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4610780&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Frasgrf1-deficiency-in-mice-causes-a-20-increase-in-maximum-life-span.php A recent open access paper from a Spanish research group outlines yet another methodology to add to the growing list of ways to increase healthy life span in mice. Progress is signified by diversity these days; there are, I think, more than twenty different demonstrated methods of bringing about meaningful extension of life in mice as of today. RasGrf1 deficiency delays aging in mice: We observed that mice deficient for RasGrf1-/- display an increase in average and most importantly, in maximal lifespan (20% higher than controls). This was not due to the role of Ras in cancer because tumor-free survival was also enhanced in these animals. Aged RasGrf1-/- displayed better motor coordination than control mice. Protection against oxidative stress was similarly preserved in old RasGrf1-/-. ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4610780 Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4610780 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4605796&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fstem-cells-improve-condition-of-long-damaged-hearts.php A recent early stage trial demonstrated that first generation autologous stem cell transplants should be beneficial even if provided long after a serious damage has occurred. Large numbers of transplanted stem cells, grown over a period of weeks from a patient's own cells, can spur the body to heal injuries that would normally linger: Heart Damage Improves, Reverses After Stem Cell Injections in a Preliminary Human Trial: Researchers have shown for the first time that stem cells injected into enlarged hearts reduced heart size, reduced scar tissue and improved function to injured heart areas ... while this research is in the early stages, the findings are promising for the more than five million Americans who have enlarged hearts due to damage sustained from heart attacks. These patients... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4605796 Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4605796 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636108&cid=t_112104_139_f&fid=38879&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.podtrac.com%2Fpts%2Fredirect.mp3%2Ftwit.cachefly.net%2Ffib0076.mp3 I joined Marc Pelletier and Ruedi Aebersold on episode 76 of Futures in Biotech for a conversation about how mass spectrometry has become one of the most important technologies in our move towards personalized medicine. We also talk about systems biology, a topic we first discussed in TWiV #121. Download audio FiB #76 (33 MB .mp3, 68 minutes) Download video (292 MB .mp4) (Source: virology blog) virology blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636108 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:32:19 +0100 4636108 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4565869&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007958.html Regeneration and rejuvenation will become possible as a result of tissue engineering research aimed at growing replacement parts. WINSTON-SALEM, NC – March 7, 2011 – Researchers at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues reported today on a new advance in tissue engineering. The team is the first in the world to use patients’ own cells to build tailor-made urinary tubes and successfully replace damaged tissue.In an article published Online First by The Lancet, the research team reports replacing damaged segments of urinary tubes (urethras) in five boys. Tests to measure urine flow and tube diameter showed that the engineered tissue remained functional throughout the six-year (median) follow-up period.“These findings sugges... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4565869 Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4565869 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4565875&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Frevisiting-naked-mole-rats-and-their-lack-of-cancer.php As you might recall, naked mole rats are interesting to researchers not just because they live nine times longer than similarly sized rodents of other species, but because they don't seem to suffer cancer. At all. There's a primer or two on naked mole rats and cancer back in the Fight Aging! archives: Naked Mole Rats Do Not Suffer From Cancer No naked mole rat has been observed to suffer from cancer, a fact that is attracting interest from the cancer research community as this species becomes more widely studied. If the biochemistry that leads to this feat can be understood, it is possible there exists an economical way to port that cancer immunity to humans. Mechanisms of Naked Mole Rat Cancer Immunity Like many animals, including humans, the mole rats have a gene called p27 that prev... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4565875 Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4565875 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4544928&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Fmoney-making-websites-and-the-cause-of-longevity-science.php Discussion of fundraising and serious research can't get a word in edgeways around the jabbering of supplement-pushers and machine-generated sales pitches for the "anti-aging" products of magical thinking. I mention all of this as I've noticed a slight shift in the strategy of the site-building entrepreneurs over the past year or so. I should mention that it is often the case that it is hard to tell the difference between one of their sites and a spam system, and their modus operandi in matters of aging and longevity has typically been to follow on the coattails of the "anti-aging" marketplace to push whatever expensive, unproven, and ultimately useless supplement is all the rage. Even sites run by people who are genuinely interested in radical life extension have largely made money throu... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4544928 Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4544928 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4536036&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2Flipids-and-longevity.php Investigating the biochemistry of aging in long-lived species and study of the impact of mitochondrial damage on aging are two quite distinct lines of research. They start to overlap on the matter of lipids, however, and the types and relative proportions of lipids that make up the membranes of cells and cellular components. If you look back in the Fight Aging! archives, you'll find introductory entries on this topic: You might recall that different fatty acid or lipid composition in cell membranes was floated as a reason for the ninefold longevity of naked mole-rats over related rodent species. Plenty of oxidative stress in the older mole-rats, but little sign of biochemical damage resulting from it - in comparison to those other rodents long since aged to death, that is. Better, more d... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4536036 Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4536036 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4522078&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fthe-new-stem-cell-science-of-progeria.php Great inroads have been made in recent years into an understanding of the accelerated aging condition called Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, or progeria. Despite its extreme rarity - there are less than a hundred sufferers known worldwide - the condition is of great interest to aging researchers, and this is because of what progeria might teach us about a range of important cellular mechanisms and their impact on "normal" aging. The breakthrough discovery linking progeria with malformed lamin A protein back in 2003 came about as a result of advances in biotechnology. Thanks to rapid technological progress, the means to make this discovery became cheap enough that one determined researcher could push through to succeed in a comparatively short time frame. Ten years previously, that w... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4522078 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4522078 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4512366&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fa-sampling-of-present-work-on-targeted-cancer-therapies.php I am not complacent about the cancers that no doubt lie in my future - just as they lie in yours. But I am not terribly concerned either; I give more thought to the fate of my wallet than to the fate of my flesh when it comes to cancer. By the time I hit the stage of life at which cancers are most likely to manifest, then the state of the art in safe and robustly effective cancer therapies will be impressive indeed. That will be true even if all that happens in between now and then is that the present technology demonstrations carried out in laboratories are developed into commercially available therapies ... and I'd expect far more progress than that to happen over a twenty year span of time. Here are two more reassuring examples of ongoing development in biotechnology for those of us fo... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4512366 Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4512366 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4507252&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fresveratrol-is-weak-medicine-and-its-well-past-time-to-move-on.php There is a very simple measure for any new potential therapy for enhanced longevity: is it either (a) doing at least as well as calorie restriction in mice when it comes to health and longevity, or (b) achieving important results that calorie restriction cannot show in mice - such as outright rejuvenation. The popular supplement resveratrol fails miserably to achieve significant results in either of these goals after more than five years of experimentation and hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding. This means that it is a dead end, or so close to one as makes no real difference. The only value gained lies in incremental improvements in the understanding of metabolism - which could have been achieved while studying more effective paths to the same end goal. Resveratrol and li... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4507252 Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4507252 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4498269&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=36224&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.wsjonline.com%2F%7Er%2Fwsj%2Fhealth%2Ffeed%2F%7E3%2FzfiChn5Cqxo%2F The prize. (The company, that is, not the gate.) There are a lot of strands to Sanofi-Aventis’s long-anticipated acquisition of Genzyme, and our able colleagues at the WSJ and Dow Jones Newswires have been hard at work pulling them all together. So let’s get started. Sanofi is paying about $20 billion, or $74 per share, up front for the Boston biotech. But as Dow Jones Newswires explains, there’s an additional component of the deal: a contingent-value right, which will pay off for shareholders down the road if Genzyme’s business meets certain benchmarks. The CVR will be publicly traded and if all goes swimmingly with Genzyme’s potential MS treatment, Lemtrada (already approved as a leukemia drug under another name), it could mean another $14 per share. Here&... WSJ.com: Health Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4498269 Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:14:51 +0100 4498269 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4498271&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=36224&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.wsjonline.com%2F%7Er%2Fwsj%2Fhealth%2Ffeed%2F%7E3%2FP3wTmKfmeeI%2F Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher Sanofi-Aventis CEO Chris Viehbacher talked today about the $20 billion takeover of Genzyme as a bet on the future, but for the French pharma company, the deal’s current benefits may be more important. At a news conference discussing the deal, Viehbacher extolled Genzyme’s expertise in making treatments for intractable diseases affecting small groups of patients. That expertise, Viehbacher said, would prove especially valuable as treatments are increasingly tailored to specific groups of patients. “I think we are going to be treating tomorrow much smaller populations of patients,” Viehbacher said. Genzyme, he continued, brings to Sanofi the “patient-centric” drug development and commercial know-how that this personalized-medi... WSJ.com: Health Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4498271 Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:40:21 +0100 4498271 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4489620&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fanother-study-indicates-that-some-of-the-effects-of-alzheimers-are-reversible.php There is clearly a point in Alzheimer's, and other neurodegenerative diseases, beyond which the damage caused by the condition is irreversible. Neurons die, and in large enough numbers to destroy vast swathes of information held in the brain - the very foundation of who you are, and the vital components of systems needed to live a normal life. All is not gloom, however. Studies in past years have suggested that up to that point, much of the loss of function that accompanies Alzheimers is in principle reversible: Some evidence suggests that the worst effects of Alzheimer's disease can be repaired - that memories are not destroyed, but rather become inaccessible. Another recent study adds to this picture: Amyloid-beta and tau protein deposits in the brain are characteristic features of Al... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4489620 Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4489620 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4482729&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2F25-scientific-ideas-of-life-extension.php The Science for Life Extension Foundation is a Russian organization consisting of advocates and aging researchers. They are similar to the SENS Foundation in that they undertake a mix of fundraising, directing research, organizing events, advocacy for longevity science, and publishing on potential methodologies to extend the healthy human life span. These two groups even share some members and advisors in common - it's a small world these days, after all, and aging research is not a large community to begin with. That is one of many things we like to see change over the next decade or two: if you want rapid progress, there need to be many researchers at work. The Science for Life Extension Foundation has published a number of professional quality documents that can be downloaded in PDF fo... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4482729 Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4482729 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4472976&cid=t_112104_107_f&fid=36584&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotech-weblog.com%2F39444424%2Flatest_acquisition_in_the_pharma_field.php © tmaioliThe beginning of February 2011 was marked with the acquisition of CM&D Pharma, by the Swiss based company nestle. CM&D Pharma was a company that was known to develop and produce patented products for patients with renal disorders. Such an acquisition was made by Nestle through its Health Sciences division. This particular acquisition happens to be the very first deal that came through in just two months since the Health Sciences Division was created. CM&D, since its inception in 2007, was dedicated to ... (Source: The Biotech Weblog) The Biotech Weblog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4472976 Sun, 13 Feb 2011 03:00:00 +0100 4472976 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4470407&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fa-mixed-batch-of-regenerative-medicine-news-and-video.php There's always something interesting in the news when it comes to progress in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. This is the sort of research community we want to see for every field that might impact human aging and longevity: large, thriving, dynamic, and attracting plenty of attention and funding. The practical result is that we live in exciting times - organ regrowth is right around the corner, as is the prospect of meaningful repair or replacement of many types of aged tissue. Regenerative medicine is not a one-stop solution for all of aging, but it is one of the necessary pillars of the true rejuvenation biotechnology that will be developed in the decades to come. Here are a few articles that caught my eye of late; the mainstream media seems to be picking up the level of... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4470407 Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4470407 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4464465&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007894.html Genetic testing to diagnose cause of developmental disabilities can turn out cases of previously undiscovered incest. HOUSTON -- (Feb. 11, 2011) – Researchers using DNA microarrays to diagnose developmental disabilities or congenital anomalies in children may unexpectedly identify that some have been conceived through incest. This raises social and legal issues that institutions and the scientific community must address, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Lancet (http://www.thelancet.com/). "We have discussed these issues with legal and ethics experts at Baylor and Texas Children's Hospital, and we are considering how best to handle them," said Dr. Arthur Beaudet (www.bcm.edu/genetics/index.cfm?pmid=1... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4464465 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4464465 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4459926&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fanother-proposed-link-between-short-telomeres-and-dysfunctional-mitochondria.php This research has been doing the rounds: This week researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reported that the length of telomeres - which shorten with age - determines virtually every aspect of aging from wrinkles and gray hair to the onset of dementia, diabetes, and heart disease. At least that was the case in the mice they studied in a report published in Nature. "We think we've identified the core pathway that really helps explain many different theories of aging," says study co-author Dr. Ronald DePinho, a geneticist at Dana-Farber. "Our study provides a unified field theory for aging." In a nutshell, once telomeres shorten to a particular length, aging accelerates. Shortened telomeres allow the cell's DNA to become damaged, which activates a gene, p53. This sets off a warn... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4459926 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4459926 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4459929&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fthe-sirtuin-faction.php By virtue of the fact that very large sums of venture capital, big pharma investment, and public funding have been sunk into the examination of sirtuins in connection with longevity in mammals, I think we'll see a strong sirtuin research contingent in the scientific community for some years to come - and this regardless of the ultimate merits of this work. While there are promising signs that sirtuins may do something useful in terms of enhancing cellular housekeeping, after some years of research we have yet to see any of the promise of slowed aging that looked possible at the outset. See, for example: A Possible Reason For Sirtuin Uncertainty Critiquing the Sirtuin Model of Calorie Restriction Research and development always takes longer than expected, but at this point I look at resea... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4459929 Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4459929 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4450257&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007884.html A female black lab named "Marine" who excelled at using her nose to detect bowel cancer is not alone. A Belgian Malinois in Paris shows a knack for detecting prostate cancer by sniffing urine. Given that dogs are going to sniff urine anyway might as well as make this instinctive desire useful. Arnhem, The Netherlands, 7 February 2011 -- In the February 2011 issue of European Urology, Jean-Nicolas Cornu and colleagues reported the evaluation of the efficacy of prostate cancer (PCa) detection by trained dogs on human urine samples. A reminder on why this matters: Dogs show the potential to detect cancers at earlier stages. If cancer can be caught before metastasis then the odds of death go way down.... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4450257 Sun, 06 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4450257 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4433067&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fslicing-calorie-restriction-ever-finer.php Over the past few years, researchers have designed and carried out interesting and ingenious experiments that try to narrow down which of the biological effects of calorie restriction are important when it comes to the resulting benefits to health and longevity. That calorie restriction notably lengthens healthy life span in almost all species tested to date is beyond doubt: eat less while still obtaining the necessary nutrients for survival and live longer as a consequence. The challenge for the scientific community is that the practice of calorie restriction changes an enormous range of metabolic processes and measures: levels of visceral fat tissue, expression patterns of genes known to be involved in aging, cell cycle behavior, body temperature, and so on down a long, long list. All of... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4433067 Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4433067 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4428976&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fbisphosphonates-and-an-unusual-longevity.php Recent analysis of a bisphosphonate treatment for osteoporosis, or age-related loss of bone mass and strength, has turned up an intriguing finding - the treatment considerably improves life expectancy in the recipients. It's not often that an effect of this magnitude turns up out of the blue in humans in this day and age: Australian clinical researchers have noted an extraordinary and unexpected benefit of osteoporosis treatment - that people taking bisphosphonates are not only surviving well, better than people without osteoporosis, they appear to be gaining an extra five years of life. ... Out of a total cohort of around 2,000, a sub-group of 121 people were treated with bisphosphonates for an average of 3 years. When compared with other sub-groups taking other forms of treatment, such ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4428976 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4428976 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4424206&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2Fthe-science-fictional-cancer-therapies-now-under-development.php If you grew up reading science fiction from the golden era of pulp and wide-eyed planetary optimism, then you've no doubt noticed that you are more or less already living in the golden future those authors wrote about. We ended up with computing power and biotechnology far beyond their imagining rather than near-free energy and space travel, but the results are just as impressive. On the whole we're better off the direction taken by reality over fiction: massive low cost energy generation and distribution technologies wouldn't do anything to slow down the aging process. Following the latest cancer research news, I'm generally struck by just how much a lot of it sounds like the engineer-oriented science fiction inventions of yesteryear. For example, researchers can now place homing nanopar... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4424206 Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4424206 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4424205&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007861.html Have you gone too long since you last saw a dog for a check-up? Don't worry, he'll still be happy to see you. A specially trained Labrador retriever completed 74 sniff tests, each comprising five breath (100 to 200 ml) or stool samples (50 ml) at a time, only one of which was cancerous, over a period of several months. The samples came from 48 people with confirmed bowel cancer and 258 volunteers with no bowel cancer or who had had cancer in the past. Around half of the volunteer samples came from people with bowel polyps, which although benign, are considered to be a precursor of bowel cancer. And 6% of the breath samples and one in 10 of... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4424205 Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4424205 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4424204&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007862.html Cutting weeks off the process Scripps scientists have found a faster way to convert adult skin cells into heart cells. LA JOLLA, CA – Scripps Research Institute scientists have converted adult skin cells directly into beating heart cells efficiently without having to first go through the laborious process of generating embryonic-like stem cells. The powerful general technology platform could lead to new treatments for a range of diseases and injuries involving cell loss or damage, such as heart disease, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's disease. The work was published January 30, 2011, in an advance, online issue of Nature Cell Biology. "This work represents a new paradigm in stem cell reprogramming," said Scripps Research Associate Professor Sheng Ding, Ph.D., who led the... (Source: FuturePu... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4424204 Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4424204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4405736&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007856.html Paper strips will perform a wider variety of medical tests. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have invented a technique that uses inexpensive paper to make "microfluidic" devices for rapid medical diagnostics and chemical analysis. The innovation represents a way to enhance commercially available diagnostic devices that use paper-strip assays like those that test for diabetes and pregnancy. Advances that lower medical testing costs while also provide immediate results without a big lab will accelerate the trend direct-to-consumer medical testing. People will do medical testing at home and more frequently. They'll upload their test results to servers running medical expert systems that will provide diagnostic results and monitor your conditions. Paper test strips will do more complex chemi... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4405736 Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4405736 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4405744&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Finvestigating-the-quality-control-of-mitochondria.php Mitochondria are the power plants of your cells, and are very important in degenerative aging. Differences in mitochondrial structure correlate strongly with differences in species life span, and there is every reason to believe that accumulated damage to mitochondria plays a large part in the destruction of health and vigor that comes with age. We know that mechanisms like autophagy exist within a cell to recycle damaged mitochondria: these mechanisms are just not effective enough to prevent the forms of damage that contribute to aging. But do mitochondria repair themselves? The distant ancestors of mitochondria were free-living bacteria, so it might not be unreasonable to expect them to be at least partly capable of self-repair. If natural mechanisms of mitochondrial repair can be ident... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4405744 Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4405744 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4399484&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fcrunching-the-numbers-on-a-longevity-study.php Some people have better genes than others, at least when it comes to living a longer, healthier life. They are perhaps more resistant to some forms of biological damage, perhaps have better repair mechanisms, perhaps can respond more effectively at a cellular level to good diet and lifestyle choices. The reasons why natural longevity has an inherited component are largely unknown and will be a subject for research for the next few decades - indeed, I expect the first generation of meaningful rejuvenation therapies to arrive in advance of a full understanding of the natural differences in human longevity. That full understanding simply isn't necessary for researchers to make progress in repairing and reversing the known biochemical differences between an old person and a young person. One ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4399484 Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4399484 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4360938&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fan-interesting-theory-on-cancer-and-the-immune-system.php The next decade will see the introduction of a wide range of comparatively sophisticated methods of manipulating the human immune system: tuning its reaction to specific biochemicals, altering the processes of inflammation, and training it attack and destroy unwanted cells or waste byproducts of metabolism. This will be good news for those people unfortunate to suffer autoimmune diseases, amongst others: the immune system touches on every important aspect of our biology in some way, shape, or form, and the decline of the immune system with age is an important component of the frailty that accompanies degenerative aging. Bearing that in mind, I noticed an interesting open access paper the other day that advances an almost hormetic theory of cancer development. To the author's way of thinki... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4360938 Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4360938 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4355711&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007828.html Razib points to a debate about how fast and how far DNA sequencing costs will drop. John Hawks expects $50 for full genome sequencing in less than 5 years. The inevitability of the $1000 genome has already made it irrelevant. We should expect a $1000 genome announcement this year. This will be hype, because the real $1000 genomes won't be here until...next year! Before the end of 2014, whole genome sequences at 4x coverage will cross the $100 mark. I think there's a good chance they will be less than $50 at that time. Based on numbers I've seen, those numbers are around six months optimistic. Geneticists are already planning projects anticipating $100 genomes -- some suggest that the next... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4355711 Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4355711 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4352707&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fimmune-system-rejuvenation-achieved-through-targeted-cell-destruction.php Our innate and adaptive immune systems vigorously assault bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other trespassers that can cause us harm, but their efforts decline with age. A poorly functioning immune system is an important component of age-related frailty - a time in life when you can no longer shrug off even the common illnesses that bothered you little when you were young. Diseases that young people barely notice can kill the elderly, and the failing immune system can be blamed for much of this. Progressive immune failure is unusual in that it is just as much an issue of configuration as it is of the accumulating biochemical and cellular damage that affects all bodily systems in aging. The body is limited in the number of immune cells it supports, and if the current crop of cells have become ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4352707 Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4352707 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4349483&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007827.html Whereas in 2010 in the United States cancer treatment cost about $124.6 billion in 10 years cancer is projected to cost somewhere between $159 billion to $207 billion per year. If cancer incidence and survival rates and costs remain stable and the U.S. population ages at the rate predicted by the U.S. Census Bureau, direct cancer care expenditures would reach $158 billion in 2020, the report said. But will survival rates remain stable? When do cancer treatments finally start making a big impact? When do cancer treatments become less damaging to the rest of the body while also becoming much more able to kill cancer cells? However, the researchers also did additional analyses to account for changes in cancer incidence... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4349483 Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4349483 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4343334&cid=t_112104_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FCgLvWskDCNk%2F Hello, everyone, and top of the morning to you. A steely, wintry sky hovers over the Pharmalot corporate campus this morning, where we are enduring the usual routine of hustling short people to this or that school house. As we cope - where is that cup of stimulation? - please join us in perusing the news of the world. Meanwhile, feel free to pass along interesting tidbits. Have a good one… AstraZeneca And Cancer Charity Strike Drug Testing Deal (Bloomberg News) FDA Warns Of Acetaminophen Risks Of Liver Toxicity (Drug Store News) Drug Shortages Persist With No End In Sight (Daily Finance) Biotechs And Generics Spar Over Biologic Exclusivity (The Wall Street Journal) FDA Says Sanofi-Aventis’ Lantus Link To Cancer Is Unclear (Reuters) US Cancer Costs Are Expected To Soar (Los Ange... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4343334 Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:02:18 +0100 4343334 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4337897&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=36224&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.wsjonline.com%2F%7Er%2Fwsj%2Fhealth%2Ffeed%2F%7E3%2FW97PEbyrTg8%2F Financial terms of the alliance weren't disclosed. (Source: WSJ.com: Health Blog) WSJ.com: Health Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4337897 Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:21:20 +0100 4337897 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4337888&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fand-they-will-look-at-you-and-ask-but-whats-a-root-canal.php If you are in your twenties, it's fair to expect that your children will never undergo any dental procedure that was in common use throughout your life to date. Your grandchildren won't even know what a root canal surgery or filling is unless you tell them. Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering will transform the field of dentistry profoundly over the next two decades, and what little of the old that's left after that will be mopped up by biotechnologies that destroy the ability of harmful bacteria to thrive in your mouth. There will be no cavities or periodontitis, and where accidents cause damage, the teeth, bone, gum tissue, and related structures such as the ligaments that attach teeth to the jaw will be replaced anew with tissue grown from the patient's own cells. Here's a pos... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4337888 Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4337888 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4337884&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007822.html This article has useful... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4337884 Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4337884 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4330976&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007817.html Microfluidic devices will eliminate the need to return to a doctor's office to get test results. The testing will be done while you wait. KINGSTON, R.I. – January 10, 2011 -- While most blood tests require shipping a vial of blood to a laboratory for analysis and waiting several days for the results, a new device invented by a team of engineers and students at the University of Rhode Island uses just a pinprick of blood in a portable device that provides results in less than 30 minutes. Microfluidic devices will enable point-of-care diagnostics. But they will also enable drug stores to offer a wide range of blood testing services at a lower cost, at more convenient locations, and over... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4330976 Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4330976 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4322482&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fbiological-chains-of-causation-with-a-pause-for-drug-development-at-each-link.php Much of modern medical research is a matter of following chains of causation in our biology. Studies first uncover correlations between a particular protein and a medical condition, and then later work attempts to unpick the chain of signals and causative events in search of a first cause: protein A is behaving differently in disease Y because protein B is apparently doing something odd as well, and it can be shown that changing B directly changes A. It's already known that protein B interacts with protein C, and protein C leads to a well studied network of proteins, so some people start to look there as well for causative effects. There is a certain amount of searching for the keys under the lamp that takes place - established groups with their domain knowledge are always going to follow ... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4322482 Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4322482 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4322480&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007807.html Mitochondria, organelles within cells that break down sugar to produce energy molecules for the rest of the cell, each have their own DNA for a subset of their genes. Some neuromuscular disorders are caused by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations. A research team has now managed to develop tools that enable them to extract individual mitochondria from a cell. Medical researchers who crave a means of exploring the genetic culprits behind a host of neuromuscular disorders may have just had their wish granted by a team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where scientists have performed surgery on single cells to extract and examine their mitochondria. Why is this useful? Well, if mutations are causing problems a... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4322480 Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4322480 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4318295&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fthe-perils-hidden-in-success.php Advancing medical technology has brought tremendous and accelerating benefits to health and longevity over the past century. The staggering increases in wealth that support that advance introduce more subtle forms of risk to health and wellbeing, however - disease and ill health that is more a matter of what we do to ourselves than what is done to us by various pathogens. Type 2 diabetes, for example, is a lifestyle condition that is essentially caused by eating too much over a long enough period of time. Adopt the right lifestyle and you are very unlikely to suffer its effects. Yet so very many people have type 2 diabetes - and as the population of various regions of the world move from being poor to being wealthy, they suffer ever more from these sorts of medical conditions, even as thei... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4318295 Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4318295 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4313974&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2Fthe-road-to-biological-joint-replacement.php Running in parallel to the tissue engineering goal of growing replacement inner organs such as hearts and livers you will find research aimed at building new biological joints. Joint replacement could be far safer, more effective, and long-lasting if biological parts were used instead of the present state of the art artificial materials. In the long run the pendulum will swing back to favor the artificial, but for now biology is the wave of the future. For example, there is this recent news: Biological Joints Could Replace Artificial Joints Soon Artificial joint replacements can drastically change a patient's quality of life. Painful, arthritic knees, shoulders and hips can be replaced with state-of-the-art metal or ceramic implants, eliminating pain and giving a person a new lease on li... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4313974 Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4313974 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4313973&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007801.html Smaller and cheaper. Dr. Rothberg is the founder of Ion Torrent, which last month began selling a sequencer it calls the Personal Genome Machine. While most sequencers cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and are at least the size of small refrigerators, this machine sells for just under $50,000 and is the size of a largish desktop printer. While not intended for the general public, the machine could expand the use of DNA sequencing from specialized centers to smaller university and industrial labs, and into hospitals and doctors’ offices, helping make DNA sequencing a standard part of medical practice. It is not as cheap as it sounds because it sequences only smaller genomes and consumes a $250 chip for each... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4313973 Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4313973 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4309570&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007800.html Johnson & Johnson is teaming up with Massachusetts General Hospital to try to bring to market a microchip that can detect cancer at very low concentrations in the blood. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have already developed a prototype of a microchip that can detect tumor cells at extremely low levels in the bloodstream. The effort to be announced today intends to draw on the expertise of scientists familiar with how to bring such technologies to patients and doctors. The hope is to lower costs below the current $500 per chip. A big cost reduction seems a reasonable expectation because small things like computer chips get cheaper every year. Biotechnology is increasingly following the pattern of the semiconductor computer industry... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4309570 Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4309570 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4294593&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007776.html Full sequencing of a 3 year year old's genome enabled identification of a life-threatening mutation and a successful treatment using donor cord blood stem cells. A collaborative team of scientists and physicians at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin uses genetic sequencing to identify and treat an unknown disease. For the one of the first times in medical history, researchers and physicians at The Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin sequenced all the genes in a boy's DNA to identify a previously-unknown mutation. The team was able not only to identify the mutation, but to develop a treatment plan using a cord blood transplant, and stop the course of the disease. The poor... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4294593 Sat, 25 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4294593 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4285176&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Fsmall-steps-towards-exercise-mimetics.php Calorie restriction and exercise improve health and longevity to some degree in humans, which makes them topics of interest for the mainstream of aging research - scientists focused on finding ways to permanently adjust human metabolism to slow the damage of aging. Just as investigations into the biochemistry of calorie restriction have produced a field of research aimed at producing calorie restriction mimetics, so too will a greater understanding of the effects of exercise lead into the development of exercise mimetics. The driving idea here is that people will pay for medical technologies that provide some of the benefits of calorie restriction or exercise without the need for the hard work and willpower involved in the real thing. This seems like a reasonable conjecture, and so plent... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4285176 Thu, 23 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4285176 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4281289&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Fblood-type-b-draws-the-short-straw-or-maybe-it-doesnt.php The entertaining aspect of sparsely studied questions is that you'll find the evidence to be all over the map. No study can be considered in isolation, as many are in some way flawed - the right way to read science is to look at the flow and interaction of many groups and their research results. But if only a few researchers are publishing on a given topic, there's no real way to balance their work in a broader context. The only thing to do is wait. We might look at blood type and longevity in this context, as a paper on this topic recently caught my eye. I don't recall reading anything on blood type and life expectancy in the past few years at least, so I know it's not a mainstream concern or a matter of common knowledge in the research community. ABO Blood Type and Longevity To assess... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4281289 Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4281289 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4281288&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007766.html An article in Technology Review reports on advances made in separating chromosomes so they can be individually sequenced. Now two teams have devised ways to determine these groupings—known as the haplotype—in an individual. Stephen Quake and collaborators at Stanford University developed a way to physically separate the chromosome pairs and sequence each strand of DNA individually. Jay Shendure and colleagues at the University of Washington in Seattle sequenced DNA from single chromosomes in specially selected pools and used this information to piece together the genome. Both projects were published this week in Nature Biotechnology. If each chromosome in a cell can be separated out and individually sequenced then one could do the same to parents and children. With that information... (S... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4281288 Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4281288 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4275295&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007765.html A small chip will some day sequence your entire genetic sequence in minutes. Of course, small and fast also means very cheap too. Scientists from Imperial College London are developing technology that could ultimately sequence a person’s genome in mere minutes, at a fraction of the cost of current commercial techniques. Couples on dates or sizing up each other in bars will some day surreptitiously take DNA samples of each other and do sequencing to find out of the romantic interest has desired attributes. How smart? How likely to be faithful? How driven? Genetic sequences will provide clues. The researchers have patented an early prototype technology that they believe could lead to an ultrafast commercial DNA sequencing tool within ten... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4275295 Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4275295 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4265651&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Flongevity-in-the-laboratory-the-remarkable-become-unremarkable.php When nematode worms were first engineered to live significantly longer in good health, not very many years ago, it was a big deal. Today, few people beyond the life science community take much notice of each new study to result in a way to extend life in lower animals. Today I briefly scanned through the latest aging research papers referenced by PubMed and saw three separate reports of aging slowed in nematodes and flies, all published in just the past week or so. So the world turns: the remarkable becomes unremarkable. This is where we'd like to be with human engineered longevity - for it to be an unexciting topic, well-studied, with the work of commercial development well underway, and everyone taking it for granted that healthy lifespan will be made much longer through medical scienc... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4265651 Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4265651 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4258818&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007747.html Men with type 1 diabetes might be able to grow insulin-producing cells from their own testicular stem cells. PHILADELPHIA – Men with type 1 diabetes may be able to grow their own insulin-producing cells from their testicular tissue, say Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) researchers who presented their findings today at the American Society of Cell Biology 50th annual meeting in Philadelphia. Their laboratory and animal study is a proof of principle that human spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) extracted from testicular tissue can morph into insulin-secreting beta islet cells normally found in the pancreas. And the researchers say they accomplished this feat without use of any of the extra genes now employed in most labs to turn adult stem cells... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4258818 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4258818 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4258824&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Fthe-mammals-made-long-lived-in-the-laboratory.php A wealth of long-lived mammals can be found in the laboratories of aging researchers. The healthy life spans of these animals are extended by comparatively minor genetic alterations, drugs such as rapamycin, or environmental changes like calorie restriction that are used to identify targets for future genetic engineering. This is the domain of the metabolic engineers, who see no better way forward than to gently slow aging by tweaking the operation of human metabolism. It will be a long and expensive road, and at the end will not produce results that can help people who are already old. Metabolic engineering cannot produce rejuvenation, the reversal of aging - yet it is the dominant body of longevity science in this day and age. Thus most of the new research you'll see or read about is di... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4258824 Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4258824 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4253100&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007741.html A researcher at Lawrence Berkeley Lab discusses the potential of engineering microorganisms to produce valuable chemicals for medical treatments, plastics, and other applications. Will we one day design and create molecules, cells and microorganisms that produce specific chemical products from simple, readily-available, inexpensive starting materials? Will the synthetic organic chemistry now used to produce pharmaceutical drugs, plastics and a host of other products eventually be surpassed by metabolic engineering as the mainstay of our chemical industries? Yes, according to Jay Keasling, chemical engineer and one of the world’s foremost practitioners of metabolic engineering. I read this and think of colonizing other planets. Why? Any colonization ship won't be able to carry along huge a... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4253100 Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4253100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4241693&cid=t_112104_87_f&fid=34980&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightaging.org%2Farchives%2F2010%2F12%2Flooking-back-at-the-discovery-of-a-genetic-pathway-of-longevity.php This article describes the discovery of a genetic pathway that regulates ageing. In spite of the fascinating qualities of the ageing process, such as its remarkably different pace in different species, until the last few decades ageing was not thought to be subject to any active regulation. Now we know that the rate of ageing is indeed subject to regulation, by classical signalling pathways. These pathways link the ageing rate to environmental and physiological cues, and may even underlie its diversification during evolution. At the heart of these pathways are stress and metabolic sensors such as insulin and IGF-1 hormones ... At the time, ageing was generally thought to be a hopelessly intractable, even futile, problem to study. We just wear out; that's it. Fortunately, because of my ex... Fight Aging! blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4241693 Wed, 08 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4241693