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The road to achieving a long life is littered with hype. The usual life-extension suspects include pricey pills and supplements; the peculiar involve infusions of young blood and chambers pumped with sub-zero temperatures.

Then there's science. And one scientific factor that has long been presumed to dictate much of how long we live is our DNA. For decades, it was assumed that the genes we inherit from our parents explain anywhere from 15% to 30% of the variations in longevity that are observed between people.

But a new study that came from quiet collaboration between genetics company Ancestry and a Google life-extension spinoff called Calico suggests that our genes play less of a role in our lifespan than we thought.

Instead, traits and behaviors that include everything from diet and exercise to friendliness appears to play a strong role in longevity. Surprisingly, we still pass these traits on through generations mostly by picking partners who look and act like us, the researchers report.

In essence, the findings suggest that people effectively transfer longevity from one generation to the next much in the same way that wealth and socioeconomic status are passed from parents to children: by choosing partners with attitudes and attributes that mirror our own, regardless of how different their DNA may be.

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For decades, researchers studying longevity and genetics had estimated that the genes we inherit from our parents play a significant role in determining how long we live. Previous studies suggested that genes account for as much as 30% of the total variability in lifespan between individuals.

But the new study from Ancestry and Calico indicates that our DNA may be much less important in determining longevity than traits and behaviors like diet, exercise, and personality. After looking at data from more than 54 million family trees and the birth and death information for over 400 million individuals, the researchers concluded that our DNA accounts for less than 10% of lifespan variability.

Instead, we pass on longevity through generations by choosing partners whose attitudes and attributes look much like our own. In research parlance, that's known as "assortative mating."

"The true heritability of human longevity or birth cohorts across the 1800s and early 1900s was well below 10%, and ... has been generally overestimated due to the effect of assortative mating," the scientists wrote.

Put another way, we tend to pick partners with attitudes and attributes from eating and exercising to friendliness that mirror our own. And as a result, we tend to live similar amounts of time, and have children who do as well.

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Previous studies shed light on how important lifestyle factors are when it comes to how long we live. In a recent study published in the journal Circulation, for example, scientists pinpointed five lifestyle factors that appear to be linked with a significantly longer lifespan, judging by the outcomes of two long-term studies that involved about 123,000 adults.

People in the study who lived long lives tended to:

As part of several other recent studies, scientists have uncovered a handful of personality traits that also appear to be strongly linked to longer-than-average lives. They include:

Taken together, the findings suggest that how long we live may be less a matter of what we're born with than the circumstances in which we live and the choices that we make. Those choices, as the Ancestry and Google researchers acknowledge in their new paper, tend to be based on everything from social status to wealth and then, just like genetics, passed on from one generation to the next.

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Ancestry releases longevity study from partnership with ...

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY

VOL. 75, NO. 8, 2020

2020 BY THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY FOUNDATION PUBLISHED BY ELSEVIER

The Contextualized Genetics of Human Longevity JACC Focus Seminar Claudio Franceschi, MD,a,b,* Paolo Garagnani, PHD,a,* Fabiola Olivieri, PHD,c,d Stefano Salvioli, PHD,a,y Cristina Giuliani, PHDe,y ABSTRACT The genetics of human longevity has long been studied, and in this regard, centenarians represent a very informative model. Centenarians are characterized by 2 main features: 1) the capability to avoid or postpone the major age-related diseases; and 2) a high level of heterogeneity of their phenotype. The rst suggests that longevity and resistance to diseases are mediated by shared mechanisms, the latter that many strategies can be used to become long lived, likely as a result of variable genome-environment interactions. The authors suggest that the complexity of genome-environment interactions must be considered within an evolutionary and ecological perspective and that the concept of risk allele is highly context dependent, changing with age, time, and geography. Genes involved in both longevity and cardiovascular diseases, taken as a paradigmatic example of age-related diseases, as well as other emerging topics in genetics of longevity, such as microribonucleic acid (miRNA) genetics, polygenic risk scores, environmental pollutants, and somatic mutations are discussed. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2020;75:96879) 2020 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation.

I

n recent decades the brand-new phenomenon

considered, compared with large genome-wide as-

of worldwide longevity is emerging, boosting

sociation studies (GWAS), and starting from 2 of

the

to

their peculiar features: 1) the heterogeneity of cen-

longevity. However, the results of this research

tenarians phenotype; and 2) the fact that they

have

avoid

study

been

of

the

sometimes

genetic extremely

contribution

heterogeneous

and often contradictory, possibly at least in part

or

postpone

major

age-related

diseases

(ARDs).

because of the denition of long-lived people that

Starting from this viewpoint, we will try to illus-

applies. In this regard, centenarians (age $100

trate some informative examples of genetic de-

years), semi-supercentenarians (age $105 years),

terminants of longevity, showing that: 1) genetics is

and supercentenarians (age $110 years) are people

context dependent; 2) the genetics environment

who are not only indisputably long lived but also

equation has multiple solutions, accounting for the

those

heterogeneity of the phenotype in centenarians;

who

better

exploited

the

potential

lifespan of Homo sapiens as a species. In fact, no

and

one has been reported so far to live more than

diseases such as cardiovascular ones are highly

about 120 years. We thus focus this review on the

interconnected, suggesting that they may be consid-

results

ered 2 sides of the same coin.

of

studies in

which

centenarians were

3)

genetic

determinants

of

longevity

and

From the aDepartment of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; bDepartment of Listen to this manuscripts

Applied Mathematics, Institute of Information Technology, Mathematics and Mechanics, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny

audio summary by

NovgorodNational Research University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia; cLaboratory of Experimental Pathology, Department of

Editor-in-Chief

Clinical and Molecular Sciences, Universit Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy; dCenter of Clinical Pathology and Regenerative

Dr. Valentin Fuster on

Therapy, IRCCS INRCA, Ancona, Italy; and the eLaboratory of Molecular Anthropology and Centre for Genome Biology, Depart-

JACC.org.

ment of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. *Dr. Franceschi and Dr. Garagnani contributed equally to this work. yDr. Salvioli and Dr. Giuliani are co-senior authors. This study was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Agreement (075-15-2019-871) and by ALMA IDEA-2017 project from the University of Bologna to Dr. Giuliani. The authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose. Manuscript received November 14, 2019; revised manuscript received December 13, 2019, accepted December 17, 2019.

ISSN 0735-1097/$36.00

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2019.12.032

Franceschi et al.

JACC VOL. 75, NO. 8, 2020 MARCH 3, 2020:96879

However,

HIGHLIGHTS

The effect of nuclear DNA variants (single or combinations) on longevity is context dependent. The genetics of longevity is informative to identify GxE interactions that protect against ARDs.

have

mixed

extreme limits of human life thanks to their capability to successfully adapt to a variety of stressors and to remodel better and more harmoniously (1). The prevalence of centenarians in a population can be assumed as an ecological indicator of optimization of the anthropological environment (2). The peculiar characteristics of centenarians are reported in Table 1. As a whole, centenarians maximized the product of their personal gene environment (GxE) equation, which is dynamic and dependent on a variety of historical and ecological factors (such as individual and population genetics, demography, sex, family and and

geographic environment, cultural and anthropological environment, social networks, and socioeconomic status) that we term ecological space, according to the evolutionary and anthropological concept of niche construction (3). This concept may help in understanding why only a few longevity variants and genes shared among different populations have been identied in GWAS, as recently reviewed consequence

of

this

concept

is

that

longevity variants are strongly context dependent. The following evidence supports this idea. First, it is known that longevity runs within families, as demonstrated by many studies, including those conducted on Sardinian people (3). Assortative mating (based on behavioral and cultural traits), favoring an excess of homozygosity, may play a role in the genetics of longevity in some populations (6) but not in others (such as in Utah and among the Dutch), as suggested by spouse data (7,8). On the whole, these data support the importance of context.

example, the European project GEHA (Genetics of Healthy Ageing) considered 2,118 nonagenarian sibling pairs enrolled at 15

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ARD = age-related disease CVD = cardiovascular disease DNA = deoxyribonucleic acid GxE = gene 3 environment

centers from 11 European countries. The re-

GWAS = genome-wide

sults highlighted the importance of APOE and

association studies

TOMM40, as well as the possibility to identify

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The Contextualized Genetics of Human Longevity - PDF Free ...

From humans to black-tailed prairie dogs, female mammals often outlive males but for birds, the reverse is true.

Now researchers say they have cracked the mystery, revealing that having two copies of the same sex chromosome is associated with having a longer lifespan, suggesting the second copy offers a protective effect.

These findings are a crucial step in uncovering the underlying mechanisms affecting longevity, which could point to pathways for extending life, the authors write. We can only hope that more answers are found in our lifetime.

The idea that a second copy of the same sex chromosome is protective has been around for a while, supported by the observation that in mammals where females have two of the same sex chromosomes males tend to have shorter lifespans. In birds, males live longer on average and have two Z chromosomes, while females have one Z and one W chromosome.

Scientists say they have found the trend is widespread. Writing in the journal Biology Letters, the team report that they gathered data on sex chromosomes and lifespan across 229 animal species, from insects to fish and mammals. Hermaphroditic species and those whose sex is influenced by environmental conditions such as green turtles were not included.

The results reveal that individuals with two of the same sex chromosomes live 17.6% longer, on average, than those with either two different sex chromosomes or just one sex chromosome.

The team say the findings back a theory known as the unguarded X hypothesis. In human cells, sex chromosome combinations are generally either XY (male) or XX (female). In females only one X chromosome is activated at random in each cell.

As a result, a harmful mutation in one of the females X chromosomes will not affect all cells, and hence its impact can be masked. By contrast, as males only have one X chromosome, any harmful mutations it contains are far more likely to be exposed.

The team found that in species where males have two of the same sex chromosomes, these males live on average 7.1% longer than females. However, in species where the sex chromosome pattern is the other way around, such as humans, females live 20.9% longer on average than males.

The researchers say the extent of the longevity gap may reflect other factors at play, including that males tend to take more risks when it comes to securing a sexual partner, including fighting. These pressures to travel far to find a mate, establish a territory and compete with other members of your sex are not seen often in females, said Zoe Xirocostas, a co-author of the research from the University of New South Wales.

But there are also other possibilities as to why the longevity gaps differ in size, including that oestrogen appears to protect the ends of chromosomes from being damaged a process linked to ageing.

Our study suggests that the unguarded X is an underlying genetic factor that can influence lifespan, but many external factors can influence longevity in different ways such as predation, risky behaviours, establishing territories and access to quality nutrition, said Xirocostas.

Prof Steven Austad, an expert on ageing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who was not involved in the study, said the theory that having two of the same sex chromosomes is beneficial for longevity was appealing.

I would think that it plays some role in understanding sex differences in longevity but it certainly isnt the only factor, he said, noting that both risk-taking behaviour and parental roles also appeared to be important. For instance, owl monkey males live longer than females and the males play a big role in infant care in that species, he said, noting such males have two different sex chromosomes.

Austad said the upshot was that longevity is not only about sex chromosomes. There is a general trend, but with numerous exceptions, he said.

Excerpt from:
Mystery of lifespan gap between sexes may be solved, say researchers - The Guardian

San Diego, California-based Human Longevity Inc. (HLI) was founded in 2013 with the audacious mission of radically extending the human lifespan through better understanding of peoples genetic makeup.

Back then the promise created by lower cost genetic sequencing seemed ripe for HLI co-founder and genetic sequencing pioneer Craig Venter to take to market. Venter is a legend in the field of genetics known for his efforts at Celera Genomics on one of the first attempts to successfully map the human genome.

Investors like Celgene, Illumina and GE Ventures agreed, pouring hundreds of millions into the company, including a funding round in 2017 that valued HLI at more than $1.6 billion.

Since that peak, however, the companys value has declined 80 percent to $310 million, according to a recent story in The Wall Street Journal.

Citing documents acquired by Lagniappe Labs and a letter to shareholders from HLI,the newspaper reported that the company is attempting to raise $25 million from existing investors at the new valuation.

The terms of the current funding roundinclude priority payments to those investors in the case of a liquidation event and an anti-dilution provision called full-ratchet that allows investors to keep their ownership stakes constant by adjusting their own share prices if HLI decides to raise capital again at a lower price.

The Journal reports that the companys employee count has dropped from 300 workers in 2016 to 150 today. Over the past few years, HLI has also had a virtual revolving door among its C-suite ranks.

Company co-founder Venter stepped down as CEO in 2017 and was replaced by Cynthia Collins, a former executive at GE Healthcare.

Collins herself left the company in less than a year later,along with a handful of other high level executives, and Venter again took the role of CEO.

Venter stepped down from the company for the second time in May and was subsequently sued by HLI for allegedly stealing trade secrets and trying to poach employees. Earlier this year, Saturnino Fanlo, Human Longevitys chief financial officer and chief operations officer alsodeparted.

Currently, Human Longevity is being led by its chief of radiogenomics and interim CEO David Karow which telegraphs the companys new focus on its Health Nucleus business line, which sells a package consisting of full DNA sequencing alongside a battery of tests including a whole body MRI, heart rhythm monitoring andneurocognitive testing.

The diagnostic focuses on early detection and prevention of disease like cancer and cardiac disease,as well as metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases. While HLI has said the test has found early-stage issues in seemingly healthy patients,critics have often cited the lack of peer-reviewed validation for the companys claims.

Health Nucleus, which is not covered by insurance, ranges in price from $4,950 to $25,000 for the most robust diagnostic. It is currently only offered at HLIs San Diego headquarters, but the company said it plans to expand availability to other locations around the country.

Picture: Creative-Touch,Getty Images

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Former unicorn genetics startup Human Longevity loses its ...

Frank Buckles lived an amazing and long life.

He joined the Army at only 16 years old to fight in World War I, and later as a civilian, working in the Philippines, was captured by the Japanese at the outset of World War II. He survived three hellish years as a POW at Los Banos POW Camp before being rescued in a raid by American forces.He passed away on February 27, 2011, at the age of 110.

Buckles was born on Feb. 1, 1901, in Bethany Missouri. He was the youngest of five children and the third boy in the household. His familys ancestry traced back to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. One thing that stood out, however, was that his family genetics were blessed with longevity. As a young boy, he remembered long talks with his grandfather who was born in 1817. His father lived to be 95, his grandmother 96. When he was young he had two aunts that told him to prepare himself for a long life. Both of them lived to be over 100.

When he just a teenager, his family moved from Missouri to Oakwood, Oklahoma, where Buckles went to school, worked in a bank and became an avid wireless operator. With the United States entering World War I, although he was just 16 years old, he tried to enlist. The war, which had started in 1914, was an important event, he remembered later. The world was interested in it. So, I was interested. The Marine Corps turned him down as being too small, sensing that he was underage; the Navy also turned him down ostensibly for having flat feet, also believing him to be too young. But the Army did not. An Army captain asked him for a birth certificate. I explained that when I was born in Missouri, birth certificates were not a public record, Buckles said. It would be in the family Bible. And I said, You wouldnt want me to bring the family Bible down here, would you? He said, Go on, well take you.' So, the U.S. Army hurting for manpower accepted the youngster and he joined on August 14, 1917.

Buckles underwent basic training at Ft. Riley, KS. After basic training, he was trained as a motorcycle rider and ambulance driver. Later in 1917, he was among the first Americans who made their way from England to France. He saw first-hand what combat in the trenches did to the men fighting there as he transported them to hospitals in the rear.

There was never a shortage of blown-up bodies that needed to be rushed to the nearest medical care. The British and French troops were in bad shape even guys about my age looked old and tired. After three years of living and dying inside a dirt trench, you know the Brits and French were happy to see us doughboys. Every last one of us Yanks believed wed wrap this thing up in a month or two and head back home before harvest. In other words, we were the typical, cocky Americans no one wants around, until they need help winning a war.

At the wars end, he helped transport thousands of German POWs back to their homeland. One German soldier gifted him with a belt buckle with the inscription Gott mit uns (God with us). It was a gift that he would keep for the rest of his life. Promoted to Corporal just before he was mustered out in November 1919, Buckles returned to the United States and took part in the dedication of the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri where he met the Commander of the American Expeditionary Force General John Pershing.

After the war, despite many veterans having trouble finding work, Buckles never was at a loss for one. He worked in NYC, Toronto, then took a job as a ships purser, and later he ran the Manila office of the American President Lines when the Japanese invaded the Philippines in December 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He and many other Americans, both civilian and military, were taken as prisoners of war.

Buckles was a POW for more than three years in the Santo Tomas and Los Baos prison camps. When I got down to 100 pounds, I quit looking at the scales, he said. Like many POWs, he contracted beriberi, a disease caused by malnutrition. To combat the disease, he led a daily calisthenics class for the POWs. I explained to them, he recalled, that were under severe circumstances, but you must keep yourself in shape for when the war is over.

On February 23, 1945, they were all liberated in a daring raid led by the Armys 11th Airborne Division and Filipino guerillas. All 250 of the Japanese guards were killed and the combined rescue force liberated 2147 POWs. Buckles had completed his second war and was now 44 years old.

After the war, he returned to the United States and married Audrey Mayo in 1946. The two bought a 330-acre cattle ranch in West Virginia. They raised a daughter, Susanah, and remained in WV. His wife died in 1999. He continued to drive the tractor on his farmland well into his 100s.

Gary Sinise and Buckles led the Memorial Day Parade of 2007; he was 106 at the time. He was later asked to visit the White House as a guest of President George Bush. Buckles thought that it was an interesting visit. I went to the White House and sat in the Oval Room, he recalled. And here came President Bush and he asked me: Where were you born? And I said, Thats exactly the words that General Pershing used.

Buckles became the honorary Chairman of the World War I Monument Committee and was an outspoken advocate for the dedication of a monument to honor the men who sacrificed so much during the Great War.

We still do not have a national memorial in Washington, D.C. to honor the Americans who sacrificed their lives during World War I. On this eve of Veterans Day, I call upon the American people and the world to help me in asking our elected officials to pass the law for a memorial to World War I in our nations capital. These are difficult times, and we are not asking for anything elaborate. What is fitting and right is a memorial that can take its place among those commemorating the other great conflicts of the past century. On this 92nd anniversary of the armistice, it is time to move forward with honor, gratitude, and resolve.

Buckles died on February 27, 2011, aged 110. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. As was noted by Paul Duggan, a reporter for the Washington Post:

The hallowed ritual at grave No. 34-581 was not a farewell to one man alone. A reverent crowd of the powerful and the ordinaryPresident Obama and Vice President Biden, laborers and store clerks, heads bowedcame to salute Buckless deceased generation, the vanished millions of soldiers and sailors he came to symbolize in the end.

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Frank Buckles, the last soldier to fight in World War I dies at 110 - SOFREP

It was an offer I couldn't refuse.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a monthly meeting of a group of Treasure Valley writers who also happened to be celebrating a milestone: one of their members had just turned 100.

I arrived at the home of Peggy Thiessen in Boise. She and two others Lavaughn Wells and Nancy Ives were waiting for "the birthday girl" to arrive. In the meantime, we began talking.

I found out that this group of "women of a certain age" the youngest, I was told, is 68 get together once a month to share their stories. They all have been working on their autobiographies for a number of years. They follow Frank P. Thomas' book, "How to Write the Story of Your Life."

At each meeting, they read their most recent installments out loud to one another. "An interesting thing is when we read our stories we piggy-back on top of each other," said Thiessen. "There are triggers. We'll think of something in our past that we want our children to know."

The stories are for family members to read so that they can get a glimpse of what their mother's, grandmother's, aunt's or great-aunt's lives were like "before smartphones."

It's a chance to show that there may be more than work or looking at screens, said Ives. "I write my stories in the hopes that my great-nieces will not be too orthodox. I think there's a lot more to life than 8-to-5," she said. "I hope this will give them a spark to get away and see some of the world."

Thiessen, 78, the de facto leader and hostess of the group, said she has been through Thomas' book about four times and each time remembers more stories to write down.

"As you write more and more, you remember more and more," she said. "I tend to write about the funny things instead of the harder things I don't want to think about those things."

Theissen writes all of her tales out in longhand, and her husband, Wayne, types them up for her. They've been married for 57 years, but still "sometimes he learns something new or remembers something he forgot," she said.

Wells, 80, traveled around spending time in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky before lighting down in Boise in 1986. "My husband, David A. Wells, started the Blue Thunder Marching Band at Boise State," she said. "The first time they were on the field was in 1987."

Lavaughn Wells was also involved in music she had been a teacher in choral music at Nampa High.

Ives, 82, was originally from California and came to Boise by way of Taiwan in 2007. "It was a jump," she said, smiling.

Then the guest of honor arrived. Ethel Farnsworth walked into the room, took a seat and looked around, noting everyone there.

"I've had an interesting life," she said.

Farnsworth, who actually turned 100 on Feb. 9 which also happened to be Ives' birthday held her latest story on her lap. "We're so old, we're turning things over to the historical society," she said, laughing.

Prompted by Thiessen, Farnsworth regaled the group with the story of how she and her husband, Ken Farnsworth Jr., now deceased, came to be the owners of Rhodes Bake-N-Serv, the frozen bread dough company.

There was a Mr. Rhodes, she said, and through a series of fortunate events, he came up with the winning formula for frozen bread dough, much to the delight of homemakers everywhere.

"Mr. Rhodes had found this recipe in the drawer of a cabinet," said Ethel. He handed the it over to his ingenious nephews who began perfecting the process.

Ethel's husband, Ken, who had started a food brokerage business, sort of stumbled onto his bread destiny.

He found Rhodes Bread while traveling in northern Idaho, said Ethel. "He saw some women, who he knew were home bakers, waiting at a grocery store for the bread truck to come in." Intrigued, Ken Farnsworth waited, too. When the truck arrived, it wasn't at all what Farnsworth had imagined: it was a small truck with two college-aged young men handing out frozen loaves of bread dough to the excited women who took the dough home and made fresh "homemade" bread.

Not what he thought, no, but Ken Farnsworth was mightily impressed.

"He immediately went to Portland to meet Mr. Rhodes," said Ethel. "In time, Ken convinced (Mr. Rhodes) he could do a good job with Rhodes bread and he added it to his brokerage and he eventually bought the business," she said.

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Ken Farnsworth became the owner but always remained faithful to the bread basics started by Rhodes, who had been a strict vegetarian and humanitarian. "Herbert Cecil Rhodes founded Rhodes Bake-N-Serv in 1958," it says on the company website. "He was a man with high standards and personal principles. ... He did not allow any preservatives to be added to Rhodes White Bread Dough or White Roll Dough. The flour he selected also had to be of the highest quality, unbleached, and have a high-protein content.

Ethel, who was a home economist, published a number of frozen bread dough recipe books for the company, but the most requested recipe through the years is the Butterscotch Bubble Loaf.

Today, the company is run by Kenny Farnsworth, their oldest son. "He's doing such a good job, Rhodes is in all 50 states and he's working on Hawaii," Ethel said.

Looking over her life, Ethel talked about some of the highlights, including her eight children, 16 grandchildren, "and who knows how many great-grandchildren," plus some great-great grandchildren.

After moving from Massachusetts to Morningside Park in Los Angeles, The Farnsworths "found" Boise, she said, in 1959.

"My husband was traveling the 13 western states and he always liked Boise, he found it so friendly," Ethel said. "One day he called and said, 'I bought you a house on Owyhee Street in Boise, Idaho.' I said 'get me a map,'" she said laughing.

She taught foods classes at Boise State University for two years until "they decided (teaching) the classes was too expensive maybe they had to buy a new stove or something," she said, laughing.

She was moved over to The Learning Center in 1976 or '76, she said, where she worked with some of the community's earliest refugee population. "It was the fall of Saigon and people from Vietnam were coming in to Boise. I was in charge of the refugee center," she said.

Farnsworth still goes on walks every day "when the sun shines," works out with her exercise programs on Tuesdays and Thursdays and plays Mahjong twice a month.

To what does she owe her longevity?

She thinks a moment. "I would just say it's just genetics," she said with a smile.

"We're still pretty active old broads."

Know somebody with a story to tell? A neighbor, friend? Someone youve met in school, at church or the grocery store? Send your story ideas to jhuff@idahopress.com, or call 208-465-8106 or 208-871-0911.

Originally posted here:
Stories from the street: This group gathers to write, share stories and celebrate milestones - Idaho Press-Tribune

Evidence from decades of animal and human research points to wide-ranging health benefits of intermittent fasting, according to an NIA-conducted review of the research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Still, more research is needed to determine whether intermittent fasting yields benefits or is even feasible for humans when practiced over the long term, such as for years.

Intermittent fastingis an eating pattern that includes hours or days of no or minimal food consumption without deprivation of essential nutrients. Commonly studied regimens include alternate day fasting, 5:2 intermittent fasting (fasting two days each week), and daily time-restricted feeding (such as eating only during a six-hour window).

Hundreds of animal studies and scores of human clinical trials have shown that intermittent fasting can lead to improvements in health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers and neurological disorders. The evidence is less clear for lifespan effects. Animal studies have shown mixed results, with sex, food composition, age and genetics among the factors that influence longevity. Human trials have mainly involved relatively short-term interventions and so have not provided evidence of long-term health effects, including effects on lifespan.

The review authors are Rafael de Cabo, Ph.D., of NIAs Intramural Research Program (IRP), and Mark P. Mattson, Ph.D., formerly of NIAs IRP and currently a neuroscientist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Although intermittent fasting often results in reduced calorie consumption, weight loss is not the main driver of the health benefits observed in preclinical and clinical studies, according to the authors. Rather, the key mechanism is metabolic switching, in which fasting triggers the body to switch its source of energy from glucose stored in the liver to ketones, which are stored in fat.

Ketone bodies are not just fuel used during periods of fasting, the authors wrote. They are potent signaling molecules with major effects on cell and organ functions.

Ketogenesis, or the increase of ketones in the bloodstream, initiates activity in a variety of cellular signaling pathways known to influence health and aging. This activity enhances the bodys defenses against oxidative and metabolic stress and initiates the removal or repair of damaged molecules. The impact of ketogenesis carries over into the non-fasting period and can improve glucose regulation, increase stress resistance and suppress inflammation.

Repeated exposure to fasting periods results in lasting adaptive responses that confer resistance to subsequent challenges, the authors explain. The broad-spectrum benefits include not only disease resistance but also improved mental and physical performance.

The authors acknowledge impediments to widespread adoption of intermittent fasting: the ingrained practice in developed nations of three meals a day plus snacks (along with the ready availability and marketing of food), the discipline required to shift to a new eating pattern and the lack of physician training on intermittent fasting interventions. The authors suggest that clinicians who prescribe intermittent fasting encourage their patients to adopt a gradual, phased-in schedule in consultation with a dietitian or nutritionist.

In addition to the question of intermittent fastings long-term effects in humans, the authors point to two other areas requiring further research. Studies are needed to determine whether this eating pattern is safe for people at a healthy weight, or who are younger or older, since most clinical research so far has been conducted on overweight and middle-aged adults. In addition, research is needed to identify safe, effective medications that mimic the effects of intermittent fasting without the need to substantially change eating habits.

This review article and many of the research studies cited within were supported by NIA.

Reference: De Cabo R and Mattson MP. Effects of intermittent fasting on health, aging, and disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2019;381(26):2541-2551. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1905136.

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Research on intermittent fasting shows health benefits - National Institute on Aging

Almost 80,000 dogs have been nominated to participate in a new nationwide study on dog aging since registration began last fall, but theres still time for your dog to become part of the pack.

We know from previous work done with dog owners that they are motivated to help their dogs live longer, healthier lives, but the response has been positively overwhelming, saidAudrey Ruple, a veterinary epidemiologist and assistant professor of One Health Epidemiology in the Purdue UniversityCollege of Health and Human SciencesDepartment of Public Health.

TheDog Aging Projectwill look at dogs from all breeds and mixes from across the nation. This is the first major longitudinal study involving dogs, and it's scheduled to last at least 10 years.

Dogs are good models for humans, said Ruple, who is one of more than 40 scientists and researchers participating in the study. They have similar genetics, share our environment, and they also have similar diseases and health issues. We will be asking, How do dogs age healthfully? in order to help better understand how we can age healthfully, too.

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Dogs of all age ranges, breeds and sizes are eligible to participate. Owners can goonlinefor more information and to register their dogs. The most popular breeds submitted so far for the study are Labrador retriever, golden retriever, German shepherd, dachshund, Australian shepherd, poodle, chihuahua, shih tzu, boxer and Yorkshire terrier.

Once enrolled, owners will need to complete surveys about their dogs health and lifestyle.Dogs must go through their regular annual examination with their veterinarian. If a dog is assigned to a specific study group, owners may be sent a kit for the veterinarian to collect blood, urine or other samples during the annual visit. Participation is voluntary, and there is no cost to participate.

Ruple said the group also is trying to find the nation's oldest dog.

Dogs have been nominated from all 50 states. The states with the most nominated canines are California, Washington, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Colorado and Ohio. States with the least nominations are North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Delaware and Mississippi.

The group has had nine dogs nominated that were 24 years old, as well as nine other dogs that were 23 years old.

All dogs registered will be eligible to participate in various studies.

Researchers hope to find out more details on how factors like an individuals genome, proteome, microbiome, demographics and environmental factors such as chemical exposures and noise pollution impact health and longevity.

Ruple said one goal of the study is to not just improve the health and longevity of dogs, but also extend those findings to improve human health.

By studying aging in dogs, we hope to learn how to better match human health span to life span so that we can all live longer, healthier lives, Ruple said.

Funding for the Dog Aging Project comes from the National Institute of Aging, a part of the National Institutes of Health, as well as from private donations.

The rest is here:
Dogs Wanted for Massive Study on Aging in Canines - The Bark

Precision Medicine Software Market research report has been published by A2Z Market Research to give desired insights to drive the growth of businesses. The report initiated with study introduction which is followed by statistical details of the market that reveals the current market status and future forecast. The analysts have scrutinized the market drivers, confinements, risks, and openings present in the overall market.

The Global Precision Medicine Software market size was increased to xx million US$ from xx million US$ in 2015, and it will reach xx million US$ in 2026, growing at CAGR of +10 % between 2020 and 2026.

Precision medicine software enables stakeholders in the healthcare sector to provide personalized treatment plans to patients based on their genetic content. It combines clinical and genetic data to deliver targeted patient care. It also provides a wide range of applications in both the diagnostic and clinical areas of care delivery.

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Some of the Top Companies Profiled in this Report includes: Syapse, Allscripts, Qiagen, Roper Technologies, Fabric Genomics, Foundation Medicine, Sophia Genetics, PierianDx, Human Longevity, Translational Software, Gene42, Lifeomic Health.

This report provides a detailed and analytical look at the various companies that are working to achieve a high market share in the global Precision Medicine Software market. Data is provided for the top and fastest growing segments. This report implements a balanced mix of primary and secondary research methodologies for analysis. Markets are categorized according to key criteria. To this end, the report includes a section dedicated to the company profile. This report will help you identify your needs, discover problem areas, discover better opportunities, and help all your organizations primary leadership processes. You can ensure the performance of your public relations efforts and monitor customer objections to stay one step ahead and limit losses.

Global Precision Medicine Software Market Detail Segmentation:

Market Segment by Type:

Market Segment by Applications:

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The main points which are answered and covered in this Report:

Table of Contents

Global Precision Medicine Software Market Research Report 2020 2026

Chapter 1 Precision Medicine Software Market Overview

Chapter 2 Global Economic Impact on Industry

Chapter 3 Global Market Competition by Manufacturers

Chapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by Region

Chapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions

Chapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

Chapter 7 Global Market Analysis by Application

Chapter 8 Manufacturing Cost Analysis

Chapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers

Chapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders

Chapter 11 Market Effect Factors Analysis

Chapter 12 Global Precision Medicine Software Market Forecast

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Precision Medicine Software Market Growing Rapidly with Significant CAGR of +10% by 2026 Syapse, Allscripts, Qiagen, Roper Technologies, Fabric...

Technology/23 February 2020, 3:48pm/Louis Fourie

CAPE TOWN One of the areas of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) that has seen phenomenal growth over the past few years is that of bioscience and bioengineering. But when bioscience is combined with computer science, it seems that we may one day have biological computing devices that could partly replace the current hard drives, silicon microprocessors and microchips.

At least this is what some scientists firmly belief is possible.

Through the study of genetics we know that all living organisms consists of genes and deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. These strings of DNA contains huge amounts of data that can last thousands of years as is evident from the 45 000 year old human femur bone from Siberia that was DNA-sequenced or decoded a few years ago.

It is exactly this remarkable data density and longevity of DNA that got scientists interested. Scientists have therefore been researching a synthetic form of DNA sequencing to store large quantities of data for an indefinite period of time. Recently scientists from Microsoft and the University of Washington announced that they were making very good progress. Already in 2018 they were already able to store 200 MB of data in DNA format and were able to retrieve it with zero errors.

Since 2018 much progress has been made and it seems very likely that DNA storage could complement current data storage methods or even replace some of them in the future. Perhaps Microsoft Researchs target of a DNA storage system functioning within a data centre by the turn of the decade is not so far-fetched.

Due to advances in nano- and biotechnology scientists at the Queen Mary University in London are taking research further and are using microbes to network and communicate at nanoscale, which is of particular interest to the Internet of Things (IoT).

In a 2019 paper by Raphael Kim and Stefan Poslad titled The thing with E.coli: Highlighting Opportunities and Challenges of Integrating Bacteria in IoT and HCI the researchers explain that it is not only the minute size, but also the autonomous nature of bacteria that caught their attention and presents interesting possibilities. Bacteria have an embedded, natural propeller motor or whip-like structure, called flagella, that propels them forward.

The research is still at an early stage but the exploitation of similarities between bacteria and computing devices is of great interest to the future of computing. The microbes share interesting similarities with some components of typical IoT devices, which indicate that bacteria could be used as a living form of an IoT device.

A good example would be the field of environmental IoT where bacteria could be programmed and deployed in the sea or in smart cities to detect toxins or pollutants, gather data, and even undertake the biomediation processes.

Likewise, in healthcare and medicine, bacteria could be programmed and deployed to treat specific diseases. The bacteria could swim to a pre-determined destination in the human body, then produce and release encoded hormones when triggered by the microbes internal sensor.

Microbes have exceptional chemical sensing, as well as actuating, communication and processing capabilities typical of a computerised IoT and could even outperform the best electronic devices. Bacteria cannot only detect chemicals, but also electromagnetic fields, light, mechanical stress, and temperature, as is normally done by traditional electronic sensors. The bacteria can also respond to these stimuli through movement using their flagella, or through the production of coloured proteins.

In fact bacteria are better than electronic chip-based sensors, since they are much more sensitive, stable and responsive than their digital counterparts. This superior qualities makes bacteria especially useful as a living form of IoT device and also valuable in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI).

Just like a digital control unit, memory and processor, the programmed DNA controls the bacteria and functions as a control unit with regard to the collection (sensing), processing and storing of data. Genomic DNA contains the instructions for the functioning of the bacteria, while the smaller circular plasmids (a form of DNA used to introduce genes into organisms) determine the process functions through gene addition and subtraction, as well as the storage of new data.

According to the team from the Queen Mary University the cellular membrane functions as the transceiver and allows for both the transmission and reception of communication. This molecular communication or the DNA exchange between cells forms the basis of a bacterial nanonetwork or signalling pathway.

This possibility of bacterial networks as an example of molecular communication such as the widely known E.coli bacterium that could act as an information carrier has in particular excited the IoT community.

The research with digital-to-DNA data and back again from DNA-to-digital data is showing great promise for the future. The idea of the researchers is to use the bacteria to create a potential substrate for the Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT), which entails the networking and communication through nanoscale and biological entities. Some of the often-despised bacteria may indeed change our connected world of sensors and IoT devices in the future.

Interesting is that the researchers from the Queen Mary University, London closes their research paper with a passionate plea for experimentation with do-it-yourself technology by enthusiasts to promote the IoBNT. They refer to the easily obtainable and affordable educational products like the Amino Labs Kit that are widely available to the public and allow, for example, many bioengineering experiments such as the generation of specific colours from bacteria through the programming of K12 E.coli DNA. Tools, data, and materials of biotechnology that enable the broader public to run small-scale experiments with microorganisms are currently easily accessible and affordable.

The Amino Labs Kit, for instance, caters for people who are interesting in manipulating and genetically engineering E.coli bacteria. The kit enables the user to create customised living colours and smells through the building of genetic circuits that can be triggered through a variety of pre-determined environmental stimuli.

This call by the researchers is not so unusual since technology hobbyists that experimented with very affordable Arduino microcontrollers and Rasberry Pi mini-computers were the very people that significantly advanced the traditional IoT. The mini-computers and the building of sensors and IoT controller devices were the learning space of many very successful technologists and scientists.

Due to the hard work of bioscientists around the world, programming of DNA is improving our quality of life in many instances and is keeping diseases at bay. It is therefore logical that the number of genetically engineered products will continue to rise in the future since it is one of of the 4IR.

Biotechnology en bioengineering will play an increasingly important role as major building blocks of the 4IR. Do-it-yourself and educational bio-kits can therefore teach potential future scientists how to effectively program bacteria. And perhaps some of the young bioengineers, learning the skills and concepts of the future, may one day become the scientists that solve the challenges of cancer, hunger, waste and climate change.

Todays adventures in science create tomorrows innovators. And it all starts with a string of DNA and an unpretentious bacterium.

Professor Louis C H Fourie is a futurist and technology strategist.[emailprotected]

BUSINESS REPORT

See the article here:
E.coli bacteria running the Internet of Things - IOL

The serum can reach deeper into the skin

Besides the star-studded line-up of ingredients, the formula features a clever delivery system that helps it go deeper into your skin. In particular, the formula features a bio-fermented lipopeptide (which is a probiotic to regulate the pH of your skin) which, when combined with the floral and hyaluronic acid ingredients, can improve the rate of penetration by 30 per cent. So, what does this mean? Well, it allows for quicker absorption, making it perfect to use both morning before applying foundation, and at night before going to bed.

The beauty of Dior Capture Totale Super Potent Serum is that it doesnt just do one thing - it actually addresses all aspects of ageing, as proven by 600 women from France, China and Japan*. The panel revealed that after continuous use, their skin looked brighter and smoother, and felt bouncier and stronger. And who doesnt want a complexion that looks and feels seriously healthy?

Like all good skin care products, the Super Potent Serum does its best work when its supported by a great team. There are four other products in the Capture Totale range that are also formulated with natural-origin ingredients. When used as a complete skin care routine the range delivers even more impressive anti-ageing results.

Dior Capture Totale High-Performance Gentle Cleanser: This cleanser can effectively remove dirt and sebum without aggravating skin and can improve skins softness.

Dior Capture Totale High-Performance Serum-Lotion: Pop a few drops of this hydrating product onto a cotton pad or the palms of your hands and press it all over your face for juicy-looking skin. Vitamins C, E and B3 in the formula have brightening and soothing qualities.

Dior Capture Totale Firming & Wrinkle-Correcting Crme: Dont underestimate its lightweight texture; this moisturiser can dial up radiance, fill fine lines and smooth skin in the long run. A special shout-out goes to the bio-fermented ceramides that help improve the skins barrier.

Dior Capture Totale Firming & Wrinkle-Correcting Eye Cream: Want to brighten and strengthen the skin around your eyes? Look no further than this phytosterols-enriched eye cream that works to firm up the delicate area.

See the rest here:
This Dior Serum Is Basically The Fountain Of Youth | BEAUTY/crew - BEAUTYcrew

Precision Medicine Software market Research Report 2020 offers a comprehensive analysis of the market growth drivers, trends, opportunities, prospects, drivers and restrictions inside the market. The report emphasizes to meet the requirement of customers by providing complete knowledge of the Precision Medicine Software Industry. This carefully organised report is formulated by industry experts and professional experts, in terms of demand and supply, cost organization, barriers and challenges, product category, crucial market players, technology, regions, and applications.

The Precision Medicine Software market study is based on historical information and present market requirements. As well as includes different business approaches preferred by the decision-makers. That enhanced the Precision Medicine Software industry growth and make a phenomenal stand in the industry. The market will raise with a prominentCAGRby 2020 to 2026.

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Furthermore, it also evaluates the most recent improvements while estimating the growth of theleading playerslike

SyapseAllscriptsQiagenRoper TechnologiesFabric GenomicsFoundation MedicineSophia GeneticsPierianDxHuman LongevityTranslational SoftwareGene42, IncLifeomic Health

Segmentation by Product Type

Cloud-basedOn-premise

Segmentation by Application/ End uses:

Healthcare ProvidersPharmaceutical and Biotechnology CompaniesResearch Centers and Government InstitutesOthers

Regional Analysis for Precision Medicine Software Market:

North America (the United States, Canada & Rest of the countries)

Europe (Germany, The UK, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain & the rest of the countries)

Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, & rest of the countries)

Middle East & Africa (South Africa, Israel, UAE & rest of the countries)

South America (Brazil, Colombia, Argentina & the rest of the countries)

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What is the regional structure of the market? Our analysis-

The Precision Medicine Software Industry report analyses footprint of every product and its significance analyzes examine each geographical segment of the market with import, export, consumption, and production in these regions to provide a complete understanding of the Precision Medicine Software market

In addition, the Precision Medicine Software Industry report covers an analysis of different products available in the global market built on production, volume, revenue, and cost and price structure. The Precision Medicine Software Market report also highlights key strategies that proved to be profitable for the business in-line with the policies involved in business expansion, partnership deals, composition, and new product/service launches.

YEARS CONSIDERED FOR THIS REPORT:

Historical Years:2015-2019

Base Year:2019

Estimated Year:2020

Forecast Period:2020-2026

DEFINITE SEGMENTS OF GLOBAL Precision Medicine Software INDUSTRY:

The analysis highlights a region-wise as well as a worldwide study of the Precision Medicine Software market. Proportionately, the regional study of the industry comprisesJapan, South East Asia, India, the USA, Europe, and China.Moreover, the report reviews an in-depth market analysis of distinct manufacturers and suppliers. It explainsindustry chain structure, competitive scenario, and study of Precision Medicine Software industry costin detail. It evenly analyzes global industry size pursued by forecast period (2020-2026) and environment.

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The analysis covers basic information about the Precision Medicine Software product likeindustry scope, segmentation, anoverviewof the market. Likewise, it providessupply-demand data, investment feasibleness, and elements that limiting the growth of an industry. Predominantly, it helps product demand, annual revenue and growth prospects of the industry. The foreseen Precision Medicine Software market regions along with the present onesassist leading vendors, decision-makers, and viewers/readersto plan effective business strategies respectively.

KEY TOPIC COVERED

Growth Opportunities

Market Growth Drivers

Leading Market Players

Market Size and Growth Rate

Market Trend and Technological

Company Market Share

TOC OF Precision Medicine Software MARKET REPORT INCLUDES:

1 Industry Overview of Precision Medicine Software

2 Industry Chain Analysis

3 Manufacturing Technology

4 Major Manufacturers Analysis

5 Global Productions, Revenue and Price Analysis of Precision Medicine Software by Regions, Creators, Types, and Applications

6 Global and Foremost Regions Capacity, Production, Revenue and Growth Rate by 2013-2019

7 Consumption Volumes, Consumption Value, Import, Export and Sale Price Analysis by Regions

8 Gross and Gross Margin Analysis

9 Marketing Traders or Distributor Analysis

10 Global and Chinese Economic Impacts on the Precision Medicine Software Industry

11 Development Trend Analysis

12 Contact information

13 New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis

14 Conclusion of the Global Precision Medicine Software Industry 2019 Market Research Report Continued

Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.

Key questions answered by the Precision Medicine Software Report:

What are some of the most favourable, high-growth prospects for the global Precision Medicine Software market?

Which products segments will raise at a faster pace throughout the forecast period and why?

What are the foremost factors impacting market prospects?

What are the driving factors, restraints, and challenges in this Precision Medicine Software market?

What are the competitive threats and challenges to themarket?

What are the evolving trends in this Precision Medicine Software market and reasons behind their emergence?

What are some of the changing customer demands in the Precision Medicine Software Industry market?

Continue

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Global Precision Medicine Software Market Research Provides an In-Depth Analysis on the Future Growth Prospects and Market Trends Adopted by the...

An elderly lady hears a knock at the door. Thinking its Meals on Wheels, she opens it to find a bloke dressed in blue, wearing a red cape with his pants on over his tights and claiming to be Clark Kent. She stares at him in bafflement.

Superman! he cries.

She looks him up and down, doubtfully. Ill have the soup, please, she says.

I tell this partly because its silly and makes me laugh aloud, partly to illustrate that the prefix super has rather lost its heroic allure here in 2020.

Since the advent of superbugs that dont respond to antibiotics, super rats that are resistant to poison and now super-spreaders, unwittingly responsible for infecting countless others with the new coronavirus, super-anythings are best avoided.

But how would you feel about being dubbed a super-ager? Its where your biological age is much lower than your chronological age, making you a source of wonder and envy.

We all know people who look decades younger than their peers and are far more energetic than their own teenage kids. What is their secret?

Thanks to a new breakthrough in DNA testing at the University of Southern California, researchers have pinpointed the genes present in those who remain young at heart (as well as mind and limb), despite the passage of the years.

While the outlook is bright for these veritable Benjamin Buttons who stay active long past retirement, they are the exception rather than the rule. Scientists found that some individuals had a body age 40 years older than their real age. In one instance a 66-year-old was found to have a biological are 114 whereas a 59-year-old had a body age of 23.

But the good news is that genetics alone dont dictate health and longevity or, indeed, healthy longevity. Lifestyle is arguably an even more crucial factor and improving it will reverse ageing.

With 29 per cent of adults in England obese, and a further 35 per cent overweight, a horrifying 64 per cent, the majority of the population is fat, according to the NHS.

No wonder its buckling under the burden; in 2017/18, there were 711,000 hospital admissions where obesity was recorded as a primary or secondary diagnosis, a figure up 15 per cent. Yes, thats up 15 per cent from 2016/17. Overeating is a homegrown epidemic raging out of control.

Maybe super-aging as a concept, as a goal, could provide a positive incentive to those battling with weight? It certainly shook me from my complacency.

A few years ago, I interviewed metabolic experts at Newcastle University, who were taking part in the fascinating BBC Series, How To Stay Young, in which a cross section of ordinary people had their body age measured. In every case, it was far older than their birth age, due to poor diet and too little exercise.

Purely in the spirit of research, I gamely went through the same tests and discovered I had a biological age of 70, compared to my actual age of 51. This shocking differential was down to my weight, which was placing me at increased risk of diseases like cancer, dementia and type 2 diabetes.

I was gutted. Mortified. In tears and deeply ashamed, I had neglectfully allowed a few pounds here or there to accumulate to the point where I was seriously compromising my own long-term health.

It was stupid and unnecessary. Just because adverts and voiceovers exhort you to go ahead and treat yourself doesnt mean you should. I thought I was better than that. Turns out, I wasnt.

I was told in no uncertain terms to lose weight, and fast. It didnt matter how; a crash diet was far less of a danger than staying fat. I always thought of fat as being a largely inert substance that caused narrowing of arteries and surrounded organs making them less efficient.

It turns out that fat enters every cell. It impedes healthy functioning, disrupts the metabolic processes, creates conditions that cause cancers to develop and ages the body prematurely. Terrifying stuff. But sometimes we need to be frightened into effecting change.

I know I did. And my diet journey taught me that if losing weight is hard, keeping it off feels downright Sisyphean. So how to stay focussed? I genuinely believe that turning the obesity crisis from a moral panic into a numbers game might do the trick.

Who wouldnt want to join the ranks of the super-agers? Targeted goals shed five pounds, get back eight years of health or whatever would transform losses into gains.

Warding off old age is a far more potent, life-affirming goal than fitting into a favourite frock in time for a spring wedding. Especially when you know you have last years capacious polka-dot Zara dress on standby, just in case.

I eventually lost 22lbs (10kg) in 12 weeks, slashing my biological age to 55 and halving my risk of type 2 diabetes. I was delighted, but thereafter the real work started as I have sought to maintain my new weight ever since.

These headlines about super-aging have given me a useful fillip and reminded me whats at stake. I feel its a message that urgently needs to get out there.

If more of us had the mindset that refraining from that 4pm slump brownie might be a sacrifice today but an investment in tomorrow, mine could be a generation of super-agers, skiing, surfing and bringing meals on wheels to those decades younger but far less fit for purpose.

Read Judith Woods at telegraph.co.uk every Thursday, at 7pm

Read more here:
Could super-agers slim down the vast amount the NHS spends on obesity? - Telegraph.co.uk

Precision Medicine Software Market:

This report studies the Precision Medicine Software Market with many aspects of the industry like the market size, market status, market trends and forecast, the report also provides brief information of the competitors and the specific growth opportunities with key market drivers. Find the complete Precision Medicine Software Market analysis segmented by companies, region, type and applications in the report.

The major players covered in Precision Medicine Software Market: Syapse, Allscripts, Qiagen, Roper Technologies, Fabric Genomics, Foundation Medicine, Sophia Genetics, PierianDx, Human Longevity, Translational Software, Gene42, Inc, Lifeomic Health and more

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Precision Medicine Software Market continues to evolve and expand in terms of the number of companies, products, and applications that illustrates the growth perspectives. The report also covers the list of Product range and Applications with SWOT analysis, CAGR value, further adding the essential business analytics. Precision Medicine Software Market research analysis identifies the latest trends and primary factors responsible for market growth enabling the Organizations to flourish with much exposure to the markets.

Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers

Research objectives:

Key Developments in the Precision Medicine Software Market:

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The Precision Medicine Software Market research report completely covers the vital statistics of the capacity, production, value, cost/profit, supply/demand import/export, further divided by company and country, and by application/type for best possible updated data representation in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs. These data representations provide predictive data regarding the future estimations for convincing market growth. The detailed and comprehensive knowledge about our publishers makes us out of the box in case of market analysis.

In this study, the years considered estimating the market size of Precision Medicine Software are as follows:

This report includes the estimation of market size for value (million USD) and volume (M Units). Top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of Precision Medicine Software market, to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets in the overall market. Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources.

Table of Contents: Precision Medicine Software Market

Chapter 1: Overview of Precision Medicine Software

Chapter 2: Global Market Status and Forecast by Regions

Chapter 3: Global Market Status and Forecast by Types

Chapter 4: Global Market Status and Forecast by Downstream Industry

Chapter 5: Market Driving Factor Analysis of Precision Medicine Software

Chapter 6: Precision Medicine Software Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers

Chapter 7: Precision Medicine Software Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data

Chapter 8: Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of Precision Medicine Software

Chapter 9: Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of Precision Medicine Software

Chapter 10: Marketing Status Analysis of Precision Medicine Software

Chapter 11: Report Conclusion

Chapter 12: Research Methodology and Reference

Key questions answered in this report

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2020 Global Precision Medicine Software Market In-depth Research with Syapse, Allscripts, Qiagen, Roper Technologies, Fabric Genomics, Foundation...

Is aging a disease? David Sinclair, PhD, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School one of the worlds top experts on aging and longevity, thinks so.

His new book Lifespan: Why We Ageand Why We Dont Have To covers the latest research on longevity and anti-aging therapies. I was excited to read this book after listening to Sinclair on a podcast.

Sinclair believes that aging is a disease one that is treatable within our lifetimes. According to Sinclair, there is a singular reason why we age: A loss of information. The most important loss occursin the epigenome, the expression of genetic code that instructs newly divided cells what they should be.

Aging is like the accumulation of scratches on a DVD so the information can no longer be read correctly. Every time theres a radical adjustment to the epigenome, e.g. after DNA damage from the sun, a cells identity is changed. This loss of epigenetic information, Sinclair proposes, is why we age.

Scientists have discovered longevity genes that have shown the ability to extend lifespan in many organisms. These include sirtuins, rapamycin (mTOR), and AMPK.

There are natural ways to activate these longevity genes: High intensity exercise, intermittent fasting, low-protein diets, and exposure to hot and cold temperatures. These stressors, or hormesis, turn on genes that prompt the rest of the system to survive a little longer.

Researchers are studying molecules that activate longevity genes rapamycin, metformin, resveratrol and NAD boosters. Resveratrol is a natural molecule found in red wine that activates sirtuins and has increased lifespan in mice by 20 percent. NAD supplementation has been shown to restore fertility in mice that have gone through mousopause.

Sinclair believes these innovations will let us live longer and have less disease. He predicts that humans could live to 150 years of age in the near future, with average life expectancy rising from around 80 now to 110 or higher.

The best ways to activate your longevity genes: Be hungry more often skip breakfast, fast periodically for longer periods, get lean Avoid excessive carbs (sugar, pasta, breads) and processed oils and foods in general Do resistance training lift weights, build muscle Expose your body to hot, cold, and other stressors regularly.

The rest is here:
Lifespan: The New Science Behind Anti-Aging and Longevity that Can Help You Live to 100 - Thrive Global

The goal of life longevity for many is to live a long and healthy life with reduced worries of diseases and health ailments. Its also to live a life of improved mental and physical wellness with reduced frailty and keeping the mind sharp. According to researchers, there is a diet that can help with all of these. What is it?

Participants who adhered strictly to the Mediterranean diet experienced the greatest gain in desirable bacteria, while losing the most bad bacteria.

In other words, their microbiome was re-programmed.

The researchers observed an increase in the types of bacteria previously associated with indicators of reduced frailty, such as walking speed and hand grip strength.

A significant positive change was seen in the gut microbiome of those with reduced frailty.

As a result, their condition was slowed, the researchers said.

The researchers said the most striking finding was how strong the link was between an improved gut environment and markers of ageing.

DONT MISS

The participants in the study followed either a diet rich in healthy fats, fruit and vegetables whilst the others continued eating their normal diet.

By analysing each participants stools they were able to discover that the Mediterranean diet boosted bacteria in the gut.

Trillions of bacteria live in the digestive tract and play an important role in health.

Of the thousands of species of gut microbes that live in the gut, some are healthy for the body - while others are not.

Following the Mediterranean diet, the health and diversity of the gut microbes improved, preventing and treating conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart disease and inflammation associated with autoimmune diseases.

Link:
How to live longer: Follow this diet to improve life expectancy and reduce frailty - Express

Ive been committed to understanding the biology of aging since I was a teenager, and my education and career took aim at this problem from many angles. One aspect that still perplexes me is that there isnt a good, easily communicable answer to this simple question: What is biological aging?

When it comes to biological aging research or, to use a fancier term, translational geroscience, scientists finally have a pretty good understanding of the major components of aging. But theres no consensus definition of it that consolidates the existing framework.

Why do we need such a definition of biological aging? A good definition can grab the essential characteristics of an entity and put them to good use. Two examples illustrate this.

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Here is an example from medicine, published this month in Nature: Cancer is a catch-all term used to denote a set of diseases characterized by autonomous expansion and spread of a somatic clone. That is a more exact way of saying, Cancer is a disease caused by uncontrolled division of abnormal cells. This definition captures the universal mechanism behind all cancers. As such, it also offers therapeutic options. No matter how diverse cancers get, keeping them under one umbrella is easier compared to the broad-spectrum of biological aging.

A definition from mathematics is also instructive: The derivative of a function is the measure of the rate of change of the value of the function dependent on changes in the input. It is a solid definition as it offers a procedure to compute the extreme values of a function.

Here are three consecutive steps empirical, philosophical, and computational that can be taken to create a good definition of biological aging:

The empirical step involves collecting what is already out there. Over the years, researchers have invented their own idiosyncratic definitions of biological aging, though these generally miss parts of the story.

Scientists often start papers with a summary referring to the consensus knowledge in the field and then ask the particular question they want to address and highlight the results. These summaries, which often contain definitions, are important educational windows into science, used by mainstream media to publicize results and form relevant narratives.

To illustrate the empirical step, I extracted four definitions from scientific papers exploring different aspects of aging that reveal the conceptual mess around defining biological aging.

Aging is characterized by a progressive loss of physiological integrity, leading to impaired function and increased vulnerability to death came from a 2013 paper in the journal Cell by Carlos Lpez-Otn and colleagues.

Aging underlies progressive changes in organ functions and is the primary risk factor for a large number of human diseases was the definition in a 2019 report in Nature Medicine by Benoit Lehallier and colleagues.

Aging is a progressive decline in functional integrity and homeostasis, culminating in death was used in a 2019 review of the genetics of aging in Cell by Param Priya Singh and colleagues.

Finally, a 2020 paper in Nature Medicine on personal markers of aging by Sara Ahadi and colleagues offered this: Aging is a universal process of physiological and molecular changes that are strongly associated with susceptibility to disease and ultimately death.

I analyzed several components of these definitions of biological aging, as indicated by the column headers in the table below, and identified some recurring themes. The final column indicates logical connections between these components.

This analysis offers two lessons, one negative and one positive. The negative lesson is that some definitions have hardly any overlap, as seen in I and II its apples and oranges. The positive lesson is that the recurring themes suggest the possibility of creating a core definition for biological aging using a bottom-up, empirical approach by analyzing many attempted definitions.

However, I dont believe that such a process would be sufficient.

The myriad definitions of biological aging help identify some necessary components of it. But an aggregated mash-up wont guarantee a formally correct and useful definition. Identifying the content itself is not enough, especially when dealing with such a complex and lifelong process. Just because we have found most of the puzzle pieces does not mean we can put the puzzle together without a clue to its shape.

This is where the philosophical step comes into the picture. Here, biologists will benefit from recruiting people trained to come up with a formal definition: philosophers, mathematicians, computer scientists, and the like.

The philosophical step involves identifying a list of criteria that a consensus definition of biological aging should meet. I believe that such a definition should meet at least these five criteria:

Completing the empirical and philosophical steps would yield a good starting point for a well-formed definition that captures the essentials of biological aging.

A consensus definition that meets both content and formal criteria, achieved through the empirical and philosophical steps, might help stabilize not just scientific consensus but consensus on public policy. Here the main issues are the relationship between biological aging and disease; and regulatory, clinical, and social aspects of healthy longevity. But a completed computational step will give us actual tools, helping the biomedical technology that advances healthy lifespans.

Applicability is perhaps the most important feature of a good definition, and this where the computational step comes in. The definition should suggest future experiments and, even more important, lend itself to computability so a formal model of biological aging can be built from it. Such a model can be used to simulate and compute biological aging scores based on input data and assess the effects of planned or real interventions to slow or stop negative aging processes.

Biomedical researchers now have a solid core of knowledge on biological aging, but do not have a working consensus definition to consolidate and represent this core knowledge and capture this so far elusive life process. The lack of an unambiguous and computable formal consensus definition of biological aging severely limits the applicability of this core knowledge to design comprehensive interventions to slow or stop negative aging processes.

A confident answer to the question What is biological aging? in humans will help us ensure that complexity does not hide any magical mysteries. Controlling that complexity to maximize a healthy lifespan wouldnt need a magic wand, either.

Attila Csordas is a longevity biologist and philosopher and the founding director of AgeCurve Limited, based in Cambridge, U.K.

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We need to take steps toward building a consensus definition of biological aging - STAT

For years, health researchers and entrepreneurs have been studying aging down to the cellular level to see if its possible to slow, stop or even reverse the factors that influence how getting older affects us. Now their findings have the potential to shake up everything we thought we knew about aging but the burning question remains: Can we actually change how we age?

In our culture, we've always noted major milestones by age voting at 18, being legally allowed to drink at 21, and retiring at 65 (or so). All these are based on how long youve been alive, and of course that cant be changed. But our chronological age doesnt account for how we interpret or feel about that number. For many, 40 is the new 30, and 60 is the new 40. Much of this shift in mindset can be attributed to the ever-expanding field of aging research and its perceived infinite potential. Theres a hypothesis that if you can manipulate the aging process, you could possibly forestall the development of chronic disease and get people living longer and healthier, says Marie A. Bernard, M.D., deputy director of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. "That's an exciting development since I began my medical career in the 1980s, she adds.

The other development is that some scientists today are less interested in the date on your birth certificate than they are in a different marker: your biological age. Biological age is a measurement that, instead of tracking years, looks at chemical marks on DNA that show how our biological systems are actually aging. People are very diverse in terms of their aging rates. The level one person hits by 50, another may not hit until 60, explains Morgan Levine, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology at Yale School of Medicine. Shes also head of bioinformatics at Elysium Health, a life sciences company recognized with our GH Innovation Emblem for its commitment to scientific rigor and research. So the real question is, how can we change our biological age?

The rise of epigenetics (a complex field of study that examines specific changes in gene activity) and the identification of biological age have been regarded by some as the holy grail in understanding how we grow older. Previously we assumed that the genome, our entire DNA library, didnt change throughout a persons life. Thats been proven wrong it can be modified by the environment, says Elaine Chin, M.D., founder and chief medical officer at Executive Health Centre and author of Lifelines: Unlock the Secrets of Your Telomeres for a Longer, Healthier Life.

Scientists have now identified biomarkers (chemical changes) in an individuals DNA that correspond with aging. These changes can help predict how well youre going to age, how long youre going to live, and even if youre at increased risk for chronic disease.

Over the past decade, people everywhere have benefited from techs influence on health from wearable trackers and smartwatches that monitor activity, heart rate, and sleep to testing kits that provide info about ancestry, gut microbiome, and fertility.

A new category of at-home tests is now emerging that goes beyond ancestry to assessing aging and more. For about a year, Levine has been working with Elysium Health to create Index, an at-home test that evaluates over 100,000 epigenetic biomarkers on a persons DNA. As with other kits, all you do is provide a saliva sample. Four to six weeks later, you receive your report, in which youll learn your cumulative rate of aging and find out whether your biological age is older or younger than the number on your drivers license. About 68% of people will have a biological age within five years of their chronological age, but you can also find individuals who are a decade or more older or younger, she explains. The most important thing to keep in mind is that if your rate of biological aging is less than one, youre aging more slowly than your actual years.

So what does one do with that information? According to the researchers, take charge. More than 90% of our longevity in terms of life span and health span the healthy years of life is determined by our environment, not genetics, stresses Eric Verdin, M.D., president and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

What you eat, what you drink, how well you sleep, and the quality of your relationships all have a real impact. If you see room for improvement in your biological age, think of it as a chance to reevaluate your choices. That is especially true for people whose biological age is much older than their chronological age. On the other hand, a lower biological age could serve as validation and reinforcement of your current practices.

While aging researchers are still identifying proven adjustments that can move the needle, a number of behaviors are often linked with a lower biological age. These include eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising, not smoking, and avoiding too much alcohol.

Researchers dont have a definitive intervention for aging yet, says Dr. Bernard. But people can turn to actionable lifestyle choices. And while getting into good habits at a younger chronological age is best, she stresses that its never too late to start.

90% of our longevity is determined by environment.

Good Housekeeping has also reported on new science-backed supplements that move beyond standard nutrition, like Elysiums Basis, which is designed to increase levels of NAD+ (a critical coenzyme that declines as we age).

Dr. Verdin says that one of the biggest positive changes to reduce deterioration is doing more physical activity. Even as little as 20 minutes of exercise a day (walking counts!) can dramatically improve your health.

Knowing your biological age can be a great resource for taking control, but it shouldnt replace medical care. The same goes for all at-home kits. A false sense of security can be a widespread issue with these products, cautions Matthew J. Ferber, Ph.D., director of the Mayo Clinic GeneGuide laboratory. Whether youre screening for the BRCA gene or assessing heart health, even good news does not mean you have zero risk. Also, its vital to remember that results from these tools shouldnt negate age-based medical recommendations or doctor-administered tests. Even if your biological age is younger than your chronological age, you should get a Pap smear every three years from age 21 on, annual mammograms starting as soon as age 40 (depending on your risk factors), and colorectal screenings starting at 45.

Dr. Verdin imagines a future when biomarker-based tests will become part of your regular doctor visits and create a sense of empowerment. Aging by itself is a risk factor for a whole range of conditions like heart attack, stroke, certain cancers, Alzheimers disease, and Parkinsons disease, he says. If we could identify our risk before a major event occurred, could we prevent it? Thats the next question researchers are working to answer.

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What Is Biological Age? Your Cells Reveal How Old You Really Are - GoodHousekeeping.com

Whenever Harry Wuest has a doctors appointment in northern Atlantas hospital cluster dubbed Pill Hill, he makes sure to stop by the office of Dr. Douglas Doug Murphy for a quick chat.

And Murphy, unless hes tied up in the operating room, always takes a few minutes to say hello to his former patient. Remember when . . . ? is how the conversation typically starts, and its always tinged with laughter, often joyful, sometimes bittersweet.

Its a reunion of two men who shaped a piece of Georgias medical history.

Almost 35 years ago, Murphy opened the chest of Wuest and sewed in a new heart, giving him a second shot at life. Wuest was the third heart transplant patient at Emory University Hospital.

Tall, lanky, with short curly hair and a quiet demeanor, Wuest is the longest-surviving heart transplant recipient in Georgia and one of the longest-surviving in the world. The 75-year-old accountant still plays golf twice a week and only recently went from working full-time to part-time.

My heart is doing just fine, he says.

Murphy is now the chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Emory Saint Josephs Hospital and still in the operating room almost every day. He has moved on to become the worlds leading expert in robotically assisted heart surgery.

***

Harry Wuest is originally from Long Island, N.Y. After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, he moved to Florida to work and go to school. He wanted to become a physical education teacher. Then, in 1973, he fell ill. It started with some pain on his left side. He didnt think much of it, but when he got increasingly winded and fatigued, he went to see a doctor.

Several months and numerous specialists later, he received the diagnosis: Cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that can make the heart become enlarged, thick and rigid, preventing it from pumping enough blood through the body.

They didnt know how I got it, says Wuest, sitting back in a brown leather armchair in the dark, wood-paneled living room of his Stone Mountain home. Maybe it was a virus. And back then, there wasnt much they could do to treat it, except bed rest.

For the next 12 years, Wuest lived life as best as he could. He got a degree in accounting from the University of Central Florida and worked for a real estate developer. There were good days, but there were more bad days. He was often too weak to do anything, and his heart was getting bigger and bigger.

***

The first successful human-to-human heart transplant was performed in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1967 a medical breakthrough that catapulted the surgeon, Dr. Christiaan Barnard, onto the cover of Life magazine and to overnight celebrity status.

This highly publicized event was followed by a brief surge in the procedure around the world, but overall, heart transplants had a rocky start. Most patients died shortly after the surgery, mainly due to organ rejection. Back then, immunosuppressive drugs, which can counteract rejection, were still in their infancy. Many hospitals stopped doing heart transplants in the 1970s.

That changed with the discovery of a highly effective immunosuppressive agent. Cyclosporine got FDA approval in 1983 and altered the world of organ transplants.

It was shortly thereafter when Emory University Hospital decided to launch a heart transplant program, but none of the senior surgeons wanted to do it. Even with the new drug, it was a risky surgery, and mortality was still high.

Its an all-or-nothing operation, Murphy says, as he sits down in his small office overlooking the greyish hospital compound. Hes wearing light blue scrubs from an early morning surgery. At 70, he still has boyish looks, with a lean build and an air of laid-back confidence. If you have a number of bad outcomes initially, it can be detrimental to your career as a surgeon, he says.

But Murphy didnt really have a choice. He remembers that during a meeting of Emorys cardiac surgeons in 1984, he was paged to check on a patient. When he returned, the physicians congratulated him on being appointed the head of the new heart transplant program. He was the youngest in the group and had been recruited from Harvards Massachusetts General Hospital just three years before.

Yeah, thats how I became Emorys first transplant surgeon, says Murphy.

He flew to California to shadow his colleagues at Stanford University Hospital, where most heart transplants were performed at the time. Back home at Emory, he put together a team and rigorously rehearsed the operation. The first transplant patient arrived in April 1985. The surgery was successful, as was the second operation less than a month later.

Around the same time, Harry Wuest wound up in a hospital in Orlando. He needed a transplant, but none of the medical centers in Florida offered the procedure. One of his doctors recommended Emory, and Wuest agreed. I knew I was dying. I could feel it. He was flown to Atlanta by air ambulance and spent several weeks in Emorys cardiac care unit until the evening of May 23, when Murphy walked into his room and said, Weve got a heart.

***

The heart, as the patient later learned, came from a 19-year-old sophomore at Georgia Tech who had been killed in a car crash.

Organ transplants are a meticulously choreographed endeavor, where timing, coordination and logistics are key. While Murphy and his eight-member team were preparing for the surgery, Wuest was getting ready to say farewell to his family his wife and three teenage sons and to thank the staff in the cardiac ward.

I was afraid, he recalls, especially of the anesthesia. It scared the heck out of me. He pauses during the reminiscence, choking briefly. I didnt know if I was going to wake up again.

The surgery took six hours. Transplants usually happen at night because the procurement team, the surgeons who retrieve different organs from the donor, only start working when regularly scheduled patients are out of the operating room.

Despite the cultural mystique surrounding the heart as the seat of life, Murphy says that during a transplant surgery, its not like the big spirit comes down to the operating room. Its very technical. As the team follows a precise routine, emotions are kept outside the door. We dont have time for that. Emotions come later.

After waking up from the anesthesia, Wuests first coherent memory was of Murphy entering the room and saying to a nurse, Lets turn on the TV, so Harry can watch some sports.

Wuest spent the next nine days in the ICU and three more weeks in the hospital ward. In the beginning, he could barely stand up or walk, because he had been bedridden weeks before the surgery and had lost a lot of muscle. But his strength came back quickly. I could finally breathe again, he says. Before the surgery, he felt like he was sucking in air through a tiny straw. I cannot tell you what an amazing feeling that was to suddenly breathe so easily.

Joane Goodroe was the head nurse at Emorys cardiovascular post-op floor back then. When she first met Wuest before the surgery, she recalls him lying in bed and being very, very sick. When she and the other nurses finally saw him stand up and move around, he was a whole different person.

In the early days of Emorys heart transplant program, physicians, nurses and patients were a particularly close-knit group, remembers Goodroe, whos been a nurse for 42 years and now runs a health care consulting firm. There were a lot of firsts for all of us, and we all learned from each other, she said.

Wuest developed friendships with four other early transplant patients at Emory, and he has outlived them all.

When he left the hospital, equipped with a new heart and a fresh hunger for life, Wuest made some radical changes. He decided not to return to Florida but stay in Atlanta. Thats where he felt he got the best care, and where he had found a personal support network. And he got a divorce. Four months after the operation, he went back to working full-time: first in temporary jobs and eventually for a property management company.

After having been sick for 12 years, I was just so excited to be able to work for eight hours a day, he recalls. That was a big, big deal for me.

At 50, he went back to school to get his CPA license. He also found new love.

Martha was a head nurse in the open-heart unit and later ran the cardiac registry at Saint Josephs Hospital. Thats where Wuest received his follow-up care and where they met in 1987. Wuest says for him it was love at first sight, but it took another five years until she finally agreed to go out with him. Six months later, they were married.

Having worked in the transplant office, I saw the good and the bad, Martha Wuest says. A petite woman with short, perfectly groomed silver hair, she sits up very straight on the couch, her small hands folded in her lap.Not every transplant patient did as well as Harry. And I had a lot of fear in the beginning. Now he may well outlive her, she says with a smile and a wink.

Wuests surgeon, meanwhile, went on to fight his own battles. Two and a half years into the program, Murphy was still the only transplant surgeon at Emory and on call to operate whenever a heart became available. Frustrated and exhausted, he quit his position at Emory and signed up with Saint Josephs (which at the time was not part of the Emory system) and started a heart transplant program there.

At St. Joes, Murphy continued transplanting hearts until 2005. In total, he did more than 200 such surgeries.

Being a heart transplant surgeon is a grueling profession, he says, and very much a younger surgeons subspecialty.

He then shifted his focus and became a pioneer in robotically assisted heart surgery.He has done more than 3,000 operations with the robot, mostly mitral valve repairs and replacements more than any other cardiac surgeon in the world.

***

Since Murphy sewed a new heart into Wuest, 35 years ago, there has been major progress in the field of heart transplants,but it has been uneven.

Medications to suppress the immune system have improved, says Dr. Jeffrey Miller, a transplant surgeon and heart failure specialist at Emory. As a result, we are seeing fewer cases of rejections of the donor heart.

Also, there are new methods of preserving and transporting donor hearts.

Yet patients requiring late-stage heart failure therapy, including transplantation, still exceed the number of donor hearts available. In 2019, 3,551 hearts were transplanted in the United States, according to the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. But 700,000 people suffer from advanced heart failure, says the American Heart Association.

New technologies and continued research are providing hope to many of these patients. There has been significant progress in the development of partial artificial hearts, known as Left Ventricular Assist Devices, or LVADs, says Miller.

These are implantable mechanical pumps that assist the failing heart. Patients are back out in society living normal lives while theyre waiting for their donor hearts, he explains.

LVADs are used not only as bridge devices but as destination therapy as well, maintaining certain patients for the remainder of their lives.

Also, total artificial hearts have come a long way since the first artificial pump was implanted in a patient in 1969.

Long-term research continues into xenotransplantation, which involves transplanting animal cells, tissues and organs into human recipients.

Regenerative stem cell therapy is an experimental concept where stem cell injections stimulate the heart to replace the rigid scar tissue with tissue that resumes contraction, allowing for the damaged heart to heal itself after a heart attack or other cardiac disease.

Certain stem cell therapies have shown toreverse the damage to the heart by 30 to 50 percent, says Dr. Joshua Hare, a heart transplant surgeon and the director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miamis Miller School of Medicine.

All of these ideas have potential, says Miller. But they have a lot of work before were ready to use them as alternatives to heart transplantation. I dont think were talking about the next few years.

Besides Emory, other health care systems in Georgia that currently have a heart transplant program are Piedmont Healthcare, Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta and Augusta University Health.

Organ rejection remains a major issue, and long-term survival rates have not improved dramatically over the past 35 years. The 10-year survival is currently around 55 percent of patients, which makes long-term-survivors like Harry Wuest rare in the world of heart transplants.

The United Network of Organ Sharing, or UNOS, which allocates donor hearts in the United States, doesnt have comprehensive data prior to 1987. An informal survey of the 20 highest-volume hospitals for heart transplants in the 1980s found only a scattering of long-term survivors.

***

Being one of the longest-living heart transplant recipients is something that Wuest sees as a responsibility to other transplant patients, but also to the donors family, which hes never met. If you as a transplant recipient reject that heart, thats like a second loss for that family.

Part of this responsibility is living a full and active life. Both he and Martha have three children from their previous marriages, and combined they have 15 grandchildren. Most of their families live in Florida, so they travel back and forth frequently. Wuest still works as a CPA during tax season, and he does advocacy for the Georgia Transplant Foundation. In addition to golf, he enjoys lifting weights and riding his bike.

Hes had some health scares over the years. In 2013, he was diagnosed with stage 1 kidney cancer, which is in remission. Also, he crossed paths with his former surgeon, and not just socially. In 2014, Murphy replaced a damaged tricuspid valve in Wuests new heart. That operation went well, too.

Murphy says there are several reasons why Wuest has survived so long. Obviously, his new heart was a very good match. But a patient can have the best heart and the best care and the best medicines and still die a few months or years after the transplantation, the surgeon says. Attitude plays a key role.

Wuest was psychologically stable and never suffered from depression or anxiety, Murphy says. Hes a numbers guy. He knew the transplant was his only chance, and he was set to pursue it.

Wuest attributes his longevity to a good strong heart from his donor; good genetics; great doctors and nurses; and a life that he loves. Im just happy to be here, he says.

Quoting his former surgeon and friend, he adds: Doug always said, Having a transplant is like running a marathon. And Im in for the long haul.

Katja Ridderbusch is an Atlanta-based journalist who reports for news organizations in the U.S. and her native Germany. Her stories have appeared in Kaiser Health News, U.S. News & World Report and several NPR affiliates.

This is a slightly modified version of the article 34 Years with a New Heart, published by Georgia Health News on February 18, 2020.

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34 Years With A New Heart And Counting | 90.1 FM WABE - WABE 90.1 FM

ELDERS managing director and CEO Mark Allison has laid down a challenge to agtech innovators and marketers to focus on what really matters, and ensure their products address the key issues of productivity, profitability and sustainability.

In an opening address to 1400 audience members at the second annual EvokeAg conference in Melbourne this morning, Mr Allison noted that Elders has recently marked 180 years of history.

In that time the company had witnessed many game-changing technological leaps including the grain stripper, the stump jump plough, mechanical wool shearers, the Hendra Virus vaccine and no-till cropping.

Now Agtech is driving further advances that have the potential to make farmers lives easier, better and more profitable.

The changes it is bringing are causing challenges for some industries and opportunities for others.

Five years ago it would have been difficult to imagine we would be listening to a burger giant talk about beef-free burgers, or the reality of a virtual agronomist from NZ, Mr Allison said.

But he also warned what agribusiness needed right now were tangible, on the ground initiatives that will benefit farmers and optimise overall supply chain productivity and sustainability.

As the head of one Australias oldest and largest agribusiness companies, Mr Allison said he attends many conferences and sees thousands of great agtech innovations and propositions spruiking astonishing capabilities.

Of course, anyone can put together a slick PowerPoint presentation and extol the virtues of their latest discovery, the blockchain transformation, a robotic breakthrough, artificial intelligence from the latest cohort of an accelerator program, he said.

Any innovation or idea had to be accountable and had to deliver against a few key criteria:

Anyone running a start-up had to be talking about at least one of the following areas, he said:

Nutrition focusing on how any farmer can boost productivity, whether its through soil and crop nutrition, or in livestock with a delicate mix of protein, energy, roughage and minerals;

Soil moisture conservation improving the water use efficiency on farms whether its in cropping, horticulture, irrigation, or producing feed for livestock or feeding livestock;

Pest management how can a farmer optimise chemical use to combat weeds and pests for maximum impact on productivity with minimal impact on the environment;

Genetics This included genetic gains across all breeds in livestock production, as well as in cropping, where new varieties provide greater drought resistance, pest resistance, salt resistance or defence against weeds and other pest.

Mr Allison cited recent data showing farm income and costs in the Mallee from 1994 to 2017.

A line plotting income started at $300,000 in 1994, gradually rising over the decades, with peaks every five or so years, then dropping, only to rise again, finishing the chart at $1.5 million in 2017 .

Farming may look like the road to riches, he said, but the true story was revealed when the detail of farm costs was overlapped.

It will be no surprise to any of you that those costs have been rising at a rate equal to or greater rate than income.

As a result, farm profit has flatlined for the last 20 years.

To account for the challenges of drier seasons and fluctuating markets farmers were increasing production, and in doing so were employing more staff, adopting the latest technology, innovating in pasture and sheep genetics, and adopting best practices to improve the health, and moisture content of their soils.

Yet the reality was their profit wasnt increasing.

The cost to maintain sustainable production simply outweighed any profit.

Most of the extra costs are labour and capital items such as machinery and farm improvements, but without significant improved efficiency in operation, the farm is simply becoming an expensive lifestyle.

This nut must be cracked, with the combination of productivity and profitability increases being coupled with sustainability from an environmental, social and economic viewpoint.

Mr Allison said Elders longevity had proven that in agriculture you can be profitable and sustainable through good seasons and bad seasons, strong commodity prices and poor commodity prices.

Our business models and agtech innovations must be aimed at not relying on a consistent climate, predictable weather patterns, abundance of rain and stable political environment in order to be profitable and sustainable.

How we manage variability and unpredictability must be in our own hands

The question and debate for the audience at EvokeAg audience should not be on what causes this variability and unpredictability, he said, but rather how can we modify our business models and farming systems to create a profitable and sustainable system.

At Elders we always plan for an average season and, like all good agribusinesses, we have structured our cost and capital base to allow us to make okay money in bad seasons, and great money in good seasons.

Mr Allison said it will take work for Australian agriculture to grow productivity by $40 billion to meet a target of $100 billion by 2030.

Opportunities will come through value-adding and improving infrastructure, in particular transport capabilities nationwide and the ability to get produce out of the paddock and into markets around the globe faster and cheaper than today.

Improvement in telecommunications were also critical. Australia needed to raise connectivity levels across rural and regional Australia to comparable standards as those enjoyed by major agriculture competitors the US and Canada to ensure it remained competitive on a global scale.

Gains would also be made in breeding and genetics, as well as processing and labour efficiencies.

He said Elders is investing in projects including one with the South Australian Research and Development Institute and the SA Government which is implementing worlds best practice on medium scale livestock in Struan in the states south west, and putting the latest animal genetics and pasture varieties, innovative water utilisation processes, disease management and grazing strategies to the commercial test.

He stressed the commercial focus of the projects, saying each must deliver a return.

Elders has also started a similar partnership with Meat and Livestock Australia the MLA Smart Farm Project which is evaluating the best of agtech, trialling Internet of Things services and other agriculture wish list devices and services as a farmer would.

Mr Allison said collaboration was critical to achieving advances in future.

He suggested some of the $430 million in funding that is split between 15 Research and Development Corporations be combined to solve one or two of the most pressing problems facing all farmers soil problems, water issues, or climate adaptability.

Capital in the form of foreign investment was also vital to the industrys future.Last year foreign investment in Australian agricultural land hit $7.9 billion, led by Canadians, followed closely by China and the US .

We absolutely need the capital if we are to deliver the necessary infrastructure and technology gains.

Mr Allison said it was important that farmers are supported, to ensure the digital advancements discussed from events like EvokeAg match the needs of those on the frontline to achieve a productive, profitable and sustainable future of the industry.

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EvokeAg: Elders MD pinpoints what agtech startups need to be talking about - Beef Central