StemCell Therapy

Aging Analytics Agency

Co-authoring this article with me is my colleague Dmitry Kaminskiy, at Deep Knowledge Group.

People over 50 are the fastest growing demographic group worldwide. This creates both opportunities and challenges for the global economy and healthcare systems. The Longevity Industry, which provides products and services for those aged over 50 is becoming a multi-trillion-dollar industry. There are currently 260 companies, 250 investors, 10 non-profits, and 10 research labs in the Longevity Industry in the UK alone. In the next decade, Longevity policies enacted by governments, and changes in the financial industry will transform society. Achieving small but practical results in Longevity distributed at scale will have enormous and multiplicative effects on society. Extending the functional lifespan of humans by just one year will decrease suffering for tens of millions of people and will improve the quality of life for billions of people.

Despite having more potential to increase healthy Longevity in the short term than any other sector, AI for Longevity is an underrepresented sector in the Longevity Industry. AI holds enormous potential to rapidly accelerate the implementation of longevity research and development. To address this, Ageing Research at King's (ARK) in collaboration with the Biogerontology Research Foundation, Deep Knowledge Ventures (at which Dmitry and I are Managing Partners), along with others has established the Longevity AI Consortium at Kings College London. The Consortium will use King's world-leading advances in genetics, AI and ageing research to develop advanced personalized consumer and patient care. The Consortium will help accelerate advances in Longevity using a unique academic-industry focus on preventive and personalized physical, mental and financial health. The establishment of the AI Longevity Consortium and AI Longevity Accelerator at Kings College has the potential to help make the UK the worlds leading AI for Longevity Hub and creates an opportunity for huge advances in Longevity research which will benefit people all around the world.

Over the next few years, the Longevity AI Consortium plans to expand to include centers in Switzerland, Israel, Singapore and the US. This collaborative effort involves sophisticated methods for translating advanced AI for Longevity solutions, along with the development of advanced frameworks and technologies including novel applications of life data for insurance companies, pension funds, healthcare companies, and government bodies. These new technologies and instruments at the forefront of the rising Longevity Financial Industry provide practical applications of preventive medicine and precision health.

Sophisticated Analytical Frameworks for Precision Medicine and Longevity Diagnostics, Prognostics ... [+] and Therapeutic Benchmarking.

The Longevity AI Consortium will serve as a leading R&D hub and industry-academic hotspot for advanced AI-driven personalized preventive diagnostics, prognostics and therapeutics. This represents a paradigm shift from treatment to prevention and a new frontier - from precision medicine to precision health, enabling the UK to become the leading global hub for the application of AI to Longevity and Precision Health. The Longevity AI Consortium plans to dedicate resources to R&D in other niches where the science is ahead of the funding: e.g. microbiome diagnostics and therapeutics, recent advancements and innovations in advanced cosmetics in particular. The Consortium aims to identify novel longevity and healthy ageing biomarkers, accelerate diagnosis of age-related health decline, develop personalised physical, mental and financial health to better implement and promote effective healthy lifestyles for longevity, such as modifying patterns in sleep, nutrition, physical activity, environmental exposure and financial planning.

The Longevity AI Consortium will use sophisticated and multidimensional analytical frameworks developed by Aging Analytics Agency to perform industry benchmarking in precision health and personalized preventive medicine clinics in order to construct the ideal diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic pipeline using the most advanced market-ready methods and technologies. The Consortium will develop a comprehensive cloud computing platform to enable the development of minimum viable and most comprehensive panels of biomarkers of aging, creating an ecosystem that incentivizes the participation of doctors, clinics, data providers, AI companies and corporate partners, and which enables efficient and streamlined commercialization and clinical implementation of both validated and experimental biomarkers of ageing as a framework for the extension of national Healthy Longevity in the UK.

This mind map provides an overview of the Longevity Industry UK Landscape including 260 companies, ... [+] 250 investors, 10 non-profits, and 10 research labs. (Image source Aging Analytics Agency).

Kings College London is the logical choice of location for the first Longevity AI Consortium, due to their unique combination of resources, departments and technologies for both AI and Longevity. Kings is also an ideal location for the AI Consortium because it has dedicated divisions and resources both for AI and for Longevity. Furthermore, being located in London, it is in an ideal physical location to engage in cross-sector and industry-academic collaboration. The AI Longevity Consortium is currently designing a complementary AI Consortium for Financial Wellness which will utilize financial and behavioural data to develop products and services to enable UK citizens to maintain financial stability, social activity and psychological well-being across extended periods of Healthy Longevity.

Currently there are only three centers in the world actively working to apply AI to precision health for healthy Longevity. These include the US based Buck Institute for Research on Aging, US based Y Combinator, and the US based AI Precision Health Institute (AI-PHI) at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center. Only the AI-PHI has actually succeeded in practice. Now that the Longevity AI Consortium has been established at Kings College London, the UK can immediately leverage its existing resources, including its very well-developed AI industry and its reputation for extremely strong industry, academic, and governmental cooperative initiatives, to become the number one global hub for the application of AI to Longevity and Precision Health.

There are currently four major AI Centres for Healthcare in major industry, academic and metropolitan hubs in the UK, but none of them have a specific focus on Longevity, precision health and preventive medicine. While these centres serve as a precedent and proof-of-concept for the viability of an AI Centre for Longevity, they do not adequately address the need for a leading AI for Longevity R&D nexus within the UK capable of developing leading solutions, products and services that leverage the power of AI to implement practical, real-world product, services and solutions to extend citizens Healthy Longevity.

Sophisticated Analytical Frameworks for Precision Medicine and Longevity Diagnostics, Prognostics ... [+] and Therapeutic Benchmarking

2020 and Beyond

In 2020, following the completion of several key development milestones, the Longevity AI Consortium plans to launch an AI Longevity Accelerator Program that will serve as a much-needed bridge between startups focusing on AI for Longevity research and drug development and major UK investors. While the UKs AI and Longevity industry ecosystems are very developed individually, the number of longevity startups utilizing AI in a major way for their internal R&D is comparatively small. The potential impact presented by the synergy of these two sectors is huge. The UK government has heavily prioritized the separate sectors of AI and Longevity, including both sectors in the top 4 Industrial Strategy Grand Challenges. However, by uniting the AI and Longevity verticals in unique and convergent ways the UK could leverage the nations strengths in these industries to their maximum potential.

AI Longevity Accelerator at Kings College aims to develop an infrastructure to promote increased investments and developments in the AI for Longevity sector to provide AI for Longevity startups with relevant levels of funding. Startups selected for inclusion in the accelerator will also receive mentorship and incubation resources, and will gain access to a global network of experts in the areas of scientific R&D, business development and investment relations. The AI Accelerator will also provide startups with the tools necessary to grow, expand and evolve following their time in the Accelerator, and will equip them with the skills required to develop further through later-stage venture capital and government grants. Longevity companies that prove capable of achieving tangible results may become the next Googles, and investment firms that invest in those companies may become the SoftBanks and Vision Funds of tomorrow. AI holds enormous potential to rapidly accelerate the implementation of Longevity research and development. The establishment of the AI Longevity Consortium and AI Longevity Accelerator at Kings College has the potential to make the UK the worlds leading AI for Longevity Hub and creates an opportunity for huge advances in Longevity research which will benefit billions of people all around the world.

Click the box below for more information on the Longevity AI Consortium.

Click the box below for information on the AI Longevity Accelerator.

Click the box below for in-depth information about the Global Longevity Industry and explore a book that Dmitry and I co-authored: Longevity Industry 1.0 - Defining the Biggest and Most Complex Industry in Human History.

See the article here:
Leveraging AI To Accelerate Precision Health For Longevity - Forbes

Feliciano Lpez got married to Sandra Gago earlier this year. Asked if they planned to have children, the Spanish player replied: "There are guys who take care of every detail and follow their routines while others travel with their family in tournaments.

I may become a father in a too far away future and I would like my child to come to see me play." On his longevity, Lopez added: "I did not expect to compete at the level I am. Turning 30, many of my friends were getting injured, dropping on the rankings and this age seemed difficult to overcome to me.

I was lucky to have a very good body and genetics to play tennis. It made me suffer a few injuries, so I changed the training regime and I started taking care of my eating regime. For a sportsman, dropping two or three kilos is major and so you start playing better.

Winning the Queen's title at 34 years of age and another time at 37 was very satisfying. I started thinking that it could not happen to me. Feeling competitive physically at this age made me stronger mentally because despite I travel with a physiotherapist that has been taking care of my body for years, I do not recover in the same way after matches.

"You have to handle the kind of sponsor because as a famous person you have a social responsibility. Brands like alcohols or betting companies, you have to be very careful."

Go here to read the rest:
Feliciano Lopez planning to have children with wife in the future - Tennis World USA

Animal sociability through microbes

Accumulating evidence suggests that the microbiota living in and on animals has important functions in the social architecture of those animals. Sherwin et al. review how the microbiota might facilitate neurodevelopment, help program social behaviors, and facilitate communication in various animal species, including humans. Understanding the complex relationship between microbiota and animal sociability may also identify avenues for treating social disorders in humans.

Science, this issue p. eaar2016

Increasingly, it is recognized that the microbes resident in the gastrointestinal tract can influence brain physiology and behavior. Research has shown that the gastrointestinal microbiota can signal to the brain via a diverse set of pathways, including immune activation, production of microbial metabolites and peptides, activation of the vagus nerve, and production of various neurotransmitters and neuromodulators in the gut itself. Collectively, this bidirectional pathway is known as the microbiota-gut-brain axis. In the absence of a microbiota, germ-free and antibiotic-treated mice exhibit alterations to several central physiological processes such as neurotransmitter turnover, neuroinflammation, neurogenesis, and neuronal morphology. Perhaps as a result of these neurological alterations, the behavior of rodents lacking a microbiotaespecially social behavioris remarkably different from that of rodents colonized with bacteria. Conversely, supplementation of animals with certain beneficial live bacteria (e.g., Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus) can lead to notable improvements in social behavior both in early life and in adulthood. Collectively, these results suggest that microbial signals are important for healthy neurodevelopment and programming of social behaviors in the brain. Although research on the functional and ecological implications of the gut microbiota in natural populations is growing, from an evolutionary perspective it remains unclear why and when relationships between microbes and the social brain arose. We propose that a trans-species analysis may aid in our understanding of human sociability.

Sociability comprises a complex range of interactive behaviors that can be cooperative, neutral, or antagonistic. Across the animal kingdom, the level of sociability an animal displays is variable; some are highly social (e.g., primates, termites, and honey bees), living within cooperative communities, whereas others have a mostly solitary existence (e.g., bears). Consequently, although studies on germ-free and antibiotic-treated animals have yielded insights into how the microbiota may influence social behaviors, they are perhaps too reductionist to fully appreciate the complex relationship between symbiotic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and host sociability when considering a broader zoological perspective. Some social interactions have evolved to facilitate horizontal transmission of microbiota. Observations across both invertebrate and vertebrate species suggest that factors such as diet and immunity generate selection pressures that drive the relationship between microbiota and social behavior. Although microbiota may influence behaviors endogenously through regulation of the gut-brain axis, some animal species may have evolved to use symbiotic bacteria exogenously to mediate communication between members of the same species. Hyenas, for example, produce an odorous paste from their scent glands that contains fermentative bacteria that is suggested to facilitate social cohesion among conspecifics. This complex relationship between animals and microbiota raises the hypothesis that microbes may have influenced the evolution of the social brain and behavior as a means to propagate their own genetic material.

Understanding the factors that affect the development and programming of social behaviors across the animal kingdom is important not only in terms of rethinking the evolution of brain physiology and behavior, but also in terms of providing greater insight into disorders of the social brain in humans [including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), social phobia, and schizophrenia]. Evidence for a link between the microbiota and these conditions is growing, and preclinical and emerging clinical data raise the hypothesis that targeting the microbiota through dietary or live biotherapeutic interventions can improve the associated behavioral symptoms in such neurodevelopmental disorders. Larger clinical trials are required to confirm the efficacy of such interventions before they are recognized as a first-line treatment for neurodevelopmental disorders. Although such connections between gut bacteria and neurodevelopmental disorders are currently an intriguing area of research, any role for the microbiota in the evolution of social behaviors in animals does not supersede other contributing factors. Rather, it adds an additional perspective on how these complex behaviors arose.

The bidirectional pathway between the gut microbiota and the central nervous system, the microbiota-gut-brain axis, influences various complex aspects of social behavior across the animal kingdom. Some animals have evolved their own unique relationship with their gut microbiota that may assist them in interacting with conspecifics. The relationship between the gut microbiota and social behavior may help to explain social deficits observed in conditions such as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and could potentially lead to the development of new therapies for such conditions.

Sociability can facilitate mutually beneficial outcomes such as division of labor, cooperative care, and increased immunity, but sociability can also promote negative outcomes, including aggression and coercion. Accumulating evidence suggests that symbiotic microorganisms, specifically the microbiota that reside within the gastrointestinal system, may influence neurodevelopment and programming of social behaviors across diverse animal species. This relationship between host and microbes hints that host-microbiota interactions may have influenced the evolution of social behaviors. Indeed, the gastrointestinal microbiota is used by certain species as a means to facilitate communication among conspecifics. Further understanding of how microbiota influence the brain in nature may be helpful for elucidating the causal mechanisms underlying sociability and for generating new therapeutic strategies for social disorders in humans, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

Read more here:
Microbiota and the social brain - Science Magazine

SALT LAKE CITY When she was 8 years old, Mary was writing about diets in her journal. She did Optifast like Oprah Winfrey. She was always eating too much or eating too little, always thinking about what she was eating and what the scale said.

Only as a mom in her 40s was she able to stop obsessing about her weight, after having surgery that removed 80% of her stomach.

Surgery, for me, has really been a blessing, physically and emotionally. I feel free from the physical and emotional burden that I felt when I weighed so much more, the Utah mom said.

Thats why Mary was willing to consider bariatric surgery for her children when they, too, became extremely overweight. Four of her seven children have had their digestive system reordered, severely restricting what and how much they eat and drink.

The surgery is controversial and only rarely performed on minors, but that could change now that the leading group of pediatricians has issued a policy statement urging more access to metabolic and bariatric surgery for adolescents.

In a report released Sunday, the American Academy of Pediatrics said age should not be a barrier to surgery for a child with extreme obesity and that insurance companies should cover the procedure.

Although behavioral and lifestyle interventions will be successful for certain individuals, the overall outcomes of behavioral and lifestyle interventions are discouraging when viewed as a solution for a larger number of patients with severe obesity. Youth with severe obesity require effective intervention to prevent a lifetime of illness and poor quality of life, the AAP statement said.

Mary, who did not want to be identified because of potential problems with health insurance coverage, said that parents of extremely overweight adolescents should consider weight loss surgery if the child wants it, even though the procedure is rarely covered by insurance and can cost upwards of $10,000. She wishes shed had the option when she was a child and believes it would have radically changed her life for the better.

Think about how many parents are willing to shell out big bucks for braces, and thats primarily a cosmetic thing, Mary said. This is someones health. This is their longevity.

Goodbye, soda pop

Weight loss surgery has lifelong implications, but so does obesity.

Obesity is associated with cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease and gastroesophageal reflux disease, among others. It is also increasingly implicated in 12 types of cancer.

And the number of American children with severe obesity has nearly doubled since 1999. Nearly 10% of 12- to 15-year-olds have obesity, and 14% of 16- to 19-year-olds do.

Even in Utah, where childhood obesity rates are historically among the lowest in the nation, obesity is increasing, said Dr. Eric Volckmann, director of the University of Utah Health Care Bariatric Surgery Program in Salt Lake City.

While behavioral changes can provide moderate, short-term success for young children and those at lower weights, for children whose obesity is severe, metabolic changes make it more difficult to lose weight and to keep it off, the AAP said.

There are a variety of ways to alter the digestive system so that people dont overeat. The most common are the gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, adjustable gastric band and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

Most people will have to make changes beyond how much they eat, however. For example, carbonated beverages can cause discomfort after some types of surgery, which means soda pop is history. Alcohol potency goes up by 300% in people who have had a gastric bypass. And most people will have to take vitamins and supplements for the rest of their lives, lest they become severely malnourished.

Anyone considering weight loss surgery needs to understand that the surgeries are just a tool and they all require patients to make dietary changes and lifestyle modifications to be successful and to maintain weight loss. None of the operations are a quick fix, Volckmann said.

The surgery is controversial for adults and rare among children or teens. The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery says that of 227,000 procedures performed by its member surgeons in 2017, only about 300 involved people under the age of 18.

Dr. Daniel Cottam of the Bariatric Medicine Institute in Salt Lake City said he operates on a dozen or fewer teens every year.

Bariatric surgery appears to be a valuable tool in treatment of obesity, Dr. Jacob M. Appel, an assistant professor and director of ethics education in psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said in an email. But, he added, It is only one tool in that arsenal. which should also include efforts at the societal level to improve the food environment for children and to address the nutritional deserts in which many low-income children are forced to live.

Are parents to blame?

Had she not had the surgery herself, Mary said she probably would never have considered it as an option for her children, even when several of them became more than 100 pounds overweight.

I spent so many decades of my life dieting and trying to lose weight and feeling like a failure every time the weight came back on. It has been refreshing for me to be free of that constant pressure I put on myself, she said.

Mary said she knows that some people will judge her parenting and blame her for what she fed her children when they were young. But she notes that many nutrition scientists have come to realize that her generation, and her parents, were given bad information about what comprises a healthy diet. And Mary said that her family is prone to gaining weight on a high-carbohydrate diet, even if the carbohydrates are nutrient-rich.

If I could do it over, I wouldnt have followed the food pyramid, which has so much focus on bread and rice and cereal and grain, she said. We are very carb-sensitive; we dont process carbs like most people do.

While some people still believe obesity is caused by a sedentary lifestyle and poor food choices, that hasnt been the position of the American Medical Association since 2003, when the AMA declared obesity a disease.

Skinny people believe obesity is caused by life choices. Thats only partly true, Cottam said. Most people who become really obese, especially children, they have metabolisms that predispose them to this.

In its 2018 best-practice guidelines for pediatric surgery, the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery said that, like cancer, obesity is a multifactorial disease caused by a combination of genetics, environment and metabolic programming. The group said that surgery shouldnt be a treatment of last resort but should be readily offered to adolescents who are extremely obese.

In its new policy statement, the AAP said that its recommendations are for adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 whose body mass index is 35 or greater, or a BMI that is 120% or greater of the 95th percentile for their age and sex.

Appel, the author of a new book on medical ethics, Who Says Youre Dead?, said all elective surgery should be approached with care, especially when children and adolescents are involved.

At a minimum, minors should assent to the surgery and be given sufficient time to reflect upon the decision and its implications. At the same time, delay until the age of majority while appropriate for some conditions may not be suitable here, he said.

Extreme obesity has both physical and psychological implications for many youths that cannot be reversed by surgery as adults, so pushing off interventions until the age of majority is often not in the best interests of the child or teen.

Safer than gallbladder surgery

No matter how effective, surgery of any kind comes with risk.

Death resulting from weight loss surgery is extremely rare; one study published in 2011 found 18 deaths within 30 days of bariatric surgery among 6,118 patients, despite the fact that bariatric surgical patients are virtually by definition high risk surgical candidates.

A study of 60,000 patients from physicians affiliated with the ASMBS had even lower one-month mortality rates: one out of 1,000 patients, or 0.13%.

This rate is considerably less than most other operations, including gallbladder and hip replacement surgery, the society says on its website.

But there are other risks, among them, a greater chance of developing an alcohol abuse disorder because the body develops a greater sensitivity to alcohol and some procedures result in higher levels of blood alcohol compared to people who have not had the procedure. Girls who have metabolic and bariatric surgery have a higher risk for pregnancy than their peers and may be at risk for complications during pregnancy and premature birth.

Some people report depression or sadness after having the procedure, and two studies have shown a small but significant increase in suicide.

The writer Roxane Gay, who had a sleeve gastrectomy in 2018, wrote about the experience, saying she was depressed and miserable.

Gay said that it is maddening that she can only eat tiny portions of the food that used to bring her comfort. After a few bites of anything, the discomfort begins, and then that discomfort evolves into pain, she wrote.

Besides the physical changes that weight loss surgery brings, it also shuts off or restricts a major source of human pleasure. That is one reason that Paige Fieldsted, a mother of two in Taylorsville, Utah, said that she has not seriously considered weight loss surgery and wouldnt have wanted it as a teen, even though she has struggled with weight issues since she was a child.

Food is very much for me, and for most people, a connector. Holidays center around food, and I want to be able to enjoy it, said Fieldsted, the author of Confessions From Your Fat Friend.

I understand what its like to be the biggest one in the room, to feel like the only way that things are going to get better for you is to get skinny. But I can also tell you from experience that thats not true, she said.

Mary also agreed that its important that parents of children with obesity focus on the positive things about their children and not just their weight. I wish I had focused more on their worth and self-esteem, all the great things about them. You have to be sure that they know you love them for who they are, that your love is not dependent on their weight.

Concerns about how a person will adapt to life-altering surgery is one reason that the American Academy of Pediatrics and most surgeons require an extensive period of preparation, especially for young patients. A comprehensive evaluation by a behavioral health clinician is essential early in the process to document the childs psychological well-being and to to assure that the child has the necessary social and emotional support to follow through with required postoperative lifestyle modifications.

No regrets

Despite the risks she and her children assumed, Mary said her family has no regrets about having had the surgery, which Mary and her husband paid for out-of-pocket. While she has not kept the surgery a secret from close family members and friends, she does not want to be publicly identified because of the possibility that her health insurance companies might not pay for any future complications that they might say were connected to the surgery, which they do not cover.

The possibility of complications is one reason that Volckmann in Salt Lake City warns people not to seek bariatric surgery for themselves or their children out of the country.

One adult from Utah died earlier this year after undergoing bariatric surgery in Mexico, and eight others were sickened by bacteria. But back at home, even minor complications will likely not be covered by any insurer who did not cover the initial surgery, Volckmann said. I would not allow a relative to have any type of surgical procedure where complications from that procedure werent covered. The financial risks would be too high. I dont think people understand that when they go to Mexico, he said, adding that he knows people who have had to declare bankruptcy because of medical bills stemming from complications from surgery.

The growth of medical tourism underscores the need for insurance companies to provide coverage for weight loss surgery, as the AAP recommends, he said. While the University Hospital does not offer bariatric surgery for anyone under the age of 18, he believes that if done in a well-developed program and done properly, it is appropriate to offer.

Its probably not for all adolescents, but its appropriate for some.

Volckmann said that insurance companies have resisted paying for weight loss surgery in part because there is no immediate benefit to them; a child will likely be off her parents policy before there is any payoff in improved health and lowered costs. But for society as a whole, there is a great return in terms of medical problems that can develop over time, Volckmann said.

At the Bariatric Medicine Institute, Cottam, too, expressed frustration with the lack of coverage. Why would you cover someones heart attack and not cover something that would prevent someones heart attack?

Mary, meanwhile, is happy with her choice to have surgery and to allow her children to do so. She notes, however, that her children were teenagers at the time of their surgery, and they made the decision without pressure from her.

Thats important for any family, she said.

If your child doesnt feel good about it, dont do it. But if the child is really wanting it and is determined and responsible and can be compliant, then I think that it can be a great blessing, she said.

Mary said that sometimes she will hear people making jokes about overweight people, and she sees it as a teachable moment. She will get out her phone and show them pictures of herself 110 pounds heavier. Despite the fact that she cant eat much without getting uncomfortable, shes comfortable now in ways she never was before. Never an athlete, she now hikes, runs and rappels.

Its not for everyone. I know people whose weight doesnt bother them, she said. But if I could have had that surgery as a teenager, I would have jumped at the chance.

View original post here:
The pros and cons of weight loss surgery for children - Deseret News

Americans are living longer thanks to medical and public health advances and greater access to health care. If youre a 65-year-old man in the U.S., you can expect to live another 20 years. American women can expect to live even longer to age 86.5.

While this is good news for most of us, increased longevity also creates new challenges. After we turn 65, our risk of developing dementia doubles every five years. By age 85, nearly one in three of us will have the disease. The impact on women is even greater.

New Milken Institute research estimates that by 2020, roughly 4.7 million women in the U.S. will have dementia, accounting for nearly two-thirds of everyone living with the disease. Women often experience a double whammy. Not only are they more likely to get the disease, they are also more likely to take on most caregiving responsibilities for spouses, parents, in-laws and friends.

Women caregivers are more likely to be impacted financially as they leave jobs or miss work to care for family members. Our analysis predicts that the economic costs of treatment, care and lost productivity due to women suffering from Alzheimers and dementia will total $2.1 trillion by 2040, representing over 80 percent of the cumulative costs.

Communities of color face an even greater threat. Older African Americans have the highest risk of dementia, followed by American Indians/Alaska Natives and Latinos. This increased risk, coupled with income differences and cultural attitudes toward family caregiving, results in communities of color shouldering more direct care for people living with dementia than white populations.

Ive experienced firsthand the devastating impacts of Alzheimers disease on families. My dad and his three siblings were diagnosed within a 10-year time frame. As in most families, the emotional and economic strains fell primarily on the women.

My Aunt Trudy, a Julliard-trained concert pianist, began showing signs of dementia in her early 70s. She had chosen her career over a family as many women of her generation had to do. Trudy had no kids, husband, or much savings, so my family patched together a mix of paid and volunteer caregivers to provide her meals, rides, and companionship.

After it became too much of a strain on our finances, young families, and work lives, we had to place her in a nursing home paid for by Medicaid a harrowing decision made by countless Americans every day. Aunt Trudy maintained her indomitable spirit until the end. When she could no longer speak, she could still play the piano by heart, to the delight of many who sang tunes beside her.

Unfortunately, 10 years since Aunt Trudy died, Alzheimers is the only disease among the top-10 causes of death in the U.S. with no known cure. Recent Phase III drug trial failures this year represented a setback in research.

But thanks to increased National Institutes of Health funding to study Alzheimers disease, researchers today understand better dementias pathology. Perhaps most hopeful for those of us at high risk for dementia, emerging evidence shows that despite family history and personal genetics, lifestyle changes such as a diet, exercise, and better sleep can improve brain health.

Increased participation by women in clinical trials has helped us understand why more women than men have dementia. Researchers believed dementia is primarily connected to longer life expectancy. But new studies have linked it to biological differences, such as hormonal imbalances, that change brain chemistry.

With no cure in sight, we must double our efforts to reduce the risk and cost of dementia. At the Milken Institute, we work to solve significant global problems. That is why we are making recommendations to improve brain health, reduce gender and racial disparities, and ultimately change the trajectory of this devastating disease.

Most importantly, we must spread awareness of how individuals, communities, and health professionals can improve cognitive function and brain health for all ages. If we can delay the onset of dementia by only five years, we can cut the incidence in half.

With more women working full-time and family size decreasing, we must increase efforts to create a dementia-capable workforce to effectively identify people with dementia, tailor services to meet their needs and those of their caregivers, and ensure those living with dementia get the right care at the right time. The high costs of care for Medicare beneficiaries with dementia are linked to avoidable hospitalizations, poor coordination across care teams, and ineffective care transitions.

We offer many more ideas in the new report, Reducing the Cost and Risk of Dementia: Recommendations to Improve Brain Health and Reduce Disparities. We are in a race against time. We want to ensure that all of us will be singing songs by heart and enjoying our family and friends as we age. To provide a better future for millions of Americans impacted by dementia, we must act now.

Nora Super is senior director of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging. She previously was executive director of the White House Conference on Aging.

Read more:
Dementia impacts women more and new approaches are needed | TheHill - The Hill

How many of us will see our 100th birthdays?DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Kayla Jo Finley/Released

The maximum lifespan of an organism varies significantly between species, ranging from a single day for mayflies, to several hundred years for Greenland sharks. While the goal for most organisms at an evolutionary level is to reproduce, humanity continuously aimed at increasing our lifespan. Life expectancy is used as an indicator of a countries development, as well as a measure of social and scientific progress. A longer life would permit us to spend more time having valuable life experiences, make crucial contributions to our fields of work, potentially helping humanity progress further as a species.

Recent medical advances allow us to further pursue this quest. The average life expectancy in the U.K. is around 81 years currently significantly higher than the 35 years it was in the 17th century. We now live in an era of diseases of old age, where degenerative disorders such as dementia are dubbed the biggest health crisis of our time in developed countries. This poses an important question are our bodies biologically capable of sustaining the lifespans we strive for, or are we being overly ambitious?

Research into longevity is extremely complex and controversial. We only know of 48 people in history who have lived past the age of 115. It was already hypothesised in 1825 that mortality rates increase exponentially with age, implying that human life expectancy must tend towards a maximum value. A 2016 study claimed that even with a perfectly healthy lifestyle and access to medical interventions when necessary, the natural biological human age limit is approximately 115, with only a few individual outliers, in part due to their genetic architecture. This would imply that regardless of the technology we develop, it should be unable to increase our life expectancy past this limit.

This is a plausible suggestion when we consider ageing on a cellular level. The Hayflick limit refers to the number of times that most cells divide before entering senescence. Hayflick (currently a UCSF Professor of Anatomy at 91 years of age) proposed this theory in the 60s, after finding that a human cell population could only divide between 40 to 60 times in culture before entering senescence. Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greide and Jack Szostak went on to win a Nobel prize in 2009 for their discover that this correlates with telomeres (repetitive sequences of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect them) being reduced to a critical length, since these shorten after each cell division.

We only know of 48 people in history who have lived past the age of 115

Even if the body did not undergo any other processes of ageing, the accumulation of senescent cells would eventually cause death. Almost all senescent cells either self-destruct or are destroyed by the immune system, though a small number remain and have a strong signalling effect which can lead to chronic inflammation or disruption of nearby tissues and potentially even stimulate surrounding cells to become senescent. These processes are thought to be linked to the development of numerous age-related diseases, including Alzheimers and Type II diabetes. It appears that regardless of the condition the body is kept in, degenerative conditions will inevitably catch up with everyone.

Recent investigations carried out in Italy by observing lifespans of over 3,000 individuals over the age of 100 have revealed that annual mortality risks plateau by the age of 115 at around 50%. This is likely because any age related disorders that were to occur would have set in by this point. As a majority of diseases is associated with increasing age, we need to better understand what is driving ageing. We may be able to, through a mixture of medical, lifestyle, and environmental interventions push our life expectancy up.

But what about going further than, say, 115 years? While the early attempts at extending telomeres (using the enzyme telomerase) caused cells to become cancerous, more recent efforts using more controlled delivery systems are more promising at increasing lifespan without the added cancer risk. Promising results have recently arisen in the form of research carried out by the Spanish National Cancer Centre.

It could be possible for us to alter our susceptibility to the degenerative effects of age

The telomeres of mice embryonic stem cells were elongated beyond normal levels, and mice developing from these stem cells were generated. These mice had a 12.8% increase in median longevity, and an 8.4% increase in maximum longevity, compared to mice with normal telomere length. The mice also underwent less DNA damage as they aged, and showed lower cholesterol and LDL levels, as well as improved glucose and insulin tolerance.

Such research demonstrates that it could be possible for us to alter our susceptibility to the degenerative effects of age. Much remains to be discovered at what governs the rate of ageing, and then, whether reductions in the rate of ageing actually translate to longer lifespans, or simply to better health along the lifespan.

While many questions remain concerning the upper bound on lifespan, much could be done to increase life expectancy right now. In the last 100 years, the increase in life expectancy can be attributed to factors such as effective immunisation programs, antibiotics and public health initiatives around hygiene and sanitation. While life expectancies may appear to be approaching a plateau, many believe that developments in fields such as artificial intelligence and genetics could be responsible for our next surge in life expectancy by improving the ways in which we deliver healthcare. Some claim that it does not matter if our bodies degrade if we are able to develop technologies such as prosthesis and bionics.

While extending lifespan may seem like an exciting concept, this may pose additional challenges on both a societal and personal level. For instance, we are already struggling as a planet with overpopulation and its associated consequences, such as carbon emissions. Increased life expectancy has played a role in the development of this problem and may continue to do so. Many countries, such as Japan, have an aging population individuals aged 65 and older in Japan make up a quarter of its total population, estimated to increase to a third by 2050. Therefore, the dependency ratio (the proportion of workers to non-workers) creates a need for more efficient social care provision and strategies. .

Ageing is a natural process, and it may not necessarily be possible to halt the clock. As a species, we seem to have more control over how long we live than many other species do. In modern society, it is becoming increasingly more likely that excess of food or age related degenerative disorders will kill us rather than starvation or disease. However, if we do strive to push our life expectancies to new limits, it is vital that we consider the challenges this will pose for our bodies and society.

Originally posted here:
Does the human lifespan have a limit? - Varsity Online

If there's one thing that humans can't stop thinking about, it's death. But new research published in the journal Nature suggests that all that thinking might be the very thing that brings death on.

More precisely, researchers discovered that higher neural activity has a negative effect on longevity. Neural activity refers to the constant flow of electricity and signals throughout the brain, and excessive activity could be expressed in many ways; a sudden change in mood, a facial twitch, and so on.

"An exciting future area of research will be to determine how these findings relate to such higher-order human brain functions," said professor of genetics and study co-author Bruce Yankner. While it's probably not the case that thinking a thought reduces your lifespan in the same way smoking a cigarette does, the study didn't determine whether actual thinking had an impact on lifespan just neural activity in general.

To say this was an unexpected finding is an understatement. We expect that aging affects the brain, of course, but not that the brain affects aging. These results were so counterintuitive that the study took two additional years before it was published as the researchers gathered more data to convince their reviewers. Yankner was forbearing about the delay. "If you have a cat in your backyard, people believe you," he said. "If you say you have a zebra, they want more evidence."

Yankner and colleagues studied the nervous systems of a range of animals, including humans, mice, and Caenorhabditis elegans, or roundworm. What they found was that a protein called REST was the culprit behind high neural activity and faster aging.

First, they studied brain samples donated from deceased individuals aged between 60 and 100. Those that had lived longer specifically individuals who were 85 and up had unique gene expression profile in their brain cells. Genes related to neural excitation appeared to be underexpressed in these individuals. There was also significantly more REST protein in these cells, which made sense: REST's job is to regulate the expression of various genes, and it's also been shown to protect aging brains from diseases like dementia.

But in order to show that this wasn't simply a coincidence, Yankner and colleagues amplified the REST gene in roundworm and mice. With more REST came quieter nervous systems, and with quieter nervous systems came longer lifespans in both animal models.

Zullo et al., 2019

Normal mice (top) had much lower levels of neural activity than mice lacking the REST protein (bottom). Neural activity is color coded, with red indicating higher levels.

Higher levels of REST proteins appeared to activate a chain reaction that ultimately led to these increases in longevity. Specifically, REST suppressed the expression of genes that control for a variety of neural features related to excitation, like neurotransmitter receptors and the structure of synapses. The lower levels of activity activated a group of proteins known as forkhead transcription factors, which play a role in regulating the flow of genetic information in our cells. These transcription factors, in turn, affect a "longevity pathway" connected to signaling by the hormones insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1).

This longevity pathway has been identified by researchers before, often in connection with possible benefits to lifespan from fasting. Additionally, the insulin/IGF1 hormones are critical for cell metabolism and growth, features which relate to longevity in obvious ways.

The most exciting aspect of this research is that it offers targets for future research on longevity, possibly even allowing for the development of a longevity drug. For instance, anticonvulsant drugs work by suppressing the excessive neural firing that occurs during seizures, and in studies conducted on roundworms, they've also been shown to increase lifespan. This recent study shows that this connection might not be coincidental. Similarly, antidepressants that block serotonin activity have also been shown to increase lifespan. Dietary restriction has long been implicated in promoting longer lifespans as well. Dietary restriction lowers insulin/IGF1 signaling, which this study showed affects the REST protein and neural activity. More research will be needed to confirm or reject any of these possibilities, but all represent exciting new avenues to explore, possibly resulting in the extension of our lifespans.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Go here to see the original:
Thinking about death: High neural activity is linked to shorter lifespans - Big Think

Let's face it, just about everyone is looking for effective, safe ways to turn back the clock and boost longevity. If there were a switch we could flip to slow down the aging process (to counter the waning energy, to keep those memories sharp, to stay healthy enough to continue having amazing experiences), we'd probably all flip it in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, there's no "fountain of youth" switch or pill just yet, and we can't stop aging altogether. But we do have significant influence over our longevity destiny, and we can slow aging with lifestyle and dietary changes that improve our body's ability to function optimally and repair itself. In fact, many top experts wholeheartedly believe in the saying, "Genetics loads the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger."

"The thinking is that for the average person your genes influence about 25% of your longevity, and 75% is the environment," Robert Rountree, M.D., renowned integrative physician, recently told mbg.

Here, discover the small, sustainable, science-backed changesplus one really intriguing supplementthat may add quality years to your life.*

See the rest here:
8 Science-Backed Things You Can Do Now To Add Years To Your Life - mindbodygreen.com

There are a lot of theories about the secret to a long life.

Dozens of research show the many benefits to remaining physically and mentally active as we get older the level of brain activity influence life span.

A newstudyfrom the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School suggests the secret to living longer may lie in the level of brain activity.

The authors linked long life to a quieter brain keep calm and carry on living a little longer, the research found. Excessive electrical activity in the brain was linked to shorter life spans. An overworked brain may hasten the ageing-related decline in memory and thinking skills.

Excessive brain activity is common in the digital age rushing from one task to another, constantly looking for something to stimulate us, whether thats a TV show or the notifications on our phone.

I think the implication of our study is that with ageing, there is some aberrant or deleterious neural activity that not only makes the brain less efficient, but is harmful to the physiology of the person or the animal, and reduces life span as a result,saysBruce Yankner, senior study author and professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging.

In the study, the researchers examined hundreds of donated healthy brains of older adults, people who died between 60 and 100 years old and were cognitively intact.

The study revealed a surprising and shocking difference: people between the ages of 85 and 100 years had significantly less expression of genes linked to neural overactivity than those who died decades earlier (between 60 and 80).

Our study raises the possibility that modulating excitation state can affect lifespan, Yankner said.

The thing that is super unexpected is . . . limiting neural activity is a good thing in healthy ageing. Its very counterintuitive, says Michael McConnell, a neuroscientist on the Lieber Institute for Mind Growth.

The line between normal brain activity and over-excitement still remains blurred. Working out your brain helps build new neural networks and activates neural growth factors that are positive, says Yankner.

These activities arent likely the same as deleterious brain activity, which manifests in things like muscle twitches, mood changes, seizures, Alzheimers, bipolar disorder, and other neurological disorders, he adds.

Yankner is quick to caution people from jumping the gun around the studys findings. Professor Yankner said: Its not yet clear whether or how a persons thoughts, personality or behaviour affect their longevity.

What sometimes gets lost in the coverage of ageing research are the few things you can do for which there is really strong evidence are good for ageing, Yankner says.

I think overactivity, out-of-control excitation its not good for the brain. You want the neurons to be active, when and where you want them to be active, not to be just generally firing off, mentioned Cynthia Kenyon, VP of Growing Old Analysis at Calico Labs.

The good news is the decline associated with brain activity is preventable.

The solution to an overworked brain is about altering your behaviour in simple ways just being conscious of moments of hyperactivity and slowing down or shifting your habits in a way that calms you down.

If work is grinding you down, interfering with sleep, and forcing you to push aside fun, paying attention now to your mental, physical, and emotional health may help keep your mind sharp as you get older,writesPatrick J. Skerrett, editor of theHarvard Heart Letter.

Start appreciating the moments of stillness in your life plan to disconnect and make time for yourself, sit with a book and just read, draw something, write a letter, journal. Or better yet, sit quietly and watch the thoughts that drift through your mind while you do some deep breathing.

Keeping that mental stillness and physical state of calm takes practice so prioritize downtime. Put in on your schedule. If you commit to doing one thing daily that promotes you relaxing and being more present and in your body, not your brain, you will see change.

Just start there and know that its not lazy its taking care of your brain and your emotion and physical well-being. Perhaps its the small-scale, daily choices that will make the difference for your mental health.

Originally published on Medium.

Follow us here and subscribe here for all the latest news on how you can keep Thriving.

Stay up to date or catch-up on all our podcasts with Arianna Huffington here.

Go here to see the original:
A Calm Mind Isn't Just a Nice-to-Have. It Can Actually Help You Live Longer. - Thrive Global

Women with an aggressive, less-common type of breast cancer, known as triple-negative, versus a more common form of the disease could be differentiated from each other by a panel of 17 small RNA molecules that are directly influenced by genetic alterations typically found in cancer cells.

Researchers led by Luciane Cavalli, PhD, at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and colleagues found that variations in how these small RNA, known as microRNA (miRNA), are expressed, at higher or lower levels, could partially explain disparate rates of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in Latina women compared to non-Hispanic white women and potentially lead to more effective treatment options.

That is the finding of a new study that was published October 22, 2019, inOncotarget.

Due to the variability in expression of miRNA by race or ethnicity, we determined that it was critical to characterize the genomic lineage (or ancestral background) of women with TNBC, said Cavalli, an adjunct professor of medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine and a faculty member at Instituto de Pesquisa Pel Pequeno Prncipe in Brazil. While our focus was on genetics, we remain aware that non-genetic factors, such as social-economic conditions, can significantly impact the incidence rates of TNBC and other subtypes of breast cancer.

Statisticians estimate that TNBC occurs in up to one-third of women in Latin American countries, a rate that is higher than in the United States. The researchers in this study focused on Brazil, in particular, where an estimated 60,000 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in 2018.

The scientists discovered that women with TNBC had specific alterations in copies of their genes that directly influenced the expression of 17 miRNAs compared to women with other forms of breast cancer who did not have these alterations. They also found that the expression levels of the majority of these miRNAs were associated with the tumors clinical aggressiveness (advanced grade and stage).

The panel of miRNAs we identified indicate potential, critical cancer-related pathways and gene networks that could be targeted for the treatment of TNBC in Latinas, once our findings are validated by larger studies, concluded Cavalli. Targeting these genetic alterations, that represent the unique biology of their tumors, may lead to more efficient treatments, which could increase the longevity of Latina women who do not have many therapeutic options to fight this very aggressive disease.

Reference:Sugita BM, Pereira SR, et al. (2019) Integrated copy number and miRNA expression analysis in triple negative breast cancer of Latin American patients. Oncotarget. No. 58. Oct. 22, 2019.

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

Originally posted here:
Triple-negative Breast Cancer Influenced by Dual Action of Genes and RNA - Technology Networks

Are you always deep in thought, thinking nonstop about the world around you? You might want to cut back on that. Researchers at Harvard Medical School just published a study in the journal Nature comparing the brains of people who had died in their 60s and 70s to those who had died over the age of 100.

They found that all roads lead to REST (RE-1 Silencing Transcription), that is, a protein that helps to calm your brain. This protein is enormously important to our brain health: Defects in REST have been linked to Huntington's disease and epileptic seizures, and it's also found in reduced amounts in elderly people with Alzheimer's disease.

REST has been found to quiet brain activity, and it can also protect those with dementia and other stresses.

It is currently not possible to measure REST in a living brain, so scientists relied on donated brain tissue from hundreds of people who died from ages 60 to over 100.

Study author Bruce Yankner, professor of genetics at Harvard, found that the differences in brains were immediately compelling: The longest-living people had lower expression of genes related to neural excitation. REST regulates these genes, and the centenarians' brain cells contained higher amounts of the protein than those who died younger.

It was extremely exciting to see how all these different lines of evidence converged, says study co-author Monica Colaicovo, also a professor of genetics at Harvard.

Socrates would likely disagree with the notion that too much deep thinking can lead to an earlier death. (Photo: DIMSFIKAS [CC by SA 3.0]/Wikimedia Commons)

While the brain's neural activity has long been explored in issues like dementia and epilepsy, this is the first evidence to reveal how it affects human longevity.

An intriguing aspect of our findings is that something as transient as the activity state of neural circuits could have such far-ranging consequences for physiology and life span, says Yankner.

Besides looking at hundreds of human brain tissue samples, the Harvard team also experimented with worms and mice by decreasing and increasing their mental activity. All of these experiments found that changing neural excitations affected life spans and creatures without the precious protein REST in their brain died at a faster rate.

It's still unclear how a person's exact thoughts, feelings or behavior can affect their longevity. Numerous studies have linked optimism to a longer life, and suggested a positive outlook can even affect your body's chemical balance.

Perhaps most striking about the study is that it contradicts many long-held popular beliefs about our brains and aging. Doctors have stressed that keeping your mind active, whether it's with brain-training games or a daily crossword puzzle, can also help you live longer. But this study's findings suggest that not all thoughts are equal.

The completely shocking and puzzling thing about this new paper is brain activity is what you think of as keeping you cognitively normal. Theres the idea that you want to keep your brain active in later life, neuroscientist Michael McConnell told The Washington Post.

The researchers hope this study will encourage more research on neural overactivity and what types of therapeutic interventions are possible. But until then, just to be safe, it's probably best not to think too hard about it.

Thinking deep thoughts has impact on life span

A recent Harvard study finds that neural activity is a new player when it comes to human aging.

The rest is here:
Thinking deep thoughts has impact on life span - Mother Nature Network

Its no secret that Texans like tequila. In fact, its a point of pride. Between patio margaritas, rooftop palomas and late-night shots, we consumed a little more than 18 million liters of the agave-based spirit in 2018. That accounts for a respectable one-ninth of the entire countrys consumption, according to data from IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.

Of course, like all things delicious and from the earth, sustainable agricultural practices are key to ensuring that its still around for us to enjoy long term.

The future of agave depends upon genetic diversity, says Grover Sanschagrin, the Jalisco, Mexico-based co-founder of tastetequila.com and the Tequila Matchmaker app. Right now, the entire industry is using blue agave with the exact same genetic code, because they are harvesting the hijuelos, baby plants that are clones of the mother.

The clones are an efficient means to an end. If allowed to flower and sexually reproduce on their own a process that often takes as long as 12 years agave plants wont have enough juice left to distill. To combat this dilemma, growers clone the agaves, ensuring theyre able to harvest the plants when perfectly ripe, usually between six and eight years of age. But, while efficient, the practice is inherently risky. If one gets a disease, it could wipe out all of the plants, Sanschagrin says.

Its a risk that some tequila producers are hoping to mitigate. And the steps they choose to take now will affect tequilas availability and quality in the future.

One brand at the forefront of progressive sustainability practices is El Tesoro, which is made at the La Altea Distillery located in the Jalisco highlands, about 6,000 feet above sea level. Led by master distiller Carlos Camarena, El Tesoro does things the old way the hard way. Agaves are grown entirely on the familys estate, hand-harvested after seven to eight years, slow-cooked in brick ovens and then crushed with a 2-ton stone called a tahona.

But even a brand steeped in tradition knows that it must look toward the future to ensure its success. Thats why Camarena is part of the Bat Friendly Tequila and Mezcal Project, which promotes biodiversity among agave plants. Today, El Tesoro allows between 2% and 5% of its plants to reach full maturity and bloom. For tequila producers, setting aside even a small percentage of the crop represents a substantial financial hit, as those plants cant be harvested, distilled and monetized.

Its good news for the bats, though. They are natural pollinators of agave plants, feeding on the nectar of mature plants and cross-pollinating from field to field. Its a symbiotic relationship. Formerly endangered species like the lesser long-nosed bat have more food to eat now, and their pollinating efforts promote biodiversity among the agaves.

Its too soon to know exactly how successful the project will be in the long run. Many scientists believed that, after so many years of cloning, it would be impossible for the blue agaves to reproduce sexually. But the results have already defied expectations. Camarenas team has been nurturing seedlings in a greenhouse, and roughly 5% have yielded sprouts, potentially representing a new genetic wave of agaves.

Camarena is playing the long game. Maybe well see results in 80 or 100 years, he says, but this isnt something were doing for our own lifetime.

While El Tesoro is one of the innovators leading the sustainability charge, its not alone. Ubiquitous giant Patrn commissioned a study at the National Center of Genetic Resources, Mexicos biodiversity bank in Jalisco, to analyze blue agaves genetics in hopes of establishing future recommendations for the industry that will promote long-term sustainability. And even smaller producers such as Ghost are playing a part.

People in the industry tend to look at agave sustainability as an issue that should be addressed by the large tequila companies, says Chris Moran, founder and CEO of Ghost Tequila. I dont agree at all. This is a matter of importance that every tequila producer needs to take seriously, to share in the responsibility to ensure the longevity of this crop.

He notes that they control their own agave fields, which allows them to institute responsible agronomy practices, such as planting alternate crops after agave harvests to allow the soil to regenerate.

But its not just the distillers who have a say in the matter. Bars, restaurants and retail shops can make an impact via the products they choose to carry.

According to Chris Dempsey, a bartender at Atwater Alley and the mezcal- and tequila-focused La Viuda Negra, its important for bars to consider how spirits are made when deciding what to stock and pour. He notes that his bars wont carry any products made with a diffuser, a machine that significantly shortens the harvest-to-bottle timeline and strips out a lot of the agaves character. He prefers to support the people who put in the time and effort to produce the best possible products, noting a few favorite brands, including Siembra Valles, Tequila Ocho and El Tesoro.

Camarena has been instrumental in sustainability and biodiversity, Dempsey says. He is the leader to watch when talking about and practicing sustainability with agave and Mexican spirits.

Spirits right now have the ability more than ever to be responsible, not just in production, but socially, says Jose Gonzalez, a bartender at Midnight Rambler inside the Joule hotel. It says a lot for a company when they put their money and their plants on the line.

He adds that Camarena is a guardian of agave plants, not just an owner, and that mindset impacts everything from the distillerys light environmental footprint to the quality of the product.

People should care about what they put in their bodies as well as who it affects, like the producers and farmers, Gonzalez says. As much as we go to the farmers market to grab local produce, we should know who grows the agave.

Dempsey also urges consumers to fight the good fight.

Think about it, he says. You want to work out and eat all this amazing organic food, but then you go and drink some subpar spirits just because of marketing and a low price. That defeats the purpose of being healthy. If you really want to help the cause, dont drink diffuser tequila, and help support any sustainable agave program.

According to Sanschagrin, at todays market prices, each 1-liter bottle of traditionally-made 100% agave tequila contains about $10.70 worth of agave inside. So, while we consumers dont have a hands-on impact on the plants growing in Mexico, we can exert our influence with how we choose to spend our hard-earned tequila money.

Read the rest here:
The future of tequila: How clones, bats and biodiversity will help agave survive - The Dallas Morning News

It's been 17 years since Cleveland Clinic hosted its first Medical Innovation Summit. As the 2019 version of conference officially launches Monday morning, its organizers say this year's gathering reflects the changing landscape of healthcare innovationnot only in terms of topics, such as sessions exploring AI, augmented reality, and virtual realitybut also in terms of who's standing at the dais and who's attending.

Through Wednesday, entrepreneurs from startup companies, investors, and payers will join the venerated researchers and practitioners who once were the primary focus of the Summit. Also present: key players from companies outside the traditional healthcare sector, including Amazon Web Services, CVS, Google, and Microsoft.

"While the technology is interesting, the bigger story is the die is not cast in terms of who will disrupt healthcare," saysWilliam Morris, MD, executive medical director, Cleveland Clinic Innovations. "Healthcare disruption will come from all angles. That's the power of this Innovation Summit."

For example, late Monday Eric Lefkofsky, co-founder and chairman of Groupon will present a keynote address. Four years ago, after Lefkofsky's wife was diagnosed with cancer, he founded Tempus to leverage data analytics, genomics, and artificial intelligence to provide precision medicine to patients.

"Health issues touch all of us," says Morris, adding that today people and companies outside of traditional spheres of influence have been empowered to innovate and take action. "It's an interesting theme because it challenges the status quo."

On Tuesday, Morris says, Craig Mundie, senior advisor to the CEO of Microsoft, who is former chief research and strategy officer for the company, will discuss the role of technology in transforming the healthcare delivery industry.

"Again, it's very personal story, talking about the promises of new technologies and how they can actually benefit all patients," says Morris. "I think there's an interesting thread for an audience member to ask, 'Who are these people? How are they navigating this?' It's so diverse. A tremendous takeaway is that it is incumbent on us all to reimagine healthcare."

In the past the Summit focused on specific disease states and medical devices, says Susan Bernat, general manager of strategic marketing, Cleveland Clinic Innovations.

"We realized that we were truly missing something as healthcare is evolving," Bernat says. Cleveland Clinic treats each of its patients as a whole person, not just a disease, she says. The conference needed to reflect that dynamic, which led to this year's theme, "Caring for Every Life Through Innovation."

"Now it's a more well-rounded conversation," Bernat says.

Morris says that those involved in healthcare innovation bring optimism to the U.S. healthcare industry.

"There's an esprit de corps in our DNA that we will solve [the challenges]," he says. "I don't think there'll be one simple eureka moment. It's going to be a lot of work, a lot of collaboration. But the great news is, there is such passion to do better. The focus has moved beyond innovating for the sake of innovating and to challenge traditional status quo of how healthcare is being rendered."

Some highlights from Summit include:

The 2019 Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit takes place October 2123 at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland in downtown Cleveland. The Summit is organized by Cleveland Clinic Innovations, the business development and commercialization arm of Cleveland Clinic.

Mandy Roth is the innovations editor at HealthLeaders.

Go here to read the rest:
Outsiders Are In: The Cleveland Clinic Innovation Summit Evolves - HealthLeaders Media

In his all-conquering career, its the final, elusive frontieran impossible dream that Eliud Kipchoge will now try to make a reality.

The 34-year-old has done it allOlympic gold, world title, the marathon world recordbut there is one thing he has yet to tick off his bucket list: a sub-two-hour marathon.

Many ideologies [have] been going that no human will break the two-hour mark but personally, I have dared to try, Kipchoge said in a video of the INEOS 1:59 Challenge documentary series. I am doing it to make history.

He is, without question, the greatest marathoner of all time, but in a park in Vienna, Austria, on Saturday, Kipchoge will aim for immortality. The start time for the event will be 8:15 a.m. in Vienna; 2:15 a.m. ET.

Fans know that he has come close before. In May 2017, the Kenyan clocked 2:00:25 on a formula one racetrack in Monza, Italy, during Nikes Breaking2 project. It was the fastest marathon ever run, but did not count as an official world record because of the use of rotating pacemakers.

Kipchoge went on to set the official world record at last years Berlin Marathon, running 2:01:39 to carve 78 seconds off the previous mark. Shortly after winning his 10th straight major marathon in London this past April, he announced his next project: the INEOS 1:59 Challenge.

In his bid to push back the boundaries of human ability, he thinks hell have more than luck on his side. I have a rich experience from Monza, he said. I am confident I will beat the mark.

Many of the people close to Kipchoge are as confident as he is. His manager, Valentijn Trouw, has overseen his preparation. In an interview with Runners World on Wednesday, he said Kipchoge is primed for the task.

If we look at the whole training circle and compare it with preparations for London (in 2019) or Berlin (in 2018), he is in a nice position, Trouw said.

I am confident I will beat the mark.

Trouw paid several visits to Kipchoge as he trained for the attempt in Kaptagat, Kenya, and having been there for every step of Nikes Breaking2 project, he sees a difference in Kipchoges mindset this time.

Two years ago he was training his mind for seven months to convince himself he could do it. The moment we talked about this, Eliud had that internal feeling: If I train well and it all comes together on the day, Im going to do it.

No stone has been left unturned in preparation. With the financial backing of INEOS, a petrochemical company owned by the richest man in Britain, Jim Ratcliffe, every detail has been orchestrated to maximize Kipchoges chances.

The coursethe Prater park in Viennawas picked after a worldwide search using software to find locations that have ideal parameters in temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed, elevation, and precipitation at this time of year.

The race is scheduled to begin early on Saturday on the citys Reichsbrcke Bridge, and Kipchoge will then make a 1.2K run to the Praterstern roundabout, where the road has been resurfaced with a camber to maximize Kipchoges efficiency as he circles it.

The initial run to the park features an elevation drop of 16 meters and once there, Kipchoge will complete four laps of a 9.6K circuitand a final stretch to complete the full distancethat is almost completely flat, with just 2.4 meters of elevation change. After the four circuits,

Forty-one world-class distance runners have been recruited as pacemakers, and they will take turns in a different formation to that seen in the previous attempt. Five athletes will run in front of Kipchoge in a V-shape, with two athletes just behind him to either side, which was found during testing as the most efficient way to reduce drag. Officials from INEOS noted that Kipchoge and all the pacers are being tested both in and out of competition by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which is the same testing unit used by the World Marathon Majors.

The time Kipchoge runs will again not count as an official world record because of the use of rotating pacemakers and because he will be handed drinks from a bicycle rather than from a table, as required by the sports governing body (IAAF) for record-eligible races.

However, all other IAAF guidelines will be followed to ensure the achievement, if it happens, maintains a sense of credibility.

While Nikes attempt was not open to the public and took place on a near-deserted racetrack, this event is supposed to be the opposite, with organizers hoping close to 20,000 will line the roads in The Prater to lend their support.

Having a crowd is absolutely crucial, giving him that encouragement, bringing that energy, said Fran Millar, CEO of Team INEOS, in one of the documentary videos leading up to the event. Its going to be a huge boost for Eliud.

A car will once again be driven in front of the runners at a controlled pace of 2:50 per kilometer (4:33 per mile), with a line projected on the road for runners to follow.

During the race Kipchoge will consume a carbohydrate drink made by Maurten, a Swedish manufacturer, and every time he takes a drink from a bottle and discards it, it will be picked up and weighed to measure exactly how much was consumed, with feedback given to guide future intake.

The biggest performance gain, however, may come from Kipchoges shoes. Its a controversial topic in running given the slew of records that have fallen since Nike introduced its Vaporfly 4% during its Breaking2 attempt in 2017. The shoe features a carbon fiber plate to help propel athletes forward, and in April this year Kipchoge wore its latest version, the ZoomX Vaporfly Next%, which was 15 grams lighter and featured a thicker midsole.

In recent months, Kipchoge has been training with a new version of the shoe, which is set for release next year. It will be mainly a follow-on from the shoe he was using in Berlin and London, Trouw said. He has done quite a lot of training sessions in the shoe to get familiar.

At the time of publication Nike had not responded to questions about the shoes specifics, but an industry insider has told Runners World it is substantially more efficient than both previous editions.

Of course, the most important ingredient of all will be Kipchoges fitness. After the London Marathon in April he ran easy for four days and then took three weeks completely off running. For the next month he ran three to four times a week and hit the gym for two and a half hours on the other days, doing weight training, step aerobics and flexibility work.

That laid the foundation for what came next, with Kipchoge then following his usual four-month marathon buildup under the guidance of Patrick Sang, the coach and mentor who has steered his career for the past two decades.

Courtesy of INEOS 1:59 Challenge

Kipchoge typically ran a fartlek on Tuesdays, a long run on Thursdays and a hard session of intervals on Saturdays, with the rest of his week filled with easy to steady running.

A test event was organized in Vienna in late August, and while the plan was initially for Kipchoge to attend and familiarize himself with the course, he decided it was better to stay in Kenya and avoid the interruption to his training.

As a result he got his first look at the course on Tuesday after arriving in Vienna, where the 41 pacers have been practicing their formations all week. One of those is U.S. 1500-meter athlete Matthew Centrowitz, who spoke in glowing terms about Kipchoge at this years world championships.

Hes got the most unbelievable range of any athlete ever, Centrowitz said. We could all learn a little something from him about his longevity, the enjoyment he looks like he has even when hes struggling out there. If [he makes] history, thats something I want to be a part of.

Fellow Olympian Lopez Lomong was part of the pacing team during Nikes Breaking2 attempt, and the U.S. distance star is equally impressed by Kipchoge. Hes a very calm guy, dialed in, Lomong said. Theres a lot of things I like to emulate from him, how humble he is. He doesnt do it for himself, he does it for the community, to open the eyes of athletes that if he can do it, then we can do it as well.

Lomong is certain Kipchoge will achieve his goal, predicting a finishing time of 1:59:36, while Centrowitz is also confident, predicting 1:59:52.

As with all great sporting barriers, much of the challenge is mental. In that department, few can rival Kipchoge.

From my experience over many years he can block pain, put it at the back of his mind until the race is done, Kipchoges long-time physiotherapist Peter Nduhiu said in a documentary video showing his training. Its something that is so unique to him.

Kipchoges mental strength is something he takes seriously. He devours self-help books for ways to find a psychological edge.

Some people think its genetics, that you either have a strong mind or you dont, but its something you can train and improve, Trouw said. This is where day in, day out, Eliud gets stronger and stronger.

Trouw has been with Kipchoge in Vienna since Tuesday, and while he is cautious not to make any bold predictions, he sees in his star athlete as having a calm, cool confidence that bodes well as he prepares to go up against the ultimate barrier.

Eliuds mindset at the moment is really strong, Trouw said. He absolutely believes he is going to do this.

See the rest here:
What Will It Take for Eliud Kipchoge to Break 2-Hours? - runnersworld.com

Over the past few months Bernie Sanders has often remarked that hes in great shape. I am blessed to have been in good health my entire life, he told the Washington Post earlier this year. I honestly cant remember the last time I missed work because of illness. I bought it: The guy seemed reasonably fit and sharp. Then, last week, he suffered a heart attack.

Given his age, its not all that surprisingabout a fifth of men in their 60s and 70s have heart disease; by age 80, nearly a third do. On Inauguration Day, he will be 79, which makes him 40 years older than the oldest of millennials, his most devoted demo. That also makes him the oldest serious contender, but many of his opponents arent spring chickens, either: Joe Biden will be 78, Donald Trump 74, and Elizabeth Warren 71.

This grayest-ever crop of frontrunner candidates has made some people wonder whether there should be a legal age limit on running for president. Indeed, other fields turn aging employees out to pasturecommercial airline pilots, employees of the United Nations, and judges in many states arent allowed to practice into their 70s. So isnt it conceivable that the presidency of the United Statesby many measures literally the hardest job in the worldshouldnt go to someone prone to senior moments? And if we have a lower age limit, why not an upper one?

Consider that Jimmy Carter, the oldest living president at 95, said recently, If I were just 80 years old, if I was 15 years younger, I dont believe I could undertake the duties that I experienced when I was president.

I recently called up some other accomplished older people to see what they thought about an aging president. Their responses were not exactly encouraging.

A 96-year-old museum docent barked, I have absolutely no interest in talking to you about that, and hung up.

The oldest mayor in the United Stateswho is 80 and runs the city of Stafford, Texastold me in an email that he would be happy to visit by phone but then never got around to calling me back.

An 87-year-old retired CEO said, Hold on, let me get out of my wheelchair. No, Im just kidding. Are you young and pretty? Will you go out with me? No, Im just kidding.

After that initial round of interviews, you can guess I wasnt exactly bullish about the idea of a president pushing 80. So I decided to check in with the experts: scientists who study how the aging process affects our bodies and minds. They painted a very different picture.

Nir Barzilai, an endocrinologist with Albert Einstein College of Medicine, studies the genes of a group of long-lived Ashkenazi Jews. Barzilaiwho is prone to comments like Age means nothing to me! and I know someone who just went to Machu Picchu for her 100th birthday!has been able to show that about 60 percent of the 100-year-old women hes studied have certain unusual mutations in their growth genes. We have discovered longevity genes, he said. Unfortunately, he then added, Do the candidates have them? I have no idea.

Short of sharing a full genetic sequencing, Barzilai says that family history is a pretty good predictive factor. That bodes well for Trump, Warren, and Biden, whose parents all lived well into their 80s. But then what to make of Sanders, who has already outlived both of his parents by several decades (and is expected to make a full recovery from his heart attack)?Barzilai acknowledges its not just about genes; social and environmental circumstances also help determine how long and how well a person lives.

I found out that more powerful predictors of both longevity and cognitive stabilitymore powerful than even geneticsare three external factors: education, race, and wealth. Countless studies have found a correlation between income level and lifespan; a 2016 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, for example, found that on average, the richest 1 percent of American men live 14.6 years longer than the poorest 1 percent; for women the difference is 10.1 years. Thats not surprising: Being wealthy means you have access to good health care and good control over your diet and exercise.

Relatedly, education level matters, tooand even more so along racial lines. In 2012, University of Illinois at Chicago gerontologist and public health researcher Stuart Jay Olshansky sorted deaths in the United States by age, race, and number of years of schooling. He found that on average, black men who hadnt finished high school lived 14.2 years less than white men who had completed 16 or more years of education; for women that figure was 10.3 years. (Its important to note that these racial differences probably have to do with lack of opportunity for African Americans, not any biological difference.)

Education also seems to have a strong protective effect against dementia: A 2018 University of Southern California study found that most people who have graduated from college can expect to prevent cognitive decline into their 80s, while people with a high school education often begin to experience it in their 70s. Its not that education actually prevents the changes in the brain associated with dementia, explained Joe Verghese, another Albert Einstein gerontologist. Rather, education seems to help people compensate for those changes. The theory is that people who are highly educated and intellectually engaged will be able to stave off the effects of this disease, he said.

When you consider these external factors, good genes dont seem as important. All of the presidential candidates are wealthy; all are exceptionally well educated. Take Sanders: Its valid to speculate that perhaps one reason he has lived so much longer than his parents is that he has a college degree and robust finances, while his parents were poor immigrants who worked all their lives.

University of Illinois Olshansky used actuarial tables to calculate the lifespan and healthspan of each candidatebasically, the risk that theyll die or become cognitively or physically disabled while in office. Taking into account wealth and education level he found that all the contenders stand at least a 76.8 percent chance of surviving their first term, most of them higher. (For most, the odds of living through a second term are also high, though for Sanders and Biden, they drop to 66 percent and 70 percent respectively.)

So its likely that by dint of privilege and circumstance, even the oldest contenders stand a pretty good chance of surviving the presidency. Fair enough. But that still left me wondering about their mental health and general with-it-ness. Would they, too, last?

The geriatric psychologists I talked to all assured me that contrary to popular belief, elderly people are no more prone to depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders than their younger counterparts. Ellen Langer, a Harvard University psychologist who specializes in geriatric patients, railed against the stereotype of the socially weird old person. Its not that their age-addled brains make them behave strangely; rather theyve mastered the fine art of not caring. At 30 you might be mortified that you have spaghetti sauce on your shirt and you have to go a meeting, says Langer. At 70, you might say, Please excuse this, as you can see I was excited about the spaghetti I was eating!

In short, Langer says, life experience leads to perspective. And if you have those qualities, so what if you still think people listen to records? What are millennial staffers for, if not to show the president how to, say, use an iPad for briefing updates? (Speaking of millennials, maybe its time we rethink the requirement that a president must be at least 35, which hasnt changed since Continental Congress delegate Tench Coxe wrote that the president cannot be an idiot, probably not a knave or a tyrant, for those whom nature makes so, discover it before the age of thirty-five, until which period he cannot be elected. Today, you could probably figure all that out from a 25-year-old candidates Twitter feed. And we know people can act tyrannical across ages.)

In any case, the gerontologists told me that age wouldnt play a major role in their decision on Election Day. And their research suggests that setting a legal age limit for president probably doesnt make sensethough that may end up being irrelevant: The way things are looking now, Americans wont have much of a choice but to vote for someone who was born before there were zip codes or magic markers or antihistamines. Thats too bad, since there are signs that Americans are clamoring for younger, more diverse political leadershipsee, for example, the upwelling of enthusiasm for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her squadmates. And last year, when I was talking to voters about the 44-year-old African American Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, I heard over and over from people who were thrilled to see a candidate that finally looked like them.

In this country, the same set of extreme social privileges that propel someone to the position of frontrunner presidential candidate also protect against the typical ravages of old age. And that single fact, for better or worse, is a stronger predictor of candidates health than any senior-moment gaffe they might have over the coming months. Its entirely possible, Olshansky told me, that some of these folks running for president are super-agers. We should all be so lucky.

Image credit, from left:Bill Clark/Getty; Mario Tama/Getty; Chip Somodevilla/Getty; Joe Raedle/Getty

Read more:
It's No Coincidence That the Top Presidential Candidates Are All So Old - Mother Jones

DUBLIN, Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global DNA Read, Write and Edit Market" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Research and Markets Logo

The scope of the report includes DNA read, write and edit technologies, applications, industries, initiatives, patents, and companies. The markets for read, write and edit products and services are given for 2017, 2018, 2019 (estimated) and 2024 (forecast).

This report reviews the main read, write and edit technologies and explains why genetic variation is important in clinical testing and disease. It then discusses significant large-scale research initiatives that impact read, write and edit applications. Of particular interest is a discussion of population-scale sequencing projects throughout the world, and their likely impact. The main market driving forces for read, write and edit products and services are listed and discussed.

The report quantifies each of the main market segments. The read (sequencing) market is quantified by delivered format, including sequencing workflow products (sample preparation kits and reagents, sequencing instruments and consumables, and informatics) and sequencing services (clinical diagnostics and sequencing services to applied market customers).

The sequencing workflow products market is quantified by type, that is, DNA isolation and extraction; target enrichment; library preparation; and informatics/ecosystems. The sequencing instruments and consumables market is given by platform (Sanger, NGS, and 3GS).

The sequencing services market is analyzed by end-user application (applied, clinical, and R&D). Within sequencing services, the applied market is analyzed by end-user application (agriculture, biopharma, consumer, microbiology, population-scale genomics, synthetic biology and other).

Also within sequencing services, the clinical market is analyzed and quantified by disease category (cardiovascular, clinical microbiology and infectious diseases, Mendelian disorders, metabolic/immune disorders, neurology, oncology, reproductive health, and transplant medicine).

The DNA write (synthesis) market is quantified by product type (oligonucleotides, synthetic biology parts, genes, and RNA therapeutics). The oligonucleotide market is analyzed by application (gene editing, sequencing, PCR, FISH, microarray, gene synthesis and other). The gene market is quantified by gene type (standardized, value-added). Finally, the RNA therapeutics market is quantified by platform (RNA interference, antisense oligos, micro RNA modulation, and mRNA) and by disease category (cancer, hematology, musculoskeletal, neurology, and rare diseases).

The DNA edit (gene editing) market is quantified by application (agriculture, biopharma, diagnostics, and therapeutics); editing platform (CRISPR, meganuclease, TALEN, ZFN). The gene-editing agriculture market is analyzed by product type (crop/seeds, livestock). The gene-editing biotechnology market is analyzed by product type (kits and reagents, cell line engineering, animal models and services). The gene-editing therapeutics market is analyzed by disease category (eye and rare diseases).

Specific geographic markets discussed include North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the rest of the world (ROW).

Industry sectors analyzed include next-generation sequencing; long-read sequencing; DNA synthesis; RNA therapies; and gene editing.

More than 320 companies in the read, write and edit industry are profiled in this report.

The author also provides a summary of more than 180 of the main industry acquisitions and strategic alliances that took place from January 2018 through June 2019, including key alliance trends.

Story continues

Market Summary

The DNA read, write and edit industry is at the beginning stages of its growth story; penetration of the key markets is still at an early stage. The data indicates that there is a significant future upside for sequencing across research, metagenomics, agriculture, synthetic biology, and clinical applications, among others.

The situation is similar for DNA writing and editing technologies, with clinical therapeutic applications, in particular, providing an enormous total available future market that is yet to be significantly penetrated. Major successes in this industry include the adoption of next-generation sequencing (NGS) for noninvasive prenatal testing; enabling the roles of synthetic DNA oligonucleotides and genes in the rise of the synthetic biology industry; and rapid adoption of CRISPR gene editing by research institutions and biopharma industries.

There is increasing interplay among the three DNA technology platforms, giving rise to innovative corporate strategies. For example, Arbor Biotechnologies employs sequencing, gene synthesis, and artificial intelligence to perform high-throughput discovery of biomolecules, including new CRISPR proteins.

Report Scope

Key Topics Covered

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Summary and Highlights

Chapter 3 Overview

Chapter 4 Technology Background

Chapter 5 DNA Read, Write and Edit Initiatives

Chapter 6 DNA Read, Write and Edit Applications

Chapter 7 DNA Read, Write and Edit Industries

Chapter 8 Acquisitions and Strategic Alliances

Chapter 9 DNA Read, Write and Edit Markets

Chapter 10 Patents

Chapter 11 Nucleic Acid Read, Write and Edit Company Profiles

Companies Mentioned

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7jlxd8

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/analysis-on-the-global-dna-read-write--edit-market-2017-2019-and-forecast-to-2024-300936480.html

Read the original here:
Analysis on the Global DNA Read, Write & Edit Market, 2017-2019 and Forecast to 2024 - Yahoo Finance

For the most comprehensive take on all of David Sinclairs recommendations and the best ideas on optimizing healthspan, check out The Table of Longevity | The 5 Pillars to Optimize for Increasing Healthspan and Living Your Best LifeKey Takeaways

NAD+ is responsible for hundreds of critical biological processes, including creating energy, regulating sleep/wake cycles, and maintaining healthy DNA. Heres the problem: NAD+ declines with age no matter how much you exercise and how well you eat. So what can you do? You have a few options, but the most promising is supplementing with the oral NAD+ precursor, NR (nicotinamide riboside). For us at Podcast Notes, hands down, when it comes to a brand of NR, we cant recommend Elysium Basis enough (use the code podcast45 at checkout to receive $45 off a semi/annual subscription). We, Matt and Yoni, have been researching the company and trying Basis out for the past 3 months. Basis is a proprietary formulation of crystalline NR and pterostilbene that supports cellular health by increasing and sustaining NAD+. Long-term health starts at the cellular level. If you want to improve your healthspan and increase your energy, replenish your NAD+ levels in the most efficient way possible with Elysium Basis.

Read the original:
David Sinclair, Ph.D. - The Joe Rogan Experience #1349 ...

All cells have a programmed lifespan by which they are synthesized, multiply, and eventually undergo apoptosis (cell death) when they are no longer functional.

It often helps to think of cellular replication as old-fashioned photocopy machine: the more a cell copies itself, the more blurry and misaligned the image becomes. Over time, the genetic material of the cell (DNA) begins to fracture and the cell itself becomes a pale copy of the original. When this happens, programmed cell death allows a new cell to take over and keep the systems running.

The number of times a cell can divide is bounded by a phenomenon known as the Hayflick limit. This describes the action by which the process of division (known as mitosis) progressively degrades the genetic material, specifically the part of DNA called a telomere.

The Hayflick limit dictates that the average cell will divide between 50 to 70 times before apoptosis.

Chromosomes are thread-like structures located inside the nucleus of a cell. Each chromosome is made of protein and a single molecule of DNA.

At each end of a chromosome is a telomere which people will often compare to the plastic tips at the ends of a shoelace. Telomeres are important because they prevent chromosomes from unraveling, sticking to each other, or fusing into a ring.

Each time a cell divides, the double-stranded DNA separates in order for the genetic information to be copied. When this happens, the DNA coding is duplicated but not the telomere. When the copy is complete and mitosis begins, the place where the cell is snipped apart is at the telomere.

As such, with each cell generation, the telomere gets shorter and shorter until it can no longer maintain the integrity of the chromosome. It is then that apoptosis occurs.

Scientists can use the length of a telomere to determine the age of a cell and how many more replications it has left. As cellular division slows, it undergoes a progressive deterioration known as senescence, which we commonly refer to as aging. Cellular senescence explains why our organs and tissues begin to change as we grow older. In the end, all of our cells are "mortal" and subject to senescence.

All, that is, but one. Cancers cells are the one cell type that can truly be considered "immortal." Unlike normal cells, cancer cells do not undergo programmed cell death but can continue to multiply without end.

This, in and of itself, disrupts the balance of cellular replication in the body. If one type of cell is allowed to replicate unchecked, it can supplant all others and undermine key biological functions. This is what happens with cancer and why these "immortal" cells can cause disease and death.

It is believed that cancer occurs because a genetic mutation can trigger the production of an enzyme, known as telomerase, which prevents telomeres from shortening.

While every cell in the body has the genetic coding to produce telomerase, only certain cells actually need it. Sperm cells, for example, need to the switch off telomere shortening in order to make more than 50 copies of themselves; otherwise, pregnancy could never occur.

If a genetic mishap inadvertently turns telomerase production on, it can cause abnormal cells to multiply and form tumors. It is believed that as life expectancy rates continue to grow, the chances of this occur will not only become greater but eventually become inevitable.

Continue reading here:
The Relationship Between Telomeres, Aging, and Cancer

Get the brand new, comprehensive article I wrote on how sauna may affect longevity HERE: http://www.foundmyfitness.com/?sendme...

In this video Dr. Rhonda Patrick summarizes a recent study that found that frequency of sauna use was associated with decreased risk of death. Using the sauna 2-3 times per week was associated with 24% lower all-cause mortality and 4-7 times per week decreased all-cause mortality by 40%.

Rhonda discusses some possible mechanisms that could be responsible for the effect on longevity including the increased production of heat shock proteins (HSPs) and activation of the longevity gene, Foxo3. Heat stress increases the production of heat shock proteins, which prevent protein aggregation and protect against cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Heat stress also activates FOXO3, which activates many other genes that protect against the stress of aging including DNA damage, damage to proteins and lipids, loss of stem cell function, loss of immune function, cellular senescence and more.

Crowdfund more videos:http://www.patreon.com/foundmyfitness

Subscribe on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c...

Subscribe to the podcast:http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fo...

Twitter:http://twitter.com/foundmyfitness

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/foundmyfitness

Continue reading here:
How Sauna Use May Boost Longevity - YouTube

Moles are very common, especially in people with fair skin. Moles are overgrowths of skin cells called melanocytes, but the genetic factors involved in their development are not well understood. Although moles, like tumors, are an overgrowth of cells, moles are almost always noncancerous (benign). Perhaps because most moles are benign, scientists have not studied them extensively, and not much is known about their genetics. Similar numbers of moles seem to occur on individuals of different generations of a family, so a tendency to develop moles seems to be inherited, but the inheritance pattern is not well understood.

Most moles occur on parts of the body that are exposed to the sun (ultraviolet radiation), and the number of moles an individual has may increase after extended time in the sun. Moles usually begin to occur in childhood. These moles are called acquired melanocytic nevi (and include the subtype epidermal nevus). It is common for new moles to appear during times when hormone levels change, such as adolescence and pregnancy. During an individuals lifetime, moles may change in appearance; hair may grow out of them, and they can change in size and shape, darken, fade, or disappear. Infants and the elderly tend to have the fewest moles.

Sometimes, moles are present at birth or develop during infancy. These moles, which are called congenital nevi, are almost always benign. Rarely, a very large mole, called a giant congenital melanocytic nevus, is present at birth. In rare cases, the most serious type of skin cancer (called melanoma) may develop in this type of mole.

Large, irregularly shaped and colored moles called dysplastic nevi or atypical moles can occur at any age. Although not common, they tend to be numerous, and they increase a persons risk of melanoma. Heredity contributes to the development of dysplastic nevi and to having a higher-than-average number of benign moles. Spending a lot of time in the sun can also increase the number of moles a person has. However, moles are often found on areas of the body that are not exposed, which suggests that factors other than ultraviolet radiation from the sun, perhaps hormones or other biologic processes, are involved in triggering the development of acquired melanocytic nevi and dysplastic nevi.

Although the genetics of melanoma has been widely studied, much less is known about genes involved in the development of benign moles. Variations in several genes, including FGFR3, PIK3CA, HRAS, and BRAF, are involved with benign moles. The most-studied of these is the BRAF gene. A mutation in BRAF leads to the production of an altered protein that causes melanocytes to aggregate into moles. This altered protein also triggers the production of a tumor-suppressor protein called p15 that stops moles from growing too big. In rare cases, BRAF mutations together with deletion of the CDKN2A gene causes a lack of p15, which creates the potential for mole cells to grow uncontrollably and become cancerous (malignant). The formation of cancer is increasingly likely when combined with environmental factors, such as cell damage caused by ultraviolet radiation exposure.

In susceptible individuals (those with fair skin, light hair, skin that burns instead of tans, a family history of melanoma, and genetic risk factors such as deletion of or mutations in the CDKN2A gene), ultraviolet radiation from repeated sun exposure can damage existing moles, increasing their risk of becoming malignant. Research has shown that individuals who have an abundance of moles are at an increased risk of melanoma. However, some people who are diagnosed with melanoma have few moles, and melanoma often develops in areas of the body that are not exposed to the sun. Researchers are working to identify additional susceptibility genes to better understand the genetics of moles and their relationship with cancer.

Plasmeijer EI, Nguyen TM, Olsen CM, Janda M, Soyer HP, Green AC. The natural history of common melanocytic nevi: a systematic review of longitudinal studies in the general population. J Invest Dermatol. 2017 Sep;137(9):2017-2018. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2017.03.040. Epub 2017 May 18. PubMed: 28528913.

Roh MR, Eliades P, Gupta S, Tsao H. Genetics of melanocytic nevi. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2015 Nov;28(6):661-72. doi: 10.1111/pcmr.12412. PubMed: 26300491. Free full-text available from PubMed Central: PMC4609613.

Silva JH1, S BC, Avila AL, Landman G, Duprat Neto JP. Atypical mole syndrome and dysplastic nevi: identification of populations at risk for developing melanoma - review article. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2011;66(3):493-9. PubMed: 21552679. Free full-text available from PubMed Central: PMC3072014.

Here is the original post:
Are moles determined by genetics? - Genetics Home ...