StemCell Therapy

Imagine receiving customized nutrition advice based on your personal biologic or genetic profile. That's the "future of food," according to a UBS analyst, who sees diet personalization as the next plant-based meat.

Personalized nutrition could generate annual revenues as high as $64 billion by 2040, the firm said. Plus, big-name companies such asApple, Uber and Amazon could benefit from the massive growth opportunity.

"With heightened health awareness among consumers, yet also more people suffering from ailments which are attributable to poor nutrition, there is growing demand for solutions that can improve individual nutritional choices," said UBS analyst Charles Eden in a note to clients on Tuesday. "Personalised nutrition ... represents a potential such solution."

Personalization is a theme that has swept many industries in recent years. An increasing number of businesses are sending out questionnaires to customers to create profiles for their likes, dislikes and needs. Customized weight loss programs, clothing and shopping companies, makeup brands, vitamin providers, are just a few to have delved into an industry with massive growth potential, said Eden.

UBS's theory is that food, medical diagnosis, technology and food delivery companies can all benefit from this industry. From services as simple as questionnaires, blood samples and genetic profiling, companies can capitalize on society's shift in support to improved nutritional habits.

UBS said it sees four major industries capitalizing on this opportunity: Medical diagnosis firms to extract and interpret test results; Technology companies to develop wearable tech and integrated platforms for users to receive ongoing interactive feedback; Food producers to meet nutritional demand; And, food delivery companies to meet consumers' increasing demand for convenience.

Illumina, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Apple, FitBit, Nestle, 23andMe, Ancestry.com, Unilever, Amazon Fresh and Uber Eats are some of the companies UBS mentioned as being in the game.

The personalized nutrition opportunity has not been lost on current food company incumbents.

"Nestl, the world's largest food company, has identified personalised nutrition as a major growth opportunity and has made a number of investments in the space," said Eden.

Nestle puts money into research from brain health, pediatrics, chronic medical conditions, obesity, malnutrition, and gastro-intestinal health.

Companies like Apple have bet big on personalized health, which could make the Tim Cook-led tech giant a potential pioneer in the personalized nutrition industry. Apple has identified the health care industry as an area of innovation, with its popular Apple Watch providing real-time personal health data to its wearers.

"The Apple Watch is already being used to study heart rates, perform ECGs, study eating disorders, track fitness and many other health metrics. Health data in Apple Watch could be combined with genetic information to offer personalized nutrition," said Eden.

Even Amazon Fresh, the e-commerce giant's grocery delivery service, and Uber Eats are well-positioned to win in this budding industry, said UBS.

"Delivery will allow for increased convenience and time savings in food preparation (e.g. partnering with Delivery Hero or Uber Eats to deliver the exact meal which has been freshly prepared to meet the needs of that individual consumer)," said Eden.

Eden said affordability is the most obvious constraint on the personalized nutrition scenario in the near term. Healthier foods can be more expensive than mass produced box items, and the personalization will also come with a cost.

Scientific evidence on the merits of personalizaiton are also lacking, UBS said.

Data privacy is a hurdle as well if consumers don't want their medical, biological or genetic information shared with other parties.

with reporting from CNBC's Michael Bloom.

Continued here:
Personalized nutrition could be the next plant-based meat, worth $64 billion by 2040, says UBS - CNBC

The ginkgo is a living fossil. It is the oldest surviving tree species, having remained on the planet, relatively unchanged for some 200 million years. A single ginkgo may live for hundreds of years, maybe more than a thousand. Theyve survived some of our worlds greatest catastrophes, from the extinction of the dinosaurs to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

So whats the secret to their longevity?

In the rings and genes of Ginkgo biloba trees in China, some of which are confirmed to be more than 1,000 years old, scientists are starting to find answers.

In humans, as we age, our immune system begins to start to not be so good, said Richard Dixon, a biologist at the University of North Texas. But in a way, the immune system in these trees, even though theyre 1,000 years old, looks like that of a 20-year-old.

He and colleagues in China and the United States compared young and old ginkgo trees, ranging in age from 15 to 1,300 years old, in a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science. By examining the genetics of the vascular cambium, a layer or cylinder of living cells behind the bark, they found that the ginkgo grows wide indefinitely through old age.

Thats because the genes in the cambium contain no program for senescence, or death, they say, but continue their program for making defenses even after hundreds of years. Old trees also produce just as many seeds and their leaves are just as resourceful as those of young trees. Though it has yet to be tested, the researchers believe other old trees think of the 4,800-year-old bristlecone known as Methuselah in eastern California may have a similar pattern of genetic programming.

Although ginkgos live long, they do age. The trees grow up and out: Up, with a cell-generating region called the apical meristem, and out, with the vascular cambium. Over time, weather or other things damage the apical meristem, limiting a trees height. And each year, leaves die and fall off.

But the cambium, contained within the trees trunk, remains intact and active. Cell division tends to slow down after the age of 200, they found. But the cells are still viable. They generate defenses and carry water and nutrients so the tree grows and stays healthy.

Sometimes trees may be reduced to just hollow stumps, but with the cambium intact, they can still produce leaves and flowers or even live as stumps.

Eventually, even ginkgo trees die. But a big question remains: Why?

Essentially, trees like ginkgo could live forever, says Peter Brown, a biologist who runs Rocky Mountain Tree Ring Research and was not involved in the study. Being modular organisms, every year theyre putting on new wood, new roots, new leaves, new sex organs, he said. Theyre not like an animal, like us. Once were born, all of our parts are there, and at a certain point they just start to give out on us.

The trees dont necessarily die of old age, he says. Something pests, drought, development kills them first.

He and others presume that studies on other trees like redwoods or Methuselah would produce similar results. And though humans are quite different from trees, contemplating them serves some purpose.

Peter Crane, an evolutionary biologist and author of Ginkgo: The Tree that Time Forgot, said contemplating long-lived trees might help us to see further into the future than many of us tend to look.

Its kind of a way of calibrating how quickly our world is changing and reminding us that we shouldnt always be thinking of the short term.

Continued here:
The Secret That Helps Some Trees Live More Than 1,000 Years - The New York Times

While I am all for having a good time, attention needs to be paid to alcohol consumption - alcohol contains 7kcal per gram, which is even more than in carbohydrates, and almost as much as in fat, weight-for-weight! Excessive alcohol is a huge contributory factor to obesity and being overweight, it is almost like drinking liquid fat! Alcohol also dissolves your resolution, leaving you more likely to overeat and gain even more weight.

Nutrition plays a major role in determining the switching on or off of certain genetic expressions, determining both our own future health and the health of generations ahead. It's not just excess weight that causes problems, excess alcohol, smoking, and a diet heavy in processed foods and sweets, all contribute to a lack of nutrients, altering hormone production, cell regeneration and cellular genetics. A diet rich in colourful vegetables benefits the body in more ways than you know!

The fountain of youth is not as far away as perhaps you once thought; it's in your hands every day of your life. We all have the ability to shape our futures and encourage longevity, so why not use the new year and the start of the next decade to reconnect and strengthen?

A most happy and healthy New Year to you all.

OUR 30s

Hopefully when we reach our 30s, we are not in a situation where we are trying to reinvent our health after damage created during our earlier years.

Most people are thinking about starting a family in these years, so it is especially important for parents and prospective parents to be in good health to give their children the best opportunity for a long and healthy life. Nutrition is of utmost importance for both men and women. Folate, Vitamins B12, B6 and B2 are of particular importance at this time for correct DNA methylation, allowing for a host of functions, including neurotransmitter production in the unborn.

Women of childbearing age should choose plenty of fresh, green, leafy vegetables, and supplement, if needed, with a methyl folate, a more natural form (of folate) that is more readily absorbed by the body.

Sleep is a cornerstone of good health, but recent studies have shown that 80pc of the Irish population is sleep-deprived. It is all too easy to become run down, make poor food choices and become injured when you are sleep-deprived.

Our bodies recover and rebuild tissue while we are asleep. Our brain and organs need rest in order to function properly. No matter how well your children sleep, it is not an easy task to maintain balance between family life, work, social occasions and personal development, but simply prioritising good health rather than sitting and watching TV when the kids have gone to bed will have far-reaching effects.

We are more productive when we have adequate sleep - our mental health is better, our diet is healthier and our cognitive capabilities score higher - so go to bed!

OUR 40s

During our 40s, most of us are still juggling a busy lifestyle, and this is also the time when we feel the need to make our mark on the world, to leave that legacy. The demands of a busy lifestyle can take over, but you must remember the cornerstones of good health. Nutrition, sleep, activity and ensuring good mental health are crucial to a long, happy and healthy life.

It is also worth remembering that age is not an excuse for weight gain - visceral fat and the inflammation it produces are the driving forces behind all major illnesses in the world today.

People in their 40s are now presenting with illnesses previously diagnosed in the 60-plus age group. Don't let the 'middle-aged spread' take hold!

Monitor your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugars. Don't forget there is only one you; take time out, come back to base and reset whenever and as often as it is needed!

OUR 50s

Many physiological changes occur during our 50s, for both men and women. A once active sex life may dwindle in these years, but a healthy sex life actually improves the quality of life both physically and emotionally. It is important for us all to have a strong bond in our relationship, and sex is proven to create and uphold this.

For men, erectile dysfunction may be an issue at this time of life, most likely caused by obesity and side effects of prescribed drugs. Please do not feel embarrassed by this. Seek advice from your GP and get the issue resolved!

For women, the menopause causes lower oestrogen levels, resulting in a barrage of 'side effects'. Personally, I am against taking medication unnecessarily, but I think all women over the age of 50 should take a hormone replacement, as the pros far outweigh the cons.

The loss of oestrogen associated with menopause has been linked to a number of illnesses such as osteoporosis, heart disease and an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Vaginal dryness can be a major hindrance to your sex life, but there are new, effective therapies available, so, again, please speak with your GP or gynaecologist to resolve any issues.

OUR 60s (and beyond)

In later years, we take time to reflect on times past and on what we have achieved. Although the physical body may slow down a bit and we may be in a position to slow down our working life, we always need good physical and cognitive health.

Companionship has been shown to be one of the greatest assets in maintaining good mental and cognitive health. We need stimulation, not isolation!

Now is the time to take on new challenges, meet new people, and spend time with those we love. The brain thrives on activity, and is learning throughout our whole life.

At this time of life, it is crucial to actively improve one's balance. Falls at this stage of life are the leading cause of injury and mortality. Simple exercises repeated on a regular basis will have a lasting, positive effect, as well as actively keeping a good level of fitness.

Sleep is also vital, as the body's need for rejuvenation and repair is high, so ensure you are getting your eight hours.

As we age, our sensitivity to thirst lessens, and dehydration can occur rather rapidly. Just a 2pc dehydration rate reduces our cognitive function, reduces immune function and thickens blood flow. If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated! Sip on water regularly to avoid this. Tea and coffee can dehydrate, so try not to over-consume these. Nutritionally speaking, vitamin D becomes more difficult to absorb, so a good supplement would be worthwhile. B vitamins aid energy production and cognitive function - in fact, a link has been shown between a deficiency in B vitamins and dementia-related illnesses.

A diet rich in a wide variety of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, as well as quality protein sources, is the best way forward - at every age.

BY DR EVA ORSMOND

Sunday Indo Life Magazine

See the rest here:
Good health through the decades - Independent.ie

VANCOUVER -- If the key to a long life is staying active as you age, then bowling is Ethel Morley's fountain of youth.

The Vancouver resident turned 100 on Saturday, surrounded by friends and family at Commodore Lanes, where she's a dedicated member of the league.

"Last Monday, it was snowing out," recalled league manager Ken Hayden. "We have about 40 people in the league. It starts at 1 o'clock. I look over, and who is coming down the stairs, but Ethel?"

"Half the people half her age couldn't make it, but Ethel managed to make it here on the bus."

Morley's daughter Toni Crittenden was among those there in slightly nicer weather on Saturday to celebrate her milestone. Crittenden said relatives made the trip from Manitoba, Calgary, and even California for the occasion.

"We've watched her and we've been amazed at every birthday that she's still bowling," Crittenden said. "It's pretty inspiring."

Morley said it's "wonderful" to reach the century mark, though it was unexpected. Her husband Walter died in 1997, after 58 years of marriage.

Her great-grandson now bears her late husband's name. And little Walter is already starting to show an interest in the game, according to his father.

"I think he might be following in his great grandma's footsteps," said Neal Pickering, Morley's grandson. "He's really getting into it. He's got some little plastic bowling pins."

Pickering said he hopes he got his grandmother's genes when it comes to longevity, but she says the secret isn't genetics.

"If there's any secret to aging, it's bowling," Morley said. "I like the people that come in, the friendship with all the people that bowl. Its good exercise."

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Allison Hurst.

Read the rest here:
'If there's any secret to aging, it's bowling': Vancouver bowler turns 100 - CTV News

Colorado has one of the healthiest populations in the nation, but that doesnt mean some resolutions arent in order for 2020, assuming they havent been already attempted and cast aside.

Residents of Logan, Morgan, and Prowers counties may want to consider watching what they eat and shedding a few pounds. Make that a lot of pounds. Residents of Bent, Saguache and Adams counties need to get better at keeping something else out of their mouths cigarettes.

And residents of Denver, Boulder and pretty much all the ski-resort counties, please do your livers a favor in 2020 and cut back on the binge drinking.

SmartAsset, a personal finance firm, looked at those three behaviors, along with rates of health insurance coverage, longevity and access to a physician to come up with an overall health score that was used to rank 48 of Colorados 64 counties. There wasnt sufficient data in the 16 counties excluded.

Our study identified the healthiest counties in Colorado by considering length of life, health behaviors and healthcare access, said AJ Smith, vice president of financial education at SmartAsset.

A goal of the SmartAsset study was to help consumers understand how certain behaviors might impact life insurance premiums in different areas, Smith said. But the study offers a trove of public health information, including a comparison of lifespans.

Douglas County ranked as the healthiest county in the state, followed by Boulder, Pitkin, Broomfield and Eagle counties. Get outside of the ski resort areas, however, and rural residents in Colorado tend to have lower health scores and shorter lifespans.

Rural doesnt always mean healthier, which may surprise some Front Range city dwellers who aspire to trade the stress of congested roads and demanding workloads for clean air and open vistas.

In Douglas County, which had the highest health score in Colorado, about 3,494 years of life are lost before age 75 per 100,000 residents. Only Pitkin, Summit and Eagle counties show fewer hours of life lost prematurely, in the low 3,000 range.

At the other extreme, Huerfano County residents lost 13,227 years of life prematurely or nearly four times as many as in Douglas. Las Animas County residents lost 12,439 years of life to premature deaths and in Conejos, it is 10,271 years of life lost.

Granted, not everybody gets to live to age 75. But why should someone living in Walsenburg or Trinidad face higher odds of early death than someone in Highlands Ranch or Aspen?

It is totally tragic, said Emily Johnson, director of policy analysis at the Colorado Health Institute.

There is an old saying that people spend their health to accumulate wealth, and then spend their wealth to recover their health. But the reality is that having more wealth allows someone to maintain better health.

What Douglas and the ski resort counties share in common are higher median household incomes, while the counties with the lowest health scores have some of the lowest household incomes in the state. That leads some to conclude that improving health is an economic development question, not just a behavioral one.

There is a lot there that is pushing you to poor health when you are lower-income, Johnson said. It ranges from the stress of making the rent to whether a person feels safe going for a jog in their neighborhood.

Higher-income households have better access to resources that promote and maintain health and more options for off-loading stress, she said. And they are more likely to have jobs that come with health insurance.

Douglas County has the lowest uninsured rate in the state at 3.7%, while Broomfield, Gilpin, Clear Creek and Jefferson counties all had uninsured rates below 7%. El Paso, Boulder, and Larimer counties, the larger population centers outside metro Denver, had uninsured rates just above 7%.

At the other extreme, 17.5% of residents in Saguache County lack health insurance coverage, and 15.3% of Garfield County residents arent covered. A lack of coverage can cause people to delay visits, allowing chronic conditions to go untreated.

And a lack of health insurance coverage doesnt necessarily motivate people to take fewer risks with their health, even though the consequences for them are more severe if they dont stay healthy.

If we were purposely logical creatures, we would never smoke or drink, Johnson said.

As executive director of the Tri-County Health Department, which covers Douglas, Arapahoe and Adams counties, John Douglas has a front-row seat on how economic differences play out in public health outcomes.

Douglas has Colorados highest health score and the nations sixth-highest, a top ranking other studies have confirmed. It also has Colorados highest median household income at $115,314. Arapahoe ranks 14th in Colorado and 110th nationally on its health score. It holds the 10th spot in Colorado for household income at $73,925. Adams ranks 36th on its health score locally and 722nd nationally. It has the 17th spot in Colorado on household income at $67,575.

Heres just one example in how county wealth plays out in creating different options to improve health.

Douglas County has 3.7 times the concentration of fitness and recreational sports workers than the country as a whole does, so many it ranks fifth in the U.S., according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Arapahoe County has 1.85 times the concentration, not as heavy as Douglas, but nearly double the U.S. average. Adams County, by contrast, matches the national average. And Lake and Montrose counties they have about as half as many fitness workers as would be expected.

When SoulCycle, the trendy indoor cycling chain out of New York, opened its first Colorado location, it didnt pick Aurora or Thornton. It set up shop in Cherry Creek, Denvers ritziest retail district.

People who do well in life have the resources to better educate themselves about staying healthy, and they likely have a stronger motivation to do so, said Douglas. But the equation is a complex one, with a lot of variables.

A 2007 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine linked about 40% of health outcomes to personal behaviors, such as putting on too many pounds, smoking and substance abuse, said Gabriel Kaplan, chief of the health promotion and chronic disease prevention branch at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Genetics, including traits that leave some at a higher risk of cancer or heart disease, explains about 30% of health outcomes. Social conditions such as economic opportunities and educational attainment account for about 15% of the equation. Health care access, something public health officials have focused heavily on, only contributes about 10%, while environmental conditions, such as pollution, contribute about 5% of the mix.

But it is important to note social conditions tie into personal behaviors. Someone born in a town where teenagers smoke at an early age or drink heavily is likely to pick up life-shortening habits and addictions. Likewise, a worker in an area with poor job prospects or a farmer dealing with wild swings in crop prices may try to cope with stress in unhealthy ways.

If the only store where you can get produce is a convenience store, you are not as likely to have a diet with fruits and vegetables, Kaplan said. We need to make sure communities are set up to promote health. It is not just a matter of individual choice.

Alcohol consumption is one behavior where higher incomes dont correlate with healthier behaviors. Some of the most well-off counties in Colorado have the highest rates of self-reported excessive drinking.

We have been talking about this in public health circles, Douglas said. It is an underappreciated and ignored health issue.

Excessive drinking involves drinking heavily in a short period of time with the express goal of becoming intoxicated. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines it as five or more drinks in a two-hour period for men and four or more drinks for women.

Deaths in the U.S. from binge drinking have more than doubled the past two decades, with the sharpest increases for women and the middle-aged, according to the Center for Health Progress. That statistic that sheds a whole different light on the mommy drinking culture.

Boulder County, despite its reputation as a health mecca, had the second-highest rate of excessive drinking in Colorado at 23.6%, according to SmartAsset. The University of Colorado Boulder, which regularly appears on rankings of the nations top party schools, might drive that number up, but students alone arent to blame for Boulders lack of sobriety.

Only Denver County, with its abundant bars and craft brewers and millennials who frequent them, had a higher rate of people who engage in excessive drinking at 25.7%.

Denver has a drinking problem, Douglas said. Good luck, however, getting Denver or Boulder to admit they have a drinking problem.

Outside those two, the next five counties with the highest rates of excessive drinking are all ski resort counties. Drinking after a day on the slopes might be a tradition for many, but it appears the locals keep the party going even when the tourists are gone.

Huerfano County, which ranked 47th out of 48 on its health score, had an excessive drinking rate of 15%, a full 10 percentage points lower than Denver and the second-lowest in the state. It tied with Otero and only trailed Saguache. All three counties are among the poorest in Colorado.

Every five years, the 53 public health agencies in the state are tasked with putting together a community health assessment which they use to identify the top priorities for the following five years, said Theresa Anselmo, executive director of the Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials.

Anselmo urged those who look at health statistics and rankings not to play the blame game and realize that for many people, achieving better health requires more than a resolve to do better.

Maybe a community cant attract a physician no matter how hard it tries and the national grocery chains wont come anywhere near. That leaves residents with fewer options to eat healthy and fewer resources for one-on-one counseling about weight management.

Rural areas tend to have older populations, who are more prone to health problems, Anselmo notes.

And self-selection plays a part. Colorados reputation draws in those looking for a healthy lifestyle, but they tend to settle along the Front Range. And even within the state, people who can afford to do so move into healthier communities.

Folks that have more means end up living in healthier places, said Douglas. You dont have to live near the Suncor refinery. You can live in Castle Rock.

While Colorado may do better than other states on physical health measures, mental health remains a challenge, which is reflected in higher rates of suicide and substance abuse, Kaplan said.

Stress is often a driver behind behaviors like smoking, binge drinking, substance abuse and overeating, and the state is focused on providing people with coping skills to deal with stress.

Behavior is not just a matter of choice for people. We look at strategies that make it easier for people to make healthy choices, said Kaplan.

For example, the state has invested heavily in the Colorado QuitLine, which helps those who are trying to kick the nicotine habit through coaching and medications. In 2004, 23% of state residents smoked tobacco. Thanks to higher tobacco taxes, indoor smoking bans and more resources dedicated to quitting, that figure is below 15%.

That reduction is part of a larger national trend resulting in a big decline in lung cancer deaths.

For us, it is all about trying to help everyone in the state to have the chance to have a healthy life, to have a long and fruitful life, Kaplan said.

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Colorado is one of the healthiest states in the country, but health outcomes vary widely by county - Brush News-Tribune

Injuries happen. But sometimes, more injuries seem to happen to certain players. Of course, the sporting world has a term for that player injury prone. In the NFL, that can be a tough label to shed.

The term is used frequently, but rarely with regard to the cause of injury or the circumstances behind it. Take for instance, Carson Wentz. Former players and the media questioned Wentzs durability after he left his first playoff game with a concussion. In most cases, as with Wentz, injuries arent the fault of players, trainers or strength and conditioning coaches, but rather the nature of playing a sport where large, fast individuals regularly crash into each other.

We all use that term, said Dr. James Andrews, but we dont have any scientific basis for it in most cases. We prefer to say, injury-unfortunate rather than pinning that (injury-prone label) on somebody. Psychologically, you cant throw that word around.

Injuries can...

Here is the original post:
More injuries seem to happen to certain NFL players: examining the fairness of the injury-prone label - The Athletic

By Debbie James

The journey to running a large-scale dairy herd has been an unconventional one for James Evans.

As a teenager, James dreamed of becoming an actor, honing that talent on stage with the YFC.

But, having failed to secure a university place to study drama, he took umbrage and set off for Canada, where he spent a year working as a skiing instructor at Whistler.

He describes that period as a good life experience but the interest in farming he thought he didnt have surfaced so he headed home and enrolled at Harper Adams where he studied agriculture.

I went there knowing nothing and perhaps left knowing even less because I failed the degree! he laughs.

But what he did gain from the course was an excellent industry placement with a feed company in Nantwich, where he developed an interest in feed rationing and gained a good understanding of the materials fed to dairy cows.

James also milked every other weekend, at his familys 385 hectare (ha) mixed farming business at Llangedwyn, Oswestry.

His lightbulb moment when he first realised that he genuinely wanted to farm came in August 2013.

We sat down as a family and discussed the future and I decided then that I wanted to give farming a go, recalls James, who was given responsibility for the dairying side of the business.

Now aged 28, he has grown the herd from the 275 Holsteins milked in 2013 to the 630 in the herd today, aiming to expand cow numbers to 750-800 in the next 18 months.

Cows are fully housed and milked three times a day at 5am, 1pm and 9pm producing an average milk yield per lactation of 12,200 litres at 3.7 per cent butterfat and 3.3 per cent protein.

One of James first decisions was to introduce three-times-a-day milking that resulted in an immediate and big improvement in milk yield.

As the business is seeking to drive up cow numbers, 45 per cent of the herd consists of first lactation heifers.

James is using genetics to improve the herd. We want animals with better fertility and longevity and genetics can help us to achieve that, he believes.

All heifers are genomically tested as a means of assessing traits such as health, type, milk and constituents, to inform decisions on which animals to breed herd replacements from.

Cows are fed a total mixed ration (TMR) twice a day, with 55 per cent of the ration coming from homegrown silage and maize, topped up with a high-quality protein blend, rolled wheat, liquid feeds, protected fats and a bespoke mineral blend to create a balanced ration.

For the last two years, a multicut silage system has been in place in an attempt to improve forage quality and drive cow intakes to 12-12.5kg a head a day.

About 25 per cent of the 162ha silage platform is reseeded annually using a 50/50 mixture of diploid and tetraploid varieties with narrow heading dates, from May 28 to June 4, to ensure everything grows at the same rate.

Another key focus for James has been developing staff to create a strong workforce; this includes varying the responsibilities for the herdsman and the dairying team, such as including foot trimming and fertility work.

It is motivational and it is also beneficial to the business, he says.

James is a former winner of the NFU Cymru/NFU Mutual Welsh Dairy Stockperson of the Year Award, a competition which recognises the important contribution a good dairy stockperson can make to a dairy enterprise, as well as the wider Welsh dairy industry.

For James, protocols are key to getting the best from the herd.

We have consistency in our day to day jobs, for instance we have a specific day of the week for a vet visit and another for drying off. We also have protocols for footbathing and generally keeping stock neat and tidy.

James farms with his father, Martin, and brother Josh. As well as the dairy herd, the business, known as the Martin Evans Group, also has a contracting business, a broiler unit and an agricultural construction company.

Martin, James and Josh have responsibility for different areas of the business but they work well as a team.

There is a little bit of something for everyone, we work well together but we all have our own areas of responsibility, says James.

See original here:
North Wales stockman's unusual route to the top - Wales Farmer

Enlarge / This is the exact moment in the goop lab's third episode in which Gwyneth Paltrow admits she doesn't know the difference between a vagina and a vulva. She's making a hand gesture to say what she thought the "vagina" was.

Netflix

Disclaimer: This review contains detailed information about the Netflix series the goop lab with Gwyneth Paltrow. If you plan to watch the show (please, don't) and do not wish to know details in advance, this is not the review for you. Normally, we would refer to such information as "spoilers," but in our editorial opinion, nothing in this series is spoil-able.

In the third episode of Goop's Netflix series, a female guest remarks that we women are seen as "very dangerous when we're knowledgeable." [Ep. 3, 33:35]

"Tell me about it," Gwyneth Paltrow knowingly replies amid "mm-hmms"as if she has a first-hand understanding of this.

In fact, earlier in that same episode, we learn that the 47-year-old actor didn't even know what a vagina is.

"It's our favorite subjectvaginas!" Paltrow proclaims gleefully [Ep.3, 3:05]. Then the same guest, feminist sex educator Betty Dodson, corrects her: "The vagina is the birth canalonly. You want to talk about the vulva, which is the clitoris, and the inner lips, and all that good shit around it."

Paltrow giggles before responding, "The vagina is only the birth canal? Oh! See, I'm getting an anatomy lesson that I didn'tI thought that the vagina was the whole..."

"No, no, no, no," Dodson cuts her off.

To be fair, a lot of women might not be clear on this particular anatomical point. But for Paltrow, who claims to help empower women while touting dubious and dangerous products and treatments for said body partahem, vaginal steaming, cough, jade eggsyou'd hope she had a tight understanding of what a vagina isor isn't in this case.

But sadly, she didn't. And throughout the rest of the series, her ignorance and lack of critical thinking skills are on full display as a parade of questionable "experts" and ridiculous claims about health and science march across the small screen unchallenged.

(To be clear, Dodson was not among the dubious guests I'm referring to here; she is knowledgeable and respectable and was probably the most interesting and informative guest on the show.)

I'll go through each episode in more detail below, but for those who want to spare themselves from the bulk of the absurdity, I'll summarize here:

In so many ways, the goop lab with Gwyneth Paltrow is exactly what you'd expect based on what we already know about the Goop brand. The series provides a platform for junk science, gibberish, and unproven health claims from snake-oil-salesmen guests. It's a platform on which respected, trained medical experts are not considered the authorities on health and medical topics; where logic and critical thinking are enemies of open-mindedness; where anecdotes about undefined health improvements are considered evidence for specific medical treatment claims; where the subjective experiences of a few select individuals are equivalent to the results of randomized, controlled clinical trials; and where promoting unproven, potentially dangerous health claims is a means to empower women.

Paltrow and Loehnen sit in Goop's headquarters for an interview.

Netflix

Members of the "Goop gang" convene in Jamaica to convince themselves that magic mushrooms are a crucial part of a therapeutic journey.

Netflix

This woman isn't crying because she's on the goop lab. Instead, the tears are apparently coming on because she took a dose of psilocybin as part of a "therapy retreat" in Jamaica.

Netflix

A Gooper lies on the floor while tripping.

Netflix

These are often paired with anecdotes about participants in limited clinical trials. We hear their success stories without context about how the associated study at-large turned out or whether any positive results came with side effects or issues with bias.

Netflix

A Gooper gets a hug while tripping.

Netflix

Just another day in Jamaica, where Goopers gather to take shrooms, cry, and hug.

Netflix

The problem with this boilerplate statement is that most of the goop lab is full of one-sided, anecdotal claims that standard Western medical practice is all wrong. Right or wrong, that is most certainly a type of "medical advice," Gwyneth and co.

Netflix

But, beyond all of that, the show is just, well, boring.

Each episode uses the exact same structure. Each presents one of six health topics, which are (in order): psychedelics;"iceman" Wim Hof's breathing and cold-treatment method; female pleasure; anti-aging; energy healing; and psychics.

In each episode, you see Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop's chief content officer, Elise Loehnen, interview a couple of people involved in the episode's topic. The interviews take place in an airy, stylishly decorated office at Goop's Santa Monica headquarters. Interspersed between snippets of those interviews, you see groups of Goop-employee volunteers subject themselves to some therapy or experience related to the episode's topic. The interview dialogue from Goop headquarters is used to essentially narrate the Goopers' experiences. The Goopers' results are, in turn, intended to back up whatever claims the interviewees make.

It's a tiring structure for six straight episodes, and it's often not done well. The pacing is slow at times; some of the Goopers' experiences are just not engaging and seem like filler; some of their personal stories are introduced at the start of episodes and then inexplicably abandoned at the end; the interviews at Goop headquarters can seem drawn out and dry; and there are random tangents about Gwyneth Paltrow's life and the office environment at Goop headquarters.

Even if you're interested in the topics, getting through the episodes can feel like a slogand they're each only 30-35 minutes long.

It feels like the momentum of each episode is supposed to be driven by anticipation of how the Goopers' experiences match what the interviewees are saying. But we hardly ever get satisfying conclusions on that frontand we wouldn't be convinced even if we did. Instead, the show seems to move each episode along more by leaning on shock content that might best appeal to middle schoolersshowing glimpses of a woman having an orgasm, a Goop staffer getting a face lift using string that pulls her smile toward her ears, and a group of Goopers tripping on mushrooms.

Meanwhile, the goop lab makes no effort to question or critically evaluate any of its claims. There are no fact checks or counterpoints offered. There's no mention of any criticism and little to no warnings of potential harms.

In all, it's a show that you can safely skip. But, if you still want to know more about why the goop lab is so bad, let's run through the six episodes.

The first episode covers psychedelics and their potential to improve mental health. Paltrow and Loehnen sit down with Will Siu (a psychiatrist who supports "psychedelic Integration" in therapies) and Mark Haden (executive director of MAPS Canada, which is an affiliate of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit created in 1985 to advocate for the medical benefits and use of psychedelic drugs, such as MDMA and LSD). Siu received training at MAPS.

Being the person that people perceive me to be is inherentlytraumatic.

For instance, in 2016 the Food and Drug Administration greenlighted the first Phase III trial to assess whether or 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)known as "molly" or "ecstasy"can improve the symptoms of PTSD. And treatments with psilocybin, the psychedelic component of "magic" mushrooms, has yielded positive results in small trials on people struggling with depression.

While that research is legitimate and interesting, the Goop episode approached the topic in the dumbest possible way: a group of four Goop employees hop on a plane to Jamaica to trip on mushrooms. Two of the Goopers weren't trying to address mental health. One Gooper said she wanted to feel more creative and like her "authentic self," and Loehnen, who went, said she wanted a "psychospiritual experience." The other two were trying to "process some personal trauma."

While the clinical trials are evaluating specific drug doses to treat well-defined symptoms in tightly controlled, weeks-long programs, the Goopers drank mushroom tea once, in a "more ceremonial setting," surrounded by what they described as "psychedelic elders."

Meanwhile, the interview back at Goop headquarters starts rambling, with discussion around vague mental health issues, the value of "connecting people," harmful societal norms, and how basically everyone is suffering. Paltrow notes at one point that she, too, suffers mental-health problems despite her wealth and status, and she adds that "being the person that people perceive me to be is inherently traumatic." [Ep.1, 29:00] Poor Gwyneth.

At the end of the episode, some of the Goopers talk about how the experience was intensewell, yeah. We don't hear back from the woman who wanted to be more creative, so we can only hope things worked out for her. But one of the Goopers processing trauma (in his case, trauma of having an emotionally distant father) said in a final one-on-one discussion with Paltrow that he felt more of an "openness" after the experience. He thanked Paltrow for letting him go.

Yeah, OK.

NEXT.

Read more:
Goops Netflix series: Its so much worse than I expected and I cant unsee it - Ars Technica

Is it possible to cure aging?

Chip Walter says yes. The author spent years researching and writing his new book Immortality, Inc.: Renegade Science, Silicon Valley Billions, and the Quest to Live Forever which explores the efforts being taken to cure aging and hence dramatically prolong life.

This is not a work of fiction.

Walter, a science journalist, filmmaker, skeptic and former CNN bureau chief interviewed many authorities, including Craig Venter, the scientist who accelerated the completion of the first human genome and Robert Hariri, one of the worlds leading stem cell experts.

The book, published by National Geographic, is available in bookstores and online. As part of his tour to promote the book, Walter will appear at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland on Thursday, Jan. 16 to discuss the death of growing old. The event, which is part of the Pittsburgh Arts & Lecture Series, is free with registration.

The topic is fascinating with so many implications. NEXTpittsburgh caught up with Walter to ask him some burning questions of our own.

Define immortality. Is it infinite or are we talking hundreds of years?

None of us is going to live forever. Sooner or later well be hit by a bus or lightning, or maybe an angry spouse who just cant stomach celebrating their 400th anniversary! We used the title Immortality, Inc. in the book to differentiate it from simply living a couple of extra years or even a couple of extra decades. So, this book doesnt pretend to have revealed science that will guarantee infinite life, but it does explore scientific advances on the horizon that will very likely diminish and then eliminate aging. And since aging and age-related diseases are the number one reason why we die (one million people a week die of age-related disease), curing aging would radically lengthen healthy life spans into the hundreds of years, crazy as that may sound.

Do we have to cure cancer and conditions like depression first?

The opposite, I think.

If scientists solve aging, then it would also vastly reduce the number of people who die from cancer and many other diseases. The reason most people get cancer is because they are aging. If science can solve the underlying, biological causes of aging, these killer diseases would largely disappear. Well basically grow younger. And, as a rule, most people do not die when they are young unless its from an accident, murder or a severe genetic problem.

So, by curing aging, we will, in one fell swoop, cure much of the cancer, heart disease, Alzheimers and other major diseases. This arguably makes solving aging the best way to eliminate a whole group of diseases, rather than try to track each one down individually like were playing some game of whack-a-mole. In fact, you could argue that these diseases will never be eliminated unless aging is eliminated first. Well just create a series of band-aids, but eventually something will get us.

Issues like depression are more problematic because they are not directly related to aging (though they sometimes can be). But, an additional bonus is that as science attempts to cure aging, we may well develop cures for many diseases that afflict people in their youth genetic diseases, mental and emotional syndromes, viruses, childhood cancer because we will understand the genomics of the human body so much better.

How close are we really to achieving immortality and what will be the first discovery?

I doubt there will be a silver bullet any more than scientists found a silver bullet that would cure cancer when the war against cancer was launched in the 1970s. Its just too complex. But, I do believe that some major advances will be revealed and in use within the next four years. These advances will be incremental, but they will also gather speed. First, I expect to see a far broader use of stem cell technology to repair damaged and diseased bodies from arthritis to kidney disease. A company and scientist I explore in the book (Celularity) is tackling that.

Next, will come major advances as we better understand the human genome. We are gathering more and more information that is enabling us to decode the genome so that we can understand and develop drugs tailored to each individual. But first we have to understand what interactions within our DNA unravel the human body in the first place. ( I explore a company called Human Longevity, founded by genomic pioneer Craig Venter, that is working on that.) Third, based largely on genomics, will come advances that truly unveil why we age at all. Clearly we do. But why? Calico and Apple Chairman Arthur Levinson is working on that.

How will we solve all of these complex problems? Only the development of increasingly robust computing can solve that problem, and that software is advancing at an exponential pace. Ultimately, those machines, working with scientists of many stripes will crack some of these profoundly complex challenges. Generally, I believe those are the four forces that I believe will lead to the end of aging.

Has there been an actual breakthrough and if so, what is it?

There have been breakthroughs, but no cures (because, again, I doubt there will be a silver bullet). But as I reveal in the book, scientists now know, definitively, that genetics is the source behind why we age (or one of the key sources). We also know that certain key genes in other animals (like mice) can be switched, and when they are, the mice live far longer and healthier lives, sometimes more than four times longer. We also know that some mammals simply dont age. They die of other things, but not aging. This was discovered while I was writing the book. Scientists in the book also have discovered what they suspect is the explanation of youth. Why are we born young? How does that happen and then why and how do we age? So, we have already seen significant fundamental advances, and theyll continue to come.

How much of the book is about the personalities and how much is about science?

I did not want to write a book that was just a bland science survey filled with a bunch of facts. Theres a difference between fact and truth. When I first set out to explore and research Immortality, Inc., the main question in my mind was this: are we actually now living in a time when science could solve one of the greatest mysteries the human race has ever faced? And if science can accomplish that, what does it mean? To tell that story I needed to understand the history of the key scientists, and the finances and thinking of those involved. And I needed to gain access to them. It wasnt easy, but eventually I did. Much of what I found is exclusive information. Unknown until now.

In the end I wanted to thread all of those themes together into one larger, compelling story. How did something like this come to be? Who were these scientists? What motivated them? Are they crazy or geniuses? So, I spent a lot of time with all of them and I wrote about who they are and what led them to undertake such a monumental task. Who does that? Once I set the stage for outlining the personalities and the cultural and historical and financial issues, then I dove into the science that these scientists and companies were developing. I think this makes the book a much more compelling human story. At least I hope so.

How would you respond to critics who think the book is more about very wealthy older people in a quest to cheat death?

Well, the simple answer is thats not what the book is about. So folks should read it and theyll see that such an assumption would be off-base. I am sure that there are many well-heeled older people who would like to live longer and healthier lives. And I am sure that there are many not-so-well-heeled people who would as well. That doesnt make them evil. This is only evil if the rich, and only the rich, hold on to technologies that would lead to longer life. That would be wrong. But history shows that as new technologies evolve, costs drop and then they become more ubiquitous. I believe that will happen here. Insurance companies will begin to see that they can save a lot more money by enabling people to remain healthy longer than by paying to have them go into the hospital again and again.

When it comes right down to it, does anyone want to die (unless you are facing horrible physical, emotional or mental pain)? I mean when each of us is facing death, that day, do we really want to blink out? Living is literally wound into our DNA. Every living thing does everything it can to remain alive, until it simply cant anymore. From the beginning of time we have always tried to avoid dying. Thats the origin and purpose of Medicine with a capital M. Now, if we solve that problem and huge numbers of us live exceptionally long, will that create problems? Absolutely. But again, will most people say, Its okay, Ill die so we dont have an over population problem. Lets imagine someone has cancer and science offers a potential solution, do they say, No thanks. Not usually. I suspect the same will be true of drugs and treatments that extend life. A bigger issue in my mind is how, as a society, we are going to deal with a world in which we are living, not decades longer (as we already are), but hundreds of years longer. These advances are going to capsize everything. So I suggest we get a handle on it now.

Did you discuss immortality with any religious leaders or people in the death care industry? What were their thoughts?

I did speak to those people, but I didnt get deeply into it in the book or it would have been 600 pages long. Peoples feelings about this are all over the map, pro and con. There is, however, no religion that fundamentally holds that we must die. Some people, however, do feel its wrong to want to cheat death. That somehow its unnatural or that God wants us to die. But if this were universally true, then why take antibiotics? Why try to save people from automobile accidents? Why try to cure or treat any disease? All of these are basically ways to cheat death, at least for awhile.

But again, I want to clarify that my goal with this book isnt to advocate one way or another for outfoxing the grim reaper. I am simply trying to tell the story of these forces and people who are creating profound and fundamental change in the human story. I wanted to tell that tale, not explore the theology and philosophy of life and death because its not about my point of view. Its about whats happening and why its important.

Carnegie Library Lecture HallChip WalterImmortalityInc.National GeographicPittsburgh Arts and Lecture Series

More here:
Chip Walter is dying for you to read his new book on immortality. Or is he? - NEXTpittsburgh

Sixteen has turned 32, and in retracing the rise and consistency of TJ Reid it seems there is no such thing as a step back. Only 16 seasons still fast rolling into one.

Looking impeccably fit and forever young, Reid was in Croke Park this week talking up Sundays AIB All-Ireland club hurling final, seeking a fifth title with Ballyhale Shamrocks to go with the seven All-Irelands he has also won with Kilkenny.

In between hes also won seven county and six Leinster club titles, four Allianz Hurling League titles, and eight Leinster hurling titles. And he recently won his fourth All Star. You do the math.

It means hes hardly had a break since 2004 when at age 16, helped by a sudden growth spurt, Reid made his first senior start for Ballyhale, in goal: soon suitably moved outfield, hed already won his first All-Ireland with Ballyhale by 2007, still a teenager, and by 2008 was already a regular senior with Kilkenny.

If there is any secret to his longevity and consistency especially the typically double-digit scoring per game its his own telling of it.

Not getting any younger, he begins. But look, its all about freshness, enjoying the process. And I suppose when youre enjoying life and you have no negativity in your life. In terms of work commitments, family, fianc everything is going very well.

And over the last years, research shows that recovering is better than being in the gym flogging yourself. I have that understanding of training and I can implement that on a daily basis, with my job is as a director of a health and fitness centre, I know how to keep myself in check, keep fresh.

That job being TJ Reid Health and Fitness in Kilkenny (recently expanded with a new gym in Salthill), his fianc being Niamh de Brn, with marriage plans for later this year, and in keeping himself fresh Reid also points to the fact hes never let himself go.

I was always into strength and conditioning and nutrition anyway. My intention in starting my own business wasnt to prolong my career, but it definitely helps. Obviously if you have a match on a Sunday and youre in a car, driving six or seven hours in a day, it definitely does impact on your body.

Now if I have a match on a Sunday, I have the benefit of doing a recovery session on a Saturday before starting into the jobs I have to do in the gym. I control everything I do at this moment in time. And business is going very well. But if things are on the down and Ive nine staff employed if those people werent getting their wages, or if people werent coming through the doors, if rent wasnt paid, well then my hurling would go to shit.

So things are going very well for me at the moment, that allows me to be very consistent, I dont have that headache. And then I can concentrate on my hurling and the stuff I do outside of hurling. Im lucky in that Im 32 and I have no injuries. I havent missed training due to a hamstring or anything like that.

My genetics are decent, so that plays a massive role. I can picture Michael Fennelly, if he hadnt the niggles, hed still be a powerhouse for Kilkenny. But he just got the injuries, ankles and knee injuries. I look back on Michael Rice as well. He got to 32, did his cruciate, and that put him on the back burner as well. So injuries have a big impact on prolonging your career.

There are fresh motivations too. Ballyhale may be the most successful club in hurling history with their seven All-Irelands, but Sunday marks the chance to win a first back-to-back. Reid also ended up top championship scorer in 2019, with his 5-83, only for Tipperary to claim the ultimate award. Borris-Ileigh, Sundays opposition, will be suitably motivated too.

There is also fresh evolution: The three people going for Hurler of the Year were myself, Seamus Callanan and Patrick Horgan, all over 30, so I think that changes the age thing too. Clare and Cork played a young running game and everyone was saying its a fast game now for young players.

Then Galway put that to bed. They won the All-Ireland in 2017 with a physical approach. They went back to the traditional way of winning your own ball up front and getting scores. And then again, Limerick changed that. They had the physicality but they also had the skill and developed a running game, alongside the work rate. So every year I think it evolves. That running game is kind of put to bed at the moment. Its back to basics.

Playing an All-Ireland final on the third Sunday in January is hard to get the head around and Reid still admits his preference for St Patricks Day: there is another fresh motivation too in trying to maintain Henry Shefflins unbeaten reign as Ballyhale manager.

I live next door to Henry and when he came in, everyone in the whole panel were excited. He doesnt even need to do anything. Hes Henry Shefflin. And youll go and give him 110 per cent because you know what hell give you.

Read the original:
TJ Reid reveals the fresh secrets of his consistency - The Irish Times

The Ceramic Tableware Market analysis report is very indispensable in many ways for business growth and to thrive in the market. Getting well-versed about the trends and opportunities in the industry is fairly time consuming process.

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8 Europe Ceramic Tableware Revenue by Countries

9 Asia-Pacific Ceramic Tableware Revenue by Countries

10 South America Ceramic Tableware Revenue by Countries

11 Middle East and Africa Revenue Ceramic Tableware by Countries

12 International Players Profiles

13 Market Forecast 2019-2026

14 Analysts Viewpoints/Conclusions

15 Appendix

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Dental File and Burs Market Size by Global Industry Share, Growth, Regional Analysis, Upcoming Trends, Key Manufacturers, Technology Updates and...

Just over a week ago, 13-year-old Ryan Pourjam's father, Mansour Pourjam, died in a plane crash after Iran's government shot down the jet just outside Tehran. All 176 passengers were killed.

Iran initially blamed the Jan. 8 crash on engine failure but later admitted it was shot down in a "human error" amid heightened tensions with the US military.

On Wednesday, Ryan gave an emotional speech at a memorial service at Carleton University. His father earned his degree in biology there in 2001 and went on to become a dental technician in Ottawa, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

Ryan said his dad was an incredibly positive person who would have wanted his loved ones to remain optimistic through such a painful time.

"Hed always tell me to stay positive through the dark times and through the good, when we'd get stuck in traffic or when I couldn't get the coffee that I wanted," he said.

"I dont want to talk about the bad things," he continued. "Because I know that if my dad was alive and if someone else died in the crash and that he was right here giving a speech, he wouldn't talk about the bad stuff. I wont."

Ryan said he would describe his dad in one word as "strong."

"Hes been through tragedy after tragedy, wall after wall, wrong turn after wrong turn, and he stood strong," he said. "He was amazing, and we loved each other."

More than 200 people came to the Wednesday vigil, which was held jointly for Mansour Pourjam and another victim, Fareed Arasteh. Arasteh was a PhD student studying molecular genetics at the university, according to CBC.

Ryan said he was comforted by how many people came together to "celebrate Mansour and Fareeds amazing lives."

"I stand up here a week after this horrible tragedy, and I still cant believe it," Ryan said. "I feel like Im dreaming."

"But I know that if I was dreaming, and that if he woke me up, he'd tell me that it's going to be OK," he said. "And it will be."

Read the original:
A 13-Year-Old Gave An Emotional Speech About His Dad Who Died In The Iran Plane Crash - BuzzFeed News

Charles Boone first set foot in Japan fresh out of undergrad in 1983 when he lived and worked with a local family on a rice farm in Chiba prefecture, just outside Tokyo. There, he fell in love with many things Japanese not least its cuisine, which owes much of its flavourto fermenting microorganisms.

Now, years later, the microbes would lure Boone back to Japan, albeit for a different reason.

So many of the drugs we use today have come from microorganisms, says Boone. And theres still an enormous untapped potential out there.

Over the last decade, Boone has been working with Minoru Yoshida and Hiroyuki Osada, both professors at the RIKEN Centre for Sustainable Resource Science, to identify new compounds from microbes with the potential to be research tools and pharmaceuticals.

Another Donnelly investigator and U of T professor, Andrew Fraser, is also collaborating with the RIKEN teams to find new drugs that target parasites.

Surrounded by cherry trees on a research campus just outside Tokyo, the RIKEN Centre houses the worlds largest collection of natural compounds some 40,000 chemicals and other derivatives produced mainly by soil microbes and plants, as well as some synthetic compounds.

The RIKEN collection is exceptional because it contains so many pure natural products says Boone. This makes it easier to investigate how those molecules might be acting on living cells.

Collected by Osadas team over the last 15 years, the medical potential of the vast majority of compounds remains unexplored.

We still dont know why the microbes are producing these compounds, says Yoshida.

It could be that microbes are using these chemicals as weapons against other microbes or as communications tools, as most of them seem to be non-toxic. Whatever the reason behind their making, the researchers hope to tap into this chemistry for new molecular tools and drugs.

Its no coincidencethat Japan has such a rich resource of natural compounds. The country has a long tradition of microbial exploits in the production of food and drink. Take the rice wine sake, for example. It involves the sophisticated use of a filamentous fungus to transform pure rice into a suitable carbon source for fermentation by yeast cells.

The microbial know-how allowed Japanese scientists to discover, in the second half of the 20th century, more than 100 new antibiotics, as well as the anti-parasite blockbuster drug ivermectin, a finding that was recognized by a Nobel Prize in 2015.

Drug applications came naturally out of using microbes for food fermentation, says Yoshida, whose 1990 discovery of trichostatin A, a drug that interferes with how the DNA is packaged inside the cells, from a Streptomyces bacteriumtransformed the study of epigenetics and led to similar compounds that are being trialed on patients as a treatment for cancer and inflammation.

According to a recent study, the majority of approved medications come from nature, or are synthetic molecules inspired by the natural products. Infection-fighting antibiotics and cyclosporine, an immunosuppressant that has made transplant medicine possible, are prominentexamples.

Natural products make good drugs because they were honed by evolution to act on living cells, says Yoshida. They tend to be large and structurally diverse molecules that engage with their cellular receptors more specifically than the purely synthetic drugs, meaning they can be used at low doses and elicit fewer unwanted side effects.

Despite their clear potential, the pharmaceutical industry has shifted its focus from the natural compounds, which are also difficult to purify and synthesize on an industrial scale, to searching for drug candidates among large pools of synthetic chemicals.

But Boone thinks this may be a mistake.

It seems ridiculous to be shunning natural products given that the majority of drugs we use today have come from nature, says Boone. And our work suggests that there are a lot of compounds out there that could be useful for research and also medicine.

A 2017 study by Boone, Yoshida and Osadas teams found that the RIKEN collection holds more medically promising compounds than several stockpiles of synthetic chemicals widely used in research. They did this by identifying the molecular mechanism of action for thousands of compounds, using a large-scale application of the yeast cell-based chemical genomics platform, developed by Boones lab in the Donnelly Centre. Many of these housekeeping processes in yeast cells are also found in human cells and have been implicated in a variety of diseases, from cancer to Alzheimers.

But, there are many more compounds left to test.

More recently, Sheena Li, a post-doctoral researcher who worked in Boones lab at RIKEN, where he holds a joint appointment, and has since moved to the Donnelly Centre, found that one compound from the RIKEN collection acts as a powerful antifungal by blocking an important enzyme in yeast cells. As such, the compound holds promise for the treatment of drug-resistant fungal infections, which are becoming a serious global health threat.

Taking all their data into account, Li says they have identified about 50 products with medical potential. The next step is to check if these chemicals act in the same way in human cells.

Its a great step forward to be able to take something that you invested so much time studying in yeast into the human system, Li says.

Unlike Boone and Li, Fraser is not interested in compounds that work in human cells quite the opposite.

We want to find new drugs against intestinal parasites, he says . But we do not want to harm the humans infected with these parasites.

Gut worm parasites affect around one billion people globally, 880 million of them children, according to the World Health Organization. As the parasites are becoming resistant to frontline treatments, including ivermectin, new drugs are urgently needed.

Since ivermectin was discovered in a soil microbe, Fraser thinks theres a good chance more future treatments are to be found at RIKEN.

His team recently developed a method to screen for drugs that target an unusual type of metabolism that only exists in parasites. This type of metabolism does not require oxygen for energy production and allows parasites to survive inside the hosts body for long periods of time.

Because parasites are difficult to cultivate in the lab, Frasers team found a way to trick the harmless worm and staple research tool, C. elegans, into using the oxygen-independent metabolism and look for drugs that affect it.

Any drug candidates will only target the worms without causing harm to humans, who do not have the ability to make energy the same way as the parasites.

The next step for Fraser is to see if there any compounds in RIKENs trove that act on those targets.

The RIKEN natural product collection is like an incredible collection of intricate tools the challenge is to figure out which targets each compound affects, and how we can use them to kill pathogens and enhance our health, he says.

Read the original:
Drugs from nature: Researchers from U of T, Japan mine microbial compound library for new therapeutics - News@UofT

By Caitlin O'Hara for UCSB Arts & Lectures | January 15, 2020 | 9:00 a.m.

UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara co-present Understanding Genetics and Cancer, a free community event featuring Mary-Claire King, the scientist who discovered the BRCA1 gene,7:30 p.m. Thurs., Feb. 6, at UCSB Campbell Hall.

King's lecture will be followed by a panel of experts discussing genetics, cancer and you, providing resources and answering pertinent questions

UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Santa Barbara Cancer Foundation will present a free community event Understanding Genetics and Cancer, featuring a lecture by human geneticist Mary-Claire King, the scientist who discovered the BRCA1 gene.

Her talk, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, at UCSB Campbell Hall, will be followed by a panel of experts discussing genetics, cancer and you.

King discovered the genetic mutation responsible for breast cancer, a finding that has revolutionized the course of cancer research and transformed the way patients are diagnosed and treated.

A recipient of the National Medal of Science for her bold, imaginative and diverse contributions to medical science and human rights, Dr. King will discuss the genetics of inherited cancers.

Following the talk, a panel of experts will address genetics, cancer and you, including the following topics:

Lifestyle and cancer risk reductionFamily history and ethnicity risk factorsGenetic testing as cancer preventionPrivacy of genetic testing resultsBenefits and perils of ancestry testingLocal resources for cancer risk assessment and counseling

King is American Cancer Society professor in the Department of Medicine and the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. She was the first to show that breast cancer is inherited in some families, as the result of mutations in the gene that she named BRCA1.

In addition to inherited breast and ovarian cancer, her research interests include the genetic bases of schizophrenia, the genetic causes of congenital disorders in children, and human genetic diversity and evolution.

King pioneered the use of DNA sequencing for human rights investigations, developing the approach of sequencing mitochondrial DNA preserved in human remains, then applying this method to the identification of kidnapped children in Argentina and subsequently to cases of human rights violations on six continents.

King grew up in Chicago. She received her bachelor's degree cum laude in mathematics from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.; her doctorate in genetics from the University of California at Berkeley; and her postdoctoral training at UC San Francisco.

Her Ph.D. dissertation with Allan Wilson was the demonstration that protein-coding sequences of humans and chimpanzees are 99 percent identical. She was professor at UC Berkeley from 1976-95 and at the University of Washington in Seattle since 1995.

King has served on multiple councils and study sections of the N.I.H. and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She was consultant to the Commission on the Disappearance of Persons of the Republic of Argentina and carried out DNA identifications for the United Nations War Crimes Tribunals.

She is past president of the American Society of Human Genetics and a past member of the Council of the National Academy of Sciences. King has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, American Philosophical Society, and as a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences.

Understanding Genetics and Cancer is co-presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara in association with Breast Cancer Resource Center, Ridley-Tree Cancer Center at Sansum Clinic, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics and UCSB Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.

Sponsored by the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara, supporter of the Ridley-Tree Cancer Center and its Genetic Counseling Program.

For more, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 805-893-3535 or visit http://www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

UCSB Arts & Lectures acknowledges Community Partners the Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli and Corporate Season Sponsor SAGE Publishing for their support of the 2019-20 season.

Caitlin O'Hara for UCSB Arts & Lectures.

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Scientist Who Discovered BRCA1 Gene to Give Free Talk on Cancer And Genetics - Noozhawk

The Medium recently had the chance to sit down with Dr. EstebanParra, a molecular anthropologist and anthropology professor at the Universityof Toronto Mississauga (UTM).

Parra has hada long and far-reaching journey in science which began in one of the oldestuniversities in Spain, the University of Santiago de Compostela. He began hisstudies in biology and like many students everywhere [he] discovered what [hewas] really passionate about while completing his undergraduate degree.

For Parra, thediscovered passion was anthropology and genetics. After completing his Ph.D.degree, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at a molecular anthropology labin Spain. He was also a post-doctoral fellow in Rome, Italy, and Pittsburgh,USA, before joining UTM in 2002. Parra advises those interested in graduatestudies to be willing to follow the opportunities that arise. For him, it hasbeen incredibly exciting to see how the UTM campus has changed and grown inthe past seventeen years. We have been attracting incredible new faculty, notonly to anthropology but to many other programs, which has been nice to see,he says.

Parra hascontinued his research at UTM. One of the focuses of his research is toidentify some of the genetic risk markers of traits and diseases such asobesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. This is doneusing a genome wide association study to identify variants that are associatedwith these traits. Parra uses a consortiaa large group of samplesto haveaccess to as much data as possible. The more samples there are, the higherchance there is of finding a common link between the genetics of an individualand the ailments they suffer from.

Parra doesmention that genetics are often not the only cause. For diseases such as cysticfibrosis, ones genes are the primary factor in causing the condition. Thesediseases are termed Mendelian disorders. However, for complex conditions likeobesity and diabetes, ones environment and lifestyle play a huge role.Modifications in your lifestyle, your diet, and physical activity, are thebest way to combat conditions such as obesity and diabetes, said Parra.

An excitingdevelopment Parra is looking forward to is the advancement of precisionmedicine. Precision medicineor personalized medicine as it is sometimesreferred tois when an individuals genetic profile can be used to develop atailor-made treatment program for the individual. Precision medicine is a newfield because it has only recently been made possible by technologicaladvancements, which have also lowered the cost of genetic studies dramatically,and, in turn, opened many doors in the field of genetics.

Parraemphasizes the importance of collecting as much data as possible. The best wayto approach this is to collaborate with other scientists [] there are somestudies that are done with many participating research groups, and they havebeen able to use samples of up to a million individuals.

One of theadvantages of collecting a large number of samples is balanced representationof diverse ethnic groups, which for Parra is very important. He explains thatgenetic studies in the past have primarily been conducted in European countrieswhich is problematic for the future of precision medicine. When you primarilywork in just one population group, it may not be as helpful for the rest of theworld, he says.

In fact, foralmost all non-European groups, underrepresentation is a significant issuewhich is only improving slowly. Underrepresentation can be attributed to avariety of factors such as biasness and the location of the research groups whogenerally choose to perform their research in their own areas. Parra encouragesthose conducting research to overcome these factors since it is absolutelycritical to do more studies and represent these groups.

Parra hascontributed in his own right to the growth of the sample pool. One of thestudies he participated in was part of a large collaboration with researchersfrom around the world. Together, the researchers collected samples from overeighteen thousand individuals of various ethnicities. Since very few studieshad been previously conducted on non-European populations, they focused onlooking for genetic markers of obesity in children. Ultimately, they discovereda new locusa fixed position on a chromosome where a genetic marker is located.The locus they had discovered had not been found in significant numbers inpurely European groups, but appeared consistently in the diverse sample pool,exemplifying the need for more diverse sources.

Despite theshortcomings, Parra is hopeful about the future of the field and its growth. Heencourages greater awareness of the disparity of samples and urges efforts torectify the misrepresentation. He is immensely passionate about anthropologyand genetics and finishes off by stating, DNA is an open bookyou just need toknow how to read it.

More:
Genetic risk markers and misrepresentation - The Medium

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Haining Zhu, PhDDepartment of Molecular and Cellular BiochemistryUniversity of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Frontotemporal dementia is the most common type of early onset dementia impacting people between ages 40 and 65. It affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, which leads to behavior and personality changes, difficulty speaking and writing, and eventual memory deterioration.

A subgroup of patients with frontotemporal dementia have a specific genetic mutation that prevents brain cells from making a protein called progranulin. Although progranulin is not wellunderstood, its absence is linked to the disease.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response: Our research team discovered that after aminoglycoside antibiotics (Gentamicin and G418) were added to neuronal cells with this mutation, the cells started making the full-length progranulin protein by skipping the mutation.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: These results could be promising to drug development. Currently, there are no effective therapies for any type of dementia.This is an early stage of the study, but it provides an important proof of concept that these aminoglycoside antibiotics or their derivatives can be a therapeutic avenue for frontotemporal dementia.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: After this preclinical proof of concept study, the next step is to study the antibiotics effects on mice with the mutation that causes frontotemporal dementia.If we can get the right resources and physician to work with, we could potentially repurpose the FDA-approved drug gentamicin. However, theclinical usageof Gentamicinis limited as it is associated with a number of adverse side effects. Another focus is to possibly develop new compounds from Gentamicin and G418 that could be safer and more effective.

Disclosure: A patent application based on the above results has been filed.

Citation:

Lisha Kuang, Kei Hashimoto, Eric J Huang, Matthew S Gentry, Haining Zhu.Frontotemporal dementia nonsense mutation of progranulin rescued by aminoglycosides.Human Molecular Genetics, 2020; DOI:10.1093/hmg/ddz280

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Last Modified: Jan 15, 2020 @ 4:36 pm

The information on MedicalResearch.com is provided for educational purposes only, and is in no way intended to diagnose, cure, or treat any medical or other condition. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health and ask your doctor any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. In addition to all other limitations and disclaimers in this agreement, service provider and its third party providers disclaim any liability or loss in connection with the content provided on this website.

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Early Research Suggests Antibiotics May Be Effective in One Form of Dementia - MedicalResearch.com

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have shown that cells from children with NGLY1 deficiency--a rare disorder first described in 2012--lack sufficient water channel proteins called aquaporins. The discovery was published in Cell Reports and may help explain the disorder's wide-ranging symptoms--including the inability to produce tears, seizures and developmental delays--and opens new avenues to find therapies to treat the disorder.

"Our findings uncover a new and completely unexpected 'job' for NGLY1, which was originally thought to only cleave sugars from proteins," says Hudson Freeze, Ph.D., director and professor of the Human Genetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys and senior author of the study. "This new information, which includes the molecular signals NGLY1 uses to drive aquaporin production, fundamentally shifts how we approach drug development. Most immediately, we can begin to screen for existing FDA-approved drugs that may increase aquaporin levels."

The first patient with NGLY1 deficiency, then-four-year-old Bertrand Might, was diagnosed in 2012. The condition occurs when both copies of the NGLY1 gene contain mutations. As a result, children with NGLY1 deficiency produce little or no N-glycanase1--a protein that removes sugars from proteins during the cell's regular recycling process. Today, approximately 60 people in the world have been identified with NGLY1 deficiency. There is no cure, and existing treatments only address a few of the disorder's symptoms.

"This discovery is a giant leap forward in our understanding of NGLY1 deficiency and our ability to find a drug for the condition," says Matt Might, Ph.D., Bertrand Might's father and chief scientific officer of NGLY1.org, which funded the research. "In addition to exploring new treatment avenues, we can immediately start to test currently available drugs to see if they may help Bertrand and other children living with NGLY1 deficiency."

A surprise discovery unlocks new insights into NGLY1

Because of NGLY1's established role in helping recycle proteins, scientists predicted that cells that lack NGLY1 would fill with unrecycled proteins. However, despite numerous experiments by Freeze and others, this has not been observed.

Mitali Tambe, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate in the Freeze lab and the first author of the study, set out to shed light on this mystery when she made an unexpected discovery. While normal cells burst open when placed in distilled water, cells from children with an NGLY1 mutation refused to pop open.

"At first I thought what every scientist initially thinks: I made a mistake," says Tambe. "But this observation actually revealed a previously unknown role for NGLY1 protein."

The unexpected finding prompted the scientists to dig in deeper. In addition to studying skin cells from three children with NGLY1 deficiency, the researchers created human and obtained mouse cells that either lacked NGLY1 or produced excess amounts of the protein. In these studies, they found that cells that lacked the NGLY1 protein had fewer aquaporins--proteins that connect the inside and outside of a cell and control water movement--and were resistant to bursting open when placed in water. These results were reversed in cells that were given excess levels of NGLY1. The researchers also identified the molecular signals NGLY1 uses to instruct cells to produce aquaporins, proteins called Atf1 and Creb1, which may lead to useful drug targets.

"In addition to regulating tear and saliva production, aquaporins are involved in many brain functions, such as cerebrospinal fluid production," explains Tambe. "Lack of aquaporins may explain many of the symptoms seen in children who are NGLY1-deficient."

The scientists devised a clever experiment to determine if NGLY1 is regulating aquaporin levels through its expected sugar-removal function or in another manner. They created two cell types that either produced a normal NGLY1 protein or NGLY1 with the sugar-cleaving area disabled. The altered protein successfully altered aquaporin levels--indicating that NGLY1 has a second function in addition to its sugar-removing (enzymatic) activities.

"Our study shows there is more to NGLY1 than its well-known function of removing sugars from proteins," says Freeze. "Together, our findings open important new paths to understanding the pathogenesis of NGLY1 deficiency and ultimately finding treatments."

Reference:Tambe, M. A., Ng, B. G., & Freeze, H. H. (2019). N-Glycanase 1 Transcriptionally Regulates Aquaporins Independent of Its Enzymatic Activity. Cell Reports, 29(13), 4620-4631.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.11.097

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.

More:
Why Cant Bertrand Might Cry? Missing Water Channels Could Be the Answer - Technology Networks

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Lung Cancer Diagnostics - Market Analysis, Trends, and Forecasts" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Lung Cancer Diagnostics market worldwide is projected to grow by US$1.3 Billion, driven by a compounded growth of 8%. Imaging Tests, one of the segments analyzed and sized in this study, displays the potential to grow at over 7.5%. The shifting dynamics supporting this growth makes it critical for businesses in this space to keep abreast of the changing pulse of the market. Poised to reach over US$1.6 Billion by the year 2025, Imaging Tests will bring in healthy gains adding significant momentum to global growth.

Representing the developed world, the United States will maintain a 6.6% growth momentum. Within Europe, which continues to remain an important element in the world economy, Germany will add over US$45.5 Million to the region's size and clout in the next 5 to 6 years. Over US$39.5 Million worth of projected demand in the region will come from Rest of Europe markets. In Japan, Imaging Tests will reach a market size of US$85.6 Million by the close of the analysis period. As the world's second largest economy and the new game changer in global markets, China exhibits the potential to grow at 11.4% over the next couple of years and add approximately US$354.6 Million in terms of addressable opportunity for the picking by aspiring businesses and their astute leaders.

Presented in visually rich graphics are these and many more need-to-know quantitative data important in ensuring quality of strategy decisions, be it entry into new markets or allocation of resources within a portfolio. Several macroeconomic factors and internal market forces will shape growth and development of demand patterns in emerging countries in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East.

Competitors identified in this market include among others:

Key Topics Covered:

I. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY & REPORT SCOPE

II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. MARKET OVERVIEW

2. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS

3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS

4. GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE

III. MARKET ANALYSIS

IV. COMPETITION

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9bt1jt

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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Global Lung Cancer Diagnostics Market - Poised to Reach Over US$1.6 Billion by 2025 - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Business Wire

MansourPourjam's son Ryan says his father always strived to be positive.

"I can't remember a single moment in my life where Mansour, my dad, had any trace of negativity in his voice or actions," the 13-year-old boy told a crowd of mourners Wednesday at Carleton University.

"He'd always tell me to stay positive, through the dark times and through the good, when we'd get stuck in traffic or when I couldn't get the coffee that I wanted."

More than200 people came out on Wednesday toa vigil at the university to remember bothPourjam, an Ottawa dental technician who graduated from the school,and PhD student Fareed Arasteh both victims in last week's crashof Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 outside Tehran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down the aircraft on Jan. 8,killingall 176 passengers and crew members including 57 Canadian citizens.

Mansour Pourjam had been working at the Ottawa Denture andImplant Centrein Bells Corners at the time of his death.

"If I could describe [my father] in one word, it would be strong. He's been through tragedy after tragedy, wall after wall, wrong turn after wrong turn and he's stood strong," his son said, as people in the audience wiped their eyes.

"He was amazing. We loved each other."

Arasteh, meanwhile, was performingPhDresearch atthe university's biology department, where he was studying molecular genetics. He'dreturned to Iran for the holidays to marry his long-time girlfriend.

His close friend and roommate Reza Sananfartold the crowd Arastehwas a "dreamer" who worked hard to achieve his goals and would also help his friends fulfil their own dreams.

"Although Fareed didn't get to spend much time here at Carleton, I can see that he touched so many lives while he was walking among us here," Sananfar said.

"I thought talking about him would help me to accept the fact that he is not coming back. But there are no words that can ease the pain, or fill the void that many of us are feeling inside us."

Carleton University president Benoit-Antoine Bacon saidit was important to have this gathering to help the community grieve and begin to heal.

Universities across the country paused to honourthe victims Wednesday,as many of the passengers on the flightwerestudents, faculty members and researchers.

The University of Ottawa has said that threeof the victims were students there, while Queen's University has confirmed one of its undergraduate students died in the crash.

See more here:
Son of Iran crash victim says father 'stood strong' - CBC.ca

Youre reading this with a cup of coffee in your hand, arent you? Coffee is the most popular drink in the world. Americans drink more coffee than soda, juice and tea combined.

How popular is coffee? When news first broke that Prince Harry and Meghan were considering Canada as their new home, Canadian coffee giant Tim Hortons offered free coffee for life as an extra enticement.

Given coffees popularity, its surprising how much confusion surrounds how this hot, dark, nectar of the gods affects our biology.

Coffees ingredients

The main biologically active ingredients in coffee are caffeine (a stimulant) and a suite of antioxidants. What do we know about how caffeine and antioxidants affect our bodies? The fundamentals are pretty simple, but the devil is in the details and the speculation around how coffee could either help or harm us runs a bit wild.

The stimulant properties of caffeine mean that you can count on a cup of coffee to wake you up. In fact, coffee, or at least the caffeine it contains, is the most commonly used psychoactive drug in the world. It seems to work as a stimulant, at least in part, by blocking adenosine, which promotes sleep, from binding to its receptor.

Caffeine and adenosine have similar ring structures. Caffeine acts as a molecular mimic, filling and blocking the adenosine receptor, preventing the bodys natural ability to be able a rest when its tired.

This blocking is also the reason why too much coffee can leave you feeling jittery or sleepless. You can only postpone fatigue for so long before the bodys regulatory systems begin to fail, leading to simple things like the jitters, but also more serious effects like anxiety or insomnia. Complications may be common; a possible link between coffee drinking and insomnia was identified more than 100 years ago.

The National Film Board of Canada produced a documentary on the cultural history of coffee called Black Coffee: Part One, The Irresistible Bean

Unique responses

Different people respond to caffeine differently. At least some of this variation is from having different forms of that adenosine receptor, the molecule that caffeine binds to and blocks. There are likely other sites of genetic variation as well.

There are individuals who dont process caffeine and to whom drinks like coffee could pose medical danger. Even away from those extremes, however, there is variation in how we respond to that cup of coffee. And, like much of biology, that variation is a function of environment, our past coffee consumption, genetics and, honestly, just random chance.

We may be interested in coffee because of the oh-so-joyous caffeine buzz, but that doesnt mean that caffeine is the most biologically interesting aspect of a good cup of coffee.

In one study using rats, caffeine triggered smooth muscle contraction, so it is possible that caffeine directly promotes bowel activity. Other studies, though, have shown that decaffeinated coffee can have as strong an effect on bowel activity as regular coffee, suggesting a more complex mechanism involving some of the other molecules in coffee.

Antioxidant benefits

What about the antioxidants in coffee and the buzz that surrounds them? Things actually start out pretty straightforward. Metabolic processes produce the energy necessary for life, but they also create waste, often in the form of oxidized molecules that can be harmful in themselves or in damaging other molecules.

Antioxidants are a broad group of molecules that can scrub up dangerous waste; all organisms produce antioxidants as part of their metabolic balance. It is unclear if supplementing our diet with additional antioxidants can augment these natural defences, but that hasnt stopped speculation.

Antioxidants have been linked to almost everything, including premature ejaculation.

Are any of the claims of positive effects substantiated? Surprisingly, the answer is again a resounding maybe.

Coffee and cancer

Coffee wont cure cancer, but it may help to prevent it and possibly other diseases as well. Part of answering the question of coffees connection to cancer lies in asking another: what is cancer? At its simplest, cancer is uncontrolled cell growth, which is fundamentally about regulating when genes are, or are not, actively expressed.

My research group studies gene regulation and I can tell you that even a good cup of coffee, or boost of caffeine, wont cause genes that are turned off or on at the wrong time to suddenly start playing by the rules.

The antioxidants in coffee may actually have a cancer-fighting effect. Remember that antioxidants fight cellular damage. One type of damage that they may help reduce is mutations to DNA, and cancer is caused by mutations that lead to the misregulation of genes.

Studies have shown that consuming coffee fights cancer in rats. Other studies in humans have shown that coffee consumption is associated with lower rates of some cancers.

Interestingly, coffee consumption has also been linked to reduced rates of other diseases as well. Higher coffee consumption is linked to lower rates of Parkinsons disease and some other forms of dementia. Strikingly, at least one experimental study in mice and cell culture shows that protection is a function of a combination of caffeine and antioxidants in coffee.

Higher coffee consumption has also been linked to lower rates of Type 2 diabetes. Complexity, combined effects and variation between individuals seems to be the theme across all the diseases.

At the end of the day, where does all this leave us on the biology of coffee? Well, as I tell my students, its complicated. But as most reading this already know, coffee will definitely wake you up in the morning.

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The biology of coffee, the world's most popular drink - EconoTimes