Lifeboat Foundation

A detailed analysis of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease was first discovered in 1907 in a 51 year old woman by the German physician Alzheimer. One of the first changes noticed was an eruption of jealous feelings towards her husband. It wasn’t long before symptoms of rapid memory impairment were observed. The impairments prevented her from finding her way out of her home, She hid herself, she would drag objects to and fro, and occasionally screamed because she believed people were out to kill her.

When she was institutionalized her gestures would show a complete helplessness. As common in most Alzheimer’s patients, she was disoriented as to time and place. At times she would state that she didn’t understand anything, felt confused, and totally lost. When the doctor came in to see her she would consider it as an official visit and would apologize for not having finished her work. Other times she would be terrified and start to yell that the doctor wanted to operate on her. Other times she would send him away in complete indignation uttering phrases indicating that she was afraid that the doctor wanted to damage her woman’s honor. At times she would become completely delirious, dragging her blankets and to and fro, calling for her husband and daughter, and seeming to experience auditory hallucinations. She would often scream for hours and hours in a horrible voice. Mental regression advanced quite steadily. After four and a half years of illness the patient finally died.

Continue reading “The Alzheimer’s Hypothesis” »

David Gobel was the first to put forward the concept of longevity escape velocity, or LEV. How far are we from LEV, assuming the current pace of research and no serious showstoppers?

Twelve years, or 2030, is David’s best guess based on what is known today.

David Gobel cofounded the Methuselah Foundation with Aubrey de Grey and continues to run the Methuselah Foundation today.

Continue reading “Methuselah Foundation Cofounder thinks Longevity Escape Velocity could be here by 2030” »

Data centers are the new oil refineries, argues The Economist. Where black sludge and steam once marked the beating heart of the economy, now blinking servers laced with fiber optic cables indicate where the action is.

Biotechnology — like all other industries — must adapt. Synthetic biology teams that embrace modern tools like cloud computing, professionally built software, and laboratory automation will save time, reduce errors, streamline complex workflows, and maintain their agility in the digital economy. Those who fail to adopt new tools will be primed for disruption.

Software is already an integral part of biological research, but most scientific apps lag far behind the rest of the digital frontier. As the software giant Autodesk puts it:

This 50-year-old NASA invention could kill cancer (via The Verge)

Cystic fibrosis is the most common genetic disease among Caucasians. Now scientists believe they have discovered the origin of this often lethal genetic mutation and how it spread throughout Europe.

What does it feel like when you know your doctor can’t really help you?

Some time ago, I noticed a stock photo of an old lady seeing her geriatrician, who was a much younger woman. Nothing special was happening in the picture, which showed just two people talking; however, it made me wonder what it must feel like to be an elderly person consulting a geriatrician.

One initial assumption could be that it isn’t much different than seeing a GP, but that seems unlikely. If you are seeing a GP, the odds are your disease or ailment is not debilitating, let alone life-threatening. Whatever it might be, you went to see your doctor knowing that, most likely, he or she would be able to cure you; especially if you are young, it’s probable that just taking a medicine for some time, or doing physical therapy, will make you better. You know that you will recover, and the discomfort or the suffering you’re going through is destined to go away. You will get back to your life as it used to be, healthy as ever.

Continue reading “From Within Your Own Failing Shell” »

The new protein combined with a fat molecule could be particularly effective in fighting brain cancer.

Destroy cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.

That’s the goal of cancer treatment.

Continue reading “New Synthetic Protein May Kill Cancer Cells Without Harming Healthy Tissue” »

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the biggest medical challenges of our time. About 30 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s disease, and the numbers are predicted to increase to 100 million by 2050 if we do not find effective prevention or treatment strategies (1). Substantial evidence suggests that leading a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise, may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. However, the mechanisms through which exercise protects the brain and whether we could bottle these as a treatment remain controversial. On page 991 of this issue, Choi et al. (2) reveal that in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, exercise improves memory through a combination of encouraging neurogenesis in the hippocampus and increasing the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a growth factor that supports neuronal survival. Their findings suggest that agents that promote both BDNF signaling and neurogenesis might be effective in preventing or treating Alzheimer’s disease.

http://www.sciencemag.org/about/science-licenses-journal-article-reuse

This is an article distributed under the terms of the Science Journals Default License.

Mumbai: A five-year-old child from Majalgaon village in Beed, who may soon undergo a genital reconstruction surgery, was admitted to St George Hospital on Thursday. Parents of Aiman Khan, who was raised as a girl, have now made her Aadhaar number with the new male identity as Aman.

Medical superintendent Dr. Madhukar Gaikwad said the child’s sonography was carried out on Thursday. “We will be doing all the required medical examinations and then schedule the surgery.” The child’s karyotype study, which determines chromosomes, shows the presence of male XY chromosomes.

Plastic surgeon Dr. Rajat Kapoor, who evaluated the minor, has found the presence of testes, a male reproductive organ, and absence of female internal organs. He said the genitalia looks like that of a female due to underdevelopment.

Continue reading “Genital reconstruction: 5-year-old from Beed admitted to St George” »