Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: life extension – Page 659

Worried about rights for cyborgs? There’s a write-in candidate for that

Politico: Write a transhumanist in in New York! http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2016/10…-in-106729 #transhumanism #Election2016 #ScienceCandidate

ALBANY — While Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have debated issues such as immigration, gun control, and health care, neither of them has weighed in on the topic of a bill of rights for cyborgs.

Voters chagrined by that oversight do, however, have another option.

Story Continued Below

Zoltan Istvan thinks that not-too-distant technology will make it possible for humans to live for up to 10,000 years, and he’s running as the Transhumanist Party’s presidential candidate in order to bring public attention to the need to speed up this process and prepare for the eventual societal impacts of immortality.

Are We on the Verge of Immortality?

I have heard many good things over the recent years on Zymergen.

Identifying high-probability, high-profit opportunities among small-cap stocks all over the world is the reason for Wall Street Daily’s existence.

That’s a big universe of companies to track.

Further complicating the project is the fact that many are cutting-edge innovators in esoteric, highly sophisticated technologies.

10 companies that want to make chemotherapy easier for patients — Bioquark Inc.

Bioquark Inc. (www.bioquark.com) mention on CNBC — the best way to make chemo easier is to eliminate the need for it forever!

Withholding amino acid depletes blood stem cells, researchers say

Rebooting the immune system just got a bit easier. This could potentially be used to treat autoimmune diseases and just as exciting some of the aging processes.

A dietary approach to depleting blood stem cells may make it possible to conduct bone marrow transplantations without the use of chemotherapy or radiation therapy, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The discovery, made in collaboration with researchers at the University of Tokyo, may also become a new way to treat certain cancers without chemo or radiation, which can cause severe side effects.

The researchers showed that a diet deficient in the essential amino acid valine could effectively deplete the population of in mice and allow them to be successfully transplanted with blood stem cells from other mice. The researchers also showed that human blood stem cells in the laboratory were affected by a lack of access to valine, suggesting that the same therapeutic approach may work in humans.

Caloric restriction can be beneficial to the brain, study shows

Studies of different animal species suggest a link between eating less and living longer, but the molecular mechanisms by which caloric restriction affords protection against disease and extends longevity are not well understood.

New clues to help solve the mystery are presented in an article published in the September issue of Aging Cell by scientists at the Center for Research on Redox Processes in Biomedicine (Redoxoma), one of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs) funded by FAPESP.

The results of in vitro and in vivo experiments performed by the Redoxoma team included the finding that a 40% reduction in dietary caloric intake increases mitochondrial calcium retention in situations where intracellular calcium levels are pathologically high. In the brain, this can help avoid the death of neurons that is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and stroke, among other neurodegenerative conditions.

PGC-1α Gene Therapy Slows Alzheimer’s Progression in Mouse Model

PCG-1α therapy shows promise in treating age-related decline.

It is always a good idea to look closely at the biochemistry involved in any potential Alzheimer’s disease therapy that shows promise in mouse models. There is perhaps more uncertainty for Alzheimer’s than most other age-related conditions when it comes to the degree to which the models are a useful representation of the disease state in humans — which might go some way towards explaining the promising failures that litter the field. In the research here, the authors are aiming to suppress a step in the generation of amyloid-β, one of the proteins that aggregates in growing amounts and is associated with brain cell death in Alzheimer’s disease. They achieve this goal using gene therapy to increase the level of PGC-1α, which in turn reduces the level of an enzyme involved in the production of amyloid-β. Interestingly, increased levels of PGC-1α have in the past been shown to produce modest life extension in mice, along with some of the beneficial effects to health associated with calorie restriction.

Quote:

Toothpaste significantly reduces dental plaque and inflammation throughout the body

Time to get the toothbrush out and brush for longevity!

For decades, research has suggested a link between oral health and inflammatory diseases affecting the entire body — in particular, heart attacks and strokes.

The results released today from a randomized trial of a novel plaque identifying toothpaste, (Plaque HD®), show statistically significant reductions in dental plaque and inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation throughout the body is accurately measured by high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a sensitive marker for future heart attacks and strokes. These results, published today online ahead of print in the American Journal of Medicine, with an accompanying editorial by the editor-in-chief, show that Plaque HD®, produced statistically significant reductions in dental plaque and inflammation throughout the body as measured by hs-CRP.

In this trial, all randomized subjects were given the same brushing protocol and received a 60-day supply of toothpaste containing either Plaque HD® or an identical non-plaque identifying placebo toothpaste. To assess dental plaque, all subjects utilized a fluorescein mouth rinse, and intraoral photographs were taken under black light imaging. For hs-CRP, levels were measured by an independent laboratory using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.

Humanized organs in gene-edited animals

Humanized organs in gene-edited animals is one potential way medicine can deal with the demand for transplant organs.

One potential avenue for research and to help solve the organ shortage is to modify animals to be closer matched to humans in order to have organs capable of being used for transplant. This short paper is an interesting primer into the subject and touches upon the technical and ethical concerns involved here.

It is one possible solution to the problem, however, 3D bioprinting increases in sophistication and other methods are also being developed that would render this approach needless. Still this is an interesting insight into regenerative medicine and one possible path research might take.

#LifespanIO #aging #crowdfundthecure

http://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2217/rme-2016-0096

/* */