Fight Aging! Newsletter, February 24th 2020
In conclusion, taller body height at the entry to adulthood, supposed to be a marker of early-life environment, is associated with lower risk of dementia diagnosis later in life. The association persisted when adjusted for educational level and intelligence test scores in young adulthood, suggesting that height is not just acting as an indicator of cognitive reserve.
A Comparison of Biological Age Measurement Approaches
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2020/02/a-comparison-of-biological-age-measurement-approaches/
Researchers here assess the performance of a range of approaches to measuring biologica...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 23, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Hands or feet asleep? What to do
We’ve all been there. You awaken in the morning and one of your hands is completely numb. It feels dead, heavy, and simply won’t work. Perhaps there’s some tingling as well. Or, you arise from a long dinner or movie and one of your legs feels that way. Then over a few minutes — maybe you shook your hands, stamped your foot — everything goes back to normal. Until the next time.
The first time this happened, it might have been worrisome. Now that you know it’s temporary and happens to everyone, it may not bother you. But did you ever wonder why in the world this happens? Read on!
When the nerves are not happy
Whe...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - February 21, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Health Healthy Aging Neurological conditions Source Type: blogs
A Gentler Approach to Transplanting Young Hematopoietic Stem Cells into Old Mice Modestly Extends Life Span
Stem cell populations become damaged and dysfunctional with age. Some of this is issues with the stem cells themselves, and some of this results from problem with the signaling environment and function of the stem cell niche. Which of these factors is more important likely varies by stem cell population. Among the best studied of stem cell types, the evidence suggests that muscle stem cells remain capable in old age, but become ever more quiescent, while hematopoietic stem cells become damaged and dysfunctional, unable to perform. Hematopoietic stem cells reside in the bone marrow and are responsible for generating blood a...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 20, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Bioethicist Lecture to Look at Medical Aid in Dying Possibilities in Illinois
A presentation that assesses why a proposal that would allow terminally ill patients to obtain medical assistance to end their lives should be passed by the Illinois General Assembly is the focus of the 2020 John and Marsha Ryan Bioethicist in Residence lecture next week at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Thaddeus Mason Pope, director of the Health Law Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, will present “Medical Aid in Dying: Assessing the Illinois Patient Choices at End of Life Act.”
The lecture is at 5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 26, at the SIU School of Law in Carbondale. The lecture is ...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - February 20, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
Request for Startups in the Rejuvenation Biotechnology Space, 2020 Edition
This is the latest in a series of yearly posts in which I suggest areas of development for biotech startups I'd like to see actively developed as a part of the longevity industry in the near future. Today, this year, is a good time to be starting a company focused on the production of a novel therapeutic approach to intervening in the aging process. There is a great deal of funding for seed stage investment, and many compelling projects lacking champions, yet to be carried forward from academia into preclinical development. Numerous scientific and industry crossover conferences are now held every year, at which it is possi...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 17, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Investment Source Type: blogs
Patient Worries as a Central Feature of their Health Care Experiences
By JOHN JAMES, ROBERT R. SCULLY, CASEY QUINLAN, BILL ADAMS, HELEN HASKELL, and POPPY ARFORD
Political forces trying to shape and reshape American healthcare without hearing the voice of patients provided the rationale for this work. Our experiences as patients, caregivers, and users of media sources cause us to worry. The Patient Council of the Right Care Alliance developed 6 questions to form a national survey of Americans to guide policy makers. The questions and our rationale were as follows:
1) Finding a doctor I can trust. Trust in our doctors is not as high as it once was. There are stories of serious patient a...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 6, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Health Policy Patients Research Patient Council of the Right Care Alliance Patient Experience Source Type: blogs
Twenty-first Century Divorce: Who Gets Custody of the Embryos?
A recent CBS news story provides yet another example of the technology and legal cart pulling the ethical horse. In short, in 2014, an Arizona couple used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to preserve her eggs after she learned she had breast cancer and would require chemotherapy. The woman’s then boyfriend originally declined to be the … Continue reading "Twenty-first Century Divorce: Who Gets Custody of the Embryos?" (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - February 4, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Mark McQuain Tags: Health Care bioethics biotechnology human dignity reproduction syndicated Source Type: blogs
Newer skin cancer treatments improve prognosis for those with cutaneous melanoma
Cutaneous melanoma, also called malignant melanoma, is the type of skin cancer that is most likely to spread to other parts of the body. Though melanoma accounts for only about 1% of skin cancers, it is responsible for more than 90% of skin cancer-related deaths.
But thanks to developments in skin cancer treatment (mostly in the last decade), patients with melanoma have much better chances of living longer.
What is a melanoma?
Melanoma involves the uncontrolled growth of a type of cell known as a melanocyte. One of the most important functions of a normal melanocyte is to protect your skin from the sun’s damaging ultravi...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - February 3, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dominic Wu, MD Tags: Cancer Skin and Hair Care Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, February 3rd 2020
In conclusion, this study suggests that epigenetic age acceleration is significantly associated with lung function in women older than 50 years. We hypothesised that this could be due to menopause. However, we have observed that menopause has minimal effect and therefore there is possibility of other unknown physiological factors at older age in females mediating the epigenetic age acceleration effect on lung function. While, it is still unknown what exactly epigenetic aging from DNA methylation measures, this study suggests it can be utilised as one of the important factors to assess women's lung health in old age. DNA me...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 2, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
“ Chemofog ” is REAL!!
The New York Times has just informed us all, in an April 29 article, that “Chemotherapy Fog is No Longer… an Illusion”. It’s official now, all you cancer survivors! The Voice of Authority has spoken! (Here’s the full article.)
As if you didn’t already know.
Seriously, the NY Times article did make the important points that the level of impairment attributable to chemotherapy is a) substantially variable; b) is severe and lasts forever, in about a fifth of treated individuals; c) is greater in patients who undergo heavier chemotherapy regimes; and d) may be amplified by prophylactic drugs...
Source: On the Brain by Dr. Michael Merzenich, Ph.D. - February 1, 2020 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Dr. Merzenich Tags: Brain Fitness Brain Science BrainHQ Posit Science Source Type: blogs
New Technology to Destroy Cancer Cells, Oncotripsy, May Offer Promise
Many of the readers of this blog will be familiar withlithotripsy which involves the use of shock waves to disintegrate stones in the kidneys, bladder, and ureter (see:Lithotripsy). Scientists are now experimenting with the use of ultrasound to selectively kill cancer cells (see:Ultrasound selectively damages cancer cells when tuned to correct frequencies). They have called this type of treatment oncotripsy. Below is an excerpt from the article:A solid mechanics lab at Caltech first developed the theory of oncotripsy, based on the idea that cells are vulnerable to ultrasound at specific frequencies —like how ...
Source: Lab Soft News - January 28, 2020 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Innovations Medical Research Source Type: blogs
Astrocyte Senescence Causes Death of Neurons in Cell Culture
With the caveat that the behavior of cells in culture is not necessarily all that relevant to their behavior amidst the full complexities of living tissue, this study is an interesting initial exploration of the ways in which the cellular senescence of supporting cells in the brain might contribute to the progression of neurodegeneration. Senescent cells secrete a potent mix of inflammatory and other signaling; while they serve a useful purpose when present for a short time, not all are successfully destroyed. Their numbers grow with age, and the presence of these errant cells and their signaling is very harmful over the l...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 27, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
‘ Don ’ t Quit Your Day Job ’ : On Working Through a Health Crisis
I had mental health issues in 1991 that caused me to be hospitalized for two weeks, after which I received a diagnosis of bipolar illness. My psychiatrist at the time encouraged me to go back to my full-time teaching job immediately after getting out of the psychiatric ward. This was hard, but I think it was the best thing I could have done in the long run.
I remember I was hospitalized in the summer right before the fall semester began. I didn’t have my textbooks to create a syllabus. My brother drove 150 miles over to Pennsylvania to get them. (I was hospitalized in my home state of Ohio.) I remember sitting in the psy...
Source: World of Psychology - January 26, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Laura Yeager Tags: Bipolar Personal Bipolar Disorder Cancer Hospitalization Source Type: blogs
Magnetized Particles Show Live Metabolic Activity of Breast Cancer
Current imaging methods that are used to spot tumors don’t provide much information about the rate of activity of the cells making up the diseased tissues. Breast cancer tumors, for example, are mostly classified into a few categories based on hormone receptor and HER2 expression.
Researchers at Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and the Department of Radiology at the University of Cambridge are now reporting in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they’ve used magnetized particles to image the actual metabolic activity of breast cancer tumors. This may provide a relatively accessible ne...
Source: Medgadget - January 24, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Diagnostics Materials Medicine Oncology Radiology Source Type: blogs
