The Lesson from Three Parents of Children with Cancer
I grabbed my cell phone to shut off the alarm even before I opened my eyes. As usual on a Sunday morning, I checked the news before my feet left the warmth of the covers so I wouldn't miss a disaster, a tragedy, a loss to remember in the prayers of the day. That day, the first Sunday of Advent, the news of President George H. W. Bush's death led the news. Tears came to my eyes as I read Marshall Ramsey's tribute to the 41st president in The Washington Post. (Dec. 1, 2018; https://wapo.st/2CqDJ8Q.) The cartoonist's tribute showed a TBM Avenger parked in the clouds with Barbara and Robin Bush waiting for his arrival.I...
Source: Lions and Tigers and Bears - February 1, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, January 28th 2019
In this study, we show that calorie restriction is protective against age-related increases in senescence and microglia activation and pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in an animal model of aging. Further, these protective effects mitigated age-related decline in neuroblast and neuronal production, and enhanced olfactory memory performance, a behavioral index of neurogenesis in the SVZ. Our results support the concept that calorie restriction might be an effective anti-aging intervention in the context of healthy brain aging.
Greater Modest Activity in Late Life Correlates with Lower Incidence of Dementia
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Source: Fight Aging! - January 27, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
A Recent Update on the Use of Immune Ablation and HSCT to Treat Autoimmunity
For more than twenty years now, Richard Burt's research teams have been working on the treatment of autoimmunity through the destruction and recreation of the immune system. Autoimmunity is a malfunction in the self-tolerance of immune cells, leading them to attack patient tissues. The malfunction is entirely contained in the immune system, so if the immune system is destroyed and replaced, the autoimmunity stops. If the genesis of autoimmunity is happenstance, an unfortunate one-time accident, then this is a cure. But if autoimmunity has a trigger outside the immune system in a given patient, it will return after some per...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 22, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, January 21st 2019
In this study, scientists screened cells from old animals to identify any RBPs that change upon aging. The screening showed that one particular protein, Pumilio2 (PUM2), was highly induced in old animals. PUM2 binds mRNA molecules containing specific recognition sites. Upon its binding, PUM2 represses the translation of the target mRNAs into proteins.
Using a systems genetics approach, the researchers then identified a new mRNA target that PUM2 binds. The mRNA encodes for a protein called Mitochondrial Fission Factor (MFF), and is a pivotal regulator of mitochondrial fission - a process by which mitochondria break u...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 20, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Suppression of Neural Plasticity in the Visual Cortex Reversed in Adult Mice
Researchers here identify a mechanism that suppresses neural plasticity in the visual cortex of adult mice, a part of the developmental process that permits greater plasticity in childhood, but then restricts it in adults. This plasticity is the generation and integration of new neurons into neural circuits. Increased plasticity in adults may be beneficial, allowing for better maintenance and regeneration in the aging brain. That benefit must be balanced against whatever functional reason has led evolution to establish diminished plasticity with advancing age. If resistance to cancer is the answer, similar to the explanati...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 16, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
The Death of Cancer: Book Review and Reflections
By CHADI NABHAN MD, MBA, FACP
Some books draw you in based on a catchy title, a provocative book jacket, or familiarity with the author. For me, recollections of medical school primers written by the renowned lymphoma pioneer Vincent DeVita Jr. and my own path as an oncologist immediately attracted me to “The Death of Cancer.” I felt a connection to this book before even reading it and prepped myself for an optimistic message about how the cancer field is moving forward. Did I get what I bargained for?
Co-authored with his daughter, Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn, DeVita brings us back decades ago to when he had just st...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 1, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Care Books Physicians Book Review Chadi Nabhan Chemotherapy Oncology randomized controlled trials The Death of Cancer Vincent DeVita Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, December 31st 2018
In conclusion, there are many anti-aging strategies in development, some of which have shown considerable promise for slowing down aging or delaying the onset of age-related diseases. From multiple pre-clinical studies, it appears that upregulation of autophagy through autophagy enhancers, elimination of senescent cells using senolytics, transfusion of plasma from young blood, neurogenesis and BDNF enhancement through specific drugs are promising approaches to sustain normal health during aging and also to postpone age-related diseases. However, these approaches will require critical assessment in clinical trials to determ...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 30, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
The Supply of New Olfactory Neurons Diminishes with Age
Stem cell populations maintain tissues in large part by providing a supply of new daughter cells to replace losses and repair damage. This supply diminishes with age, however, as stem cell populations become ever less active. This results from some mix of damage to the stem cells themselves and the more general damage of aging, accompanied by altered signaling as a reaction to that damage. The consensus is that stem cells have evolved to become less active in a damaged environment in order to diminish risk of cancer, but this is by no means settled, given that various approaches to force stem cells into greater activity ap...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 27, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
The Bovine Guide to Healthy Eating
Grains are seeds of grasses. They, along with the Kentucky bluegrass and rye grass in your lawn, are plants from the family Poaceae, the grasses of the earth. Grasses are so ubiquitous and prolific that creatures have evolved that are able to survive by consuming them as their main source of food.
Ruminants such as cows, goats, sheep, giraffes, gazelle, and antelopes are able to digest grasses because they have undergone extensive evolutionary adaptation over millions of years that allow them to subsist on grasses as a food supply. For instance, ruminants:
Grow teeth continuously to compensate for the wear caused by s...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - December 19, 2018 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates Gliadin gluten grain grain-free grains Inflammation wheat belly Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, December 17th 2018
In this study, we found that TNF-α resulted in an impairment of autophagic flux in microglia. Concomitantly, an increase of M1 marker expression and reduction of M2 marker expression were observed in TNF-α challenged microglia. Upregulation of autophagy via serum deprivation or pharmacologic activators (rapamycin and resveratrol) promoted microglia polarization toward M2 phenotype, as evidenced by suppressed M1 and elevated M2 gene expression, while inhibition of autophagy with 3-MA or Atg5 siRNA consistently aggravated the M1 polarization induced by TNF-α.
Moreover, Atg5 knockdown alone was sufficient to trigger...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 16, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Manifestations of Fear in Cross-Cultural Interpretations of Sleep Paralysis
Frontispiece from:Blicke in die Traum- und Geisterwelt (A look into the dream and spirit world), byFriedrich Voigt (1854).What are you most afraid of? Not finding a permanent job? Getting a divorce and losing your family? Losing your funding? Not making this month ' s rent? Not having a roof over your head? Natural disasters? Nuclear war? Cancer? Having a loved one die of cancer?FAILURE?There are many types ofspecific phobias (snakes, spiders, heights, enclosed spaces,clowns,mirrors, etc.), but that ' s not what I ' m talking about here.What are youreally afraid of? Death? Pain? A painful death?Devils, demons, ghosts, witc...
Source: The Neurocritic - November 21, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, November 12th 2018
This study's researchers approached all people turning 85 in 2006 in two cities in the UK for participation. At the beginning of the study in 2006-2007, there were 722 participants, 60 percent of whom were women. The participants provided researchers with information about what they ate every day, their body weight and height measurements, their overall health assessment (including any level of disability), and their medical records.
The researchers learned that more than one-quarter (28 percent) of very old adults had protein intakes below the recommended dietary allowance. The researchers noted that older adults w...
Source: Fight Aging! - November 11, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Best of Our Blogs: October 23, 2018
I learned so much from listening to Kris Carr’s Healing Cancer Summit. It wasn’t only for cancer patients and caregivers, but anyone impacted by chronic illness.
In other words, everyone.
In one of the sessions entitled, “How Love Heals Us,” author Robert Holden, Ph.D. talked about illness as an opportunity to fully embrace our whole selves, disease and all.
As you learn more about relationships this week, I hope you’ll keep that in mind. Willing away your problems, illnesses and difficulties could be another form of self-abandonment. Finding acceptance in your situation, on the other hand, co...
Source: World of Psychology - October 23, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Brandi-Ann Uyemura, M.A. Tags: Best of Our Blogs Source Type: blogs
Best of Our Blogs: October 19, 2018
There are a lot of things not going well these days. But it often overshadows the good things like how accessible learning has become. With a click of the button, we can hear lectures and workshops by experts in other parts of the world. Many of them are even free.
I’m taking advantage of all of these online summits by learning about everything from healing cancer to being more mindful.
If you can’t take the time to listen to daily summits, our blog posts will give you mini lessons on self-care for the fall season, help if you find yourself chronically anger and information on why you’re so unhappy.
Dange...
Source: World of Psychology - October 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Brandi-Ann Uyemura, M.A. Tags: Best of Our Blogs Source Type: blogs
Is Coca-Cola really putting pot in its beverages?
A flurry of recent news reports would make you think so — here are a few examples:
Coke plans to brew weed drink
Coca-Cola In Talks To Make Marijuana-Infused Drink
Coca-Cola eyes cannabis market
The truth turns out to be a bit less dramatic. Here’s how the company’s statement put it:
“We have no interest in marijuana or cannabis. Along with many others in the beverage industry, we are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world…. No decisions have been made at this time.”
A few clarifications are in order here:
“CBD” is short for can...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 12, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Drugs and Supplements Marijuana Source Type: blogs
