Making a Mouse that Exhibits Human Telomere Dynamics
Telomerase acts to extend telomeres, the repeated DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes. With every cell division, some of the telomere repeats are lost. Cells with critically short telomeres become senescent or undergo programmed cell death, having reached the Hayflick limit on replication. Some cells employ telomerase to adjust the countdown of telomere length. In humans, only stem cells use telomerase. In other species, such as mice, telomerase is much more widely expressed. There has been some interest in the research community in upregulation of telomerase as a way to improve stem cell and tissue function in old ag...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 2, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, September 25th 2023
In conclusion, this individual patient data meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies found that antihypertensive use was associated with decreased dementia risk compared with individuals with untreated hypertension through all ages in late life. Individuals with treated hypertension had no increased risk of dementia compared with healthy controls. « Back to Top Results from Human Clinical Trials Do Not Support Metformin as a Longevity Drug https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2023/09/results-from-human-clinical-trials-do-not-support-metformin-as-a-longevity-drug/ The SENS Research Fou...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 24, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

Different Invasive Bacterial Species are Found in Alzheimer's Brains versus Normal Brains
Research into the effects of the human microbiome on health and aging has progressed quite rapidly in recent years. It now costs little to sequence a sample to determine the which bacterial species are present and in what proportions. With age, the intestinal barrier, blood vessels, and blood-brain barrier begin to leak, allowing greater passage of microbes into the body. Additionally, the immune system declines in function, reducing the ability to clear these microbes from tissues. In the case of patients with Alzheimer's disease, researchers are finding that the gut microbiome exhibits characteristic differences w...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 20, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Humira Biosimilar Gross-to-Net Pricing Bubble Was Preceded by the Same Pricing Bubble Burst for Insulin Just Months Ago
Today ' s post is not about diabetes per se, although there IS a diabetes connection. But this morning, the big news was that a biosimilar of Abbvie ' s blockbuster anti-inflammatory biologic Humira will be sold byMark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company (see the press release athttps://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/06/01/2680351/33333/en/Mark-Cuban-Cost-Plus-Drug-Company-joins-forces-with-Coherus-to-make-YUSIMRY-a-HUMIRA-biosimilar-available-to-patients.html for more) at what amounts to an 85% discount to the innovator drug. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company announced the Humira biosimilar on social media today. See th...
Source: Scott's Web Log - June 1, 2023 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2023 Abbvie Biosimilar drug discounts gross-to-net bubble Humira insulin Source Type: blogs

Neuroimmune Modulation for Inflammatory Disease: Interview with Dr. Simhambhatla, President and CEO of SetPoint Medical
SetPoint Medical, a medtech company based in California, is developing a neuromodulatory device that is intended to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The overlap between the nervous and immune systems is increasingly appreciated, and this technology aims to capitalize on this to create a new treatment for inflammatory disease. The neuromodulation device is intended to be implanted on the left cervical vagus nerve in an outpatient procedure. It stimulates the nerve with electrical pulses. The idea is that this can act to calm inflammatory processes that contribute to rheumatoid arthritis, without the drawbacks of immunosuppres...
Source: Medgadget - February 28, 2023 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Medicine Neurology autoimmune immunology SetPointMed Source Type: blogs

Farewell, Landleigh Nelson. I (and others in the Diabetes Community) Will Miss You.
Over the weekend, I learned that Landileigh Lee (nee James) Nelson died on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. As many of her friends knew, in recent years, Landileigh (or as those closest to her called her " Landi " ) had been dealing with a number of health issues. She faced seemingly one health issue after another, including dialysis which began at one point. And yet she handled it all incredibly gracefully and with her typical sense of humor, which was one reason I was proud to call Landileigh my friend.In 2017, Landi posted that she had gotten a new haircut on Facebook. I thought it was a nice photo of her, and this is how I w...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 18, 2023 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2023 Landi Landileigh Nelson Obituary passage tribute Source Type: blogs

Farewell, Landleigh Nelson. I (and others) in the Diabetes Community Will Miss You.
Over the weekend, I learned that Landileigh Lee (James) Nelson died on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. As many of her friends knew, in recent years, Landileigh (or as those closest to her called her " Landi " ) had been dealing with a number of health issues. She faced seemingly one health issue after another, including dialysis which began at one point. And yet she handled it all incredibly gracefully and with her typical sense of humor, which was one reason I was proud to call Landileigh my friend.In 2017, Landi posted that she had gotten a new haircut on Facebook. I thought it was a nice photo of her, and this is how I wish ...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 18, 2023 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2023 Landi Landileigh Nelson Obituary passage tribute Source Type: blogs

How to Navigate Life with a Chronic Disease Like T1D and High-Deductible Insurance - Redux
Last February (2021), I wrote a blog post called " How to Navigate Life with a Chronic Disease Like T1D and High-Deductible Insurance Plans " (read my post athttps://blog.sstrumello.com/2021/02/how-to-navigate-life-with-chronic.html for details).I still stand by all of the recommendations I made in that blog post because I actually used (and still use some) the methods described effectively and saved a lot of money by doing so. But times change, and sometimes strategies need to evolve with changes that happen in the world around us.Intro of " Authorized Generic " Insulins, plus Branded/Unbranded BiosimilarsFor example, in ...
Source: Scott's Web Log - April 7, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2022 high-deductible insurance plans insulin Source Type: blogs

The Perfect Gift!
This holiday season, we are all in search of the perfect gift. What is the one thing you truly desire for yourself and your family? Don’t you think we all want it? What if you were handed a beautifully wrapped box containing a miraculous tool that caused dramatic weight loss and good health without limiting calories or requiring exercise? What if this gift reduced appetite, shrunk belly fat, and dropped your dress size? What if that same gift freed you from acid reflux, heartburn, bowel urgency, and diarrhea, but also improved mood, increased energy, deepened sleep, and reduced or eliminated joint pain? And all of this m...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - November 26, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: April Duval Tags: Open Source Type: blogs

Food Intolerances: A Warning of Bad Things Ahead
I’ve recently discussed how the majority of food intolerances, whether to FODMAPs, histamine, nightshades, fructose, etc., are really manifestations of dysbiosis and SIBO. Here is another way to view these phenomena: Food intolerances are your body’s signal to you that serious deterioration in your health is coming. In other words, if all you do is choose to reduce or eliminate the offending food, you are still left with the massive disruption of your intestinal microbiome that caused the food intolerance in the first place, along with increased intestinal permeability and endotoxemia. So say you eliminate ferm...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - November 1, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Open microbiota prebiotic probiotic sibo small intestinal bacterial super gut undoctored wheat belly Source Type: blogs

Thought experiment: Would therapists be out of a job if we could “ fix ” persistent pain?
Every few years someone, somewhere, announces that “it won’t be long before we have a treatment to rid the world of persistent pain.” And there’s a hiss and roar to celebrate this momentous finding, and much ado about how wonderful it will be. I’m still waiting. BUT I thought it might be an interesting thought experiment to wonder what might happen if a “cure” was available for fibromyalgia. As readers will know, I have lived with what eventually was named “fibromyalgia” since my early 20’s, and probably longer. I’ve dabbled in various treatments ove...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - October 10, 2021 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Chronic pain Pain conditions Professional topics Research Science in practice biopsychosocial pain management Therapeutic approaches Source Type: blogs

Is IBD an underrecognized health problem in minority groups?
As many people know, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex condition affecting the intestine, which is the part of the digestive tract that helps digest food and remove water, salt, and waste. But you might not know this: in recent years in the US, IBD is being diagnosed more often among people who are Black, Hispanic/Latinx, East and Southeast Asian, or from other minority groups than it was in past decades. Is this a true rise in cases? Is IBD underrecognized in minority populations? While we don’t have all the answers yet, exploring health disparities in IBD and explaining its symptoms may encourage more peopl...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 7, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Adjoa Anyane-Yeboa, MD, MPH Tags: Digestive Disorders Health Health care disparities Inflammation Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, March 1st 2021
This study may have important implications for preventing cell senescence and aging-induced tendinopathy, as well as for the selection of novel therapeutic targets of chronic tendon diseases. Our results showed that the treatment of bleomycin, a DNA damaging agent, induced rat patellar TSC (PTSC) cellular senescence. The senescence was characterized by an increase in the senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity, as well as senescence-associated changes in cell morphology. On the other hand, rapamycin could extend lifespan in multiple species, including yeast, fruit flies, and mice, by decelerating DNA damage ...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 28, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

Towards a Cure for Aging
Work on treating aging as a medical condition, targeting the mechanisms that cause aging in order to slow or reverse its progression, has advanced to the point at which the popular science and medical resources of the world are writing overviews on the topic, seeking to better inform the public at large. We have come a long way in the past decade. The compelling animal data for approaches such as the targeted removal of senescent cells, showing rejuvenation in mice, is melting some of the skepticism that previously characterized attitudes towards the treatment of aging. Heart disease. Cancer. Diabetes. Dementia. R...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 22, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Harvard Health Ad Watch: Can an arthritis drug help you become a morning person?
Perhaps this is obvious, but drug ads are not intended to inform you about the best way to treat a condition you may have. Their primary purpose is to sell a product, as explained in an earlier blog on direct-to-consumer drug ads. And the newest drugs tend to be the most expensive, even though some aren’t much better than older drugs. So the ads you see for medications are usually not promoting the latest and greatest as much as they are promoting the newest and most expensive. And these ads vary widely in how much accurate, useful information is included and what information is left out. A recent ad for Xeljanz (tofacit...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - February 2, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Arthritis Health Healthy Aging Source Type: blogs