Health Article

EurekAlert! notes a synthesis of previous Parkinson's disease research into a complete understanding of what is taking place: "In a study that reveals the clearest picture to date of neuron death in Parkinson's disease, researchers [have] found that a trio of culprits acting in concert is responsible for killing the brain cells ... symptoms of Parkinson's - including uncontrollable tremors and difficulty in moving arms and legs - are blamed on the loss of neurons from the substantia nigra region of the brain. Researchers had previously suspected dopamine, alpha-synuclein and calcium channels were involved in killing the neurons, but could not pin the deaths on any single molecule. The new paper, along with previous studies, [shows] that it is the combination of all three factors that kills the neurons. The studies found that neurons die because calcium channels lead to an increase of dopamine inside the cell; excess dopamine then reacts with alpha-synuclein to form inactive complexes; and then the complexes gum up the cell's ability to dispose of toxic waste that builds up in the cell over time. The waste eventually kills the cell. ... It may be possible to save neurons and stop Parkinson's disease by interfering with just one of the three factors."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/cumc-pnd042309.php
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

From the latest issue of Biomedical Computation Review, a very readable article on the state of research into how our brains work. From the longer term perspective of longevity, this is important: we'd like to be able to replace our neurons with something more durable further down the line. "For a century, neuroscientists have dissected, traced, eavesdropped on, and are now compiling a seemingly endless cast of players in the nervous system. As we keep gathering more and more molecular details, how do we know when we know enough? ... Some have decided it's time to just go ahead and create a brain in silico. And to a surprising extent, they've done it: Labs around the world are populated with autonomously functioning [so far non-human, proof of concept] brains based on what we know so far. These simulations match what happens at the cellular level in the brain when the nerve cells, or neurons, that make up the brain pump ions and produce electrochemical activity that propagates across the synapse from one neuron to another. ... We can simulate the neuronal dynamics beautifully so that you can't tell the difference between the model and real neurons."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.biomedicalcomputationreview.org/5/2/7.pdf
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

From the Technology Review: "Treating embryonic cells from mice with a cocktail of proteins triggers production of new heart-muscle cells ... Working with mouse embryos about a week old, [researchers] discovered that a trio of proteins - including a pair of transcription factors and a protein that helps loosen tightly wound DNA - could direct certain embryonic cells to form cardiac-muscle cells, called cardiomyocytes. These cells not only produced proteins characteristic of early heart cells, but they eventually started to beat. ... Human trials of cell therapies for heart disease, which have mostly used stem cells derived from a patient's own blood, have yielded mixed results. It may be that transplanting cardiac myocytes rather than undifferentiated cells will prove more effective. ... we'd like to be able to make cardiac myocytes from any cell type. That would be the ideal therapy - to be able to turn those scar-tissue cells into cardiac myocytes and restore the function that's been lost ... The dream is to be able to take a skin cell or a cardiac fibroblast, any kind of cell a person has a lot to spare, and turn those into myocytes."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22543/
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

A review paper from the community interested in metabolic manipulation to slow aging: "Heat-shock proteins (Hsps) are increasingly being implicated in aging phenotypes and control of life span across species. They are targets of the conserved heat-shock factor and insulin/IGF1-like signaling pathways that affect life span and aging phenotypes. Hsps are expressed in tissue-specific and disease-specific patterns during aging, and their level of expression and induction by stress correlates with and, in some instances, predicts life span. In model organisms, Hsps have been shown to increase life span and ameliorate aging-associated proteotoxicity. Finally, Hsps have emerged as key components in regulating aging-related cellular phenotypes, including cell senescence, apoptosis and cancer. The Hsps, therefore, provide a metric of individual stress and aging and are potential targets for interventions in aging and aging-related diseases." You might recall tha tthe cancer research community is also looking at how heat-shock proteins can be used to train the immune system to attack cancer cells.

View the Article Under Discussion: http://pmid.us/19394247
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

From the Star-Telegram: "At 140 pounds and 6 feet tall, Fagg is bone thin. But his body mass index of 20 puts him within the optimal range for health. He might appear frail, but he is strong enough to do yoga and cardio workouts. If anyone doubts his fitness level, the 60-year-old Fagg is quick to challenge them to a hike from his home in Hurst to downtown Fort Worth. In 2007, he hiked down the north rim of the Grand Canyon and up the south rim, for a total of 65 miles, 13 of them straight up. 'My goal is to hike it again at 75,' Fagg said. He sees no reason why he won't be able to make it. Like many followers of the calorie restriction, or CR, lifestyle, Fagg hopes to live to be 100. But life extension is not the reason he eats so little. For Fagg and others, it's the health benefits that matter. ... Since the 1930s, researchers have documented the health benefits of calorie-restriction in animals, including a reduction in certain cancers. Although not a lot of research has been done on humans, two studies found that the probability of someone who practices CR coming down with diabetes was virtually nil."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.star-telegram.com/living/story/1338341.html
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/