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Ray and Terry's
March 22, 2018 10:34 AM
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Last week, researchers reported that the age of a relatively short-lived bird affects his offspring’s telomere length. Specifically, older zebra finch males sired embryos with shorter telomeres compared to younger dads. The experiment also showed that older father birds had offspring with shorter lifespans.
In a study published today (March 21) in PLOS ONE, a different group of researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research in Villiers en Bois, France, report seemingly contradictory findings: young birds, they find, produce chicks with shorter telomeres and poorer body conditions compared to middle-aged birds. Rather than using an experimental approach, Frederic Angelier and his colleagues took samples from black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophrys) in the wild.
A striking difference between the two studies is the lifespans of the bird species, which fall on the extreme ends of the longevity spectrum of birds, writes Angelier in an email to The Scientist. Zebra finches (Species name) live between five and eight years years, while the albatrosses live upwards of 40 years. Longevity can have an effect on reproductive strategies, he adds.
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Ray and Terry's
March 22, 2018 10:32 AM
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Telomeres are repetitive, noncoding sequences that cap the ends of linear chromosomes. They consist of hexameric nucleotide sequences (TTAGGG in humans) repeated hundreds to thousands of times.
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Ray and Terry's
March 21, 2018 5:25 PM
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An important new study from researchers at Cornell University has found that when mice become obese they can also lose up to 25 percent of their taste buds. This connection between obesity and taste has previously been observed in humans, but this is the first research to potentially uncover a biological explanation behind the phenomenon.
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Ray and Terry's
March 19, 2018 2:30 PM
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The most common type of arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation is an irregular beating of the heart that can lead to stroke, blood clots, or heart failure if left unchecked. And unless an electrocardiogram is being used, it can be difficult to detect. Soon, however, an app may be all that's required to do the job. #medtech
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Ray and Terry's
March 19, 2018 2:29 PM
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Fat may be a villain of our time, but it's not fair to paint it all with the same brush. There are actually several types of the stuff – white fat, which stores excess energy, and brown fat, which the body readily burns to keep warm. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute have identified the protein that allows brown fat to expend energy, opening up a new potential avenue for treating obesity and its related diseases.
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Ray and Terry's
March 15, 2018 11:32 AM
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The more we study natural biological cells, the more we learn about how to control them or build artificial versions. These independent avenues of study have huge potential, but also their limitations. Researchers from Imperial College London have worked out a way to borrow the strengths of each, fusing together living and non-living cells to create tiny chemical factories that might one day aid drug delivery.
In past work, scientists have packaged proteins and enzymes inside artificial casings to better treat conditions like cancer or diabetes. Rather than just using some natural parts, the Imperial College study instead wrapped entire biological cells inside artificial ones.
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Ray and Terry's
March 14, 2018 9:31 AM
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Ever since scientists began decoding the human genome in 1990, doctors have dreamt of a new era of medicine where illness could be treated — or even cured — by fxing flaws in a person’s DNA. Rather than using medicine to fight disease, they would be able to hack biology to combat sickness at its source.
The dream started to become a reality in 2013, when researchers demonstrated how a gene editing technique, known as Crispr-Cas9, could be used to edit living human cells, raising the possibility that a person’s DNA could be altered much as text is changed by a word-processor.
Now, two biotech companies say they plan to start testing the technology in humans as early as this year.
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Ray and Terry's
March 2, 2018 11:15 AM
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Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), a blanket term covering a variety of chronic gastrointestinal conditions including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, inflicts millions of people around the world with an increasing prevalence. A new study has found that people diagnosed with IBD have a significantly higher risk of heart attack, especially in younger patients.
The large analysis evaluated medical record data from 17.5 million patients, with over 200,000 having a diagnosed IBD. Overall the data found that patients with IBD suffered from twice as many heart attacks as non-IBD patients. Adjusting for a variety of factors including heart disease risk factors, age and race, the risk factor for IBD patients and heart attacks was still 23 percent higher than others.
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Ray and Terry's
March 1, 2018 3:22 PM
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A large population of microorganisms live on our skin. Known as the skin microbiome, many of these organisms serve a vital protective function preventing psoriasis, acne and other diseases. A team at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine has now uncovered a strain of bacteria found on human skin that can protect against cancer.
"We have identified a strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis, common on healthy human skin, that exerts a selective ability to inhibit the growth of some cancers," says Richard Gallo, one of the authors on the study.
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Ray and Terry's
March 1, 2018 8:55 AM
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Much is being discovered about the genetic origins of Alzheimer's disease, but it is still considered to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, and generally not a primarily heritable condition. A new study is suggesting the genetic impact of the disease could be more significant than previously thought, finding a strong link between the ages of parents and children for the onset of the disease.
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February 28, 2018 3:26 PM
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If you wind back the clock on the different cells in our bodies, they'd all start life as one of just a few types of stem cells. Now, researchers from the University of Queensland have wound back the clock even further, and discovered a new type of dual stem cell that can produce certain tissues with built-in blood vessels.
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Ray and Terry's
February 26, 2018 12:01 PM
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In a move that could give a voice to the 300,000 people around the world who have had their larynx removed due to cancer, scientists at the MARCS Institute at Western Sydney University have tested a non-invasive artificial larynx and found it capable of generating a high-quality voice. Unlike existing prosthetics that rely on input from the nerves or muscles of the larynx, the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL) device uses the patient's respiratory system and doesn't need to be surgically implanted.
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Ray and Terry's
February 23, 2018 4:55 PM
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Are you in danger of having a heart attack? Scientists from Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University and National Cheng Kung University are developing an inexpensive medical biosensor that could let you know, so you can take preventative measures before it's too late.
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Ray and Terry's
March 22, 2018 10:33 AM
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People with Alzheimer’s have a higher production rate of tau proteins than healthy individuals, according to a study published today (March 21) in Neuron.
While researchers have long known that tau levels are elevated in the brains and cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer’s patients, “until this study, we didn’t know if tau production was increased or if clearance was decreased,” coauthor Chihiro Sato, a researcher in neurologist Randall Bateman’s lab at Washington University School of Medicine, says in a statement. “Our results showing that tau production is increased suggest that we might want to target tau production therapeutically.”
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March 21, 2018 5:26 PM
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A new study is reporting that small daily doses of Viagra reduced the number of polyps by half in animal models predisposed to develop colorectal cancer. This intriguing off-label use adds a possible new chapter to the life of a drug famously known for treating erectile dysfunction.
Viagra, also known as sildenafil, was initially developed in the 1990s for hypertension but early clinical studies revealed it wasn't particularly effective as a heart disease treatment. Many of the trial volunteers were also reporting side effects of unexpected erections. This led to the drug being approved in 1998 by the FDA to treat erectile dysfunction.
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Ray and Terry's
March 20, 2018 9:51 AM
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Mice exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) during pregnancy give birth to offspring with atypical brain development and abnormal behavior later in life, according to a study presented yesterday (March 19) at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Chicago.
Previous studies have linked BPA, which is found in a wide array of consumer products including plastic water bottles, to numerous diseases. In 2015, Deborah Kurrasch, a neuroscientist at the University of Calgary, and her colleagues found that the chemical can also alter brain development and cause hyperactivity at low doses in zebrafish.
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Ray and Terry's
March 19, 2018 2:30 PM
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The race is on to develop a male contraceptive drug similar to that of the female birth control pill. From investigations into an ancient African compound traditionally used to poison arrow tips, to a topical gel that is currently undergoing human clinical trials, there are an intriguing variety of methods being investigated for male contraception. Now promising results from a Phase 1 study into the safety and efficacy of a new male birth control pill are in, revealing the prospective drug to be safe and effective.
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Ray and Terry's
March 16, 2018 12:03 PM
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Everybody wants to live longer, and to help turn back the clock scientists are working on drugs, stem cell treatments and caloric restriction. But how well are these efforts paying off? A comprehensive new study from Yale University and the University of Southern California (USC) has found that Americans seem to be aging more slowly now than they were 20 years ago.
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Ray and Terry's
March 15, 2018 11:31 AM
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In order to have their vital signs continuously monitored, patients in emergency rooms have to be hooked up to a variety of sensors – this makes it awkward for them to move around, among other things. Soon, however, all those machines could be replaced by one small electronic patch that adheres to their chest.
The device was developed by Swiss startup Smartcardia, a company that was spun off from the EPFL research institute.
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Ray and Terry's
March 13, 2018 11:20 AM
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New research from the University at Buffalo has shown that an approved anticancer drug can significantly restore the social deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). At this stage the effect has only been demonstrated in animal models, but this promising research could pave the way for a therapeutic drug that helps restore social and communication skills in people with ASD.
The new study focuses on a gene called Shank3. Previous research has revealed strong connections between deficiencies in Shank3 and the irregular behavioral patterns associated with ASD.
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Ray and Terry's
March 1, 2018 4:12 PM
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C. elegans is a pretty unassuming worm, but its simplicity makes it a great model to study biological processes. It's been used to study longevity and so far remains the only creature whose brain has been completely mapped out. Combining those two fields, researchers at the University of Michigan have now uncovered how the worm's brain and gut communicate with each other to coordinate aging throughout the body.
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Ray and Terry's
March 1, 2018 9:34 AM
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It's easy to know your chronological age, as it's just the amount of time that has elapsed since you were born. However, what about your biological age – the amount that your body has physically aged, which varies from person to person? Well, according to a new study out of China, a simple urine test could tell you.
Knowing your biological age is potentially quite important, as it can be used to determine your risk of developing age-related diseases, or even your risk of death. Additionally, it's crucial to know test subjects' biological age when developing anti-aging drugs.
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Ray and Terry's
February 28, 2018 3:47 PM
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It’s no wonder so many people are pushing back and essentially flipping the bird at our diet- and weight-obsessed culture. But although that stance may be necessary, a downside is that for some it has meant the rejection of any conversation about health, weight-related or not. “It’s almost like there is a wall where you can’t talk about healthy eating at all in fat-positivity communities,” Jessamyn Stanley, author of “Every Body Yoga,” told me. “It’s like you are creating an unsafe environment by talking about healthy eating.” She sees a solution to breaking down those walls in acceptance and self-care. “When you love yourself you want to fuel yourself well; you want to take that care for you.”
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Ray and Terry's
February 28, 2018 11:22 AM
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Most of us accept that aging and eventually death are just the inevitable prices we pay for being alive in the first place – but maybe there's a way to skip out on the bill. Anti-aging research has long focused on DNA structures known as telomeres, which have been directly linked to cell longevity. Now scientists at Arizona State University have discovered a new way to potentially supercharge the mechanism, which may help keep this "molecular clock" – and by extension, ourselves – running better for longer.
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Ray and Terry's
February 26, 2018 11:59 AM
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Recent trends in biomedical research have highlighted the potential for effecting significant extensions in longevity with enhanced quality of life in aging human populations. Within this context, any proposed method to achieve enhanced life extension must include therapeutic approaches that draw upon essential biochemical and molecular regulatory processes found in relatively simple single cell organisms that are evolutionarily conserved within complex organ systems of higher animals. Current critical thinking has established the primacy of mitochondrial function in maintaining good health throughout plant and animal phyla. The mitochondrion represents an existentially defined endosymbiotic model of complex organelle development driven by evolutionary modification of a permanently enslaved primordial bacterium. Cellular mitochondria are biochemically and morphologically tailored to provide exponentially enhanced ATP-dependent energy production accordingly to tissue- and organ-specific physiological demands. Thus, individual variations in longevity may then be effectively sorted according to age-dependent losses of single-cell metabolic integrity functionally linked to impaired mitochondrial bioenergetics within an aggregate presentation of compromised complex organ systems. Recent empirical studies have focused on the functional role of mitochondrial heteroplasmy in the regulation of normative cellular processes and the initiation and persistence of pathophysiological states. Accordingly, elucidation of the multifaceted functional roles of mitochondrial heteroplasmy in normal aging and enhanced longevity will provide both a compelling genetic basis and potential targets for therapeutic intervention to effect meaningful life extension in human populations.
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