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Health and Longevity news (from KurzweilAI.net)
Blood test can monitor cancer spread
Nature News,
July 2, 2008
Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have build a device that can detect and capture minute numbers of tumor cells circulating in the blood of lung cancer patients and find genetic characteristics of the cells that could determine the best treatment options.
The research may one day make monitoring the disease as simple as taking a blood test, without invasive procedures to get samples. Lung tumor biopsies are particularly difficult to obtain, and even a technique in which a fine needle is inserted into the tumor and used to draw off a tiny number of cells comes with risks.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are living solid-tumor cells found at extremely low levels in the bloodstream, which they can enter during even the earliest stages of cancer. Until the development of the MGH device, it was not possible to get information from CTCs that would be useful for clinical decision-making.
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Supercomputer improves diagnosis of osteoporosis
KurzweilAI.net,
July 3, 2008
Researchers at IBM Zurich Research Laboratory and ETH Zurich are using a Blue Gene supercomputer to simulate human bone structure and predict where bones are likely to fracture.
The research could help bring clinical tools to improve the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis, a widespread disease that worldwide affects one in three women and one in five men over the age of 50.
When running simulations for a 5 by 5 mm specimen of real bone, it generates 90 Gigabytes of output data in 20 minutes. Dr. Alessandro Curioni: "Ten years from now, today's supercomputers' performance will be available in desktop systems, making such simulations of bone strength a routine practice in computer tomography.
ETH Zurich News Release
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Nanoparticles protect a potent anticancer drug, allow it to be taken orally
KurzweilAI.net,
July 2, 2008
Children's Hospital Boston researchers have used protective nanoparticles to turn a potent anticancer medicine, TNP-470, into a nontoxic drug that can be taken orally.
Lodamin nanoparticle
The original TNP-470 opened up anti-angiogenesis (angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels) as a new way to treat cancer, but had neurotoxic side effects and a short half-life in the body.
The new researchers created a new "Lodamin" formulation by surrounding the TNP-470 molecule with nanoparticles known as polymeric micelles. The micelles protect the molecule in the stomach, allowing it to reach and accumulate inside the tumor.
Now that it can be taken orally, Lodamin could be used as a preventative therapy for high-risk patients or as a chronic maintenance therapy (to prevent metastasis) for a variety of cancers. It could also be used for other diseases that involve aberrant blood-vessel growth, such as age-related macular degeneration and arthritis, according to researchers.
Children's Hospital Boston News Release
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Designer protein tackles HIV
Nature News,
June 30, 2008
Researchers at Sangamo BioSciences and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute have built a custom-designed enzyme that can make T cells (a type of immune cell) resistant to HIV by disabling (cutting the gene to make it nonfunctional) the T cell gene CCR5.
The technique could allow scientists to design enzymes that bind to the genome at any chosen spot and cut or correct sequences involved in other diseases.
HIV normally latches onto the protein made by CCR5 to infect T cells. (People with a natural CCR5 mutation that keeps T cells from having CCR5 protein receptors on the cells' surface appear to be immune to the disease.)
The researchers combined a DNA-severing enzyme with "zinc-finger proteins"--segments of protein that recognize and bind to specific sequences of three chemical letters within DNA. To ensure the enzyme would bind to only one spot on CCR5, they added multiple zinc-finger proteins to the enzyme. (If the designer enzyme were to bind and cut DNA in other sites in the genome, it could introduce catastrophic mutations.)
Unlike other methods to block the binding of HIV to CCR5, the zinc-finger approach makes a permanent change to the CCR5 gene, creating a pool of HIV-resistant cells.
See Also Zinc finger proteins put personalized HIV therapy within reach and Gene targeting raises cure hopes
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'Puncture repair kit' may minimize brain trauma
Nature News,
June 30, 2008
Purdue University researchers have designed a simple treatment to reduce the impact of blunt traumas to the brain by mechanically "patching" burst cell membranes.
Brain-injured rats that were injected with polyethylene glycol (PEG) within four hours of the injury had improved behavioral results compared with the control group. The therapy absorbs water, promotes healing of cell membranes, and reduces cellular decay and degeneration. PEG is now being tested on naturally injured dogs, and human trials could start within two years.
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New Electrostatic-based DNA Microarray Technique Could Revolutionize Medical Diagnostics
KurzweilAI.net,
June 30, 2008
Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have invented a technique in which DNA or RNA assays (for genetic profiling and disease detection) can be read and evaluated without the need for elaborate expensive chemical labeling or sophisticated instrumentation.
A new method for reading DNA (or RNA) microarrays is based on measuring the electrostatic repulsion between silica microspheres and hybridized DNA. Surface areas containing double-stranded DNA (red) or single-stranded DNA (blue) can be easily distinguished from each other and from background areas by the naked eye. (Flavio Robles, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs)
Berkeley Lab news release
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Biotime launches Embryome.com and the International Embryome Initiative
KurzweilAI.net,
June 27, 2008
BioTime and its subsidiary Embryome Sciences, Inc. announced today the launch of Embryome.com and the International Embryome Initiative, intended to build the "embryome"--a complete database of embryonic cell types and the pathways they take as they differentiate into specific cell types.
Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) have the innate potential to become all of the diverse cell types of the human body. A challenge for the field of regenerative medicine is understanding how to control this potential to build life-saving therapies.
The "embryome" will be a complete map of all cell types derived from human embryonic stem cells, the lineage (developmental pathways) from hESC to final cell types, the genes expressed in those cells, and markers (antigens) on the cell surfaces that can be used to identify the cells.
Currently there is no international standard for the markers that distinguish cell types.
BioTime Inc. News Release
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Is fructose fueling the obesity epidemic? (article preview)
NewScientist.com,
June 26, 2008
Rresearchers at the University of California at Davis have found that fructose, but not glucose, causes alarming changes in increased intra-abdominal fat (belly fat), triglyceride levels, and insulin sensitivity.
The researchers suggest that people with metabolic syndrome (a blend of conditions including belly fat and insulin resistance) should avoid fructose-containing beverages. Fructose is found in fresh fruit, fruit juice, and preserves. But much of it sneaks into our diets though high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in soft drinks.
Both sucrose (table sugar) and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are broken down into fructose and glucose when eaten, and both have been under suspicion as contributing to obesity and insulin resistance. (This study looked only at pure fructose, not HFCS or sucrose.)
In the study, overweight and obese volunteers ate identical balanced diets for two weeks and then spent ten weeks with 25% of their calories coming from either fructose or glucose. While both groups gained an average of 3.3 pounds, only the fructose group had increased intra-abdominal fat (internal fat linked to disease risk).
The fructose group also had raised levels of fatty triglycerides (which gets deposited as intra-abdominal fat) and cholesterol, and they had 20% less insulin sensitivity. The glucose group showed none of these negative results.
In a separate study, the researchers tested blood triglyceride levels after people consumed a meal with 25% of the calories from HFCS, sucrose, fructose or glucose. All sugars except for glucose caused elevated levels 24 hours after the meal.
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The Fight to End Aging Gains Legitimacy, Funding
Wired,
June 26, 2008
Some scientists are beginning to view biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey's approach -- looking at aging as a disease and bringing in more disciplines into gerontology -- as worthwhile.
His Methuselah Foundation now has an annual research funding budget of several million dollars, de Grey says, and it's beginning to show lab results that he thinks will turn scientists' heads.
Starting Friday, the Methuselah Foundation, is sponsoring its first U.S. conference, Understanding Aging, on the emerging interdisciplinary field that de Grey has helped kick start. On Friday, Methuselah-funded scientists will demonstrate a proof-of-concept experiment for using bacterial enzymes to fight atherosclerosis, or the hardening of the arteries, an idea that de Grey has been pushing for years.
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Methuselah Foundation Announces Aging 2008 at UCLA
KurzweilAI.net,
June 26, 2008
The Understanding Aging conference, running June 28-29 at UCLA, will begin with a free opening session: Aging 2008: The Disease - The Cure - The Implications.
The speakers at Aging 2008 will argue that the near-term consequences of intense research into regenerative medicine could be the development of therapies that extend healthy human life by decades, even if the therapies are applied in middle age.
Speakers will include:
* Dr. Bruce Ames, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley
* G. Steven Burrill, Chairman of Pharmasset and Chairman of Campaign for Medical Research
* Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Chairman and CSO of Methuselah Foundation and author of Ending Aging
* Dr. William Haseltine, Chairman of Haseltine Global Health
* Daniel Perry, Executive Director of Alliance for Aging Research
* Bernard Siegel, Executive Director of Genetics Policy Institute
* Dr. Gregory Stock, Director of Program on Medicine, Technology & Society at UCLA School of Medicine
* Dr. Michael West, CEO of BioTime and Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley
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Health and Longevity articles (from KurzweilAI.net)
Bootstrapping our way to an ageless future
By Aubrey de Grey
(Added September 19th 2007)
Biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey expects many people alive today to live to 1000 years of age and to avoid age-related health problems even at that age. In this excerpt from his just-published, much-awaited book, Ending Aging, he explains how.
| Press ignores bias in study of multivitamins and prostate cancer
By Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman
(Added May 25th 2007)
In a recent paper reporting on the National Cancer Institute study of multivitamin use and the risk of prostate cancer, the NCI authors cited several possible bias factors. An analysis by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman shows why the study’s biases should be considered before drawing conclusions.
| Strategic Sustainable Brain
By Natasha Vita-More
(Added March 31st 2006)
The human brain faces a challenging future. To cope with accelerating nanotech- and biotech-based developments in an increasingly complex world, compete with emerging superintelligence, and maintain its performance and sustainability as people live longer, the fragile human brain will need major enhancements: a backup system, eliminating degenerative processes, direct mind-linkup to ubiquitous computing networks, error-correction for memory, and a global Net connection with remote neural access.
| Nanoethics and Human Enhancement
By Patrick Lin and Fritz Allhoff
(Added March 31st 2006)
Radical nanotech-based human enhancements such as bionic implants and "respirocyte" artificial red blood cells will become technologically viable in the near future, raising profound ethical issues and forcing us to rethink what it means to be human. Recent pro-enhancement arguments will need to be critically examined and strengthened if they are to be convincing.
| Reprogramming your Biochemistry for Immortality
By Ray Kurzweil
(Added March 8th 2006)
Scientists are now talking about people staying young and not aging. Ray Kurzweil is taking it a step further: "In addition to radical life extension, we’ll also have radical life expansion. The nanobots will be able to go inside the brain and extend our mental functioning by interacting with our biological neurons."
| Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine and Nanosurgery
By Robert A. Freitas Jr.
(Added February 13th 2006)
The ability to build complex diamondoid medical nanorobots to molecular precision, and then to build them cheaply enough in sufficiently large numbers to be useful therapeutically, will revolutionize the practice of medicine and surgery.
| Ray Kurzweil's Plan for Cheating Death
By Terry Grossman
(Added February 3rd 2006)
A cure for aging may be found in the next fifty years. The trick now is to live long enough to be there when it happens. In his two new books, Ray Kurzweil has painted a clear picture of the future and provided a blueprint for how to get there.
| Interview with Robert A. Freitas Jr. Part 2
By Robert A. Freitas Jr. and Sander Olson
(Added February 2nd 2006)
There are very few diseases or conditions--including infectious diseases--aside from physical brain damage, that cannot be cured using nanomedicine, says nanomedicine pioneer Robert A. Freitas Jr. He believes nanomedicine's greatest power will emerge in a decade or two as we learn to design and construct complete artificial nanorobots using diamondoid nanometer-scale parts and subsystems.
| Ray Kurzweil's Dangerous Idea
By Ray Kurzweil
(Added January 17th 2006)
"What is your dangerous idea?" Over one hundred big thinkers answered this question, as part of The Edge's Annual Question for 2006. Ray Kurzweil's dangerous idea? We can achieve immortality in our lifetime.
| Open-Source Biology And Its Impact on Industry
By Rob Carlson
(Added March 3rd 2004)
Technology based on intentional, open-source biology is on its way, whether we like it or not. Distributed biological manufacturing is the future of the global economy and will occur as inexpensive, quality DNA sequencing and synthesis equipment becomes available to anyone. In 2050, garage biology hacking will be well under way. Fear of potential hazards should be met with increased research and education, rather than closing the door on the profound positive impacts that distributed biological technology will have on human health, human impacts on the environment, and increasing standards of living around the world.
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