fixaging

Regenerative medicine has the potential to change the face of medicine. It stretches from repopulating skin, to regrowing whole organs. A new heart could be grown from your own stem cells, or muscles could be repopulated countering sarcopenia. It is difficult to understate the importance of this technology.

It may seem odd that horses get better health care than humans, but the main culprit in this is that there is not the same regulatory burden on animal trials as there is on human trials. The intentions of the regulation is not have anyone die by a treatment, however what seems not to be taken into the equation is all the people which will be saved in the future, and also how their quality of life may be improved. I would argue that it is better to have 9 years of life at full fitness than 12 years of disability.

Back in 2005 the fightaging.org blog noted that in 2002, horses have enjoyed the benefits of early stem cell therapies.

In the new treatment, a damaged tendon is rapidly “repopulated” by flexible new tendon tissue, rather than leathery scar tissue that naturally forms over a period of up to 18 months. About 70 per cent of treated horses have returned to racing form – more than double the percentage that would be expected had they received conventional treatment.

You read that correctly from 2002 this treatment is already being used.

Tags: Regenerative medicine by Matias
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There may be potentially a single treatment which could provide protection against all types of flu. This would be a huge boost as many age related deaths are caused as the immune system is already weak and then being unable to cope with illnesses which at a younger age would be shrugged off. Also there would be an economic increase with the reduction in people needing to take days of for illness, not to mention the increase quality of life for people no longer having to suffer through flu symptoms.

The vaccine, is made by Acambis, and it would protect against all strains of influenza A. At the moment it is possible to be injected with a flue vaccine but it must be administered every month, however the new vaccine would not have administered every year. US trials show that the injection is safe and fast working, with 9 out of 10 of those who had doses of vaccine developed anti-bodies against the flu virus (this means that the virus will have a very hard time gaining hold next time it attacks). Currently Acambis are working with Professor Walter Fiers from the University of Ghent in Belgium and the Flemish Institute of Biotechnology to improve the formulation, prior to starting bigger human trials.

The way that this new vaccine works is by focusing on a protein called M2, which is found on the surface of A-strains of flu and does not mutate readily. The reason that current vaccines are constantly needed to be recreated is that, the two proteins (heamagglutinin and neuraminidase) tend to mutate very frequently.

Tags: Life expectancy by Matias
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Research has been pioneered at the University of Sunderland which shows that exposure to safe low levels of infra-red light can improve the cognitive functions of the brain. The current state of play with medical treatments for dementia is that they slow the deterioration of the brain, while this treatment could potentially reverse the effects of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s.

The infra-red would be delivered via a lightweight helmet at home for only 10 minutes per day. This new device was created by Dr. Gordon Dougal, who is a director of Virulite ( a medical research company). The idea originally came from his work with cold sores, where infrared was used to boost the cells with the body, which killed the cold sore virus.

The study itself was of middle-aged mice, they were exposed to infrared light for 6 minutes during the day for 10 days. This improved their performance in a three-dimensional maze.

Further research is being carried out in this area, it is funded by CELS, who support research and development in universities, companies and hospitals within the North East of England.

Bottom line: Study was done in mice, so very preliminary, but a human trial will be starting in Summer 2008.

Tags: Alzheimer's by Matias
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Cancer and aging are inextricably linked together. After the age of 25 the risk of getting cancer doubles for every 5 years of life. 77% of all cancers are diagnosed in people 55 years and older. Some cancers, such as Wilms’ tumour, retinoblastoma, and neuroblastoma do occur almost exclusively in children. So the number one factor in cancer is age. Here is a brief run down of the other factors as well as the varieties of cancer.

Other factors involved in cancer:

• Environmental - There are numerous environmental factors which can increase the risk of getting cancer. Certain pollution such as industrial waster or cigarette smoke and increase the risk. Also some chemicals such as asbestos may cause lung cancer and mesothelioma. There can be a significant time lag between the exposure of the chemical and the cancer appearing. Another risk factor to cancer is the exposure to radiation, this includes radiation exposure from the sun in the form of ultraviolet radiation.
• Diet – diet can effect the risk of cancer. For example a diet which is high in fat has been linked to increased risk of breast and colon cancer. While people who drink excessive quantities of alcohol are much more likely to get oesophageal cancer.
• Viral infections - several viruses can cause cancer, such as papillomavirus which causes cervical cancer in women, and hepatitis B virus which can cause liver cancer.
• Inflammatory diseases – disease such as ulcerative colitis may cause colon cancer.

There are three distinct varieties of cancer:

• Leukaemia’s and lymphomas – these are cancers of the blood and blood-forming tissue.
• Carcinomas – these are cancers of the epithelial cells ( the cells covering the surface of the body and making up glands and producing hormones).
• Sarcomas – are cancers of the mesodermal cells, which are cells forming muscles and connective tissue. These tend to form in younger rather than older people.

Tags: Cancer by Matias
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