Throughout human history aging people have yearned for a magic elixir to help them turn back the clock and restore youth. It could be that this dream is about to come true. In a recent landmark study, old lab rats taking a mixture of acetyl L-carnitine and alpha-lipoic acid regained so much of their youth and vigor they "got up to do the Macarena", according to study director Bruce Ames.
The free radical theory of aging
Scientists studying aging have decided that we age because our cells and the DNA that contains our genetic code sustain damage by an onslaught of highly reactive chemical species they refer to a free radicals. These loose cannons in the body are the result of normal metabolic processes, making oxygen a double edged sword. We cannot live without it, but oxygen also generates these damaging chemical species that create havoc with our cells and cause us to age.
A mitochondria is like a tiny furnace contained in each cell in the body. Mitochondria generate energy inside each cell by burning food in the presence of oxygen. This is why cells that are fully oxygenated have a higher level of energy. But again, oxygen can be both friend and foe. This firing process ends up subjecting the mitochondria themselves to high levels of free radical damage. As we age, mitochondria become so damaged by these free radicals that they lose their ability to function efficiently. The result is continually diminishing cellular energy and even more aging. And as our cells lose energy, we become subject to degenerative diseases.
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The arrow points to a newly born neuron that has been added to the song nucleus of an adult song sparrow's brain. The other green cells are mature neurons.
The arrow points to a newly born neuron that has been added to the song nucleus of an adult song sparrow's brain. The other green cells are mature neurons.
The scientists introduced a chemical into one side of sparrow brains in an area that helps control singing behavior to halt apoptosis, a cell suicide program. Twenty days after introduction of the hormones the researchers found that there were 48 percent fewer new neurons than there were in the side of the brain that did not receive the cell suicide inhibitor.
"This is the first demonstration that if you decrease apoptosis you also decrease the number of new brain cells in a live animal. The next step is to understand this process at the molecular level," said Eliot Brenowitz, a UW professor of psychology and biology and co-author of a new study. His co-author is Christopher Thompson, who earned his doctorate at the UW and is now at the Free University of Berlin.
"The seasonal hormonal drop in birds may mimic what is an age-related drop in human hormone levels. Here we have a bird model that is natural and maybe similar genes have a similar function in humans with degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as strokes, which are associated with neuron death."
Nerve fibers that link perception and motor regions of the brain are disconnected in tone-deaf people, according to new research in the August 19 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Experts estimate that at least 10 percent of the population may be tone deaf - unable to sing in tune. The new finding identifies a particular brain circuit that appears to be absent in these individuals.
"The anomaly suggests that tone-deafness may be a previously undetected neurological syndrome similar to other speech and language disorders, in which connections between perceptual and motor regions are impaired," said Psyche Loui, PhD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, one of the study's authors.
"The anomaly suggests that tone-deafness may be a previously undetected neurological syndrome similar to other speech and language disorders, in which connections between perceptual and motor regions are impaired," said Psyche Loui, PhD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, one of the study's authors.
The parasites that cause leishmaniasis use a quirky trick to convince the immune system to effectively invite them into cells for dinner, according to a new study published in PLoS Pathogens. The researchers, from Imperial College London, say their findings improve understanding of the way Leishmania parasites establish an infection and could aid the search for a vaccine against this neglected tropical disease.
Leishmania parasites are transmitted by sand flies. After the parasites infect a sand fly, they make a sticky gel so that when the fly bites a human, it regurgitates this gel into the body. Today's research, which was funded by the Wellcome Trust, shows that the gel persuades immune cells known as macrophages to feed the parasites, rather than killing them.
Leishmaniasis is an infection caused by Leishmania parasites that affects around 12 million people per year, mainly in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Symptoms include disfiguring and painful skin ulcers and in severe cases the infection can also spread to the internal organs. Patients with the infection often suffer from social exclusion because of their disfigurement. There is currently no vaccine to protect against infection and although treatments are available, they are not always effective and access to drugs is limited in many areas.
Leishmania parasites are transmitted by sand flies. After the parasites infect a sand fly, they make a sticky gel so that when the fly bites a human, it regurgitates this gel into the body. Today's research, which was funded by the Wellcome Trust, shows that the gel persuades immune cells known as macrophages to feed the parasites, rather than killing them.
Leishmaniasis is an infection caused by Leishmania parasites that affects around 12 million people per year, mainly in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Symptoms include disfiguring and painful skin ulcers and in severe cases the infection can also spread to the internal organs. Patients with the infection often suffer from social exclusion because of their disfigurement. There is currently no vaccine to protect against infection and although treatments are available, they are not always effective and access to drugs is limited in many areas.
Discovery of a deafness-causing gene defect in mice has helped identify a new protein that protects sensory cells in the ear, according to a study led by University of Iowa researchers. The findings, which also involved Kansas State University, appear in the Aug. 21 issue of the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.
In humans, hereditary deafness is one of the most common birth defects, yet most genes involved in hearing are unidentified. Mice are used as research models because mouse and human auditory genetics are very similar.
Using a deaf mouse model generated at The Jackson Laboratory, the team identified the deafness-causing defect in the claudin-9 gene. The mutated gene fails to produce normal claudin-9 protein, which, the UI team showed, is needed to maintain the proper distribution of potassium in the inner ear.
In humans, hereditary deafness is one of the most common birth defects, yet most genes involved in hearing are unidentified. Mice are used as research models because mouse and human auditory genetics are very similar.
Using a deaf mouse model generated at The Jackson Laboratory, the team identified the deafness-causing defect in the claudin-9 gene. The mutated gene fails to produce normal claudin-9 protein, which, the UI team showed, is needed to maintain the proper distribution of potassium in the inner ear.
Men who drink beer or liquor on a regular basis may face a heightened risk of several different types of cancer, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that among nearly 3,600 Canadian men ages 35 to 70, those who averaged at least a drink per day had higher risks of a number of cancers than men who drank occasionally or not at all -- including cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, lungs, pancreas, liver and prostate.
Researchers found that among nearly 3,600 Canadian men ages 35 to 70, those who averaged at least a drink per day had higher risks of a number of cancers than men who drank occasionally or not at all -- including cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, lungs, pancreas, liver and prostate.
A chemical in the drug may help people with the mental illness to think more clearly and maintain their concentration, according to Ruth Barr, a psychiatrist who formerly worked at Queen's University Belfast, which has made the finding. She conducted a three-year study to find out why schizophrenia sufferers are three times more likely to smoke than the general population.
Family quarrels and a lack of free time can promote headaches in children. This is what Jennifer Gassmann and her coauthors concluded in their study on risk factors, which appears in the current issue of the Deutsches Ärzteblatt International.
This investigation was a component of a large-scale study entitled "Children, Adolescents, and Headache" (Kinder, Jugendliche und Kopfschmerz - KiJuKo), in which data were collected in four annual "waves" from 2003 to 2006. Out of a multitude of variables tested in the larger study, the authors chose to look at the ones that concerned the children's family and leisure time. Up to 30% of all children around the world complain of headache symptoms arising at least once per week.
This investigation was a component of a large-scale study entitled "Children, Adolescents, and Headache" (Kinder, Jugendliche und Kopfschmerz - KiJuKo), in which data were collected in four annual "waves" from 2003 to 2006. Out of a multitude of variables tested in the larger study, the authors chose to look at the ones that concerned the children's family and leisure time. Up to 30% of all children around the world complain of headache symptoms arising at least once per week.
Here's a little vignette (it's a true story): a 15-year-old girl attends London's top girls' school. Her less brainiac little sister goes to another league-topping school nearby, only marginally less exalted. Their mother is collecting Girl A from School A, and remarks out loud on how very thin everyone is, indeed much thinner than the girls at the rival establishment. Girl A, with a toss of her hair, says: "Yeah, we even do anorexia better than them."
Extreme? Actually, no. Being faux-cynical, pouty and contrary has long been part of growing up, but there's a distinction between making it your life's work to annoy your parents and teachers and having serious mental health issues. It turns out that this line is being crossed by Britain's teenage girls, especially "high-achieving" girls from comfortable backgrounds, in vast and alarming numbers.
Faith Coleman's ordeal as an uninsured cancer patient drove her to help others without health insurance.
"Having kidney cancer was one of the best things that ever happened to me ... because I can truly empathize with patients," said Coleman, 54.
That compassion inspired Coleman to open a free clinic in her Florida community to help other uninsured people in need of medical care.
In July 2003, Coleman, a nurse practitioner, learned she had a malignant tumor growing on her right kidney. But as a contract worker for several doctors, she did not receive health insurance. Coleman's treatment totaled about $35,000, and she was forced to take out a mortgage on her house to help pay for it.
"I [fell] through the crack ... and I [had] a great job and a good education," said Coleman, a mother of six.
