Ibuprofen, a common over-the-counter drug used to relieve pain and fever, could hold the keys to a longer healthier life, according to a study by researchers at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Publishing in PLoS Genetics (open access) December 18, scientists showed that regular doses of ibuprofen extended the lifespan of yeast, worms and fruit flies.
Brian Kennedy, PhD, CEO of the Buck Institute, said treatments, given at doses comparable to those used in humans, extended lifespan an average of 15 percent in the model organisms. “Not only did all the species live longer, but the treated flies and worms appeared more healthy,” he said
The Mediterranean diet appears to be associated with longer telomere length — a marker of slower aging and thus long life, a study published in the BMJ this week suggests.
The Mediterranean diet has been consistently linked with health benefits, including reduced mortality and reduced risk of chronic diseases, such as heart disease.
The diet is based on a high intake of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils), and (mainly unrefined) grains; a high intake of olive oil but a low intake of saturated fats; a moderately high intake of fish, a low intake of dairy products, meat and poultry; and regular but moderate intake of alcohol (specifically wine with meals).
In a recent study, researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), say that activating a gene, AMPK, in fruit flies’ intestines was found to add 30% to their average lifespans—up to eight weeks from the typical six weeks.
Beyond simply boosting lifespans, the flies stayed healthier too.
By 2050, the number of people over the age of 80 will triple globally, which could come at great cost to individuals and economies.
Unfortunately, medicine focuses almost entirely on fighting chronic diseases in a piecemeal fashion as symptoms develop, researchers writing in the journal Nature say. Instead, more efforts should be directed to promoting interventions that have the potential to prevent multiple chronic diseases and extend healthy lifespans.
By treating the metabolic and molecular causes of human aging, it may be possible to help people stay healthy into their 70s and 80s, they suggest.
With one in five Japanese citizens now aged 65 or older, various robotics technologies are being developed to prolong independent living and improve quality of life at home.
The main alternative to nursing homes and hospitals would be smart homes designed around the needs of the elderly. Earlier this week, Honda announced that it will test some of its life support robots in a mock household environment at the Future Life Showroom, in Sekisui House's brand new SUMUFUMU Lab.
Researchers from UCLA and UC Berkeley have, for the first time ever, solved the puzzle of how the various components of an entire telomerase enzyme complex fit together and function in a three-dimensional structure.
The telomerase enzyme, which is known to play a significant role in aging and most cancers, represents a breakthrough that could open up a host of new approaches to fighting disease.
The creation of the first complete visual map of thetelomerase enzyme, which is known to play a significant role in aging and most cancers, represents a breakthrough that could open up a host of new approaches to fighting disease, the researchers said.
"Everyone in the field wants to know what telomerase looks like, and there it was. I was so excited, I could hardly breathe," said Juli Feigon, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry and a senior author of the study. "We were the first to see it."
NEW YORK (Reuters) - America's aging population is posing special challenges, fitness experts say, because it is difficult to design effective workout routines for people with such a wide range of abilities.
Physical activity can reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and osteoporosis...
When people stop working, everything about their weekday schedule changes. Their lives may move more slowly and be more relaxed. Losing work-related stress may come as a huge relief — and be good for your health. But losing your everyday movement and social interaction can also harm your health.
A group of medical researchers at the University of California at Berkeley has found a protein that is able to rejuvenate aged blood stem cells...
The ravages of aging appear to be related to oxidative stress combined with telomere exhaustion, along with many other known and unknown factors. The subject of the new Berkeley study is a class of proteins called sirtuins that are known to play a central role in regulating aging and longevity in many non-human models (such as mice).
Those who were hearing-impaired were 24 percent more likely to have cognitive problems than were people with normal hearing. Also, cognitive abilities declined 32 to 41 percent more quickly in those with hearing impairment than in the others. People with hearing impairment developed problems with thinking and memory skills about three years sooner than the others did.
Scientists believe the genes of virus-resistant and long-living wild bats might hold clues to treating cancer and infectious diseases in humans.
The theory is that when bats started flying millions of years ago, something changed in their DNA that provides resistance to viruses and helps give them a relatively long life. The researchers hope a better understanding of bat evolution could lead to new treatments for disease and aging in humans.
Metoprolol had already been identified by me as a life extending drug based on two human RCTs which reported mortality reductions in hypertensives that exceeded the standard mortality rate, as well as the control groups. PMID: 3293400, PMID: 1682683.
There is no indication that these hypertensives should have mortality rates better than the general population, therefore the bettering of the standard mortality rates makes these drugs anti-aging.
THE BENEFIT IS ABOUT 45% EQUALING BETTER THAN A SIX YEAR LIFE EXTENSION FOR HUMANS
Between 1990 and 2013, global life expectancy increased by nearly 5.8 years in men and 6.6 years in women, according to a new analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 published in The Lancet.
Using 17 genomes, researchers were unable to find rare protein-altering variants significantly associated with extreme longevity, according to a study published November 12, 2014 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Hinco Gierman from Stanford University and colleagues.
Supercentenarians are the world’s oldest people, living beyond 110 years of age. Seventy-four are alive worldwide; 22 live in the U.S. The authors of this study performed whole-genome sequencing on 17 supercentenarians to explore the genetic basis underlying extreme human longevity.
My own grandma ~ maiden name, Pauline Cynthia Wagner, passed away this year at 103 years, 8 months and circa 13 days old. She seemed &looked 10 years younger until her last two weeks.
Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have found evidence of a unique “signature” that may be the “missing link” between cognitive decline and aging and that may in the future lead to treatments that can slow or reverse cognitive decline in older people, according to Prof. Michal Schwartz of the Department of Neurobiology and Ido Amit of the Department of Immunology.
Until a decade ago, scientific dogma held that the blood-brain barrier prevents blood-borne immune cells from attacking and destroying brain tissue.
On the one hand, fish exposed to the tranquilizer oxazepam when it seeps into their waters kind of become jerks, reports a study in Nature. On the other hand, this same drug, a benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety and insomnia in human adults, apparently helps them live longer, reports Nature World News, citing a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. This news may be, from a longevity standpoint, terrific for the tainted fish—but it's not ideal for keeping the entire ecosystem's mortality rates balanced and the food chain intact.
Ray and Terry's 's insight:
One question: Do we want to become tranquilized jerks to live longer? More research is needed :)
Scientists discover how to slow down aging in mice and increase longevity Blocking a specific protein complex in the hypothalamus and injecting a hormone slow aging and cognitive decline
Their discovery of a specific age-related signaling pathway opens up new strategies for combating diseases of old age and extending lifespan.
While young people are not so enthusiastic about having many children, and older ones will be getting even older, what will the human society look like?
It’s inevitable: As you get older, you slow down. A 40-year-old runs more slowly than a 20-year-old. A 70-year-old can’t be expected to keep up with a 50-year-old on a bike or a hike. It’s only natural.
What if humans were to completely eliminate the process of aging in, say, the next ten or twenty years (probably before the technological singularity)?
What would be the worldwide consequences of such a development?
Would the elimination of aging, and thereby the elimination of death, ultimately, have good or bad consequences?
Well, I hate to suggest such horrible expectations, but I fear that the following would occur, over time: Overpopulation, insurmountable taxing of natural resources, mounting tensions leading to unbridled war, and more death than what happened naturally prior to the elimination of aging. I suspect that the only thing that could prevent these inevitabilities would be the development of space travel sufficient to reduce earth's bio-load, and the massive reduction of our collective carbon footprint by emerging green technology.
Researchers at Yale University have found a way to effectively turn back the clock and make an old brain young again.
As we enter adulthood, our brains become more stable and rigid when compared to that of an adolescent. This is partially due to the triggering of a single gene that slows the rapid change in synaptic connections between neurons, thereby suppressing the high levels of plasticity of an adolescent brain.
Researchers have discovered a molecule that accumulates with age and inhibits the formation of new neurons. The finding might help scientists design therapies to prevent age-related cognitive decline.
As a futurist, you are famous for making predictions of when technological innovations will actually occur. Are you willing to predict the year you will die?
My plan is to stick around. We’ll get to a point about 15 years from now where we’re adding more than a year every year to your life expectancy.
According to a study carried out by a team led by María Blasco, the director of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and head of the Telomeres and Telomerase Group, a sustained lowering of food intake over time results in an increase of telomere length -- the ends of chromosomes -- in adult mice, which has a protective effect on the DNA and genetic material.
Ray and Terry's 's insight:
Caloric restriction is step 6 of the Transcend program. Moderate CR (10%) is manageable and easier to sustain over the long term.
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