Issue 2, 2007

By the abstracts.

"Allotopic mRNA Localization to the Mitochondrial Surface Rescues Respiratory Chain Defects in Fibroblasts Harboring Mitochondrial DNA Mutations Affecting Complex I or V Subunits" by Crystel Bonnet, Valérie Kaltimbacher, Sami Ellouze, Sébastien Augustin, Paule Bénit, Valérie Forster, Pierre Rustin, José-Alain Sahel, and Marisol Corral-Debrinski. Another mitoSENS contribution like the one in issue 4 of 2006 by Bokori-Brown, this one claiming success in both getting the proteins to migrate to the mitochondria and them functioning as expected and rescuing cells with mtDNA mutations in their ATP6 and ND4 genes. They seem to be stressing the result for ATP6 so maybe the result for ND4 isn't as clear-cut. How many left out of the 13 then?

"Microsatellite Instability and Compromized Mismatch Repair Gene Expression During In Vitro Passaging of Monoclonal Human T Lymphocytes" by Simona Neri, Graham Pawelec, Andrea Facchini, and Erminia Mariani. I don't know enough about T-cells, mismatch repair or microsatellite instability to even understand what this study was about.

"The Olive Constituent Oleuropein Exhibits Proteasome Stimulatory Properties In Vitro and Confers Life Span Extension of Human Embryonic Fibroblasts" by Magda Katsiki, Niki Chondrogianni, Ioanna Chinou, A. Jennifer Rivett, and Efstathios S. Gonos. 15% is the claimed lifespan extension on fibroblasts.

"Oxidative Stress of Neural, Hematopoietic, and Stem Cells: Protection by Natural Compounds" by R. Douglas Shytle, Jared Ehrhart, Jun Tan, Jennifer Vila, Michael Cole, Cyndy D. Sanberg, Paul R. Sanberg, and Paula C. Bickford. Lower oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in some human cells in vitro when given some code-named natural compound.

"Examination of Cognitive Function During Six Months of Calorie Restriction: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial" by Corby K. Martin, Stephen D. Anton, Hongmei Han, Emily York-Crowe, Leanne M. Redman, Eric Ravussin, Donald A. Williamson, and for the Pennington CALERIE Team. Randomised controlled CR study on humans. These are rare. Checked to see if there was any cognitive impairment but found none. 12 people per group, so it would have had to have been a big effect to have been found, but still something.

"Oxidative DNA Damage Repair and parp 1 and parp 2 Expression in Epstein-Barr Virus-Immortalized B Lymphocyte Cells from Young Subjects, Old Subjects, and Centenarians" by Marta Chevanne, Corinne Calia, Michele Zampieri, Barbara Cecchinelli, Riccardo Caldini, Daniela Monti, Laura Bucci, Claudio Franceschi, and Paola Caiafa. They find some properties of B-cells in centenarians that resemble the properties found in young people and differ from old non-centenarians (sub-centenarians?). I never buy these ones.

"Mathematical Models for the Proliferation of Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells in Clonogenic Culture" by Bao Feng Ma, Xiao Mei Liu, Ai Xia Zhang, Peng Wang, Xiu Ming Zhang, Shu Nong Li, Bruce T. Lahn, and Andy Peng Xiang. What it says on the title. Without access to the paper, can't tell anything about the model.

"Mitochondrial Oxygen Consumption and Reactive Oxygen Species Production are Independently Modulated: Implications for Aging Studies" by Gustavo Barja. Claims that sometimes higher oxygen consumption means lower ROS production. eg aerobic exercise, chronic exercise, hyperthyroidism and dietary restriction. Also, that it is lower in long-lived birds than in mammals of the same size.

"Long-Term Low-Calorie Low-Protein Vegan Diet and Endurance Exercise are Associated with Low Cardiometabolic Risk" by Luigi Fontana, Timothy E. Meyer, Samuel Klein, and John O. Holloszy. Raw vegans and runners were healthier than normal people, all groups around 53 (11) years. Lower weight, plasma lipids, lipoproteins, glucose, C-reactive protein, blood pressure and carotid artery intima-mdedia thickness. Also, raw vegans had lower BP than runners.

In the first page of the now-seemingly-regular column surveying theses, there is a thesis looking at parental imprinting comparison in cattle between cloned and natural animals, and finding big variability among cloned animals, and differences from natural animals, especially mentioning IGF2.