Issue 1, 2008

By the abstracts:

"Human Embryonic Stem Cell Telomere Length Impacts Directly on Clonal Progenitor Isolation Frequency" by Nicholas R. Forsyth and Jim McWhir. They identify and grab some partially differentiated hESCs that divide a lot and count how many times they can divide. They measure the length of the telomeres of the parent hESCs and say that the number of times that the offspring divided matches the telomere-bound limit. They also insert hTERT and I think they are saying that the offspring can then replicate forever but I'm not clear about this. Did this end up being true? Sounds pretty good if it did.

"Embryonic Stem Cells: From Markers to Market" by Kaushik Dilip Deb, Anitha Devi Jayaprakash, Vijay Sharma, and Satish Totey. Review paper about safety epigenetic markers, stemness gene-expression markers and lineage gene-expression markers in hESCs.

"Epigenetic Engineering and Its Possible Role in Anti-Aging Intervention" by Alexander M. Vaiserman. Hypothesises that the hormetic effect on lifespan might come about through a common epigenetic mechanism regardless of the type of stressor. Seems to be talking about early-life mild stressors only.

"Long-Term Treatment with a Yang-Invigorating Chinese Herbal Formula Produces Generalized Tissue Protection Against Oxidative Damage in Rats" by Po Yee Chiu, Hoi Yan Leung, Ada Hoi Ling Siu, Na Chen, Michel K.T. Poon, and Kam Ming Ko. Spruiking Vigconic 28. Tested on female rats, claims to have increased copper-zinc superoxide dismutase levels and general oxidant damage resistance in tissue and mitochondria.

"Fatty Acid Profile of Erythrocyte Membranes As Possible Biomarker of Longevity" by Annibale A. Puca, Peter Andrew, Valeria Novelli, Chiara Viviani Anselmi, Francesco Somalvico, Nicola A. Cirillo, Chryssostomos Chatgilialoglu, and Carla Ferreri. 90-something year olds have more monounsaturated and less long polyunsaturated fatty acids in their red blood cells.

"Immunoproteasome in Macaca fascicularis: No Age-Dependent Modification of Abundance and Activity in the Brain and Insight into an in silico Structural Model" by Elena Bellavista, Michele Mishto, Aurelia Santoro, Carlo Bertoni-Freddari, Richard B. Sessions, and Claudio Franceschi. Not really sure. They find no difference in activity of these proteasome proteins in young and old in different parts of the brains of crab-eating macaques, except in one area. They also built a model of something, but it's all beyond me.

"Lifelong α-Tocopherol Supplementation Increases the Median Life Span of C57BL/6 Mice in the Cold but Has Only Minor Effects on Oxidative Damage" by Colin Selman, Jane S. McLaren, Claus Mayer, Jackie S. Duncan, Andrew R. Collins, Garry G. Duthie, Paula Redman, and John R. Speakman. What the title says. Cold means 7 degrees. 785 days vs 682 days. 44 in each group.

"Elastin Haploinsufficiency Induces Alternative Aging Processes in the Aorta" by Mylène Pezet, Marie-Paule Jacob, Brigitte Escoubet, Dealba Gheduzzi, Emmanuelle Tillet, Pascale Perret, Philippe Huber, Daniela Quaglino, Roger Vranckx, Dean Y. Li, Barry Starcher, Walter A. Boyle, Robert P. Mecham, and Gilles Faury.  Elastin is synthesised only in early life (!). Mice (+/-) on Eln had same lifespan, but looked like they had vascular issues early, typical of stiff arteries, but didn't have the issues later with arterial wall thickening and alpha-1-adrenoceptor-mediated vasoconstriction.

"Paraoxonase 1: Genetics and Activities During Aging" by Francesca Marchegiani, Maurizio Marra, Fabiola Olivieri, Maurizio Cardelli, Richard W. James, Massimo Boemi, and Claudio Franceschi. Paroxonase-1 is an enzyme that protects lipids from peroxidative damage. This is a review of its possible effects on human longevity.

"Hypermagnesemia Predicts Mortality in Elderly with Congestive Heart Disease: Relationship with Laxative and Antacid Use" by Graziamaria Corbi, Domenico Acanfora, Gian Luca Iannuzzi, Giancarlo Longobardi, Francesco Cacciatore, Giuseppe Furgi, Amelia Filippelli, Giuseppe Rengo, Dario Leosco, and Nicola Ferrara. 3-year survival of 17.3 vs 22.5 months of hypermagnesia vs normomagnesia in 200 CHF >65 year old patients. Other measurements too.

"Exercise Training Promotes SIRT1 Activity in Aged Rats" by Nicola Ferrara, Barbara Rinaldi, Graziamaria Corbi, Valeria Conti, Paola Stiuso, Silvia Boccuti, Giuseppe Rengo, Francesco Rossi, and Amelia Filippelli. Lot of cites of this one for some reason. Aging reduced SIRT1 activity in the heart but not in the fat. Decreased MnSOD and catalase in both. Increased oxidation markers in both. Exercised old rats had higher MnSOD and catalase in both. Increased FOXO3a protein in the heart and mRNA in the fat. Increased SIRT1 in the heart.

"Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Prognostic Index for One-Year Mortality from Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment in Hospitalized Older Patients" by Alberto Pilotto, Luigi Ferrucci, Marilisa Franceschi, Luigi P. D'Ambrosio, Carlo Scarcelli, Leandro Cascavilla, Francesco Paris, Giuliana Placentino, Davide Seripa, Bruno Dallapiccola, and Gioacchino Leandro. Also a crapload of cites. 63-variable classifier with a 0.751 ROC on 6-month and 1-year mortality. 850 people in each of the training and validation set.

"Human Sarcopenia Reveals an Increase in SOCS-3 and Myostatin and a Reduced Efficiency of Akt Phosphorylation" by Bertrand Léger, Wim Derave, Katrien De Bock, Peter Hespel, and Aaron P. Russell. Tons of cites. Fast-muscle cross-sectional fibre area 45% lower in 70-year olds compared to 20-year olds. Higher myostatin, TNF-alpha, SOCS-3, total, but not phosphorilated, Akt, GSK-3beta. Lower growth hormone reeptor and IGF-1 mRNA.

"Effect of Senescence on Macrophage Polarization and Angiogenesis" by Dru S. Dace and Rajendra S. Apte. Review of age-related changes in innate immune system, especially macrophages and eye disease.

"Response to Histamine Allows the Functional Identification of Neuronal Progenitors, Neurons, Astrocytes, and Immature Cells in Subventricular Zone Cell Cultures" by Fabienne Agasse, Liliana Bernardino, Bruno Silva, Raquel Ferreira, Sofia Grade, and João O. Malva. A brain one. I suck at brain ones. They distinguish type of neurons by grabbing one and pumping histamine or potassium chloride on it and seeing how their calcium-ion levels changed.

"Dietary Supplementation Exerts Neuroprotective Effects in Ischemic Stroke Model" by Takao Yasuhara, Koichi Hara, Mina Maki, Tadashi Masuda, Cyndy D. Sanberg, Paul R. Sanberg, Paula C. Bickford, and Cesar V. Borlongan. Gave rats blueberry, green tea, vitamin D3 and carnosine, then gave them a stroke. Treated rats did better. 8 rats per group.

"Tonic β-Adrenergic Drive Provokes Proinflammatory and Proapoptotic Changes in Aging Mouse Heart" by Aihua Hu, Xiangying Jiao, Erhe Gao, Yonghai Li, Said Sharifi-Azad, Zvi Grunwald, Xin L. Ma, and Jian-Zhong Sun. Older mice had higher inducible nitric oxide synthase, CRP and myocardial apoptosis. Can generate those same issues in young mice by pumping isoproterenol, a beta-adrenergic receptor stimulator.

"Zinc Supplementation in the Elderly Reduces Spontaneous Inflammatory Cytokine Release and Restores T Cell Functions" by Laura Kahmann, Peter Uciechowski, Sabine Warmuth, Birgit Plümäkers, Axel M. Gressner, Marco Malavolta, Eugenio Mocchegiani, and Lothar Rink. Zinced up 19 old people. Cytokine release went down, and something else, claiming lower inflamation but better immune response.

"Cognitive Training Is Ineffective in Hypoxemic COPD: A Six-Month Randomized Controlled Trial" by Raffaele Antonelli Incalzi, Andrea Corsonello, Luigi Trojano, Claudio Pedone, Domenico Acanfora, Aldo Spada, Orsola Izzo, and Franco Rengo. Cognitive training plus standard care did no better than standard care for people with COPD on cognitive performance at 6 months. 50 people per group. Negative results always sound more believable.

"An Inverse Association Between Self-Reported Arthritis and Mortality in the Elderly: Findings from the National Long-Term Care Survey" by Alexander M. Kulminski, Irina V. Kulminskaya, Svetlana V. Ukraintseva, Kenneth Land, and Anatoli I. Yashin. Strange one: people who reported to have arthritis lived longer. Relative risk 0.81. Result of fishing?