03.25.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:00 am by heaven
Presently available medical technology is always crude when compared with what's presently taking shape in the laboratory. Take cancer therapies, for example: unpleasant and painful
chemotherapy remains the state of the art in the field, but laboratories are turning out
targeted therapies with next to no side-effects, or
using the immune system to eliminate cancer.This vast gap between lab and clinic is made particularly pronounced by the heavy burden of regulation that ensures commercial development of new therapies is expensive and slow, where it takes place at all. Yet even with this ball and chain, and even lacking the impressive technology still in trials, trends in results of therapy are still moving in the right direction. This is aptly illustrated by this data on cancer survival:
New data and analyses from a long-running study of cancer survival in Europe have shown that the number of people actually cured of cancer - rather than just surviving for at least five years after diagnosis - is rising steadily.
A special issue of the European Journal of Cancer [1] containing reports from the EUROCARE-4 Working Group, includes, for the first time, an estimate of the proportions of patients who are cured of their cancer in Europe and who, therefore, have a life expectancy equal to that of the rest of the population. The analysis divides patients into two groups - the proportion who may be considered cured of their disease and who are likely to die of something else, and those who will die of their cancer.
The study compared two periods - 1988-1990 and 1997-1999 - and found the proportion of patients estimated to be cured of lung, stomach and colorectal cancers increased from 6% to 8%, from 15% to 18% and from 42% to 49%, respectively.
...
"Geographic variation in the estimated proportion of patients diagnosed in 1988-1999 who were cured ranged from about 4% to 10% for lung cancer, from 9% to 27% for stomach cancer, from 25% to 49% for colon and rectum cancer, and from 55% to 73% for breast cancer."
There's a long way to go in terms of defeating cancer if you just project out that trend - but the work presently taking place in the laboratory goes far beyond trend continuation. The next generation of cancer therapies are completely new approaches and technologies that can be expected to greatly increase survival rates where they are deployed. This makes it all the more frustrating that we are saddled with a regulatory prison that prevents and discourages new medicine.
Regulatory bodies like the FDA have every incentive to stop the release of new medicine: the government employees involved suffer far more from bad press for an approved medical technology than they do from the largely unexamined consequences of heavy regulation. These consequences go far beyond the obvious and announced disapproval of specific medical technologies: the far greater cost lies in all the research, innovation and development that was never undertaken because regulatory burdens ensure there would be no profit for the developer. Personal gain for the regulator is thus to destroy the gains of people they will never meet, the exact opposite of what occurs in an open marketplace.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 1:00 am by heaven
A
short Russian language blog entry provides we decadent Westerners with a picture of the cover of the translated version of
Aubrey de Grey and Michael Rae's "Ending Aging".
Congratulations to those involved in the translation process: translation of a scientific work is never easy, especially when its focus is on research that is still cutting edge. Much of the crucial terminology in new fields is essentially made up from whole cloth or built of unusual compound words that draw on language roots and traditions of nomenclature that English and Russian may not have in common. In addition, precision of translation is important, as positions of understanding are built up over many succeeding steps - an incorrectly translated early stage can render whole pages of information nonsense.
Ending Aging is a dense, informative, and valuable book, as well as a call to action for an age in which we could, collectively, be doing far more to reverse the damage of aging than is presently taking place. The more people who have the chance to read Ending Aging, the better.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 1:00 am by heaven
I'm sure you've all already noticed that
Rejuvenation Research Vol 12 Number 1 is available online. I'm late as usual in pointing it out, but better late than never. I should draw your attention to one of the papers,
"Unexpected Regeneration in Middle-Aged Mice", as the
full PDF version is presently free for access in one of the journal publisher's occasional promotions.
Complete regeneration of damaged extremities, including both the epithelium and the underlying tissues, is thought to occur mainly in embryos, fetuses, and juvenile mammals, but only very rarely in adult mammals. Surprisingly, we found that common strains of mice are able to regenerate all of the tissues necessary to completely fill experimentally punched ear holes, but only if punched at middle age.
Although young postweaning mice regrew the epithelium without typical pre-scar granulation tissue, they showed only minimal regeneration of connective tissues. In contrast, mice punched at 5-11 months of age showed true amphibian-like blastema formation and regrowth of cartilage, fat, and dermis, with blood vessels, sebaceous glands, hair follicles, and, in black mice, melanocytes.
These data suggest that at least partial appendage regeneration may be more common in adult mammals than previously thought and call into question the common view that regenerative ability is lost with age. The data suggest that the age at which various inbred mouse strains become capable of epimorphic regeneration may be correlated with adult body weight.
Now this is interesting indeed. You'll recall the MRL mice that show unexpected regenerative powers, something that has been known for a few years now. What these researchers have shown is that several other species of lab-bred mice have similar unexpected regenerative capabilities. This leads me to expect that, in the years ahead, scientists will uncover a complex and interrelated network of controlling genes and biochemical processes that can be manipulated at several points to produce exceptional healing in mammals. That discovery process will look much like the ongoing work attending metabolic changes in calorie restriction - a lot of potential controlling genes, much confusion and contradiction in the early years, and progress to initial therapies on a timescale of 10 to 15 years.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 1:00 am by heaven
The
Science for Life Extension foundation did a good job of marshalling up the Russian language media for
Aubrey de Grey's recent trip to Moscow - I pointed out a
good Russian media interview at the time. By way of their labors, and either Google or Yahoo!'s machine translation services (both of which produce fairly horrible results), a selection is provided herein. There's surprisingly little hype and mangling of the message beyond that produced by the translator automation.
The brave may want to dive right ahead into the audio and multimedia offerings:
And here are a range of print articles:
Aging: How to undo the verdict?
But what constitutes aging? The first group are those that occur in the body, starting from young age. The second are those that occur at the end of life. Defects and damage in the body accumulate and lead, eventually, to aging and death. To combat these processes now used two approaches. First - Geriatric, which offers a variety of means to hinder the processes that lead to aging. Second - Gerontology, examines why and how in the normal metabolism defects arise and how you can affect the metabolism. De Gray believes that both approaches are bad, and even the researchers involved in their study, does not believe that aging can be overcome in the near future.The secret of eternal youth
Scientific lectures now rarely collect complete halls. But here both theme and persona of lecturer - everything straight-away cast a spell. Speech by British guest at the House of scientists gathered this full house.In Moscow went scholar
Aubrey believes that the scientific and medical development [will be] improved faster than the accumulated damage in the body. This is the principle of [longevity escape velocity] escape from old age. As will become available first generation therapy, people get even more healthy 20-30 years old. During this time science and medicine will find new ways of strengthening and extension of health.Scientist Aubrey de Grey
In fact, Aubrey is standing in the world scientific community. A doctoral thesis devoted to biology of aging. Defend it in Cambridge - one of the pillars of world science. And it does not promise instantaneous rejuvenation, asserting: fight with the old age - complex and long process. To be famous and created a Methuselah Foundation, which - funding for research to extend human life. Last year the fund has spent 2 million dollars worldwide. Now Aubry first came to Moscow - to seek allies.Cellular technologies will bring to humanity a thousand years younger
Renowned gerontologist Aubrey de Gray is convinced that using cellular technology in the near future, life expectancy can be increased [by] 30 years The first man, who live to 150 years, now may have 60
"I believe we can defeat aging in the near future. There is 50-percent chance that the man who was the first to live to 150 years old, is already live, and he is now 60 years old" - said De Gray on Saturday at a meeting with journalists in Moscow, organized by fund "Dynasty" and "Science for the extension of life."Extravagant [Biogerontologist] Proposes the Methods of Retaining the Eternal Youth
Aubrey De Gray (Aubrey de Grey) - the world-famous British [biogerontologist] working in Cambridge, the chief editor of Rejuvenation Research, the only peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to effects on the aging process. His main research interests - the study of cellular and molecular damage in human aging, as well as the development of methods for the rejuvenation of the body based on the removal of lesions.British gerontologist considers that life can be extended up to 1000 years
De Gray noted that most scientists agree that aging is not associated with [a] genetic program of self-destruction, supposedly rooted in the body, [but rather with] the accumulation of defects, damage, which then leads to disease and death. Eternal youth is available in 30 years
"How do you feel about the participation of Russian research groups and organizations in your project?" - Asked Director Gray. "I have a lot of Russian colleagues in the UK and the U.S. - said the scientist. - We have not yet been funded gerontological research in Russia. But I see Russian scientists enormous scientific potential".Death can be a bum beer
What such is old age? This is a breakdown in the organism as a result of the wear of some of its components. It means in order to avoid old age, it is necessary in time to change or to clean 'spare part'.This week, staff met with the British [biogerontologist] Aubrey de Gray
Mr. de Gray, you are often accused of that, you're trying to "play God", doing research, which - extend [life]. How do you [respond to] these accusations? - Deeply convinced that the reluctance to extend the life will be terrible crime against the "higher forces". After all, aging brings pain, suffering and infirmity, it kills people. All the major religions say that we are obliged to keep suffering to a minimum. If God wants us to live up to exactly 100 years old, he will find a way to realize their vision. The Holy Scripture does not indicate that we must not ease the [sufferings of] age.
Eternal youth is available in 30 years
"In the next 25-30 years will develop the first treatment, which would extend the healthy human life for 30 years", - promises to de Gray. However, a single treatment of old age will not be able to lead to a complete rejuvenation of the body. Soon, he again begins to accumulate damage, and possibly treat it will be increasingly difficult. But these difficulties, according to de Gray, can be solved: "Progress in science is, and therapy will gradually improve".
The man who lives 1000 years has already been born
To prolong fleeting youth, to postpone inexorable old age, to conquer the diseases, which poison last year of the life of any person, these dreams disturb the imagination of people not of one hundred years. But the fantasy of scientists never stretched further 100-150 years of cheerful and healthy life. Then came Aubrey De Gray and changed the course of ideas of people about the possibilities of science. Yes who is he, the agitator of scientific calmness?
I have omitted a bunch of others that are reprints in various different media outlets, but you get the idea. Engineered longevity through the application of science is an idea that the Russian media is receptive to, it seems.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 1:00 am by heaven
I've been meaning to point out a few posts on
cryonics from elsewhere in the community, but it keeps slipping my mind. So here they are while I remember, starting with some areas ripe for improvement in the current practice of cryonics identified over at Depressed Metabolism:
Evidence Based Cryonics
There is an urgent need [for cryonics providers such as Alcor] to move from extrapolation based cryonics to evidence based cryonics. This will require a comprehensive research program aimed at creating realistic cryonics research models. It will also require vast improvements in the monitoring and evaluation of cryonics cases. The current debate should no longer be between advocates and opponents of standby and stabilization but about what stabilization procedures should be used by cryonics organizations given our current knowledge.Microvasculature perfusion failure in cryonics
Under ideal circumstances cryonics patients are stabilized immediately after pronouncement of legal death by restoring blood flow to the brain, lowering temperature, and administering medications. In most cryonics cases, however, there is a delay between pronouncement of legal death and start of cryonics procedures. In some cases there are no stabilization interventions at all. Provided that these periods of warm and cold ischemia are not too long, such patients can still be perfused with a vitrification agent. But how thorough cryoprotectant perfusion (and thus vitrification) in these cases can be remains an unresolved issue.The cryonics industry is still small, which means that despite the sterling efforts of those involved on the research and development side, little work has been done in the grand scheme of things, in comparison to the technology involved in any larger industry. Cryonics is still a good sight better than the alternative, but we shouldn't overlook the spacious room for improvement.
On that note, I see that Robin Hanson is offering to debate anyone for an hour on the topic of cryonics, and provides another of his examinations as to just how rational it is to be signed up for cryosuspension:
More precisely, if folks are reasonably smart about when to try to revive you, your total revival chance is something like a sum across all future times of such calculations, each one given no destructive failed prior attempt. If you make 50K$/yr now, and value life-years at twice your income, and discount future years at 2% from the moment you are revived for a long life, but only discount that future life based on the chance it will happen, times a factor of 1/2 because you only half identify with this future creature, then the present value of a 5% chance of revival is $125,000, which is about the most expensive cryonics price now.
So cryonics might be an economically sound choice - based on the way in which people tend to value predictions about the future, and under Hanson's model - even when that prediction is for a low chance of success. This has similarities to the structure of Pascal's Wager, though I'm sure someone will be by to tell me why that's an inaccurate comparison.
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