I was aware of telomeres. They are like a fuse that shortens every time cells replicate.
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 30, 2010, at 1:58 PM, "larry.r.trout'Aging is generally accompanied by a gradual decline in cellular and organ functioning that eventually results in increased mortality risk. One proposed mechanism for aging focuses on telomere maintenance. Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes that, for mechanical reasons, require a special copying enzyme. Human germ cells produce a complex called telomerase to maintain telomere length; other human cells do not. As a result, the telomeres of most cells get shorter with each cell division. Eventually, their reduced length activates DNA damage signaling pathways that induce the cell to enter a sort of senescence…
Ron DePinho and his colleagues have just added telomerase back into these telomerase deficient mice to see if this would halt, or possibly even reverse, the tissue degeneration. Their report appears in Nature.
First, they determined that the reinstated telomerase works; when it was induced in cultured cells, it elongated telomeres. Moreover, the cells were no longer subjected to DNA damage signals, so they resumed proliferating. '
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
reverse aging
Re: reverse aging
On Nov 30, 2010, at 1:58 PM, "larry.r.trout
'Aging is generally accompanied by a gradual decline in cellular and organ functioning that eventually results in increased mortality risk. One proposed mechanism for aging focuses on telomere maintenance. Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes that, for mechanical reasons, require a special copying enzyme. Human germ cells produce a complex called telomerase to maintain telomere length; other human cells do not. As a result, the telomeres of most cells get shorter with each cell division. Eventually, their reduced length activates DNA damage signaling pathways that induce the cell to enter a sort of senescence…
Ron DePinho and his colleagues have just added telomerase back into these telomerase deficient mice to see if this would halt, or possibly even reverse, the tissue degeneration. Their report appears in Nature.
First, they determined that the reinstated telomerase works; when it was induced in cultured cells, it elongated telomeres. Moreover, the cells were no longer subjected to DNA damage signals, so they resumed proliferating. '
Monday, November 29, 2010
Discovery Health "Caffeine and Adenosine"
spiral. For example, once the adrenaline wears off, you face fatigue and
depression. So what are you going to do? You consume more caffeine to
get the adrenaline going again. As you might imagine, having your body
in a state of emergency all day long isn't very healthy, and it also
makes you jumpy and irritable.
The most important long-term problem is the effect that caffeine has on
sleep. Adenosine reception is important to sleep, and especially to deep
sleep. The half-life of caffeine in your body is about six hours. That
means that if you consume a big cup of coffee with 200 mg of caffeine in
it at 3:00 p.m., by 9:00 p.m. about 100 mg of that caffeine is still in
your system. You may be able to fall asleep, but your body will probably
miss out on the benefits of deep sleep."
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/drugs-alcohol/caffeine3.htm
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
New Microscope
From: larry.r.trout
'For the first time, there is no need to chemically fix, stain or cut cells in order to study them. Instead, whole living cells are fast-frozen and studied in their natural environment. The new method delivers an immediate 3-D image, thereby closing a gap between conventional microscopic techniques.
The new microscope delivers a high-resolution 3-D image of the entire cell in one step. This is an advantage over electron microscopy, in which a 3-D image is assembled out of many thin sections. This can take up to weeks for just one cell. Also, the cell need not be labelled with dyes, unlike in fluorescence microscopy, where only the labelled structures become visible. The new X-ray microscope instead exploits the natural contrast between organic material and water to form an image of all cell structures. Dr. Gerd Schneider and his microscopy team at the Institute for Soft Matter and Functional Materials have published their development in Nature Methods.'
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101119102354.htm
Saturday, November 20, 2010
An Introduction to TerraPower
Bill Gates also talks about this ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieX88nBFVS4&feature=related
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Young Double-Slit Experiment
http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/kenny/papers/quantum.html
I was somewhat familiar with this already, but I didn't understand what they meant in the TV show about "observation" so this link allowed me to deepen my understanding.
More on the double slit experiment can be found here ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment