The Blog of Record

 This can be a new and fun way of getting stem cells into the brain to treat conditions like Parkinson’s, strokes and Alzheimer’s – or maybe even boost your intelligence, if a way is found to make stem cells improve a person’s IQ:

New Scientist reports from the latest Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS – all about reversing the aging process) conference in Cambridge UK and reveals some scientists find they can deliver stem cells into mouse brains with nose drops.

Since proteins, bacteria and viruses can enter the brain this way, Lusine Danielyan at the University Hospital of Tübingen in Germany, and her colleagues, wondered if stem cells would also migrate into the brain through the cribriform plate.

To test their idea, they dripped a suspension of fluorescently labelled stem cells into the noses of mice. The mice snorted them high into their noses, and the cells migrated through the cribriform plate. Then they travelled either into the olfactory bulb – the part of the brain that detects and deciphers odours – or into the cerebrospinal fluid lining the skull, migrating across the brain. The stem cells then moved deeper into the brain.

Now all we need are stem cells suitably programmed to, for example, replace aged neurons, aged glial cells, and even aged cells in brain arteries and veins. Then snort up.

Life expectancy in the U.S. continues to increase and has reached 75.3 years for men and 80.4 years for women:

U.S. life expectancy reached nearly 78 years (77.9), and the age-adjusted death rate dropped to 760.3 deaths per 100,000 population, both records, according to the latest mortality statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 2007 increase in life expectancy – up from 77.7 in 2006 — represents a continuation of a trend. Over a decade, life expectancy has increased 1.4 years from 76.5 years in 1997 to 77.9 in 2007.

Some other interesting findings:

Record high life expectancy was recorded for both males and females (75.3 years and 80.4 years, respectively). While the gap between male and female life expectancy has narrowed since the peak gap of 7.8 years in 1979, the 5.1 year difference in 2007 is the same as in 2006.

For the first time, life expectancy for black males reached 70 years.

The U.S. mortality rate fell for the eighth straight year to an all-time low of 760.3 deaths per 100,000 population in 2007 — 2.1 percent lower than the 2006 rate of 776.5. The 2007 mortality rate is half of what it was 60 years ago (1532 per 100,000 in 1947).

Between 2006 and 2007, mortality rates declined significantly for eight of the 15 leading causes of death.

There were an estimated 11,061 deaths from HIV/AIDS in 2007, and mortality rates from the disease declined 10 percent from 2006, the biggest one-year decline since 1998.

I wonder what the numbers would be without the widespread obesity of recent decades.

Arizona State researchers are working on reversing aging by rejuvenating cells in the human body. The idea is to remove disease-causing contaminants fom them by using enzymes found in all sorts of organisms, from bacteria and flowers to mammals.

Born in the 19th century, died in the 21st. George Francis was too small of stature to enlist during WWI, but being small and light is supposed to be good for longevity.

Edna Parker was born in 1893 and lived alone in her farmhouse till age 100 after becoming a widow in 1939. She never drank alcohol or smoked and was always physically active, but the main part of living so long is still the right genetics.

They are stronger and healthier in their old age, and their resistance to cancer is inherited.

“If we were to parallel it to humans, then it would mean reaching 120 years of age and also to start ageing much later in life.”

Someone who does manage to “parallel it to humans” is going to make a lot of money.

Awhile ago, Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit linked to this article on how the longevity of a species has a lot to do with the resistance of its mitochondria to oxidative damage. This resistance is determined by the composition of the membranes in a species’ mitochondria and other cellular membranes.

The article, however, doesn’t say what makes one species’ cellular membranes more resistant than another’s – or what we can do to help our membranes fight off those mean free radicals and live longer.

When I was reading it, though, I remembered seeing an article somewhere that dealt with these questions. It took a while but I have found it – it’s on Dr. Michael R. Eades’s blog.  The gist of the matter is that it’s saturated fat that makes the membranes resistant to oxidation. And it’s the higher proportion of saturated fat in the diet that makes one species much more long-living than another, closely related one.

Because these free radicals are loosed within the mitochondria, the closest molecules for them to attack are the fats in the mitochondrial membranes. If enough of these fats are damaged, the membrane ceases to work properly. If enough of the membrane doesn’t work, the entire mitochondrium is compromised and ceases functioning. If enough mitochondria bite the dust, the cell doesn’t work and undergoes apoptosis, a kind of cellular suicide. This chronic damage and loss of cells is the basic definition of aging.

Our defense against free radicals, then, really comes in two forms. First, the production of antioxidants within the mitochondria, and, second, by making the fats in the mitochondrial membrane less prone to damage. How can we do that? By making them more saturated.

Saturated fats aren’t prone to free radical attack – only unsaturated fats can be damaged by free radicals.

How can we increase the saturation of our membranes? By eating more saturated fat.

Be sure to check out the comments – that’s where Dr. Eades answers all questions.

Dr. Eades is one of the few experts who don’t buy the government-adopted “carbs are the basis of a healthy diet” nonsense. One problem I have with him, though, is his promoton of that abominable “slow burn” parody of resistance training. What’s wrong with lifting weights like a man?

And here is another article on the same blog on the importance of eating enough saturated fat to keep your cellular and mitochondrial membranes healthy.

Looks like even more data supporting the health benefits of an Atkins-type diet.