From: Scott Badger (wbadger@psyberlink.net)
Date: Sat Jun 12 1999 - 11:01:20 MDT
> wbadger@psyberlink.net writes:
>
> << Wasn't someone on the list looking for a life expectancy calculator?
> Here's
> one at MSNBC. Well, you know how much I love polls. >>
>
> Do you have a URL for this?
>
> William
Shoot, I'm sorry. Here it is.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/quizzes/lifex.asp
And here's the MSNBC article that had the link if you're interested.
*****************************
Extending your life, through genetics
New research in worms points to promise of living until 180
By Charlene Laino
MSNBC
June 10 - Imagine taking a drug that offers the promise of allowing
you to live to be 180 - without suffering such crippling disabilities as
arthritis or fatigue. That may no longer be the stuff of science fiction,
thanks to new studies in genetics. While the work has so far only be done in
worms, there is every reason to think it may be applicable to humans.
"IF WHAT we're finding in lower organisms hold true for humans, it is
possible that we might know how to change the rate of aging in humans within
20 years," said Cynthia Kenyon , a professor of biochemistry and biophysics
at the University of California at San Francisco.
"Every animal ages at a different rate - a mouse only lives two
years, a canary lives 13 years and a bat can live 50 years," she said. The
reason is because of their genes, she added, which makes it logical that
genes control the rate of aging.
And now her new studies show that the genes that control aging are
the same genes that control hormones involved in food metabolism - "a most
fundamental process," as she puts it. Kenyon discussed her research on
anti-aging at an American Medical Association media briefing Thursday.
In her new work, Kenyon has been focusing on a small worm called C.
elegans, studying what makes the worm age.
According to Kenyon, there are many similarities between the cells of
worms and other animals. "Its cells have to grow and divide and make tissues
, make nerve chemicals, make muscles, just like other organisms do," she
said. "The genes that control all those processes end up being the same
genes that control these processes in us."
C. elegans has a life span of about two weeks. But Kenyon found than
when the gene known as daf-2 is altered, the worm's life span doubles.
"So we now know that the worm has its own kind of death gene," Kenyon
said. "In C. elegans, this gene speeds up the aging process. When its
activity is inhibited, the worms live much longer, and remain active and
youthful for much longer than normal."
The protein in worms that regulates life span looks similar to the
hormone in humans that binds to insulin and IGF-1, which control food
utilization and metabolism, she said.
IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMANS
So what does this mean for us? In essence, it means that a simple
drug that blocks the action of such hormones might retard aging.
In the worm, her team went in and directly changed its genetic
material - telling the receptor not to bind as well to the hormone - and
thus extending life span.
"In humans, we would want to develop drugs that mimic this," she
said. "If this pans out, it is quite reasonable to think we can double life
span - and improve the quality of life, working toward eliminating aging
diseases."
The next step, Kenyon said, is to try to duplicate the work in mice.
"By about five years from now, we should know if mice are wired similarly,"
she said. "If so, it should probably hold true for humans too.
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