People Over 65 Need to Keep Moving

A new study at the UC San Diego’s Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science has concluded that older people need to perform at least light-intensity physical activity such as a casual walk or even shopping to protect mobility. Out of women over 65, it is shown that 1 in 4 are unable to walk 2 blocks or go up a flight of stairs. This is a condition called mobility disability and can promote a person’s loss of independence as it is the leading type of incapacity in the U.S.

Researchers found that women that included light-intensity physical activity for the greatest amount of time and did not have a mobility disability at the beginning of the study had a 40 percent less chance to lose any mobility. This was over a 6-year period.

It was important to note that all physical activity, not just moderate-to-vigorous counts. Light-intensity physical activity also will maintain a women’s mobility later in life.

To perform the study, 5,735 women over 63 that lived in the U.S. and had enrolled in the Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health study, wore a research-grade accelerometer. After 7 days, accurate measures of their physical activity were obtained. The participants had spent 4.8 hours per day in light-intensity physical activity.

The results showed that 46 percent of the women that performed light-intensity physical activity had a lower risk of mobility loss. The women that had performed less than light-intensity physical exercise had more risk of mobility loss. The women that had a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or below showed the strongest benefit. But women that were obese also showed reduction of mobility disability.

As we age, it becomes harder and harder to perform moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Therefore, these findings may have major impacts on recommendations for public health. Focus on light-intensity physical activity would be of more importance to healthy aging of older women. This would help older women maintain their mobility and independence.

Older people that have a mobility disability have been shown to have more hospitalizations and have higher health care costs. Women seem to have a disproportionate amount of mobility disability. Results showing that light-intensity physical activity could help with mobility could help a woman have better mobility as she ages.

To view the original scientific study click below:
Evaluation of Light Physical Activity Measured by Accelerometry and Mobility Disability During a 6-Year Follow-up in Older Women

New Soft Contact Lenses used as Diagnostic Tool

There is a new soft contact lens technology that can help diagnose certain eye conditions soon to be implemented for clinical trials. Researchers at Purdue University along with biomedical, chemical and mechanical engineers, and clinicians have developed this new technology. They have developed soft contact lenses to be used as a bioinstrumentation tool to obtain information that is important to diagnose underlying ocular health conditions.

By using the soft contact lens, it can be a painless way to discover early ocular diseases, such as glaucoma. It has always been a goal to utilize contact lenses in biomedical platforms.

Currently, soft contact lenses couldn’t be used as sensors because technology to fabricate them had to use a rigid, planar surface. This proved to be incompatible with a contact lens that has a soft, curved shape.

The team has created the use of ultrathin, stretchable biosensors that are seamless. They used wet adhesive bonding with soft commercial contact lenses to embed the biosensors. They are then able to deliver a record of the electrophysiological retinal activity from the cornea. In the past this has not been done without requiring topical anesthesia for pain.

Using this new technology, doctors and scientists would better be able to understand ocular activity with greatly improved reliability and accuracy with no pain to the patient.

To view the original scientific study click below:

All-printed stretchable corneal sensor on soft contact lenses for noninvasive and painless ocular electrodiagnosis

Burn Fat Faster By Being More Fit

Physiologists have found that the greatest predictors of men’s and women’s abilities to burn fat are their fitness level and their biological age. A team of sports nutritionists have conducted new research that has shown that women who are healthy and fit are likely to burn more fat when exercising than men.

It is important to people how their body burns fat for insulin sensitivity, great metabolic health, and for reducing the risk of Type II diabetes. However, for endurance type sports competitions like cycling or running, how our body will burn fat can be the difference between failure and success.

Earlier research from the current team has shown how the body’s carbohydrates of athletes competing in distance events deplete stores quickly while exercising. This shows that athlete’s abilities to tap into fat reserves to continue to fuel them forward becomes necessary to their individual performance.

The initial study included 73 healthy adults who were 19-63 and included 32 women and 41 women. The study tested the biological factors for ideal fat burning and lifestyle through asking the participants to participate in a fitness test utilizing a bicycle and measuring all key indicators.

The results discovered that women and of them those who were most physically fit across the age ranges, burned fat more efficiently during exercise.

The second study then took the first stage further to look at what molecular factors in our fat tissue and muscles determine exactly how fat is burned. This test involved the team taking muscle and fat biopsies from the participants for analyzing how the differences in proteins in muscle tissue and fat could affect the ability to burn fat.

The team discovered that proteins found in muscle which are part of the process of breaking down stored fat into smaller fatty acids, and additionally proteins which are part of transporting the fatty acids into the mitochondria in muscle which are the cell’s powerhouse, regularly were linked to a greater ability for fat burning. However, the molecular factors looked at did not indicate why women burned more fat than the males in the study.

The team’s analysis shows that women typically have a larger reliance on fat for fuel while exercising than men. Through understanding what mechanisms are behind the differences in use of fuel between the sexes might help in explaining why women seem to have a metabolic advantage to insulin sensitivity which is a vital indicator of metabolic health.

The team notes that a person’s ability to burn fat for fuel seems to protect against weight gain in the future which ensures great management of a person’s weight. They do caution that a person’s ability for fat burning should not be associated with their ability to lose weight. Weight loss is mainly produced through a deficient in energy (taking in less calories than what is expended).

Managing weight is mostly about a balance in energy. In order to lose weight a person needs to consume fewer calories than what is expended through physical activity and resting metabolism. People who have an increased ability to burn fat for fuel however, appear to be a bit protected from future weight gain which could be associated to how burning fat affects energy expenditure and food intake.

To view the original scientific studies click below:
Resting skeletal muscle ATGL and CPT1b are associated with peak fat oxidation rates in men and women but do not explain observed sex/differences
Determinants of Peak Fat Oxidation Rates During Cycling in Healthy Men and Women

Detecting Bone Healing Stem Cells With Nanotechnology

Researchers at the University of Southampton have succeeded in the development of a novel method of using nanomaterials to not only identify but also enrich stem cells found in the skeletal system which can potentially lead to the development of new treatments for repair of damaged or lost bone and serious bone fractures.

Working as a team, chemists, physicists and tissue engineering experts employed uniquely designed gold nanoparticles to look for very specific stem cells in bone. They created a fluorescent glow which revealed the stem cells presence around other stem cell types and permitted them to be enriched or isolated.

This new technique is quicker and simpler than other methods and close to 50 to 500 times more successful at enriching the stem cells.

The team used gold nanoparticles which are tiny particles that are composed of gold atoms, coated with oligonucleotides which are strands of DNA to optically sense specific signatures of messenger RNA of skeletal stem cells found in bone marrow. Under a microscope, when the stem cells are detected, the nanoparticles will release a fluorescent dye which makes these stem cells distinguishable from cells in the same area. These stem cells can now be separated through the use of a state of the art fluorescence cell sorting process.

Through identifying stem cells found in the skeletal system, scientists have the ability to grow the cells in pre-identified conditions which enables the formation and growth of cartilage tissue and bone, as an example to help heal broken bones.

Due to challenges involved with an aging population, the need for both cost effective and novel methods of bone repair are needed. One in five men ad one in three women are at risk of osteoporotic fractures throughout the world and costs are significant.

The team has been researching stem cell based therapies for bone over the past 15 years in an effort to understand the development of bone tissue and how to generate cartilage and bone. At the same time another group had been designing novel nanomaterials and also studying applications of the material in the fields of energy and biomedical sciences. The new study brings both the disciplines together and is an example of the impact interdisciplinary and collaborative work an achieve.v

Some of the most promising and exciting areas for bone regenerative medicine and bone disease treatment for the aging population is skeletal stem cell formed therapies. The latest studies have harnessed distinctive DNA sequences from targets which the team believes can enrich skeletal stem cells. And by using Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS), they have achieved enriching stem cells from bone in patients. The identification of distinctive markers is known as the holy grail in bone stem cell biology. And while there is a ways to go, the studies have produced a marked change in researcher’s ability to identify and target bone stem cells in humans and the optimistic therapeutics that lie within.

The correct material design is important to their application to complex systems. By customizing the nanoparticles chemistry, they programmed specific functions within the design. They designed nanoparticles which were coated with short DNA sequences which were able to sense specific RNA in skeletal stem cells. Combined with advanced FACS gating strategies, this enabled the sorting of the cells that are relevant to human bone marrow.

A major feature of the nanomaterial design requires strategies that regulate the density of oligonucleotides which are on the surface of the nanoparticles which will assist in avoiding DNA enzymatic degradation of the cells. The fluorescent reporters which are on the oligonucleotides enabled the team to watch the status at different stages of the nanoparticles which ensured the quality of the endocellular sensor.

The team are now applying the sequencing of single cell RNA to the platform technology that was developed with all the partners. They have proposed to then move forward with clinical applications with preclinical bone formation studies in order to produce proof of concept studies.

To view the original scientific study click below:
Enrichment of Skeletal Stem Cells from Human Bone Marrow Using Spherical Nucleic Acids

Aging Brain Stem Cells Reactivated

Throughout our lifetime, brain stem cells will generate new neurons. As we age and also in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, neural stem cells will lose their ability to produce and proliferate new neurons which can lead to declines in memory functions. A team of researchers at the Brain Research Institute of the University of Zurich, have found a mechanism that is linked to aging of stem cells and in addition how to reactivate the production of neurons.

Protein type structures found in the nuclei or neural stem cells insure that proteins which are harmful and accumulate over time unevenly distribute onto two daughter cells when cells divide. This appears to be a vital job of the cell’s ability to multiply over a long period so as to maintain the store of neurons. As we age, the amounts of the nucleic proteins will change which results in a defective distribution of the harmful protein between the daughter cells resulting in a decrease of numbers of the newly generated neurons found in the brains of older aged mice.

The main element with this process is a nuclear protein known as lamin B1. The levels of this protein decrease as we age. When the research team increased the levels of lamin B1 during experiments with aging mice, division of stem cells improved and the numbers of new neurons increased.

As we age, stem cells throughout the entire body will slowly low their ability to multiply. By using cutting edge microscopic technology and genetic engineering, the team identified a mechanism this is linked to this process.

This research is one part of a variety of ongoing projects which are aimed at reactivating stem cells that have aged. Regenerating damaged tissue typically declines with the aging process which affects just about all stem cell types in the body. Although the current study was limited to stem cells in the brain, mechanisms which are similar have a good chance at playing a significant role in the process of aging of other stem cells.

These findings are a major step forward in exploring age dependent changes with stem cell behavior. Knowing that aging stem cells in the brain can be reactivated gives hope that these discoveries will help increase the levels of neurogenesis in aging people and also those who suffer from a variety of degenerative diseases.

To view the original scientific study click below:
Declining lamin B1 expression mediates age-dependent decreases of hippocampal stem cell activity

For Weight Loss Vegan Vs. Mediterranean Diet

For promoting healthy weight loss, a recent study has shown that a diet that is low-fat vegan just might be more effective than the mediterranean diet. If the studies results are accurate, people who are desiring to lose weight and in addition are wanting to improve their overall health, they can now practice a more eco-friendly and effective diet option.

A lot of people advocate for the mediterranean diet since it involves consuming plenty of vegetables, fruits, olive oil and legumes and limiting consumption of red meat and saturated fats. There is new evidence that following a vegan type diet which avoids all animal based foods can offer similar benefits.

A 2020 review has shown that a vegan diet is associated with a minimum of 11 significant health benefits including risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer.

For the current study, the team set out to compare the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and a vegan diet. Earlier studies suggested that both diets improve cardiometabolic risk factors and body weight. The team decided to test both diets and discovered that the vegan diet was more effective for boosting weight loss and improving markers of health.

The team’s findings might be great news for people who are wanting to maintain or reach a moderate weight and also improve a variety of health metrics and reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease. In the current study 62 adult participants who were overweight consumed either a mediterranean diet or a low-fat vegan diet for 16 weeks. They were told they did not need to limit their calories or make any medication or exercise changes.

The adults who followed the mediterranean diet following the PREDIMED Study protocol which involved eating mostly fruits, vegetables, extra virgin olive oil, legumes, fish and low-fat dairy while limiting their saturated fat and red meat intake. The adults who followed the low-fat vegan diet were told to avoid all animal based foods and limit their intake of foods that are fatty.

After the 16 week period, the participants were told to return to their normal diet habits for a period of 4 weeks. After that period, the participants switched diets for another 16 week period.

The team reports that in the 16 week periods, the low-fat vegan diet regularly showed:

Greater loss of fat that is visceral over the mediterranean diet. Average weight loss was 13 pounds while the mediterranean diet did not produce any mean change.

Reduction in insulin resistance and an increase in insulin sensitivity whereas the mediterranean diet showed no significant changes.

A larger loss of fat mass. Reductions in bad LDL cholesterol were 15.3 mg/dl and18.7 mg/dl in the total cholesterol levels whereas the mediterranean diet showed no significant changes.

The team did note that both of the diets resulted in lower blood pressures with the mediterranean diet reducing by about 6.0 mm/Hg and the Vegan diet reduced it by 3.2 mm/Hg.

The team believes that the vegan diet most likely led to weight loss because the diet will naturally lead to reduced calorie consumption. This diet also led to reductions in saturated and fat intake overall and an increase in fiber intake.

The mediterranean diet does allow for high fat foods including dairy products, vegetable and nut oils and fatty fish.

The study did have some limitations. The team could not control just how tightly the participants followed the diets. Additional studies will focus on how the low-fat vegan diets affect risk factors for cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol over longer periods.

To view the original scientific study click below:
A Mediterranean Diet and Low-Fat Vegan Diet to Improve Body Weight and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: A Randomized, Cross-over Trial

Improve Brain Health With Diet

According to new research at Binghamton University, State University of New York, diet could be the key to improving brain health. The evidence suggests that just eating a healthy diet will not work for everyone. Lifestyle, diet, age and gender also need to be considered.

There are differences in people that mental health therapies need to consider. For instance, people between the ages of 18-29 and people over 30 years and men versus women have a different level of brain maturity.

The research team surveyed people to discover their food and dietary intake, the amount of exercise they get and other lifestyle habits between the different ages and genders. From 2014-2019 they surveyed over 2,600 people through a questionnaire on social media posts. The data was collected at different times of the year and they found significant contributors to mental distress, such as depression and anxiety, that related to diet and lifestyle.

They found among young women that improved mental health included breakfast daily, a moderately high level of exercise, infrequent fast food and low caffeine consumption. Among mature women, good mental health included daily exercise and breakfast including eating a significant amount of fruits and they also had less caffeine intake.

There was found to be a difference in improved mental health among men in relation to their age. Young men tended to exercise frequently, consumed moderate amounts of dairy, high level of meat consumption, a low intake of caffeine and no fast food. The mental well-being of mature men consisted of a moderate consumption of nuts.

Because the human brain is still developing in the late 20’s, the team split the people surveyed into 2 age groups. For young adults of both genders, their diet quality impacts the developing brain. The brain is still building structures as well as forming new connections at this age, therefore, these people need more nutrients and energy for this. The result of a poor diet is a high degree of mental health distress in these young people.

Age also plays a factor in mental distress with high caffeine consumption in both genders. Caffeine can stay in the system for a long time stimulating nerves, contributing to anxiety and stress.

The team also found out that men and women differ to the way the brain is wired. Men’s brains tend to enable coordination and perception, while women’s brain supports intuition and analysis. These differences can affect nutritional needs. It was found that men are affected less by diet than women. If men eat a slightly more healthy diet they tend to have good mental health. Women, in all age groups, were found to need to be eating a lot of healthy food and exercising to have a positive mental health.

To view the original scientific study click below

Diet, Exercise, Lifestyle and Mental Distress among Young and Mature Men and Women: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study

Can A Clock Measure Biological Age?

A person knows their chronological age. But knowing your biological age can prove to differ from it significantly. All people age at different speeds. To find out a person’s biological age researchers at the Univ. of Cologne have developed a method by using an ‘aging clock’. It can read an organisms biological age by its gene expression, the transcriptome.

Currently, biological age of an organism, like Horvath’s epigenetic clock, is determined by the pattern of methylations. These small chemical groups attach to DNA, thus changing with age. The new clock uses the transcriptome to consider the genes that are read from DNA to make cell proteins.

In the past, transcriptome was determined to be too complex to reveal age. Transcribing genes would result in sometimes a large amount of mRNA and sometimes a small amount. Therefore, making it impossible to develop precise aging clocks. The new approach is a mathematical trick to ignore gene activity differences. The new aging clock uses binarized transcriptome to divide genes into 2 groups, either on or off. This reduces immense variation and makes aging predictable. By making this simple procedure the accuracy of biological age is close to the theoretical limit of accuracy. This can even occur with higher ages, which, in the past has been hard to measure because of high gene activity

Researchers can accurately predict with the new clock pro- and anti-aging variances of genes and use different factors influencing the nematode in a young person. They also discovered the clock revealed that genes signalling in neurons and of the immune response are important to the aging process.

To be able to measure a person’s biological age can be important in determining the environmental influence, a person’s diet and any therapies used, on the aging process in relation to age-related diseases. Therefore, this new clock has an extensive application in aging research.

To view the original scientific study click below:
BiT age: A transcriptome?based aging clock near the theoretical limit of accuracy

Injured Spinal Cord Repair Using Patient’s Stem Cells

Injuries to the spinal cord are experienced by hundreds of thousands of people each year and many people experience significant and many times permanent loss of physical sensation and movement due to the resulting nerve damage.

Treatment options are unfortunately mostly non-existent other than intensive physical rehabilitation programs which in some cases can improve outcomes. Now, recent results after a phase 2 clinical trial, fresh hope is being offered for remedies.

Researchers from Yale University and Japan have reported that injections made intravenously of bone marrow derived stem cells into patients with spinal cord injuries resulted in significant improvement in the patient’s motor functions. The thought that function restoration following injury to the spinal cord and brain using a patient’s own stem cells has been intriguing to researchers for years. There is now some hint that it may be possible in humans.

The experimental collaboration by the scientists from the US and Japan, included 13 patients who had spinal cord injuries and all experienced a range of functional improvements with their condition following treatment with an intravenous infusion of their very own stem cells which were derived from their own bone marrow.

The stem cells used are known as mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs. These are multi-potent adult stem cells which have the ability to differentiate into cell type varieties which enables them to repair cartilage, bone, fat tissue and muscle.

The patients involved in the research had experienced non-penetrating injuries to their spine. In most cases this was due to minor trauma or falls several weeks before receiving stem cells implants. The symptoms included loss of coordination and motor function, in addition to bladder and bowel dysfunction. The stem cells use were from the patient’s bone marrow and through a culture protocol which had taken a few weeks in a specialized processing center for stem cells.

For over half of patients with non-penetrating injuries to the spine, significant improvements in some of their key functions such as the ability to walk and/or use their hands, was noted within weeks of the stem cell injections. Of the patients treated and all of whom sustained injuries to their spine during serious physical accidents, all except one showed improvements in key motor or sensory functions by six months following the infusion. And no significant side effects were noted.

Intravenously infused MSCs might not only affect the site of injury, but other parts of the central nervous system including blood and brain vessels. It is unclear whether than can explain some of the results that were seen, but certainly outcomes are notable.

The team do emphasize that further research is needed in order to confirm the findings of this early, unblinded trial which they say could take years. However, they remain optimistic given the challenges. Results that have been similar with stem cells in people who have experienced stroke does increase their confidence that their approach could be clinically useful.

The current research is a culmination of substantial pre-clinical lab work utilizing bone marrow derived stem cells.

To view the original scientific study click below:

Intravenous infusion of auto serum-expanded autologous mesenchymal stem cells in spinal cord injury patients: 13 case series

Daily Mix of 5 Vegetables and Fruits for Longer Life

A large study conducted by scientists at Harvard University has shown that the “five a day” rule for consuming 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day can lower risk of death. The maximum benefit of 3 servings of veggies and 2 servings of fruit each day may be the optimal combination and amount for longer life, and consuming more than that of either was not shown to be linked to any better longevity.

The findings do support the U.S. diet recommendations to consume more vegetables and fruits with the simple message of 5 per day. In America just 1 in 10 people actually consume 3 servings of veggies and 2 servings of fruit on a daily basis. The average person in American consumes just 1.5 servings of veggies per day and just one serving of fruit per day.

The research team followed and analyzed data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurse’s Health Study. These 2 studies included over 100,000 adults whom of which were tracked for over 3 decades. The data sets from both studies included very detailed dietary information which was repeatedly obtained every two to four years. For the analysis, the team pooled data on vegetable and fruit intake and also death obtained from 26 studies which included 29 territories and countries which included South and North America, Africa, Europe, Australia and Asia and close to 1.9 million participants.

The analysis of all of the studies including a composite of over 2 million participants showed the following:

Consumption of about 5 servings of vegetables and fruits daily was linked to a lower risk of death with more than that not showing any extra benefit.

When compared to people who ate just 2 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, there was a 12% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, 13% lower risk of death due to all causes, 35% lower risk of death resulting from a respiratory disease, and a 10% lower risk of death due to cancer.

Not all foods that might be considered vegetables and fruits showed the same benefits. Starchy veggies such as corn and potatoes and peas were not linked to the reduced risk of death due to all causes or any specific diseases which are typically chronic.

Green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, kale, and spinach and vegetables and fruits which are rich in Vitamin C and Beta Carotene such as carrots, berries and citrus fruits indicated benefits.

To confirm their findings, the team conducted a meta-analysis of 26 additional studies which involved two million participants. The findings were found to be similar with the largest reduction in death happening at the five per day mark. The results in U. S. women and men showed results similar to those from 26 around the world. The indicates the biological plausibility of the team’s findings and also has suggested that the findings can be applied to more populations.

There is a limitation to the analysis since it is an observational study with dietary data being self-reported and might be inaccurate therefore causation cannot be proved. However, the study does provide large support for the idea that consuming more veggies and fruits is good for people.

Diets which are rich in vegetables and fruits help in reducing the risk of a variety of chronic health problems which are leading roots of death. These include cancer and cardiovascular disease. The American Heart Association has recommended that people fill a minimum of ½ their plate with vegetables and fruits for each meal.

To view the original scientific study click below:
Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality: Results From 2 Prospective Cohort Studies of US Men and Women and a Meta-Analysis of 26 Cohort Studies

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