Longevity Science

Please Support the Longevity Study

2011-10-08T18:25:00.012-05:00

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are tremendously beholden to the many generous Foundations, which have made grant support to our Longevity Study over the years.

Now only 8% of grant applications submitted to the National Institute on Aging are funded. Thus, it is extremely hard to obtain research funding today.

Therefore, in this difficult economy we are especially hopeful of engaging individuals who are interested in funding some aspect of our studies.

If you would like to discuss with Dr. Gavrilov such a possibility, please do not hesitate to contact him by email: lagavril@yahoo.com

If you would like to directly make a donation to the Longevity Study, just click here:
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Thank you!

Special thanks to our new sponsors:

- Life insurance site called http://www.aptusinsurance.com

Home:
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Please Support the Longevity Study
Shorter weblink:
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Key words: Philanthropy, Altruism, Donation, Fundraising, Longevity Studies, Aging Research

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Conference on Biomarkers of Aging in Chicago, October 25

2011-10-06T18:21:00.008-05:00

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am pleased to alert you about upcoming Conference on Biomarkers of Aging and Health in Chicago on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011:

http://biomarkers.uchicago.edu/ChicagoBiomarkerWorkshop.htm

If you are interested in participating in this Conference you can register at the following link:

http://biomarkers.uchicago.edu/Reg2011.asp

Hope this information may be interesting to you,

Looking forward to see you there!

-- Leonid

-------------------------------------------------
-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D., GSA Fellow
Center on Aging, NORC at the University of Chicago
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
Our books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html
Donate: http ://tinyurl.com/donate-to-longevity-science

Home:
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Conference on Biomarkers of Aging in Chicago, October 25
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/CCBAR-conference

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Donate

2011-10-02T22:03:00.007-05:00

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Thank you so much for your continuing interest in our longevity studies!

Following your kind advice we are pleased to establish a simple way to support further research on extension of healthy lifespan, just by clicking here:

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Thank you!

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Longevity Science: Donate
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/donate-to-longevity-science

Key words: Philanthropy, Altruism, Donation, Fundraising, Longevity Studies, Aging Research

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New Study on Human Aging, Mortality and Longevity

2011-08-05T17:51:00.017-05:00

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are pleased to share with you the results of our new study, just published by a professional journal Demografie:

Ageing and Longevity:
Mortality Laws and Mortality Forecasts for Ageing Populations
Demografie, 2011, 53(2): 109-128.

Full text is available online at:
http://longevity-science.org/pdf/Demografie-2011.pdf

If you have any difficulty reading Czech, the English translation is available here:

http://longevity-science.org/pdf/Demografie-English-2011.pdf

Abstract:

The increase in the number of people surviving to an advanced age poses a serious challenge to the government pension systems of industrialised societies. Therefore, accurate estimates of mortality at advanced ages are essential to improve forecasts of mortality and the population size of the oldest old age group.

In this article the authors present some new approaches to mortality and population projections at older ages using Swedish period life table data. Using two simple assumptions about age- and time patterns of mortality change (log-linear decline of mortality over time and exponential growth of hazard rates with age up to very advanced ages), the authors made mortality projections for Swedish males and females for the next fifty years.

Keywords:

ageing population, mortality laws, Gompertz-Makeham law, background (component of) mortality, senescent (component of) mortality, mortality at advanced ages, mortality forecast

Comments and suggestions are most welcome!

To read and post comments, click here.

Best wishes,

-- Leonid and Natalia

-------------------------------------------------
-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D., GSA Fellow
-- Natalia Gavrilova, Ph.D., GSA Fellow
Center on Aging, NORC at the University of Chicago
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
Our books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
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New Study on Human Aging, Mortality and Longevity
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/Demografie-2011

Help Us Fund the Research on Extension of Healthy Lifespan, by clicking here:
Thank you!

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Meetings in Belgium and France ?

2011-04-30T18:11:00.010-05:00

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We wonder whether some of you are located in Belgium or France?

We will be there on May 7 - 11 (in Belgium) and May 23 - 28 (in France and Belgium), giving presentations on aging and longevity studies.

We may have some time slots for informal meetings and conversations there, if you are interested.

If you are interested, please write us to:

gavrilov(AT)longevity-science.org

Best wishes,

-- Leonid and Natalia

P.S.: Here is our travel itinerary, just in case:

- Arrive to Brussels on Sunday, May 8
- Leave Brussels on Thursday, May 12
- Arrive to Brussels again on Sunday, May 22
- Leave Brussels on Tuesday, May 24
- Arrive to Paris on Tuesday, May 24
- Leave Paris on Sunday, May 29

Possible topics of our talks:

http://longevity-science.org/invited_talks.html
and
http://longevity-science.org/present.html

-------------------------------------------------
-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D., GSA Fellow
-- Natalia Gavrilova, Ph.D., GSA Fellow
Center on Aging, NORC at the University of Chicago
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
Our books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
Meetings in Belgium and France ?
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/Belgium-France

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Meeting in Washington, DC ?

2011-03-20T15:40:00.003-05:00

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We wonder whether some of you are located in Washington, DC or nearby?

We will be there on March 27 - April 3, giving four presentations on aging and longevity studies.

We may have free slots for informal meetings and conversations on Tuesday-Wednesday, March 29-30, if someone is interested.

If you are interested, please write us to:

gavrilov(AT)longevity-science.org

Best wishes,

-- Leonid and Natalia

-------------------------------------------------
-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D., GSA Fellow
-- Natalia Gavrilova, Ph.D., GSA Fellow
Center on Aging, NORC at the University of Chicago
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
Our books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

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Our best papers on aging, mortality and longevity

2011-03-06T21:21:00.016-06:00

Dear friends,

We are pleased to share with you our best (most cited) papers on aging, mortality and longevity studies. You can easily get the full text of each publication just by clicking on the titles below. Comments and suggestions are most welcome!

1.
Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. The reliability theory of aging and longevity. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2001, 213(4): 527-545.
Cited 211 times, Journal Impact Factor: 2.574

2.
Gavrilov, L.A., Gavrilova, N.S. Evolutionary theories of aging and longevity. TheScientificWorldJOURNAL, 2002, 2: 339-356.
Cited 74 times, Journal Impact Factor: 1.658

3.
Gavrilova, N.S., Semyonova, V.G., Evdokushkina G.N., Gavrilov, L.A. The response of violent mortality to economic crisis in Russia. Population Research and Policy Review, 2000, 19: 397-419.
Cited 68 times, Journal Impact Factor: 0.718

4.
Gavrilova, N.S., Gavrilov, L.A., Evdokushkina G.N., Semyonova, V.G., Gavrilova, A.L., Evdokushkina, N.N., Kushnareva, Yu.E., Kroutko, V.N., Andreyev, A.Yu. Evolution, mutations and human longevity. Human Biology, 1998, 70(4): 799-804.
Cited 51 times, Journal Impact Factor: 0.531

5.
Gavrilov, L.A., Gavrilova, N.S. Season of birth and human longevity. Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine (now Rejuvenation Research), 1999, 2(4): 365-366.
Cited 50 times, Journal Impact Factor: 4.138

6.
Gavrilov, L.A., Gavrilova, N.S. Parental age at conception and offspring longevity. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 1997, 7: 5-12.
Cited 42 times

7.
Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova, N.S., Kroutko, V.N., Evdokushkina, G.N., Semyonova, V.G., Gavrilova, A.L., Lapshin, E.V., Evdokushkina N.N., Kushnareva, Yu.E. Mutation load and human longevity. Mutation Research, 1997, 377(1): 61-62.
Cited 39 times, Journal Impact Factor: 3.556

8.
Gavrilov, L.A., Gavrilova, N.S. Biodemographic study of familial determinants of human longevity. Population, 2001, 13(1): 197-222.
Cited 29 times, Journal Impact Factor: 0.542

9.
De Grey, Aubrey D. N., Leonid Gavrilov, S. Jay Olshansky, L. Stephen Coles, Richard G. Cutler, Michael Fossel, and S. Mitchell Harman. Antiaging technology and pseudoscience. Letter. Science, 2002, 296: 656-656.
Cited 28 times, Journal Impact Factor: 29.747

10.
Carnes, B.A., Olshansky, S.J., Gavrilov, L.A., Gavrilova, N.S., Grahn, D. Human longevity: Nature vs. Nurture - fact or fiction. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 1999, 42(3): 422-441.
Cited 25 times, Journal Impact Factor: 1.084

11.
Gavrilov, L.A., Gavrilova, N.S. Is there a reproductive cost for human longevity? Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine (now Rejuvenation Research), 1999, 2(2): 121-123.
Cited 24 times, Journal Impact Factor: 4.138

12.
Gavrilov, L.A., Gavrilova, N.S. When Fatherhood Should Stop? Letter. Science, 1997, 277(5322): 17-18.
Cited 21 times, Journal Impact Factor: 29.747

Total number of citations for 10 top articles: 616

Book:
The biology of life span: a quantitative approach
LA Gavrilov, NS Gavrilova - 1991 - Harwood Academic Publishers
Cited 323 times

Book in Russian:
Биология продолжительности жизни
ЛА Гаврилов, НС Гаврилова - 1991
Cited 40 times

Source:
http://scholar.google.com/

Home:
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Our best papers on aging, mortality and longevity
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Press Release - News from Moscow, Russia

2011-02-17T20:11:00.009-06:00

Team of surgeons from B.V. Petrovsky Russian Research Centre of Surgery of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, lead by professor Vladimir Parshin, first time in Russia performed the transplantation of trachea without immunosuppression based on the regenerative medicine approach.

The successful transplantation, that was made due to international cooperation on December 7, 2010, gave a new chance for life for 25 years’ old women. The patient had a severe and life-threatening stenosis of all trachea. She was not operable by classical means and would only benefit from a tracheal total replacement.

After having treatment in several countries – China, Israel, USA - with no success, she returned to Russia and came to the Centre of Surgery on very “right” moment. The specialists of this Center have just started the collaboration with professor Paolo
Macchiarini, well-known surgeon and specialist in the regenerative medicine who is Professor of Regenerative Surgery at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and Director of the Department of General Thoracic and Regenerative Surgery and Intrathoracic Biotransplantation at the University Hospital Careggi in Florence. Russian specialists visited Florence in September 2010 and learned the method of professor Macchiarini in his lab.

According this method, the donor’s trachea is preparing during 17-20 days with many cycles of washing to eliminate all the donor cells – this allows to avoid immunosuppression after transplantation. After that the decelluarized trachea was repopulated with own stem and epithelial cells of the patient.

During several weeks after transplantation the patient’s body plays role of bioreactor in which the new organ is being formed. By now in Western Europe there was performed nine transplantations based on this method. The 10th was made in Russia. In this country this is the beginning of developing of regenerative medicine which may become an alternative for diseases of not only the upper airways but also will open new possibilities for regeneration of other organs.

This transplantation was supported by Russian Foundation “Science for Life Extension” which financed this project and organized the international collaboration.

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Press Release - News from Moscow, Russia
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What is wrong with season-of-birth studies?

2011-02-14T18:52:00.011-06:00

Important alert on studies of season-of-birth effects:

"While discussing studies of month-of-birth effects, it is important to be aware of methodological problems and pitfalls.

In some cases a simplistic approach is applied to study the effects of month of birth on human lifespan: mean ages at death are calculated for people born in different months using cross-sectional data (i.e., death certificates collected during a relatively short period of time [38]).

This methodology is flawed and can produce both false positive and false negative findings.

For example, if the seasonality of births and infant mortality were more expressed in the past, then the month-of-birth distribution of people would differ in different age groups of the population, thus producing a spurious month-of-birth effect on lifespan (if erroneously estimated through mean age at death). This mistake happens because the mean age at death depends on the age distribution of living people, which may differ depending on month-of-birth. Thus, even if the month of birth does not affect adult lifespan, nevertheless a false positive finding may occur, simply because the effects of population age structure are not taken into account.

On the other hand, month-of-birth effects could be overlooked by this cross-sectional method if the seasonal effects on age-specific mortality rates are proportional. This false negative finding happens because proportional changes in death rates produce a proportional changes in the numbers of deaths in all age groups, and such proportional changes in numbers have no effect on the mean age at death. Thus, a false negative finding may occur, because cross-sectional analysis of death records is blind to proportional changes in age-specific death rates.

In our study we avoided this simplistic cross-sectional analysis of death records as a flawed methodology. Instead we applied a cohort approach by following people born in the same calendar years until the last person died (method of extinct generations)."

Cited from pages 34 -36 in:

Gavrilov, L.A., Gavrilova, N.S.
Early-life factors modulating lifespan.
In: Rattan, S.I.S. (Ed.).Modulating Aging and Longevity.
Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2003, 27-50.

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What is wrong with season-of-birth studies?
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Wishlist of Longevity Researcher

2011-02-13T23:03:00.006-06:00

1.
R for Stata Users (Statistics and Computing)

2.
Maximum Likelihood Estimation with Stata, Fourth Edition

3.
An Introduction to Stata Programming

4.
Data Management Using Stata: A Practical Handbook

5.
The Workflow of Data Analysis Using Stata

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Wishlist of Longevity Researcher
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/wishlist-2011

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International Conference 'Living to 100'

2011-02-08T20:33:00.016-06:00

Dear Friends,

Recently we were invited to give two lectures at the International Conference 'Living to 100', as well as to be invited discussants there (for more information please click on the titles below):

"Living to 100" Society of Actuaries International Symposium
Orlando, Florida, January 5-7, 2011
Renaissance Hotel at SeaWorld

Concurrent Session "Mortality Compression," -- Discussion
Wednesday, January 5, 10:00 - 11:45am

Dr. Leonid Gavrilov -- Early-Life Predictors of Exceptional Longevity in the United States: Why Centenarians are Different from Their Shorter-Lived Siblings
Thursday, January 6, 10:00-11:45am

Dr. Natalia Gavrilova -- Mortality Measurement and Modeling Beyond Age 100
Friday, January 7, 8:00-9:45am

Here are some interesting evaluation results (excerpts based on participants feedback) for this conference distributed by the Organizing committee among the conference participants (over 200 experts from all over the world) :

"I particularly appreciated the fact that the speakers chosen reflected the broad range of opinions on mortality, aging and longevity. The only presentation which I was not satisfied with was that of Prof. Hayflick.

Despite being extremely accomplished in his own field, his views on the broader topic of longevity and mortality are his own personal and private views, and should be kept out of a public debate.

When choosing prominent figures from scientific backgrounds, the organizing committee might in future try to ensure that the presenters talk about topics they actually know about.

Sitting through a diatribe against longevity research from expressed by a grumpy old microbiologist was close to insufferable. "

Strong words indeed!

I wonder how common are such frank comments in evaluations you have ever seen?

You are welcome to comment by clicking here

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International Conference 'Living to 100'
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Season Greetings!

2010-12-19T19:29:00.042-06:00

Dear Friends,

Our Season Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year to you!

When a New Year approaches, we often try to summarize what has happened during the ending year.

This year our research team has published two papers on aging and longevity topics:

Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A.
Search for Mechanisms of Exceptional Human Longevity.
Rejuvenation Research, 2010, 13(2-3): 262-264.

Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S.
Demographic Consequences of Defeating Aging.
Rejuvenation Research, 2010, 13(2-3): 329-334.

We hope perhaps you may find these publications interesting.

Please post your comments and suggestions below, by clicking here.

Also this year we gave nine invited talks in Germany, Canada, Belgium, Bermuda, Russia and USA:

1. International Congress "Our Common Future"
Hannover - Essen, Germany, November 2-6, 2010
Keynote lecture: -- How do Changes in Human Longevity Impact on our Demography?
Thank you letter from the Organizing Committee

2. CARP Conference on a New Vision of Aging
3rd Annual Conference of Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) on Aging & Health
Toronto, Canada, Thursday, October 28, 2010
Dr. Natalia Gavrilova and Dr. Leonid Gavrilov
Invited talk: -- Human Longevity and a New Vision of Aging

3. ImmInst International Conference on Longevity
Brussels, Belgium, October 9-10, 2010
Dr. Leonid Gavrilov -- Reliability Theory of Aging and Longevity
Dr. Natalia Gavrilova -- Demographic Impact of Life Extension

4. 8th Insurance-Linked Securities Summit
The Fairmont Southampton Hotel, Bermuda, July 14th – 16th 2010
Invited talk: -- How Long Will We Live in the 21st Century?
Download Summit brochure

5. Hannover Life Reassurance Bermuda Limited, Bermuda
Invited talk: -- " Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity"
July 14, 2010, Hamilton, Bermuda

6. International Conference "From Homo sapiens to Homo sapiens liberatus"
Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, May 25-26, 2010.
Invited talk: -- "Comparative analysis of parameters of human ontogenesis and senescence"

7. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
Population Studies Center
Invited talk: -- "Biodemography of exceptional longevity"
April 26, 2010

8. 2010 Chicago Actuarial Association Workshop, Chicago, USA Invited talk: -- "Predictors of Exceptional Longevity (New Developments and Findings)"
March 9, 2010, Chicago, USA

9. International Conference
"Bioenergetics: from the past till the present - how to make Homo sapiens liberatus?"
A.N.Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State
University, Moscow, Russia, February 22-24, 2010.
Leonid Gavrilov "Biodemography and perspectives of human lifespan extension"
Natalia Gavrilova "Comparative analysis of parameters of human development and senescence"

We also made scientific presentations at:

-- Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA

-- Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Dallas, USA

-- Longevity Consortium, New Orleans, USA

If you are interested in our lectures and/or scientific cooperation, please contact us at:

gavrilov(at)longevity-science.org

Also please keep us informed on new interesting job opportunities in our research area.

Thank you, and Happy New Year!

Kind regards,
– Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova

http://longevity-science.org/

P.S.: Please post your comments and suggestions below, by clicking here.

Our picture at the Gerontological Society of America meeting in New Orleans with 104-old Japanese phisician, Dr. Saburo Shochi (courtesy of Professor Leonard Poon):

From left to right:
Natalia Gavrilova, Saburo Shochi, Leonid Gavrilov

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International Longevity Conference in Brussels

2010-09-21T21:53:00.010-05:00

Dear Friends,

International Conference on aging and longevity studies will take place in Brussels on October 9 -10, 2010:

http://www.imminst.org/Conference2010

We are invited to give two lectures there:

1. Reliability Theory of Aging and Longevity

2. Demographic Impact of Life Extension

Hope to see you there!

By the way, what would be your advice what to do and to see in Belgium and nearby countries after the conference?

Also we have a nostalgic feelings about Louvain-la-Neuve, where we lived and worked in 1995-1996, having a EU grant. We would love to visit this place again after the conference for a couple of days. Do you know any people there, who are still actively involved in aging, mortality and longevity studies? Please advise.

Thank you, and looking forward to hear from you,

Kind regards,

-- Leonid and Natalia

--------------------------------------------------------
- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D. , GSA Fellow
- Natalia Gavrilova, Ph.D. , GSA Fellow
Center on Aging, NORC/University of Chicago
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
Our books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

Home:
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Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/Longevity-Brussels-2010

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Birthday Idea

2010-08-28T22:35:00.019-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear Friends!

Today is my birthday.

I am 56 years old now.

It's hard to comprehend how fast the time is passing by.

In my heart I still feel myself like a student.

However in my mind I understand that the length of my remaining healthy life is declining every day because of aging.

Of course this is not just my own problem - aging affects everyone.

There is a hope that science may help to address the problem of human aging and limited lifespan:

http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/2009/03/unusual-source-of-inspiration.html
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/d9mgga

To succeed with this life extension project we need support from clever wealthy persons.

Persons who clearly understand that their remaining lifespan is too short for them to use sensibly all their accumulated wealth.

If you do know personally such clever wealthy individuals, please forward them this message.

In this way you may help to yourself and your loved ones too.

Thank you, and loooong years of healthy and happy life to you!

Home:
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Birthday Idea
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/war-on-aging

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Longevity in the 21st century?

2010-07-07T22:29:00.009-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear Friends,

Do you know any new reputable publications, discussing the following topics:

1. What will be human longevity (life expectancy) in developed countries by years 2050 and 2100?

2. What factors will play a major role in the extension of longevity?

3. What factors are likely to increase mortality from some specific diseases in the future?

Also if you have your own studies and publications on related topics, please let me know, so that I could cite and acknowledge them at upcoming lecture at the international conference in Bermuda:

http://www.ilsbermuda.com/Event.aspx?id=317100#leonid_gavrilov

And here is the power-point presentation of our invited talk:

How Long Will We Live in the 21st Century?

http://longevity-science.org/Gavrilov-ILS-Bermuda.ppt

By the way, what would be your advice what to do and to see in Bermuda after the conference?

Thank you, and looking forward to hear from you,

Kind regards,

-- Leonid

--------------------------------------------------------
- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D. , GSA Fellow
Center on Aging, NORC/University of Chicago
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
Our books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
Longevity in the 21st century?
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/Bermuda-2010

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Scientific Meeting in Moscow - “From Homo sapiens to Homo sapiens liberatus”

2010-06-18T13:07:00.015-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear Friends!

We are pleased to share with you the program of international scientific conference on aging and longevity, which was held at Moscow State University recently (with our participation and presentation there)

You can see the Power-Point-Presentation of our study here:

"Comparative analysis of parameters of human ontogenesis and senescence"

http://longevity-science.org/Ontogenesis-Senescence.ppt

Any comments and suggestions are most welcome!

========================================

Workshop “From Homo sapiens to Homo sapiens liberatus”

25 May

9.15-9.45 Registration, coffee

9.45-12.00 Chairman, D.B. Zorov

9.45-10.00 V.P. Skulachev. Introductory remarks

10.00-10.45 V.P. Skulachev and M.V. Skulachev The present state of the art of SkQ Megaproject

10.45-11.00 Discussion

11.00-11.15 B. Cannon. Effects of SkQ1 on progeric “Mutator mice” (report 1)

11.15-11.30 Discussion

11.30-11.45 J. Nedergaard. Effects of SkQ1 on progeric “Mutator mice” (report 2)

11.45-12.00 Discussion

12.00-12.30 Coffee break

12.30-14.30 Chairmen, B. Cannon, V.I. Kapelko

12.30-12.45 D.B. Zorov. Effects of SkQs on kidney and brain ischemia/reperfusion injuries.

12.45-13.00 Discussion

13.00-13.15 B.V. Chernyak. SkQ1 accelerates dermal wound healing and arrests the age-dependent decline of this process

13.15-13.30 Discussion

13.30-13.45 N.G. Kolosova. Effects of SkQ on cataract and retinopathies in OXYS rats.

13.45-14.00 Discussion

14.00-14.15 A.A. Zamyatnin. Clinical trials of the SkQ1 drops in treatment of “dry eye”

14.15014.30 Discussion

14.30-15.45 Lunch

15.45-17.45 Chairmen, J. Nedergaard, E.I. Rogaev

15.45-16.00 V.N. Anisimov. Effects of SkQ on SHR and HER-2 mice.

16.00-16.15 Discussion

16.15-16.30 F.F. Severin. Two mechanisms of antioxidant activity of SkQs.

16.30-16.45 Discussion

16.45-17.00 D.A. Cherepanov. Possible role of the Complex III bound cardiolipin dimer in initiation of mitochondrial lipid peroxidation

17.00-17.15 Discussion

17.15-17.30 S. A. Nedospasov. Unexpected features in mice with mutant cytochrome c.

17.30-17.45 Discussion

17.45-18.15 Coffee break

18.15-18.30 R. Zinovkin. How counterproductive programs could escape elimination by natural selection?

18.30-18.45 Discussion

18.45-19.00 V. Gorbunova. Naked mole-rat, a rodent lacking the senescence program, in comparison with his senescing relatives.

19.00-19.15 Discussion

19.45-20.15 Chairmen, G. Libertini, L. Gavrilov

19.15-19.30 A. Siluanov. Naked mole-rat, a cancer-resistant animal.

19.30-19.45 Discussion

19.45-20.00 H.S. Saunders. Programmed vs stochastic aging mechanisms.

20.00-20.15 Discussion

26 May

9.30-12.00 Chairmen, J. Mitteldorf, S.A. Nedospasov

9.30-9.45 K. Lewis. Examples of counterproductive genetic programs in prokaryotes.

9.45-10.00 Discussion

10.00-10.15 N. Gavrilova. Comparative analysis of parameters of human ontogenesis and senescence.

10.15-10.30 Discussion

10.30-10.45 G. Libertini. Aging in wild nature.

10.45-11.00 Discussion

11.00-11.15 T. Goldsmith. Biological functions of aging.

11.15-11.30 Discussion

11.30-12.00 Coffee break

12.00-14.00 Chairmen, T. Goldsmith, B.V. Chernyak

12.00-12.15 J. Mitteldorf. Evolvability, a necessary component of biological evolution

12.15-12.30 Discussion

12.30-12.45 C.J. Hauser. Appearance of mitochondrial DNA and formyl methionine in the blood induces programmed death of organism, resembling septic shock.

12.45-13.00 Discussion

13.00-13.30 General discussion

13.30-13.45 A.G. Ryazanov. An enzyme which shortens the lifespan

13.45-14.00 Discussion

14.00-15.30 Lunch

15.30-16.45 Discussion on establishment of the Homo sapiens liberatus (HSL) movement. Chairman V.P. Skulachev

16.45-17.00 Concluding remarks

========================

Abstract of our presentation:

Comparative analysis of parameters of human ontogenesis and senescence

Natalia S. Gavrilova and Leonid A. Gavrilov
Center on Aging, NORC and The University of Chicago

The idea of this study is to compare standard deviations for parameters, which are known to be determined by the developmental program (such as ages of sexual maturity) with variation of characteristics related to aging (such as menopause and death).

One of the arguments used by the opponents of programmed aging is a too high variation in individual lifespans compared to the observed variation of programmed events (such as the age of sexual maturation). The main objective of this study is to test the validity of this argument.

Presentation provides the first results on this topic of scientific studies. In particular, data available in the scientific literature on variability of ages at sexual maturation (menarche), menopause and death are compared to results obtained from the nationally representative survey of adult population of the United States (MIDUS) as well as official life table data.

It is shown that standard deviations for age at onset of menarche are about 10 times smaller than standard deviations for ages of death. Such a difference corresponds well to a difference in mean values of ages when menarche and death occur. Thus, the adjusted variability (coefficient of variation) for age at death is of a similar order of magnitude as that for ages at onset of menarche.

=======================================

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

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Bionics in medicine of the future

2010-02-14T11:01:00.007-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

"Bionics in medicine of the future" - this is the title of a public lecture by Spanish transplantologist Paolo Macchiarini, which will be held on February 24, 2010 in the conference hall of the rector's building of the Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy.    The lecture is organized by Dmitry Zimin foundation "Dynasty", in collaboration with research foundation "Science for life extension", at whose invitation Paolo Macchiarini will visit Russia for the first time.

Bionics - is a completely new approach in modern medicine, a symbiosis of biological and synthetic materials, which can help to build functional organs in the human body.

Paolo Macchiarini managed to achieve just this: In 2008, Professor Macchiarini led an international team of scientists who performed the transplantation of patient trachea grown out of her own stem cells on donor scaffold in bioreactor.

Four days later the trachea has taken root so well, that it was difficult to distinguish it from adjacent sections of the respiratory tract.   Just a month later, this trachea brought up its own network of blood supply.

Another unique operation was held in October 2009 - this time the organ was formed inside the patient's body without the use of bioreactor.

Professor Macchiarini is convinced that the regeneration of organs, the formation of an entire organ or a part of it inside the human body can solve almost all problems that modern medicine still can not resolve. In his opinion, this will become possible very soon - within five years. In order to do this, we must create an infrastructure that would integrate scientific research in this area with medical practice. That is he is actively engaged in, promoting achievements and opportunities of regenerative medicine, as a scientist and a surgeon in one person.

Macchiarini pace of life is immeasurable - he manages to visit several countries in a week, where h operates or makes presentations. As recently as early this year, he received a new assignment - the post of head of the department of thoracic and regenerative surgery and biotransplantation at the University of Florence, where under his leadership the bionics is being born now - medicine of the future.

But it should be, at least pan-European system, so the professor continues to operate in Barcelona, and continues scientific work at University College London. And now he drew his attention to Russia and is ready to cooperate with our clinics, so that this approach be developed here.   The first step - holding a master class in regenerative medicine for Russian specialists in cellular technology, transplantologists, which is organized by Foundation "Science for Life Extension" on February 19, in collaboration with Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.   Applications for participation are coming from dozens of institutes and laboratories of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Ekaterinburg.

And what tasks the bionics should accomplish in one, five or ten years - is a subject of upcoming discussion between Paolo Macchiarini and the staff of the Russian research Foundation "Science for Life Extension."    The product of such discussion will be a section "Bionics", which will be included into a comprehensive interdisciplinary research program "Science against aging."

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Season Greetings!

2009-12-22T19:48:00.049-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear Friends,

Our Season Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year to you!

When a New Year approaches, we often try to summarize what has happened during the ending year.

This year our research team has published the following papers on aging and longevity topics:

Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A. Aging Populations: Russia/Eastern Europe. In: P. Uhlenberg (Editor), International Handbook of the Demography of Aging, New York: Springer-Verlag, 2009, pp.113-131.

Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. Personal Profile. Interview with Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova. Rejuvenation Research, 2009, 12(5): 371-374.

Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A. Genetic Influences in Later Life. In: D. Carr (Editor), Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development, Macmillan Reference USA, 2009, vol.3, pp.165-170.

Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. Demographic Consequences of Defeating Aging. [Meeting Abstract]. Rejuvenation Research, 2009, 12( Suppl. 1): 29-30.

Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A. Search for Mechanisms of Exceptional Human Longevity. [Meeting Abstract]. Rejuvenation Research, 2009, 12( Suppl. 1): 30.

Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. Body Size in Midlife and Exceptional Longevity: A Study of the US WWI Draft Registration Cards. [Meeting Abstract]. The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging, 2009, 13( Suppl. 1): 178-179.

Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. Parental Longevity Influences on Mortality Trajectories in Humans. [Meeting Abstract]. The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging, 2009, 13( Suppl. 1): 551.

We hope perhaps you may find some of these publications interesting.

Please post your comments and suggestions below, by clicking here.

Also this year we gave invited talks at:

-- Lectures "Contemporary methods of mortality analysis", Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

-- International Scientific Conference "Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence" (SENS4), Cambridge, England

-- Scientific Workshop "War on Aging: Strategies", Pushino, Russia

As well as scientific presentations at:

-- Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting, Atlanta, USA

-- XIXth IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Paris, France

-- Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Detroit, USA

-- Scientific conference of the International Network on Health Expectancy (REVES),Copenhagen, Denmark

This year we attended two fascinating scientific meetings:
-- Longevity Consortium, San Diego, USA

-- Longevity Summit, Manhattan Beach, USA

Also this year we are elected to become Fellows of the Gerontological Society of America:
-- GSA Fellowship for Leonid Gavrilov

-- GSA Fellowship for Natalia Gavrilova

If you are interested in our lectures and/or scientific cooperation, please contact us at:

gavrilov(at)longevity-science.org

Thank you, and Happy New Year!

Kind regards,
– Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova

http://longevity-science.org/

P.S.: Please post your comments and suggestions below, by clicking here.

Fellowships of the Gerontological Society of America:

.

New Interview on Aging and Longevity Studies

2009-12-16T22:02:00.032-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

We are pleased to share with you our new interview given to a popular-scientific journal recently. It is planned to be published in January next year. Comments and suggestions are welcome!

1. You are a proponent of the virtually unlimited lifespan hypothesis, based on the engineering model of human damage-ability and repair-ability. What is the strongest evidence in support of this view? How soon can we expect implementation of therapies based on this paradigm?

Yes, we believe that there is no fixed upper limit to the duration of human life, and the evidence in support of this view is presented in our scientific book "The Biology of Life Span" ( http://tinyurl.com/3apdj9 ). Specifically, a section in this book entitled "Is there a species-specific life span limit?" (pages 125-132) presents data on human mortality at advanced ages, which are incompatible with the idea of absolute upper limit to human life span. Instead of anticipated catastrophic growth of death rates with age, as we approach to a hypothetical longevity "brick wall", the death rates actually grow slower than predicted (the phenomenon of the so-called "late-life mortality deceleration" and "late-life mortality leveling-off"). Thus the limits to human longevity are of probabilistic rather than deterministic nature.

As for the time schedule for implementation of anti-aging interventions, our position on this topic is published in the scientific magazine "Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine", 2002, 5(3): 255-263 ( http://longevity-science.org/Interview-JAAM.pdf ). In short, it looks like the rates of aging had already started to decline in developed countries after 1950s, presumably because of better control over chronic inflammation and micronutrient/vitamin deficiency, helping to decrease the rates of age-related degeneration. In other words, there is a significant plasticity of the aging process, allowing some positive interventions against it even today. Of course, we can expect implementation of much more efficient anti-aging therapies in the future, depending on the level of research funding in this area.

2. What is the current ideological picture of your field of study? We have seen lots of criticism aimed at views, like the one above, especially against A. de Grey's SENS. Is the tide turning?

Recently a new international research foundation has been established in Russia, named the ""Science for Life Extension" Foundation (http://www.scienceagainstaging.org/).
This foundation has developed a detailed research program named "Science against Aging"
( http://www.scienceagainstaging.org/Books/Program_ENG_06_2009_razv.pdf )

As for Dr. Aubrey de Grey, and his activities, he recently organized an international scientific SENS4 conference on anti-aging interventions in Cambridge, UK with hundreds of participants and reputable scientists. Detailed proceedings of this conference will be published in the scientific journal "Rejuvenation Research" early next year.

3. So, turning 100 depends on being a farmer and having at least four children. And city folks rarely live that long. What are the predictors for a long and healthy life today (bar cycling, of course :)? A few simple rules for longer life?

We have found that people born to younger mothers (younger than 25 years) have almost twice higher chances to live to 100 years, compared to later born siblings (brothers and sisters) born within the same family. This research finding is published in a peer-reviewed professional magazine "North American Actuarial Journal", 2007, 11(1): 49-67 ( http://longevity-science.org/Centenarians-NAAJ-2007.pdf ).

4. In reference to the above - haven't advances in medical care been outweighed by the proliferation of life-shortening factors (pollution, stress etc.)?

Yes, life expectancy can decrease in developed countries, as it was observed in Russia recently. Our study on this topic is published in peer-reviewed professional journal Population Research and Policy Review, 2008, 27: 551-574. ( http://longevity-science.org/pdf/Russia-PRPR-2008.pdf ).

5. Your research shows that in a few decades elderly people (60+) will become a massive 30 percent in Europe, Bulgaria being an especially extreme case. If your expectations that we can live 5000+ years prove true, the world may soon fill with centenarians (and later - with millenarians). What societal and economic changes can we expect in the short and the long run?

We do not expect that people will live 5000+ years any time soon. It should take at least 5000+ more years in order this to happen. Instead we anticipate incremental progress, when the onset of age-related diseases, disability and frailty is delayed through new anti-aging interventions. Our study on demographic consequences of defeating aging will be published in the scientific journal "Rejuvenation Research" early next year. When it happens, we will be able to provide more comments on this topic.

Meanwhile we would like to invite the readers to look for additional information at our scientific website 'Unraveling the Secrets of Human Longevity' (http://longevity-science.org/ ), and to participate in further discussions at our blog 'Longevity Science' (http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/ ).

-----------

Any comments and suggestions are welcome!

Please feel free to post your comments and suggestions below by clicking here.

Home:
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News on Reliability Theory of Aging and Longevity

2009-11-30T19:03:00.020-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

Here are some excerpts from the a new interview, which is just published by the scientific journal Rejuvenation Research:

Rejuvenation Research, 2009, 12(5): 371-374.
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/rej.2009.0979
back-up copy:
http://health-studies.org/pdf/Interview-RR-2009.pdf

The excerpts are provided in their original, non-edited form, as they were initially presented before the publication.

Any comments and suggestions are welcome!

Please feel free to post your comments and suggestions below by clicking here.

-- Leonid Gavrilov

---------------------------------
-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D. , GSA Fellow
Center on Aging, NORC/University of Chicago
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
Our books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

---------------------------------------------------

Excerpts from Interview

Question:

3. You have spearheaded the application of reliability theory to the modeling of aging and mortality. Reliability theory is designed to describe the behavior of man-made machines, which differ from living organisms in that they do not incorporate significant in-built self-repair machinery. To what extent do you feel that this difference diminishes the applicability of reliability theory to living organisms?

Answer:

Thank you for your kind comment on our 'spearheading' . Yes, we first started to apply reliability theory to the problem of biological aging more than 30 years ago, as early as in 1978 [1, 2], and since that time the reliability theory of aging and longevity has become well known in scientific literature [3 - 9]. To answer your question on applicability of reliability theory to living organisms, it is useful to consider separately two different topics: (1) applicability of reliability theory as a general concept; and (2) applicability of our particular mathematical models based on reliability theory.

Discussing the first topic, it is important to note that reliability theory is a general theory about systems failure. It allows researchers to predict the age-related failure kinetics for a system of given architecture (reliability structure) and given reliability of its components. Although historically it was initially applied to describe the behavior of man-made machines, nothing in this general mathematical theory prevents us from taking into account the in-built self-repair machinery, if this is needed. Therefore, there are no fundamental problems with applicability of reliability theory to living organisms, as there are no problems in applicability of mathematics in general to living organisms.

Discussing the second topic, it was our initial intent to find the most simple explanation for the major facts about aging and mortality (the very origin of aging, the Gompertz law of mortality, the compensation law of mortality, and the late-life mortality deceleration). We were interested in understanding the first principles and fundamental explanations of aging, before trying to create a comprehensive model, which takes into account all the complexities of living organisms. Therefore, in our models we were focused on accumulation of un-repaired damage as the final outcome of the damage-vs-repair process, leading to age-related decrease in systems redundancy (e.g. decrease in numbers of functional cells).

Now, when these intentionally simplified models with minimum number of assumptions gave us some general understanding of the nature of aging process and mortality laws, the way is opened to build upon them a more detailed and complex model of aging. This work is opened to everyone who can find a protected time to do it.

Another interesting feature of biological systems is that they are formed in evolution during a severe struggle for survival, and biological arms race with numerous infections and predators. Therefore they have many potentially harmful defense mechanisms, which may be useful for short-term survival in hostile wild environment, but not conductive for longevity in a protected environment (like the inflammation response).

So the analogy between living organisms and man-made machines is more appropriate for a man-made military machines, overloaded by weaponry and ammunition at the expense of their durability. Such machines could last much longer in protected environment if many dangerous fighting devices are removed from them.

The same is true for living organisms -- loss of some functions through introduced mutations or other interventions often leads to increased species longevity in a protected environment. Sometimes this observation is interpreted as a proof that aging is a programmed process, while in fact it simply means that organisms were selected by Nature for survival in the wild hostile environment, rather than for longevity in protected laboratory conditions.

References

1. Gavrilov, L.A. A mathematical model of the aging of animals. Proc. Acad. Sci. USSR [Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR], 1978, 238(2): 490-492. English translation by Plenum Publ Corp: pp.53-55. PMID 624242

2. Gavrilov, L.A., Gavrilova, N.S., Yaguzhinsky, L.S. The main regularities of animal aging and death viewed in terms of reliability theory. J. General Biology [Zhurnal Obschey Biologii], 1978, 39(5): 734-742. PMID 716614

3. Gavrilov LA, Gavrilova NS. Reliability Theory of Aging and Longevity. In: Masoro E.J. & Austad S.N.. (eds.): Handbook of the Biology of Aging, Sixth Edition. Academic Press. San Diego, CA, USA, 2006, 3-42. ISBN 0-12-088387-2

4. Gavrilov LA, Gavrilova NS. Models of Systems Failure in Aging. In: P Michael Conn (Editor): Handbook of Models for Human Aging, Burlington, MA : Elsevier Academic Press, 2006. 45-68. ISBN 0-12-369391-8.

5. Gavrilov LA, Gavrilova NS. Why We Fall Apart. Engineering's Reliability Theory Explains Human Aging. IEEE Spectrum, 2004, 41(9): 30-35.

6. Gavrilov LA, Gavrilova NS. The Reliability-Engineering Approach to the Problem of Biological Aging. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2004, 1019: 509-512. PMID 15247076

7. Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. The quest for a general theory of aging and longevity. Science's SAGE KE (Science of Aging Knowledge Environment) for 16 July 2003; Vol. 2003, No. 28, 1-10. http://sageke.sciencemag.org , PMID 12867663

8. Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. The reliability theory of aging and longevity. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2001, 213(4): 527-545. PMID 11742523

9. Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S (1991), The Biology of Life Span: A Quantitative Approach. New York: Harwood Academic Publisher, ISBN 3-7186-4983-7

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Key words:
Reliability Theory of Aging and Longevity, Rejuvenation Research, Reliability Theory of Aging, Interview, Reliability Theory, , Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, ageing, aging, gerontology, longevity, repair, mortality laws, the origin of aging, the Gompertz law of mortality, the compensation law of mortality, the late-life mortality deceleration

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New Interview on Aging and Longevity Studies

2009-11-25T20:13:00.014-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

This is to invite you to comment here on new interview on aging and longevity studies, published recently by the 'Rejuvenation Research' journal:

Rejuvenation Research, 2009, 12(5): 371-374.
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/rej.2009.0979
and:
http://health-studies.org/pdf/Interview-RR-2009.pdf

Any comments and suggestions are welcome!

Please feel free to post your comments and suggestions below by clicking here.

-- Leonid Gavrilov

---------------------------------
-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D. , GSA Fellow
Center on Aging, NORC/University of Chicago
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
Our books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

P.S.:
Also, here are some excerpts from this published interview (original non-edited text):

1. How, in general, can demographers contribute to the effort to develop medical treatments to combat aging?

There are several ways how human population studies could be very useful for efforts to extend healthy life span.

First, there is an area of biodemography - a science, which integrates biological knowledge with demographic approaches in attempt to understand the dynamics of vital events in human populations, including mortality and longevity [1-4]. Looking back at the history of science we can see that such important health findings as the discovery of long-term harmful effects of smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol levels and hyperglycemia all came from statistical (epidemiological) studies on human populations. These significant findings from population studies served as a guide and justification for subsequent development of specific medical treatments and health policies already saving many human lives now.

Looking forward at the future of biodemographic studies, we anticipate 'unraveling the secrets of human longevity' -- the discovery of determinants for exceptional human survival, which allow some individuals to delay dramatically many diseases of aging, and to live a remarkably healthy long life (sometimes beyond 100 years). When we find out why some people are so resilient to aging, these findings could serve as a guide and justification for development of new medical treatments and health policies to combat aging. To make this happen we developed a new research project 'Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity', which was recently awarded a grant from the U.S. National Institute on Aging, NIA. Information about the progress of this research project is continually updated at our scientific website 'Unraveling the secrets of human longevity' ( http://longevity-science.org/ ), and it is opened for comments and public discussion at our blog 'Longevity Science' ( http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/ ). Some preliminary findings on this topic are already published [5-7].

Second, there is an area of traditional demography, which has tools to make demographic projections for different scenarios of life extension. This is an important issue, because a common objection against starting a large-scale biomedical war on aging is the fear of catastrophic population consequences (overpopulation). This fear is only exacerbated by the fact that no detailed demographic projections for radical life extension scenario were published so far. What would happen with population numbers if aging-related deaths are significantly postponed or even eliminated? Is it possible to have a sustainable population dynamics in a future hypothetical non-aging society? These are important questions, which could be answered through traditional demographic studies.

Recently we made a new study, which explores different demographic scenarios and population projections, in order to clarify what could be the demographic consequences of a successful biomedical war on aging. The results of this study supported by the Methuselah and SENS foundations were presented at the SENS4 conference in Cambridge, UK, this September, and are expected to be published [8]. In brief, we found that defeating aging, the joy of parenting and sustainable population size are not mutually exclusive. This is an important point, because it can change the current public perception that life-extension necessarily leads to overpopulation. Amazingly, when we were returning back to the USA from the SENS4 conference in England, the passport control officer asked us exactly the same question about overpopulation during the interview about the purpose of our international travel! This example indicates how deep is the penetration of overpopulation scare in the fabrics of modern society, and hence how important are the demographic studies on this topic.

References

1. Curtsinger JW, Gavrilova NS, Gavrilov LA. Biodemography of Aging and Age-Specific Mortality in Drosophila melanogaster. In: Masoro E.J. & Austad S.N.. (eds.): Handbook of the Biology of Aging, Sixth Edition. Academic Press. San Diego, CA, USA, 2006, 261-288.

2. Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S., Olshansky S.J., Carnes B.A. Genealogical data and biodemography of human longevity. Social Biology, 2002, 49(3-4): 160-173.

3. Gavrilov, L.A., Gavrilova, N.S. Biodemographic study of familial determinants of human longevity. Population: An English Selection, 2001, 13(1): 197-222.

4. Gavrilova, N.S., Gavrilov, L.A. Data resources for biodemographic studies on familial clustering of human longevity. Demographic Research [Online], 1999, vol.1(4): 1-48. Available: http://www.demographic-research.org/Volumes/Vol1/4/

5. Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A. Can exceptional longevity be predicted? Contingencies [Journal of the American Academy of Actuaries], 2008, July/August issue, pp. 82-88.

6. Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A. Physical and Socioeconomic Characteristics at Young Age as Predictors of Survival to 100: A Study of a New Historical Data Resource (U.S. WWI Draft Cards). Living to 100 and Beyond: Survival at Advanced Ages [online monograph]. The Society of Actuaries, 2008, 23 pages.

7. Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A. Search for Predictors of Exceptional Human Longevity: Using Computerized Genealogies and Internet Resources for Human Longevity Studies. North American Actuarial Journal, 2007, 11(1): 49-67.

8. Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. Demographic Consequences of Defeating Aging. [Meeting Abstract]. Rejuvenation Research, 2009, 12( Suppl. 1): 29-30.

-------------------------------------

Key words:
Rejuvenation Research, Interview, Overpopulation, Reliability Theory, Predictors of Exceptional Longevity, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, ageing, aging, gerontology, longevity, centenarians, parental age

Home:
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News from the 'Science for Life Extension' Foundation: Aging -- not a destiny!

2009-05-11T00:15:00.033-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

Recently the 'Science for Life Extension' Foundation has published an interesting news announcement at its website here:

http://www.scienceagainstaging.com/News/news_07.html

For your convenience this Russian text is translated into English below:

Aging -- not a destiny!

Charity evening meeting, April 17, 2009, Moscow.
At this charity event the presentation was made, describing the work of the 'Science for Life Extension' Foundation and its objectives.

Aging -- not a destiny! This was the title of a charitable meeting of the Foundation 'Science for Life Extension', which took place in a comfortable informal environment of the Tsurtsum Cafe at the Winery place (Moscow, Russia). It is this environment, which provided an opportunity for guests to absorb the vast amount of knowledge about human aging, and about the opportunities offered, and to be offered by science to combat it.

The purpose of the meeting - to allow guests (which were people of many different professions - politicians, businessmen, designers, representatives of the various foundations) to learn as much about aging as possible, and to learn that aging could be defeated in the foreseeable future. Knowledge leads to action, and therefore the second goal of the Foundation 'Science for Life Extension' was to get as many supporters and partners as possible.

The chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, Michael Batin shared with guests his plans, and the most important of them - the development of an integrated interdisciplinary program 'Science against aging', which the Foundation is being developing for a year already, inviting contributions from leading researchers in Russia and abroad. Among the guests of the meeting were the Foundation's experts, internationally recognized scientists: Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova, Alexei Olovnikov, Vladimir Skulachev and Maxim Skulachev.

The program is a set of research tasks for different scientific disciplines in the study of mechanisms of aging and life extension. This work unprecedented in world science has already been highly evaluated by international scientific community. The second working version of the program was published in February 2009, the next version will be released in May and it will be presented at the International Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG) in Paris.

Still this is only the beginning of the work, which will transform the program into a comprehensive document that would serve as both a guide and a tool not only for scientists but also for politicians, policy makers, and national governments, to ensure that the fight against aging follows a coherent strategic plan. Michael Batin announced the budget expenses, which are necessary to complete the first phase of program creation: ten million Russian rubles, of which three million - are the funds of the Foundation itself and seven million - the requested support from investors.

To see short version of the Presentation click here.

Download the full version of the Presentation
in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 format (6,5 Mb)

See Photos from the Charity meeting

Also you are cordially invited to participate in discussion of this new 'Science Against Aging' Research Plan:

http://longevity-science.org/SCIENCE_AGAINST_AGING_RESEARCH_PLAN.pdf
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/df2kvg

To read comments on this topic and to participate in further discussions by posting your own thoughts and suggestions, you are welcome to click here.

Key words:
Science Against Aging, Science for Life Extension, 'Science for Life Extension' Foundation,Aging - not a destiny!, Michael Batin, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, Alexei Olovnikov, Vladimir Skulachev, Maxim Skulachev, Program 'Science against aging', International Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG), ageing, aging, anti-aging, Life Extension, Longevity

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http://tinyurl.com/oqjq4t

Meeting Photo:

Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the 'Science for Life Extension' Foundation, Michael Batin, shared his ambitious plans with the guests (see below).

.

Two Scientific Presentations on Longevity & Mortality in Detroit, May 1-2

2009-04-28T20:23:00.022-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear All,

I am pleased to invite you to our two scientific presentations that will take place in Detroit on May 1 and 2.

Both scientific presentations will take place in Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan 48243 USA (Phone: 1-313-568-8000)

First presentation:

Friday, May 01, 2:30 PM
Room: Mackinac West

Mortality Measurement at Advanced Ages
by Leonid A. Gavrilov and Natalia S. Gavrilova
at PAA Session 130: Methodological Issues in Health and Mortality

To see Power-Point Presentation of this lecture click here:

http://longevity-science.org/Mortality-PAA-2009.ppt

Second presentation:

Saturday, May 02, 11:30 AM
Room: Richard B

Midlife Predictors of Exceptional Longevity:
A Study of the U.S. WWI Draft Registration Cards
by Natalia S. Gavrilova and Leonid A. Gavrilov
at PAA Session 172: Early Life Conditions and Adult Health

To see Power-Point Presentation of this lecture click here:

http://longevity-science.org/Centenarians-PAA-2009.ppt

Looking forward to see you there!

Please feel free to post your comments and suggestions below by clicking here.

Key words:
Mortality Measurement, Advanced Ages, Predictors of Exceptional Longevity, Detroit, Scientific Presentations, PAA, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, ageing, aging, gerontology, longevity, centenarians

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
Two Scientific Presentations on Longevity & Mortality in Detroit, May 1-2
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/cwr2lt

.

Call to Danish Colleagues

2009-04-05T19:42:00.021-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

We will be in Denmark on May 26 - 29, and we would be delighted to meet Danish colleagues interested in aging and longevity studies.

If you are one of them, please contact us at:

gavrilov@longevity-science.org

This is our first trip to Denmark, but we have some prior experience of giving invited lectures in Canada, France, Australia, England, Germany, Japan, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Russia, Malaysia, and of course in the United States:

http://longevity-science.org/invited_talks.html

We would be glad to find some people in Denmark interested in aging and longevity studies for possible contacts.

We are invited to REVES meeting on 'Reducing Gaps in Health Expectancy' in Copenhagen, starting on May 26 and until May 29 (please see conference program attached below).

Looking forward to hear from you!

Kind regards,

-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.:
http://longevity-science.org/CV-gavrilov.htm

-- Natalia Gavrilova, Ph.D.:
http://longevity-science.org/CV-gavrilova.htm

--------------

The 21st REVES conference in Copenhagen 2009

Programme

26 May
Optional training session, 10.00‐15.00
Software for multistate calculations: Hands on SAS session for CI estimation; Bayesian method for HE calculation

Conference 27 - 29 May: Reducing gaps in health expectancy

Except for the concept and methods session (session 5), the presenters will be given 20 minutes each (including discussion).

27 May
8.00‐9.00 Registration
9.00‐9.15 Welcome remarks
9.15‐10.45 Session 1: Harmonization and International comparisons
Chair: Y Saito
- C Jagger, JM Robine, H Van Oyen and the EHLEIS team. A comparison of health expectancies in the EU25: results from the EHLEIS project.
- O Ekholm and H Brønnum‐Hansen. Cross‐national comparisons of non‐harmonized Healthy Life Years indicators may lead to more confusion than clarification.
- NK Rasmussen. Cross cultural comparability of questionnaire based data used for health expectancy calculations.
- M Smith and C White. An investigation into the impact of question change on estimates of general health status and healthy life expectancy in the United Kingdom.
10.45‐11.00 Break

11.00‐12.30 Session 2: Gender
Chair: DJH Deeg
- WJ Nusselder. Decomposition of gender differences in Healthy Life Years.
- H Van Oyen, B Cox, JM Robine and C Jagger for the EHEMU‐team. Patterns in gender gaps in the EU.
- L Frova, A Battisti and A Burgio. Are gaps in disability free life expectancies reducing in Italy?
- RS Goyal. Whether the poverty of women in childhood and adult ages affect their health disability status in later years?

12.30‐14.00 Lunch at Simplycooking, CSS

14.00‐15.45 Session 3: Methods – measures, models, simulations
Chair: MD Hayward
- A Andreotti, N Minicuci, P Kowal and S Chatterji. Multidimensional profiles of health status: An application of the grade of membership model to the World Health Survey.
- F Matthews and A van den Hout. The shape of life and healthy life expectancies.
- X Liu, CC Engel, H Kang and KL Gore. Reducing selection bias in analyzing longitudinal health data with high mortality rates.
- SD Grosse, VA Campbell and G Krahn. Disability or desirability‐adjusted life expectancies? How to interpret Health Adjusted Life Expectancies.
- L Cai. Health‐adjusted value of health care spending on the elderly in the United States, 1992‐2002.

15.45‐16.00 Break

16.00‐17.30 Session 4: Projections, forecasts and scenarios
Chair: H Brønnum‐Hansen
- D Banham. Targeting health expectancy gaps in South Australia.
- M Lagergren, M Thorslund and M Parker. Revised projections of the development of LTC costs in Sweden 2005‐ 2040.
- R Matthews, C Jagger and MRC CFAS. Trends in disease and how they will impact on disability in the older population.
- KJ Anstey and the DYNOPTA collaborators. Pooling longitudinal studies of ageing for epidemiological analysis and to model health futures: the DYNOPTA project.

19.0 Conference dinner at “Spiseloppen”, Christiania (Bådsmandsstræde 43, 2.th. 1407, København K)

28 May
9.00‐11.30 Session 5: Basic concepts and methods
Chair: JM Robine
- K Avlund. How to measure disability, the disablement process and early signs of disability
- C Mathers. The disability process and WHO classification systems, past and future
- Discussion
- Break
- F Matthews. Estimation and statistically considerations
- Y Saito. Software overview

11.30‐14.30 Lunch at Statens Museum for Kunst, National Art Gallery (Sølvgade 48‐50, 1307, København K)
14.30‐15.30 George Myers lecture by James W Vaupel
15.30‐15.45 Break

15.45‐17.15 Session 6: Oldest old and healthy aging
Chair: B Jeune

- LA Gavrilov and NS Gavrilova. Physical characteristics at the midlife and survival to age 100: A study of American men.

- H Engberg, A Oksuzyan, B Jeune, JW Vaupel and K Christensen. Healthy aging in Danish centenarians – a 29 year follow‐up of hospitalizations among 40,000 Danes in the 1905 birth cohort.
- T Sarkeala, M Vuorisalmi, A Hervonen and M Jylhä. Functional status among Finnish nonagenarians in 1996‐2007: Vitality 90+ Study, Tampere.
- VM Shkolnikov, EM Andreev, P Demakakos, A Oksuzyan, K Christensen, MA Shkolnikova and JW Vaupel. Patterns of grip strength in Moscow as compared to Denmark and England.

17.15‐17.30 Break

17.30‐18.30 Session 7: Trends I
Chair: F Matthews
- JW Bruggink. Health expectancies in the Netherlands since 1981.
- CH Van Gool, HSJ Picavet, DJH Deeg, MMY de Klerk, WJ Nusselder, MPJ van Boxtel A Wong and N Hoeymans. Trends in late‐life activity limitations: The Dutch population between 1990 and 2007.
- SL Reynolds and EM Crimmins. Trends in the ability to work among the older US working population, 1997‐2007.

29 May

9.00‐10.45 Session 8: Social, ethnic and other differences
Chair: SL Reynolds
- DC Brown, MD Hayward, JK Montez, MM Hidajat and RA Hummer. The significance of education for rectangularization of the survival curve in the United States.
- R Wilkins. The Canadian census mortality follow‐up study: a new resource for the study of socioeconomic disparities health expectancies.
- K Knoops, JW Bruggink and M van den Brakel. Healthy life expectancy and socio‐economical status in the Netherlands.
- A Burlison. Healthy life expectancy in Scotland.
- Z Zimmer, M Wen and T Kaneda. A multi‐level analysis of urban versus rural differences in functional status transition among older Chinese.

10.45‐11.00 Break

11.00‐12.45 Session 9: Risk factors and chronic diseases
Chair: WJ Nusselder
- L Bonneux, M Reuser and F Willekens. Disability trajectories and life style. A longer life in good health is closed by a longer period in more severe disability.
- B Klijs. Contribution of chronic diseases to the burden of disability in the Netherlands.
- R Ham‐Chande. Demographic structures and aging at the MX‐US border: Social and economic effects on health expectancies and care.
- EM León Diaz and M Gómez. Perception of health of older adults, Havana Cuba. Socio‐demographic and health determinants associated by sex.
- N Brouard, M Espagnacq, JF Ravaud and the Tetrafigap group. Life expectancy of tetraplegic spinal cord injured individuals in France: a ten years follow‐up.

12.45‐14.00 Lunch at Simplycooking, CSS

14.00‐15.00 Session 10: Trends II
Chair: R Wilkins
- LH Chen. Disability‐free life expectancy trends in Taiwan: Compression, expansion or dynamic equilibrium.
- SLK Cheung and SFP Yip. Are we heading to the compression of disability? The case of Hong Kong SAR, 1984‐2008.
- I Pool, W Boddington, J Cheung and R Didham. Differential trends in mortality compression: Assessing the antecedents to gaps in health expectancy in New Zealand.

15.00‐15.30 Closing ceremonies

---------------

Key words:
Denmark, Invited Lectures, REVES, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, ageing, aging, geriatrics, gerontology, longevity, centenarians

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
Longevity Science: Call to Danish Colleagues
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/cqlnp6

.

'Science Against Aging' Research Plan -- Invitation to Discussion

2009-04-02T18:43:00.021-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear All:

You are cordially invited to participate in discussion of a new 'Science Against Aging' Research Plan:

http://longevity-science.org/SCIENCE_AGAINST_AGING_RESEARCH_PLAN.pdf
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/df2kvg

The authors of this program wrote:

Please, answer 12 basic questions on the biology of ageing:

1. Why are organisms exposed to progressive and irreversible reduction of physiological functions in the final period of their lives?

2 . Why do life expectancy and speed of aging differ within one species and across species?

3. Why does experimental treatment such as caloric restriction delay a great number of age-related physiological and pathological changes and increase the average and maximum life duration in animals?

4. Do these factors affect aging and age-associated diseases independently from one another?

5. Do age-related changes in the organism increase the exposure to diseases or do diseases develop independently and only later exacerbate the manifestations of aging?

6. What are, in your view, possible points of a scientific breakthrough in research aimed at increase of longevity?

7. At what evolutionary phase did aging arise or, alternatively, has it accompanied life since its inception?

8. Are the aging processes of an organism caused by aging at the cell level?

9. To what extent are aging processes conditioned genetically?

10. Why do species with 'negligible' aging exist?

11. Are reproduction and life expectancy interrelated or independent from each other?

12. What other questions may be crucial for understanding the mechanisms of aging?

The authors of this program also invited to comment on the sections of their Research Plan:

Section 1
Fundamental Mechanisms of Aging. Main Research Areas

Section 2
Genetics of Lifespan and Aging. Main Research Directions

Section 3
Metabolic Aspects of Aging and Longevity. Main Research Directions

Section 4
Immunity and Aging. Main Research Directions

Section 5
Stem Cells and Aging. Main Research Directions

Section 6
Application of Stem Cells in Geriatrics & Gerontology. Main Research Directions

Section 7
Medicated Geroprotection. Main Research Directions

Section 8
Geroprotectors Efficiency Research. Main Research Directions

Section 9
Identification of the Molecular Markers in Aging. Selected Clauses

Section 10
Mathematical Modelling of the Life Span, Longevity and Aging. Main Research Directions

Section 11
Microecology and Aging. Main Research Directions

Section 12
Reproduction and Aging. Selected Research Directions

Section 13
Environmental Influence on Aging. Selected Research Directions

The Word "doc" version of the entire Program is available at:

http://longevity-science.org/SCIENCE_AGAINST_AGING_RESEARCH_PLAN.doc
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/c7e358

Please feel free to post your comments and suggestions below by clicking here.

Key words:
Science Against Aging, Fundamental Mechanisms of Aging, Genetics of Lifespan and Aging, Metabolic Aspects of Aging and Longevity, Immunity and Aging, Stem Cells and Aging, Application of Stem Cells in Geriatrics & Gerontology, Medicated Geroprotection, Geroprotectors Efficiency, Molecular Markers in Aging, Mathematical Modelling of the Life Span, Longevity and Aging; Microecology and Aging; Reproduction and Aging; Environmental Influence on Aging

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
'Science Against Aging' Research Plan -- Invitation to Discussion
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/cxhxs8

.

An Unusual Source of Inspiration

2009-03-25T16:10:00.013-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

I wonder what kinds of inspiration do you have in your life and research activities? Is it a great music, inspiring picture, absorbing book, scenic views, and/or a significant other?

Recently I have encountered a new unusual source of inspiration -- the NIH Summary Statement! Usually it is considered to be a bureaucratic document, which summarizes the results of a closed discussion of your research proposal by the panel of experts at the National Institute of Health, NIH. Typically this is a candid anonymous review, which is often painful to read to a scientist, the author of the reviewed proposal.

However, this time things are completely different. Our new research project was thoroughly evaluated by a review panel of 20 experts at NIH and the project was rated as being among the best 5 percent of all approved (scored) applications. Here is what they wrote (excerpts):

Summary Statement for Project "Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity in the United States"

Resume and Summary of Discussion:

"This ... application, by an eminent investigator, would use a variety of modeling methods to determine the social and biological factors linked to living to age 100. This is a major question for all fields of aging research. It is highly innovative application because it is going to examine a large relatively representative sample of those who reach 100. The approach is well-suited to the aims of the project. ... Strengths of the application include the significance of the aims, an innovative and carefully considered research design, a solid research team, supporting pilot research and well specified analytical methods. "

Critique 1:

Significance:
"This ... application, addresses early life covariates of extreme longevity in the U.S. This is a significant research topic with potential implications for health intervention in premature mortality and the proposed research could provide important confirmation, or refutation, of many theorized early life covariates of longevity."

Approach:
".... this is an innovative application utilizes genealogical, census, social-security, Internet and military data in a well crafted research design. "

Innovation:
"The application is an innovative one with a creative sample construction."

Investigators:
"This is an outstanding research team with an eminent Principal Investigator."

Overall Evaluation:
"This ... application, by an eminent investigator, would use a variety of modeling methods to study the effect of early life course circumstances on cases of extreme longevity in the United States. Strengths of the application include the significance of the aims, an innovative and carefully considered research design, a solid research team, supporting pilot research and well specified analytical methods."

Critique 2:

Significance:
"... a highly significant application. The project addresses important questions with an extremely innovative approach. Why some people live to 100 and others do not has been a focus of much NIA research, although much of this longevity research has been performed on other species. This application will provide increased understanding of how humans survive to very old ages using representative populations."

Approach:
"This application is harnessing the resources available on the Internet to address a very important scientific question. How do both social and biological factors affect the likelihood of living to very old age. The investigators have an unusually thorough command of both biological and the social literature appropriate to this question. The project will result in the examination of about 3,000 centenarians. Information on their early, adult, and later life is available. The combination of Census, Army, and Genealogical data is truly exciting. In addition, areal level data will be appended which has not been done before in analyses of long lives."

Innovation:
"The project is quite exciting because of the careful planning behind the proposed collection of available data in a novel way to address an important question which has not been well-addresses to date."

Investigators:
"This is an excellent team. The Principal Investigator, Leonid Gavrilov, is well-recognized as a biologist but he has made remarkable strides in becoming very multidisciplinary through the mechanism of a K award. The co Principal Investigator, Gavrilova, is also well-recognized as a biologist with many important publications related to the project. She, too, has undertaken recent training by getting a master's in computer science from the University of Chicago. This application builds on this strength in its approach to data collection."

Overall Evaluation:
"This is ... application with the major goals of determining social and biological factors linked to living to 100. This is a highly significant area because this is a major question for all fields of aging research. The approach is well-suited to the aims of the project. It is highly innovative application because it is going to examine a large relatively representative sample of those who reach 100. The major strengths of the application are its innovative use of publicly available data."

Critique 4:

Significance:
"This application will attempt to identify early life characteristics, which are associated with extreme long life. This is a highly significant issue. It has significant potential, depending upon the variables identified, to inform public health policy concerning longevity."

Innovation:
"This is an innovative study. It will assemble a unique data set concerning the early life characteristics of the elderly and a set of "controls". This will be a unique and useful resource for analysis of early life effects on mortality.

Investigators:
"This is an excellent research team. Gavrilov and Gavrilova are both productive and experienced researchers in the area of human aging."

Environment:
"The environment at the University of Chicago is excellent."

Overall Evaluation:
"This is ... application by an eminent research team that will assemble and analyze a unique data set concerning early life conditions on extreme longevity. In particular, the study will focus on socio economic factors and height and build. The analysis is well described and theoretically justified for the most part."

==================

So we have now a new awarded research project of certified high scientific merit, and we are open to collaboration on this new NIH Longevity Study !

Please feel free to post your comments and suggestions below by clicking here.

Key words:
Inspiration, NIH Summary Statement, Longevity, centenarians, biodemography, NIH, NIA, longevity genes, parental age, birth order, early-life living conditions, adult physical characteristics, reproductive history, Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, Center on Aging, United States, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Social Security Administration datasets, Census data, family reconstitutions, genealogies, military draft records, early-life childhood conditions.

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
Longevity Science: An Unusual Source of Inspiration
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/d9mgga
and
http://tinyurl.com/NIH-approved

.

The Quest for Human Longevity: - A Correction

2009-03-12T20:39:00.018-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

Recently an interesting story on aging and longevity has been published by the Vancouver Sun:

It's an Old Story
Scientists, Engineers Replace Alchemists, Novelists in The Quest for Human Longevity
By Stephen Hume, Vancouver Sun

This is a well-written article, which requires some corrections in the part where our scientific activities are described. Attached below are the corrected excerpts, with corrections marked in bold. Then the explanation follows why these corrections are made:

"Dr. Leonid Gavrilov, an American-Russian longevity researcher working at the Center on Aging, NORC/University of Chicago, wrote in the IEEE Spectrum that:
"Many researchers now believe that one day the human life span could be greatly extended by replenishing aging organs with stem cells. We are just now starting down this road. Such regenerative medicine and tissue engineering may sound like science fiction, but a growing number of scientists are taking the first steps to grow tissues and organs to replace failed ones. Laboratories around the world are making progress in building replacement lung, kidney, liver, and heart tissue."

"Gavrilov and his wife, Natalia Gavrilova, galvanized longevity research with their 1991 book, The Biology of Life Span: A Quantitative Approach, which is still cited as an authority by Encyclopedia Britannica."

"The two scientists studied the mathematical models of reliability theory devised by engineers to assess systems failure in computers and other complex machines and then applied them to the human body, shedding light on why and how human beings age and then die."

Here is why the corrections are made. It was written in the published story:

"Dr. Leonid Gavrilov, a Russian longevity researcher working at the University of Chicago, where he's a director of the Centre of Aging..."

while in fact I am an American-Russian researcher, and not a director, please see my publicly available resume here:

http://longevity-science.org/CV-gavrilov.htm

It was also written in the published story that allegedly I

"...told The Independent that "replacing damaged organs to greatly extend the human lifespan by substituting young and healthy for old and failing is no longer science fiction."

I do not recall saying this, and, moreover, please see my original published statement on this topic in bold above.

Hope this helps.

It is amazing to see these inaccuracies happen when the reporters write their stories without even contacting the subjects involved (me in this case). Obviously these mistakes could be easily avoided if the reporters contact me before their publication.

Key words:
Human Longevity, Vancouver Sun, Stephen Hume, Leonid Gavrilov, Center on Aging, NORC, University of Chicago, Natalia Gavrilova, Biology of Life Span, reliability theory, The Independent, Life-Extension, anti-ageing, anti-aging, ageing, aging, longevity

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
The Quest for Human Longevity: - A Correction
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/d59ul4

.

Human Aging Starts Before Birth

2009-03-04T18:01:00.045-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

Here is an interesting interview given by British scientist Dr. Aubrey de Grey to a Russian newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" [New Newspaper], which is related to his recent scientific visit to Russia.

The title of this new story is "Human Aging Starts Before Birth", and it is published in Russian language. Some excerpts from this publication are translated in English and attached below:

Question from Reporter (Elena Kokurina):
- Dr. de Grey, there are many debates among scientists regarding aging. The question is not even about the methods of fighting with it, but rather what is aging in the first place. For example, why is it manifesting itself precisely at the end of life?

Answer by Dr. Aubrey de Grey:
- I believe, because the normal process of metabolism, which keeps us alive, produces cumulated side effects. Such as the loss of cells or the formation of “indigestible” molecules. For some period of time this damage is rather limited and it cannot affect the organism as a whole, but in the long run the damage becomes so extensive that the physiological functions deteriorate sharply.

However, the very process of aging process starts well before our birth, as it is demonstrated by recent studies. The first signs of atherosclerosis can be found even in newborn. Recently Leonid and Natalia Gavrilovs, the Russian researchers working in the USA, proved that starting at birth we already accumulate many defects, which are the beginning of aging.

Also here is the original Russian text for these excerpts:

Елена Кокурина:
— Д-р Ди Грей, среди ученых много разногласий по поводу старения. Речь идет даже не столько о методах борьбы с ним, сколько о том, что это такое. Например, почему оно проявляется именно в конце жизни?

Обри Ди Грей:
— Я считаю, из-за того что нормальные процессы обмена веществ в организме, благодаря которым мы живем, дают накапливающиеся побочные эффекты. Такие как потеря клеток или образование «неперевариваемых» молекул. Длительное время эти повреждения носят частный характер и не способны воздействовать на организм в целом, но, в конце концов, их становится столько, что физиологические функции резко ухудшаются.

Однако сам процесс старения начинается, как показывают последние исследования, еще до нашего рождения. Первые признаки атеросклероза можно найти даже у новорожденного. Недавно Леонид и Наталья Гавриловы, российские исследователи, работающие в США, доказали, что уже с рождения мы аккумулируем множество дефектов, которые являются началом старения.

Automatic computer translation of the entire interview could be found through the Bable Fish translator and the Google translator as well.

To read comments on this story, and to post your own thoughts, click here

See also:

- Старение: как отменить приговор?

- Смерти можно дать пивком под зад

- Технологии, способные остановить старение, могут быть разработаны в ближайшем будущем

- Бессмертие человека не за горами
- Бессмертие человека не за горами,Interesting discussion

Pictures:
- Обри ди Грей,1
- Обри ди Грей,2
- Обри ди Грей,3
- Обри ди Грей,4

Key words:
SENS, Life-Extension, Aubrey de Grey, rejuvenation research, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, anti-ageing, anti-aging, ageing, aging, longevity, Novaya Gazeta, Elena Kokurina, Russia, Елена Кокурина,Обри Ди Грей

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
Human Aging Starts Before Birth
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/cfn4tf

.

Project Win Announcements - Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity

2009-02-23T20:29:00.012-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

Here is an interesting announcement from the President's Office of the National Opinion Research Center, NORC, at the University of Chicago:

--------------
From: President's Office
To: SP-All NORC Employees
Subject: Project Win Announcements - Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity

Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity

Senior Vice President and Director of the Academic Research Centers, is pleased to announce that NORC will study why people live to be 100 years or older.

The new study Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity in the United States is led co-investigators Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova, Research Associates in NORC’s Center on Aging. This husband-and-wife team has written extensively on extreme longevity. Their work has recently shown that longevity can be linked to a mother’s age at her child’s birth, birthplace within in the United States and family socioeconomic background.

The investigators will look at effects of early-life conditions, adult physical characteristics, and marriage and reproductive history on exceptional longevity. The new study takes advantage of U.S. Census and Social Security Administration data, genealogies, and military draft records. Researchers at the universities of Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wisconsin will also collaborate.

The project plan’s innovative use of data was called “exciting” by one of the reviewers at the sponsoring National Institute on Aging. Reviewers also commented favorably on other aspects, notably the strength of the research team and the overall significance of the project aims. The proposal was rated as being among the top 5 percent of all scored proposals reviewed by the NIH.

To read more about the Gavrilovs longevity studies, visit their scientific website at http://longevity-science.org/ ; also you can post your questions and comments at their discussion blog at: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/

----------------------------------------------

Key words:
Longevity, centenarians, biodemography, NIH, NIA, longevity genes, parental age, birth order, early-life living conditions, adult physical characteristics, reproductive history, Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, Center on Aging, United States, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Social Security Administration datasets, Census data, family reconstitutions, genealogies, military draft records, early-life childhood conditions, National Opinion Research Center, NORC, University of Pennsylvania, University of Utah, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
Project Win Announcements - Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/bjawmu

Links to this post:

- Longevity study to be conducted by the National Opinion Research Center

.

Upcoming Meeting on Life-Extension (SENS) in England, September 2009

2009-02-17T17:00:00.012-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear All:

Here is an interesting announcement I have got recently about the upcoming meeting on life-extension (SENS) in Cambridge, England, September 3-7, 2009:

My apologies if you receive this email more than once. Please forward it to any colleagues who you feel may be interested.

I am writing to notify you that registration and abstract submission are now open for the fourth Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) conference, to be held at Queens' College, Cambridge, England on September 3rd-7th 2009. The early registration and abstract submission deadlines are both June 15th. All details, including forms for abstract submission and online registration, are at the conference website:

http://www.mfoundation.org/sens4

The preliminary program already has 35 confirmed speakers, all of them world leaders in their field. As for previous SENS conferences, the emphasis of this meeting is on "applied gerontology" - the design and implementation of biomedical interventions that may, jointly, constitute a comprehensive panel of rejuvenation therapies, sufficient to restore middle-aged or older laboratory animals (and, in due course, humans) to a youthful degree of physiological robustness. The list of sessions and confirmed speakers is as follows:

Making metabolism less harmful:
Vladimir Skulachev, Holly Brown-Borg, Stephen Spindler, Stephen Vatner

Spontaneous regeneration:
Brandon Reines, Jonathan Tilly, Alexandra Stolzing

Eliminating recalcitrant intracellular molecules:
William Sly, Ana Maria Cuervo, John Schloendorn, Claude Wischik, Martin Hetzer

Rejuvenating extracellular material:
Nik Nikitin, Mark Pepys, Sudhir Paul, Mark Noble, Kendall Houk

Novel anti-cancer approaches:
Paul Hallenbeck, Adela Ben-Yakar, Vera Gorbunova, Maria Blasco, David Keefe

Rejuvenating the immune system:
Janko Nikolich-Zugich, Anne de Groot

ES-like cells and cell therapy:
Justin Ichida, Ilham Abuljadayel, Thomas Zwaka, Daniel Kraft, John Sladek, Dan Gazit

Tissue engineering:
Augustinus Bader, Gabor Forgacs

The defeat of aging and its consequences:
Philip Moriarty, Tanya Jones, Leonid Gavrilov

In addition, there will be at least a dozen short talks selected from submitted abstracts, as well as poster sessions each evening. Authors of short talks and posters will, like the invited speakers, be invited to submit a paper summarising their presentation for the proceedings volume, which will be published in the high-impact journal Rejuvenation Research early in 2010.

Please note that registration fees are fully inclusive of accommodation and all meals. Those not requiring accommodation, and journalists wishing to obtain free press passes (not including accommodation) are asked to contact me by email (aubrey@sens.org).

I hope to welcome you to Cambridge in September!

Cheers, Aubrey

Aubrey de Grey
Organiser, SENS4
Chairman and Chief Science Officer, Methuselah Foundation
Editor-in-Chief, Rejuvenation Research

-------------END--------------------

Key words:
SENS, Life-Extension, Aubrey de Grey, rejuvenation research, Leonid Gavrilov, Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, anti-ageing, anti-aging, ageing, aging, longevity

Home:
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and
Upcoming Meeting on Life-Extension (SENS) in England, September 2009
Shorter weblink:
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.

News Release: How Does One Reach 100? Chicago Researchers Will Study Determinants of Human Longevity

2009-02-09T19:01:00.039-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

News Release from the Chicago University News Office:

How does one reach 100?
Research team will work toward identifying longevity determinants in NIH study
The University of Chicago Chronicle, February 5, 2009, Vol. 28 No. 9, page 3
http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/090205/study.shtml

-------------------------------------

Full text:

How does one reach 100?
Research team will work toward identifying longevity determinants in NIH study

By William Harms
w-harms@uchicago.edu
News Office

The National Opinion Research Center will study why people live to be 100 years or older through a five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging.

Previous research has shown that a number of factors can lead to a person being two or three times more likely to live to extreme old age, said Leonid Gavrilov, Research Associate at the Center on Aging at NORC. The new project, “Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity in the United States,” will build on that work, he said. Gavrilov and his wife Natalia, also a Research Associate at NORC, are co-investigators on the project.

“This project will investigate why some people manage to survive to extreme old age and help identify the biological and social correlates of exceptional longevity,” Gavrilov explained. “We hope to find out the determinants of human longevity and to get insights into mechanisms and causes of long life.

“These are important issues, not only for demographic forecasts of human mortality and population aging, but also for improving our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of human aging and longevity.”

Centenarians are one of the most rapidly growing segments of the U.S. population, according to the National Institute on Aging. The number of centenarians is growing at a rate of 4.1 percent per year; the numbers increased 51 percent between 1990 and 2000.

The new study will take advantage of U.S. Census and Social Security Administration data, genealogies and military draft records. Gavrilov will look at early-life conditions, adult physical characteristics, and marriage and reproductive history on exceptional longevity.

Gavrilov and his wife have written extensively on extreme longevity. Their work has recently shown that longevity can be linked to a mother’s age at her child’s birth, birthplace within in the United States and family socioeconomic background.

Babies born to mothers under age 25 were twice as likely to live to 100 years of age, compared to infants born to mothers 25 or older. Farmers tend to outlive others, and men who fathered more than four children by the time they were 30 also live longer, research found.

The potential impact on exceptional longevity of early-life living conditions shows that environmental and behavioral factors cannot be overlooked in longevity studies Gavrilov said.

“Even the search for ‘human longevity genes’ could be facilitated when powerful confounding effects of childhood environment are taken into account,” he said.

Gavrilov will collaborate with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Utah and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

To read more about the Gavrilovs’ longevity studies, visit http://longevity-science.org.

----------------------------------------------------

Key words:
Longevity, centenarians, biodemography, NIH, NIA, longevity genes, parental age, birth order, early-life living conditions, adult physical characteristics, reproductive history, Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, Center on Aging, United States, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Social Security Administration datasets, Census data, family reconstitutions, genealogies, military draft records, early-life childhood conditions, National Opinion Research Center, University of Pennsylvania, University of Utah, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Home:
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and
News Release: How Does One Reach 100? Chicago Researchers Will Study Determinants of Human Longevity
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/db4kem

.

URGENT: Please Contact Your Senator to Support Aging & Longevity Research!

2009-02-05T19:14:00.019-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear All:

Now when the US Senate is discussing the economic stimulus package, there is an unique gold opportunity to make a real difference in increasing funding support for vital aging & longevity research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in particular.

However the window of this opportunity is quite short -- just a few days before the vote!

Please contact your Senator now (and encourage all your friends to do the same), with a suggestion described here.

This simple immediate action can make a great difference for all of us!

Best wishes,

-- Leonid Gavrilov

P.S.: I attach below a copy of my letter sent to my US Senator recently:

Dear Senator Richard Durbin,

I am writing this brief letter to inform you of my unequivocal support for the stimulus package which hopefully will awaken our moribund economy.

I am cognizant that various amendments are being considered as a means of improving the measure. For example, I was not appalled that 246 million dollars in tax breaks for Hollywood production companies was removed.

On the other hand, a vital area that deserves maximum funding and our unequivocal support is the National Institutes of Health, N.I.H. The mission that they perform is vital to our nation's health and well being.

Specifically, I believe it is vital that the National Institute on Aging, N.I.A. have sufficient revenue to fund projects and perform research that will ameliorate and extend the healthy lives of our senior citizens.

Hopefully, within the foreseeable future we will conquer the debilitating conditions and diseases that cause the premature death of so many older Americans who have contributed so much to our country.

54 scientists including myself wrote an Open Letter on Aging Research supporting the feasibility of this approach:

http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/2006/04/54-scientists-open-letter-on-aging.html
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/az7u2y

If only one or two percent of the money was targeted to N.I.A., the benefits could be profound!

Senator, I sincerely hope that you will seriously consider my comments before you vote on this bill.

Sincerely,

-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.
US Citizen, Chicago, IL
Center on Aging, NORC/University of Chicago
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
My books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

--------------------------------
See also:
http://capwiz.com/ram/issues/alert/?alertid=12514701
and here

Key words:
Aging Research, Longevity Research, U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute on Aging (NIA), Richard Durbin, Dick Durbin, Leonid Gavrilov

Home:
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and
URGENT: Please Contact Your Senator to Support Aging & Longevity Research!
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/af46hx

.

PLEASE DISSEMINATE: Act Now to Support Aging & Longevity Studies!

2009-01-30T15:19:00.021-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear All:

Please spread a word among your colleagues:

Act Now to Support Aging & Longevity Studies in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009

This week the U.S. House of Representatives has approved the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 for $819 billion. The bill has critical funding for the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The vote sent the bill to the Senate, where debate will begin soon. The Senate is expected to take up their version of the bill during the week of February 2. Call your U.S. Senator and urge to support the legislation!

If you support National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute on Aging (NIA) in particular, please contact your U.S. Senator via email, fax or phone with the below message of support. Please thank them for recognizing the importance of these agencies, and please make your message more personal by stating how these agencies are important to you and your institutions.

Contact information for members of the U.S. Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/

Draft message of support:

Re: National Institutes of Health

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 includes $3.9 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH needs this money to recover from years of being funded below the rate of inflation, and to invest in vital aging & longevity research programs through the National Institute on Aging (NIA). [Add your own words here, using some of these suggestions]. I urge you to support this bill and thank you for your support.

Thank you, and, if you can, please contact your U.S. Senator today!

Also please see the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations document "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan Report", page 60:

Aging

The Committee understands that evidence-based prevention strategies within the older population can have an immediate impact on the health care system, as well as increasing quality of life for millions of Americans.

For example, an older American is treated in an emergency department for a fall every 18 seconds, with the total cost of treating those injuries exceeding $19,000,000,000 per year.

The Committee is supportive of the types of interventions currently supported by the Administration on Aging’s Evidence-Based Disease Prevention Grants Program, and urges the Secretary to expand prevention initiatives in the older population.

See also page 3 of the updated (02/02/2009) summary of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:

Job-Creating Investments in Health include:

- $3.5 billion to conduct biomedical research in areas such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and stem cells, and to improve NIH facilities.

- $1.1 billion to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, NIH and the HHS Office of the Secretary to evaluate the relative effectiveness of different health care services and treatment options.

See also the Latest News of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations.

Key words:
Aging Research, Longevity Research, U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009, National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute on Aging (NIA), U.S. House of Representatives

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
PLEASE DISSEMINATE: Act Now to Support Aging & Longevity Studies!
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/dbglgn

.

Act Now to Support Aging & Longevity Research !

2009-01-26T15:16:00.023-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear All:

Please spread a word among your colleagues:

Act Now to Support Aging & Longevity Research in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009

The new Congress is moving quickly on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009. Appropriations Chairman Obey hopes to see the bill on the House floor this Wednesday, January 28.

The bill has critical funding for the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Call your representatives today, tomorrow or Wednesday and urge them to support the legislation.

If you support National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute on Aging (NIA) in particular, please contact your U.S. Representatives via email with the below message of support. Please thank them for recognizing the importance of these agencies, and please make your message more personal by stating how these agencies are important to you and your research institutions.

Contact information for members of the U.S. House of Representatives:

http://www.house.gov/writerep

Draft message of support:

Re: National Institutes of Health

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 includes $3.9 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH needs this money to recover from years of being funded below the rate of inflation, and to invest in vital aging & longevity research programs through the National Institute on Aging (NIA). [Add your own words here, using some of these suggestions]. I urge you to support this bill and thank you for your support.

Thank you, and, if you can, please call your Members of Congress today!

Key words:
Aging Research, Longevity Research, US Congress, American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009, National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute on Aging (NIA), U.S. House of Representatives

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
Act Now to Support Aging & Longevity Research !
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/c6cv3o

Links to this post:

- Added My Voice to Support Aging & Longevity Research

.

New NIH Longevity Study

2009-01-08T15:00:00.018-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

Here are some really good news for the New Year 2009:

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have awarded us with a new 5-year research grant to study the mechanisms of human longevity!

Moreover, when this new research project was thoroughly evaluated by a review panel of 20 experts at NIH, the project was rated as being among the best 5 percent of all approved (scored) applications.

The details of this new award are now publicly available through CRISP (Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects), a searchable database of federally funded biomedical research projects, by clicking here, or through this weblink: http://tinyurl.com/9th6jx

Here are some slightly edited excerpts:

Project Title:
Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity in the United States

Abstract:

This project proposes to investigate why some people manage to survive to extreme old age (100+ years) and what are the biological and social correlates of exceptional longevity. These are important issues not only for demographic forecasts of human mortality and population aging, and the policy implications on health-care and pension expenditures, but also for improving our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of human aging and longevity.

The project will take advantage of the ongoing revolution in information technology for human longevity studies to examine the determinants of exceptional survival both on individual and population levels, using a rich variety of the U.S. data sources available through the Internet, including Social Security Administration datasets, Census data, family reconstitutions and validated genealogies, and military draft records.

Recent findings from the Principal Investigator's pilot study of U.S. centenarians, funded by the Chicago Center on Aging and the Society of Actuaries, suggest that differences in chances of exceptional survival as large as two or three times can be linked to early-life circumstances, such as mother's age at person's birth, person's birth order, birth place within the United States, and family socioeconomic background.

The plasticity of exceptional longevity in response to early-life living conditions indicates that environmental and behavioral factors cannot be overlooked in longevity studies. Even the search for "human longevity genes" could be facilitated when powerful confounding effects of childhood environment are taken into account. This project therefore proposes to explore the effects of early-life living conditions, adult physical characteristics, marriage, and reproductive history on exceptional longevity, and will test a number of related biomedical and social hypotheses.

The project is designed as an interdisciplinary study of exceptional human longevity. To contribute to the research infrastructure for subsequent longevity studies world-wide, the Principal Investigator will also develop a database with integrated, matched information on longevity predictor variables, and make it available to the research community on the Internet. The project will allow establishing scientific collaboration of the Center on Aging, NORC/University of Chicago with other researchers to study the biodemography of exceptional longevity in an interdisciplinary context.

Public Health Relevance:

Demographic aging of the United States has profound public health implications, particularly because centenarians (people living to 100 and beyond) represent one of the most rapidly growing segments of the U.S. population. This study advances understanding of biological, social and environmental factors that favor survival to extreme old ages, including early-life childhood conditions, and it has implications for public health policy, population forecasting and health planning.

So we have now an approved research project of certified high scientific merit, and we are open to collaboration on this new NIH Longevity Study !

Please post your comments and suggestions below by clicking here.

Key words:
Longevity, centenarians, biodemography, NIH, NIA, longevity genes, parental age, birth order, early-life living conditions, adult physical characteristics, reproductive history, Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, Center on Aging, United States, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Social Security Administration datasets, Census data, family reconstitutions, genealogies, military draft records, early-life childhood conditions.

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
and
New NIH Longevity Study
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/8uk8ew

Links to this post:

- NIH awards grant to longevity science blog writer

.

Season Greetings!

2008-12-22T11:54:00.033-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear Friends,

Our Season Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year to you!

When a New Year approaches, we often try to summarize what has happened during the ending year.

This year our longevity studies have received a prestigious award from the US National Institute on Aging (R01 award from NIA), allowing us to continue and expand the longevity research for 5 more years.

Our longevity research project was subjected to a rigorous peer-review process at NIA, and it was rated as being among the best 5 % of the approved (scored) proposals. We are excited and inspired !

Also this year our research team has published the following papers on aging and longevity topics:

Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A.    Aging Populations: Russia/Eastern Europe.    In: P. Uhlenberg (Editor), International Handbook of the Demography of Aging, New York: Springer-Verlag, March 1, 2009 (In Press).

Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A.    Genetic Influences in Later Life.   In: D. Carr (Editor), Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development, Gale Cengage, Macmillan Reference USA, 2008.

Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. Mortality Measurement at Advanced Ages: A Study of the Social Security Administration Death Master File.   Living to 100 and Beyond: Survival at Advanced Ages [online monograph]. The Society of Actuaries, 2008, 32 pages

Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A. Can exceptional longevity be predicted?   Contingencies [Journal of the American Academy of Actuaries], 2008, July/August issue, pp. 82-88.

Gavrilova N.S., Semyonova V.G., Dubrovina E., Evdokushkina G.N., Ivanova A.E., Gavrilov L.A. Russian Mortality Crisis and the Quality of Vital Statistics.   Population Research and Policy Review, 2008, 27: 551-574.

Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A. Physical and Socioeconomic Characteristics at Young Age as Predictors of Survival to 100: A Study of a New Historical Data Resource (U.S. WWI Draft Cards).   Living to 100 and Beyond: Survival at Advanced Ages [online monograph]. The Society of Actuaries, 2008, 23 pages.

Gavrilov LA, Gavrilova NS. The Science of Staying Young [Book Review]. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 2008, 83(4): 420-421.

Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. Evolution in Health and Disease [Book Review]. The New England Journal of Medicine, 2008, 359(17): 1856-1857.

Gavrilov LA, Gavrilova NS. Aging: The Paradox of Life: Why We Age [Book Review]. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 2008, 83(3): 325-326.

Gavrilov LA, Gavrilova NS. The Biology of Human Longevity: Inflammation, Nutrition, and Aging in the Evolution of Lifespans [Book Review]. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 2008, 83(1): 107-107.

Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S. The Longevity Revolution: The Benefits and Challenges of Living a Long Life [Book Review]. The New England Journal of Medicine, 2008, 358(20): 2187-2188.

We hope perhaps you may find some of these publications interesting.

Please post your comments and suggestions below, by clicking here.

Also this year we gave invited talks at:

-- International Symposium "Living to 100 and Beyond: Survival at Advanced Ages", Orlando, Florida.

-- United Nations (UNPFA) Seminar "Contemporary Methods of Mortality Analysis", Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

-- 2008 Chicago Actuarial Association Workshop, Chicago, USA

As well as scientific presentations at:

-- Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting, Washington DC, USA

-- Population Association of America Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA

This year we have developed and taught a new course at the University of Chicago:
"Demography of Russia and the Former Soviet Union"
(SOCI 20182), Spring 2008
Also in July this year we attended a fascinating international scientific meeting related to the topic of life extension and aging prevention in Stockholm, Sweden, which brought together leading scientists from Sweden, United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Russia and Germany (including one Nobel laureate).

If you are interested in our lectures and/or scientific cooperation, please contact us at:

gavrilov(at)longevity-science.org

Thank you, and Happy New Year!

Kind regards,
– Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova

http://longevity-science.org/

P.S.:
Thinking to make a tax-deductible donation by the end of this year for a Good Course?
Click here!

Wishlist of Longevity Researcher

2008-12-12T14:00:00.029-06:00

New Encyclopedia on Aging, Longevity and Later Life

2008-12-09T18:53:00.019-06:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear All:

I am pleased to alert you about new upcoming Encyclopedia on Aging, Longevity, and Later Life:

Encyclopedia of the Life Course
and Human Development,
Volume 3: Later Life.
Macmillan Reference USA, Gale Cengage (December 5, 2008)
http://tinyurl.com/5lobfb

Some excerpts from this encyclopedia are available at:

http://tinyurl.com/2dsvh2

Sample Chapter "Genetic Influences in Later Life"
(first draft)

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

To read comments on this new publication, and to post your own thoughts, click here

Here is a brief description of this new entire 3 volume set:

The Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development examines three key life stages from a sociological perspective, exploring how enduring experiences, as well as transitions and events such as childcare, education, stress, marriage, career, addiction, friendship, parenthood, disease, spirituality, and retirement influence the individuals life course.

The nearly 400 entries in this three-volume set are organized by life stage: Childhood and Adolescence; Adulthood; and Later Life. Included in each is an overview essay that features a detailed discussion of that stage of human development, followed by signed entries that apply sociological as well as economic, biological, psychological, and educational perspectives to a range of topics.

Also covered are sociological theories and their significance to life course study; the impact of social and government policies; and racial, gender, and geographic patterns of many life course phenomena.

Entries are heavily illustrated with photos, graphs, charts, and tables. Also included is coverage of research methods and key data sources, which enhance and reinforce the topical entries, as well as a glossary, thematic outline, annotated bibliography, and cumulative index.

Hope it helps,

Best wishes,

-- Leonid

-----------------------------------------------
-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
My books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

Home:
Longevity Science Blog
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New Encyclopedia on Aging, Longevity and Later Life
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/69522n

.

News: Evolution in Health and Disease, Aging and Longevity

2008-10-22T18:01:00.023-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Dear All:

I am pleased to announce that today the New England Journal of Medicine has published our invited review of this new book:

Evolution in Health and Disease
by Stephen C Stearns and Jacob C Koella
Oxford University Press, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/56n8q9

Here is the reference to our new published book review:

Gavrilov L.A., Gavrilova N.S.
Evolution in Health and Disease [Book Review].
The New England Journal of Medicine, 2008, 359(17): 1856-1857.

Also here is our initial original text of the book review, which is somewhat more detailed and informative when compared to the abridged final edited text published by the journal:

This book introduces evolutionary approach to medicine, and it provides almost encyclopedic coverage of all medical topics where the evolutionary principles are applied. The book consists of 23 chapters written by a large international team of 47 leading researchers from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, and New Zealand. This latest second edition of the book has an extensive updated bibliography of over 1,500 references, and it is organized in 5 major parts:

(1) Introducing evolutionary thinking for medicine;
(2) The history and variation of human genes;
(3) Natural selection and evolutionary conflicts;
(4) Pathogens: resistance, virulence, variation, and emergence;
(5) Noninfectious and degenerative diseases (including aging).

The book is provided with a detailed Subject Index (10 pages), which really helps to navigate in a great diversity of covered topics.

The main content of this book is well summarized in its first, introductory chapter, which overviews evolutionary approach to complex medical issues in a reader-friendly way. The authors seem to be acutely aware of the current healthy skepticism among medical experts regarding practical usefulness of evolutionary theory. Therefore, they start to address these concerns from the very beginning of the book:

"Should doctors and medical researchers think about evolution? Does it bring useful insights? Would doctors and researchers who learned a substantial amount about evolution be more effective than a control group that learned only the usual rudiments? Would providing such education improve health enough to justify the costs?"

They acknowledge that evolutionary theory is not helpful to surgeons, but it may be useful to internists, pediatricians, epidemiologists and geneticists, when "prescribing antibiotics, managing virulent diseases, administrating vaccinations, advising couples who have difficulty conceiving and carrying offspring to term, treating diabetes and high blood pressure of pregnancy, treating cancer, understanding the origins of the current epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases, and answering patients' questions about aging."

This statement is further justified in the introductory chapter with several particular examples and evolutionary insights, which then concludes with 12 'commandments' on "What doctors need to know about evolution and why."

The first introductory chapter is so well written that it may be a sufficient reading for busy practicing doctors. The authors themselves "acknowledge that much medical practice proceeds just fine with little need for a theoretical foundation. Medicine is a profession that offers practical help. .... Evolution is not an alternative to existing medical training and research. It is a useful basic science that poses new medical questions, contributing to research while also improving practice." (page 3).

Therefore this book is of a particular interest to researchers involved in biomedical studies and developing new treatments.

The major evolutionary insight of this book is that many diseases in developed countries (obesity, diabetes, breast cancer, autoimmune and heart diseases, etc.) are promoted by mismatch of human bodies to modern environment, because the environment is changing far more rapidly than humans can evolve. This insight may have some useful practical implications, like convincing patients that physical inactivity, which is so common in developed countries, is a very serious health issue and has to be vigorously avoided, to the same extend as smoking.

The same reasoning justifies the urgent need for a radical revision of the modern diet to a healthier standard, which matches better the ancestral needs of human body, by providing foods with much lower glycemic index (load) and much higher proportion of omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids. These important topics are very well covered in the chapter 20 "Lifestyle, diet, and disease: comparative perspectives on the determinants of chronic health risks" by William R. Leonard from the Northwestern University Department of Anthropology.

Another notable chapter of the book is chapter 9 "Perspectives on human health and disease from evolutionary and behavioral ecology" by Beverly I. Strassmann (Institute for Social Research & Department of Anthropology, Ann Arbor, USA), and Ruth Mace (University College London Department of Anthropology, UK). It presents a thoughtful review of trade-offs between longevity and fertility, and refutes the highly publicized claims that human longevity comes with the cost of impaired fertility among long lived persons.

One minor weakness of this book may be related to some neglect of alternative, non-evolutionary explanations. For example, human aging is discussed mostly in narrow evolutionary terms, while ignoring a more general theory of systems failure (systems reliability theory), which is included now in the Handbook of the Biology of Aging (Academic Press, 2006), and other biomedical publications on aging.

This book will be useful to biomedical students, researchers and doctors, because it stimulates fresh thinking and new approaches to traditional medical problems.

Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Natalia Gavrilova, Ph.D.
Center on Aging, University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637
gavrilov@longevity-science.org

Key words:
New books, New England Journal of Medicine, Evolution in Health and Disease, Evolution, Health, Disease, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, Stephen Stearns, Jacob Koella, Oxford University Press, evolutionary medicine, evolutionary genetics, human behavioral ecology, evolutionary microbiology, evolution of aging and degenerative disease, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, asthma, allergies, autoimmune diseases, aging, evolutionary (Darwinian) medicine, evolutionary biology, anthropology, developmental biology, genetics

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"Aging: The Paradox of Life: Why We Age" -- New Book Review

2008-09-09T13:42:00.016-05:00

Dear All,

I am pleased to share with you some excerpts from our new book review, which is just published this month by the scientific journal "The Quarterly Review of Biology," September 2008, vol. 83, no. 3, pp. 325-326. :

Aging: The Paradox of Life: Why We Age
by Robin Holliday , Springer, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/34fzmx

"This is a short popular book written by a famous geneticist and biogerontologist. The author is a retired professor notable for his classic studies of genetic recombination, with a DNA intermediate now known as the “Holliday structure” (or “Holliday junction”).

In just 132 pages, he presents to general readers his personal understanding of the biological aging process, its multiple causes, evolution of aging and longevity, interspecies differences in life span, the number of genes involved in human aging and longevity, modulation of aging and life extension, determinants of human longevity, and many other topics, such as the origin of religion and human warfare.

This broad discussion of so many different topics is supported by a very short bibliography (just one page), which may be appropriate for the general public, but will create an impression of some incompleteness for more sophisticated readers.

The volume is useful in dispelling a myth of “healthy” aging unrelated to diseases, as the author argues convincingly that separation of age-related diseases and biological aging is not possible even at the theoretical level, because of strong interactions between these processes.

Discussion of the evolution of aging is somewhat outdated and simplistic, because too much emphasis is made on the disposable soma theory and tradeoffs between longevity and reproduction, without discussing new accumulated facts contradicting this theory.

Many readers will be surprised to learn from this book that further significant extension of human life is neither possible, nor desirable. These conservative views do not represent a current consensus of the gerontological scientific community, and no convincing arguments are presented to support them. Still, it is useful to know the author's position on this hotly debated topic of the future of human longevity.

Overall, this volume may be of interest to the general public, as it helps to balance the current bold optimistic expectations for the future of human life span and life extension with a healthy dose of skepticism.

It would be also strongly recommended that any future edition of this book contains an expanded bibliography, and deeper discussions of the scientific topics and supporting evidence, in addition to the personal views of the author."

Leonid A. Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Natalia S. Gavrilova, Ph.D.
Center on Aging
NORC and the University of Chicago

---
Published in The Quarterly Review of Biology,
September 2008, vol. 83, no. 3, pp. 325-326.

Hope it helps. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME !

Do you have any comments and suggestions?
Post them below by clicking here !

Thanks!

-- Leonid

--------------------------------------------------
-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
My books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

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Life-Extension Drugs

2008-08-01T11:38:00.022-05:00

Dear All,

I would greatly appreciate your advice, please, on any recent review of life-extension drugs, when applied to animal models (mice, rats, etc.).

Specifically, what are the typical effect sizes for these drugs in terms of percent increase in median lifespan (50% survival time)?

Are there some typical examples of drugs for the following specific life-extension patterns:

1. Improving the early survival only ("rectangularization" of the survival curve).
Also when/if this happens, is there a delay in onset of any other symptoms of aging?

2. Improving survival at all ages (parallel shift of the survival curve to older ages).

3. Improving the old-age survival only ("de-rectangularization" of the survival curve).

Please advise, by posting your comments here.

Thank you!

-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
My books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

P.S. Here is what I have found so far:

Life Extending Interventions

Intervention Name (In Alphabetic order), Organism, Aging Phenotype

(R)-N-(2-heptyl)-N-methylpropargylamine, Drosophila melanogaster, No effect on life-span,
2-mercaptoethanol , Mus musculus, Life-span extension
2-mercaptoethylamine hydrochloride, Mus musculus, Life-span extension
60% Oxygen, Rattus norvegicus, Shortened life-span

A
Ablation of dilp2 producing neurosecretory cells, Drosophila melanogaster, Life-span extension Accelerated photoperiodic cycle, Microcebus murinus, Shortened life-span
Acetyl-L-Carnitine, Rattus norvegicus, N/A
alpha-phenyl-N-t-butyl-nitrone, Homo sapiens (cell culture), Life-span extension
alpha-phenyl-N-t-butyl-nitrone, Mus musculus, Life-span extension
alpha-phenyl-N-t-butyl-nitrone, Musca domestica, Shortened life-span
Antimycin A , Caenorhabditis elegans, Life-span extension
Antimycin A, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (chronological), Shortened life-span
antioxidant drug EUK-134, Musca domestica, Shortened life-span
antioxidant drug EUK-134, Caenorhabditis elegans, Life-span extension
antioxidant drug EUK-8, Musca domestica, Shortened life-span
antioxidant drug EUK-8, Caenorhabditis elegans, Shortened life-span
antioxidant drug EUK-8, Caenorhabditis elegans, Life-span extension
Antioxidant treatment, Rattus norvegicus, No effect on life-span
Axenic growth, Caenorhabditis elegans, Life-span extension

B
Butein , Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative), Life-span extension
Butylated hydroxy anisole, Zaprionus paravittiger, Life-span extension
Butylated hydroxytoluene, Drosophila bipectinata, Life-span extension

C
Caloric restriction, Macaca mulatta, N/A
Caloric restriction, Rattus norvegicus, Life-span extension
Caloric restriction, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative), Life-span extension
Caloric restriction, Caenorhabditis elegans, Life-span extension
Caloric restriction, Drosophila melanogaster, Life-span extension
Caloric restriction, Frontinella pyramitela, Life-span extension
Caloric restriction, Canis lupus familiaris, Life-span extension
Caloric restriction, Ceratitis capitata, No effect on life-span
Caloric restriction, Asplanchna brightwelli, Life-span extension
Caloric restriction, Lebistes reticulatus, Life-span extension
Caloric restriction , Daphnia pulex, Life-span extension
Caloric restriction Brachionus calyciflorus Life-span extension
Caloric restriction Asplanchna girodi Life-span extension
Caloric restriction Brachionus patulus Life-span extension
Caloric restriction Brachionus plicatilis Shortened life-span
Caloric restriction Euclanis dilatata Life-span extension
Caloric restriction Encentrum linnhei Life-span extension
Caloric restriction Keratella testudo Shortened life-span
Caloric restriction Philodina acuticornis Life-span extension
Caloric restriction Synchaeta pectinata Shortened life-span
Caloric restriction Tokophrya infusionum Life-span extension
Caloric restriction Homo sapiens N/A
Caloric restriction Mus musculus Life-span extension
CDTA Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension
Cold stress Haematobia irritans Life-span extension
Continuous dark Asplanchna brightwelli Life-span extension
Copper gluconate Mus musculus Shortened life-span
Cortisone Asplanchna brightwelli Life-span extension
Curare Asplanchna brightwelli Life-span extension

D
D-glucosamine Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) No effect on life-span
D-Glucose Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) Life-span extension
D-Glycerol Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) Life-span extension
D-sorbitol Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) Life-span extension
D-Xylitol Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) Life-span extension
Decreased oxygen concentration Homo sapiens (cell culture) Life-span extension
Decreased temperature Asplanchna brightwelli Life-span extension
deprenyl Rattus norvegicus Life-span extension
deprenyl Mesocricetus auratus Life-span extension
deprenyl Canis lupus familiaris Life-span extension
deprenyl Mus musculus Life-span extension
deprenyl Drosophila melanogaster No effect on life-span
deprenyl Rattus norvegicus Shortened life-span
Dietary cadmium Drosophila melanogaster Shortened life-span
Dietary iron Drosophila melanogaster Correlation
Dietary restriction of coenzyme Q Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension
Dietary restriction of coenzyme Q Drosophila melanogaster Shortened life-span
Diiodomethane Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension
Diphenylhydantoin Mus musculus Life-span extension
DNA and RNA Injection Rattus norvegicus Life-span extension

E
Ectopic extrachromosomal rDNA circle (ERC) induction. Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) Shortened life-span
EDTA Mytilina brevispina var redunca Life-span extension
EGb 761 Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension
EGTA Mytilina brevispina var redunca Life-span extension
Epithalamin Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension
Ethoxyquin Mus musculus Life-span extension
Exercise Mus musculus No effect on life-span
Exercise Rattus norvegicus Life-span extension

F
FCCP Saccharomyces cerevisiae (chronological) Life-span extension
Fisetin Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) Life-span extension
Fish oil Mus musculus Life-span extension

G
Galactose feeding Drosophila melanogaster Shortened life-span
germ line ablation Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension
germ line ablation Pristionchus pacificus Life-span extension
Growth on carbenicillin treated bacteria Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension
Growth on kanamycin treated bacteria Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension
Growth on UV-killed bacteria Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension

H
Heat Shock Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) Life-span extension
Heat Shock Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension
Heat Shock Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension
Hibernation Mesocricetus brandti Life-span extension
High Osmolarity Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) Life-span extension
Human Growth Hormone Therapy Rattus norvegicus No effect on life-span
Human Growth Hormone Therapy Homo sapiens N/A
Human Growth Hormone Therapy Mus musculus No effect on life-span
Hypergravity Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension

K
Kinetin dietary supplementation Zaprionus paravittiger Life-span extension

L
L - carnosine Homo sapiens (cell culture) Life-span extension

M
Magnesium thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid Aedes aegypti Life-span extension
Melatonin Mus musculus Life-span extension
Melatonin Drosophila melanogaster No effect on life-span
Melatonin Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension
Methionine Mus musculus Shortened life-span
Methionine Zaprionus paravittiger Life-span extension
Methionine restriction Rattus norvegicus Life-span extension
Methionine restriction Mus musculus Life-span extension
Modified Mediterranean diet Homo sapiens Correlation

N
N,N'-diphenyl-1,4-diphenylenediamine Caenorhabditis elegans No effect on life-span
N -acetylcysteine Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension
N -benzyl hydroxylamine Homo sapiens (cell culture) Life-span extension
N -methyl hydroxylamine Homo sapiens (cell culture) Life-span extension
N-t-butyl hydroxylamine Homo sapiens (cell culture) Life-span extension
Nicotinamide Homo sapiens (cell culture) No effect on life-span
Nicotinamide Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) Shortened life-span
Nicotinic Acid Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) No effect on life-span Nordihydroguaiaretic acid Aedes aegypti Life-span extension

O
Ovary transplantation Mus musculus Life-span extension
Oxygen pretreatment Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension

P
Paraquat Saccharomyces cerevisiae (chronological) Shortened life-span
PBA Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension
Phenformin Mus musculus Life-span extension
Prevention of flight Musca domestica Life-span extension
Prevention of mating (by removal of females) Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension Propyl gallate Zaprionus paravittiger Life-span extension

R
R -Alpha-Lipoic Acid Rattus norvegicus N/A
Repeated Mild Heat Shock Homo sapiens (cell culture) No effect on life-span
Resveratrol Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) Life-span extension
Resveratrol Saccharomyces cerevisiae (chronological) No effect on life-span
Resveratrol Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension
Resveratrol Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension
Resveratrol Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) No effect on life-span
Retinoic acid Homo sapiens (cell culture) Life-span extension
Royal Jelly Mus musculus Life-span extension

S
Sodium borate Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension
Sodium citrate Mytilina brevispina var redunca Life-span extension
Sodium cyanide Saccharomyces cerevisiae (chronological) Life-span extension
Sodium hypophosphite Zaprionus paravittiger Life-span extension
Sodium selenite Zaprionus paravittiger Life-span extension
sodium tartrate Mytilina brevispina var redunca Life-span extension

T
Tamarixetin Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension
Tea extract Drosophila melanogaster Life-span extension
Telomere length Saccharomyces cerevisiae (replicative) N/A
Thyroxine Rattus norvegicus Life-span extension
Tryptophan Restriction Mus musculus Life-span extension
Tryptophan Restriction Rattus norvegicus Life-span extension

U
UV radiation Asplanchna brightwelli Shortened life-span

V
Vitamin C Caenorhabditis elegans No effect on life-span
Vitamin C Homo sapiens (cell culture) Life-span extension
Vitamin E Asplanchna brightwelli Life-span extension
Vitamin E Zaprionus paravittiger Life-span extension
Vitamin E Philodina acuticornis Life-span extension
Vitamin E Mus musculus No effect on life-span
Vitamin E Caenorhabditis elegans No effect on life-span
Vitamin E Caenorhabditis elegans Life-span extension

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Research News: Can Exceptional Longevity be Predicted?

2008-07-14T12:36:00.016-05:00

Greetings,

We are pleased to announce new paper on human longevity predictors, just published by the Journal of the American Academy of Actuaries, named "Contingencies":

Gavrilova N.S., Gavrilov L.A.
Can Exceptional Longevity be Predicted?
Contingencies [Journal of the American Academy of Actuaries],
2008, July/August issue, pp. 82-88.
Full text available at:
http://www.contingencies.org/julaug08/trade.pdf

Comments and suggestions are welcome!
You can post your comments by clicking here.

Here are some excerpts:

Can Exceptional Longevity Be Predicted?

By Natalia Gavrilova and Leonid A. Gavrilov

From an actuarial point of view, it might be interesting to know whether it’s possible to predict the likelihood of a person living to 100 and beyond based on general personal data taken at some point in young adulthood. Say, at age 30.

Who has a better chance to become a centenariana taller or a shorter person? Is it better to be slender or stout? We know that most centenarians are both short and slender in their body build, but these measurements made at older ages could be misleading because they might only reflect body shrinkage as a result of aging. We were also intrigued by other possible predictors of long life. Is it better to be a farmer or an actuary in order to survive to 100? Does the number of children a person has affect their chances to celebrate their 100th birthday? Is it better to have dark eyes or light eyes? All these personal characteristics could be useful for actuaries if a strong association between them and exceptional longevity were to be established.

Biologists vs. Demographers

Interestingly, scientists currently disagree on whether a small or a large body size is conducive to exceptional longevity. Historical demographers are confident that small body size is associated with increased mortality, while biologists are firmly convinced that a small body size is preferable for longevity.

Numerous historical studies have found that body height in young adulthood is a good indicator of a past history of nutritional and infectious diseases. Infectious diseases (and diarrheal diseases in particular) that were highly prevalent in the past clearly led to growth retardation and a shorter body height, making shortness a marker of an unhealthy childhood and impaired health. For example, early 20th century military conscripts from high-mortality districts of antebellum New York were shorter than those from healthier districts. It could be expected that shorter people raised in a less healthy environment would have higher death rates at older ages as well. In his pioneering study published in 1984, Norwegian demographer Hans Waaler found a negative relationship between body height and mortality later in life. Waaler’s initial findings were reproduced later in many other studies, including a famous study of U.S. Union Army Civil War veterans. According to these studies, future centenarians should be taller than their peers.

Not true, say the biologists. Studies of different strains and breeds of dogs, rats, and mice have found that smaller animals live longer on average within a given species. Biologists believe that rapid “catch-up” growth may be harmful and that somewhat delayed maturation is beneficial for longevity. It’s well known that dietary restriction that interferes with normal growth can dramatically extend life spans in laboratory animals. These biological findings are consistent with recent studies on the adverse effects of obesity on human health and survival in later life. In some studies, daughters of centenarians have been found to be somewhat shorter than their peers, suggesting that the familial factors of longevity may also be associated with a shorter body height (interestingly, sons of centenarians haven’t been found to be similarly affected). Accordingly, future centenarians should be shorter and more slender than their peers. In fact, there are reports that Japanese centenarians are shorter than their countrymen whose lifespan is average. But as we already have mentioned, these studies measured centenarians when their body height had already decreased with age.

For the purpose of longevity prediction, we decided it was necessary to consider the effects of height and weight from when future centenarians were young adults. Surprisingly, such simple studies were never done before, possibly because of the lack of available data.

Better Data, Intriguing Results

With the idea of using better data to explore all these interesting questions on longevity predictors, we initiated a small pilot study of American centenarians using personal characteristics measured when they were young adults. This study employed a random representative sample taken from a Social Security Administration database (SSA Death Master File) of 240 centenarian men born in 1887. These records were then linked to the World War I draft registration cards collected in 1917 when the same men were 30 years old.

In 1917 and 1918, draft registration cards were completed for approximately 24 million American men born between 1873 and 1900. The registration was amazingly complete, with about 98 percent of all adult U.S. men from the ages of 18 to 46 years participating. The registration cards contain information on important socioeconomic characteristics (occupation, marital status, immigration status, number of children) and some physical characteristics, including height, body build, eye color, hair color, and any disabilities.

We randomly selected shorter-lived men matched with centenarian men by birth year, race, and county of draft registration to use as matched controls. This approach allowed us to eliminate the effects of birth cohort, race, and place of draft registration on survival. Using controls from the same geographical area (county) allowed us to mitigate a possible geographically related subjectivity in height and build estimation and relative ranking. According to the 1900 U.S. cohort life table, living beyond 100 can be expected for around two or three men in every 1,000 born, so it was unlikely that the selected control men could become centenarians by chance.

Finding centenarians in the Social Security database was a relatively easy task. However, it was more difficult to find the same persons in the World War I draft registration cards when they were young. This process (known as data linkage) had an overall success rate of 72.5 percent. In other words, we succeeded in finding 174 linked records for centenarians; three records from Puerto Rico in Spanish were later dropped from the analysis because we couldn’t read the handwriting.

Fortunately the linkage of centenarian records to draft registration wasn’t subject to significant bias regarding foreign-born status or race. The proportion of immigrants was similar among centenarians (20 percent) and controls (22 percent) and close to the officially reported proportion of immigrants (18 percent) in the 1920 census (for ages 20 to 44). The proportion of African-Americans among centenarians (5 percent) was lower than the proportion in the 1920 census (9 percent), but this could be due to higher mortality of blacks compared to whites at certain ages and hence their lower survival rate to age 100.

The first striking observation of our study was that a “stout” body type at age 30 seems to be negatively correlated with survival to age 100 (See Figure 1). Only 7 percent of future centenarians fell into the “stout” category, compared to 15 percent of the control group. The overall difference in distribution in build between cases and controls demonstrated a borderline significance in univariate analyses (p=0.07). It’s interesting to note that centenarians are not among the tallest or the shortest men at age 30. In fact, most of them tend to be of medium height, although these differences weren’t statistically significant.

Multivariate analyses using conditional logistic regression (and controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics) confirmed that a stout body has a statistically significant correlation with lower survival rates to age 100 (See Table 1).

Our study confirmed that obesity at young adult age (being stout at 30 years) is detrimental to attaining exceptional longevity, while height is a far less important factor. The findings that a stout build predicts much lower survival rates to age 100 were consistent with existing knowledge that particularly high body mass indexes (BMIs) and obesity are associated with increased mortality. Our findings also expanded our knowledge about centenarians in three ways:

1.The detrimental effects of obesity may have an exceptionally long time range: obesity as a young adult is still predictive of decreased chances of survival to age 100;

2.The significance of build as a predictor of exceptional longevity is much higher than other variables such as height, immigration status, and marital status;

3.Contrary to expectations based on biological studies (including life extension of dietary-restricted animals), a slender build doesn’t improve chances of survival to 100 years when compared to a medium buildit’s better not to be stout, but there’s no need to starve in order to become slim.

Another interesting finding of our study was the positive effect of a farming lifestyle at age 30 on survival to age 100. In addition to farming, several other broad occupational groups were studied: white collar occupations (clerks, bankers, etc.), blue collar skilled occupations (repair mechanics, machinists), service occupations (grocers, barbers, salesmen) and unskilled occupations (laborers, kitchen hand, etc.). None of these non-farming occupational groups showed any significant effect on longevity in our study. This result was consistent with our earlier findings (published in the North American Actuarial Journal in 2007) suggesting that children raised on farms (boys in particular) had higher chances of becoming centenarians. Similar results were obtained by other authors who studied childhood conditions and survival to advanced ages and found the beneficial effects of a farm childhood on longevity much stronger for men than women. American demographer Samuel Preston and his colleagues suggested a hypothesis that the effect of farm childhood on longevity is stronger for men, as compared to women, because men raised on farms often became farmers themselves and continued to live in healthier environments, while women often moved away when they married.

Being married by age 30 had no statistically significant effect on survival to age 100. However, the number of children born to a man by age 30 had a positive effect on his chances of exceptional longevity (see Table 1). The draft registration cards recorded all dependent children under the age of 12. Since it’s unlikely for a father to have children older than 12 by his 30th birthday (corresponding to fatherhood before 18), we believe that the registration cards reported almost all living children born to the men by age 30. It’s interesting that a large initial number of children born by the time a man reaches 30 increases his chances of attaining exceptional longevity by a factor 2.6 (Table 1). The positive correlation of the number of children with longevity seems to contradict predictions in some evolutionary theories of aging (notably, the disposable soma theory) that longevity comes at the cost of impaired reproduction. On the other hand, this finding may have several reasonable explanations, both of a social and a biological nature. First, fathering a large number of children earlier in life may provide the parent with necessary care and material support in old age. Second, high fertility at young age may be a marker of a man's overall good health and attractiveness in the marriage market (on average, the earlier you marry, the more children you should have by age 30).Third, it was common for farm families to have a larger number of children to help on the farm. Further studies of centenarians, including studies of genealogical data, may shed more light on the mechanisms of this interesting phenomenon.

The effects of immigration status, marital status, and height on longevity appeared less important and their impact on longevity was statistically insignificant in the studied data set.

This study provided the first estimates of the impact of height, build, and other vital characteristics at a young adult age on future exceptional longevity. It showed that the detrimental effects of obesity may have an exceptionally long time range and that obesity as a young adult is predictive of almost three times lower the chance of living to 100. The results of this study also demonstrated the usefulness of World War I draft registration cards as a new and promising source of information for finding factors associated with lower mortality and better survival.

NATALIA GAVRILOVA and LEONID A. GAVRILOV are research associates at the University of Chicago, the Center on Aging, and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. This article is adapted from their presentation at the January 2008 Living to 100: Survival to Advanced Ages International Symposium in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Additional Reading

Gavrilov, L. A. and N. S. Gavrilova. The Biology of Life Span: A Quantitative Approach. New York: Harwood Academic Publisher, 1991

Gavrilova, N. S. and L. A. Gavrilov. “Human longevity and reproduction: An evolutionary perspective.” Grandmotherhood:The Evolutionary Significance of the Second Half of Female Life E. Voland, A. Chasiotis, and W. Schiefenhoevel, Piscataway, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2005

Gavrilova, N.S., Gavrilov, L.A. “Search for Predictors of Exceptional Human Longevity,” Living to 100 and Beyond. The Society of Actuaries, Schaumburg, Ill., 2005

Gavrilova, N. S. and L. A. Gavrilov. “Search for Predictors of Exceptional Human Longevity: Using Computerized Genealogies and Internet Resources for Human Longevity Studies.” North American Actuarial Journal 11(1), 2007

Update of Feb. 21, 2009:

This study is cited now in:

Rattan S.I.S., and Singh R.
Progress and prospects: Gene therapy in aging
Gene Therapy (2009) 16, 3–9
http://www.nature.com/gt/journal/v16/n1/pdf/gt2008166a.pdf

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Call to Swedish Colleagues

2008-06-14T12:58:00.023-05:00

Greetings,

We will be in Sweden on July 4 - 9, and we would be delighted to meet Swedish colleagues interested in aging, longevity and life extension.

If you are one of them, please contact us at:

gavrilov@longevity-science.org

This is our first trip to Sweden, but we have some prior experience of giving invited lectures in Canada, France, Australia, England, Germany, Japan, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Russia, Malaysia, and of course in the United States:

http://longevity-science.org/invited_talks.html

We would be glad to find some people in Sweden interested in aging, longevity and life-extension for possible contacts.

We are invited to a closed scientific meeting on life-extension near Stockholm, starting on evening July 5, and until afternoon of July 8.

As by now we have two open slots for other invited lectures, if somebody is interested:

1. July 4 until evening of July 5; and

2. evening of July 8 until early morning of July 10.

Thank you!

Kind regards,

-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.:
http://longevity-science.org/CV-gavrilov.htm

-- Natalia Gavrilova, Ph.D.:
http://longevity-science.org/CV-gavrilova.htm

P.S.: Here are our flight details, just in case:

Arrival to Sweden (Arlanda airport):
Friday, July 4, 12:25 PM (afternoon)
Scandinavian Airlines # 556

Departure from Sweden (Arlanda airport):
Thursday, July 10, 10:15 AM (morning)
United Airlines # 9359 Operated by: SCANDINAVIAN -- SK 945

On the evening of July 4th we could be found at Quality Hotel Airport Arlanda (Cederstromsslinga, Arlanda, SE, 19586), Phone: (46) 8 59 51 11 00, E-mail: q.arlanda@choice.se
http://www.qualityarlandastad.com/eng/index.asp

On the evening of July 5th we could be found at Arlanda airport Radisson SkyCity Hotel (P.O. Box 82, SE-190 45, Stockholm-Arlanda),
Phone: +46 (0)8 50 67 4000; Fax: +46 (0)8 50 67 4001
E-mail: sales.skycity.stockholm@radissonsas.com
http://www.skycity.stockholm.radissonsas.com/

On July 6 - 8 we will be at the Castle Ranas Slott (762 96 Ranas; 60 km to the North from Stockholm, tel.0175 747 00; e-mail: info@ranasslott.se,
http://www.ranasslott.se/index.asp/id/1510/lang/1033
This is a confidential, by-invitation-only scientific meeting. However you are most welcome to send us a message there, if you wish to meet us sometime later, starting on evening of July 8, until the evening of July 9. Thanks!

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New Initiative to Combat Human Aging

2008-05-20T16:38:00.021-05:00

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog

Greetings,

I am pleased to inform you that the new issue of The New England Journal of Medicine reviews the idea of a dramatic acceleration of anti-aging research ("Apollo-type effort to control aging") through greatly increased research funding:

The New England Journal of Medicine, 2008, 358(20): 2187-2188
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/358/20/2187

Here are some excerpts from this published book review:

The Longevity Revolution:
The Benefits and Challenges of Living a Long Life
by Dr. Robert N. Butler

"This book about the ongoing revolution in human longevity and its implications for society was written by Robert Butler, a professor of geriatrics who is still working at the age of 80. The book is unique in that Butler not only describes the medical and social problems that can be anticipated in the United States when baby boomers reach retirement age but also suggests bold and radical solutions for these upcoming problems.

Butler was the founding director of the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health from 1976 to 1982, and given his impressive background, his extraordinary plan of action should be considered very seriously.

The main premise of the book is that the anticipated catastrophic increases in rates of disability and the cost of health care among older people could be avoided if the United States committed itself to a large-scale scientific project akin to NASA's Apollo program of flights to the moon.

Butler states that his proposed program "could be dubbed the Apollo Program for Aging and Longevity Science" and goes on to explain that "the present level of development of aging and longevity research justifies an Apollo-type effort to control aging. . . . Now we have both past work as a foundation and new scientific tools offering hope that we may soon have a more prolonged, vigorous and productive life and added longevity. During the twenty-first century, the century of the life sciences, longevity science should truly come of age."

Butler believes that "it may soon be possible to delay both aging and age-related disease in humans" but that "an orbital jump in financing of science is required to advance longevity and health as well as national wealth."

Today, less than 1% of the entire federal budget is spent on medical research. Butler proposes that to improve health and control costs, 3% of the federal government's annual spending on health care should be made available to the National Institutes of Health for medical research. He also proposes that of Medicare expenditures, 1% should be earmarked for the National Institute on Aging. This investment should increase in line with the Medicare budget, but according to Butler, scientific research could lower Medicare expenditures.

Butler concludes that "while the numbers I am suggesting may seem extraordinary, I believe the level of scientific progress in the field since the 1950s justifies such a program. . . ."

As a former director of the National Institute on Aging, Butler understands well where the main wasting of scientific potential currently takes place. As many as 80 to 85% of all research proposals that are peer reviewed and approved (scored) by the National Institutes of Health cannot be funded. This is a tremendous loss of intellectual potential and research opportunities.

With his suggested increase in funding, Butler believes that "at least 30 percent of approved grants (if not more) should be funded." In short, to meet the challenges of the aging population, we need a scientific revolution in the science and medicine of longevity. Butler writes, "Science will find new ways to extend life and its quality. Evidence suggests that morbidity can be further compressed, and society can adapt to the growing numbers of older persons." ...

This book has the potential to change the future of this country for the better if its ideas reach members of Congress and other representatives of the U.S. government."

...

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Source:
The New England Journal of Medicine, 2008, 358(20): 2187-2188
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/358/20/2187

Disclaimer
The authors of this new publication are:

-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.
-- Natalia Gavrilova, Ph.D.
Center on Aging
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637
gavrilov@longevity-science.org

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