Our best papers on aging, mortality and longevity

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/


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Our best papers on aging, mortality and longevity
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.

International Longevity Conference in Brussels

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


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.

News on Reliability Theory of Aging and Longevity

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

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

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

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


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.

The Quest for Human Longevity: - A Correction

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


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The Way We Age

Greetings,

A new interesting and detailed story on aging problem has being published by The New Yorker Magazine this month:

Annals of Medicine

The Way We Age Now

Medicine has increased the ranks of the elderly. Can it make old age any easier?

by Atul Gawande

April 30, 2007

Here are some excerpts, discussing our ideas and studies there:

Leonid Gavrilov, a researcher at the University of Chicago, argues that human beings fail the way all complex systems fail: randomly and gradually. As engineers have long recognized, many simple devices do not age. They function reliably until a critical component fails, and the whole thing dies instantly. A windup toy works smoothly until a gear rusts or a spring breaks, and then it doesn’t work at all. But complex systems -- power plants, say -- have to survive and function despite having thousands of critical components. Engineers therefore design these machines with multiple layers of redundancy: with backup systems, and backup systems for the backup systems. The backups may not be as efficient as the first-line components, but they allow the machine to keep going even as damage accumulates.

Gavrilov argues that, within the parameters established by our genes, that’s exactly how human beings appear to work. We have an extra kidney, an extra lung, an extra gonad, extra teeth. The DNA in our cells is frequently damaged under routine conditions, but our cells have a number of DNA repair systems. If a key gene is permanently damaged, there are usually extra copies of the gene nearby. And, if the entire cell dies, other cells can fill in.

Nonetheless, as the defects in a complex system increase, the time comes when just one more defect is enough to impair the whole, resulting in the condition known as frailty. It happens to power plants, cars, and large organizations. And it happens to us: eventually, one too many joints are damaged, one too many arteries calcify. There are no more backups. We wear down until we can’t wear down anymore.

It happens in a bewildering array of ways. Hair grows gray, for instance, simply because we run out of the pigment cells that give hair its color. The natural life cycle of the scalp’s pigment cells is just a few years. We rely on stem cells under the surface to migrate in and replace them. Gradually, however, the stem-cell reservoir is used up. By the age of fifty, as a result, half of the average person’s hairs have gone gray.

Inside skin cells, the mechanisms that clear out waste products slowly break down and the muck coalesces into a clot of gooey yellow-brown pigment known as lipofuscin. These are the age spots we see in skin. When lipofuscin accumulates in sweat glands, the sweat glands cannot function, which helps explain why we become so susceptible to heat stroke and heat exhaustion in old age.

The eyes go for different reasons. The lens is made of crystallin proteins that are tremendously durable, but they change chemically in ways that diminish their elasticity over time -- hence the farsightedness that most people develop beginning in their fourth decade. The process also gradually yellows the lens. Even without cataracts (the whitish clouding of the lens caused by excessive ultraviolet exposure, high cholesterol, diabetes, cigarette smoking, and other unhelpful conditions), the amount of light reaching the retina of a healthy sixty-year-old is one-third that of a twenty-year-old.

I spoke to Felix Silverstone, who for twenty-four years was the senior geriatrician at the Parker Jewish Institute, in New York, and has published more than a hundred studies on aging. There is, he said, “no single, common cellular mechanism to the aging process.” Our bodies accumulate lipofuscin and oxygen free-radical damage and random DNA mutations and numerous other microcellular problems. The process is gradual and unrelenting. “We just fall apart,” he said.

More here.

The New Yorker Magazine


When you read the entire article, which is eight pages long, you may find it depressing. But do not blame the author for this inconvenient truth about the aging process that makes human life so miserable. The take-home message to me is that we have to do something about aging, and to block this horrible process of body degradation!

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

Key words:
aging, age, elderly, mechanisms of aging, wearing-out, damage accumulation, New Yorker, Atul Gawande, Leonid Gavrilov, redundancy, reliability theory, systems failure, Felix Silverstone

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Longevity Science: The Way We Age

Edmonton Aging Symposium

Greetings,

Take a look at interesting presentations given at the recent Edmonton Aging Symposium in Canada, which are now publicly available online here:

The following talk has caught my particular attention:

The Damage of Aging: Present Possibilities and Future Therapies
Huber Warner

This talk argues that the role of damage accumulation in the aging process is probably exaggerated -- particularly for oxidative damage to both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. This counterintuitive conclusion is based on recent findings that mice defective in superoxide dismutase defence against oxidative damage do NOT live shorter lives, despite observed extensive damage to both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Something to think about.

This presentation goes much further, claiming at slide # 9:

Vitamins A, E may be unhealthy
(JAMA 2/28/07 and reported in National Post; March 1, 2007)

This slide also says that Vitamin A increases the risk of death by 16%, and ß-carotene increases the risk of death by 7%.

This is where you have to listen the recorded presentation itself (available at the weblink listed above), to find out that the author himself does not agree with these claims.

So, for each presentation it is better first to download the Power-Point Presentation, then to start the audio of the presentation, and to follow the voice of the speaker clicking the next slides of his Power-Point Presentation.

Interestingly, a similar idea that damage to mitochondrial DNA has still unclear relation to aging was also discussed in another talk:

Mitochondrial DNA Mutations and Their Possible Role in Brain Aging
Konstantin Khrapko

Why additional damage does not always shorten lifespan?
This is indeed a challenge for the evolutionary theories of aging, assuming that “natural selection will always be in greatest opposition to the decline of the most senescence-prone system” and, therefore “senescence should always be a generalized deterioration,'' with all the destruction pathways being equally important.
However this problem can be easily resolved by the reliability theory of aging that emphasizes the existence and the key role of the "weakest links" in system's reliability. If these "weakest links" are not affected, then the damage in other places may have no apparent effects on system's failure.

See also the video of this exciting talk with somewhat intriguing title:

The Color Code and a Rainbow of Health
James Joseph PhD. - Tufts University

This is a rare combination of good science, humorous easy-to-understand presentation with important practical implications for your own health through simple nutrition changes. Dr. James Joseph presented the results of his studies on the effects of a diet high in fruits and vegetables in preventing age-related disease and the impact on behavior with a primary focus the improvement in neurological function and reduction in Alzheimer's symptoms. His lab has shown that blueberry supplementation was able to offset the deleterious consequences on behavior associated with amyloid plaques in mice prone to developing these deposits. The mechanisms by which the active molecules within blueberries are able to increase the generation of new neurons in the brain as well as the pathways by which these molecules help to enhance neuronal signaling and ultimately communication is an area of intense study in Dr. Joseph's lab with results which can potentially be applied to immediately decrease the impact of aging on behavior. Just a short word of caution: it was all done on laboratory animals (rats and mice) only; no similar studies on humans were reported in this presentation.

See also the "Head-to-Head" debates on the Ethics and Desirability of Life-Extension, which is now available here:

These debates are between the advocate of life-extension Gregory Stock and his opponent Daniel Callahan, with Aubrey de Grey as a moderator.

What pleasantly strikes me here is that this contentious issue is discussed during the debates in an academic and very respectful way -- see it yourself!

Very optimistic vision on the economic sustainability of a future life-extension was provided by Ronald Bailey in his talk "Estimating Your Future's Options", see video here.

I wish this talk be longer and more detailed in terms of justification of the optimistic vision for economics of life-extension. Also I feel that even if life-extension is not socially profitable, it still deserves to be pursued, because I believe that human life has its own value, beyond the money dimension.

Overall, these are very interesting and useful records to see and listen.

Please feel free to post your comments on these records below!

Key words:
Edmonton Aging Symposium, Huber Warner, Konstantin Khrapko, James Joseph, Gregory Stock, Daniel Callahan, Aubrey de Grey, Ronald Bailey, life-extension, damage, reliability theory, carotene, DNA, longevity, oxidative damage, risk of death, vitamin A, vitamin E, polyphenolics

Home:
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To read comments on this review, and to post your own thoughts, click here.