Health for Life

The end of the year is closing in, and this is about when I usually make an annual donation to the Methuselah Foundation. I prefer the periodic lump sum donations over monthly contributions as it's a good way to force an occasional check on whether you're still making a good choice. In the years since the Foundation's inception, I've donated to the Mprize fund. The fund predates the option to directly sponsor Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senesence (SENS) research aimed at repairing the damage of aging, but I've continued to put money towards the research prize, as I consider it to be important.

Time for a change, I think. This year's donation will go towards SENS research - but not because I think the Mprize is any less worthy. At this point, it looks like the best plausible growth path for the Methuselah Foundation over the next few years is based on following through with present initiatives to establish and publicize a steady stream of modest SENS research achievements. I've long said that advocacy and tangible results have to go hand in hand for optimal progress; when one gets too far ahead of the other, it tends to slow down.

You get what you pay for in this life - so if we want to see that steady stream of research achievements, we have to fund the research. Other people hang around in the wings waiting for more confirmation and mass of support for these projects, but those of us who better understand the science and potential of SENS are the ones who must pay to start the ball rolling. My contributions aren't large, but then no one person can form a crowd. I would hope that discussing this topic moves those of you yet to donate to make that small effort to help progress towards engineered longevity.

Can you recall the last time you were really angry at someone? So much so that you were physically shaken just at the thought of them?

Rarely does this feeling of anger help us in getting what we want. Often, it will work against us, resulting in more pain, unnecessarily.

Even the most gentle of personalities can temporarily turn into a vindictive rascal, if pushed far enough.

For sake of simplicity, we will use anger as the target emotion to overcome. Keep in mind that it can be applied to overcome other non-conducive and intense emotions such as jealousy, guilt, hatred, regret and fear.

Why Do We Feel Like Crap?

Anger doesn’t feel very good. It’s pretty gross, actually. Our stomach tightens-up, we become sweaty, we react - instead of act - in survival mode.

And anger clouds our judgment causing us to respond wildly out of emotion. We’ve all been there. Sometimes, it can get so intense that we tremble passionately while feeling strong hate towards other people.

And when we cool down, we would wonder how we allowed ourselves to get in such a messed up state in the first place.

Read more at ThinkSimpleNow

The Millard Foundation has been moving towards earnest funding of longevity science over the past few years: there have been initial donations, conference attendances, meetings with movers and shakers. All the normal activities and preparation by people who take investing very seriously. Much like the Glenn Foundation, which I would consider an analogous force in the philanthropic funding space, the Millard family have donated generously to the Methuselah Foundation. But where Paul Glenn opted to place his first major funding initiatives firmly in the present mainstream - calorie restriction research, understanding metabolism, and attempts to slow aging through metabolic and genetic manipulation - the Millard family is more inclined towards the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) viewpoint. This approach is to reverse aging without altering the workings of our metabolism by identifying and repairing damage: the engineering approach.

Long-time readers will know that I consider the debate over the methods used to engineer longevity in humans to be the most important scientific battle of this century. If it goes the right way - towards SENS, presently the minority viewpoint - then I believe significant results in applied longevity science will arrive decades sooner than they might, and will include therapies capable of rejuvenating the elderly. If development of metabolic manipulation therapies to slow aging continues to dominate, progress towards enhanced longevity will be much slower, and the resulting therapies will be of no use to those already aged.

From what I've seen, the Millards have money, influence, and the intelligence to use it well. That is good news for SENS-style research over the next few years. Going by the latest news from the Methuselah Foundation, things are moving forward more rapidly now:

Back in June at Aging '08 I met Barbara Logan of the Millard Foundation having previously met her father William Millard at SENS 2. ... Over the following months she became a resource for me and I introduced her to some efforts with the Alberta Government where I had proposed the development of regenerative medicine programs which are under consideration. It soon became clear that there were some strong synergies and I was invited to participate in the efforts of the Millard Foundation in developing a strategy to serve the mission. Unsurprisingly, Aubrey [de Grey] is a consultant on the project and will play an increasingly important role as we move forward - the ideas of SENS are part of the project's DNA. More than that I'm afraid I can't speak to at this time, but suffice to say, it is one of the most exciting efforts (other than the Methuselah Foundation) that I have been involved with.

Diversification in the growth of the money-bearing and money-raising side of the healthy life extension community, and the wider adoption of the ideas of SENS in that group, is a very encouraging sign. Of all the things I'd want to see in a movement primed for growth in the years ahead, diversity amongst the movers and shakers tops the list. Diversity implies competition, and competition is the way to success.

Deuterium and engineered longevity are in the popular press again:

[The method] centres on fortifying the body's tissues and cells against attack and decay caused by free radicals, dangerous chemicals produced when food is turned into energy. Such 'attacks' on proteins are particularly damaging and have been linked to cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Dr Shchepinov's theory is based on deuterium, a naturally-occurring isotope, or form of hydrogen, that strengthens the bonds in between and around the body's cells, making them less vulnerable to attack.

He found that water enriched with deuterium, which is twice as heavy as normal hydrogen, extends the lifespan of worms by 10 per cent. And fruitflies fed the 'water of life' lived up to 30 per cent longer.

Heavy water is toxic to mammals at very high concentrations, and as I mentioned in response to a paper from Rejuvenation Research in 2007:

Shchepinov argues that isotopes would only be incorporated in the sites that need to be protected from oxidation. 'Ideally, they will slow down the oxidation reaction so much that they will never be released to take part in other reactions. If some of them do break free, they will only occur in small concentrations,' he said.

As for the other folk quoted in [a science press article at the time], I'm dubious - it seems to me that the level of technology required to target the isotopes reliably (and keep them targeted) would enable far more effective methdologies of repairing rather than preventing oxidative damage.

I suspect that the main benefit to come out of this research will be an increased understanding of free radical biochemistry and its interaction with degenerative aging.

UPDATE 11/27/2008: You'll find a much better article on this research at the New Scientist.

Anxiety is a state where you feel nervous and tough to accept or react to certain situation. In this state, you can end up with many ill effects on your mind and body. Your mind cannot accept the fact and you feel as if everything is lost. You have to get very tough on your anxiety to maintain your body and mind healthy.

1. You should never take any situation seriously that is you should be open to any kind of change in your life. Everything cannot be predicted before itself. There are many issues that arise unpredicted. Take all the things easily and move on in your life.
2. Instead of going for medication which can have the unpleasant effects, go for the meditation practice which relaxes your body and mind.
3. Learn the cause for your anxiety and try working on the cause so that next time when you come across similar situation you will not react.
4. Know your expectations. Prioritize them and try to fulfill your expectation by working hard. The problem of anxiety occurs when you don’t get the result which is expected. Put all your efforts to reach your expectations.
5. Never react to anything. Think twice and take an appropriate decision which helps you in leading a peaceful life.