Lifeboat Foundation

One of the strangest things that can sicken us—a rogue misfolded protein that destroys the brain, known as a prion—is even scarier than we knew. Researchers were able to find the prions responsible for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD), the most common prion disease in people, seeded everywhere in the eyes of 11 patients affected by it.

The findings are the latest to suggest that these universally fatal, if rare, diseases can be spread through the eyes. But they also indicate that our eyes might be someday be used to spot these cases with less hassle than current testing methods.

With the power to unleash as much energy in 10 seconds as the Sun does in its entire lifetime, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic events in the universe, second only to the Big Bang itself. Given how sudden they are, we don’t usually get any warning, but now astronomers have spotted the telltale signs of a star system that could blow its lid any moment – and it’s far too close to Earth for comfort.

A ubiquitous quantum phenomenon has been detected in a large class of superconducting materials, fueling a growing belief among physicists that an unknown organizing principle governs the collective behavior of particles and determines how they spread energy and information.

Experts increasingly think a system that could help paralyzed patients is within reach.

• By Sharon Begley, STAT on November 20, 2018

! A new review on the positive effects on lifespan and health of fasting and calorie restriction.

Nutrient composition and caloric intake have traditionally been used to devise optimized diets for various phases of life. Adjustment of meal size and frequency have emerged as powerful tools to ameliorate and postpone the onset of disease and delay aging, whereas periods of fasting, with or without reduced energy intake, can have profound health benefits. The underlying physiological processes involve periodic shifts of metabolic fuel sources, promotion of repair mechanisms, and the optimization of energy utilization for cellular and organismal health. Future research endeavors should be directed to the integration of a balanced nutritious diet with controlled meal size and patterns and periods of fasting to develop better strategies to prevent, postpone, and treat the socioeconomical burden of chronic diseases associated with aging.

The worldwide increase in life expectancy has not been paralleled by an equivalent increase in healthy aging. Developed and developing countries are facing social and economic challenges caused by disproportional increases in their elderly populations and the accompanying burden of chronic diseases. Geriatricians and gerontologists have contributed greatly to our understanding of the consequences and processes that underlie aging from clinical, social, mental, physical, and biological perspectives. The primary goal of aging research is to improve the health of older persons and to design and test interventions that may prevent or delay age-related diseases. Besides socioeconomic status, energy, environmental quality, and genetics are the most powerful determinants of health and longevity. Although environmental quality and genetics are not under our direct control, energy intake is.

Although immunotherapy can work wonders for cancer, it does not help everyone, side effects can be fierce, and costs are high. But the field is young.

At the Eurosymposium on Healthy Ageing, we had the opportunity to interview Sven Butlerijs of the Healthy Life Extension Society (HEALES). Some of our regular readers may recall seeing Sven join us for some of the monthly episodes of the Journal Club and he is an active figure in the rejuvenation biotechnology field.

During the interview with Nicola Bagalà, Sven discusses the extracellular matrix, its role in human biomechanics, what happens when it ages and stiffens, the role of cross-linking in collagen, and the possibility of interventions.

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center discovered that the protease USP13 (ubiquitin-specific peptidase 13) plays a role in the accumulation of toxic alpha-synuclein aggregates that characterize Parkinson’s disease [1].

Abstract

Ubiquitin specific proteases (USPs) are de-ubiquitinases that control the protein ubiquitination cycle. The role of de-ubiquitinases is poorly understood in neurodegenerative diseases. We found that USP13 is overexpressed in the post-mortem Parkinson’s disease (PD) brain. We investigated whether changes in USP13 levels can affect two molecules, parkin and alpha-synuclein, that are implicated in PD pathogenesis. Parkin is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that is regulated by ubiquitination and targets certain proteins for degradation, and alpha-synuclein may be ubiquitinated and recycled in the normal brain. We found that USP13 independently regulates parkin and alpha-synuclein ubiquitination in models of alpha-synucleinopathies. USP13 shRNA knockdown increases alpha-synuclein ubiquitination and clearance in a parkin-independent manner.

Continue reading “Inhibiting USP13 Might Prove Effective Against Parkinson’s Disease” »

Our orbiting laboratory is a unique place – a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. Unpack its architecture here: https://go.nasa.gov/2FzkBtf #SpaceStation20th