Saturday, January 31, 2015

Washington, Jan 31: How long does a person live? Researchers from the University of Edinburgh say that the answer to this question lies in their DNA. A group of scientists have identified that a biological clock in human DNA can tell a person’s longevity. Read: Revealed — 5 simple steps to live a healthy, long life)

DNA methylation – How is it related to longevity?

The researchers at University of Edinburgh studied DNA methylation, a chemical modification of DNA (that takes place during the process of DND replication). This process occurs over a person’s lifetime and can help to predict an individual’s age when an individuals’ actual age is compared with their predicted biological clock age. The scientists observed a pattern emerging on doing this process.

Although this modification does not change the DNA sequence, it plays a key role in the biological processes and also influences the genes activation and inhibition. The DNA methylation changes can affect many genes and it occurs throughout a person’s life. (Read:Molecules targeting biological clock of cells hold potential for cancer treatment)

How were the results interpreted?

The results stated that people whose biological age was greater than their true age were more likely to die sooner than those whose biological and actual ages were the same. Even after accounting for other factors such as smoking, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, researchers found that the link between having a faster-running biological clock and early death held true.

Earlier studies vs the current study

Riccardo Marioni, a researcher said that the same results in four studies indicated a link between the biological clock and deaths from all the above listed causes. However, at present, it is not very clear about what factors (lifestyle or genetic) influence a person’s biological age. They have several follow-up study projects that are planned to investigate this matter in detail. (Read: It’s official – happy people live healthier, for longer!)

Researcher Ian Deary said, ‘This research increases our understanding of longevity and healthy ageing, which is very exciting as it has identified a novel indicator of ageing. This study improves the prediction of lifespan over and above many contributory factors such as smoking, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.’

With inputs from ANI

Image Source: Getty Images

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Follow new BP guidelines and avoid heart disease

Last Updated: Thursday, January 29, 2015 - 13:05

Washington: If new hypertension guidelines are followed sincerely, it could help us significantly prevent deaths owing to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) each year without increasing overall health care costs, an analysis conducted by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) found.

“Our findings clearly show that it would be worthwhile to significantly increase spending on office visits, home blood pressure monitoring and interventions to improve treatment adherence,” said lead author Andrew E. Moran, the Herbert Irving Assistant Professor of Medicine at CUMC.

“In fact, we could double treatment and monitoring spending for some patients - namely those with severe hypertension - and still break even,” he added.

In the new guidelines released by the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, stage 1 hypertension is defined as a systolic BP of 140-159 mm Hg or a diastolic BP of 90-99 mm Hg.

Stage 2 or severe hypertension is a systolic BP of 160 mm Hg or higher or a diastolic BP of 100 mm Hg or higher.

The 2014 guidelines are less aggressive for some patients, shifting treatment targets to higher blood pressures.

Fewer patients need treatment under the new guidelines, but according to Moran “even with the more relaxed goals, an estimated 44 percent of adults with hypertension, or 28 million people, still do not have their blood pressure adequately controlled”.

“Given rising health care costs and limited budgets, it is important to determine the cost-effectiveness of implementing the new guidelines and whether we should focus on specific patient subgroups,” added study leader Lee Goldman, Harold and Margaret Hatch Professor of the University.

The researchers found that full implementation of the new guidelines would save costs by reducing mortality and morbidity related to CVD.

“The overall message of our study is that every segment of our health care system, from small medical practices to large insurance companies, can benefit by improving treatment of hypertension,” Moran said.

The paper was published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Science

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Discovered: Way to unboil an egg

Adam Withnall,The Independent | Jan 28, 2015, 06.56 AM IST

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A major study backed by the US and Australian governments has made a revolutionary breakthrough — they have managed to unboil an ordinary egg. And while that may sound like a monumental waste of time and money, the results actually have huge implications for cancer treatments, biotechnology and a broad range of food production processes.

"Yes, we have invented a way to unboil a hen egg," said Gregory Weiss, the lead research author and professor of chemistry and molecular biology and biochemistry at the University of California Irvine. The discovery is significant because a hard-boiled egg white represents proteins that have been cooked, tangled up and - so we thought — irreversibly changed.

Yet by adding a urea substance to break down the cooked egg and then applying a high-powered machine called a "vortex fluid device", scientists were able to force the proteins apart into their untangled, reusable form.

"It's not so much that we're interested in processing the eggs; that's just demonstrating how powerful this process is," Weiss said. "The real problem is there are lots of cases of gummy proteins that you spend way too much time scraping off your test tubes, and you want some means of recovering that material."

Having an effective and quick method for reusing wasted proteins could revolutionize a vast range of scientific and manufacturing processes.

Cancer antibody creation, for instance, is carried out using expensive hamster ovary cells because they only rarely waste proteins. Doing away with this could ultimately make cancer research and treatments cheaper.

The team's research was funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences in the US and the Australian Research Council, and published last week in the journal ChemBioChem.

The researchers wrote: "This method... could transform industrial and research production of proteins."

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