Ayurvedic Medicine

"According to the disposable soma theory, a cost for reproduction could exist in human beings and other species and, thus, longevity could decrease when women have a higher number of children. The purpose of this article is to review the evidence in populations living or not living under natural fertility conditions, i.e. when fertility is near its biological maximum. The results indicate that in natural fertility conditions longevity does not decrease when the number of children increases but, in modern populations, mortality could slightly increase when women have more than 5 children. Complete data for these modern cohorts will tell us, one day, whether these results are still observed when the variable of interest is longevity and not only mortality." The disposable soma theory of aging, arising from evolutionary considerations, has moved through a number of interations to its present form. It is not highly regarded in comparison to other theories, largely because of this sort of evidence. The model of the body as a self-repairing machine subject to an accumulation of characteristic types of damage it cannot repair far better fits the observed facts.

View the Article Under Discussion: http://pmid.us/17532269
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

The near doubling of financing is part of an effort to burnish the president’s humanitarian credentials.

As noted at Ouroboros, there's still plenty to debate in calorie restriction science. Well-funded companies are developing therapies and human studies have been taking place for years, but discussions continue on the basic research in lesser species: "In the last decade, research into the molecular determinants of aging has progressed rapidly and much of this progress can be attributed to studies in invertebrate eukaryotic model organisms. Of these, single-celled yeast is the least complicated and most amenable to genetic and molecular manipulations. ... Activation of Sir2-family proteins in response to calorie restriction (CR) has been proposed as an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for life span extension. This idea has been called into question with the discovery that Sir2-family proteins are not required for life span extension from CR in yeast. ... Several specific cases where the Sir2 model of CR is inconsistent with experimental data are noted. These shortcomings must be considered along with evidence supporting a role for Sir2 in CR in order to fully evaluate the validity of this model." A number of other possible candidate genes and proteins have been put forward in the past year; as scientists continue to investigate, the situation will become more clear.

View the Article Under Discussion: http://ouroboros.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/skepticism-about-sir2s-role-in-yeast-cr/
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

President Bush asked Congress today to increase the United States’ commitment to $30 billion over a five-year period.

A man who flew to Paris for his wedding knew he was infected and had been advised not to travel overseas.