A global team of scientists is on track to develop what it claims is the "long life" super pill which could help people live a long and healthy life well above 100 years.
Scientists claim that the drug, designed to duplicate the actions of three genes which aid longevity, could be ready for testing within three years, British newspaper -The Daily Telegraph -reported.
It follows the discovery of three different genes which all significantly increase the chances of living past 100. Two of the genes increase the production of the so called good cholesterol in the body, reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, while the third helps to prevent diabetes
He said: 'The biology we're trying to uncover is that if we can duplicate that, then long life can be really terrific” He also states that genetic inheritance also guards against the deadly impact of smoking, bad diet, obesity and lack of exercise.
The research team that paved the path for developing the pill, led by Dr. Nir Barzilai, a director of the Institute for Aging Research and Professor of Medicine and Molecular Genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said that various laboratories were now in the process of creating the pill that would trigger the same effects as the genes.
Dr. Barzilai began by looking at the DNA of a select group of centenarians. The group was composed of 500 healthy Ashkenazi Jews with an average age of 100 living in New York, and the researchers set out to find out whether they shared traits that could account for their long lives.
After examining two million genetic markers, the researchers pinpointed three "super genes" common to members of the group that are key to two things: 1) extending life beyond 100; and 2) preventing diseases common to old age. Two of the three genes enhance the production of good cholesterol, thereby reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease, while the third staves off diabetes. Those lucky enough to possess DNA that strongly features all three genes are also 80% less likely to develop Alzheimer's.
The study ruled out both fitness and dietary influences. In a statement to the Daily Mail, Dr Brasilia said, 30% of them were obese or overweight and 30% smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for more than 40 years. Because our centenarians have longevity genes, they are protected against many of the effects of the environment.
Those who possess the longevity genes have a one in 500 chance of living to be 100, while those less fortunate have a one in 10,000 chance.
Dr. Barzilai believes the study findings will prove to be a blessing to everyone, opening the door to lengthening average life expectancy while cutting illness in old age. "The advantage of finding a gene that involves longevity is that we can just develop a drug that will duplicate exactly what this gene is doing. The biology we are trying to uncover is that if we can duplicate that, then long life can be really terrific."
He stated that several laboratories are currently racing to create a pill duplicating the effects of the three genes that promote a long healthy life. He expects a pill will be ready for testing in three years.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Internet TV On Your Computer
The Internet is forcing an assortment of content and service providers to make a hard choice: Take advantage of a new distribution pipeline that might cannibalize existing revenue, or protect the current business model at the risk of being cannibalized by someone else.
This week, Verizon Wireless made a choice that illustrates the former path, and HBO stuck to the latter. Specifically, Verizon Wireless announced that customers with Blackberry or Android smart phones would soon be able to use a free app enabling them to make calls with Skype -- not just through a catch-as-catch-can WiFi connection, but through Verizon's widely available 3G network.
Skype lets people make phone calls through the Internet, bypassing the telcos' conventional and far more expensive voice networks. By taking on Skype, Verizon is betting that any revenue it might lose from customers downgrading their voice calling plans will be more than made up by increased sales of data plans and a share of the revenue from Skype subscriptions.
That migration was already happening without Verizon's participation; this way, it will get a piece of the action on Skype.
HBO, meanwhile, announced that it would make its movies and original programs available online, to people who subscribe to HBO on Verizon's FiOS fiber-optic TV and Internet services.
It's a similar effort to what HBO has done with selected cable systems, where customers with HBO subscriptions on their TV can get free access to the network's programs on their computer.
The new HBO GO service won't necessarily bring more customers to HBO. Instead, its main goal seems to be giving online video fans a reason not to cancel their pay television service.
Granted, HBO's bread and butter is the fees it harvests from pay television subscribers. But if there is no HBO available to them online, the small but growing number of Internet users who are abandoning cable and satellite services are finding other movie services to take its place.
This week, Verizon Wireless made a choice that illustrates the former path, and HBO stuck to the latter. Specifically, Verizon Wireless announced that customers with Blackberry or Android smart phones would soon be able to use a free app enabling them to make calls with Skype -- not just through a catch-as-catch-can WiFi connection, but through Verizon's widely available 3G network.
Skype lets people make phone calls through the Internet, bypassing the telcos' conventional and far more expensive voice networks. By taking on Skype, Verizon is betting that any revenue it might lose from customers downgrading their voice calling plans will be more than made up by increased sales of data plans and a share of the revenue from Skype subscriptions.
That migration was already happening without Verizon's participation; this way, it will get a piece of the action on Skype.
HBO, meanwhile, announced that it would make its movies and original programs available online, to people who subscribe to HBO on Verizon's FiOS fiber-optic TV and Internet services.
It's a similar effort to what HBO has done with selected cable systems, where customers with HBO subscriptions on their TV can get free access to the network's programs on their computer.
The new HBO GO service won't necessarily bring more customers to HBO. Instead, its main goal seems to be giving online video fans a reason not to cancel their pay television service.
Granted, HBO's bread and butter is the fees it harvests from pay television subscribers. But if there is no HBO available to them online, the small but growing number of Internet users who are abandoning cable and satellite services are finding other movie services to take its place.
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