Nature News on NCD Mortality

This piece in Nature news features this Lancet study on mortality risks.  The attentive reader will notice a few important things from the story.  

First, the good news:

"The latest study is the first to investigate the change in NCD-mortality across countries. It finds that, from 2010 to 2019, the probability of dying from an NCD before the age of 80 fell in 152 countries for women and 147 countries for men".

Secondly, The the not so good news:

"Despite these gains, more than half of the countries saw slower declines in the 2010s compared with the previous decade. “Around the beginning of the millennium, we saw significantly lowered mortality rates, but despite political attention suddenly over the last decade, things are not doing as well as before,” says Majid Ezzati, a co-author and global-health researcher at Imperial College London".

Then the political prescription from the not so good news:

"Ezzati says that the slowdown between 2010 and 2019 could be because of underfunding, poor targeting of vulnerable populations and a lack of clarity in public-health priorities. In many countries, proven interventions to reduce chronic-disease deaths, such as treatment for high-blood pressure and diabetes and cancer screening, have stagnated or even declined since 2010, despite being low-cost and highly effective, he says. Government restrictions on tobacco and alcohol have also lost momentum in many regions, he adds".

And then the most important news you would know is coming if one attends to the reality that biology constrains healthspan:

"High-income countries such as the United States and Germany saw a decline in improvements because of a rise in neuropsychiatric conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, other dementias and alcohol-use disorders. “Mortality from Alzheimer’s disease and dementias increased in 65% of countries, and in 90% of high-income countries,” says Le Nevez. Accelerated funding and the implementation of programmes addressing these conditions is needed urgently, she adds".

I do not know why this is the case, but if I had to select a scientific journal that appears to be the most antiquated when it comes to acknowledging, let alone attending to, the realities that aging impacts disease and health, it is The Lancet.  Whether it be cancer or COVID-19 mortality, so many studies in even the most prominent scientific journals could be much more informative and helpful if they functioned within a perspective informed by insights from the biology of aging.  When the original intellectual presuppositions of studying the infectious disease mortality responsible for early-life mortality are transposed to the study of the chronic diseases more prevalent in later life it constrains our ability to see what is really at play.  And this is so important because it will skew our understanding of what ought to be done to remedy the situation.  Namely, addressing the most significant risk factor for NCD- aging itself. 

Cheers, 

Colin

Turtles and Cancer

In the latest issue of Bioscience... the abstract

Turtles are renowned for their extreme longevity and tremendous range in body size. Theoretically, large, long-lived organisms should face higher cancer risks because of increased cell numbers and lifetime cellular turnover, yet cancer appears to be exceptionally rare in turtles. In the present article, we synthesize the current knowledge on cancer prevalence in turtles, drawing from zoo necropsies, pathology reports, and comparative oncology studies, and present new data spanning additional species that reinforce this pattern. Emerging molecular evidence suggests that turtles possess high resistance to oxidative stress and protein dysregulation, which may contribute to cancer resistance. Given their extreme lifespans and unique physiology, turtles represent a promising but underexplored model for studying the evolution of longevity and natural cancer suppression mechanisms.

Cheers, 

Colin 

Heatwaves and Accelerated Aging

Nature Climate Change has this new study on heatwaves and accelerated aging.  The abstract: 

 

Cheers, 

Colin

The Last Breakfast (... when the kids are grown)

 

Today my youngest son moved out, heading off to university.  I made him one last breakfast-- toasted bagel, grapes and a protein/fruit shake.  It was only partially eaten, as he was in a rush to pack things before leaving.

And so I am now an "empty nester", a stage of life I am still processing.  It is something that feels bitter sweet.  Of course every parent wants their children to grow up into independent adults, capable of exercising their own autonomy and face life's adventures of their own.  But for every parent I'm sure this stage seems to come way, way too quickly.  Kids grow up so fast!  

The daily habits of cooking meals, packing lunches, cleaning clothes, walking/driving kids to school, friends' houses, sporting activities, doctor's appointments, work, etc. have been such an integral part of my fatherhood identify for the past quarter of a century. And now these duties, along with their memories, are a long shadow cast by a previous stage of my life.  

I am trying to see the silver lining in this parental transition in terms of its potential to be a catalyst for my own growth and development.  It is an opportunity for me to take on new hobbies and projects that I did not have time to pursue before. Perhaps I will travel more.  I scaled back on attending work-related conferences over the past decade, after my divorce, so I could better manage juggling career and parental duties.  And I have never taken a solo vacation in my life, so perhaps that is something I should experience.  No doubt I can fill up the extra time with more research and writing as that has always been an integral part of my life.  But at the same time I know I need to work on attaining a better work-life balance.   

Fatherhood has been, and no doubt will continue to be, among the most formative life events in my growth and development, with a profound impact on my emotional wellbeing.  The world my boys face, like the future all previous generations have faced, is full of uncertainty and stress, along with valuable opportunities and hidden treasures.  I hope the paths they choose brings them adventure, meaning and fulfillment, and when adversity crosses their path they can always count on me for a compassionate ear and support.

As for me, at home it is now just Moe and I.  And who knows what the future will bring for us.

  

The "mighty" Moe!

Cheers, 

Colin

Final Push (Book update)

 

Final push to complete my new book on aging and translational gerontology!  All the substantive work is finished.  But hundreds of citations need to be uniformly formatted.  And a few final proof-reads.  

Cheers, 

Colin

Love for Reading (earliest memories)

 

Over my lifetime so far I have read many books-  most covered topics in philosophy, political theory and science (e.g. genetics, evolutionary biology, psychology, etc.).  I would estimate that 95%+  of the total books I have read over my entire life were non-fiction.  But it wasn't always this way.  And in this post I share some reflections on the first memory I have of when I discovered my love for reading.  

It was my initial engagement with works of fiction during the formative years of  childhood that I discovered my passion for reading, which helped lay the foundation for what would become a multi-decade engagement in works of non-fiction during my adulthood.  And eventually a passion for writing my own works of non-fiction. 

In 1980, as a 10 year old in grade 4, and I remember reading the book above:  The Secret of Phantom Lake, a book in the series the Three Investigators.  At that time I ended up reading every book in the series I could get my hands on.  I still have a complete collection of the book series, all these years later.  

As I noted in a previous post from over a decade ago, I read the whole collection (40+ books) to my older sons which rekindled my appreciation for how formative these books were on my intellectual development.  I can still recall the feeling I experienced when I started reading this book at age 10-- it was something I never experienced before.  I was engrossed in the book, reading it made me experience flow.  

My first memory of the deep enjoyment I experienced reading the book was that I could relate to the main characters.  Jupiter, Pete and Bob were three teenagers, amateur sleuths that enjoyed solving mysteries and crimes and ventured around California on their bikes,  Each of them had their own distinctive strengths and weaknesses:  Jupiter was brilliant (but could also be arrogant at times, leading to mistakes); Peter was the most athletic, but not always the most attentive; Bob was methodical in research but at times his lack of physical strength could be a liability.  

The first book I read, like all of them, detailed their "home base"- an old trailer hidden in a junk yard that had secret entrances only they could access.  The boys could retreat to this hidden sanctuary to plan their next adventures, hidden away from the gaze of adult/parental control.  This presented a very compelling story to me.  Like the characters in the book, I enjoyed the companionship my friends provided, riding my bike and, I would discover- engaging with this book series-  my love for trying to solve mysteries.  Entering into the headspace of different characters in each story- friends and foes alike, also helped me expand my understanding of the social landscape.  Transcending my own personal point of view, so I could empathetically understand/ try to anticipate the beliefs, actions and motives of other people, was engrossing and enjoyable.  You learn that some people are full of surprises- being more brave than you previously thought- or others are not trustworthy (you never really know what motivates others until more information is gathered about their history, character, etc.).  Trough reading fiction one acquires a lifetime of different experiences and insights, much faster and more nuanced tha one could from only interacting with people in real life.    

My fondest memories are sitting in my father's reclining lazy boy-chair, with a bowl of chips, reading this book.  I recall me asking my mother if it was OK that I sat and read for hours on end.  Until that point in my childhood I never sat still for long.  I was extremely active, involved in multiple sports and seldom sat still, let alone experienced being engrossed in reading before.  The engagement with this book was the beginning of a transformation in my life- both intellectually and emotionally.  A life of "the inner mind" began to take hold, one where my imagination could be celebrated, providing enjoyment and meaning in ways I had never experienced before. Inhabiting different times, places and minds (even if fictional) captured my imagination and was enjoyable.  And I learned that such joy enabled me to concentrate for hours on end, in a state of flow.   

Five years later, in grade 9, I volunteered to write some short mystery stories for my high school newspaper.  For a shy and awkward 14 year old this was a real risk.  I still aspired to become a fiction writer through grade 10, until my father put an end to those dreams, bluntly telling me that such career aspiration would lead me to starve.   

So while my "inner writer" remained dormant for many years after than time, it was always there, percolating away just below the surface.  By age 20 I began to study history and philosophy at university, and as I began to read non-fiction and acquired the intellectual skills to comprehend and assess arguments my passionate for research and writing was quickly engulphed.  And I haven't look back since then.  

By university my father also became my strongest champion, having read everything I ever published in his lifetime, and he was an avid reader of this blog up until he passed away.  He was glad to see that I was able to eek out a living through my research and teaching.    

Engaging with books from a young age, in a time before digital distractions could re-wire my brain, was, I believe, critical to my intellectual development.  And I try to remain vigilant about maintaining an existence that permits me times of undistracted solitude for deep reflection and writing.  This is not always an easy thing to do in the fervor of today's digital-centric / muti-tasking environment. 

Cheers, 

Colin

Tenure's Impact on Publishing

Nature news has the scoop on this PNAS study on research productivity after tenure.  From the news item:

"Faculty members in all disciplines tend to publish the most in the year before they’re granted tenure, the analysis found. After achieving it, their output varies by field: it plateaus for biologists and others who tend to work in the laboratory, and dips for those in fields such as mathematics that generally do not require lab research. The analysis was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

Cheers, 

Colin