Cell Article on Geroscience

 

This new article  in Cell on geroscience is worth noting, the abstract:

From geroscience to precision geromedicine: Understanding and managing aging

Summary

Major progress has been made in elucidating the molecular, cellular, and supracellular mechanisms underlying aging. This has spurred the birth of geroscience, which aims to identify actionable hallmarks of aging. Aging can be viewed as a process that is promoted by overactivation of gerogenes, i.e., genes and molecular pathways that favor biological aging, and alternatively slowed down by gerosuppressors, much as cancers are caused by the activation of oncogenes and prevented by tumor suppressors. Such gerogenes and gerosuppressors are often associated with age-related diseases in human population studies but also offer targets for modeling age-related diseases in animal models and treating or preventing such diseases in humans. Gerogenes and gerosuppressors interact with environmental, behavioral, and psychological risk factors to determine the heterogeneous trajectory of biological aging and disease manifestation. New molecular profiling technologies enable the characterization of gerogenic and gerosuppressive pathways, which serve as biomarkers of aging, hence inaugurating the era of precision geromedicine. It is anticipated that, pending results from randomized clinical trials and regulatory approval, gerotherapeutics will be tailored to each person based on their genetic profile, high-dimensional omics-based biomarkers of aging, clinical and digital biomarkers of aging, psychosocial profile, and past or present exposures.

Cheers, 

Colin

Genome-Wide Association Studies (20 years of research)

Nature news has this interesting piece on genome-wide association studies for disease, a sample:

Twenty years ago, Klein et al.1 published a landmark paper in Science, describing one of the first genome-wide association studies (GWAS). This genomics approach has transformed scientists’ ability to identify relationships between a person’s genetic background (genotype) and their characteristics (phenotype), particularly in the context of disease.

Complex diseases — such as diabetes, arthritis, cancer and dementia — pose a huge public-health burden and are caused by the interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Understanding the genetic architecture of complex diseases can help scientists to figure out the biological processes that lead to these conditions, pinpoint the tissues that are involved, find drug targets and treatments and identify groups of individuals with similar disease risk profiles for tailored interventions.

Cheers, 

Colin

Cancer Risk from CT Scans (often used to reduce cancer risk)

 

JAMA Network has this study on the lifetime cancer risk from radiation exposure from CT scans.  

Conclusions and Relevance  This study found that at current utilization and radiation dose levels, CT examinations in 2023 were projected to result in approximately 103 000 future cancers over the course of the lifetime of exposed patients. If current practices persist, CT-associated cancer could eventually account for 5% of all new cancer diagnoses annually.

Cheers, 

Colin 

Sex Differences in Mortality (Urban Canada 1970-2000)

I was digging around to find some data on how life expectancy at birth in Canada has changed since I was born. I came across the graph above* which I found quite profound in terms of what how it illustrates the power of sex differences in mortality.  The richest males in urban Canada still come up short in terms of the life expectancy achieved by the poorest females (1970-2000).  If I can find a more recent update on this type of data (for the twenty-first century) I will post an update on this entry later.

Cheers 

Colin

* source:  Wilkins, R. (2007). Mortality by neighbourhood income in urban Canada from 1971 to 2001. Statistics Canada, Health Analysis and Measurement Group (HAMG). HAMG Seminar, and special compilations. For the data sources and methods, see Wilkins R, Berthelot JM, Ng E (2002). Trends in mortality by neighbourhood income in urban Canada from 1971 to 1996. Health Reports 13 (Supplement), pp. 45-71. Retrieved on January 11, 2008, from http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/82-003-SIE/2002001/pdf/82-003-SIE2002007.pdf

Age and Ageing Commentary Now Out

 

My latest commentary is now available in the April issue of Age and Ageing.

Cheers, 

Colin