Low Vitamin D Levels Linked to Longevity

Low levels of vitamin D may be associated with longevity, according to a study involving middle-aged children of people in their 90s published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
“We found that familial longevity was associated with lower levels of vitamin D and a lower frequency of allelic variation in the CYP2R1 gene, which was associated with higher levels of vitamin D,” writes Dr. Diana van Heemst, Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands, with coauthors, ScienceDaily reported.
Previous studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D are associated with increased rates of death, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, allergies, mental illness and other afflictions. However, it is not known whether low levels are the cause of these diseases or if they are a consequence.
To determine whether there was an association between vitamin D levels and longevity, Dutch researchers looked at data from 380 white families with at least 2 siblings over age 90 (89 years or older for men and 91 year or older for women) in the Leiden Longevity Study.
The study involved the siblings, their offspring and their offsprings’ partners for a total of 1,038 offspring and 461 controls.
The children of the nonagenarians were included because it is difficult to include controls for the older age group. The partners were included because they were of a similar age and shared similar environmental factors that might influence vitamin D levels.
“We found that the offspring of nonagenarians who had at least 1 nonagenarian sibling had lower levels of vitamin D than controls, independent of possible confounding factors and SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) associated with vitamin D levels,” write the authors.

Simple Phone for the Elderly Launched

Age UK has launched a credit card-sized phone aimed at the elderly, which makes calling easy with shortcuts to pre-programmed numbers.
According to Telegraph, the handset, called My Phone, can take up to eight numbers, which are preprogrammed when the phone is ordered.
The numbers can be changed after purchasing but a new handset is required if a customer wants to change the names.
My Phone is designed to be easy to use for those with poor eyesight and features large labels printed on big buttons. Making a call is as simple as pressing a button.
Other elements of owning a mobile phone are simplified too: the My Phone has a built-in SIM card, for example. The handset’s number is printed on the back of the phone, too, in case the customers forget.
Age UK says that although 70 percent of those aged over 65 use a mobile phone, that falls to fewer than 50 percent of over 75s.
The handset, which comes in 11 different colors and has a five-day battery life, costs £55 to buy, with monthly contracts starting at £7.50. It can also be bought with a six-month bundle of 50 minutes per month for £87.50. It will be available from Age UK shops and online.

Amniotic Cells Can Regenerate Blood Vessels

A research team at Weill Cornell Medical College has discovered a way to utilize diagnostic prenatal amniocentesis cells, reprogramming them into abundant and stable endothelial cells capable of regenerating damaged blood vessels and repairing injured organs.
Their study, published online in Cell, paints a picture of a future therapy where amniotic fluid collected from thousands of amniocentesis procedures yearly, during mid-pregnancy to examine fetal chromosomes, would be collected with the permission of women undergoing the test, Weill.cornell reported.
These cells, which are not embryonic, would then be treated with a trio of genes that reprogram them quickly into billions of endothelial cells--the cells that line the entire circulatory system. The new endothelial cells could be frozen and banked the same way blood is, and patients in need of blood vessel repair would be able to receive the cells through a simple injection.
“If proven in future studies, this novel therapy could dramatically improve treatment for disorders linked to a damaged vascular system, including heart disease, stroke, lung diseases such as emphysema, diabetes and trauma,” says the study’s senior investigator, Dr. Shahin Rafii, the Arthur B. Belfer professor in genetic medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and co-director of its Ansary Stem Cell Institute.
“Currently, there is no curative treatment available for patients with vascular diseases and the common denominator to all these disorders is dysfunction of blood vessels, specifically endothelial cells that are the building blocks of the vessels,” says Dr. Rafii, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
But these cells do much more than just provide the plumbing to move blood. Dr. Rafii has recently led a series of transformative studies that show endothelial cells in blood vessels produce growth factors that actively participate in organ maintenance, repair and regeneration. So, while damaged vessels cannot repair the organs they nurture with blood, he says an infusion of new endothelial cells could.
“Replacement of the dysfunctional endothelial cells with transplantation of normal, properly engineered cultured endothelial cells could potentially provide for a novel therapy for many patients,” says study co-author Dr. Sina Rabbany, adjunct associate professor of bioengineering in genetic medicine at Weill Cornell.
“In order to engineer tissues with clinically relevant dimensions, endothelial cells can be assembled into porous three-dimensional scaffolds that, once introduced into a patient’s injured organ, could form true blood vessels.”
Rafii says that this study will potentially create a new field of translational vascular medicine. He estimates that as few as four years are needed for the preclinical work to seek FDA approval to start human clinical trials to advance the potential of reprogrammed endothelial cells for treatment of vascular disorders.

Synthetic Molecule Stops Strong Allergic Reactions

While many of us may have irritating allergic reactions to things like wool or cats, it can be a much different story for other people--for them, the anaphylactic shock that results from exposure to allergens such as peanuts or bee venom can result in hospitalization, or even death.
Fortunately, scientists from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Switzerland’s University of Bern have recently made a discovery that should stop severe allergic reactions within seconds, Gizmag reported.
To begin, here’s what happens in a typical acute allergic reaction.
The first time that a potential allergen enters the body, some people’s systems react by creating what are known as IgE (Immunoglobulin E) antibodies. These antibodies remain in the body even after the allergen has cleared out, where most of them proceed to link with Fc receptor molecules, which are found on the outer surface of mast cells.
When that same allergen is introduced to the body again, it binds with the antibodies clinging to the mast cells, causing those cells to release “inflammatory mediators” such as histamines--the result is a nasty allergic reaction.
What the scientists discovered was that an engineered protein-inhibiting molecule by the name of DARPin E2-79 is able to quickly strip the IgE antibodies from the Fc receptors. In practical terms, this means that “an interaction that normally lasts for hours or days in terms of its stability is stripped off in a matter of seconds”, according to Stanford’s Dr. Ted Jardetzky, senior investigator on the study.
In other words, it should stop an acute reaction in its tracks.
The team is now looking for molecules that do the same thing as E2-79, but are smaller. This would make them better-suited to oral administration, plus they would be cheaper and easier to produce.

Wood-Powered Stove Recharges Gadgets

For those weekend camping trips where not have a mobile phone is unthinkable, there is finally a solution--a wood-powered stove that also recharges your phone.
According to Daily Mail, the CampStove can burn sticks, pine cones and biomass to generate enough heat and power to charge a phone, light, satnav or gadget that is USB chargeable--while toasting your marshmallows.
The quirky invention from US manufacturers BioLite converts the heat from the fire to power a fan and produce an electric charge.
They say it can provide enough power for a fully-fired stove to cook a meal’s essentials when a device is on charge.
Users in the US hailed its effectiveness during Hurricane Sandy when over six million people lost electricity with some able to carry on cooking and keeping electronics charged using the device.
The stove’s powerpack slips inside the small 21 cm by 12 cm cooking chamber and is lit with a match or lighter, weighing in at 935 grams.
It currently retails at $129 in the US and is set to be available in stores in the UK next summer.
BioLite Chief Executive Jonathan Cedar said the firm had been overwhelmed at its popularity.
He said, “We spent years developing the technology to offer a unique benefit to outdoor travelers to never have to carry fuel again. It is exciting to finally bring this product to market and we have been blown away by the enthusiastic response we’ve seen from our users.”
The CampStove is a convenient and green choice, reducing an individual’s carbon footprint and keeping fuel canisters out of landfills by using twigs and other solid biomass instead of non-renewable petroleum gas.

Iran Among Top 16 In Science Production

A senior official said Iran is among the world’s top 16 countries in terms of science production.
Mohammad Baqer Larijani, the head of Health Ministry’s Policymaking Council, also said that 30 percent of the country’s scientific production is related to medical fields, IRNA reported.
Making the remark in an academic conference on Wednesday, he noted that in view of Iran’s large population, more effort in this area is necessary.
Larijani said Iran’s science production accounts for 27 percent of that of Middle East.
According to the official, Iran has surpassed such countries as Russia with regard to medical technologies and biotechnological medicines.

Sail-Inspired Wind Turbine With Double Efficiency

We know that there’s more than enough wind energy out there to power our entire civilization, but conventional wind turbines don’t do that great job of harnessing it.
According to Dvice, they’re expensive and inefficient, and we’re looking for better technologies, one of which is a super efficient wind turbine that does not need blades.
It looks like some sort of flat satellite dish-thing, but this is Saphon Energy’s wind non-turbine, the Saphonian. It does not have blades and nothing on it spins: it just sits there, pointing into the wind, and captures energy. The design is based on sails, the kind that pull boats around, which are very efficient (and have been for thousands of years) at turning wind energy into usable mechanical energy.
Instead of harvesting wind energy with rotating blades, the Saphonian uses a sort of round sail held in a frame. As wind pushes on the sail, it oscillates in “a non-rotational back and forth motion”, driving small pistons as it does so.
The pistons are hooked up to a hydraulic system, which can either store energy via an accumulator, or convert it directly into electricity with a generator. There’s no transmission, no gearbox, and the thing barely moves and is almost completely silent.
At the same time, however, it’s able to generate energy 2.3 times more efficiently than a traditional bladed turbine (harvesting up to 80 percent of available wind energy) while saving 45 percent or more on infrastructure cost.
Saphon got a patent on this design earlier this year, and it’s currently looking to partner up with a manufacturer for worldwide distribution. So far, we’re not seeing any downsides here.

New Cup to Make Drinking Easy for Disabled

Chris Peacock may not have reinvented the wheel, but he’s definitely reinvented the cup.
The British inventor has created HandSteady, an ergonomic cup to help people with health conditions (such as tremor, joint pain and Parkinson’s disease) to have their drinks without undergoing a nerve-wracking, socially-awkward challenge, Investor’s Business Daily said.
HandSteady, which looks like a standard china cup, was designed to help those people with balance, tilt and motion when it comes to having a drink. The main component of the device is its rotatable handle, which makes it possible to keep the cup in an upright position until the user is ready to drink.
They can use the cup at any angle without having to twist their wrist to bring it to the mouth. The rotating handle makes it easy to tilt the cup without having to lift the elbow up or lean the head back. Alternatively, the user can lock it with a thumb to push it and keep their wrist and arm stationary.
They can also grasp the cup with the other hand and simply tilt it. Finally, the cup remains steady when the user has to take it from one place to another, mitigating the risk of spillage by absorbing the shaking from the tremor.
The cup can hold 250 ml (8 oz) and the handle is large enough for four fingers. The power grip hold ensure firmness and the guard prevents the fingers from getting burned on the side of the cup.
Peacock had the idea for HandSteady when a member of his family was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. At the time, he foresaw how drinking with a cup would one day become a burdensome task for his relative. As an inventor whose credentials include a stint at IBM, he realized he had the skills to create a solution.
It was while doing his MA in Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art that Peacock started to develop the HandSteady project, which is backed by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity. He counted on the help of 35 health professionals and 72 people with various health conditions around the UK to design the device.

Miscarriages

A new study finds that women who have had one or more miscarriages are at increased risk for hardening of arteries (atherosclerosis), which can lead to problems such as heart attack and stroke.