Recent Longevity News for the week ending 1/28/15

Use it or lose it: Active learning improves cognitive learning in active adults - Science Daily, 1/26/15 - "randomly assigned 221 adults, ages 60-90, to engage in a particular type of activity for 15 hours a week over the course of three months. Some participants were assigned to learn a new skill -- digital photography, quilting, or both − which required active engagement and tapped working memory, long-term memory and other high-level cognitive processes ... At the end of three months, we found that only the group who learned digital photography grew in their memory skills ... The participants were computer novices, they had to remember a series of steps, learn to use Adobe Photoshop, and mount their photos. The key, adds Lodi-Smith, is that the group was productively engaged and consistently challenged during their activity" - Note:  I've been following that recommendation.  I'm learning Mandarin plus I take ballroom dancing.  As far as Adobe, I already know that better than most. - See Pimsleur's Chinese (Mandarin) I at Amazon.com.  Also see Avatar (Chinese Dubbed) and The Lion King (Mandarin Chinese Edition)but you need something like AnyDVD to remove the country code and burn it to an .iso file then something the DVDFab to burn the .iso to another disc.  Either that or buy a region free player.  They claim it takes 480 hours to learn a language.  If that's true I only have about 400 hours to go.

Treatment restores sociability in autism mouse model - Science Daily, 1/22/15 - "Now researchers at UCLA have treated ASD mice with a neuropeptide--molecules used by neurons to communicate with each other--called oxytocin, and have found that it restores normal social behavior. In addition, the findings suggest that giving oxytocin as early as possible in the animal's life leads to more lasting effects in adults and adolescents ... In the ASD mice, the researchers found a decrease in the number of oxytocin neurons in the hypothalamus and, overall, a decrease in oxytocin levels throughout the brain. But when they administered oxytocin to the ASD mice, sociability, defined as time spent interacting normally with other mice, was restored" - See Oxy Pro (Oxytocin) Nasal Spray at International Anti-aging Systems.

Fatty acids in fish may shield brain from mercury damage - Science Daily, 1/21/15 - "the new research indicates that this relation is far more complex and that compounds present in fish -- specifically polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) -- may also actively counteract the damage that mercury causes in the brain ... These findings show no overall association between prenatal exposure to mercury through fish consumption and neurodevelopmental outcomes" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.

Link found between pain during or after sexual intercourse and mode of delivery - Science Daily, 1/21/15 - "Compared to women who had a spontaneous vaginal delivery with intact perineum or unsutured tear, women who had an emergency caesarean section, vacuum extraction or elective caesarean section had double the risk of reporting dyspareunia at 18 months postpartum, adjusting for maternal age and other risk factors"

Oxytocin May Help Frontotemporal Dementia - Medscape, 1/20/15 - "frontotemporal dementia is the second most common cause of presenile dementia. "It typically starts in the 50s or 60s and appears to have a different pathology to Alzheimer's, with loss of empathy being the hallmark symptom in the most common subtype — known as behavioral variant." ... The patient usually has a striking lack of insight into their condition. They tend to become very self-centered and unappreciative of other family members ... Oxytocin is believed to be an important mediator of social behavior, potentially enhancing empathy. When given to healthy adults or patients with autism, oxytocin has improved emotional expression, empathy, and cooperative behavior ... oxytocin produced changes in subscales of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and the Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration–modified Clinical Dementia Rating (FBI) scale, consistent with improvements in levels of apathy and expressions of empathy ... However, one third of patients receiving oxytocin had reported increases in hypersexual behaviors" - See Oxy Pro (Oxytocin) Nasal Spray at International Anti-aging Systems.

Iodine deficiency in pregnant women impairs embryonic brain development - Science Daily, 1/20/15 - "iodine is extremely important for embryonic brain development. Even a mild iodine deficiency can impair the child's intellectual development; recent studies in the UK and Australia have shown that IQs are in fact reduced by a few points ... The most extreme form of iodine deficiency presents itself in the form of a condition known as cretinism, which includes metabolic changes, deformities of the skeleton and underactivity of the thyroid gland" - See iodine at Amazon.com.

Abstracts from this week:

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of curcuminoid-piperine combination in subjects with metabolic syndrome: A randomized controlled trial and an updated meta-analysis - Clin Nutr. 2015 Jan 7 - "Supplementation with curcuminoid-piperine combination significantly improved serum SOD activities (p < 0.001) and reduced MDA (p < 0.001) and CRP (p < 0.001) concentrations compared with placebo. Quantitative data synthesis revealed a significant effect of curcuminoids vs. placebo in reducing circulating CRP concentrations (weighed mean difference: -2.20 mg/L; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -3.96, -0.44; p = 0.01). This effect was robust in sensitivity analysis" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com and piperine extract at Amazon.com.

Prevalence of Prehypertension in Mexico and Its Association With Hypomagnesemia - Am J Hypertens. 2015 Jan 23 - "The prevalence of preHTN in the Mexican population is 37.5%, and hypomagnesemia is strongly associated with preHTN" - See magnesium supplements at Amazon.com.

Antidepressant dose of taurine increases mRNA expression of GABAA receptor α2 subunit and BDNF in the hippocampus of diabetic rats - Behav Brain Res. 2015 Jan 19 - "Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder associated with higher risk for depression. Diabetic rats present depressive-like behaviors and taurine, one of the most abundant free amino acids in the brain, reverses this depressive behaviors ... Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) showed that diabetic rats presented lower α2 GABAA subunit and BDNF mRNA expression than non-diabetic rats and taurine increased both parameters in these sick rats. Taurine also reversed the lower brain weight and improved the short-term memory in diabetic rats. Thus, the taurine antidepressant effect may be explained by interference with the GABA system, in line to its neuroprotective effect showed here by preventing brain weight loss and improving memory in diabetic rats" - See taurine at Amazon.com.

Estimated effects of white rice consumption and rice variety selection on incidence of type 2 diabetes in Cambodia - Public Health Nutr. 2015 Jan 23:1-8 - "With no intervention, 10-year projections showed that total new diabetes cases will increase from 11 315 (9·1 per 10 000 person-years) for the year 2011 to 14 852 new cases (12·4 per 10 000 person-years) in 2020. However, this increase will be reduced by 27 % (average across 10 years) with a change in rice variety from Phka Rumdual to IR66 and by 26 % (average across 10 years) with a 25 % reduction in quantity from current consumption levels" - Note:  I couldn't find find much research on those rice varieties but it seems like just switching to brown rice would be even better.  I'm not sure if the better taste is worth diabetes.

• IR 66 Rice - Sohorice - "”IR 66″ is a kind of normal rice seed which was issued and provided to farmers for rice cultivation in 1990 by the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute. Nowadays IR 66 is popular among Cambodian farmers because this kind of rice produces higher yields with superb grains of good quality and short term growth"
• Cambodia’s PHKA RUMDUOL Rice Variety Wins 2014 World’s Best Rice Award - mekongoryza.com, 11/22/15 - "Once again, we should all be proud and congratulate our rice farmers for cultivating the PHKA RUMDUOL rice variety, which again won [jointly with Thailand] the World’s Best Rice Award 2014 officially announced by the President and CEO of The Rice Trader, Mr. Jeremy Zwinger, during the last day of the annual World Rice Conference, held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia at Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeetra"

Is glutamine deficiency the link between inflammation, malnutrition, and fatigue in cancer patients? - Clin Nutr. 2015 Jan 10 - "The data support our working hypothesis that in cancer patients systemic inflammation maintains a catabolic situation leading to malnutrition symptoms and glutamine deprivation, the latter being associated with cancer related fatigue" - See glutamine at Amazon.com.

Association of Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs with Colorectal Cancer by Subgroups in the VITamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) Study - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2015 Jan 22 - "In stratified analysis, high use of any type of NSAIDs (4+days/week for 4+ years) was statistically significantly associated with a lower risk of CRC across all subgroups stratified by sex, BMI, physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake, screening and dietary factors. There was a suggestion of stronger associations among men, obese individuals, and heavier drinkers; however, none of these tests for interaction reached statistical significance. The associations were almost identical for subjects with higher overall CRC risk scores (HR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.49-0.79) and those with lower risk scores (HR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.42-0.88)"

High dietary intake of vitamin C suppresses age-related thymic atrophy and contributes to the maintenance of immune cells in vitamin C-deficient senescence marker protein-30 knockout mice - Br J Nutr. 2015 Jan 22;:1-7 - "The plasma VC concentration of the 0.02 % group was the same as that of age-matched C57BL/6 mice after 1 year of feeding; however, plasma VC concentration and thymus weight were significantly higher in the 0.2 % VC group than in the 0.02 % VC group. The total counts of leucocytes, lymphocytes, granulocytes and monocytes in the peripheral blood, as well as the number of splenocytes and thymocytes, were all significantly higher in the 0.2 % VC group than in the 0.02 % VC group. In addition, the number of naive T cells in peripheral blood lymphocytes, the number of memory T-cell populations in splenocytes, and the number of cluster of differentiation (CD)4+CD8+ or CD4+CD8- or CD4-CD8+ T cells in thymocytes were all markedly higher in the 0.2 % VC group than in the 0.02 % VC group after 1 year of dietary treatment. These results suggest that a long-term high-dose intake of VC is effective in the maintenance of immune cells, partly through the suppression of age-related thymic involution in VC-deficient SMP30KO mice" - See American Health Products - Ester C W/Citrus Bioflavonoids, 1000 mg, 180 veg tablets at Amazon.com.

Antiatherosclerotic effect of korean red ginseng extract involves regulator of g-protein signaling 5 - Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2014;2014:985174 - "In conclusion, KRGE showed antiatherosclerotic and anti-inflammatory effects in western diet fed LDLr(-/-) mice and this effect could partly be mediated by RGS5 expression" - See ginseng at Amazon.com.

Genetic and environmental influence on the association between testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin, and body composition in Korean men - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2015 Jan 19 - "Each 1-SD increase in age-adjusted levels of TT, cFT, and SHBG were associated with lower levels of adiposity measures and absolute measures of lean body mass. On the other hand, percentage total lean mass increased with increasing levels of TT, cFT, and SHBG (P <0.05)"

Bifidobacterium bifidum R0071 results in a greater proportion of healthy days and a lower percentage of academically stressed students reporting a day of cold/flu: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study - Br J Nutr. 2015 Jan 21:1-9 - "B. bifidum resulted in a greater proportion of healthy days than placebo (P≤ 0·05). The percentage of participants reporting ≥ 1 d of cold/flu during the 6-week intervention period was significantly lower with B. bifidum than with placebo (P< 0·05) ... The proportion of participants reporting a cold on any given day was lower at weeks 2 and 3 with B. bifidum and B. infantis than with placebo for the average level of stress and the most commonly reported number of hours of sleep. Daily intake of bifidobacteria provides benefit related to cold/flu outcomes during acute stress" - See probiotic products at Amazon.com.

Pycnogenol® improves cognitive function, attention, mental performance and specific professional skills in healthy professionals aged 35-55 - J Neurosurg Sci. 2014 Dec;58(4):239-48 - "Pycnogenol® (150 mg/day) ... Cognitive function, attention, mental performance, sustained attention, memory, executive functions, mood and oxidative stress values were comparable at inclusion. At 12 weeks the improvement in Pycnogenol® subjects was more significant than in controls. Plasma-free radicals (oxidative stress) were significantly decreased (median -30.4%) at 12 weeks in Pycnogenol® subjects in comparison with a non-significant variation observed in controls (+0.9%; difference between groups). Considering the cognitive test battery (PASAT, pattern recognition memory, spatial recognition memory, spatial working memory), Pycnogenol® subjects showed a small but significant improvement with spatial recognition memory unchanged. Mood parameters (alertness, anxiety, contentedness) also improved in professionals using the supplement. In the evaluation of 12 professional daily tasks all items were improved with Pycnogenol® supplementation. The score relative to semi-professional minitasks was improved more in Pycnogenol® subjects. Tolerability and compliance were optimal with >94% of the doses of supplement correctly used" - [Nutra USA] - See Pycnogenol at Amazon.com.

Age dependent levels of plasma homocysteine and cognitive performance - Behav Brain Res. 2015 Jan 16 - "Based on these results, folic acid and vitamin B12 intervention in people with elevated hcy levels in India could prove to be effective in lowering hcy levels and help maintain or improve cognitive function" - See vitamin B12 at Amazon.com and folic acid products at Amazon.com.

Resveratrol induces cell apoptosis in adipocytes via AMPK activation - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2015 Jan 17 - "Our findings clarified the apoptotic effects and underlying mechanisms of resveratrol in adipocytes, suggesting its potential therapeutic application in the treatment or prevention of obesity and related metabolic symptoms" - See ReserveAge Resveratrol Vegetarian Capsules, 500 Mg, 60-Count at Amazon.com.

Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was inversely associated with 3-year all-cause mortality among Chinese oldest old: Data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey - Atherosclerosis. 2015 Jan 14;239(1):137-142 - "Each 1 mmol/L increase of LDL-C concentration corresponded to a 19% decrease in 3-year all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.71-0.92). The crude HR for abnormally higher LDL-C concentration (≥3.37 mmol/L) was 0.65 (0.41-1.03); and the adjusted HR was statistically significant around 0.60 (0.37-0.95) when adjusted for different sets of confounding factors. Results of sensitivity analysis also showed a significant association between higher LDL-C and lower mortality risk ... Among the Chinese oldest old, higher LDL-C level was associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality. Our findings suggested the necessity of re-evaluating the optimal level of LDL-C among the oldest old"

Coenzyme Q10 as a treatment for fatigue and depression in multiple sclerosis patients: A double blind randomized clinical trial - Nutr Neurosci. 2015 Jan 20 - "Our study suggests that CoQ10 supplementation (500 mg/day) can improve fatigue and depression in patients with multiple sclerosis" - See ubiquinol products at Amazon.com.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

Microsoft to deliver free upgrades to Windows 10 - CNET, 1/21/15 - "In the first year the software is available, the company will upgrade any devices running Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 for free"

Health Focus (Sarcopenia):