CCBAR
Newsletter – July,
2010
Editors: Natalia
Gavrilova and
Stacy Tessler Lindau
CCBAR
Questions
and
Answers
this
Month:
Q: Is there a dried blood spot protocol for
environmental toxin benzene oxide?
A: See:
Funk, W.,
Waidyanatha, S., Chaing, S., Rappaport, S.
Hemoglobin
adducts
of benzene oxide in neonatal and adult dried blood spots.
Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers
&
Prevention,
2008,
17(8), 1896-1901
Note: We are grateful to
Thom McDade at Northwestern University for navigation on this issue.
News
from
the
NEJM,
Nature
Journals,
Science,
BMJ,
PNAS and JAMA
A
new
DAF-16 isoform regulates longevity
Ageing:
Predicting
long life
Many of us hope for a
long and healthy life, but it is widely accepted
that achieving this depends on a complex combination of environment and
genetics. A genome-wide association study of centenarians has now
confirmed the importance of genetic variation in predisposition to
exceptional
Irrelevant
events
affect voters' evaluations of government performance [Polit...
Does information
irrelevant to government performance affect voting
behavior? If so, how does this help us understand the mechanisms
underlying...Tight
Blood
Pressure Control and Cardiovascular
Arterial
aging:
hemodynamic changes and therapeutic options
Arterial aging can be
attributed to two different pathophysiological
changes - increase in arterial stiffness and disturbed wave
reflections.
The capacity of the aorta to absorb the force exerted by the left
ventricular ejection and dampen pulsatile flow becomes diminished with
advancing age, owing to...
Disease
prevention:
should we target obesity or sedentary lifestyle?
Obesity is a major
health challenge facing the modern world. Some
evidence points to obesity itself as the main driver of premature
mortality. We propose that this view is oversimplified. For example,
high levels of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness are
associated with lower mortality,
Culture
clash
on
consent
All research on
human subjects requires their informed consent.
Obtaining valid consent from isolated minorities can be particularly
challenging, but scientists need to avoid the temptingly easy way out,
so as to prevent further exclusion of these vulnerable populations from
biomedical research.
Biomarkers
for
Alzheimer's
disease:
academic, industry and regulatory perspec...
Advances in
therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer's disease that
lead to
even small delays in onset and progression of the condition would
significantly reduce the global burden of the disease. To effectively
test compounds for Alzheimer's disease and bring therapy to individuals
as early as possible
Learning
and
memory:
Ageing
without forgetting
The level of
CREB expression and activity predicts whether
long-term
memory will decline or improve with age after life-extending strategies.
Hypertension:
Elevated
systolic
blood
pressure in middle age is associated wi...
Epidemiological
studies have shown that, in addition to being a risk
factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, hypertension is
associated with the onset of dementia. Lenore Launer and colleagues
have now reported that a quarter of cases of late-life dementia in a
cohort of Japanese-Ame...
Diabetes:
Glycated
hemoglobin
is
a marker of diabetes and CVD risk
The diagnosis of
diabetes mellitus in clinical practice has been mainly
based on the measurement of glucose levels in blood. Growing evidence,
including results from a new large-scale population study, however,
strongly suggests that the assessment of glycated hemoglobin levels has
advantages over m...
Obesity:
Light-to-moderate
alcohol
consumption
may reduce weight gain in midd...
Middle-aged or older
women who drink light-to-moderate amounts of
alcohol gain less weight and have a lower risk of becoming overweight
or obese than nondrinkers, according to a prospective study published
in the Archives of Internal Medicine.?An inverse association between
alcohol consumption and
Vitamin
pills
may
raise
cancer risks
Multivitamin use is
associated with an increased risk of breast cancer
in a cohort of Swedish women, Susanna Larsson and colleagues have
found. "Many people believe that taking [vitamin] supplements will
reduce their risk of chronic disease, such as cancer and cardiovascular
disease," say Larsson
Diabetes:
Low
HbA1c
levels
and mortality in type 2 diabetes mellitus
A novel study
published in The Lancet suggests a U-shaped association
between HbA1c levels and mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes
mellitus. But is a revision of current guidelines to include a minimum
HbA1c target advisable on the basis of these findings?
Alzheimer
disease:
Eating
a
combination of healthy foods lowers the risk of d...
A diet rich in nuts,
vegetables, fish and poultry can reduce the risk
of developing Alzheimer disease (AD), according to the results of a
study by Yian Gu and colleagues at the Columbia University Medical
Center in New York. Their research, published in Archives of
Personality
and
reproductive
success
in a high-fertility human population [An...
The existence of
interindividual differences in personality traits
poses a challenge to evolutionary thinking. Although research on the
ultimate consequences...
[News
Focus]
Epigenetics:
A
Role for Epigenetics in Cognition
The push to show
that epigenetics can translate early life experiences
into lasting changes in behavior has been accompanied by a parallel
surge of interest in how chemical modifications to DNA can affect
cognition.
Adverse
Events
Associated
with
Testosterone Administration
Background
Testosterone supplementation has been shown to
increase
muscle mass and strength in healthy older men. The safety and efficacy
of testosterone treatment in older men who have limitations in ...
Testosterone
Deficiency
and
Replacement in Older Men
It is now clear
that men have gradual declines in average serum
testosterone levels as they age. These decreases begin by middle age
and continue into old age.1,2 Although the ...
Hunger
and
Socioeconomic
Disparities
in Chronic Disease
Each year just
before Thanksgiving, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) reports the number of U.S. households that are at
risk for going hungry because of an inability to afford ...
Socioeconomic
Position
and
Mortality [Letters]
Socioeconomic
Position
and
Mortality--Reply [Letters]
Association
Between
Adiposity
in
Midlife and Older Age and Risk of Diabetes i...
Context
Adiposity is a well-recognized risk factor
for type
2 diabetes among young and middle-aged adults, but the relationship
between body composition and type 2 diabetes is not well described
among older adults.
Objective To examine the
relationship between adiposity,
changes in adipo...
The
delay
in
sharing research data is costing lives
It is not
uncommon for potentially life-saving research data to be
published years after being generated. But the setback to progress
caused by the delay in releasing data is troublesome for people who
selflessly participate in trials and desperately await new therapies.
Scientists need to feel grea...
Smoking
and
emphysema:
the stress connection
The stress
response protein Rtp801 mediates damage to the lung in
response to smoke. This finding might lead to new ways to treat chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema.
Ageing:
Predicting
long
life
Many of us hope
for a long and healthy life, but it is widely accepted
that achieving this depends on a complex combination of environment and
genetics. A genome-wide association study of centenarians has now
confirmed the importance of genetic variation in predisposition to
exceptional
Differential
changes
in
steroid hormones before competition in bonobos and ch...
A large body of
research has demonstrated that variation in
competitive behavior across species and individuals is linked to
variation...
Nutritional
intervention
in
patients with type 2 diabetes who are hyperglycae...
Objective To
determine the extent to which intensive dietary
intervention can influence glycaemic control and risk factors for
cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes who are...
Tight
Blood
Pressure
Control and Cardiovascular Outcomes Among Hypertensive
P...
Hypertension
guidelines advocate treating
systolic
blood pressure (BP) to less than 130 mm Hg for patients with diabetes
mellitus; however, data are lacking for the growing population who also
have coronary artery disease (CAD).
Biomarkers
and
Aging
in
the
News
Media
• Japanese
women
extend life expectancy to new high
Japanese women
are expected to live almost 86 1/2 years,
topping the world longevity ratings for the 25th straight year, the
government reported Monday....
• Can
Migraines
Damage the Brain?
Migraines can
increase the risk of strokes, and migraine sufferers are
more likely to have a host of medical problems than those without the
painful headaches, an expert explains.
• Is
fresher blood better for surgery?
Facing surgery?
You could receive blood that's been stored for a week,
or three weeks, or nearly six - and there's growing concern that people
who get the older blood might not fare as well.
• Low-risk
prostate cancer treated aggressively
Many men with
low-risk prostate cancer get aggressive treatment,
increasing the risk of serious side effects, U.S. researchers said on
Monday.
• Inhibiting
fatty
acids in immune cells decreases atherosclerosis risk
Scientists have
found a way to significantly reduce atherosclerosis in
mice that does not involve lowering cholesterol levels or eliminating
other obesity-related problems. They did it by interfering with
production of a substance called fatty acid synthase, an enzyme that
converts dietary sugars into fatty acids in the liver.
• Idling
to
Death: Sitting Linked to Dying Early
Sitting around
too much in one's spare time appears to increase the
risk of dying, regardless of physical activity, researchers found.
• Education
lowers
dementia risk
Professor Carol
Brayne explains finding that suggest early education helps people
compensate against dementia in later life
• Depression
'may
lead
to
dementia'
Having
depression may nearly double the risk of developing dementia
later in life, new research suggests.
• Home
birth
risks under scrutiny
Women who plan
home births recover more rapidly from childbirth, but
there is a higher risk of their baby dying, an international study
suggests.
• Colon
cancer
screenings
up,
breast rate stalled
Health officials
say more older Americans are getting
tested for colon cancer, with nearly two out of three getting
recommended screenings. Meanwhile, breast cancer screening rates remain
stuck on a higher plateau....
• Task
force
urges
bone-density
tests for more women
Routine
screening for osteoporosis should include all
younger postmenopausal women who have at least the same chance of a
bone break as an older woman, a government task force said Monday....
• Closing
in
on
genes
that help people live to 100
The oldest among
us seem to have chosen their
parents well. Researchers closing in on the impact of family versus
lifestyle find most people who live to 100 or older share some helpful
genes....
• Testosterone
Gel
Trial
Ends
After Heart Issues
A study was
stopped abruptly last year after 10 elderly men taking
testosterone suffered serious cardiac problems, compared with only one
in a control group.
• Vital
Signs:
Patterns:
Added
Sugar and High Blood Pressure
A new study
suggests that foods high in added sugar may increase the
risk of high blood pressure.
• Vital
Signs:
Regimens:
Lower
Homocysteine and Heart Risk
People with high
blood levels of the amino acid are at increased risk
for heart disease and strokes. A new study shows that reducing the
level of homocysteine does not cut those risks.
• Mother's
diet,
genes
may
raise birth defect risk
Mothers who eat
a high fat diet before and during pregnancy may be
putting their offspring at risk of birth defects, scientists said on
Tuesday.
• Robert
Butler, who coined 'ageism,' dies at 83
Dr. Robert
Butler, a Pulitzer Prize-winning expert on aging who coined
the phrase "ageism," has died in New York City, his daughter said
Tuesday. He was 83.
• Study:
High-Fructose
Diets
May
Raise Blood Pressure
Foods and
beverages with high amounts of fructose from added sugar may
increase your risk of developing high blood pressure, according to a
new study.
• Prostate
Cancer
Screening:
Benefits
Outweigh Risks
A large study
shows that screening men for prostate cancer decreased
mortality rates by about half, researchers report.
• Predicting
Alzheimer's:
PET
Scan
Plus Memory Test Works Best
About half of
older people with memory loss who meet the clinical
definition of mild cognitive impairment will develop Alzheimer?s
disease within five years, but predicting who will and will not
progress to dementia remains a challenge.
• Good
Friends
Are
Good
for You
An Australian
study of older people found that those who had a large
network of friends outlived those with the fewest friends by 22%.
• Low
vitamin
D
linked
to the metabolic syndrome in elderly people
A new study adds
to the mounting evidence that older adults commonly
have low vitamin D levels and that vitamin D inadequacy may be a risk
factor for the metabolic syndrome, a condition that affects one in four
adults.
• Virgin
olive
oil
and
a Mediterranean diet fight heart disease by changing
how...
Everyone knows
olive oil and a Mediterranean diet are associated with a
lower risk for cardiovascular disease, but a new research report offers
a surprising reason why: these foods change how genes associated with
atherosclerosis function.
• Vaginal gel
'slashes HIV risks'
A vaginal gel
significantly cuts the rate of women contracting HIV from
infected men in a South African experiment, researchers say.
• Mobiles 'may
boost tinnitus risk'
Regularly using
a mobile phone may increase the risk of tinnitus, in
which there is constant ringing or buzzing in the ear, a small study
suggests.
• Study:
Test-tube kids face increased cancer risk
A large study
suggests a higher rate of childhood cancer among
test-tube babies, but researchers say the reason probably has nothing
to do with how the infants were conceived.
• Natural
substance
NT-020
aids aging brains in rats, study finds
Researchers
found that a combination of nutrients called NT-020
promoted adult neural stem cell proliferation in aged rats and boosted
their memory and spatial navigation performance. They tested two groups
of aged laboratory rats; one group received NT-020 and a control group
did not. In the NT-020 treated group, neurogenesis increased and
researchers concluded that the NT-020 treated group had fewer activated
inflammatory brain cells and an increase in stem cells.
NIH
Press
Releases
New
Compound Improves Obesity-Related Health Complications in NIH-Led Study
An experimental
compound appears to improve metabolic abnormalities
associated with obesity, according to a preliminary study led by
researchers at the National Institutes of Health. A report of the
study, which was conducted with obese mice, appears online today in the
Journal of Clinical Investigation.
NIH
Announces
New
Awards in Program to Expand Interdisciplinary Research
Care...
Almost $6
million has been awarded to investigators and programs to
help researchers in the early stages of careers in women's health
research. The funding is from the National Institutes of Health's
Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) and other co-sponsors. The
money will go to 12 new and continuing Building Interdisciplinary
Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) programs nationwide. This
is the fifth funding round of an innovative, interdisciplinary career
development program for men and women junior faculty in women's health
research.
Federal
Report Details Health and Economic Status of Older Americans
Today's older
Americans enjoy longer lives and better health than did
previous generations. These and other trends are reported in Older
Americans 2010: Key Indicators of Well-Being, a unique, comprehensive
look at aging in the United States from the Federal Interagency Forum
on Aging-Related Statistics.
HIV/AIDS
Treatment
Curbs
Spread of HIV Among Drug Users, According to NIH Sup...
Highly active
antiretroviral therapy (HAART), currently known for its
therapeutic benefits against HIV, also reduced the spread of the virus
among people with a history of injection drug use, according to a
population-based study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of Health. The study was
published today in the Lancet.
NIH
Scientists Advance Universal Flu Vaccine
A universal
influenza vaccine -- so-called because it could potentially
provide protection from all flu strains for decades ? may become a
reality because of research led by scientists from the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the
National Institutes of Health.
NIH
Expands Food Allergy Research Program
Today, the
National Institutes of Health announce that the Consortium
of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR), established in 2005, will be funded
for five more years. CoFAR will continue to foster new approaches to
prevent and treat food allergies and also expand in scope to include
research on the genetic causes underlying food allergy and studies of
food allergy-associated eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases (EGIDs).
NIH
Expands
National
Network for Transforming Clinical and Translational ...
Nine health
research centers have received funds to develop ways to
reduce the time it takes for clinical research to become treatments for
patients. The funds were awarded as part of the Clinical and
Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program which is led by the
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), part of the National
Institutes of Health.
Adverse
Cardiovascular Events Reported in Testosterone Trial in Older Men
A clinical trial
of testosterone treatment in older men, reported June
30 online in the New England Journal of Medicine, has found a higher
rate of adverse cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and
elevated blood pressure, in a group of older men receiving testosterone
gel compared to those receiving placebo. Due to these events, the
treatment phase of the trial was stopped. The study was supported by a
grant to Shalender Bhasin, M.D., at Boston Medical Center from the
National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of
Health.
Aiming
for
Near-Normal
Blood
Sugar Did Not Delay Combined Risk of Diabetic
Da...
In people with
longstanding type 2 diabetes who are at high risk for
heart attack and stroke, lowering blood sugar to near-normal levels did
not delay the combined risk of diabetic damage to kidneys, eyes, or
nerves, but did delay several other signs of diabetic damage, a study
has found. The intensive glucose treatment was compared with standard
glucose control. These findings are from the NIH-funded Action to
Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial. Although
intensive treatment produced some beneficial changes, this approach was
reported in 2008 to increase death rates.
Intervention
Lowered
Obesity
Rate
in Youth at High Diabetes Risk, HEALTHY Stu...
An intervention
in middle schools lowered the obesity rate in students
at highest risk for type 2 diabetes, those who started out overweight
or obese in sixth grade, an NIH-funded study has found.
Researchers
Discover
How Folate Promotes Healing In Spinal Cord Injuries
The vitamin
folate appears to promote healing in damaged rat spinal
cord tissue by triggering a change in DNA, according to a laboratory
study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
NIH
Announcements
Claude
D.
Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers (OAICs) (P30)
Request For
Applications (RFA) Number: RFA-AG-11-002
Expiration Date:
October 22, 2010
Alzheimer’s
Disease
Core Centers (P30)
Request For
Applications (RFA) Number: RFA-AG-11-005
Expiration Date:
October 14, 2010
Epigenomics
of
Human Health and Disease (R01)
Request for
Applications (RFA) Number: RFA-ES-10-002
Expiration Date:
September 30, 2010
Restructured
Application
Forms
and
Instructions
for
Submissions
for
FY2011
Fu...
Notice from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
Change in Application Submission
Package and
Clarification of Research Strate...
Notice from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
Correction
on
the
First
Submission
Date
for
Resubmission
and Revision Applica...
Notice from the
NIH
Guide for Grants and Contracts
Advancing
Novel
Science
in
Womens Health Research (ANSWHR) (R21)
Program
Announcement from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
Subjective
Well-being:
Advances
in
Measurement
and
Applications
to
Aging (R01)
Request for
Applications from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
Regional
and
International
Differences
in
Health
and
Longevity
at Older Ages ...
Request for
Applications from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
Expiration
Date:
October 15, 2010
Aging Studies in the Pulmonary System
(R01)
Enhancing Peer Review: Clarification
of
Resubmission Policy and Determination of New Application Status
Notice Number: NOT-OD-10-080
Events
Conferences:
105th annual
meeting of the American Sociological Association, Atlanta, GA,
August 14-17, 2010.
The National
Institute on Aging,
in conjunction with the McKnight Brain Research Foundation and the
Foundation
for NIH, will be holding the Second Cognitive Aging Summit to take
place in Washington,
DC,
on October 4-5, 2010. Online registration for the meeting is now open,
and you
can register by following this link: Cognitive
Aging
Summit
2010
–
Registration
Gerontological
Society
of
America's
63rd
Annual
Scientific
Meeting, November
19-23, 2010,
Hilton, New Orleans Riverside, New Orleans, LA.
4th National
Conference on Genomics and Public Health: Using Genomic Information
to Improve Health Now and in the Future.
Date: Wednesday, December 8 - Friday, December 10, 2010. Location:
Bethesda North Marriott in Bethesda, Maryland
Population
Association of America Annual Meeting.
The 2011 Annual Meeting will be held March 31-April 2 at the Marriott
Wardman Hotel, Washington, DC.
(Note: The Welcome Mixer is on Wednesday, March 30, 8:30 p.m.)
2011
American
Geriatrics
Society
Annual
Meeting, May 11-14, 2011.
Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, MD.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This Newsletter is supported by a grant from the National
Institute on
Aging, National Institutes of Health (Grant No. 5 P30 AG012857)
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