Editors: Natalia
Gavrilova and
Stacy Tessler Lindau
CCBAR
News:
CCBAR member, Natalia Gavrilova, PhD, participated in the international REVES conference on health expectancy held May 25-27, 2011 in Paris, France. The focus of the 2011 REVES conference was "Are sex differences in health expectancy a social issue?" In their presentations, participants explored possible causes of the apparent paradox of the longer female life span, which is accompanied by worse health as compared to males, in addition to a breadth of topics related to sex differences in health expectancy. Materials for the 2011 REVES meeting will appear soon on the REVES website. For materials from previous REVES meetings, please visit http://reves.site.ined.fr/en/REVES_meetings/previous_meetings/.
The next Chicago Core on Biomeasures in Population-Based Health and Aging Research Conference will be held in Chicago this fall. The focus of the 2011 conference will be Biosocial Approaches to the Study of Urban Health and Aging. More information will follow in the June CCBAR Newsletter.
Suggestion for Hair-Based Cortisol Analysis from CCBAR Newsletter reader:
In
response
to our previous Q&A entry
regarding hair
cortisol assays, Dr. Mark L. Laudenslager, Ph.D, Director of Behavioral
Immunology and Endocrinology Laboratory at the University of Colorado,
Denver,
contacted CCBAR
to
inform
us that his
laboratory routinely runs hair cortisol assay as
a biomarker of retrospective HPA activation and would be happy to help
researchers who would like to have hair cortisol processed. More
information on the laboratory can be found at the following link: http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicalschool/departments/psychiatry/Research/biel/Pages/Overview.aspx
Dr. Laudenslager's lab also runs cortisol and sex hormone assays in
saliva and
several immunological assays in serum/plasma. Contact info: Crystal
Natvig,
Phone: (303) 315-9278, email: BIEL@ucdenver.edu
References:
1. D'Anna,
K.L. Ross, R.G. Natvig, C.L.,
Laudenslager, M.L. Hair cortisol levels as a retrospective marker of
hypothalamic-pituitary axis activity throughout pregnancy: Comparison
to
salivary cortisol. Physiology & Behavior, in press.
2.
Lynn A.
Fairbanks, Matthew J. Jorgensen, Julia N.Bailey, Sherry E. Breidenthal,
Rachel
Grzywa, Mark L. Laudenslager, Heritability and genetic correlation of
hair
cortisol in vervet monkeys in low and higher stress environments. Psychoneuroendocrinology,
in
press.
News from the NEJM, Nature Journals, Science, BMJ, PNAS and JAMA
Cell-free nucleic acids as biomarkers in cancer
patients
DNA, mRNA and microRNA are released and circulate in the blood of
cancer
patients. Changes in the levels of circulating nucleic acids have been
associated with tumour burden and malignant progression. In the past
decade a
wealth of information indicating the potential use of circulating
Animal behaviour: Large-scale cooperation
A deeper understanding of the evolution of cooperation will come from
investigations of what animals know about working together. A study
with Asian
elephants now adds to the literature on the subject.
Anti-inflammatory therapeutics for the
treatment of
atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is the primary cause of heart disease and stroke and is
thus
the underlying pathology of the leading causes of death in the western
world.
Although risk can be reduced by lowering lipid levels, the equally
important
contribution of inflammation to the development of
Parkinson disease: Could over-the-counter
treatment
protect against Parkinson...
Regular doses of ibuprofen could reduce the risk of developing
Parkinson
disease (PD), according to new research. Ibuprofen - a common and
inexpensive
over-the-counter drug - could potentially protect the brain's neurons
against
damage, says lead investigator Xiang Gao, of Harvard Medical School and
Har...
Ageing as a primary risk factor for Parkinson's
disease:
evidence from studie...
Ageing is the greatest risk factor for the development of Parkinson's
disease.
However, the current dogma holds that cellular mechanisms that are
associated
with ageing of midbrain dopamine neurons and those that are related to
dopamine
neuron degeneration in Parkinson's disease are unrelated. We pr...
Heart regeneration
Heart failure plagues industrialized nations, killing more people than
any
other disease. It usually results from a deficiency of specialized
cardiac
muscle cells known as cardiomyocytes, and a robust therapy to
regenerate lost
myocardium could help millions of patients every year. Heart
regeneratio...
Implicit race attitudes predict trustworthiness
judgments
and economic trust ...
Trust lies at the heart of every social interaction. Each day we face
decisions
in which we must accurately assess another individual's trustworthiness
or risk
suffering very real consequences. In a global marketplace of increasing
heterogeneity with respect to nationality, race, and multiple other ...
Synchronized arousal between performers and
related
spectators in a fire-walk...
Collective rituals are present in all known societies, but their
function is a
matter of long-standing debates. Field observations suggest that they
may enhance
social cohesion and that their effects are not limited to those
actively
performing but affect the audience as well. Here we show physiolog...
Evolution of personality differences in
leadership
[Evolution]
When members of a group differ in their preferred course of action,
coordination poses a challenge. Leadership offers one way to resolve
this
difficulty, but the evolution of leaders and followers is itself poorly
understood. Existing discussions have frequently attributed leadership
to
differences ...
[Perspective] Behavior: Explaining Human
Behavioral
Diversity
A study of 33 nations explores the ecological, historical, and cultural
foundations of behavioral differences.
Fatal and Nonfatal Outcomes, Incidence of
Hypertension,
and Blood Pressure Ch...
Context: Extrapolations from observational studies and short-term
intervention
trials suggest that population-wide moderation of salt intake might
reduce
cardiovascular events.
Objective: To assess whether 24-hour urinary sodium excretion predicts
blood
pressure (BP) and health outcomes.
Trial of niacin alongside statin is stopped
early
The US National Institutes of Health has stopped a clinical trial
studying a
combination of niacin (nicotinic acid) and a statin 18 months earlier
than
planned because of poor results. The AIM-HIGH...
Biomarkers and Aging in the News Media
•
How to square budget cuts, need for aging
research
A disease standoff may be brewing: How can Alzheimer's research receive
more
scarce dollars without cutting from areas like heart disease or
cancer?...
• Elderly care costs 'could treble'
Countries must face up to the challenge of caring for ageing
populations,
according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
• Blood test to tell how long you'll live? Not so
fast
Researchers in Spain
say they're close to marketing a genetic test that could tell consumers
how
fast they are aging and, potentially, how long they will live. But
experts say
that such claims are false.
• Finger length clue to nerve disease
The length of a person's fingers could reveal their risk of motor
neurone
disease, according to a study.
• New method to measure cortisol could lead to
better
understanding of developm...
A new method to measure the amount of the stress hormone cortisol found
in the
body over the long term could lead to new research avenues to study the
development of common conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes and
depression. Researchers have found that hair can be used to create a
retrospective timeline of exposure to cortisol. Cortisol is implicated
in the
development of many common conditions and this new technique could
allow us to
study its role better.
• Blood test markers link polycystic ovary
syndrome with
cardiovascular risk
A new study shows that women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) show
higher
levels of blood markers associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD)
than
control groups. These markers show up during a woman's earlier life,
but might
indicate a greater CVD risk in later life.
• Gene for Alzheimer's Risk May Affect Brain Early
Young adults who carry a so-called Alzheimer's risk gene show
disruption in
their brains as early as their 20s, according to new research.
• Simple fitness test could predict long-term
risk for heart
attack, stroke in ...
In two separate studies, researchers have found that how fast a
middle-age
person can run a mile can help predict the risk of dying of heart
attack or
stroke decades later for men and could be an early indicator of
cardiovascular
disease for women.
• Super-sticky 'ultra-bad' cholesterol revealed
in people at
high risk of heart...
Scientists have discovered why a newly found form of cholesterol seems
to be
'ultra-bad', leading to increased risk of heart disease. The discovery
could
lead to new treatments to prevent heart disease particularly in people
with
type 2 diabetes and the elderly.
• Waist size predicts heart-disease death better
than weight
Doctors have long known that obesity increases a person's risk of heart
disease, but in recent years the picture has grown more complicated.
• Middle age bulge increases risk of later
dementia
Carrying around extra pounds during middle age was associated with a
higher
risk of dementia later in life in a new study that followed twins in
Sweden
for 30 years.
• Exercise may boost stroke risk
Having sex, drinking coffee, working out -- these and other everyday
activities
that cause blood pressure to spike may briefly raise the risk of a
burst
aneurysm in the brains of certain vulnerable people, a new study
suggests.
• Study: Many elderly get colon screening too
often
Many older Americans get repeat colon cancer tests they don't need and
Medicare
is paying for it, suggests a study that spotlights unnecessary risks to
the
elderly and a waste of money....
• Are mammography guidelines making breast cancer
deadlier?
Federal guidelines for routine mammography may be putting women at
needless
risk for breast cancer, researchers say
• Low-Salt Diet Ineffective, Study Finds.
Disagreement
Abounds.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control publicly criticized a
European
study that found low-salt diets increased the risk of death from
cardiovascular
ailments.
• Cancer Diagnosis Rates Differ for Gays,
Heterosexuals
A new study sheds light on the differences in cancer prevalence and
survival
rates in gay, lesbian, and bisexual populations compared with
heterosexuals.
• Getting along with co-workers may prolong life:
But
support from the boss has...
People who have a good peer support system at work may live longer than
people
who don't have such a support system, according to new research.
• Men relax best when wives are busy
A new study shows wives' stress levels drop when their husbands are
helping
with chores, but men's stress levels fall when wives are busy.
• Social life and mobility are keys to quality of
life in
old age
Resourcefulness, staying active and a busy social life play vital roles
in
helping people cope with the challenges of old age, researchers have
found.
Maintaining social relationships and mobility in old age are so
important for
general well-being that some elderly people will go to extreme lengths
to keep
active, according to the study. The research has led to a new method of
measuring quality of life in older age being unvelied, replacing
previous
questionnaires which relied on expert or top d...
• Changes in brain circuitry play role in moral
sensitivity
as people grow up
Moral responses to similar situations change as people age, says a
study that
combined brain scanning, eye-tracking and behavioral measures to
understand how
the brain responds to morally laden scenarios. Preschool children and
adults
distinguish between damage done either intentionally or accidentally
when assessing
whether a perpetrator had done something wrong. Adults are much less
likely
than children to think someone should be punished for damaging an
object,
especially if the action was ac...
• More money, better health?
In the past, studies have shown little to no relation between how much
money
you spend and how healthy you are. But a new study has discovered a
positive
correlation between how much money elderly Medicare beneficiaries spend
and
their health outcomes.
• Brain region necessary for making decisions
about economic
value identified
Neuroeconomic research has conclusively identified a part of the brain
that is
necessary for making everyday decisions about value. Previous
functional
magnetic imaging studies, during which researchers use a powerful
magnet to
determine which parts of a subjects brain are most active while doing a
task,
have suggested that the ventromedial frontal cortex, or VMF, plays an
evaluative role during decision making.
• Childbirth: Every Week in Utero Counts, Study
Says
Children born in the 37th or 38th week of pregnancy have a higher risk
of dying
before their first birthdays than those born after 39 weeks of
gestation.
• Wild animals age, too: Researchers study
senescence in
blue-footed booby shows
Many might assume that wild animals generally die before they get old.
Now, a
Spanish-Mexican research team has demonstrated aging in a population of
wild birds
(Sula nebouxii) in terms of their ability to live and reproduce.
• Mitochondria: Body's power stations can affect
aging
Mitochondria are the body's energy producers, the power stations inside
our
cells. Researchers in Sweden have now identified a group
of mitochondrial proteins, the absence of which allows other protein
groups to
stabilize the genome. This could delay the onset of age-related
diseases and
increase lifespan.
• Evidence insufficient on relationship of
modifiable
factors with risk of Alzh...
The available evidence is insufficient to draw firm conclusions about
the
association of modifiable factors and risk of Alzheimer's disease,
according to
a new study.
• Dementia, mild cognitive impairment common in
'oldest old'
women
Mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and their subtypes are common in
the
"oldest old" women, which includes those 85 years of age and older,
according to a new study.
• Coffee 'cuts risk of male cancer'
Coffee has been linked to a reduced risk of dying from prostate cancer
in a US
study of nearly 50,000 men.
• Dairy consumption does not elevate heart-attack
risk,
study suggests
Analysis of dairy intake and heart attack risk found no statistically
significant relation in thousands of Costa Rican adults. Dairy foods
might not
harm heart health, despite saturated fat content, because they contain
other
possibly protective nutrients, researchers say.
• Cell phone could raise cancer risk
Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the
World
Health Organization. The agency lists mobile phone use in the same
"carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and
chloroform.
• Acetaminophen linked to cancer: How big is the
threat?
Risk of blood cancer almost doubled for frequent acetaminophen users
• High risk of Parkinson's disease for people
exposed to
pesticides near workpl...
Researchers have found that exposure to certain pesticides increased
the risk
of Parkinson's disease (PD) by three-fold, for non-farm workers who
simply
lived near fields being sprayed. Further, the study also implicates the
pesticide ziram in the pathology of PD.
NIH Press Releases
NIH
stops clinical trial on combination cholesterol treatment
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National
Institutes of Health has stopped a clinical trial studying a blood
lipid
treatment 18 months earlier than planned. The trial found that adding
high
dose, extended-release niacin to statin treatment in people with heart
and
vascular disease, did not reduce the risk of cardiovascular events,
including
heart attacks and stroke.
Study
shows 19 percent of young adults have high blood pressure
Roughly 19 percent of young adults may have high blood pressure,
according to
an analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
(Add
Health), which is supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Breast cancer risk
calculator
updated for Asian-Americans
Researchers have developed a more accurate method for estimating breast
cancer
risk for Asian and Pacific Islander American (APA) women. Most current
risk
estimates rely on data from non-Hispanic white women, but researchers
have now
come up with a statistical model that more specifically assesses risk
for
American women who identify themselves as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino,
Hawaiian, other Pacific Islander, or other Asian.
Altruistic decision
making focus
of NIDA's Addiction Science Award
A study of what influences decision making on issues whose consequences
will
only be felt by future generations won first prize in the annual
Addiction
Science Awards at this year's Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair
(ISEF) -- the world's largest science competition for high school
students. The
Intel ISEF Addiction Science Awards were presented at an awards
ceremony
Thursday night in Los Angeles. The
awards were
presented by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the
National
Institutes of Health, and Friends of NIDA, a coalition that supports
NIDA's
mission.
Moderate levels of
secondhand
smoke deliver nicotine to the brain
Exposure to secondhand smoke, such as a person can get by riding in an
enclosed
car while someone else smokes, has a direct, measurable impact on the
brain --
and the effect is similar to what happens in the brain of the person
doing the
smoking.
5-minute screen
identifies subtle
signs of autism in 1-year olds
A five-minute checklist that parents can fill out in pediatrician
waiting rooms
may someday help in the early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder
(ASD),
according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Published
today in the Journal of Pediatrics, the study's design also provides a
model
for developing a network of pediatricians to adopt such a change to
their
practice.
Tired neurons caught
nodding off
in sleep-deprived rats
A new study in rats is shedding light on how sleep-deprived lifestyles
might impair
functioning without people realizing it. The more rats are
sleep-deprived, the
more some of their neurons take catnaps -- with consequent declines in
task
performance. Even though the animals are awake and active, brainwave
measures
reveal that scattered groups of neurons in the thinking part of their
brain, or
cortex, are briefly falling asleep, scientists funded by the National
Institutes of Health have discovered.
Vitamin
E helps diminish a type of fatty liver disease in children
A specific form of vitamin E improved the most severe form of fatty
liver
disease in some children, according to a study funded by the National
Institutes of Health. Results appear in the April 27 issue of the
Journal of
the American Medical Association. A previous study found vitamin E
effective in
some adults with the disease.
NIH Announcements
NIH
Fiscal Policy for Grant Awards FY 2011
Notice NOT-OD-11-068 from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
NIMHD
Health Disparities Research (R01)
Funding Opportunity RFA-MD-12-001 from the NIH
Guide for Grants and Contracts. The purpose of this Funding Opportunity
Announcement (FOA) is to solicit innovative research that can directly
and
demonstrably contribute to the elimination of health disparities.
Research aims
may include, but are not limited to, biological mechanisms; behavioral
strategies; lifestyle factors; environmental, structural, and economic
factors;
cultural and family influences; delivery system interventions; medical
procedures and regimens (including alternative therapy), and medical
assistive
devices and health information technologies. Projects may involve
primary data
collection or secondary analysis of existing datasets.
Anchoring
Metabolomic Changes to Phenotype (P20)
Funding Opportunity RFA-HL-12-009 from the NIH
Guide for Grants and Contracts. This FOA issued by the National Heart,
Lung,
and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health, encourages
applications from institutions or organizations that propose
metabolomic
phenotyping of existing cohorts to gain mechanistic understanding of
the
molecular determinants contributing to cardiovascular and lung disease
phenotypes to help in predicting disease susceptibility, diagnosis,
risk
stratification, assessing response to therapy and assessing prognosis.
The FOA
proposes a multidisciplinary and integrated program with two
interacting
components, a metabolomic component and a mechanistic component, each
informing
the other in an iterative manner.
NIMHD
Resource-Related Minority Health and Health Disparities Research (U24)
Funding Opportunity RFA-MD-11-005 from the NIH
Guide for Grants and Contracts. This funding opportunity announcement
(FOA)
encourages applications from organizations to provide support for
conducting
minority health and health disparities resource-related research
activities
that support the objectives and research strategy outlined in the NIMHD
FY 2009-2013
Health Disparities Strategic Plan. The priority areas for this
initiative are:
Bioethics Research, Global Health Research, Data Infrastructure and
Dissemination, and Healthcare for Rural Populations Research.
RFA-AG-12-001
Limited Competition: The Health and Retirement Study
(U01)
2011/04/07
2011/06/11
NICHD
Will Participate in PA-11-104, Reducing Health Disparities Among
Minori...
Notice
NOT-HD-11-008
from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
NLM
Institutional Training Grants for Research Training in Biomedical
Informa...
Funding Opportunity RFA-LM-11-001 from the NIH
Guide for Grants and Contracts. The National Library of Medicine
invites
training grant applications for support of predoctoral and postdoctoral
training for research careers in biomedical informatics. Applications
may be
for the creation of entirely new program or for the renewal of existing
NLM
training program grants. Such training will help meet a growing need
for investigators
trained in biomedical computing and related fields as they directly
relate to
application domains, including health care delivery, basic biomedical
research,
clinical and translational research, public health and similar areas.
Modification
of the Biographical Sketch in NIH Grant Application Forms (PHS 3...
Notice NOT-OD-11-045 from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
Translational
Research to Help Older Adults Maintain their Health and Independence in
the
Community (R01)
PA-11-123
Family and
Interpersonal Relationships in an Aging Context (R01)
Expiration Date May 8, 2014
Events
Conferences:
Cells to Society (C2S) Summer Biomarker
Institute at
Northwestern University, Evanston,
June 6-8, 2011.
Application
Deadline:
April 1, 2011
The
Summer
Institute in LGBT Health at the Center for Population Research in
LGBT
Health at the Fenway Institute, Boston, July 18-August 12, 2011.
Applications are due April 18, 2011
Gerontological
Society of America's 64th Annual Scientific Meeting,
November 18-22,
2011, Boston Hynes Convention
Center, Boston, MA.
Abstracts Deadline: March 15, 2011
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This Newsletter is supported by a grant from the National
Institute on
Aging, National Institutes of Health (Grant No. 5 P30 AG012857)