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Disabling account creation

I have disabled account creation as I have been getting way to much spam to the wiki. I hope to renable it at sometime in the future but neither my captcha or e-mail confirmation was working. If you wish to contribute to the wiki and need an account please contact me using the Contact Us form:

http://www.rejuvepedia.org/index.php?title=Special:Contact/

http://www.thinkonthat.com/archives/4581

Cloning a Trachea

In the news there is a story about a man from Eritrea going to school in Iceland recovering from surgery in Sweden where a surgeon born in Italy recently gave him a new trachea grown in a bioreactor from the United States composed of synthetic scaffold designed in the United Kingdom and the man's own stem cells! The world is certainly getting smaller and the smaller it gets the more specialists like surgeon Paolo Macchiarini and others can collaborate to make stories like this possible. I'm posting this because it's a relevant update to a blog entry I made recently on Cloning.

NPR has a great podcast on this story where they cover the more human side of the science (see here). You might also be interested in earlier advances in cloning organs that go back to 1999 in cloning bladders: first, in dogs, now humans.

This cloning case is unique because until now, all trachea transplants involved using cadaver trachea as the "core" scaffold to grow stem cells around. So far there have been a handful of successful organs cloned in the same manner as this trachea. The technique basically starts with a synthetic material which serves as a scaffold for new cells to grow on. In the case of children where the organ will need to grow with the child, a biodegradable material is chosen for the scaffolding. Such

There are two main advantages for such a transplant

• No wait for organ donors to become available.
• No anti-rejection drugs needed.

Whether or not this kind of procedure can illuminate the need for all organ donors is yet to be seen.

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There is a new p2p currency available called solidcoin. I would like to see this take off more as a currency rather than another speculation toy.

SolidCoin has faster blocks and difficulty changes.

Please try it now at http://www.solidcoin.info

We will soon accept donations in solidcoin and may even offer solidcoins to people that blog here.

More on tissue engineering

Regrowing organs or parts of organs is an exciting and rapidly progressing area of regenerative medicine.

I started this blog post to include some more embedded videos about regrowing the trachea in response to AssassinDrakes blog post.

I attended SENS4 in 2008 and it was very interesting albeit overwhelming. I do remember one talk in particular that was very good. It was about regrowing a windpipe using a mold and scaffold. They actually used part an actual trachea but the finished product used her own patient specific cells.

The videos are now on youtube but it was definitely far more clear at the actual conference. The video is in three parts and here is part 1. The

most interesting content is in part 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B5Dk3RSaf4&feature=related

Embedding for part 1 doesn't seem to be working so well for some reason so I have simply included the hyperlink above.

I have embedded another video with media coverage. I'm not where this procedure was carried out but they generally consider to be

a kind of "holy grail" medical treatment.

I did also notice that Iran seems to be quite involved in tissue engineering as well.

This is a good step in the right direction is many times more civilised than organ transplants but today's medicine is no where near radical enough to carry out the full revolution that require to make unlimited youthfulness available to all people of planet earth.

Purpose motive vs profit motive

Rejuvepedia operates to encourage a culture where health is wealth and health is more important than hording money or gold. As part of this we must remember our purpose motive. It is far better to be healthy and youthful than it is to be old and have a pile of money like Scourge McDuck. An interesting video has come up about this about profit vs purpose motivation and it says that for mechanical work profit reward does encourage harder work but when it comes to cogitative work the hardest driving motive is in fact purpose not profit.

I hope this video is an interesting watch as try to gain our perspective on what we need to focus on to achieve successful outcomes for this project.

New Hurricane Scale in the US

This week a new measurement system for hurricanes was patented in the US [1].

The United States has been particularly concerned with the destructive power of hurricanes since the 2005 disaster in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina. This was a big issue because of the confusion with the current Saffir-Simpson scale used in the US. Under the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (SSHS), a hurricane with stronger maximum winds garners a higher rating [2]. This is somewhat erroneous way of looking at tropical storms because the storm surge was the primary destructive force in New Orleans.

The new measurement system, the integrated kinetic energy (IKE) scale, takes into consideration the total destructive force of storms in its rating. This is an important difference from the SSHS because a broad storm with weaker winds has a greater destructive potential than a small storm with high winds near the core.

Hopefully, this will start a global move in categorizing tropical storms in a way that better estimates human response needed.

As a side note: the NOAA scientist, Dr. Mark Powell, who developed the IKE scale, is also actively working on sustainable wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico and last year constructed and moved into a high performance green home in Florida. You can read his green building blog here.

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Tissue Engineering and Scaffolding to Help Regenerate Leg Muscle

My first blog post in a several weeks is actually a reblog. I will try to build on it and expand the coverage. BW has written an interesting blog post.

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/06/pig-bladder-powder-and-biological.html

The blog post was originally after an article on the website of the Australian news paper:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/radical-therapy-sees-injured-us-soldier-regrow-muscle/story-e6frg8y6-1226078116604

The article is saying that the large number of returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan with major injury has prompted US government to spend 70 million on regenerative medicine.

This is really nothing when you consider the cost of the war in Iraq has been over the years. http://costofwar.com/en/

The research was carried out by the McGowan institute for Regenerative medicine and here is another article about it in Popular Science magazine:

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine - Muscle Tissue Regeneration with the Use of Biologic Scaffolds for Patients Suffering from Massive Loss of Skeletal Muscle Tissue http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-06/tissue-engineers-regenerate-muscle-cells-saving-afghanistan-veteran%E2%80%99s-leg

They inserted an Extra Cellular Matrix (ECM) and were able to regenerate much of is leg muscle by seeding his remaining leg muscle with proteins and growth factors. They were also

apparently able to regenerate skeletal muscle which is usually unheard of. This just goes to show what could be achieved if only 1% of the money spent on war was spent on regenerative medicine.

Possible new role of cannabinoid receptors discovered

Kurzweil AI has blogged about a new possible function of the canabinoid receptor CB1 that appears to be neuroprotective (at least in mice) According to wikipedia though CB2 seems quite destructive.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/cannabinoid-receptors-protect-against-aging

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabinoid_receptor

YOGA FOR THE FACE ?

A great alternative to botox or other anti-aging facial procedures!

For the past two years, I have been practicing the art of Facial Yoga. I had become intrigued with Facial Yoga one day, because it dawned on me that our faces are made up of muscles that are rarely used, hence the saggy jowls and cheek muscles you often see people of older age carrying.

So, I researched the complex facial muscles systems. Immediately, I began to develop a Facial Yoga work out plan. Previously, and up to this point, I had studied Hatha Yoga for 13 years. I basically incorporated my facial yoga workout with my Hatha routine.

In the beginning, I would notice very subtle changes in facial muscle buildup.

After 3 months, my face began a new transformation.

The cheek muscles became pronounced and full.

The lips and chin areas became firm.

Chin and throat area became solid and lost the looseness of muscle/skin in that area.

The skin around the eyes became more relaxed.

Overall skin was clearer.

I most say that in the beginning I was doubtful of this practice. But, I stuck with a plan and eventually saw results! This was one of the best health decisions I have made. People mention the youthfulness of my face all the time.

So how would the average joe or jane get into such a thing? Here are some suggestions....

Simply Google Search : Facial Yoga

Take the time to research Facial Yoga

Be committed to eating healthy and watching your sugar intake

Produce a workout plan which focuses on specific areas

Have the discipline to work on your Facial Yoga program

Participate in my Live Online WorkShops via Ustream! I am working on the launch of providing facial yoga instructions via ustream. The project is in Beta right now.

If interested,please visit http://dot-bit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=218

I say give it a whirl and see what Facial Yoga can do for you.

I hope that this has become and/or becomes a benefit many will use.

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Cloning

I thought I would start off my Rejuvepedia blogging with a post about cloning. After all, cloning might one day be considered the most complete form of rejuvenation.

I recently read about a survey that shows Americans are more accepting of cloned food than Europeans. Right now we are on the cusp of a new era. Today, the practice of cloning is limited to a small number of labs around the world. Tomorrow, cloning of livestock, pets, and even people could be commonplace.

There are several advantages and disadvantages of cloned livestock. Most obviously, farmers can clone the most desirable animals for leanness, milk production, taste, and so on. Farmers could also select clones that are resistant to certain strains of disease. However, this lack of genetic diversity could leave the industry open to other diseases (read here for more). There is also evidence that cloned animals suffer more liver and kidney aliments, die younger, and reach puberty later (RSPCA).

Cloning of pets is probably the least controversial (though, still controversial) cloning on the market today. Since late 2001, pet cloning has become a booming commercial enterprise fetching up to $50,000USD. Cloning pets gives owners a way to keep from losing their beloved pets but some have noted that the clone of the animal you love is not the same. The memories and personality of the new creature are its own. Cloning pets can be a Pandora's Box for pet owners. One great example of this is Chance the Bull. There was a segment on This American Life about Chance in which they discuss how the clone, Second Chance, was prone to attacking its owner despite the fact that the original Chance was a very calm bull.

Finally, cloning humans, the last frontier in this scientific journey, is the most contentious of all. Scientists race to find ways to clone skin and other organs for the rich that want to remain youthful and cheat death even if only for a few years. Some say the advancement of cloning could lead to near immortality.

One thing that I think could really benefit from cloning is blood. Since the advent of blood transfusions, the biggest drawback has always been shortage of blood. Blood donors are inadequate in supply and the shelf-life of a blood is rather short. It’s not hard to find instances of blood shortages like this one in Ohio. Of course, the problem of a shortage is largely because people eligible to donate are unwilling to donate either because they lack time to go donate or because they don't like needles. There are still other problems with the blood supply. The risk of transmitting disease from donor to recipient (especially HIV) is a concern. Also, the existence of rare blood types is an issue. People with certain rare blood types may run into problems if they ever need a transfusion. If we could clone red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets there would be no need to worry.

Here are some of the Pros and Cons for cloning human blood:

Pros

• Makes it possible to always have the necessary units of blood on hand
• Blood donations could eventually be obsolete
• Storage needs reduced because fresh units could be synthesized on demand
• No more risk of transmitting HIV and other infectious diseases via transfusion
• People with rare blood can receive transfusions of compatible blood

Cons

• Very expensive for the foreseeable future
• Moral and religious debates over cloning

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Finding salt

I just found this very interesting article about salt. Turns out we're doing it wrong. Refined salt is bad for us the same way refined sugar is bad for us. Makes sense doesn't it. Tomorrow I may go out an buy some real salt.

http://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/sea_salt.htm

update:

I went out and bought some Himalayan mountain salt and some Celtic sea salt. It appears when we buy salt from the super markets there is refined salt, and iondized salt and that is about it. All of the minerals and trace elements have been removed. Using unrefined mineral salts is a good start but remember our body only needs a small amount of salt. Salt actually dehydrates cell walls and kills them. This can be great for kill bacteria but it may hurt you as well.

Our blood is about the same consistency of salt and minerals as the ancient oceans. The oceans today are far to salty for us to live in so many creatures moved onto the land. We still need those minerals and a little bit of salt. The problem is they refined the salt and took out all the minerals and left

us with high sodium diets. So our blood is deficient in minerals and high in the deadly sodium.

So use mineral salts instead of refined salt but don't use to much salt. Avoid all refined salts and look for other sources of minerals as well such as

fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, berries, seeds and legumes.

The ultimate of course would be if we could drink something that resembled our ancient oceans. Some kind of very low salt but rich in minerals drink. Obviously nothing on the market comes close to this now but that's a blog topic for another time.