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Andreas Ladurner PhD (2008), University of Cambridge, UK. Chromatin packages our cellular DNA, protects it from damage and ensures access by the right machines, at the right time. The smallest unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, a tightly-knit and stable assembly of histones and DNA. Yet, chromatin is a dynamic and versatile (“plastic”) substrate. We now know that it regulates gene expression and the inheritance of our genome. Biochemical and proteomic approaches show that proteins rarely act in isolation. Rather, they often form larger molecular assemblies. Importantly, it is often only in the context of these larger protein complexes that many proteins reveal their specific activity. In an on-going, ambitious project with Damian Brunner in EMBL’s Cell Biology Unit and with Robin Allshire at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology in Edinburgh (UK), we are seeking to identify novel protein complexes involved in heterochromatin formation and in centromere function in a model organism, the fission yeast S. pombe. We will report progress on this challenging project in future reports.

Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (2008) Researchers from Johns Hopkins have discovered the presence of functional ion channels in human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). These ion channels act like electrical wires and permit ESCs, versatile cells that possess the unique ability to become all cell types of the body, to conduct and pass along electric currents. If researchers could selectively block some of these channels in implanted cells, derived from stem cells, they may be able to prevent potential tumor development. The paper appears Aug. 5 online in the journal Stem Cells. "A major concern for human ESC-based therapies is the potential for engineered grafts to go haywire after transplantation and form tumors, for instance, due to contamination by only a few undifferentiated human ESCs," says Ronald A. Li, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and senior author of the study. "Our discovery of functional ion channels, which are valves in a cell's outer membrane allowing the passage of charged atoms, the basis of electricity, provides an important link to the differentiation, or maturation, and cell proliferation, or growth of human ESCs." Because human ESCs can potentially provide an unlimited supply of even highly specialized cells, such as brain and heart cells, for transplantation and cell-based therapies, they may provide an ultimate solution to limited donor availability. In an earlier study, Li's lab genetically engineered heart cells derived from human ESCs, suggesting the possibility of transplanting unlimited supplies of healthy, specialized cells into damaged organs. "We do not want to be taking any chances of tumor formation. Based on our previous research, we therefore decided to explore the existence of ion channels in pluripotent, or versatile, human ESCs because electrical activity is known to regulate cell differentiation and proliferation," says Li. "To my knowledge, the electrical properties of human ESCs were never studied up to this point." In the current study, the researchers measured the electric currents of single human ESCs, discovered several channels that allow and control passage of potassium, and observed the electric current's effect on cell differentiation and proliferation. "In a number of different cell types, from cancer to T-lymphocytes, potassium channels are responsible for altering the membrane voltage of cells," says Li. "This in turn is required for the progression of certain cells into the next phase of a cell cycle." Li hopes the targeting of specific potassium channels will give scientists more understanding and control in engineering healthy cells for transplantation. "We found that blocking potassium channels in ESCs also slowed their growth," says Li. "Our findings may lead to genetic strategies that suppress undesirable cell division after transplantation, not only for ESCs and their derivatives, but perhaps for adult stem cells as well." Li adds that much more work is necessary to know for sure.

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Bok Y. Lee, MD, FACS, Alfred J. Koonin, M.B., Ch, B., Ph.D., FRCS, Keith Wendell, Ph.D., John Hillard, RN (2005) In conclusion, 25 chronic skin ulcers present for an average of 18.5 months and not responding to standard conservative treatment in a hospital setting were treated with the ultra-low current, ultra-low frequency device. 100% showed response to the treatment. 100% healed in a maximum time of 7 weeks. Average time of healing was 48 hours of treatment over 16 days. Surgical debridement was unnecessary as the necrotic tissue appeared to disappear spontaneously. The ages of the patients ranged between 20 and 85 years of age. Many studies have shown that the rate of wound healing of an individual is directly proportional to their age. From this study it can be seen that treating chronic skin ulcers with the ultra-low current device eliminates the age factor by equalizing the healing rate at all ages (fig.14). The only limiting factor in healing time with this method seems to be the duration of the lesion (fig.15). This study therefore suggests that treatment with the ultra-low current device eliminates the restrictions that aging brings to the healing process.

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X Weiss, (2008) Aging is not just the sum total of individually deteriorating cells. Aging is the dynamic process of increasing imbalances in the systemic organization of these cells. Anti-aging reflects a multilevel approach that simultaneously targets a number of biological network modules. Identifying these dynamically organized network modules will be very important in formulating a model of how and why the aging process takes place and whether or not we can reverse aging by reorganizing an aged network model. The old, the ill, and the injured all suffer from disarranged patterns of atoms, whether disarranged by aging and accumulated free radicals, invading viruses, or unfortunate accidents. Aged and young are the Gestalts on opposite poles composed of variations in the arrangement of their dynamically organized networks. Modern electronics and molecular biology research are combined to deduce the specifications for a technology that promotes Healthy Anti-aging. Resonating the firings, spatial organization and rhythms of electrically excitable cells leads to healing and rejuvenation in a completely safe, noninvasive method.

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X Weiss, (2008) Aging is not just the sum total of individually deteriorating cells. Aging is the dynamic process of increasing imbalances in the systemic organization of these cells. Anti-aging reflects a multilevel approach that simultaneously targets a number of biological network modules. Identifying these dynamically organized network modules will be very important in formulating a model of how and why the aging process takes place and whether or not we can reverse aging by reorganizing an aged network model. How can a biological network be reorganized? The old, the ill, and the injured all suffer from disarranged patterns of atoms, whether disarranged by aging and accumulated free radicals, invading viruses, or unfortunate accidents. Aged and young are the Gestalts on opposite poles composed of variations in the arrangement of their dynamically organized networks.

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David A. Sinclair, Ph.D, Harvard University Medical School, (2008) "I see my work as part of an ongoing struggle for improving human life. If I am lucky, I can add one piece to the puzzle, but clearly there will be many more that need to be discovered if we are going to extend lifespan dramatically. I am optimistic that the piece of puzzle we are working on could add a number of healthy years to people’s lives beyond what is currently possible in medicine. And you are correct, that could help people gain access to future technologies. My primary goal, though, is not to extend lifespan so that other technologies will be available, although that may happen as a fortunate consequence. If my work leads to people living an extra five years of healthy life, I would be a very happy person, and perhaps other people can then pick up the baton from that point."

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X Weiss, (2008) We are made up of thousands of billions of cells that must act in concert to allow us to perform our daily activities and meet challenges. This cooperation is achieved partly by cells communicating with each other. Sensory neurons have specialized receptors that convert diverse types of stimuli from the environment (e.g., light, touch, sound, odorants) into electric signals. These electric signals are then converted into chemical signals that are passed on to other cells, which convert the information back into electric signals. Chemical signals, or first messengers, transmit information between cells., while electric signals, or second messengers, process and conduct information within a cell. Cellular communication involves signals between cells -- i.e. first messengers, and signals within a cell -- i.e. second messengers. The first messenger is converted or transducted to a second messenger within a cell. Signal transduction refers to small ion movements changing the cell’s electrical potential. More complex signal transduction changes enzyme activities and protein conformations. Protein conformation is necessary for normal protein function and overall cellular intelligence, since proteins represent the brain of the cell. Any alteration in cellular activity is related to changes in the program of genes expressed within the responding cells.

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Xanya Sofra-Weiss, Ph.D (2007) Recent advances in biochemistry, cell biology and genetics are giving us a concrete picture of the organism as an electrically intercommunicating whole that can be only fully captured by Quantum Coherence. Quantum Coherence reflects an entangled organic whole, where global and local are so thoroughly implicated as to be indistinguishable, and where each part is as much in control as it is sensitive and responsive. Imagine a very large jazz orchestra where everyone is doing his or her own thing while being perfectly in step and in tune with the whole. Viewed from the above macroscopic point of view, the biological system appears to be a biological Gestalt or a coherent organic whole interconnected by a multiplicity of electro-biochemical signals...

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X. Weiss (2007) Gaining insight in the intricate mechanics of life and how to enhance and support it by utilizing certain nano current or micro current specifications will not only bring anti-aging research to a new level of awareness but will probably prelude the rise of “Proactive Medicine” where nano electricity is used to fine tune the body and keep while enhancing the immune system to combat and prevent disease. The goal is to develop an “artificial language” via a sophisticated nanotechnology device that can communicate with the “language of life” as spoken at the cellular level. This artificial language must be equivalent to a high definition signal, which implies that the specific device used must be capable of minimizing noise while utilizing compact clearly delineated, “high definition” waveforms and constant current. This artificial intelligence device must be also capable of emitting nano amperes in very low frequencies in order to effectively resonate the nano electrical functioning of the cells.

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Weiss (2007) Statistical analysis (t test) revealed significantly more muscle building (an average of 3.6 inches of muscle increase) in the Arasys group when compared to the gym group (an average of 2.1 inches of muscle increase) p<0.01. Statistical analysis (t test) revealed significantly more inch loss (an average of 9.9 inches lost) in the Arasys group when compared to the gym group (an average of 2.4 inches lost) p<0.001.