Turn back time

In the effort to cure alzhiemer's disease a group of scientist at Salk institute have found a drug that will slow aging. The current treatments for alzhiemer's disease has focused on breakup the amyloids that build up in the cell. Their question was what if the amyloids were prevented to begin with. Alzhiemer's is connected to aging in some way. Older cells and DNA are more prone to mutations and mutations cause the misfolded proteins that then clump together.

Well the answer to this question came in the form of the drug J127. While feeding transgenic mice J127 to see if it would slow alzhiemer's progression they found that the mice showed better memory and were "younger" than the control mice. Using an undefined set of physiological factors these transgenic mice treated with J127 were at a younger state than the control mice. They showed improved memory and less alzhiemer's symptoms. These mice even looked younger than the control mice.

This is would be a great way to help alzhiemer's patients. By not allowing amyoids to for there won't be damage that cannot be reversed. However, it would be interesting to see if this drug could extend life. But even as just a treatment for old age and not specifically alzhiemer's this drug would be helpful. If it works the same way with humans as it does with mice it would be able to give people to ability to live independently and have a better quality of life longer. As it is now there really is a certain point where the older people cannot function in society. Their memories are no longer as good and the body starts to break down. I wonder if this drug would be able to help with the gradual break down of the body by slowing aging.

blood cells and stem cells

Stem cells are important to development of well everything. They are part of the immune system and when there is damage the stem cells will respond to fix that damage. they can be used to regrow a liver or fight off infection. These cells are being studied to find a way to grow new organs for patients that need them. In the time that the stem cells have been studied the questions of how blood came up. After studying 3000 single cell blood cultures it was found that the development of blood is two stages.The process is different between adults and children but the article is very unspecific about what is different between these stages. So it turns out that the mature blood cell are a direct daughter cell of the stem cell. This means that instead of like other cell types where stem cells mature into specific progenitor cells and then finally mature into functional cells. Skipping the progenitor cell makes the system much quicker.

Now that the system of blood development is more fully understood this could mean big changes in the way blood diseases are treated. We could theoretically supply patients with their own blood instead of with donor blood which would reduce rejection rates. The treatment options are endless and would really increase the patients lives.

Here is the article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151105143819.htm