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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Thank you Adrian. This is kind and generous of you to do. It is a good recap; although nothing especially new about telomere theory. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Perhaps the evidence of a woman losing the capability to reproduce, etc. is not the body turning this function off because it is no longer necessary can be seen as anthropomorphizing the body, but I’m not so sure. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>(The comment about anti-aging snake oil is strange. Has someone here been selling snake oil?)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Best,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Natasha<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Adrian Tymes<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, February 12, 2014 7:47 PM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] Human Aging<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>I forwarded your questions to an acquaintance who's a researcher in the field. Here's what she said:<br><br>---BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE---<br>Tell Natasha that I've been working on aging and seniors for about 20 years now, so my information is an amalgam of information gleaned largely from clinical and academic sources, but it's come from so many sources I couldn't possibly list them. <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br>>Does anyone have updated science facts on the human body/brain as a whole that looks at:<br>><br>> 1. When does the body starts aging (conflicting views suggest directly after puberty, others say 20-ish);<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal>The aging process starts with chromosome chains, each of which is capped by a telomere (kind of like the aglet on the ends if shoelaces). Each telomere is preprogrammed from birth to indicate (among other things) how often this particular chromosome chain can reliably multiply before aging and losing some of the contents. There's no specific age to each telomere, but generally they start affecting the chromosomes around one's early 20's. The good news is that most of the telomeres continue their healthy reproduction of chromosomes until very late in life.<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>> 2. When does the body start preparing for death (conflicting views, and some suggest after menopause and andropause); <o:p></o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Depends on what's meant by "preparing for death." One could say that it starts when the first chromosome chain misbehaves and who knows when that is. Different parts of the body age at different rates, and disease or malfunction can affect that. In many cases, people know when their body is getting ready to die. My mother knew that she was dying more than a month before she actually did. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br>> 3. If the body regenerates itself every seven years, how does this affect the aging process (most views reference limited ability to create daughter cells is the point of preparation for death) and if neurons in the cerebral cortex are never replaced, why is there a broad statement that the body regenerates itself every seven years?<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>To say that the body regenerates itself every seven years is too broad a statement. Some parts do, some don't. Each time there is cell division, there is a possibility that some new gene combination will occur that subtly changes how the body works. Science doesn't yet know how that works, but have observed the changes in the lab. The ability to generate new body parts (e.g., an ear) from skin stem cells illustrates the phenomenon. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Please tell your friend that the phrases "fight aging" and "anti-aging" are markers for variations on snake oil. Most of the things sold or advocated with those phrases in the descriptions are untested, unapproved, and generally unbelievable. There's a whole industry that's grown up around those and similar phrases to take in the gullible with money to spend.<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal>As to where to look for credible information, look for clinical research papers or courses on aging by degreed professors. AARP's research section is a good place to start. <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>---END FORWARDED MESSAGE---<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>In addition to that "untested, unapproved, and generally unbelievable", I would add, "and most of those that have been tested have been shown not to work, but are sold as life extenders anyway". Until there's wide scale enforcement on truth in advertising here, the market is unfortunately almost 100% fraud.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Of course, we care about that "almost". But we can't ignore the facts on the ground, if we wish to be effective.<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>