Lifeboat Foundation

Skin aging is a multifactorial process consisting of two distinct and independent mechanisms: intrinsic and extrinsic aging. Youthful skin retains its turgor, resilience and pliability, among others, due to its high content of water. Daily external injury, in addition to the normal process of aging, causes loss of moisture. The key molecule involved in skin moisture is hyaluronic acid (HA) that has unique capacity in retaining water. There are multiple sites for the control of HA synthesis, deposition, cell and protein association and degradation, reflecting the complexity of HA metabolism. The enzymes that synthesize or catabolize HA and HA receptors responsible for many of the functions of HA are all multigene families with distinct patterns of tissue expression. Understanding the metabolism of HA in the different layers of the skin and the interactions of HA with other skin components will facilitate the ability to modulate skin moisture in a rational manner.

Keywords: hyaluronic acid, hyaluronic acid synthases, hyaluronidases, CD44, RHAMM, skin aging.

Human skin aging is a complex biological process, not yet fully understood. It is the result of two biologically independent processes. The first is intrinsic or innate aging, an unpreventable process, which affects the skin in the same pattern as it affects all internal organs. The second is extrinsic aging, which is the result of exposure to external factors, mainly ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, that is also referred to as photoaging.¹ Intrinsic skin aging is influenced by hormonal changes that occur with age,² such as the gradual decreased production of sex hormones from the mid-twenties and the diminution of estrogens and progesterone associated with menopause. It is well established that the deficiency in estrogens and androgens results in collagen degradation, dryness, loss of elasticity, epidermal atrophy and wrinkling of the skin.³

Males may have shorter lifespans than females due to repetitive sections of the Y chromosome that create toxic effects as males get older. These new findings appear in a study by Doris Bachtrog of the University of California, Berkeley published April 22 in PLOS Genetics.

In humans and other species with XY sex chromosomes, females often live longer than males. One possible explanation for this disparity may be repetitive sequences within the genome. While both males and females carry these repeat sequences, scientists have suspected that the large number of repeats on the Y chromosome may create a “toxic y effect” that shortens males’ lives. To test this idea, Bachtrog studied male fruit flies from the species Drosophila miranda, which have about twice as much repetitive DNA as females and a shorter lifespan. They showed that when the DNA is in its tightly packed form inside the cells of young male flies, the repeat sections are turned off. But as the flies age, the DNA assumes a looser form that can activate the repeat sections, resulting in toxic side effects.

The new study demonstrates that Y chromosomes that are rich in repeats are a genomic liability for males. The findings also support a more general link between repeat DNA and aging, which currently, is poorly understood. Previous studies in fruit flies have shown that when repeat sections become active, they impair memory, shorten the lifespan and cause DNA damage. This damage likely contributes to aging’s physiological effects, but more research will be needed to uncover the mechanisms underlying repeat DNA’s toxic effects.

One in 17 people will suffer from a rare disease at some time in their lives. Most of these rare diseases have a genetic cause and often affect children, but proving which gene change causes a disease is a huge challenge.

Scientists have discovered a new genetic disease, which causes some children’s brains to develop abnormally, resulting in delayed intellectual development and often early onset cataracts.

The majority of patients with the condition, which is so new it doesn’t have a name yet, were also microcephalic, a birth defect where a baby’s head is smaller than expected when compared to babies of the same sex and age.

Continue reading “Strange New Genetic Disease Discovered That Causes Children’s Brains to Develop Abnormally” »

Here’s my latest video!

In November 2020, I made a HDL video based on a meta-analysis in ~3.4 million subjects that was published in July 2020. In Dec 2020, a larger study (n=15.8 million subjects) was published-those data are presented in the video, and compared against the meta-analysis.

Continue reading “HDL Update: Age-Related Changes, All-Cause Mortality Risk, And Progress Towards The Optimal Range” »

Circa 2018

Frogs partly regrew their hind legs after a dose of the female sex hormone progesterone was applied to the wound site for just one day.

The Moon and Mars are remote and forbidding but it’s fairly easy to turn their soil into construction material and mine it for water to drink and oxygen to breathe.

Several astronauts have spent more than a year in zero gravity, and they experienced muscle loss, brittle bones and difficulties with vision. A space station could be spun up to ameliorate these problems, and for colonists on the Moon and Mars, gravity would be reduced, not absent. Their capillaries and cardiovascular systems would adjust, and muscle mass would be shed.

Continue reading “The Physical Effects of Living in Space Could Create a New Human Species” »

Ultrasonic vocalizations of male mice distinguish aggressive, male-directed mounting from reproductive, female-directed mounting behaviours, which are represented by distinct ESR1-expressing populations of neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus and medial preoptic area, respectively.

Dr. Nicole Prause, PhD is an American neuroscientist researching human sexual behavior, addiction, and the physiology of sexual response. She is also the founder of Liberos LLC, an independent research institute and biotechnology company.

Dr. Prause obtained her doctorate in 2007 at Indiana University Bloomington, with joint supervision by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, with her areas of concentration being neuroscience and statistics. Her clinical internship, in neuro-psychological assessment and behavioral medicine, was with the VA Boston Healthcare System’s Psychology Internship Training Program. Her research fellowship was in couples’ treatment of alcoholism was at Harvard University.

Continue reading “Dr Nicole Prause — Advancing Research In Sexual Psychophysiology, Sexual Biotechnology, And Sex-Tech” »

Exciting momentum!! — Home Depot Founder, Bernie Marcus (age 91), and the Adolph Coors Foundation (beer family), putting millions of $$$ into comprehensive integrative health and wellness — Good to see the trend!!

The Marcus Institute of Integrative Health was established in Philadelphia in 2017 by Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, and a multi-million $$$ grant from the Marcus Foundation (headed by it’s Chairman, Bernie Marcus, Co-Founder of The Home Depot) to expand the research, education and clinical care profile of Jefferson’s integrative medicine program, and to set the international standard of excellence in evidence-based, patient-centered integrative care.

Continue reading “Dr Daniel Monti — CEO & Founding Director, Marcus Institute of Integrative Health — Jefferson Health” »