INTELLIGENCE AT WORK

Advances in Science

Summarized by Max O’Connor

Life Extension

(1) Caleb Finch, gerontologist at the University of Southern California, stated that a molecular biology of aging has developed only in the last five years. As old theories of aging are thrown out - such as the idea of random error accumulation in the genes and proteins of a cell, and that a single gene controls aging - more complex views are emerging. It now seems clear that a genetic program is responsible for many age-related changes. The McKay/Walford dietary restriction program affects the genetic program; this regimen, when tried on rats, produces an enhanced expression of some genes in liver tissue.

Senescent human cells become unable to divide further. This has been associated with a lowered level of a bound form of the protein ubiquitin. Other researchers have found an as yet unidentified substance which is present only in senescent cells and which inhibits DNA synthesis. Mary Beth Porter, at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, has found a a variant form of fibronectin which is present only in senescent cells. Fibronectin is a protein that maintains the position and shape of cells. Other scientists have shown that changes in gene transcription in aged cells often affects fibronectin. Following the financial success of Retin-A for Johnson and Johnson, venture capitalists are

already expressing interest in the fibronectin discoveries. Free markets and science continue the onslaught on death!

(2) The antioxidant vitamin E boosts the immune system. In a study at Tufts University, one group of older people was given 800IU of vitamin E a day for a month. Compared to the control group, this group showed increased cell-mediated immune response and greater T-Cell secretion of Interleukin-2.

(3) Ephedrine, derived from the ephedra herb, is an easily available substance which as long been used as a tonic, nasal decongestant, for asthma, and for relief of gastric cramps. It is now known to promote thermogenesis in which brown fat is stimulated to burn the usual white body fat to create heat. While weight loss by calories restriction is often 25% muscle and connective tissue (unless heavy duty exercise is maintained), ephedrine causes fat loss without dieting and without muscle loss.

(4) A new antioxidant drug, diethylhydroxylamine (DEHA) is one hundred times more powerful than BHT, and is relatively non-toxic. It has been found to prolong lifespan and to protect against cancer when inhaled. The lifespan increase seems not to be the effect of dietary restriction. Caution is suggested because higher doses increased mortality, and at all doses maximum lifespan was decreased.

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(5) Isoprinosine (also called Inosine Pranobex +, Imunovir) is a drug shown to restore immune response towards normal and to augment anti-body production. Although it has some direct antiviral activity, it is primarily a powerful immunopotentiating agent - it works by enhancing the body’s resistance to infection. Isoprinosine has been shown to be effective in inhibiting replication of viruses in cases of HIV, rhinovirus (common cold), cytomegalovirus (involved in the cancer Kaposi’s sarcoma), Herpes simplex and herpes zoster, and genital warts. It is completely free of serious side effects, producing only occasional transient nausea when large numbers of tablets are taken.

(6) Phosphatidyl Serine has been shown to restore lost memory in animals, and reversed all the declining measures of memory and mental function ion Alzheimer’s patients. Phosphatidyl Serine is available in the Cognitex formula produced by the Life Extension Foundation (2835 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, Florida 33020-9982).

Computing, Nanotechnology, Micromachines.

(1) Developing his discoveries of nineteen years ago, Arthur Ashkin at AT & T Bell Laboratories, is finding new uses for laser light. When a microsphere is placed in a laser beam, it is pulled towards the focal point - the narrowest part of the beam. The microsphere is kept in this position by electromagnetic forces perpendicular to the direction of the beam. Lasers can be used to trap microorganisms and to hold atoms in place for minutes while they are studied.

Ashkin and his colleague J. M. Dziedzic write, “We have used the laser

light trap as ‘optical tweezers’ for moving live single and multiple bacteria while being viewed under a high-resolution optical microscope.” Tudor N. Buican, at the Life Sciences Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, is able to use computer controlled optical tweezers to sort and move cells in an airtight container. David Clapham of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, describes how optical tweezers could be used to gain new detailed information about the inner constitution of cells: “The microsphere can be coated with a compound that senses calcium, for example. The fluorescence of the bead would change to reflect local calcium concentrations.

(2) Scientists at E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. in Wilmington, Del., are learning how to take their own molecular building blocks and precisely control their change into crystal structures and macroscopic solid materials. A limitless number of new materials that would never occur in nature are expected to be the result. “If we can learn how to rationally control the space between the molecules, we may learn how to build new solids that are semiconducting, conducting, and superconducting,” says Michael D. Ward of du Pont. Other products could be molecular-sized switches and wires for computers that would be a thousand times smaller and a million times faster than anything currently existing.

(3) Advance in atomic force microscope technology: In the March 24 Science, researchers from Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, write about a new type of ATM capable of imaging biological molecules even while in

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motion. “We have always hoped that the power of scanning probe microscopes could be used to look at biological samples and benefit people,” says Santa Barbara physicist Paul K. Hansma. “We’re very excited that now it appears this will indeed be possible.” A moving image has been made of the protein fibrin as it polymerizes into a sheet.

Other Advances

(1) Air quality improves: According to the results of an EPA study issued in March, there was a significant improvement in the quality of the air in the USA between 1978 and 1987. Probably due to the phasing out of lead in gasoline, lead levels dropped 88% (19% in the last year), with carbon monoxide falling 32%. Choke on that, Eco-Gloomsters!

(2) Allen M. Hermann of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville is adding to the excitement over the new group of high-temperature superconductors in which electrons carry the superconducting current. His new compound, consisting of thallium, barium, cerium, copper, and oxygen may raise the transition temperature for an electron superconductor to 85 kelvins.

(3) For the first time, physicists have succeeded in creating and containing a plasma made of positrons. Scientists at UCSD and AT&T Bell Laboratories used a trap of electric and magnetic fields combined with a nitrogen gas to slow the positrons down. The next step is to create a mixed plasma of electrons and positrons. This will be the first time a plasma has contained all particles of the same mass. Just a little closer to matter/antimatter engines to take us to the stars…

(4) Electronically conductive polymers should soon be available for large scale applications. Scientists at the American Chemical Society meeting in April reported advances in processing conducting polymers into usable films, fibers, and other shapes. The results will be anti-static coatings for clothes, airplane lightning protection, and screening of rooms from electronic surveillance.

(5) The Stanford Linear Collider recently produced its first Z particle (one of three carriers of the weak nuclear force). This is the first time that a Z has been observed to decay into a quark-anti-quark pair as theory had predicted.

(6) At the Materials Research Society meeting in San Diego in April, electrical engineer John A. Woollam reported success in being able to coat various optical materials with a thin film of hard, semi-transparent diamond-like carbon. Such a coating will eliminate reflection from semiconductor substrates and powerfully reduce reflection from diamond and other substances.

(7) Neural networks are being used to predict the outcomes of chemical reactions. This approach is still in its early stages, but impressive results have been obtained from a network with three layers of units. The network proved itself in tests regarding electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions.

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