Special Olympics and UIC team up to research aging individuals with disabilities

The University of Illinois at Chicago will receive $4.25 million over the next five years for research on aging individuals with disabilities, and the award will be partially matched by Special Olympics International.

UIC’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Developmental Disabilities (RRTC) will start receiving its money on October 1 from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), which is part of the U.S. Department of Education.

“This new funding that starts in October is going to build on [our previous research] but it has more of a lifespan focus,” said professor and head of RRTC, Tamar Heller, Ph.D. She added that not much research has been done on adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The UIC center received a similar grant in 2003, according to a spokesman from the Department of Education.

The RRTC received the grants in 2003 and in 2008 due to its well-received proposals in peer review and the progress it made in its activities, he said.

One out of the seven studies that will make use of the grant money will also use health screening data collected from athletes participating in the Special Olympics, a project partner with RRTC.

“The Special Olympics does screenings for thousands of people around the world and we’re going to be working with them to look at some of that screening data,” Heller said.

Heller and her research team will use this data to determine, over time, what risks or secondary conditions people with disabilities have that may be related to their disability. For example, Heller explains that individuals with Down’s syndrome have a higher propensity for osteoporosis.

“The Special Olympics population is very much a convenience sample for UIC,” said Special Olympics’ senior vice president for constituent services and support, Stephen Corbin. He agrees with Heller that more research needs to be done on adults with disabilities, especially in terms of what risk factors and environmental variables affect overall health.

So for the next several years, RRTC will use Special Olympic athletes’ health screening data to track long-term health trends.

“It’s one thing to show something in a lab or a clinic, but we will want to show how to improve lives in the real world,” Heller said.

Source: MedIll NorthWestern University, Elyse Russo (”http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=97197“)

Aspirin, acid blocker a-day keeps GI bleeding at bay

U-M study finds proton pump inhibitors are cost-effective
way to prevent upper GI bleeding in patients who regularly take aspirin
to prevent cardiac events

For patients with clogged heart arteries who take long-term, low-dose aspirin to prevent a cardiac event, adding a stomach acid-blocking drug to their daily routine has been shown to reduce their risk for upper gastrointestinal bleeding – an infrequent, but serious side-effect of regular aspirin use.

• At OTC prices, PPI cotherapy is cost-effective for patients older than 65 who are taking low-dose aspirin, and may also be cost-effective for patients as young as 50.
• Even for patients who have an average risk of bleeding, OTC PPIs are cost-effective.
• Aspirin plus prescription PPI was only cost-effective for the patients at the highest risk for upper GI bleeding, including much older patients. Starting PPI therapy at age 65 costs $40,000 per year of life saved. Beginning PPI therapy at age 50 is estimated to cost $80,000 per year of life
  saved.
• For patients at average risk for upper GI bleeding, starting prescription PPI therapy was only cost-effective if started later in life (age 80 or later).

Spices May Protect Against Consequences Of High Blood Sugar

Herbs and spices are rich in antioxidants, and a new University of Georgia study suggests they are also potent inhibitors of tissue damage and inflammation caused by high levels of blood sugar.

Researchers, whose results appear in the current issue of the Journal of Medicinal Food, tested extracts from 24 common herbs and spices. In addition to finding high levels of antioxidant-rich compounds known as phenols, they revealed a direct correlation between phenol content and the ability of the extracts to block the formation of compounds that contribute to damage caused by diabetes and aging.

“Because herbs and spices have a very low calorie content and are relatively inexpensive, they’re a great way to get a lot of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory power into your diet,” said study co-author James Hargrove, associate professor of foods and nutrition in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Hargrove explained that when blood sugar levels are high, a process known as protein glycation occurs in which the sugar bonds with proteins to eventually form what are known as advanced glycation end products, also known as AGE compounds. The acronym is fitting because these compounds activate the immune system, resulting in the inflammation and tissue damage associated with aging and diabetes.

The researchers found a strong and direct correlation between the phenol content of common herbs and spices and their ability to inhibit the formation of AGE compounds. Spices such as cloves and cinnamon had phenol levels that were 30 percent and 18 percent of dry weight, respectively, while herbs such as oregano and sage were eight and six percent phenol by dry weight, respectively. For comparison, blueberries – which are widely touted for their antioxidant capabilities – contain roughly five percent phenol by dry weight.

Study co-author Diane Hartle, associate professor in the UGA College of Pharmacy, said various phenols are absorbed differently by the body and have different mechanisms of action, so it’s likely that a variety of spices will provide maximum benefit.

“If you set up a good herb and spice cabinet and season your food liberally, you could double or even triple the medicinal value of your meal without increasing the caloric content,” she said.

She added that controlling blood sugar and the formation of AGE compounds can also decrease the risk of cardiovascular damage associated with diabetes and aging. She explained that high blood sugar accelerates heart disease partly because AGE compounds form in the blood and in the walls of blood vessels. The AGE compounds aggravate atherosclerosis, which produces cholesterol plaques.

The UGA researchers tested for the ability to block AGE compounds in a test tube, but animal studies conducted on the health benefits of spices lend support to their argument. Cinnamon and cinnamon extracts, for example, have been shown to lower blood sugar in mice. Interestingly, cinnamon lowers blood sugar by acting on several different levels, Hargrove said. It slows the emptying of the stomach to reduce sharp rises in blood sugar following meals and improves the effectiveness, or sensitivity, of insulin. It also enhances antioxidant defenses.

Hargrove said their findings suggest it’s likely that the herbs and spices they studied will provide similar benefits in animal tests. He points out that because humans have been consuming herbs and spices for thousands of years, they come without the risk of possible side effects that accompany medications.

“Culinary herbs and spices are all generally recognized as safe and have been time-tested in the diet,” he said. “Indeed, some of spices and herbals are now sold as food supplements because of their recognized health benefits.”

Study co-author Phillip Greenspan, associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, noted that most people don’t get their recommended five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Rather than seasoning their food with salt – which provides no beneficial phenols and has been linked to high blood pressure – he recommends that people use a variety of herbs and spices to help boost the nutritional quality of their meals.

“When you add herbs and spices to food, you definitely provide yourself with additional benefits besides taste,” Greenspan said.

Source:Science Daily (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080805153830.htm)

UC Santa Barbara Chemist Goes Nano with CoQ10

If Bruce Lipshutz has his way, you may soon be buying bottles of water brimming with the life-sustaining coenzyme CoQ10 at your local Costco.

Lipshutz, a professor of chemistry at UC Santa Barbara, is the principal author of an upcoming review, “Transition Metal Catalyzed Cross-Couplings Going Green: in Water at Room Temperature,” which will be published in Aldrichimica Acta in September. In it, Lipshutz and post-doctoral researcher Subir Ghorai discuss how recent advances in chemistry can be used to solubilize otherwise naturally insoluble compounds like CoQ10 into water.

Never heard of CoQ10? Lipshutz says you’re not alone. “If you don’t know anything about it,” Lipshutz said during a recent interview, “that’s not surprising to me. Much of the public hasn’t heard of it.” But he’s on a mission to correct what he views as a major oversight. “In a sense, I’m just a messenger. People need to not only know about CoQ10, they need to take it.”

Like vitamin C, CoQ10 is a compound that’s vital to our survival. It’s a coenzyme that our cells synthesize, albeit in 21 steps, and it’s in every cell. This contrasts with a vitamin, such as vitamin C, which is not made by the body. Both CoQ10 and vitamin C are “compounds of evolution,” Lipshutz said. “Everybody accepts the importance of vitamin C. The reason the public does not fully appreciate it is that there’s no Linus Pauling for CoQ10. There is no champion.”

Pauling, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, was also an advocate for greater consumption of vitamin C. “CoQ is not really in that category of public awareness yet,” Lipshutz said.

While the body produces its own CoQ10, that production decreases with age. “Nature gave us, through 2.5 billion years of evolution, a number of fundamental anti-aging, free-radical scavengers that helped us to survive, on average, only to about 40 years of age, until modern medicine came along,” Lipshutz said.

A large percentage of the body is made up of water, “but there are also the lipophilic portions of our cells that make up the non-aqueous part,” Lipshutz explained. At some point in our evolution, the water-soluble antioxidant vitamin C was produced in vivo, or what would technically be “coenzyme C.” Eventually, “a mutation took place that now prevents humans from making it,” he said. “However, evolution chose not to mutate out CoQ10.”

If one doesn’t get vitamin C, the consequences can be dire. “It’s essential for several cellular processes. For example, everyone knows about scurvy,” Lipshutz said. “You can last 30 days, maybe 60 days, as your cells deteriorate.”

On the other hand, CoQ10 – much of which is in the mitochondria of our cells – is essential for cellular respiration and ATP (adenosine triphosphate) production. “You wouldn’t last 30 minutes without CoQ10,” he said. “Thus, evolution teaches us that CoQ10 is as important as vitamin C. But who’s teaching this to our aging population? Nobody.”

Lipshutz has a history of CoQ10 research at UCSB. Initially, he retooled the chemistry that would produce the supplement via synthesis instead of fermentation, which is what Japan used to become the world leader in CoQ10 production. But China’s entry into the CoQ10 market only a few years ago changed everything.

“The price of CoQ for over 30 years was about $1,600 per kilo as produced by the Japanese,” Lipshutz said. “The Chinese came along and, for the time being, have dramatically altered the market by deciding at the government level that they were going to own this important area of dietary supplements. CoQ10 can now be purchased for as little as $400 a kilo, which in principle is great news for consumers.”

When the supply of CoQ10 grew faster than demand, Lipshutz went into the lab to study what else could be done with this life-enriching compound. After all, CoQ is now readily available. At Costco or drug stores, you can buy CoQ10 formulated into softgels that deliver the nutrient in various strengths. It’s marketed as helping to provide a boost in energy as well as a healthy heart. But, Lipshutz notes, you absorb only10-15 percent of CoQ10 in the softgel form. How, he asked, could this become more available and bioefficient?

“The future is not about access to CoQ10 anymore,” he said. “It’s not about, ‘Do we have the best synthesis?’ or ‘Can we compete with the Chinese?’ It’s about getting it into water, so that we can get it into our mitochondria.”

Quite a challenge since CoQ10 is water insoluble. The answer? Go nano.

“We do it with nano-micelle-forming technology,” Lipshutz said. He starts by putting a known, inexpensive molecule called PTS into water, which spontaneously forms a nanosphere about 25 nanometers (one nanometer is equal to one billionth of a meter) in diameter. This sphere has a lipophilic portion tied to a hydrophilic portion through a linker. The lipophilic portion, which is actually vitamin E, goes to the center. “The vitamin E portion associates in the middle with itself because it doesn’t have any solubility, any energy-lowering interactions, with the water around it,” Lipshutz said. “But the external or hydrophilic portion associates with water.

“So, on the outside is the water-loving portion, while the lipophilic, or grease-loving portion, is on the inside. When you add the CoQ, it says, ‘Where would I rather be?’ Since like dissolves like, the CoQ10 goes inside the micelle. It’s 25 nanometers and it’s crystal clear. And, it’s stable at room temperature.”

That’s nanotechnology. It delivers twice the amount of the compound into the bloodstream, and the concentration in water can be adjusted, he said. This approach can be applied to a broad range of nutraceuticals, including omega-3s, carotenoids like lutein and beta-carotene, and resveratrol. “We can also take pharmaceuticals, like Taxol, an anti-tumor agent, and put them into just water or saline using this PTS,” he said.

By taking advantage of this micellar technology, synthetic chemistry can also be done inside the nano-containers. That translates into doing chemistry in pure water, and at room temperature. “That’s green chemistry,” Lipshutz said.

The amount of heat usually needed in reactions, and the waste created by organic solvents, are dramatically reduced. Lipshutz hopes that when his processes are looked at on a much larger scale, a savings of metric tons of solvent, currently released into the environment, will be realized.

“We aim to get organic solvents out of organic reactions,” he said. “And we’re already looking into next-generation possibilities. All of our green chemistry has come out of being able to put CoQ10 and other dietary supplements into water.”

Lipshutz sees this as his most significant contribution to an already illustrious career as an organic chemist.

“It’s an opportunity to affect every person on the planet,” he says proudly.

Study finds possible secret of aging

Genetics, not wear and tear, may be the true cause of aging, according to a study by School of Medicine researchers.

Led by Developmental Biology and Genetics Prof. Stuart Kim, the study looked at 20,000 genes in C. elegans, a millimeter-long worm. Researchers monitored discrepancies in gene function over the course of the worms’ lives. They found that 1,254 genes had different levels of function depending on the worm’s age.

This suggests that certain genes, especially transcription factors — the “on-and-off-switch” genes that regulate the function of other genes — play important roles in regulating the process of aging cells. Transcription factors in worms were found to gradually disrupt the balance in cell regulation, over time turning more genes “off,” than were being turned “on.”

But the new theory doesn’t explain everything. A gene-based explanation of aging doesn’t account for vast differences in the life spans of species — this is better explained by the old molecular damage theory.

“The [old theory] is that there is damage to the proteins,” Kim said. “The differences in life spans must be how well you tolerate or repair the damage to your cells. There is a huge variation in life spans, all dependent on the same chemical reactions.”  In the molecular damage theory, oxygen free radicals gradually break down the molecules within the cells of species, and this wear and tear contributes to a gradual breakdown in their ability to function.

Kim and his colleagues sought to gauge just how much genetics can affect life span when they conducted the study — the researchers took steps to find how much deterioration and genetics contributed to aging, respectively.

“We rebalanced the system [stopping altogether the function of the transcription factors],” Kim explained. “Worms lived 50 percent longer [as a result]. I don’t have the tools yet to really balance it — all I can do is knock it out.”

With the power to alter transcription factors might come the power to extend life. [KH1]Scientists could inhibit genes’ ability to control the function of cell regulation and thus control the amount of time a individual possesses a balance in cell regulation. The longer amount of time balance is achieved, the longer life is sustainable.

“Here is the next experiment,” Kim said. “Let a worm grow old so the pathways are unbalanced, and then balance the pathways [by controlling changes in transcription factors over time] and see what happens. Ask yourself the question that perhaps you not only slowed down the process of aging but you reversed it. It’s a really fascinating process, and I think we can understand it.”

Source: Stanford Daily (http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/7/31/studyFindsPossibleSecretOfAging)