#usc davis school of gerontology

[jobrxiv]

Research Lab Technician II (Mouse) - Benayoun lab/USC University of Southern California Join us to study #sexDifferences in #aging using #mouse models at the University of Southern California in sunny CA! See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/university-of-southern-california-27778-research-lab-technician-ii-mouse-benayoun-lab-usc-2/?feed_id=47358 #ScienceJobs #hiring #research #gerotwitter Los Angeles #UnitedStatesUS #ResearchTechnician

[munaeem]

Breathing exercises can help ward off painful diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia

Maryland: Although many benefits of different breathing methods have been scientifically proven, a study has now revealed that simple and simple exercises can help to remove diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia. According to research published in Scientific Reports, the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology has said that simple breathing exercises in young and old people can prevent or slow…

[ahmed25646]

Fasting-mimicking diet reduces signs of dementia in mice

Fasting-mimicking diet reduces signs of dementia in mice

Cycles of a diet that mimics fasting appear to reduce signs of Alzheimer’s disease in mice genetically engineered to develop the disease, according to a new study conducted by the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. The study appeared in Cell reports September 27. The researchers, led by Professor Valter Longo in collaboration with Professors Christian Pike and Pinchas Cohen, found that…

[uscemployeegateway]

Good morning! Here’s today’s Photo of the Day:

Cary Kreutzer (L), Assistant Professor of Clinical Gerontology, talks about cooking with students from her “Physiology, Nutrition and Aging” class. Photo/Orli Belman

[sciencespies]

Clean air matters for a healthy brain

https://sciencespies.com/environment/clean-air-matters-for-a-healthy-brain/

Clean air matters for a healthy brain

Two USC researchers whose work linked air pollution to a greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease and faster cognitive decline are seeing signs that cleaner air can make a difference in brain health.

Cars and factories produce a fine particulate known as PM2.5 that USC-led studies have linked to memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. Smaller than the width of a human hair, these tiny particles pose a big problem. Once inhaled, they pass directly from the nose up and into the brain, beyond the blood-brain barrier that normally protects the brain from dust or other invaders.

In a research letter published today in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, the USC researchers described how their labs each independently reported indications of recent decreases in neurotoxicity (damage to the brain or nervous system caused by exposure to toxic substances) of PM2.5 air pollution in humans and mice.

University Professor Caleb Finch and associate professor of gerontology and sociology Jennifer Ailshire, both with the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, focused on PM2.5 pollution. Long-term exposure to PM2.5 has been linked to premature death, particularly in people with chronic heart or lung diseases.

Ailshire’s research, published earlier this year in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, showed a strong association between cognitive deficits and air pollution among people with lower levels of education in 2004.

Based on data from the nationwide Health and Retirement Study, her work showed that, when exposed to PM2.5, adults 65 and older who had fewer than eight years of education faced a greater risk of cognitive impairment. But one decade later, Ailshire found no such association for study participants.

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A likely factor was the reduction in PM2.5 over the prior decade, said Ailshire. Air quality data showed the average annual PM2.5 levels in the study participants’ neighborhoods were 25% below 2004 levels.

Notably in 2014, very few of the study participants lived in places with annual average PM2.5 that exceeded U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards. This further suggested that the improvements with cognitive decline were linked to a drop in exposure to high pollution among older adults.

“Improving air quality around the country has been a tremendous public health and environment policy success story. But there are signs of a reversal in these trends,” Ailshire said. “Pollution levels are creeping up again and there are increasingly more large fires, which generate a significant amount of air pollution in certain parts of the country. This gives me cause for concern about future trends in improving air quality.”

Finch’s research on mice, published earlier this year in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, also found evidence of lower neurotoxicity of air pollution over time.

Finch and his research team have studied pollution levels at the same Los Angeles site and their effect on mouse brains since 2009. After 2017, the mice exposed to a tiny, nanoscale version of PM2.5 appeared healthier. Markedly, they showed sharp declines in several factors of neurotoxicity, including oxidative damage to cells and tissues.

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During the years that Finch’s and Ailshire’s studies were taking place, the composition of air pollution in the United States was also changing.

From 2000 to 2020, PM2.5 levels declined nationwide by 41%, according to the EPA. In contrast, urban PM2.5 in Los Angeles declined only slightly from 2009 to 2019. While nationwide ozone levels decreased, Los Angeles County ozone reversed the prior trends by increasing after 2015.

Finch and Ailshire emphasize that their findings cannot evaluate potential benefits of air pollution improvements to the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Although PM2.5 levels declined nationally from 2009 to 2016, the year-over-year increases that have been observed since 2017 show that improvements in air quality can be reversed, as they were in Los Angeles.

“Our findings underscore the importance of efforts to improve air quality as well as the continued importance of demographic and experimental evaluation of air pollution neurotoxicity,” Finch said.

Finch and Jiu-Chiuan “J.C.” Chen, an associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, previously published a study using both human and animal data that showed brain aging processes worsened by air pollution may increase dementia risk. Their research indicated that older women who lived in locations with high levels of PM2.5 suffered memory loss and Alzheimer’s-like brain shrinkage not seen in women living with cleaner air.

#Environment

[beautyintheblackness]

Let’s Talk About Jewel Plummer Cobb

Abstract

     Jewel Plummer Cobb is a well-renowned American biologist, cancer researcher and academic administrator. She is also in the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame for her groundbreaking research on skin cells that produce melanin and how they become cancerous.

    Jewel Plummer Cobb was born in Chicago, January 17, 1924, to two loving and driven parents, Frank and Carrabelle Plummer. Her father, Frank Plummer was a Physician Graduate from Cornell University and one of the founders of the Fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha. Her mother, Carrabelle Plummer was a schoolteacher. She was enticed by the medical field, because of the strong roots her grandfather, a freed slave who became a Pharmacist Graduate from Howard University and her mother who always enforced the importance of education. Although she came from an upper middle class background and a hard-working well to do family, she would still have to go to Chicago public schools for African Americans. Not letting this stop her determination, she used this to drive her to work harder. She would teach herself science with scientific journals and book in her father’s grand library as a supplement to her education. While in high school, she took extra biology courses to prepare her for further studies in the field of science.

     After high school, Jewel Plummer Cobb was ready for college and determined to take Biology by storm, however, she wasn’t ready for the discrimination she would receive at University of Michigan. In 1942, segregation was still prevalent and as an educated African-American woman in a Caucasian male dominated field, she was not accepted among her peers. All African-Americans (undergrad and grad) were put into one dorm and was not granted the same access to education as everyone else. Some classes and majors were not offered or allowed to be taken by an African-American. After much consideration and help from her Dean, Hilda Davis, she decided to transfer to a private historically black college, Talladega University in Alabama. However, Talladega did not accept her credits from University of Michigan, so she would have to start over as a Freshman. Not allowing it to sway her, Cobb was put into an accelerated program and worked through summer sessions until she was able to take the exit exams for most of the classes she had already taken at University of Michigan. She graduated with a B.A. in Biology in 1944. Cobb continued her studies and went on to earn a Master’s in 1947 and Ph. D in 1950 at New York University in Cellular Biology.

    Jewel Plummer Cobb had exceeded expectation and was well on her way to having a promising career. Although she had all the qualifications to become a doctor, she did not want to work directly with the ill. Cobb wanted to focus on the theoretical research on prevention of diseases in the human body.

   By 1952, she had established a dominant margin in research for cancer cells in University of Illinois. She put her focus towards the relationship between melanin and cancer cells. Aligning herself with cellular biology instead of molecular biology, because she wanted to study the synergy between living cells and not the molecules and atoms that create sells. Cobb also became a fellow member in National Cancer Institute (1950-1952). She detected that Methotrexate, which obstructs the growth of distinct cells in the body that progress too quickly ("Methotrexate." Drugs.com. Ed. Leigh Ann Anderson. Micromedex®, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.) is highly productive in specific cancers remedial process (specifically skin and lung cancers). Methotrexate has remained the most common chemotherapy treatment today.  

   While at University of Illinois, where she became the director of the Tissue Culture Laboratory (Education Committee, Tissue Culture Association 1972-1974). Pigmentation research (black or brown pigments) was the first analysis she began, to find out more about its protective properties and its capability of preventing ultraviolet rays from harming the human skin cells. She progressed this research through academia as a researcher and assistant professor at New York University in 1955.

    Through the 1960s (60-69) she was a Biology Professor at the Sarah Lawrence College. One of the main things she worked on at the time was Melanoma, a tumor of melanin-forming cells, typically a malignant tumor associated with skin cancer ("The Definition of Melanoma." Dictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.).

    After a marriage, a son, and a divorce in 1967. Jewel Plummer Cobb found herself at Connecticut College as the Dean of the school and Professor of Zoology. She assisted students in minority status, by creating private pre-dental graduate programs, which provided an ideal for other college programs that did not have many minority students in the medical field. Cobb continued to do her research, however, by 1976, she wanted to stick to the administrative side of teaching. In 1979, she composed a paper, “Filters for Women in Science, which was published in the book, Expanding the Role of Women in Sciences, and later redistributed in the Annals of New York Academy of Sciences,” (Notable Black American Women, Book I, Dona L. Irvin, Jennifer M. York, and Ralph G. A.

   By the 1980s, Jewel Plummer Cobb moved to Douglass College. She was once again a Dean and Biological Science Professor. She strived to launch programs for minorities in the science field. Cobb also went to great lengths to educated the community on how underrepresented minorities are in the science field. The paper established a correlation among educational bureaucracy and filters, suggesting educational bureaucracy makes it extremely hard for women to enter science sectors. Also like a filter, systematic education and social environments produce a mentality in which a women were mostly hindered from studying math and science. Even if they did pursue a career in a science field, university tenure and equal pay would not be distributed to women.

    In 1981, took a position in California State University (USC) as the President. She continued her crusade for equal opportunities among minorities and better quality education for all students. Cobb also received state funding to build a new engineering, computer science, and general science department for California State University. Built an apartment complex for students to dorm, converting California State University from a commuter’s college to a full on residential college.  She privately funded the gerontology center on California State University Campus as well as create the first President’s opportunity program for ethnic students, to bring in the underrepresented.  

   In 1991, Cobb became the principal investigator for Southern California Science and Engineering ACCESS Center and Network. This organization searched for students that were specifically minorities that had interest in majoring in the sciences and fund their education.

   Jewel Plummer Cobb persisted at California State University to advertise minority students to join both the science and math programs.  She stablished a program where members of the faculty can tutor students on an individual basis for better chances for them to succeed. Cobb has gone through many lengths to speak out in the media about the imbalance number of minorities in science labs. She is hopeful that the numbers will eventually level out and minorities will frequent in all types of professions, not only a selected few. For her efforts and accomplishments, Cobb has been awarded and nominated, including twenty-one honorary doctorates from numerous universities and research grants.

 Bibliography

Bradley-Holliday, Valerie. "Cobb, Jewel Plummer: The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed." Cobb, Jewel Plummer (1924- ) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

"Jewel Plummer Cobb, Biologist." Jewel Plummer Cobb, Biologist | African American Registry. Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

"Cobb, Jewell Plummer." Contemporary Black Biography. Encyclopedia.com, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

"Jewel Plummer Cobb." Jewel Plummer Cobb | Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame. Conneticut Women Hall of Fame, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

Jewel Plummer Cobb, "Filters for Women in Science," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 323, 1979; "Jewel Plummer Cobb," in Who’s Who Among African Americans (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2003); Biography of Jewel Plummer Cobb.

"Methotrexate." Drugs.com. Ed. Leigh Ann Anderson. Micromedex®, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

"The Definition of Melanoma." Dictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

"Webfiles." Jewel Plummer Cobb. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

“ Photos of Jewle Plummer Cobb. Jessie’s Blog” http://jesselatour.blogspot.com/2014/07/jewel-plummer-cobb-life.html

[dailyhogwartsgazette]

Research finds stress accelerates immune aging

Washington: Published in the research of the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ (PNAS) on June 13, a study explains age-related health inequalities, including the unequal toll of the pandemic on people, and identifies potential intervention points.

“As the world’s population of older adults increases, understanding disparities in age-related health is essential. Age-related changes in the immune system play a critical role in declining health,” said lead study author Eric Klopack, a postdoctoral scholar in the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. “This study helps clarify mechanisms involved in accelerated immune aging.” As people age, the immune system naturally begins a dramatic downgrade, a condition called immunosenescence. With advanced age, a person’s immune profile weakens, and includes too many worn-out white blood cells circulating and too few fresh, “naive” white blood cells ready to take on new invaders.

To know more: https://telanganatoday.com/research-finds-stress-accelerates-immune-aging

[marketusme]

New article outlines the characteristics of a 'longevity diet'

Examining a range of research from studies in laboratory animals to epidemiological research in human populations gives scientists a clearer picture of what kind of nutrition can offer the best chance for a longer, healthier life, said USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology Professor Valter Longo. Source Link New article outlines the characteristics of a 'longevity diet'

[jobrxiv]

Research Lab Technician II (Mouse) - Benayoun lab/USC University of Southern California Join us to study #sexDifferences in #aging using #mouse models at the University of Southern California in sunny CA! See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/university-of-southern-california-27778-research-lab-technician-ii-mouse-benayoun-lab-usc-2/?feed_id=45440 #ScienceJobs #hiring #research #gerotwitter Los Angeles #UnitedStatesUS #ResearchTechnician

[ahmed25646]

to live longer, fast and limit carbohydrates

to live longer, fast and limit carbohydrates

If you want to live healthy as long as possible, this new study is for you. Published in the scientific journal Cell on April 28, 2022, new research conducted by Professor Valter Longo from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology (USA) seems to have identified the diet conducive to longevity. This is not the first time that a study has proven the essential role of food in life expectancy.…

[uscemployeegateway]

Good morning! Here’s today’s Photo of the Day:

Congrats to June’s Staff Assembly award winner Maria Henke, Senior Associate Dean for Davis School of Gerontology. Henke, seen here with Staff Assembly President Jeff de Caen and Staff Club President Wade Thompson-Harper, was honored for her strong leadership and vision.

[mhealthyliving]

New findings help explain how COVID-19 overpowers the immune system

New findings help explain how COVID-19 overpowers the immune system

Seeking to understand why COVID-19 is able to suppress the body’s immune response, new research from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology suggests that mitochondria are one of the first lines of defense against COVID-19 and identifies key differences in how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, interacts with mitochondrial genes when compared to other viruses. These differences…

[jobrxiv]

Research Lab Technician II (Mouse) - Benayoun lab/USC University of Southern California Join us to study #sexDifferences in #aging using #mouse models at the University of Southern California in sunny CA! See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/university-of-southern-california-27778-research-lab-technician-ii-mouse-benayoun-lab-usc-2/?feed_id=45116 #ScienceJobs #hiring #research #gerotwitter Los Angeles #UnitedStatesUS #ResearchTechnician

[fumpkins]

Mitochondrial DNA and Nuclear DNA: Not so Independent After All

. . . .

USC scientists have actually found that transfer of crucial hereditary details within a cell isn’t really the one-way telegraph as soon as believed, opening brand-new paths for comprehending human illness and establishing prospective treatments, a brand-new research study programs.

Research carried out by researchers at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology is the very first to reveal that the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes co-evolved to separately cross-regulate each other. Understanding how intracellular DNA interaction is hardwired into the cell will lead more scientists to value the coordination of genes encoded in both genomes and their function in aging and illness, stated ChanghanDavid Lee, assistant teacher of gerontology at the USC Leonard Davis School and senior author of the research study.

The findings are considerable due to the fact that aging causes cells to break down, causing illness such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. Understanding the cell’s inner functions opens chances for medical advances that can conserve lives. The research study appears in the journal Cell Metabolism.

“Mitochondria have their own DNA that presumably comes from ancient bacteria that joined our cells a long time ago. We didn’t know that our mitochondrial DNA encoded messages to control the nucleus. In fact, the nucleus has been long thought to hold all our genetic blueprint for building and operating a cell,”Lee stated. “This is a fundamental discovery that integrates our two genomes as a co-evolved genetic system and may have a lasting impact for a broad range of scientific and medical fields.”

Mitochondria- based treatments

Knowing thoroughly how cells run might result in higher understanding of age-related illness and, possibly one day, brand-new mitochondria-based treatments. Prescription drugs today are developed based upon the plan encoded in the nuclear genome, researchers state.

“We haven’t been looking at the full complexity of the cellular network,”Lee stated. “If we’re fighting cancer, for example, with only half of our genome, then it’s half of a solution. Now we can fight these diseases with all our genetic components.”

The field of intracellular interaction is fairly current– emerging and speeding up in the previous years. As medical devices ends up being more incisive, researchers can much better identify little things, so even small genes inside a cell get more research study.

MitochondrialDNA and nuclear DNA both matter

USC scientists concentrated on the 2 parts of the cell that bring DNA: the nucleus and the mitochondria. Most hereditary product lives in the nucleus, which is the biggest part of thecell Its DNA sends out coded design templates informing the cell exactly what to do. Smaller mitochondria function as energy-producing factories, turning food into fuel to power thecell But size can be deceptive. The mitochondria likewise consist of DNA, all of it acquired from the mom, and as the brand-new research study reveals, they are not simply taking orders from the nucleus.

Working with human cells, the researchers found that when a cell is under tension and starved for nutrients, MOTS-c, a little protein encoded in the mitochondria DNA, moves into the nucleus to manage genes and turn on a protective system, consisting of an antioxidant reaction.

Most illness are because of aging, and aging results in a breakdown in cell functions.

ChanghanDavid Lee

“Most diseases are due to aging, and aging leads to a breakdown in cell functions,”Lee stated. “When things go wrong in the body, it’s because some mechanism in the body went wrong. So, understanding how cells age means we have more insight into how the damage occurs and how we can prevent or fix it,” he stated.

The USC Leonard Davis School is a locus for cooperation in standard and used research study in aging throughout the university. Researchers team up to fix aging difficulties from varied disciplines, consisting of neurobiology, molecular biology, biodemography, cognitive psychology, sociology, city preparation and health services. It likewise concentrates on aging-related problems such as household research studies, real estate, long-lasting services and assistance, fall avoidance, older abuse avoidance, caregiving and technology.

The research study authors consist of lead scientists Lee, Kyung Hwa Kim, Jyung Mean Son and Berenice A. Benayoun of the USC Leonard Davis School, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and USC Stem CellInitiative Lee is a specialist for, and an investor of, CohBar Inc., which is based in Menlo Park,Calif CohBar carries out research study and advancement of mitochondria-based therapies.

The work was moneyed by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 AG052558), the Ellison Medical Foundation, the American Federation for Aging Research and the Hanson-Thorell household to Lee and National Institutes of Health grant R00 AG049934 to Benayoun.

Source: University of Southern California

New post published on: https://livescience.tech/2018/07/09/mitochondrial-dna-and-nuclear-dna-not-so-independent-after-all/