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Cosmology and Quantum Biology
Published in Jim Lynch, What Is Life and How Might It Be Sustained?, 2023
In June 2021, the London Institute of Mathematical Sciences compiled a list of the 23 most important mathematical questions of our time. At the top of the list was Theory of Everything. Will this be resolved by string theory, loop quantum gravity, or something new? Also included in the list was Thermodynamics of Life. According to Darwin’s theory, evolution is the result of mutation, selection, and inheritance, but from a physical perspective, we do not understand how life got started in the first place. What is the thermodynamic basis for emergent self-selection and adaptation of which biology is just one instance? Can it be used to create digital artificial life? Theory of Immortality. Ageing is ascribed to the accumulation of errors – an inevitable consequence of the increase of disorder. But mounting experimental evidence suggests that ageing is not a fact of life. Is it a thermodynamics necessity, or is it instead favoured by natural selection? Can we mathematically describe the pros and cons of ageing? Is it possible to slow or even stop it?
Summary, Ruminations, and Apologia
Published in Mickey C. Smith, E.M. (Mick) Kolassa, Walter Steven Pray, Government, Big Pharma, and the People, 2020
Mickey C. Smith, E.M. (Mick) Kolassa, Walter Steven Pray
The origins (Whence) of existing Drugs and the exciting future potential using genetics, genome technology, and a variety of new forms of Drug delivery in the body all make for fascinating and hopeful stories. Certainly immortality is too large a story to contemplate, but limiting the process of aging resonates with millions of the elderly or about-to-be elderly.
The consequences of longevity
Published in Barry G. Wren, Progress in the Management of the Menopause, 2020
We all understand that longevity does not mean immortality, but that is one part of the problem. ‘Die, we do the rest’, proclaimed an American undertaker’s motto. Changing it to ‘live, we do the rest’ could he a good way to express what everybody expects in order to enjoy longevity. After all, why not simply say that doctors and scientists are proud to play a role, and a major one, in this new state of affairs; but are they always happy, and are their fellow human beings always happy with their newly found bonus?
Role of immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic uveal melanoma: a single-center retrospective cohort study
Published in Acta Oncologica, 2023
Lize Vanaken, F.J. Sherida H. Woei-A-Jin, Rita Van Ginderdeuren, Christophe M. Deroose, Annouschka Laenen, Guy Missotten, Dietmar R. Thal, Oliver Bechter, Patrick Schöffski, Paul Clement
Data analyses were performed using SAS software (version 9.4 of the SAS System for Windows). Cox regression was used to assess the association between treatment type and OS. Results are reported as hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). As survival results from retrospective studies may be affected by immortality bias, the effect of treatment type on OS was assessed as a time-varying covariate. For this analysis, data were organized using a counting process data format with multiple rows per patient representing separate treatment periods. Results were corrected for extent of disease (liver-only, extrahepatic only or both) and interval to metastasis. Overestimation of other non-ICI treatments due to ongoing (possibly additive) effect of ICI after discontinuation was corrected with a sensitivity analysis, which censored patients at start of the next treatment. Possible continuous effects of ICI were investigated with ICI as a binary time-varying covariate that takes the value 0 during the period before a patient receives ICI and takes the value 1 from the moment ICI is started. It stays 1 even after termination of ICI and start of any other treatment.
Extracellular vesicles circulating in young organisms promote healthy longevity
Published in Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, 2019
Francesco Prattichizzo, Angelica Giuliani, Jacopo Sabbatinelli, Emanuela Mensà, Valeria De Nigris, Lucia La Sala, Paola de Candia, Fabiola Olivieri, Antonio Ceriello
The desire of eternal youth and immortality pervaded human culture from its inception. Historical, mythological, and religious tales are full of reports on increased fitness or even rejuvenation following specific practices. In particular, blood transfusion, drinking, or replacement have long been suggested as health-promoting behaviours [1]. In the late 50s, parabiosis experiments provided some scientific consistency to these beliefs. Indeed, a shared circulatory system was sufficient to increase bone weight and density of old mice when joined to younger ones [2]. The same experimental design was applied to demonstrate a lifespan-enhancing effect of young blood [3]. Many years later, elegant reports mainly from Rando’s and Wagers’ groups demonstrated a rejuvenation-promoting effect of young blood in a wide variety of cells and tissues, e.g. stem cells, muscle, brain, and the heart [4,5]. However, the pursuit of the circulating factors responsible for such effects did not achieve the same success. In fact, the suggested pro-regeneration role of growth differentiation factor 11, a member of the TGFβ superfamily, has been questioned [6].
An Immortal Ghost in the Machine?
Published in AJOB Neuroscience, 2023
While the limited nature of this OPC precludes a sufficient exploration of this point, it seems possible that an obligation to provide the resources required to sustain a consciousness is fundamentally impacted, maybe even quashed, when said consciousness is immortal. The difference between mortality and immortality is reducible to the number of days one could expect to live. Yet, such an understanding fails to capture the material difference between dying from old age because one inhabits an imperfect biological body and otherwise being endless. Ultimately, as argued by Scheffler (2013), the difference between mortality and immortality is one of type and not degree.