Younger Every Year

Christopher’s quizzical about sirtuins: Avon is releasing a new product called Anew Ultimate with sirtuin technology. What are sirtuins and do they do anything special in a skin care product?

The Right Brain’s sirtuin story:
Chris, you may not know it, but you’re on the cutting edge of skin care technology. Sit back and we’ll tell you the whole sirtuin story:
What are Sirtuins?
It all started with a 2001 study that showed that a lower calorie diet can prolong your life span. One of the factors linked to this discovery is a family of proteins known as Sirtuins. This prompted a flurry of additional research, and today sirituins are heralded as the next breakthrough in antiaging.
What do Sirtuins do?
A review of the medical literature shows a plethora of research papers on sirtuins and their potential as agents in the fight against aging. That’s because they have been shown to reduce cell death by protecting cells against reactive oxygen species and DNA damage. This is the kind of breakthrough that could lead to the first truly effective antiaging drugs. (Here’s an example of one research paper that talks about stimulating sirtuin production to ward off a variety of aging and neurodegenerative diseases.)
Are Sirtuins good for skin?
Not surprisingly, the cosmetic industry is interested in sirtuins for skin care applications. Sirtuins for skin make a lot of sense since skin suffers from the same kind of oxidative damage described above. And the research to date looks promising - some researchers have established a link between sirtuin production and life cycle of skin cells. (Reference: “Sirtuins: A Breakthrough in Antiaging Research by Isabelle Imbert, et. al, in the January 2008 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries.) According to the researchers, sirtuins have several specific benefits for skin cells.
Benefits of Sirtuins
Skin cells were treated in vitro with agents that increase the production of sirtuins and the following benefits where seen:

Protection from stress
Increased cell longevity
Restoration of aged cells ability to adapt and thrive
Preservation of skin structure and integrity

The researchers conclude that “interest in including Sirtuin Activating Compounds in different skin moisturizers or specific antiaging products, as well as cosmetics, is occurring with the knowledge that sirtuins play a key role in protecting skin from stress and photoaging.”
What does that mean exactly? Basically they’re saying that if some cosmetic company can figure out how to stimulate sirtuin production with a cream or lotion, it could be a real antiaging breakthrough. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t make reference to any such products existing today (as of January 2008).
Avon Anew Ultimate
So how does Avon figure into the sirtuin story? According to the company’s website, their line of Anew Ultimate skin care products are “powered by pro-sirtuin TX.” There’s no more explanation of what this technology is, but it certainly sounds like they’ve unlocked the secrets of making sirtuins work in skin. Why then don’t they come out and say that? Our guess is that they’re using some material that has been shown to some ability to promote sirtuins in lab testing, but not on actual skin. That would allow them to make claims related to “pro-sirituin technology” without them actually having made a significant, consumer perceptible breakthrough.
Of course, Avon may have patents pending, or some other technical publication, that proves this technology really does provide such a breakthrough but we were unable to locate it.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Avon may be selling a very well formulated line of products but without some kind of evidence of a technological breakthrough, we’re assuming that this is another skin care product capitalizing on the “ingredient of the month.”
If anyone from Avon reads this and can provide more details on your technology, we’ll gladly print your comments. Meanwhile, you can learn more about Anew Ultimate here.
When you see new sciencey ingredients do you believe it’s better for your skin or are you skeptical? Leave a comment and share your favorite high tech ingredients with the rest of the Beauty Brains community. (Source: thebeautybrains.com)

Original post by thebeautybrains.com

20 Books that Will Change Your Life and How You Think About Retirement […]

Original post by Contract Attorney Professional Development, Lifestyle, and Community - JDWired Blog » Friday Link Candy, 02.29.08 by Joseph Miller

Plan early for your retirement GulfNews, United Arab Emirates - Feb 29, 2008 Thinking about retirement is one positive way of setting these goals, because it prompts a lot of useful questions. What kind of lifestyle do you want in 10 …

Original post by stephend

Sorry, Eric (Schmidt, CEO of Google).
Google doesn’t belong in the health records business.
For those of you who don’t follow Google’s business on a daily basis, here is a brief rundown of what has happened.
Last year, Microsoft announced a new service called Health Vault to help individuals manage health records online. This is not a revolutionary idea. There are already several smaller companies on the Internet offering individuals the convenience of storing health records online so that they are more available when they are needed. Several of the large players in the business of providing technology to doctors offices and medical clinics also have digital records initiatives.
But, no one company has been able to gain serious momentum in digital health records. It is a gargantuan task to coordinate doctors, labs, hospitals, pharmacies, insurance companies and individuals AND meet all of the requirements of HIPAA for privacy. Microsoft has already collected an impressive number of partners to work with Health Vault.
Google Announcement Starts Tsunami
In Orlando, Florida last week, Google announced Google Health, a platform for individuals to manage medical records such as medical test results and prescriptions. The announcement set off a wave of protests from consumer privacy advocates. Eric Schmidt is trying to soothe the uproar by saying that Google won’t sell ads on Google Health.
Oh really?
Here’s how one analyst sees the situation:
“Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, firmly believes ads will happen. ‘Advertisers would pay absurd amounts of money to be seen when someone wants to, say, refill a subscription online,’ he says.’ This is more lucrative than commerce-related search.” For the complete story, click here to see Jefferson Graham’s article in USA Today.
Digital Records Could Save Lives
I’m not a Luddite. I work for a company that develops mobile technology.
And, I have had to fight ferociously with doctor’s office administrators to obtain my Dad’s medical records as well as my own and my children’s records. In one case, I had to pay $100 for a file of poor photocopies that I could barely read. Forget about scanning to digitize them.
My father was caught in the bind between doctor and hospital. His regular family doctor had all of his records but she wasn’t admitted to practice at the hospital closest to my father’s home. The hospital would “assign” him a doctor while he was there. But the records never made it back to the family doctor.
The cardiologist at the hospital might not have put my father on Plavix if the doctor knew my father had a history of gastrointestinal bleeding. At one point, the docs who did not talk to each other had my father on DOUBLE doses of 4 different medications. It only got corrected because he could feel that the medications were not working right. He went to the family doctor who reduced all the doses and got rid of the duplicate medications.
That was a close call! And, it is a safe bet that this happens to thousands of Americans everyday.
If you have experienced anything like this, you may think I am crazy to oppose help from the two tech companies that have the best chance of making digital records happen. Pam Dixon, executive director of the non-profit World Privacy Forum, said it best,”A publicly traded company is supposed to have shareholders (my emphasis) in mind first.” (As quoted in an Associated Press article by Travis Reed.)
The Push for Quarterly Profits
Wall Street, institutional and individual shareholders are illogically relentless in their push for quarterly profits from publicly traded companies. Every employee knows what ROSHE (Return on Shareholder Equity) its company is trying to achieve. The focus may be making customers happy so they buy more product or service but the goal is always ROSHE.
The bulk of Google’s revenue comes from selling ads. Microsoft sells software and services. These companies are locked in a battle to gain your attention for its products and partners’ products. Each is working to dominate the marketplace.
So, it is easy to envision a scenario in which our personal privacy gets compromised.
But, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Microsoft has the platforms to connect little devices like a glucose monitor to your home computer but its web sites infrastructure is not as strong as Google’s. (Full disclosure– my company is a Microsoft Partner. I have many good things to say about Microsoft but not when it comes to its web sites.)
Google has the digital infrastructure to power web-based communications around our planet. If you use Google to search the Internet, you are tapping into an amazing, gigantic, distributed network that gives you search results after it has filtered out over 3 million malicious or problematic web sites in a small fraction of a second. But, even Google admits that its first version of a G-Phone is buggy beyond belief.
I admire both companies for what they have achieved and the vision they espouse. But both companies have the compelling need to make ROSHE. Right now Google has advertisers that are willing to pay $25, $50 or more when a person visits the advertiser’s web site. The possibilities for enormous revenue for delivering pharmaceutical ads, for example, to consumers are easy to imagine. Google has all of the technology from Double Click to track every purchase you make. It’s only a short step to your entire medical file.
Microsoft has slightly different, yet just has huge revenue possibilities. It’s making the Wall Street analysts giddy with thoughts of double digit quarterly profits.
The Third Alternative — A Consortium
It’s hard to get things done by committee. Compromises can result in gazelles that look more like camels. But sometimes a non-profit organization or a governmental entity is the only way to protect citizens from the fallout of the giant corporate gladiators.
From my vantage point, the only way to assure that digital health care information does not become another series of battles like Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD (or Betamax vs. VHS for those who have long memories) is to have a non-profit consortium responsible to citizens to safeguard privacy and set standards for interoperability.
Think of the headaches if you want to change doctors but the new doctor doesn’t use the same medical records system. If you choose to go with the new doctor, you have to figure out a way to get all of the pertinent data into the new system. That’s more time out of your week, more money out of your pocket, and another point where your information could be corrupted or misused.
Now is the time for Microsoft and Google to call a truce and become part of a non-profit consortium for health care records. It won’t be perfect, but when consumers trust that their information is safe, they will sign up to buy in droves. And that would make Wall Street happy, too. (Source: 3GenFamily Blog)

Original post by 3GenFamily Blog

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Original post by unknown

Jessica’s asking about aging: It seems to me that the best way to keep my skin looking great and wrinkle-free would be to prevent as much aging as possible, as opposed to trying to reverse the process when I’m older. Other than sunscreen, what kinds of products should I be using at this point (I’m 25) to keep my skin looking young?
The Left Brain’s rejuvenating reply:
This is a great beauty question and one that we see asked more and more. The proliferation of anti-aging products has gotten so extensive, you’d think cosmetic marketers want us all to revert to 3-year olds. And with some of the claims made, they certainly treat us like that is the age of our intelligence.
The Anti-Aging Secrets for your Skin
You want to know what’s been proven to work? Here it is…
Sun Protection
First, protect your skin from the sun. This is the number one environmental cause of skin aging. Do this by minimizing your sun exposure and using sunscreen.
Eat Well
Next, eat a balanced diet. While everyone is different, this meta-review study on skin health and diet concluded that people who had higher intake of Vitamin C and linoleic acid and lower intakes of fats and carbohydrates had younger looking skin. You get linoleic acid by eating vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains and seeds.
Exercise
Finally, exercise. Nothing keeps you looking and feeling young like regular exercise. Thousands of studies have shown that physical exercise is a highly effective way to treat all all signs of aging.
Anti-aging Treatments
Most scientists are skeptical of anti-aging treatments. This is because there is little published evidence from controlled clinical trials to show most anti-aging products have any benefit. You could say this is because private companies don’t want to make their research public, but if they did have meaningful, positive results you can be sure the PR arm of the company would crow about this where ever they could.
We’ve seen previously that price is not indicative of the effectiveness of an anti-aging skin treatment. The conclusion was that none of the products were as effective as claimed.
Does any treatment work?
The only thing that scientists and reputable dermatologists agree on is that application of topical retinoids can repair sun damaged skin and prevent future collagen damage. Oh yeah, and they all say using sunscreen is a good thing.
Beyond that, forget about it. Yes, that includes the $95 Perricone Restorative Cream. Vitamin C works when you eat it, not when you slather it on your skin.
Lasers for your skin?
Recently, lasers and LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) have been shown to effectively rejuvenate photoaged skin. Cosmetic surgeons have been making lots of money from these treatments and the big cosmetic manufacturers like P&G and L’Oreal are trying to bring you this same treatment at home. But the technology isn’t quite ready. Products you can buy right now like the Beurer Softlaser will likely disappoint.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Scientists in the anti-aging field (who are not trying to sell you products) agree, anti-aging products are over-priced and under-deliver. For a 20-something, the best thing you can do is eat right, exercise and avoid long sun exposure. If you’re a bit older, start using skin products that contain vitamin A derivatives. They’re the only thing that has yet been proven to be effective. (Source: thebeautybrains.com)

Original post by thebeautybrains.com

Saving more for retirement Dental Office Magazines, OK - Feb 28, 2008 However, the answer to your second question is that you’re probably not saving enough to sustain even your current modest lifestyle in retirement. …

Original post by stephend

Amtrak, National Event, 2008

Original post by Lee, M.-A., Carr, D.

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Original post by Lee, M.-A., Carr, D.

Saving more for retirement Dental Economics, OK - Feb 28, 2008 However, the answer to your second question is that you’re probably not saving enough to sustain even your current modest lifestyle in retirement. …

Original post by stephend