-Galla S Kiran Kumar,Bureau Chief Telagana (Andhra Pradesh)
Elders bless to live a full hundred years. A hundred years is considered a perfect life. But this blessing is available to very few people
Scientists identify ‘rewind’ gene
Elders bless to live a full hundred years. A hundred years is considered a perfect life. But this blessing is available to very few people. Only 0.004 percent of the world’s population live to be a hundred years or more. Not a few of them are perfectly healthy. This has become interesting for scientists. Especially research is being done on how their heart is strong. Scientists from Bristol University in Britain and Multimedica Group in Italy have made a key discovery. A gene identified in centenarians has been shown to delay the age of the heart by 10 years. This is a ray of hope for patients with heart failure.
As you get older, the function of the heart and blood vessels gradually slows down. There is currently no specific treatment for this. Prescribing commonly used cardiovascular drugs to such patients is clinically challenging. There are inter-individual discrepancies regarding the rate of malignant changes in the heart with age. Smoking, drinking alcohol and sedentary lifestyle can cause the heart clock to move faster. Eating a good diet and exercising can slow it down. Scientists claim that good genes inherited from parents promote healthy life and prolong young life. Scientists have already found that some people with superior genetic mutations can live healthy lives of hundreds of years or even longer.
What is a gene?
Some random changes occur in the base pairs of genes. Most of these mutations are insignificant. In some cases these changes may affect the function of the respective gene. Sometimes it becomes beneficial for us, sometimes harmful.
In this background, scientists are conducting extensive research on how centenarians are able to avoid heart problems almost till the end of life.
Turn back the clock?
* LAV-BPIFB4 gene.. can slow down the heart’s growth process, British and Italian scientists examined in the latest study. For this, heart cells were collected from healthy and elderly people with ischemic heart failure (IHF) and tested in the laboratory.
* It is found that the cells of elderly patients are not functioning properly. It was found that the ‘pericytes’, which support the formation of new blood vessels, are particularly poor. When the LAV-BPIFB4 gene was added to these, cells from elderly patients were revived. Their performance has improved. They are more efficient in forming new blood vessels.
* This experiment was also carried out in mice. Addition of this gene has been shown to reduce heart atrophy in middle-aged mice. Heart function, blood circulation and pumping were found to be improved in aged mice.
* Scientists who analyzed the experiments conducted in labs on the LAV-BPIFB4 gene concluded that it can be used as a preventive and therapeutic tool in the case of heart failure control. When the results of these experiments were applied to humans, it was found to have the ability to set back the heart’s biological clock by more than ten years. It has been concluded that it works effectively on the problems of atherosclerosis and diabetes. It is said that it contributes to longevity.
People above 110 years are called ‘Supercenturians’. Only one out of every 1,000 elderly people live beyond their prime. In history.. only 63 people crossed the 115 years mark.
They looked at a gene called BPIFB4. In this regard, those with higher LAV type have been shown to have lower atherosclerotic risk.
Cancer patients pass on their healthy genes to their offspring. Therefore, only their descendants get that benefit. Recent research suggests that injecting these into others can protect their heart health. The scientists explained that this research could lead to new treatments. It is expected to be fully tested on humans soon.
