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January 20, 2012: by admin
As one can learn from the following 2006 report in NATURE METHODS, western blot tests are a perfect tool to out any vulnerable scientist.
According to the following report, 25% of accepted manuscripts contained at least one “inappropriately manipulated figure,” but obviously the authors of these papers did not all face expulsion from their institutions as did Dr. Das. This report in Nature Methods does not say that editors also reject papers where western blot images that are not of sufficient quality to be reproduced, forcing authors to enhanced the images. But it should. Furthermore, apparently most of these cases involve researchers who did not have intent to deceive.
The question arises, why didn’t the editors of the 11 journals involving 26 papers submitted by Dr. Das ever catch these “altered images” in their peer review and scientific integrity efforts? It seems to me researchers should submit raw images and let the journals take all the ethical criticism rather than risk their careers over this. Would firing 25% of the researchers fix the problem? Obviously no. But it’s OK to pillory Dr. Das.
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January 16, 2012: by Bill Sardi
In recent days a clear message has been sent to laboratory investigators – cooperate with a resveratrol pill maker and your career will be over. And this is not the first time this has happened.
If you were listening to Rush Limbaugh on the radio in the past week you heard him impugn the work of East-Indian born researcher, Dipak Das PhD., a University of Connecticut researcher widely known for his work in studying resveratrol (rez-vair-ah-troll), a red wine molecule, for heart health.
According to Limbaugh and over 300 news agencies, Dr. Das is unequivocally guilty of doctoring tests that measure the amount of proteins in tissues, a test called a western blot. The University of Connecticut, Dr. Das’ employer, released a damning report that appears to present undeniable evidence that Dr. Das had doctored images on his office computer and published those images in a scientific journal in 2008.
But hold on. The alleged faulty tests in no way altered the outcome of his research studies. The western blot test was only one of many tests used to draw scientific conclusions in published studies. Furthermore, other independent labs, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) itself, validated Dr. Das’ work, as did researchers in Europe and Japan.
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January 12, 2012: by ResveratrolNews
January 12, 2012: An East Indian researcher accused of scientific misconduct by a University of Connecticut Health Center review board claims all of the allegations against him can be “easily refuted” and that the charges against him involve prejudice within the university against Indian researchers. Six other East Indian researchers were also named as “potential respondents” to charges of scientific fraud, but no researchers of other ethnicities.
Scott Tips, a California-based attorney representing the accused, Dr. Dipak Das, calls into question the following irregularities in the University’s 600-page report which claims Dr. Das doctored images of tests conducted at his laboratory or instructed others to doctor them. Some of these irregularities include:
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December 18, 2011: by Bill Sardi
Available in a PDF version as well – download here
“May the force be with you.” – Star Wars
Strange as it may seem, largely because of difficulties in figuring out how to commercialize on what it promises, both alternative and conventional medicine fail to put into practice a compelling discovery that promotes health and longevity in an unmatched fashion.
It’s not a high-tech invention. It is not a patentable process. It is not a machine or a drug. Nor is it new. It has been recognized in the medical literature for decades now.
It is an adaptive internal response to mild biological threats that trigger incomparable defenses in the human body.
Despite considerable personal investigation into this topic, even the most avid health nut or PhD pursuer of longevity is likely to have missed the greatest mechanism to promote the human healthspan and lifespan ever discovered because it is not found in our external world but is rather a built-in adaptive response within the human body that has many triggers.
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December 1, 2011: by Bill Sardi
In a six-month study conducted among metabolic syndrome patients (diabetes, high cholesterol, elevated blood sugar, obesity) in Japan who were taking multiple prescription drugs (statin cholesterol-lowering drugs and blood pressure-controlling drugs — diuretics, ACE inhibitors), a proprietary nutriceutical (Longevinex®) produced a major health benefit over and above that provided by prescription drugs — improved ability of arteries to widen (dilate) with increased heart rate and blood flow.
Drs. Haime Otani at Kansai Medical University in Moriguchi, Japan and lead researcher Dipak K Das at the University of Connecticut Medical School, say “currently available pharmacological drugs are frequently not sufficiently effective.” They go on to say: “A salient finding of the present study is that the improvement of endothelial function was observed in patients taking Longevinex® whose disease conditions were already being managed by standard therapy for lifestyle-related disease.” The endothelium is in inner lining of arterial walls that controls arterial diameter and blood flow.
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November 11, 2011: by Bill Sardi
Researchers are slow to concede that non-Darwinian models of aging may best explain human longevity.
In the Darwinian model an individual might have a genetic mutation inherited from their mother or father or both which is passed on to them. A gene mutation is defined as a substitution, deletion or insertion of an incorrect nucleotide on the DNA ladder. Adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine represent the four nucleotide proteins that comprise the rungs on the DNA ladder. For example, a genetically similar group of short-statured people in Ecuador exhibit a gene mutation in a growth factor gene that confers unusual longevity upon them.
Contrary to static genes, epigenetics is the dynamic protein-making property of genes where genes produce (express) or negatively produce (silence) proteins. Alterations in genes that do not change the sequence of DNA nucleotides describe epigenetics.
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November 6, 2011: by Bill Sardi
For 8 years now, since a Harvard Professor announced a red wine molecule (resveratrol) prolong the life of yeast cells and later fruit flies, roundworms and finally over-fed laboratory mice, a relatively small number of people have been taking resveratrol pills. But subsequent studies showed laboratory mice fed a standard calorie diet did not live longer when their diet was supplemented with high-dose resveratrol (equivalent to 365 and 1565 mg human equivalent) and a pharmaceutical company ceased further research and development on its resveratrol-based drug. Then the gene target of resveratrol (sirtuin1) was brought into question and some news reports temporarily concluded resveratrol is no fountain of youth.
But suddenly a striking study in humans has brought resveratrol, well, back to life. Researchers in the Netherlands not only report for the first time that low-dose resveratrol mimics a calorie restricted diet in humans, but it significantly lowered blood pressure, favorably altered resting metabolic rate and activated over 450 genes, something no pharmaceutical drug has demonstrated to date. Furthermore, it was shown that the dose employed in the study, 150 milligrams, achieved the same blood concentration as much higher doses in laboratory animals. A growing body of research now points to low-dose resveratrol as being beneficial and mega-doses as being counterproductive.
One of the key aspects of resveratrol is that it is known as a hormetic agent. Hormesis is where a low-dose toxin triggers defenses in the body that produce profound health effects. This is the magic of resveratrol. At high doses resveratrol is no longer a hormetic agent.
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: by Bill Sardi
The science of human aging is accelerating at a rapid pace. The monthly calendar causes a number of scientific breakthroughs to be announced all at once as scientific journals are published around the 1st day of the month. Three stunning developments were announced this first week of November 2011. Summarily they were:
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November 1, 2011: by Bill Sardi
Las Vegas, NV (Nov 1, 2011) – For the first time the red wine molecule resveratrol has busted out of the confines of the animal laboratory and into the human arena where researchers report striking results.
The bottom line: for those individuals who exercise regularly and count calories, add a red wine pill to your daily regimen. For those sedentary Americans who overeat, a resveratrol (rez-vair-ah-troll) pill may actually supplant gym workouts and deprivation diets. That’s the latest news issued by European researchers in an online report published in the journal Cell Metabolism, as reported by ABC News.
The large cloud of scientific doubt over whether resveratrol actually targets a survival gene and serves as molecular mimic of a limited-calorie diet was lifted today as researchers report a modest dose of this red wine molecule mimics a calorie-restricted diet and/or endurance training in humans. Prior studies in laboratory mice were either inconclusive or disappointing.
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October 8, 2011: by Bill Sardi
The anti-diabetic drug Avandia (chemical name – rosiglitazone) is widely associated with increased risk for heart attacks and has been broadly criticized as potentially unsafe. However, the underlying mechanism behind potentially life-threatening events has remained obscure. Furthermore, some studies show this drug induces heart attacks while others do not.
Researchers in The Netherlands took smooth muscle cells (human source) from the lining of blood vessels, grew them in a lab dish, and found that the drug anti-diabetic drug rosiglitazone (Avandia-brand name) accelerates calcification in these cells, a mechanism that could help explain why Avandia is associated with adverse outcomes. 21816156
That Avandia use also leads to accelerated calcium loss from bone suggests another link to side effects caused by Avandia. It appears Avandia doesn’t initiate arterial calcifications but accelerates calcifications via decreased production of a key enzyme (alkaline phosphatase).
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