Monthly Archives: July 2008

Herbert Marcuse on the ideology of death

Although critical philosophers like Herbert Marcuse (1898 – 1979) are not known for their contributions to economics or analytic philosophy, Marcuse’s essay “The Ideology of Death” (1952) should appeal to those who think that death is not a necessary part … Continue reading

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Serendipity and drug discovery

The blog Soft Machines writes about a new opinion piece in the Financial Times by David Shaywitz and Nassim Nicholas Taleb on biomedical science and drug discovery. The molecular revolution in biology was supposed to substitute rational design of drugs … Continue reading

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Dogs resuscitated after 3 hours of cardiac arrest from exsanguination

Despite sensational news items about “zombie dogs,” biomedical researchers and clinicians have known for a long time that interruptions in consciousness and blood circulation can be reversed without neurological deficits, provided such events do not produce ischemic injury. There are … Continue reading

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TNF-alpha modulation in Alzheimer’s patients

More than a decade of basic research and clinical evidence now implicates inflammatory processes in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). TNF-alpha is a pro-inflammatory cytokine, also known as the “master regulator” of the immune response, and is the key … Continue reading

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Gary Taubes and bias in nutrition science

In a recent blog post, Overcoming Bias reports that Gary Taubes, who has written much to further the idea that refined carbohydrates are a stronger contributing factor to overweight and “diseases of civilization” than dietary fat and cholesterol, has compiled … Continue reading

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Cryonics as an elective medical procedure

The two most popular technical arguments against human cryopreservation are that cryonics causes irreversible freezing damage and that the delay between pronouncement of legal death and the start of cryonics procedures causes irreversible injury to the brain. Such arguments can … Continue reading

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Alcor’s self perpetuating board: reviewing the arguments

In January 2008, Alcor’s self perpetuating Board came under renewed scrutiny after long-time Alcor member and cryonics activist David Pizer tried to raise interest for changing the current system to a member elected Board. Alcor’s most publicly visible response to … Continue reading

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Alcor announces new job openings and funding for improved patient care

The following announcement from the Alcor Life Extension Foundation is indicative of its renewed focus on professionalizing the organization and improving the quality of readiness and patient care: On June 7th and 8th, 2008, the Alcor board and management held … Continue reading

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Blood flow during CPR and reperfusion injury

An important objective during stabilization of cryonics patients is restoring circulation of blood to the brain. In ideal cases, this can be achieved by aggressive mechanical cardiopulmonary support, hemodilution ,and administration of vasoactive medications. In not-so-ideal cases, one or more … Continue reading

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Insurance against death through cryonics

Let’s face it: we’re all (still) getting older, and aging leads to death. This is a major reason for cryonics’ existence — to preserve ourselves, usually in an aged, diseased, and/or deteriorated state, until medical science is capable of curing … Continue reading

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Induction of hypothermia before CPR improves survival

It is difficult to match concerns about reperfusion injury during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with specific proposals for alternative interventions. After all, no matter how harmful the effects of oxygenation may be, not restoring circulation in a patient in cardiac arrest … Continue reading

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Incomplete ischemia during cardiopulmonary support

One concern about prolonged cardiopulmonary support in cryonics is that its decreasing effectiveness may not be able to meet cerebral oxygen demand, and may even become detrimental. Some investigators have  observed that severely reduced flow (cerebral blood flow less than 10% of … Continue reading

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Cryonics: why it has failed, and possible ways to fix it

From: ExtroBritannia Cryonics: Why it has failed, and possible ways to fix it – with Mike Darwin The next ExtroBritannia event is scheduled for Saturday August 2, 2008; 2:00pm – 4:00pm. Location to be announced asap. Lead Speaker: Mike Darwin, … Continue reading

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Curing aging does not make cryonics redundant

Most life extensionists and transhumanists do not buy into many of the myths about cryonics. But one perspective that is sometimes voiced by futurists is that cryonics is a rational backup plan until aging is cured. This position has some … Continue reading

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Enbrel reverses Alzheimer’s cognitive deficits

The latest issue of Life Extension Magazine (August 2008) contains an encouraging report about off-label use of etanercept (commercial name: Enbrel) to reverse the cognitive deficits associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Etanercept is a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocker that is … Continue reading

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Selection bias and dietary supplements

One problem in assessing the merits of taking a specific dietary supplement (ranging from vitamins to  exotic multi-ingredient compounds) is widespread selection bias in the documentation that is supposed to support the use of the supplement in question.  The sheer … Continue reading

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Critical cooling rate to prevent ischemic brain injury

Induction of hypothermia can reduce injury to the brain when it is deprived of oxygen. How fast do we need to cool a patient during cardiac arrest or stroke to prevent irreversible injury to the brain? It is an established … Continue reading

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Vitrification agents in cryonics

Today’s post on 21st Century Medicine’s vitrification agent M22 completes the series on vitrification agents in cryonics. To date, three different vitrification agents have been used for cryopreservation of humans: B2C (at Alcor from 2001-2005), VM-1 (at the Cryonics Institute … Continue reading

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Vitrification agents in cryonics: M22

M22 represents the culmination of decades of work in applied cryobiology by researchers Gregory Fahy , Brian Wowk, and others to develop a vitrification agent that can recover complex organs (such as the kidney) from cryogenic temperatures without ice formation … Continue reading

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Teaching children about cryonics

How do you teach a child about something that is so far “unproven”?  How do you bring up the subject of cryonics and how it may allow someone to be reanimated in the future? I am a cryonicist, I’ve been … Continue reading

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Living with children while practicing calorie restriction

“The only thing that retards aging is calorie restriction. As genetic studies go forward, we’ll find out why.” Roy Walford Our society in America currently as of 2008 has more overweight people than average-weight people.  ‘Healthy weight’ Americans consist of … Continue reading

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Teaching futurism to children and teens

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” … Continue reading

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Shannon Vyff on teaching children about the future, caloric restriction, and cryonics

Over the next three days Shannon Vyff will be guest blogging for Depressed Metabolism. Shannon Vyff is a practicing caloric restrictionist, Alcor member, and Methuselah Foundation supporter. Shannon also volunteers for her local Unitarian Universalist Church and La Leche League … Continue reading

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