Posted on 04/02/2009 3:47:40 PM PDT by neverdem
In a finding that may open new approaches to treating heart disease, Swedish scientists have succeeded in measuring a highly controversial property of the human heart — the rate at which its muscle cells are renewed during a person’s lifetime...
--snip--
The nuclear blasts generated a radioactive form of carbon, known as carbon-14. The amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere has gradually diminished since 1963, when above-ground tests were banned, as it gets incorporated into plants and animals or diffuses into the oceans.
In the body, carbon-14 in the diet gets into the DNA of new cells and stays unchanged for the life of the cell. Because the level of carbon-14 in the atmosphere falls each year, the amount of carbon-14 in the DNA can serve to indicate the cell’s birth date, Dr. Frisen found.
Four years ago he used his new method to assess the turnover rate of various tissues in the body, concluding that the average age of the cells in an adult’s body might be as young as 7 to 10 years. But there is a wide range of ages — from the rapidly turning over cells of the blood and gut to the mostly permanent cells of the brain.
Dr. Frisen has now successfully applied his method to the heart muscle cells, but had to navigate through a series of technical obstacles created by the special behavior of the cells. Many have two nuclei, instead of the usual one, and within these double nuclei the DNA may be duplicated again. “I was really impressed at the level of rigor they put into this analysis,” Dr. Murry said, calling it a “scientific tour de force.”
The finding that heart muscle cells do regenerate, though at a considerably slower rate than Dr. Anversa predicted, is a...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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COOOoooolll!!!!
Yossarian
Heart Attack Conquerer
P.S. Get your cholesterol levels checked - not just the LDL (bad) level, but the HDL (good) too. What did me in was horrible low good number, so my LDL/HDL ratio was way out of whack.
"But Dr. Frisen realized several years ago that nuclear weapons tested in the atmosphere until 1963 had in fact labeled the cells of the entire world’s population.
The nuclear blasts generated a radioactive form of carbon known as carbon-14. The amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere has gradually diminished since 1963, when above-ground tests were banned, as it has been incorporated into plants and animals or diffused into the oceans.
In the body, carbon-14 in the diet gets into the DNA of new cells and stays unchanged for the life of the cell. Because the level of carbon-14 in the atmosphere falls each year, the amount of carbon-14 in the DNA can serve to indicate the cell’s birth date, Dr. Frisen found.
Wow. This is an exciting discovery.
regenerative medicine ping
I hate authors who are too stupid to know how to look up very simple facts, like "How does Carbon Dating work?" on the internet, then they go blathering their lack of intellect about as though they are brilliant. I think my head is going to explode!
First off this twit should be fired for gross stupidity. "Ummm, Mr. Einstein, if it takes an A-Bomb to make Carbon-14, how do we date dinosaur fossils?"
The fact is we are bombarded by cosmic rays all day, all night and have been for a gazillion years. Every LIVING PERSON is hit by about a million cosmic rays an hour. Eventually, a cosmic ray hits N-14 (aka Nitrogen) knocking off a neutron, thus creating C-14. The ratio of C-14 is pretty much stabilized in the past gazillionty years, so while you are walking, talking, sun tanning and basically living above ground and eating, you maintain a C-14 level equivalent to the great outdoors.
When you kick the bucket, and stop eating, well, there isn't any C-14 exchange with ol'mother earth anymore. Your C-14 rate is established, and the C-14 decays to a half-life every 5,600 yrs. This means, that relative to the earth, which is getting constantly bombarded by cosmic rays, you are underground (approx. 6ft) where the cosmic rays don't keep creating C-14 from N-14. So, every 5,600 yrs or so, you lose half of the C-14 you once had.
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Yep, those are critical paragraphs. Without them, the article makes a very inaccurate statement with regard to C-14.
I’ve had a change of heart on this topic over the last few years.
[I hate authors who are too stupid to know how to look up very simple facts, like “How does Carbon Dating work?” ]
I was on a Carbon Blind Date once. Rimshot!
Haven't there been some instances of folks with heart damage having it repaired by the use of their own adult stem cells? That sounds like a worthy subject for research.
First off this twit should be fired for gross stupidity. "Ummm, Mr. Einstein, if it takes an A-Bomb to make Carbon-14, how do we date dinosaur fossils?"
Hey, relax, you are not alone. Thing is, the weird part, is that those of us that tear our hair out knowing (yes, knowing) that carbon dating is true, along with gamma, nuclear decay, is true, have to compete, idea wise, with people that actually believe that man walked with dinosaurs.
I know it is nonsense, you know it is nonsense, but where do we go? Thing is, some folks really believe it.
Trouble is, Young Earth Theory is so attractive to, oh, well, everyone except scientists, and it is so silly, that the rest of us get painted with it.
"Young earthers" are, to me anyway, the same as Scientologists, and very destructive to the party. But they seem to have a following here. Not sure why, but it is true. See infuriating tagline.
That part I wanted to include in case someone didn't want to go to tne NY Times. If it mentioned cardiomyocyte progenitor cells, a type of adult stem cell, I would have tried to include that as well. My old books said when cardiomyocytes die, you just get scar formation. You had what you got, and that's it.
Most politicians have 2 or 3 faces..why not cardiac cells.
Excellent. Thanks for the link! I sure hope they get some good results!
I’ve had good results w/Hawthorn berries, good quality capsules at Walmart.
You could start with learning how to spell "religion".
“P.S. Get your cholesterol levels checked - not just the LDL (bad) level, but the HDL (good) too. What did me in was horrible low good number, so my LDL/HDL ratio was way out of whack.”
My HDL was low too. Started exercising. That brought it up a little. Then I started taking a gram of Niacin a day (had to work up to it because of the flush). HDL is now 56. Niacin is a wonder drug—but you have to put up with the flush.
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