So You Think You Know What Death Is....
Death has not only been a mystery, but also very hard to define. For centuries, it was defined when the heart stopped. But there was no explanation for when the heart continued but no life was evident. Then death was defined when there was no apparent brain activity, and then we found out the different stages of coma, and even a condition called, "locked in syndrome", where the person is very much alert, but due to the type of brain damage, they can't move anything but their eyelids. Then we developed more advanced EEG's and defined death as "brain death", which means no activity in the brain. Even this has turned out to be elusive, since body temperature affects brain activity.
But the biggest mystery about death was yet to come.
Apparently, after death seems to be very assured, science has found out that the genes in the body are actually still active.
‘Undead’ genes come alive days after life ends
Does death really mean the end of our existence? Great thinkers from Plato to Blue Öyster Cult have weighed in on the question. Now, a study shows that at least one aspect of life continues: Genes remain turned on days after animals die. Researchers may be able to parlay this postmortem activity into better ways of preserving donated organs for transplantation and more accurate methods of determining when murder victims were killed.
Before you ask, microbiologist Peter Noble of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues were not trying to find out what allows zombies to stalk Earth and slurp the brains of the unwary. Instead, the scientists wanted to test a new method they had developed for calibrating gene activity measurements. Their research had already taken a morbid turn—2 years ago they published a paper on the abundance of microbes in different human organs after death—and they decided to apply their method to postmortem samples. “It’s an experiment of curiosity to see what happens when you die,” Noble says.
Although scientists analyzing blood and liver tissue from human cadavers had previously noted the postmortem activity of a few genes, Noble and colleagues systematically evaluated more than 1000. The team measured which of these genes were functioning in tissues from recently deceased mice and zebrafish, tracking changes for 4 days in the fish and 2 days in the rodents.
At first, the researchers assumed that genes would shut down shortly after death, like the parts of a car that has run out of gas. What they found instead was that hundreds of genes ramped up. Although most of these genes upped their activity in the first 24 hours after the animals expired and then tapered off, in the fish some genes remained active 4 days after death .
Many of these postmortem genes are beneficial in emergencies; they perform tasks such as spurring inflammation, firing up the immune system, and counteracting stress. Other genes were more surprising. “What’s jaw-dropping is that developmental genes are turned on after death,” Noble says. These genes normally help sculpt the embryo, but they aren’t needed after birth. One possible explanation for their postmortem reawakening, the researchers say, is that cellular conditions in newly dead corpses resemble those in embryos. The team also found that several genes that promote cancer became more active. That result could explain why people who receive transplants from the recently deceased have a higher risk of cancer, Noble says. He and his colleagues posted their results on the preprint server bioRxiv last week, and Noble says their paper is undergoing peer review at a journal.
Read more here:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/06/undead-genes-come-alive-days-after-life-ends
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/some-genes-dont-turn-on-until-after-you-die/
So much to ponder!
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Dear Friend Perrie: Interesting.
Let's see where future research takes this.
Enoch.
I agree Enoch. it seems the future holds interesting developments.
I agree, too. From such humble beginnings: MANKIND: What A Creature!
A doctor mentioned to me not to look ago, we should all make every attempt to stay above ground! Science is about to offer methods to limit aging. When mankind begins to live to indefinite old-ages, when the great minds are kept from dying, will anything be impossible for mankind?
This may not be the 'story' that I want to share on this, but it dropped by:
Metformin May Promote Anti-Aging
Researchers believe that Metformin , a drug that already has been widely used to treat diabetes for about 60 years, may have a large number of additional health benefits. It is now being tested on humans for its anti-aging properties. Nir Barzilai, MD, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is currently engaged in a clinical study and assessment of metformin for endurance, to analyze how it may impact metabolic and cellular processes correlated with the development of age-related conditions. These conditions include inflammation , oxidative, diminished autophagy, cell senescence and apoptosis. Experts are reviewing whether metrformin use can possibly improve gene expression profile in older adults with damaged glucose tolerance to that of younger individuals.
"We want to change the habit of treating very accumulating diseases with accumulating therapy for the elderly." Barzilia told Medical Economics. "We would rather prevent aging and by that prevent the onset of multiple diseases," she added. According to lead researcher, Craig Currey of Cardiff University, metformin has already been demonstrated to offer benefits against cancer and cardiovascular disease . A 2014 research study has already divulged that patients cured with metroformin, rather than sulphonylureas, had longer lifespans, and recommended that metroformin may also be an aid to patients without diabetes.
Metformin increases the number of oxygen molecules released into a cell, which appears to boost robustness and longevity. It works by suppressing glucose production in the liver and increasing insulin sensitivity, therefore benefitting patients with type 2 diabetes.
To analyze the advantage outside treatment of diabetes, the Food and Drug Administration has green-lighted a clinical trial in the U.S. for what has become known as the Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) study. The researchers will give Metformin to about 3,000 elderly people, who either suffer from or have a high risk of developing diseases like cancer, heart disease, or cognitive problems. They'll then track them over six years to see if the drug prevents aging-related diseases that were not pre-exsisting. They'll also be looking to see if it prevents diabetes and lengthens their life spans. It will be a double-blind, placebo-controlled study
Metformin has already been demonstrated to slow the aging process in certain microbes and mammals. Barzilai expects that it will prove useful in stemming aging and disease breakthrough or advancement, and that the FDA will approve it for that indication and even better treatments can be discovered
That's the kind of news I like to read - I've been taking Metformin for at least 15 years due to being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes - as an octogenarian, maybe it's keeping me alive.
We need to keep our eyes open for the rising curtain, Buzz!
I am certainly no doctor, but seems to me that these genes may just be having chemical reactions to the body as it starts to decompose. I honestly don't know, just a thought. But... I did spend 45 days in UW Medical Center in 2006... Great hospital.
After serving 15 years as a paramedic, I think I have an idea of what death is.
How do you explain those who have been declared dead, suddenly not being dead a day or two later?
Actually, if you read both articles, you would see that some of these genes actually are there to help repair the body. That is the really interesting aspect.
What a terrible crash. I hope for a speedy recovery.
Hope she was ok, looks like a bad accident. I know too many people who died in auto accidents.
I hope she will be ok
Well after Cremation...............
Yeah.. then it's a done deal.
Funny story. My uncle is a lawyer and his client wanted to be cremated, but he was worried that he still might be alive, so part of his will was that his wrists should be slit and drained so he wouldn't be burnt alive.
You just can't make this stuff up.
What was that old saying............
"Truth is stranger than fiction"?
Interesting story btw.
True dat. This reminds me of a positive side-effect of the practice of embalming (for it is said, life is in the blood): You are certainly dead. No waking up in the grave—scratch that, in the flames with no one to hear your screams!
Wow. Intriguing.
Indeed!
As long as zombies aren't going to suddenly appear at the Mall and want to eat my brains.
Trout,
I think the zombies have done that to me already.... LOL
Mall here closed..........
Hmm Zombies?
Did you ever see Night of the Living Dead? George Romero? It was filmed in the Westmoreland Mall
Saw the original many times. A Classic! Thanks for the Trivia Tid Bit!
Ah! A Day of the Dead fan. Got ya! (Now that is one movie I could only watch once. I can not bring myself to see it again!) To this day, whenever I drive past a cemetery viewable from the street or road, I think about graves popping open and a man with a half-suit covering his front walking about. Also, how in the world do people live 'right next to' cemeteries? Sorry, I digress.
May future science (mad science?) miss me with that!
Not really. I'm not a huge zombie fan. It's gotten rather overdone as a plot.
Look at my comment again (I added more!)
I don't get weirded out by grave yards. But the image of a half suited man with most of his skin missing popping out of a grave makes me laugh
Cool seed. Thanks.
So much to be uncertain about, but oh the wealth of knowledge and activity that can come from such research. How about switching on and off genes exploration near the end of a life cycle or "exploiting" genes for extended and indefinitely periods. The mind delights under the imaginings possible here.
It is wonderful to watch man conquer his surrounding spaces. We live in an amazing time and place!
I hold a personal view that everything mankind can dream - mankind can do eventually. BLAH! Why do we fight so many petty battles and wars meant to diminish one group and raise up another? Our greatest mind might come forth out of the oddest of places, . . . if it can just live long enough.
I bet you're a Star Trek fan, aren't you?
I have always loved Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future
Count me in as a trekkie.
I am a Trekkie! How could you tell from what I wrote there? I love all the Star Trek series. But, not to take away from the truly advancing science in death gene research, let me return to the topic with this thought: It is serendipity and beyond thinking out of the box that is going to advance man's understandings and as a by-product: life. I am pleasantly in awe of researchers who invest the time to looking into the dark, rotten world of they dying and the dead for answers for the living! Who knew? These researchers dare!
Everything new we see and which is rumored about nowadays is about to leap us forward! The future is so bright we are going to need shades!
That optimism gave me the clue that you're a trekkie.
I'm not a full on optimist, because while finding the cure for cancer and everything sounds good on the surface...what happens when we do reach near immortality? I don't want to live to be a hundred plus and be a burden. I also don't want to be a healthy 100 plus and still have to work. I'm tired and I want to retire now.
And....if people live to be a century and a half won't that place a huge burden on our society? Ok....I'm not an optimist at all
HA! My dear Trout G', we will simply rethink and refashion our existence to this new 'thang' we'll be doing! What is all these achievements we're striving for if we are not expecting to be better folks in better times? I agree, if we are only going to be magnified "sour-pusses" let me pass away too! (Smile.)
I am not so much a trekkie as I am a trekkie trivia freak.
I agree Cal. The future in medicine is amazing. Things we never thought could happen are happening. Manind is both great and destructive. Let's hope that it's greatness overcomes its destructiveness.
I agree. I sit in awe of great learning! Man is successfully unlocking the hidden secrets of this world. Absolutely uplifting and worthy of celebration. Mankind, I acknowledge your achievements: Bring On The Achievements!
Yes, bring on the achievements! Where is my transporter?
Oh...and I would love to see rapid cell replacement/healing for broken bones.
YES! YES! YES! These old bones of mine! I often try to sell them, but buyers without fail come back demanding a refund!
LMAO!! You guys are funny!
Gee Perrie, I'm still attempting to figure out what it's about on this side of the river.
Once the Ferryman comes for me (not today), I hope they burn the boat, no coming back for me.
Foolishness aside, very thought provoking.
Hi Luther...
Kind of hoping for the opposite. I really enjoy life, even when it isn't easy, so this discovery could maybe lead to extended life.. who knows? I'm in no rush to see the river Styx.
I found this to be one of the more interesting pieces of science I have come across. Of course, being a biology teacher, might taint my view a bit, LOL.
Hi Perrie
I am in no great hurry to take the ride either, but when the glass runs out of sand it will be out of sand and time. My concern is that our arrogance will cause someone to tweak a strand here or there and then say whoops that didn't work out as planned.
Must admit it is cutting edge stuff.
How do you even define 'life' when we are all products of symbiosis between our human cells and an even higher number of bacteriological gut cells? Without these alien creatures thriving in our internal systems, we wouldn't even be 'alive'.
You are all figments of my very fertile imagination.
I simply must zone in on this part of the article for a moment. "Developmental genes," available and free from the host for taking!
I need help with this portion: Is it humans or zebrafish and rodents that the 4 days and 2 days relate, respectively? It is an important distinction. If for humans (as well), that is absolutely amazing science and serious changes could be underway in the not too distant future!
I 100% know what death is.