2014年3月15日 星期六

Microbes and Metabolites Fuel an Ambitious Aging Project


Microbes and Metabolites Fuel an Ambitious Aging Project
Craig Venter’s new company wants to improve human longevity by creating the world’s largest, most comprehensive database of genetic and physiological information.
Last week, genomics entrepreneur Craig Venter announced his latest venture: a company that will create what it calls the most comprehensive and complete data set on human health to tackle diseases of aging.
Human Longevity, based in San Diego, says it will sequence some 40,000 human genomes per year to start, using Illumina’s new high-throughput sequencing machines (see “Does Illumina Have the First $1,000 Genome?”). Eventually, it plans to work its way up to 100,000 genomes per year. The company will also sequence the genomes of the body’s multitudes of microbial inhabitants, called the microbiome, and analyze the thousands of metabolites that can be found in blood and other patient samples.
By combining these disparate types of data, the new company hopes to make inroads into the enigmatic process of aging and the many diseases, including cancer and heart disease, that are strongly associated with it. “Aging is exerting a force on humans that is exposing us to diseases, and the diseases are idiosyncratic, partly based on genetics, partly on environment,” says Leonard Guarente, who researches aging at MIT and is not involved in the company. “The hope for many of us who study aging is that by having interventions that hit key pathways in aging, we can affect disease.”
But despite decades of research on aging and age-related diseases, there are no treatments to slow aging, and diseases like cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s continue to plague patients. A more comprehensive approach to studying human aging could help, says Guarente. The key is to go beyond genome sequencing by looking at gene activity and changes in the array of proteins and other molecules found in patient samples.
To that end, Human Longevity will collaborate with Metabolon, a company based in Durham, North Carolina, to profile the metabolites circulating in the bloodstreams of study participants. Metabolon was an early pioneer in the field of metabolomics, which catalogues the amino acids, fats, and other small molecules in a blood or other sample to develop more accurate diagnostic tests for diseases (see “10 Emerging Technologies 2005: Metabolomics”).
Metabolon uses mass spectrometry to identify small molecules in a sample. In a human blood sample, there are around 1,200 different types; Metabolon’s process can also determine the amount of each one present. While genome sequencing can provide information about inherited risk of disease and some hints of the likelihood that a person will have a long life, metabolic data provides information on how environment, diet, and other features of an individual’s life affect health.
Metabolic data can also help researchers interpret the results of genome-based studies, which can often pinpoint a particular gene as important in a disease or a normal cellular process without clarifying what that gene actually does. If a particular metabolite is found to correlate with a particular genetic signal in a study, then researchers have a clue as to the function of the DNA signal.
And changes in blood metabolites are not just caused by changes in human cell behavior: the microbes that live in our bodies produce metabolites that can be detected in blood, says John Ryals, CEO and founder of Metabolon. “When you get certain diseases, we believe your gut microbiome is changing its composition, and that leads to changes in what molecules are being made,” he says.
Ryals says his company, working with collaborators, has already shown that blood biochemistry changes with aging: “You can tell how old someone is just by looking at their metabolites.”
Human Longevity says it will license information from its databases to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as academics.

2014年3月4日 星期二

鍾姓男子(六十八歲)一家三口睡祖墳一年

2014.3.5 中午, 所有的新聞台,含公視,都播此新聞。 有的錯把"敬老津貼"說成"勞保給付"。

睡祖墳一年 8歲女 跟著窮父母

鍾家一家三口沒錢租屋,棲身祖墳長達一年五個月,過著沒水沒電的貧困生活。翻攝畫面
【石 明啟、黎百代、簡銘柱╱桃園報導】台灣最新國民年所得已破兩萬美元(約台幣六十萬元),但富裕表象背後還有悲慘的世界!一名八歲女童因父母貧病交迫付不出 房租,一家三口被迫棲身桃園祖墳兩坪大空間,長達一年五個月,平日圍著塑膠布遮風避雨,三餐撿枯枝野炊,晚上點蠟燭照明,遇寒流則緊緊相擁取暖。移民署專 勤隊及社工目睹一家悲慘生活,鼻酸直呼:「不敢相信這是台灣!」
帶 著妻女棲身祖墳的鍾姓男子(六十八歲),出身桃園縣龍潭鄉大地主家族,十多年前家族賣地分家,鍾男分得近千萬元,後因投資失利,原本結婚育有一子一女的他 日漸窮困潦倒,和妻子離婚後遠離家鄉到處打零工。二○○五年鍾男和打零工的逃逸越南外勞阮氏(四十八歲)結識同居,鍾男曾拿四十多萬元,給阮氏寄回越南老 家,兩人並生下女兒「玲玲」(化名)。

井水梳洗
阮氏會帶著女兒到祖墳旁300公尺遠的古井打水洗澡。翻攝畫面

母逃逸外勞未報戶口

因阮氏為逃逸外勞身分,兩人沒結婚登記也不敢申報戶籍,玲玲生下後也無法報戶口,一家三口到處租屋,靠鍾男打零工微薄薪資清苦生活,玲玲今年已八歲卻還沒上小學,為了讓玲玲正常上學,阮氏決定上月二十五日主動向警方及移民署自首。
阮氏向移民署說,丈夫罹患糖尿病,近三年都無法工作,因付不起房租,前年十月丈夫決定回龍潭鄉祖墳棲身,靠丈夫每月五千元敬老津貼過活。鍾男也無奈說:「沒地方可以去,回祖先身邊希望能保佑一家平安。」
鍾家祖墳位於偏僻農田中央,沒水沒電,離祖墳最近民宅距離約五百公尺,村民碰到鍾男一家都以為是整理墓園工人。去年清明節,鍾男怕碰到親友前來掃墓,還刻意打理家當避居朋友家。


家當簡陋
祖墳一旁放著雨傘塑膠袋等雜物,家當十分簡陋。
翻攝畫面

種菜拾枯枝生火野炊

阮 氏說,平日靠朋友接濟食物,或拾枯枝,用磚塊石頭圍成灶生火野炊,晚上在祖墳屋簷下點蠟燭鋪稻草打地舖,寒流來襲,就用農用塑膠布擋風遮寒,生火後三人緊 緊依偎取暖,洗澡就到距祖墳三百公尺處水井舀冷水洗,天冷則簡單擦拭,並到資源回收處撿拾可穿衣服,白天一家人就在祖墳旁空地種菜為生。
提到玲玲的出生過程,阮氏難掩心痛,指玲玲在醫院早產,出生後都沒打過預防針,玲玲生病時,丈夫拜託朋友帶到診所看病,醫師只知道他們家境貧困,只收一百五十元掛號費。


祖墳打地舖示意圖
鍾家3口撿稻草打地舖,寒流時以農用塑膠布遮風避雨,升火、點蠟燭,擁抱取暖睡覺。

《蘋果》直擊環境惡劣

阮氏上個月帶著玲玲到移民署,母女倆戴帽子、口罩,深怕容貌曝光後會遭遣返,在移民署勸說下才取下,當她取下帽子和口罩瞬間崩潰大哭,以為從此要和家人分開,玲玲則緊緊握著母親的手,不解地看著母親淚流滿面。
桃園縣社會局也坦承,之前未接獲鍾家三口的濟助通報,介入後發現鍾男有慢性病另外安置,阮氏和女兒則一起安置。當地村長昨未接手機,無法取得回應。阮女則表達,投案是希望女兒能留在台灣受教育,如無法留下,會帶玲玲回越南。
《蘋果》昨晚回到鍾男祖墳,離最近道路約五十公尺,現場沒任何燈光,記者經過田埂、灌溉溝渠後才到達,祖墳左邊放睡覺用的棉被及枕頭,右邊放雨傘雨鞋及雜物,墓碑上放時鐘、香菸及蠟燭,很難想像一家三口竟在這種惡劣的環境下生活了一年五個月。

「村民雞婆點可發現」

對 鍾男一家三口悲慘遭遇,政府救濟系統全然不知,台大社工系教授林萬億批評:「村里長是最接近民眾的基層官方體系,敏感度不夠竟沒發現這情況。」認為社會局 未接獲鍾家相關通報,簡直不可思議。他認為,社會局安置上應考量鍾家一家人的完整性,阮女回越南前,一家應一起安置,並協助阮女盡速取得新身分回到台灣, 「違法部分從寬認定,讓他們能感受到政府的友善,而不是法律的制裁。」
東華大學民族發展與社會工作學系教授施正鋒則表示,政府宣導明顯不足,「逃 逸外勞在台未婚生子並非遣返後就不能來台,尚可辦理依親來台。」認為鍾男可能怕求助社會局,同居人會被查出逃逸外勞身分,才不敢對外求助,他批評:「當地 村里長或村民雞婆一點,早點通報就可早日發現這問題。」

3口住祖墳事件簿

★2003/05:越南籍外勞阮氏來台工作
★2004/04:阮氏自工廠逃跑,淪為逃逸外勞
★2005年初:阮氏認識鍾姓男子並在桃園縣龍潭鄉租屋同居
★2005年底:阮氏產下女兒
★2012/10:鍾男罹患糖尿病無法工作,因付不出房租,一家3口搬到鍾男祖墳居住
★2014/02/25:阮氏為解決女兒戶籍及入學問題,主動向警方自首,一家3口被社會局安置
資料來源:移民署桃園專勤隊