Humans are challenging study subjects for both ethical and biological reasons, but looking at the death spiral in other organisms could give scientists a window into how this works in humans, the researchers said.Īccording to Mueller, the next step in this research might be to selectively breed the flies to create groups that experience death spirals of different durations. The assessments included measures of grip strength, ability to complete daily activities (such as using the toilet and eating) and exams that helped evaluate cognitive impairment.īasically, Mueller said, a death spiral in people could be the reason we often see a distinct increase in disability just before a person dies. They found that the physical and cognitive scores of individuals who died within the first two years of the study were significantly lower than the scores of those who were still alive in 2005. In that study, researchers analyzed data collected on the physical and cognitive abilities of 2,262 Danish people, ages 92 to 100, from 1998 to 2005. In their review paper, Mueller and his colleagues cited a study from 2008 published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesas evidence that people may experience the death spiral as well. The hope is that death-spiral research in fruit flies and other organisms could someday tell scientists more about the decline of humans prior to death. The research, published online March 22 in the journal Scientific Reports, concluded that this intestinal leakiness was a marker of death in all three species. If permeability increased, that dye would leak out into the animal's body, and its body would change color - blue in the flies and fish, and fluorescent green in the nematodes. The researchers tested this leakiness, called permeability, by feeding food dye to each animal. In another study, scientists observed fruit flies, nematodes and zebrafish, to see if their intestines exhibited increased leakiness before death.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |