Can Tai Chi slow the aging process?

Tai Chi intervention increases number of CD34+ cells in young adults

2014-05-28

(Press-News.org) Putnam Valley, NY. (May 28, 2014) – Tai Chi, a traditional Chinese martial art and sport, has been found to be beneficial in raising the numbers of an important type of cell when three groups of young people were tested to discover the benefits of Tai Chi, brisk walking or no exercise. The group performing Tai Chi saw a rise in their cluster of differentiation 34 expressing (CD34+) cells, a stem cell important to a number of the body's functions and structures.

The study was published in issue 23(4/5) of Cell Transplantation and is freely available on-line at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/2014/00000023/F0020004/art00020.

"To evaluate the potential life-lengthening effect of Tai Chi, we conducted a year-long, retrospective cross-sectional study comparing the rejuvenating and anti-aging effects among three groups of volunteers under the age of 25 who engaged in either Tai Chi (TCC), brisk walking (BW), or no exercise habit (NEH)," said study corresponding author Dr. Shinn-Zong Lin of the Center for Neuropsychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. "We used young volunteers because they have better cell-renewing abilities than the old population and we also wanted to avoid having chronic diseases and medications as interfering factors."

According to the authors, Tai Chi "has been confirmed to benefit" patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and fibromyalgia. In addition, they cite possible advantages of Tai Chi in pain reduction, fall prevention and balance improvement, aerobic capacity, blood pressure, quality of life and stress reduction.

"Compared with the NEH group, the TCC group had a significantly higher number of CD 34+ cells," wrote the authors. "We found that the CD34+ cell count of the TCC group was significantly higher than the BW group."

CD 34+ cells, they explained, express the CD 34 protein and are "cluster markers" for hematopoietic stem cells (blood stem cells) involved in cell self-renewal, differentiation and proliferation.

"It is possible that Tai Chi may prompt vasodilation and increase blood flow," said Lin. "Considering that BW may require a larger space or more equipment, Tai Chi seems to be an easier and more convenient choice of anti-aging exercise." "This study provides the first step into providing scientific evidence for the possible health benefits of Tai Chi." said Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, distinguished professor at the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. "Further study of how Tai Chi can elicit benefit in different populations and on different parameters of aging are necessary to determine its full impact." INFORMATION: Contact: Dr. Shinn-Zong Lin, Center for Neuropsychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
Email: shinnzong@yahoo.com.tw
Ph: +886-4-22052121 x 6034
Fax: +886-4-220806666 Citation: Ho, T-J.; Ho, L-I.; Hsueh, K-W.; Chan, T-M.; Huang, S-L.; Lin, J-G.; Liang, W-M.; Hsu, W-H.; Harn, H-J.; Lin, S-Z. Tai Chi Intervention Increases Progenitor CD34+ Cells in Young Adults. Cell Transplant. 23(4-5):613-620; 2014.

The Coeditors-in-chief for CELL TRANSPLANTATION are at the Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Center for Neuropsychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, TaiChung, Taiwan. Contact, Camillo Ricordi, MD at ricordi@miami.edu or Shinn-Zong Lin, MD, PhD at shinnzong@yahoo.com.tw or David Eve, PhD at celltransplantation@gmail.com

News release by Florida Science Communications http://www.sciencescribe.net

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Scientists control rapid re-wiring of brain circuits using patterned visual stimulation

2014-05-28

In a new study, published in this week's issue of the journal Science, researchers show for the first time how the brain re-wires and fine-tunes its connections differently depending on the relative timing of sensory stimuli. In most neuroscience textbooks today, there is a widely held model that explains how nerve circuits might refine their connectivity based on patterned firing of brain cells, but it has not previously been directly observed in real time. This "Hebbian Theory", named after the McGill University psychologist Donald Olding Hebb who first proposed it in ...

Acute concern for health, environment highlighted at UN-backed E-waste Academy in Latin America

2014-05-28

Acute concerns about e-waste management in developing countries were highlighted in expert presentations at a recent E-waste Academy for Managers (EWAM) in El Salvador organized by UN University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) hosted Step (Solving the E-Waste Program) Initiative. The week-long Academy ended April 4 was the second in a series inaugurated in Ghana in 2012. By sharing insights on "urban mining" and fostering international linkages and collaboration, the academies for e-waste managers, along with complementary events for e-waste-related ...

Cats found to eat more in the winter

2014-05-28

Cats eat more during the winter and owners should give their pet more food during this time, University of Liverpool research has found. Researchers from the University's School of Veterinary Science, in collaboration with colleagues at the Royal Canin Research Centre in France, spent four years monitoring how much cats chose to eat, and found that food intake increased in colder months and decreased during the summer. The 38 cats studied had a microchip on their collar which allowed them to take as much food as they wanted from a dispenser which only opened for them. ...

Surface physics: Leaving the islands

2014-05-28

In a recent study involving researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich, the desorption of oxygen molecules from a silver surface was successfully visualized for the first time. The effects account for the shortcomings of conventional models of desorption. In a recent study involving LMU researchers, the desorption of oxygen molecules from a silver surface was successfully visualized for the first time. The effects account for the shortcomings of conventional models of desorption. In heterogeneous catalytic reactions, which take place at the boundary ...

Encounters at coffee shops help corporate communicators influence company 'chiefs'

2014-05-28

Lobbying senior business executives informally — whether in hallways or after work at Starbucks and fitness centers — is a savvy way for corporate communicators to perform their jobs successfully, according to a Baylor University study. While other scholars have touted being a member of the "C-suite" as the ideal for public relations and corporate communicators, the Baylor study of four corporations — three ranked as Fortune 500 companies — showed that being an influential insider does not always require being in the board room with the "chiefs," said Marlene Neill, Ph.D., ...

Panama saves whales and protects world trade

2014-05-28

The Republic of Panama's proposal to implement four Traffic Separation Schemes for commercial vessels entering and exiting the Panama Canal and ports was approved unanimously by the International Maritime Organization in London, May 23. Based on studies by Smithsonian marine ecologist Hector Guzman, the new shipping lanes are positioned to minimize overlap between shipping routes and humpback whale migration routes and reduce vessel speed four months a year at the peak of the whale overwintering season. Several cetacean species move through the tropical waters near the ...

Dialysis patients' anxiety and depression linked to physical impairments

2014-05-28

LOS ANGELES – (May 28, 2014) – With the rate of chronic kidney disease on the rise among older Americans, researchers seeking to improve patients' quality of life studied a group of adults undergoing hemodialysis and found their higher rates of depression and anxiety could be associated with their impaired physical exercise capability and reduced daily physical activity, according a new study published online by the Journal of Renal Nutrition. The researchers studied 72 relatively healthy maintenance hemodialysis patients and compared them to 39 healthy adults who were ...

Dads who do chores bolster daughters' aspirations

2014-05-28

Fathers who help with household chores are more likely to raise daughters who aspire to less traditional, and potentially higher paying, careers. So finds a new study that suggests how parents share dishes, laundry and other domestic duties plays a key role in shaping the gender attitudes and aspirations of their children, especially daughters. While mothers' gender and work equality beliefs were key factors in predicting kids' attitudes toward gender, the strongest predictor of daughters' own professional ambitions was their fathers' approach to household chores. ...

Sight for sore eyes: Augmented reality without the discomfort

2014-05-28

WASHINGTON, May 28—Augmented reality is increasingly becoming… well … a reality. Smartphone apps can point out restaurants as you scan the street with your phone camera or even identify constellations when you point your phone at the night sky. And goggle-like devices—akin to Google Glass—that you wear on your head can superimpose computer-generated images onto your direct view of the physical world. But one major limitation of this kind of augmented reality (AR) technology is that moving back and forth between a 2-D image on the screen and a 3-D world in front of you ...

Experimental trial represents promising step toward universal antidote for snakebite

2014-05-28

SAN FRANCISCO (May 28, 2014) – A team of researchers, led by Dr. Matthew Lewin of the California Academy of Sciences and Dr. Stephen P. Samuel of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland has taken another promising step toward developing a universal antidote for snakebite. Last summer, the team tested the effectiveness of a nasally administered antiparalytic drug on mice injected with high doses of Indian cobra (Naja naja) venom. Mice injected with otherwise fatal doses of venom outlived and in many cases survived after being treated with the antiparalytic agent, neostigmine. These ...

Can Tai Chi slow the aging process?

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: