What Is Amyloidosis? All About The Rare Disease That Pervez Musharraf Suffered From  ABP Live

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What Is Amyloidosis? All About The Rare Disease That Pervez Musharraf Suffered From - ABP Live

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Life Extension Review Summary

Life Extension sells reasonably priced supplements for healthy living, including supplements, creams, and more. Learn more in our Life Extension review!

Fiyin Ebemidayo, B.S.

Summary

Many customer reviews indicate that the supplements work well and are a high quality for the relatively low price. However, some of the supplements sold have dubious scientific claims and a minority of customers note that they did not feel well after taking the products.

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This review is written with the intent to be as unbiased as possible. However, it represents the opinion of an individual reviewer and is therefore subjective. Furthermore, at Nebula Genomics we seek to educate the public about the benefits of Whole Genome Sequencing. Information about our Whole Genome Sequencing DNA test is therefore incorporated into the review.

April 19, 2022

Cons

Life Extension was established in the 1980s. It focuses on nutritional science with the goal to provide customers with supplements for a healthier life. The company has historically been on the forefront of nutritional improvements, including the introduction of a new standard of protocols for blood screening and its industry-first recommendation of low-dose aspirin for heart disease.

Life Extensions mission is to help people lead healthier lives by consuming nutritional products. The FDA cannot approve their products, and they are not allowed to make claims concerning the use of their products. If interested, you can call them to request a certificate of analysis.

The company employs its own clinical researchers to develop its products and recommendations. Its team of industry-leading pharmacists, scientists, and physicians are committed to producing the highest quality supplements. To date, the company has put more than $180 million into research towards improving its products.

As a testament to the founders science journalism background, although Life Extension provides lengthy reports on each product, they use minimal science jargon and can be understood by nonprofessionals. Besides health supplements, Life Extension also offers laboratory tests through its partner, LabCorp. However, these tests are only available in the continental US, excluding Maryland.

Life Extension offers a range of vitamins and supplements for diet, personal care, and even pet care. They also provide a variety of lab tests, including blood and saliva tests and magazines, and published books on disease prevention, treatment, and the health benefits of vitamins and minerals.

Vitamins and Supplements

These form the bulk of products available from Life Extension. Customers can shop by type or health goal. The ordering page clearly notes how many capsules are in each order and how many days each bottle supplies.

Supplements and vitamins are available under multiple categories, with about five to fifteen products under each category. Each page has a short quiz to receive personalized recommendations based on your health condition and goal. The supplements come in bottles as either soft gels or vegetarian capsules. You can order single bottles or four bottles in a multipack bundle that is slightly discounted.

The categories under type are as follows. Note that the costs reflect original prices and do not take into account sales.

These products are organized under health goals such as brain health and energy management. Other categories include:

Diet and Lifestyle

Besides the regular vitamins and supplements on offer, Life Extension sells some products classified as supplements for staying fit. These supplements are meant to help you boost the effectiveness of your workout and exercise. They include supplements for all needs, including carbs, proteins, and calories. They also have products that can help with weight loss or gain.

Categories available under the diet and lifestyle section are as follows:

Skin and Personal Care

Life Extension offers a range of skincare and personal grooming products. These products contain various nutrients needed to keep your skin healthy and ageless, including hyaluronic acid. Life Extensions skincare products include cleansers, exfoliators, moisturizers, anti-aging, and skin tightening serums. They offer products for all skin types, dry, oily, and combination.

Like with the supplements, you can take a quiz to receive product recommendations.

Pet Care

Life Extension offers products not just for you but also for your pets. These supplements provide your cat or dog with the proper nutrients for their growth.

Life Extension offers lab tests through its partnership with LabCorp. Tests on offer include blood, breath, saliva, urinary and fecal tests. It should, however, be noted that these tests are only available in the continental United States.

Taking a test through Life Extension does not require visiting a doctor for a lab order as an order is provided for you by a licensed doctor in your state. You can carry out the blood test yourself in your house if it is only a finger prick test, but you will have to visit a LabCorp laboratory if more blood is needed to be collected. You can find LabCorp laboratories nationwide. To get priority, you can make an appointment online before visiting the lab.

Once you get your test results, you can decide to talk to one of Life Extensions wellness specialists for a review of the test results. It should be noted that Life Extension does not offer diagnosis or treatment and that the test results are informational only. We, however, recommend that you still discuss the results with your physician for a broader outlook on the state of your health.

Lab test categories include blood clotting/circulation, blood sugar, bone, cardiovascular, cholesterol, digestion, healthy weight, hormones, immune system, inflammation management, kidney/urinary, liver, mens testing, neurological, nutrition, thyroid/adrenal, and womens testing.

Life Extensions supplements are not exactly expensive, with a bottle costing between about $10 and $30. However, you should note that different supplements will have a different number of capsules in each bottle. Additionally, since supplements are designed to be taken continuously, customers will have to manage the cost regularly.

The same goes for the other nutrition and care products.

In most cases, customers can save 11% by ordering more than one bottle at a time. There is the option of signing up for auto shipping when you have products you would like to order periodically. This option allows you to receive the products automatically monthly with the added perk of free shipping and an 11% discount. You also do not have to worry about overpaying when there is a price reduction, as the amount charged is automatically updated each time.

On the other hand, the lab tests range from as low as $20 but can cost over $800 for the more complex tests.

Life Extension offers a premium membership subscription called Premier Rewards. It costs $50 annually and gets you unlimited free shipping via standard shipping and discounts on international orders. In addition, you get a 4% cashback on every order, a free subscription to Life Extensions monthly magazine, and surprise gifts during your birth month and at random times.

Life Extensions privacy policy page does not indicate any unique protocols that protect user information. Your test results may be used for research but are anonymized, so they cannot be traced back to you. In addition, user information is shared with partners, including advertisers, to serve personalized ads to you.

The supplement company continues to perform research and release new products. In 2022, new supplements include Brain Fog Relief and Waistline Control.

The company sells many of its supplements on Amazon. Here, they receive top rated rankings between 4 and 4.5 out of 5 stars. The products have been reviewed hundreds of times and some of the more popular products even have close to 7,000 ratings.

As noted in the reviews for the Two-per-Day Multivitamin, many customers felt the company has quality products and that they have seen good results, especially as they cost less than competitors. Some customers even highly recommend it, noting that they have taken them for years.

However, some reviewers indicate that the vitamin does not absorb well and they have side effects such as feeling sick after taking them. With supplements, its important to note that not every supplement works for every person and customers should consult with their doctor before adding supplements to their diet.

Before considering supplements, you may want to know more about your genetic predispositions to conditions these supplements support. Nebula Genomics offers accurate DNA testing at a reasonable price. These tests indicate genetic predispositions to characteristics and health issues, among other things.

Results on ancestry, health, food, and exercise are produced with 30x Whole Genome Sequencing, which decodes 100% of the DNA. It also gives you complete control over how your test results are handled and raw data to further explore your DNA data. This knowledge may help you and your doctor decide if certain supplements are right for you.

You also receive exclusive access to genetic information to assist your genealogical study. Regular updates and reports from Nebula Genomics bring you up to date on the newest advances in genetic science, ensuring you have continued access to the latest research.

Did you like our Life Extension review? You can read more reviews on our blog and check out our complete guide to the best DNA test kit and other home tests.

You may also be interested in these other supplement companies:

Aging:

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Life Extension review - 7 facts you should know [APRIL 2022]

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Decibel Therapeutics to Present at the 46th Annual Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) MidWinter Meeting  Marketscreener.com

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Decibel Therapeutics to Present at the 46th Annual Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) MidWinter Meeting - Marketscreener.com

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Last Updated: Feb 7, 2022

Life Extension has always been on the cutting edge of science, breaking through boundaries of the expected to unveil longer and healthier lives for others. Many of the supplements we see on the market today were formulated by Life Extensions scientific team. Finding new pieces of the puzzle for human health becomes even more essential when most Americans have a vitamin deficiency.

But cutting edge doesnt always mean best for you. We tested Life Extension to see exactly what it is and isnt good for, so you can decide if Life Extension is right for your vitamin and supplement needs.

Editor's Summary

Life Extension makes big promises about the purity and potency of their supplements. A reliable third party generally confirms this high quality, but it may not be universally true. And the flipside of their quality control is reduced selection and somewhat higher cost.

Our Top Picks

Life Extension is known for developing high-quality, pure, and potent nutritional supplements.

Life Extension also offers competitively priced lab testing along with their industry leading vitamins, supplements, hormones, and herbs

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How we evaluated Life Extension

In order to give you a complete picture of Life Extensions products and experiences, we considered fundamental factors including your user experience and the quality and variety of products they offer.

8.0 / 10

Life Extension only stocks their own brand of supplements, which is a way to produce consistent quality but also results in a much smaller catalog than their competitors have. However, as the Life Extension Foundation develops new and specific formulas, they carry specialized and hyper-specific supplements and blends that others dont.

7.9 / 10

Life Extension brags about the rigorous testing and quality assurance checks that all of their products go through. Their supplements contain no food coloring or unnecessary additives, and ConsumerLab.com gives them high marks in several categories, but our own testing raised some questions. Based on their rocky history with the FDA, the effectiveness of these supplements may vary more than Life Extension lets on.

8.0 / 10

Overall, Life Extensions products are middle-of-the-road in cost but tend toward the expensive side. All of their vitamins are similarly priced no matter how many pills are in each bottle, so keep an eye on the total pill count before you decide. Their LabCorp lab tests can get wildly expensive depending on what youre trying to find. However, with over 200 different tests to order, you can still find a relatively inexpensive look at your biomarkers. Their rewards program is hefty but costs quite a bit upfront.

8.8 / 10

The catalog is laid out clearly and makes it easy to find what you need with quizzes along the way. It is also relatively easy to get lost in their information pages: you need to jump through hoops to find full detail on their history and services.

9.2 / 10

With multiple methods of communication and specific lines for getting in touch with wellness specialists, Life Extension has made it easy to get exactly the help you need. They hold long hours, so even night owls on the west coast can get assistance. All customer service representatives we spoke with were kind and knowledgeable and those who didnt know an answer for us knew how to get us in touch with someone who did.

Why you can trust our review

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers like you make more informed decisions to live healthier lives. We extensively test each health service we review.

Our team has spent over 147 hours testing and researching Life Extension and its close competitors in order to give you an unbiased exploration of your health supplement options, free of marketing jargon or gimmicks. Through a thorough and deliberate approach to every product we encounter, we evaluate services based on adherence to quality, the latest medical evidence and health standards, and a simple question: would we buy the product or service ourselves if it werent part of our job, and would we recommend it to family and friends?

Additionally, this review of Life Extension, like all health-related content on this website, was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.

Originally founded as the Florida Cryonics Association in 1977 by a science journalist and a mortician-turned-businessman, Life Extension (renamed in 1980) began as an organization dedicated to extending the human lifespan. However, in more recent years, the organization has split into two halves:

Throughout this article, well refer to the Life Extension Buyers Club as Life Extension, as that is the part of the organization open for us as consumers.

Life Extension boasts a lot of firsts in product development, such as introducing:

They also have studied many new applications of known supplements, including:

Clearly, with such a strong eye for product development, Life Extension offers tons of supplements. They hold all of their products to a high standard, testing and retesting multiple times. They are transparent about their scientific processes and health and safety protocols, to the point that you can call their customer service line to get information on the Certificate of Analysis for any product you want. While their ingredients are sourced globally, almost all of their products are manufactured in the United States.

They also are a preferred brand of the third-party testing organization ConsumerLab.com. ConsumerLab.com has rated Life Extension number one with their top-rated award in three separate categories (omega-3 EPA products, internet catalog, and multivitamins) for five, six, and eight years respectively.

Despite having excellent ratings from third-party testers, Life Extension has a relatively antagonistic relationship and troubled past with the FDA. There have been 56 criminal charges levied against the founders, including distributing unapproved drugs after a warehouse raid from the FDA, but all charges were dropped by 1996. That said, Life Extension was issued a warning in 2017 for claiming that Life Extension products could cure diseases such as breast cancer.

Because the FDA doesnt regulate supplements, it is illegal for companies like Life Extension to claim that supplements will treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure diseases. Life Extension can be grandiose at times in their product descriptions, so take their word with a grain of salt.

Who could benefit from using Life Extension?

Anyone currently taking a supplement or looking for a new brand with excellent customer service and strong science may find that Life Extension fills their supplement needs. With their heavily scientific focus, those who are otherwise skeptical of supplements (based on ingredients or lack of mandatory testing) could also find their worries soothed by Life Extensions up-front policies and detail-heavy pages. Its easy to go down long, winding roads reading through Life Extensions various pages.

Despite being so scientific, Life Extension takes the time to break down their science thoroughly and with minimal jargon. Its clear that this organization was founded in part by a science journalist.

As with all supplements, if youre taking any medications or have any medical conditions, consult with your doctor before beginning a new supplement. There are lots of interactions between supplements and medications, some of which can be fatal. Vitamin K can reduce the effectiveness of blood thinners, for example, and kava can cause liver damage. Supplements are not substitutes for conventional medications, as they cannot cure, diagnose, prevent, or otherwise treat diseases.

Lab tests are only available in the continental United States (except for Maryland) and Anchorage, Alaska. If you live in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, or Massachusetts, you will have to go through your preferred medical providers blood-testing lab rather than LabCorp.

Life Extensions catalog

A vast majority of Life Extensions products are supplements. There isnt an option to peruse all of their vitamins and supplements at once, but there are several smaller ways you can break down their catalog. You can search by type of product, which includes:

Shop Supplements

You can also sort by health goal, including:

There is a lot of overlap between categories. Some supplements can be found in multiple categories with different purposes, but for the most part, each category has five to fifteen distinct supplements specific to the aim of the category. Every page includes a short quiz for you to take, which judges your current health background and health goals and then recommends products for you.

A vast majority of these are softgels or vegetarian capsules, meaning they are specifically designed to break down quickly in the body for apt absorption. The sizes and doses found in each bottle depend on the supplement itself. Every supplement is sold in counts of 30, up to 300 pills per bottle. A few supplements offer multiple doses or sizes, but most only come in one dose and size.

Insider Tip: Based on our testing, we would recommend opting for supplements that dont arrive in tablet form. Tablets generally make it harder for your body to absorb the nutrients, and Life Extensions tablets did not disintegrate in our lab tests nearly as thoroughly or quickly as competitors tablets. Sticking with softgels or capsules is more reliable.

You can buy bottles either individually or in a multipack bundle with four bottles at a slightly discounted price.

Aside from supplemental vitamins and minerals, Life Extension offers a limited catalog of edible products. These are specifically from the Life Extension brand and focus much more on potential health benefits than other supplement companies that also sell diet products. These include:

If youre looking for supplements to add to your weight loss or athletic regimen, Life Extension also has nine different diet and weight loss supplements. For the most part, these are supplements that promote satiety, decrease appetite, and encourage the breakdown of stored fat with mostly scientifically proven ingredients. There are no products with popular but unproven ingredients.

Shop Supplements

Life Extension also offers a handful of products for skin, nails, hair, and oral care. These include supplements like collagen and biotin and probiotic lozenges for both throat health and overall oral health.

Surprisingly, Life Extension has a robust catalog of skincare products akin to something youd see in a mainstream skincare brand. They offer:

Many of these products are aimed at those who are on the older side of things. Given their history and original goals of eradicating aging and preventing death, this makes sense: protect your skin as well as your insides from the sands of time. These products have common, proven ingredients to help your skin flourish, such as hyaluronic acid and vitamin C.

If youre not sure what your skin needs, Life Extension also offers a quiz to dive deeper into your current skincare routine (if you have one) and your overall skin needs. It recommends products for you based on your results so you can dive into your own testing experience.

Not sure if Fido or Fluffys food is giving them the right nutrients? Life Extension has your furry friends back, too, with a mix of advanced multi-nutrient formulas for both dogs and cats. Both dog mix and cat mix are sold in 100-gram bottles for easy addition over the top of your pets normal food. They contain dozens of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, and probiotics not common in pet food but essential to their overall health. In other words, they help provide things your pet might otherwise be missing.

These pet care supplements are well-balanced mixes for adult pets who are average-sized. Life Extension recommends their serving sizes for six- to nine-pound cats and approximately 30-pound dogs, so scale accordingly if your pet is larger or smaller than that.

If youre going to optimize your health, it helps to know where youre starting. Life Extension offers the opportunity to order virtually any lab test that the popular brand LabCorp offers. Thats 230 tests in every form:

You can do blood tests at home if they are finger-prick tests, but larger blood tests must be done in any of LabCorps blood labs. Most of these labs are walk-in, but you can make an appointment for yourself on LabCorps website to save yourself some time as people with appointments get prioritized. With over 2,000 locations around the United States, youll be able to find a location near you.

Because youre ordering these tests through Life Extension, you cannot pay with insurance. Costs can get prohibitively expensive, but if you dont need to test your allergies by season or a complete blood youth panel (which costs over $800), you can find tests for single vitamins or biomarkers for as low as $20.

After you get your test results back through Life Extension, they recommend you call their Wellness Specialist line to review your results and answer any questions. However, if you have a primary medical provider, we recommend you let them know of your results so that they have a complete picture of your medical health.

Life Extension offers a monthly magazine that you can subscribe to through their site. This magazine is designed to keep you up to date like a blog, giving information about organic food and fitness alongside their standard science-heavy information. They list scientific study results relevant to their services from the past month and innovative treatment protocols and medical findings. Each magazine is about 100 pages long and is accessible both in hard copy and PDF.

If its your first time checking out the LE Magazine, you can get the latest issue for free without a subscription. You can either order this to your home as a physical copy or download it as a PDF. As such, there is never any cost to read the magazine. Just be sure to save it every month so you can stay up to date.

Disease Prevention and Treatment

Life Extension very literally wrote the book on using vitamins and supplements to improve your health. First launched in 1997, Disease Prevention and Treatment is now in its sixth edition and is offered online for sale. It is one of the most comprehensive textbooks available for disease treatment and management. A hard copy of the most recent edition costs $59.95 through Life Extensions site but can be found for much less elsewhere.

This textbook is immense, with over 1,600 pages on uncommon strategies and innovative approaches to improving health and disease outcomes. The book claims that procedures using their supplements can cure diseases such as cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and neurological disorders, implying that this information is hidden from the mainstream. They back up many of their 131 treatment protocols with scientific studies and aim to have the most comprehensive and recent guide to self-protection.

However, Disease Prevention and Treatment has also run into some problems with the FDA. In their 2017 letter to Life Extension, the FDA mentions that the book suggests brain tumors can be cured with specific Life Extension diet and nutritional supplements (alongside the medical oncology standard of care). This assumption of curability seems to be a trend among care suggestions in the book.

Keep in mind that all claims of treating, curing, mitigating, or preventing disease with supplements cannot be verified because we dont yet have the verifiable scientific knowledge to know if its true, despite the scientific studies they leverage. If you have concerns about specific medical issues or symptoms you are experiencing, talk first with your preferred medical provider. Life Extensions processes may work for you but clear it first to ensure the best possible outcome for your health.

Health and Wellness Market

Life Extension has one retail location in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Their Health and Wellness Market has several components:

Events at the lecture hall happen occasionally but never without lots of advertising and the potential of joining clinical research studies at the market.

The grocery store carries other brands of supplements and health foods beyond Life Extension, including Jarrow, Garden of Life, Nutiva, and Bobs Red Mill. If youd like to order a blood test through LabCorp, you can have it done there. While you might not get your results the same day, they have Wellness Specialists on location. You can bring any of your Life Extension results in, and theyll gladly sit down with you to help interpret your results.

Currently, the Health and Wellness Market is available by appointment over the phone only. It is open:

The LabCorp lab has more limited hours, closing at 2:00 PM on weekdays and 1:30 PM on Saturdays, and is closed on Sundays.

Science of Life Extensions supplements

Breaking down Life Extensions scientific merit gets complicated fast. They appear extremely scientific and accurate from the outside, with extensive testing and high ratings from third parties. After all, the other half of Life Extension is the Life Extension Foundation, a long-standing research and testing organization.

There are frequent mentions of scientific studies on product pages without ever linking or citing them, but they also claim that they can predict or unlock things years in advance of mainstream sciences understanding. Some of this is legitimate, and some of it stretches the boundaries of truth a bit.

What this means for their products is that most have an inherently experimental edge. Life Extension takes pride in their ability to be groundbreaking, but they dont always acknowledge that experimental doesnt mean better, but no one wants you to know. Experimental simply means something new, whether its a known ingredient in a new application or a new formula altogether.

Thankfully, Life Extension makes their science clear. Virtually every page on the site has scientific information woven throughout, from product pages to blogs. A vast majority of their known-ingredient supplements are dosed properly based on daily intake recommendations, unlike some large supplement retailers.

Life Extension has repeatedly gotten in trouble for claiming that their products can cure or treat diseases, and we found some of this language still lingering on the site. They also offer headlines like 4 Reasons Why Everyone Should Take Our Amino Acids, which is troublesome simply because supplements are a deeply personal health matter. Not every vitamin or supplement will work for every person, despite what their advertising might say.

Life Extension also offers a blog for science news and health news. The Health News blog is small but posts new articles frequently. These articles go into some detail on anti-aging, nutrition, and vitamins. Each piece is written by experts and scientifically reviewed by medical professionals, much like our own. A typical article goes through a recent scientific study, breaking it down into easy-to-understand language and then explaining how that might apply to you and how you could apply those findings to your life.

For example, one article discusses a study on how better diet quality correlates to decelerated biological aging, specifically a DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet that discourages the intake of processed foods. Though it has a punchy title, the article itself is clearly written and includes a list of their references for all to see. This transparency of outside research isnt something you see throughout most of the site, so its a handy look into Life Extensions processes.

There are also consumer alerts, which provide links to short articles on topics that may impact your rights to purchase substances that Life Extension sells. However, the most recent consumer alerts were in October 2019, with only seven articles in the current section, which dates back to 2015.

The navigation for their scientific research page is not particularly clear. They have multiple landing pages that look different, but all link to the same thing; it appears as though theres a newsletter you can subscribe to, but clicking the link just takes you back to the blog.

Do Life Extensions tablets disintegrate?

For any pill or supplement to work, it needs to both disintegrate (crumble into small pieces) and dissolve (combine with liquid) after its been taken. The rate of disintegration and dissolution depends on the supplement, how soluble it is, the ingredients, and hundreds of other factors. However, the fact still stands: your body cant use a supplement if it isnt absorbed into the bloodstream before being excreted. Tablets, or hard pills, are notorious for not disintegrating or dissolving correctly, as other forms have specific mechanisms built in to help.

There is no formal federal testing agency for verifying whether or not supplements actually work. Instead, we took matters into our own hands and created an artificial stomach-like environment to test some of Life Extensions most popular tablet supplements for proper disintegration. This allows our testing team to check Life Extensions disintegration quality.

Our testers received their boxes of product in Life Extension branded cardboard packaging with inspirational quotes on the inside folds. The bottles themselves were packed tightly and efficiently with Life Extension branded tissue paper and appeared to have been packed with care.

None of the supplements we tested fully disintegrated over the course of our experiment. Some mostly disintegrated but left a full-length sliver of material by the end; some barely began flaking when the experiment was over. Considering Life Extension promotes consistent, high-quality testing, we were truly surprised by these results. These findings mean that there is a chance that these supplements may not be adequately absorbed by your body when you take them. Based on our testing, we would recommend opting for supplements that dont arrive in tablet form.

Life Extension is relatively middle-of-the-road when it comes to how much youll have to pay for their products. While not horribly expensive, they arent necessarily cheap either. A majority of their supplements cost between $10 and $30 for a single bottle, though they can cost as much as $75 or as little as $4. Of course, these bottles also have anywhere between 30 and 300 capsules, so in some cases, you can get a lot more product for a lot less money.

Their other major product LabCorp blood, saliva, breath, urine, and fecal tests is considerably more expensive across the board. These can cost between $20 and over $800, depending on the size of the panel and what you are hoping to have tested. While there arent any observable trends between the testing methods, tests for single vitamins or biomarkers cost around $47. Panel tests, or those which look at more than one element of your health, sit around $150. The more complex the test, the more it will cost.

If you know youll be purchasing the same product from them repeatedly, it might be worth it to sign up for an autoship subscription. Autoship will get your product shipped to you in monthly intervals without having to reorder it, with the bonus of free shipping. They will always update your order to automatically pay the lowest price possible and have the most recent formulations.

If you know youll be shopping from Life Extension regularly, they offer a paid rewards program called Premier Rewards. After paying an annual $49.95 subscription fee, youll unlock:

Youll also receive a one-time $50 credit to your account to offset the first years subscription fee. Every purchase you make will add LE Dollars to your account, where every dollar spent is a dollar added. You can then redeem these LE Dollars to use on other Life Extension products.

Premier Rewards are also available internationally for a slightly higher $59.95. However, not every perk is available in every country, so make sure that youll be able to get what you want before registering.

If you arent interested in the Premier Rewards program, every purchase you make with an account will still earn 2% of the orders cost in LE Dollars with every purchase.

Life Extension offers two platforms to contact customer support: phone and in-browser chat.

Originally posted here:
Life Extension Reviews | Everything You Need To Know - Innerbody

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Shop around to find a promo code of your choice and copy it.

Visit the website and choose the desired products.

Go to the cart page and locate the Discount code field under your order summary.

Paste the promo code youve copied, and enjoy the discount.

Make sure you want to redeem a deal thats valid

Correct the formatting of the code you pasted if necessary

Check if the discount comes with minimum order amount requirements and meet them if you havent already

Sometimes coupons apply for specific items, so ensure youve added them to your order

If you cant find any available Life Extension discount codes, theres a chance that expired ones can do the trick. Its not always possible, but sometimes expired coupons can still be redeemed. Another option is to shop in their sale section.

Currently, its possible to redeem only one Life Extension coupon per order. In other words, theres no combining coupons policy.

At present, they dont have a physical store. So, you cant redeem Life Extension online coupons.

There are endless saving opportunities on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, after thorough research, we couldnt find available offers from Life Extension during these events.

Fortunately, you can avail yourself of great discounts when shopping at Life Extension during public holidays. Previous offers have been launched on Labor Day, the 4th of July, and Memorial Day. Their last promotions have included between $10 and 40$ savings on purchases of over $75 and $250, respectively, on Labor Day. This years Independence Day sale came with up to $45 off orders of over $250. The latest Life Extension Memorial Day sale offered $10 off $100+, $25 off purchases $200+, and $45 off orders $300+.

Shopping at Life Extension on seasonal events comes with plenty of deep discounts. Fathers and Mothers Day come with offers of between 40% and 60% off, respectively. Also, Life Extension launches annual clearance sales, available in the Summer. The beginning of the year comes with a Flash sale at Life Extension. Valid one day only, you can enjoy $50 off orders of over $350. There is also a Christmas sale. Life Extensions latest Christmas event included between $10 and $65 saving options on orders of over $100 or $450. Stay tuned for other promos the day after Christmas. Additionally, the retailer launches a Top picks sale several times a year. You can find their top picks at up to 60% off and get free shipping.

Theres a permanent sale section on the Life Extension website. There, you can find vitamins and supplements at between 25% and 70% off their regular price.

Theres no permanent free shipping available at Life Extension. That said, they often launch promotions where you can get free shipping. You can also redeem coupons to get your products without having to pay shipping fees. Otherwise, shipping charges start from $5.50.

The Life Extension rewards program, called Life Extension Premier, comes with intriguing perks. It costs only $49.95 a year, but you receive an immediate credit of $50 upon enrolling. You also get free unlimited shipping and 4% back on purchases, expressed in LE Dollars. They can be redeemed on your next order. There are other premium perks, including gifts, premium content, prompt notifications on upcoming sales, and rewards for participating in surveys.

At present, there is no available Life Extension app discount. That is due to the fact that they have not launched an app yet.

Up to now, Life Extension hasnt adopted a military discount policy. You can always pay a visit to their websites Terms of Use page for updates.

Students cant avail of special discounts at Life Extension. You can sign up for

our newsletter, and well inform you if that changes.

Currently, there are no sign-up offers available in the Life Extension newsletter. Still, signing up will get you notified promptly about different promotions and health and nutrition news.

Sometimes, Life Extension launches first-order promo codes. Customers can get $5 to $10 off on their first order, plus free shipping.

Theres a refer-a-friend policy available at Life Extension. You can receive $10 LE Dollars for every friend you successfully refer.

Under the Life Extension return policy, shoppers can return products they are dissatisfied with within 12 months of the purchase date. You can receive a replacement or refund. Contact their customer service for details.

Customers can make payments at Life Extension using different payment options. They accept the following credit cards: Visa, American Express, and Mastercard. You can also pay via PayPal, Klarna, or bank transfer.

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$40 Off Life Extension Coupon January 2023 - CNET Coupons

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Two women have won the Nobel prize in chemistry for the development of a revolutionary gene editing tool thats been described as rewriting the code of life.

The technique discovered by Emmanuelle Charpentier, the director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, and Jennifer A. Doudna, a biochemist at the University of California Berkeley, is known as CRISPR/Cas9.

It hit the headlines in 2018 when a Chinese scientist used the technology to create the first gene-edited babies, shocking the world and sparking a highly charged ethical debate about its use.

What is CRISPR (pronounced crisper) and why has it been controversial?

DNA is like the instruction manual for life on our planet, and CRISPR/Cas9 can target sites in genetic material.

This allows scientists to change it by knocking out a particular gene or inserting new genetic material at a predetermined site in our DNA.

Cas9, a type of modified protein, acts like a pair of scissors that can snip parts of DNA strands. CRISPR stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats a repeated DNA sequence in genomes.

Doudna and Charpentier showed that CRISPR works like a pair of scissors that can be targeted to cut specific DNA sequences, said Andrew Holland, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. After cutting, the repair of the DNA code enables it to be altered. This has allowed scientists to change the DNA code in a targeted way to help understand and treat genetic disease, he told CNN via email.

The technology has worked in pretty much every organism that it has been used on, including plants, microbes and humans.

What the system does is that it can recognize (a) certain specific gene in the genome of ourselves and correct mutations, do some copy pasting, do some editing like we edit a text. The system can edit the genome and change the properties of the genes, Charpentier said in 2016 when she was interviewed by CNN.

It is already having a major impact on biomedical research, clinical medicine and agriculture. For example, its been used to grow rice that accumulates lower levels of potentially toxic heavy metals and create livestock with more desirable traits.

It was used for the first time in humans in 2016 and a trial is underway in the United States to use the experimental technology to treat a dozen patients with sickle cell disease, a group of inherited blood disorders.

Related technologies may be able to potentially correct up to 89% of genetic defects, scientists have said.

Its not an exaggeration to say that the technology that arose from Doudna and Charpentiers discoveries has revolutionized the field, Jessica Downs, the deputy head of the Division of Cancer Biology at the Institute of Cancer Research in the UK, told the Science Media Centre in London.

We adopted the technology in our lab to investigate molecular changes that lead to cancer development. Its been transformative in terms of what we can achieve, but there is also great potential for using this technology in the clinic. And on a more personal level, its inspiring and uplifting to see two women honored for their work in this way.

While it has immense potential to transform our lives, the technology has raised many ethical questions.

Chinese scientist He Jiankui was jailed for three years in 2019 after announcing that twin girls had been born with modified DNA to make them resistant to HIV, which he had managed using the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 before birth.

An associate professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen at the time, he said that he was proud of the achievement. But he was condemned by many of his peers, with the experiment labeled monstrous, unethical and a huge blow to the reputation of Chinese biomedical research.

Claes Gustafsson, secretary of the Nobel committee in chemistry and a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Stockholm University, said that with every really powerful technology, in life sciences or elsewhere, theres a possibility of misuse.

Clearly this Chinese researcher was way out of line in applying it in this particular way, he told CNN.

Everyone has agreed that it cannot be used for germline engineering. You cant make heritable changes to human DNA. That is far too uncertain at this point, added Gustafsson. There are specific genetic diseases you can think of curing for the individual but not in a heritable way.

Scientists have called for a moratorium on human germline editing, while efforts are being made to better regulate use of the technology. An international commission said in September it was too early for gene-edited human embryos to be used to create a pregnancy.

Doudna has expressed deep concern about Hes work, telling CNN it was not medically necessary and there was no way to defend using an experimental technology when there were established ways of avoiding HIV transmission.

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What is CRISPR and why is it controversial? | CNN

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CRISPR, in full clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, short palindromic repeating sequences of DNA, found in most bacterial genomes, that are interrupted by so-called spacer elements, or spacerssequences of genetic code derived from the genomes of previously encountered bacterial pathogens. CRISPR elements are found naturally in many bacteria and archaea, where they provide a sort of genetic memory, enabling the cells to efficiently detect and destroy pathogens, particularly viruses known as bacteriophages.

As a naturally occurring adaptive defense system, CRISPR functions by destroying nucleic acids from pathogens that invade the cell. The effectiveness and efficiency of CRISPR immunity is directly linked to the presence of spacer elements. Spacer elements essentially are recognition sequences that match sequences inpathogen genomes; as spacers from newly encountered pathogens are added to the bacterial genome, the cell gains the ability to recognize those pathogens on repeat encounters. Most new spacer elements are inserted only at one end of the CRISPR region; hence, across the length of the CRISPR region exists a record of pathogens that have been encountered by the cell and its ancestors over time. Less often, spacers are added in other places in a process called ectopic integration.

The CRISPR system works by producing small guide RNA sequences that correspond to specific DNA targets. Guide RNAs, generated via transcription of the CRISPR region,include hairpin formations, derived from the palindromic repeats, that are linked to sequencesderivedfrom the spacer elements. When guide RNAs bind to their DNA targets, an RNA-DNA heteroduplex is formed. The heteroduplex binds to a nuclease called CRISPR-associated (Cas), which catalyzes the cleavage of double-stranded DNA at a position near the junction of the target-specific sequence and the palindromic repeat in the guide RNA. In this way, the nuclease destroys invading pathogenic genomes.

CRISPR interacts with multiple Cas proteins as part of the defense response, and thus there are distinct CRISPR-Cas defense systems. The three major systems are type I, type II, and type III. The type I system is defined by the presence of Cas3 protein. Cas3 forms part of the so-called CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense (or Cascade) -like complex, which binds a guide RNA and identifies the target sequence for destruction. The type II system is based on the presence of several proteins, namely Cas1, Cas2, Cas9, and, in some cases, Cas4. The Cas9 protein is considered a signature element of the type II system, owing to its essential role in facilitating cellular adaptation to new pathogens and to its participation in RNA processing and cleaving of target DNA. The signature protein of the type III system is Cas10. The type III system differs from its two counterparts in that, in addition to targeting DNA, it identifies RNA targets.

The high sequence specificity of the CRISPR system has drawn significant interest in the field of gene editing. The functional precision of CRISPR allows researchers to remove and insert DNA in desired locations within a genome, making it possible to correct genetic defects in animals and to modify DNA sequences in embryonicstem cells. These types of sequence corrections and alterations are possible because RNA-DNA heteroduplexes are stable and because designing an RNA sequence that binds specifically to a unique target DNA sequence is based simply on the Watson-Crickbase-pairingrules (adenine binds to thymine [or uracil in RNA], and cytosine binds to guanine).

The possibility of using CRISPR as a gene-editing technology was recognized in 2012 by American scientistJennifer Doudna, French scientistEmmanuelle Charpentier, and colleagues. These researchers discovered that guide RNAs produced by CRISPR bind to nucleases, which then target particular DNA sequences, and that such RNAs could be modified to bind to a desired sequence. The researchers found that the type II CRISPR-Cas9 system was especially versatile for correcting or altering desired target sequences. Doudna and Charpentier shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work.

In 2015 American scientistFeng Zhang and colleagues developed a new version of CRISPR technology using the microbial nuclease CRISPR from Prevotella and Francisella 1 (Cpf1) in place of Cas9. Unlike Cas9, Cpf1 requires only a single CRISPR guide RNA for specificity and introduces staggered (rather than blunt) cuts in double-stranded DNA, which in certain instances can give greater control over the modification of target DNA sequences. Zhang and colleagues subsequently developed multiple other CRISPR gene-editing tools, including CRISPR-Cas13 systems, which target RNA.

CRISPR gene-editing technology has a wide array of research and medical applications. For example, in the laboratory, CRISPR systems can be used to modify genes in bacteria and in animal and plant models, enabling researchers to gain new understanding of the effects of genetic modification. Although preexisting genetic engineering technologies have allowed researchers to investigate various types of genetic modifications and alterations for decades, CRISPR is less costly, more efficient, and more reliable.

In addition, different CRISPR-based therapies are being explored in clinical trials for the treatment of certain human diseases. Some examples include novel treatments for diabetes; for sickle cell disease; for cancers of blood-forming tissues, such as multiple myeloma, leukemia,and lymphoma; for chronic infectious diseases, such as AIDS; and for a form of inherited impairment in vision known as Leber congenital amaurosis. Investigations of CRISPR-based therapies in humans are helping to shed light on how DNA alterations induced by CRISPR enzymes affect cells, on how the human immune system responds to CRISPR-derived interventions, and on risks associated with unwanted off-target alterations in DNA.

The ability to easily and accurately edit genes using CRISPR technology has raised significant ethical issues. In particular, CRISPR can be used to modify DNA sequences in embryonicstem cells, such as in germ-line (spermandegg) genome modification in humans. Critics point out that this ability, applied to embryos in the womb, may be used to improve traits such as intelligence, appearance, and athletic ability, potentially introducing permanent changes in human DNA. The generation of such designer babies sparked debates about the morality of tampering with human development and the ethics of who would have access to the technology. The worlds first gene-edited human babies were born in late 2018 in China; the infants, twin girls, carried an edited gene that reduced the risk of HIV infection.

Following the birth of gene-edited babies, some medical and bioethics researchers, including Charpentier, called for a moratorium on editing human genes in eggs, sperm, or embryos. They contend that because there remain many unknowns about the technology, scientists may unintentionally introduce as many genetic errors as they attempt to fix. Nonetheless, critics argue that CRISPR technology is a remarkable achievement with significant potential to improve human health, although under rigorously controlled conditions.

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CRISPR | Description, Technology, Uses, & Ethical Concerns

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Relationships between endocrine and neural regulation

Hormonal regulation is closely related to that exerted by the nervous system, and the two processes have generally been distinguished by the rate at which each causes effects, the duration of these effects, and their extent; i.e., the effects of endocrine regulation may be slow to develop but prolonged in influence and widely distributed through the body, whereas nervous regulation is typically concerned with quick responses that are of brief duration and localized in their effects. Advances in knowledge, however, have modified these distinctions.

Nerve cells are secretory, for responses to the nerve impulses that they propagate depend upon the production of chemical transmitter substances, or neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine and norepinephrine (noradrenaline), which are liberated at nerve endings in minute amounts and have only a momentary action. It has been established, however, that certain specialized nerve cells, called neurosecretory cells, can translate neural signals into chemical stimuli by producing secretions called neurohormones. These secretions, which are often polypeptides (compounds similar to proteins but composed of fewer amino acids), pass along nerve-cell extensions, or axons, and are typically released into the bloodstream at special regions called neurohemal organs, where the axon endings are in close contact with blood capillaries. Once released in this way, neurohormones function in principle similar to hormones that are transmitted in the bloodstream and are synthesized in the endocrine glands.

The distinctions between neural and endocrine regulation, no longer as clear-cut as they once seemed to be, are further weakened by the fact that neurosecretory nerve endings are sometimes so close to their target cells that vascular transmission is not necessary. There is good evidence that hormonal regulation occurs by diffusion in plants and (although here the evidence is largely indirect) in lower animals (e.g., coelenterates), which lack a vascular system.

Hormones have a long evolutionary history, knowledge of which is important if their properties and functions are to be understood. Many important features of the vertebrate endocrine system, for example, are present in the lampreys and hagfishes, modern representatives of the primitively jawless vertebrates (Agnatha), and these features were presumably present in fossil ancestors that lived more than 500 million years ago. The evolution of the endocrine system in the more advanced vertebrates with jaws (Gnathostomata) has involved both the appearance of new hormones and the further evolution of some of those already present in agnathans; in addition, extensive specialization of target organs has occurred to permit new patterns of response.

The factors involved in the first appearance of the various hormones is largely a matter for conjecture, although hormones clearly are only one mechanism for chemical regulation, diverse forms of which are found in living things at all stages of development. Other mechanisms for chemical regulation include chemical substances (so-called organizer substances) that regulate early embryonic development and the pheromones that are released by social insects as sex attractants and regulators of the social organization. Perhaps, in some instances, chemical regulators including hormones appeared first as metabolic by-products. A few such substances are known in physiological regulation: carbon dioxide, for example, is involved in the regulation of the respiratory activity of which it is a product, in insects as well as in vertebrates. Substances such as carbon dioxide are called parahormones to distinguish them from true hormones, which are specialized secretions.

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Hormone | Definition, Function, & Types | Britannica

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Biological signalling molecule

A hormone (from the Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior.[1] Hormones are required for the correct development of animals, plants and fungi. Due to the broad definition of a hormone (as a signaling molecule that exerts its effects far from its site of production), numerous kinds of molecules can be classified as hormones. Among the substances that can be considered hormones, are eicosanoids (e.g. prostaglandins and thromboxanes), steroids (e.g. oestrogen and brassinosteroid), amino acid derivatives (e.g. epinephrine and auxin), protein or peptides (e.g. insulin and CLE peptides), and gases (e.g. ethylene and nitric oxide).

Hormones are used to communicate between organs and tissues. In vertebrates, hormones are responsible for regulating a variety of physiological processes and behavioral activities such as digestion, metabolism, respiration, sensory perception, sleep, excretion, lactation, stress induction, growth and development, movement, reproduction, and mood manipulation.[2][3] In plants, hormones modulate almost all aspects of development, from germination to senescence.[4]

Hormones affect distant cells by binding to specific receptor proteins in the target cell, resulting in a change in cell function. When a hormone binds to the receptor, it results in the activation of a signal transduction pathway that typically activates gene transcription, resulting in increased expression of target proteins. Hormones can also act in non-genomic pathways that synergize with genomic effects.[5] Water-soluble hormones (such as peptides and amines) generally act on the surface of target cells via second messengers. Lipid soluble hormones, (such as steroids) generally pass through the plasma membranes of target cells (both cytoplasmic and nuclear) to act within their nuclei. Brassinosteroids, a type of polyhydroxysteroids, are a sixth class of plant hormones and may be useful as an anticancer drug for endocrine-responsive tumors to cause apoptosis and limit plant growth. Despite being lipid soluble, they nevertheless attach to their receptor at the cell surface.[6]

In vertebrates, endocrine glands are specialized organs that secrete hormones into the endocrine signaling system. Hormone secretion occurs in response to specific biochemical signals and is often subject to negative feedback regulation. For instance, high blood sugar (serum glucose concentration) promotes insulin synthesis. Insulin then acts to reduce glucose levels and maintain homeostasis, leading to reduced insulin levels. Upon secretion, water-soluble hormones are readily transported through the circulatory system. Lipid-soluble hormones must bond to carrier plasma glycoproteins (e.g., thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG)) to form ligand-protein complexes. Some hormones, such as insulin and growth hormones, can be released into the bloodstream already fully active. Other hormones, called prohormones, must be activated in certain cells through a series of steps that are usually tightly controlled.[7] The endocrine system secretes hormones directly into the bloodstream, typically via fenestrated capillaries, whereas the exocrine system secretes its hormones indirectly using ducts. Hormones with paracrine function diffuse through the interstitial spaces to nearby target tissue.

Plants lack specialized organs for the secretion of hormones, although there is spatial distribution of hormone production. For example, the hormone auxin is produced mainly at the tips of young leaves and in the shoot apical meristem. The lack of specialised glands means that the main site of hormone production can change throughout the life of a plant, and the site of production is dependent on the plant's age and environment.[8]

Hormonal signaling involves the following steps:[9]

Hormone producing cells are found in the endocrine glands, such as the thyroid gland, ovaries, and testes.[10] Exocytosis and other methods of membrane transport are used to secrete hormones when the endocrine glands are signaled. The hierarchical model is an oversimplification of the hormonal signaling process. Cellular recipients of a particular hormonal signal may be one of several cell types that reside within a number of different tissues, as is the case for insulin, which triggers a diverse range of systemic physiological effects. Different tissue types may also respond differently to the same hormonal signal.[citation needed]

Arnold Adolph Berthold was a German physiologist and zoologist, who, in 1849, had a question about the function of the testes. He noticed in castrated roosters that they did not have the same sexual behaviors as roosters with their testes intact. He decided to run an experiment on male roosters to examine this phenomenon. He kept a group of roosters with their testes intact, and saw that they had normal sized wattles and combs (secondary sexual organs), a normal crow, and normal sexual and aggressive behaviors. He also had a group with their testes surgically removed, and noticed that their secondary sexual organs were decreased in size, had a weak crow, did not have sexual attraction towards females, and were not aggressive. He realized that this organ was essential for these behaviors, but he did not know how. To test this further, he removed one testis and placed it in the abdominal cavity. The roosters acted and had normal physical anatomy. He was able to see that location of the testes does not matter. He then wanted to see if it was a genetic factor that was involved in the testes that provided these functions. He transplanted a testis from another rooster to a rooster with one testis removed, and saw that they had normal behavior and physical anatomy as well. Berthold determined that the location or genetic factors of the testes do not matter in relation to sexual organs and behaviors, but that some chemical in the testes being secreted is causing this phenomenon. It was later identified that this factor was the hormone testosterone.[11][12]

Although known primarily for his work on the Theory of Evolution, Charles Darwin was also keenly interested in plants. Through the 1870s, he and his son Francis studied the movement of plants towards light. They were able to show that light is perceived at the tip of a young stem (the coleoptile), whereas the bending occurs lower down the stem. They proposed that a 'transmissible substance' communicated the direction of light from the tip down to the stem. The idea of a 'transmissible substance' was initially dismissed by other plant biologists, but their work later led to the discovery of the first plant hormone.[13] In the 1920s Dutch scientist Frits Warmolt Went and Russian scientist Nikolai Cholodny (working independently of each other) conclusively showed that asymmetric accumulation of a growth hormone was responsible for this bending. In 1933 this hormone was finally isolated by Kgl, Haagen-Smit and Erxleben and given the name 'auxin'.[13][14][15]

British physician George Oliver` and physiologist Edward Albert Schfer, professor at University College London, collaborated on the physiological effects of adrenal extracts. They first published their findings in two reports in 1894, a full publication followed in 1895.[16][17] Though frequently falsely attributed to secretin, found in 1902 by Bayliss and Starling, Oliver and Schfer's adrenal extract containing adrenaline, the substance causing the physiological changes, was the first hormone to be discovered. The term hormone would later be coined by Starling.[18]

William Bayliss and Ernest Starling, a physiologist and biologist, respectively, wanted to see if the nervous system had an impact on the digestive system. They knew that the pancreas was involved in the secretion of digestive fluids after the passage of food from the stomach to the intestines, which they believed to be due to the nervous system. They cut the nerves to the pancreas in an animal model and discovered that it was not nerve impulses that controlled secretion from the pancreas. It was determined that a factor secreted from the intestines into the bloodstream was stimulating the pancreas to secrete digestive fluids. This was named secretin: a hormone.

Hormonal effects are dependent on where they are released, as they can be released in different manners.[19] Not all hormones are released from a cell and into the blood until it binds to a receptor on a target. The major types of hormone signaling are:

As hormones are defined functionally, not structurally, they may have diverse chemical structures. Hormones occur in multicellular organisms (plants, animals, fungi, brown algae, and red algae). These compounds occur also in unicellular organisms, and may act as signaling molecules however there is no agreement that these molecules can be called hormones.[20][21]

Compared with vertebrates, insects and crustaceans possess a number of structurally unusual hormones such as the juvenile hormone, a sesquiterpenoid.[23]

Examples include abscisic acid, auxin, cytokinin, ethylene, and gibberellin.[24]

Most hormones initiate a cellular response by initially binding to either cell membrane associated or intracellular receptors. A cell may have several different receptor types that recognize the same hormone but activate different signal transduction pathways, or a cell may have several different receptors that recognize different hormones and activate the same biochemical pathway.[25]

Receptors for most peptide as well as many eicosanoid hormones are embedded in the plasma membrane at the surface of the cell and the majority of these receptors belong to the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) class of seven alpha helix transmembrane proteins. The interaction of hormone and receptor typically triggers a cascade of secondary effects within the cytoplasm of the cell, described as signal transduction, often involving phosphorylation or dephosphorylation of various other cytoplasmic proteins, changes in ion channel permeability, or increased concentrations of intracellular molecules that may act as secondary messengers (e.g., cyclic AMP). Some protein hormones also interact with intracellular receptors located in the cytoplasm or nucleus by an intracrine mechanism.[26][27]

For steroid or thyroid hormones, their receptors are located inside the cell within the cytoplasm of the target cell. These receptors belong to the nuclear receptor family of ligand-activated transcription factors. To bind their receptors, these hormones must first cross the cell membrane. They can do so because they are lipid-soluble. The combined hormone-receptor complex then moves across the nuclear membrane into the nucleus of the cell, where it binds to specific DNA sequences, regulating the expression of certain genes, and thereby increasing the levels of the proteins encoded by these genes.[28] However, it has been shown that not all steroid receptors are located inside the cell. Some are associated with the plasma membrane.[29]

Hormones have the following effects on the body:[30]

A hormone may also regulate the production and release of other hormones. Hormone signals control the internal environment of the body through homeostasis.

The rate of hormone biosynthesis and secretion is often regulated by a homeostatic negative feedback control mechanism. Such a mechanism depends on factors that influence the metabolism and excretion of hormones. Thus, higher hormone concentration alone cannot trigger the negative feedback mechanism. Negative feedback must be triggered by overproduction of an "effect" of the hormone.[31][32]

Hormone secretion can be stimulated and inhibited by:

One special group of hormones is the tropic hormones that stimulate the hormone production of other endocrine glands. For example, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) causes growth and increased activity of another endocrine gland, the thyroid, which increases output of thyroid hormones.[33]

To release active hormones quickly into the circulation, hormone biosynthetic cells may produce and store biologically inactive hormones in the form of pre- or prohormones. These can then be quickly converted into their active hormone form in response to a particular stimulus.[33]

Eicosanoids are considered to act as local hormones. They are considered to be "local" because they possess specific effects on target cells close to their site of formation. They also have a rapid degradation cycle, making sure they do not reach distant sites within the body.[34]

Hormones are also regulated by receptor agonists. Hormones are ligands, which are any kinds of molecules that produce a signal by binding to a receptor site on a protein. Hormone effects can be inhibited, thus regulated, by competing ligands that bind to the same target receptor as the hormone in question. When a competing ligand is bound to the receptor site, the hormone is unable to bind to that site and is unable to elicit a response from the target cell. These competing ligands are called antagonists of the hormone.[35]

Many hormones and their structural and functional analogs are used as medication. The most commonly prescribed hormones are estrogens and progestogens (as methods of hormonal contraception and as HRT),[36] thyroxine (as levothyroxine, for hypothyroidism) and steroids (for autoimmune diseases and several respiratory disorders). Insulin is used by many diabetics. Local preparations for use in otolaryngology often contain pharmacologic equivalents of adrenaline, while steroid and vitamin D creams are used extensively in dermatological practice.[citation needed]

A "pharmacologic dose" or "supraphysiological dose" of a hormone is a medical usage referring to an amount of a hormone far greater than naturally occurs in a healthy body. The effects of pharmacologic doses of hormones may be different from responses to naturally occurring amounts and may be therapeutically useful, though not without potentially adverse side effects. An example is the ability of pharmacologic doses of glucocorticoids to suppress inflammation.

At the neurological level, behavior can be inferred based on hormone concentration, which in turn are influenced by hormone-release patterns; the numbers and locations of hormone receptors; and the efficiency of hormone receptors for those involved in gene transcription. Hormone concentration does not incite behavior, as that would undermine other external stimuli; however, it influences the system by increasing the probability of a certain event to occur.[37]

Not only can hormones influence behavior, but also behavior and the environment can influence hormone concentration.[38] Thus, a feedback loop is formed, meaning behavior can affect hormone concentration, which in turn can affect behavior, which in turn can affect hormone concentration, and so on.[39] For example, hormone-behavior feedback loops are essential in providing constancy to episodic hormone secretion, as the behaviors affected by episodically secreted hormones directly prevent the continuous release of said hormones.[40]

Three broad stages of reasoning may be used to determine if a specific hormone-behavior interaction is present within a system:[citation needed]

There are various clear distinctions between hormones and neurotransmitters:[41][42][35]

Neurohormones are a type of hormone that share a commonality with neurotransmitters.[45] They are produced by endocrine cells that receive input from neurons, or neuroendocrine cells.[45] Both classic hormones and neurohormones are secreted by endocrine tissue; however, neurohormones are the result of a combination between endocrine reflexes and neural reflexes, creating a neuroendocrine pathway.[35] While endocrine pathways produce chemical signals in the form of hormones, the neuroendocrine pathway involves the electrical signals of neurons.[35] In this pathway, the result of the electrical signal produced by a neuron is the release of a chemical, which is the neurohormone.[35] Finally, like a classic hormone, the neurohormone is released into the bloodstream to reach its target.[35]

Hormone transport and the involvement of binding proteins is an essential aspect when considering the function of hormones.[citation needed]

The formation of a complex with a binding protein has several benefits: the effective half-life of the bound hormone is increased, and a reservoir of bound hormones is created, which evens the variations in concentration of unbound hormones (bound hormones will replace the unbound hormones when these are eliminated).[46] An example of the usage of hormone-binding proteins is in the thyroxine-binding protein which carries up to 80% of all thyroxine in the body, a crucial element in regulating the metabolic rate.[47]

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Hormone - Wikipedia

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What are hormones?

Hormones are chemicals that coordinate different functions in your body by carrying messages through your blood to your organs, skin, muscles and other tissues. These signals tell your body what to do and when to do it. Hormones are essential for life and your health.

Scientists have identified over 50 hormones in the human body so far.

Hormones and most of the tissues (mainly glands) that create and release them make up your endocrine system. Hormones control many different bodily processes, including:

With hormones, a little bit goes a long way. Because of this, minor changes in levels can cause significant changes to your body and lead to certain conditions that require medical treatment.

Hormones are chemical messengers that affect and manage hundreds of bodily processes. Often, a bodily process involves a chain reaction of several different hormones.

A hormone will only act on a part of your body if it fits if the cells in the target tissue have receptors that receive the message of the hormone. Think of a hormone as a key and the cells of its target tissue, such as an organ or fat tissue, as specially shaped locks. If the hormone fits the lock (receptor) on the cell wall, then itll work; the hormone will deliver a message that causes the target site to take a specific action.

Your body uses hormones for two types of communication. The first type is communication between two endocrine glands: One gland releases a hormone, which stimulates another gland to change the levels of hormones that its releasing. An example of this is the communication between your pituitary gland and thyroid. Your pituitary gland releases thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which triggers your thyroid gland to release its hormones, which then affect various aspects of your body.

The second type of communication is between an endocrine gland and a target organ. An example of this is when your pancreas releases insulin, which then acts on your muscles and liver to help process glucose.

Specialized glands that make up your endocrine system make and release most of the hormones in your body. A gland is an organ that makes one or more substances, such as hormones, digestive juices, sweat or tears. Endocrine glands release hormones directly into your bloodstream.

Your endocrine system consists of the following glands:

But not all organs and tissues that release hormones or hormone-like substances are considered part of the endocrine system. Other body tissues that release hormones include:

Your hypothalamus is a small region of your brain that connects to your pituitary gland through the pituitary stalk. It releases several hormones that control your pituitary gland.

Your hypothalamus makes the following hormones:

Your pituitary gland is a pea-sized gland at the base of your brain, behind the bridge of your nose and directly below your hypothalamus. It consists of two lobes: the posterior lobe and the anterior lobe. Your pituitary gland releases several hormones many of which control the functions of other endocrine glands.

The anterior pituitary makes and releases the following six hormones:

The posterior pituitary releases the following hormones:

Your pineal gland is a tiny gland in your brain thats located beneath the back part of the corpus callosum (nerve fibers that connect the two parts of your brain). It releases the hormone melatonin, which helps control your sleep-wake cycle.

Your thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland located at the front of your neck under your skin. Your thyroids main job is to control the speed of your metabolism (metabolic rate), which is the process of how your body transforms the food you consume into energy.

Your thyroid releases the following hormones:

Thyroxine and triiodothyronine are often collectively called thyroid hormone.

Most people have four pea-sized parathyroid glands located behind their thyroid gland (the butterfly-shaped gland in your neck). Sometimes, your parathyroid glands are located along your esophagus or in your chest. These are known as ectopic (in an abnormal place) parathyroid glands.

The main job of your parathyroid glands is to release parathyroid hormone (PTH), which is responsible for the calcium balance in your blood and bone health.

Your adrenal glands, also known as suprarenal glands, are small, triangle-shaped glands that are located on top of each of your two kidneys.

Your adrenal glands make the following hormones:

Your pancreas is an organ in the back of your abdomen (belly). Its part of your digestive system and endocrine system.

The islet cells (endocrine cells) in your pancreas make the following hormones:

People assigned female at birth (AFAB) have two ovaries each located on both sides of their uterus below the opening of the fallopian tubes. In addition to containing the egg cells necessary for reproduction, the ovaries produce the following hormones:

People assigned male at birth (AMAB) have two testes that hang in a pouch outside of their body below their penis. The testes are part of the male reproductive system and produce sperm and the hormone testosterone.

Adipose tissue is commonly known as body fat. Its located all over your body, including under your skin, around internal organs, between muscles, in bone marrow and breast tissue.

Adipose tissue makes and releases the following hormones:

Your kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that filter your blood. Theyre part of your urinary system, but they also produce hormones, including:

Your liver is an essential organ and gland, performing hundreds of functions necessary to sustain life. Its considered part of your digestive system, but also produces hormones, including:

Your gut (gastrointestinal tract) is the long, connected tube that starts at your mouth and ends at your anus. Its responsible for digestion. Scientists are currently studying the hormones that your gut makes and their effects. These hormones include:

The placenta is a temporary organ that develops in your uterus during pregnancy. It provides oxygen and nutrients to the developing fetus. The placenta produces the hormones estrogen and progesterone to maintain the pregnancy.

Dozens of medical conditions are caused by hormone issues. For most hormones, having too much or too little of them causes symptoms and issues with your health. These imbalances often require treatment. Some of the most common hormone-related conditions include:

Each hormone-related condition can have several different possible causes. In general, the main conditions or situations that cause hormone imbalances include:

Primary healthcare providers can diagnose and help you manage many hormone conditions. However, you may benefit from seeing an endocrinologist.

An endocrinologist is a healthcare provider who specializes in endocrinology, a field of medicine that studies conditions related to your hormones. An endocrinologist can diagnose endocrine (hormone) conditions, develop treatment and management plans for them and prescribe medication.

A note from Cleveland Clinic

Hormones are an important and essential part of human existence. While your body normally carefully balances its hormones, having too little or too much of a certain hormone can lead to health problems. If youre experiencing any concerning symptoms, its important to talk to your healthcare provider. They can order tests to see if you have a hormone imbalance or if something else is causing your symptoms.

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Hormones: What They Are, Function & Types - Cleveland Clinic

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Where the hormone is produced

Hormone(s) secreted

Hormone function

Adrenal glands

Aldosterone

Regulates salt,water balance, and blood pressure

Adrenal glands

Corticosteroid

Controls key functions in the body; acts as an anti-inflammatory; maintains blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and muscle strength; regulates salt and water balance

Pituitary gland

Antidiuretic hormone (vasopressin)

Affects water retention in kidneys; controls blood pressure

Pituitary gland

Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)

Controls production of sex hormones (estrogen in women and testosterone in men) and the production of eggs in women and sperm in men.

Pituitary gland

Growth hormone (GH)

Affects growth and development; stimulates protein production; affects fat distribution

Pituitary gland

Luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)

Controlsproduction of sex hormones (estrogen in women and testosterone in men) and the production of eggs in women and sperm in men

Pituitary gland

Oxytocin

Stimulates contraction of uterus and milk ducts in the breast

Pituitary gland

Prolactin

Initiates and maintains milk production in breasts; impacts sex hormone levels

Pituitary gland

Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)

Stimulates the production and secretion of thyroid hormones

Kidneys

Renin and angiotensin

Controls blood pressure, both directly and also by regulating aldosterone production from the adrenal glands

Kidneys

Erythropoietin

Affects red blood cell (RBC) production

Pancreas

Glucagon

Raises blood sugar levels

Pancreas

Insulin

Lowers blood sugar levels; stimulates metabolism of glucose, protein, and fat

Ovaries

Estrogen

Affects development of female sexual characteristics and reproductive development, important for functioning of uterus and breasts; also protects bone health

Ovaries

Progesterone

Stimulates the lining of the uterus for fertilization; prepares the breasts for milk production

Parathyroid glands

Parathyroid hormone (PTH)

Most important regulator of blood calcium levels

Thyroid gland

Thyroid hormone

Controls metabolism; also affects growth, maturation, nervous system activity, and metabolism

Adrenal glands

Epinephrine

Increases heart rate, oxygen intake, and blood flow

Adrenal glands

Norepinephrine

Maintainsblood pressure

Testes (testicles)

Testosterone

Develop and maintain male sexual characteristics and maturation

Pineal gland

Melatonin

Releases melatonin during night hours to help with sleep

Hypothalamus

Growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH)

Regulates growth hormone release in the pituitary gland

Hypothalamus

Thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH)

Regulates thyroid stimulating hormone release in the pituitary gland

Hypothalamus

Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH)

Regulates LH/FSH production in the pituitary gland

Hypothalamus

Corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH)

Regulates adrenocorticotropin release in the pituitary gland

Thymus

Humoral factors

Helps develop the lymphoid system

Originally posted here:
Hormones and the Endocrine System | Johns Hopkins Medicine

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Hormones Definition

Hormones are chemicals synthesized and produced by the specialized glands to control and regulate the activity of certain cells and organs. These specialized glands are known as endocrine glands.

Table of Contents

What are Hormones?

As stated above, hormones are chemicals that essentially function as messengers of the body. These chemicals are secreted by special glands known as the endocrine glands. These endocrine glands are distributed throughout the body. These messengers control many physiological functions as well as psychological health. They are also quite important in maintaining homeostasis in the body.

Explore more: Endocrine Glands And Hormones

The effects of hormones depend on how they are released. Hence, signalling effects can be classified into the following:

Types of Hormones

To regulate various functions, different types of hormones are produced in the body. They are classified as follows:

Peptide hormones are composed of amino acids and are soluble in water. Peptide hormones are unable to pass through the cell membrane as it contains a phospholipid bilayer that stops any fat-insoluble molecules from diffusing into the cell. Insulin is an important peptide hormone produced by the pancreas.

Unlike peptide hormones, steroid hormones are fat-soluble and are able to pass through a cell membrane. Sex hormones such as testosterone, estrogen and progesterone are examples of steroid hormones.

Also Read:Placebo Effect

Endocrine Glands and the Hormones Secreted

As stated before, hormones are released by the endocrine glands. These are different from other glands of the human body as they are ductless.

All these glands work together to produce and manage the hormones of the body.

Also Read:Sex Hormones

List of Important Hormones

Also Read: Animal Hormones

Functions of Hormones

Following are some important functions of hormones:

Also Read: Plant Growth Regulators

Hormonal Diseases

Several hormonal diseases occur when there is a malfunctioning of the endocrine glands. Common hormonal issues are associated with hypothalamus, adrenal and pituitary glands. An increase or decrease in the secretion of these hormones can severely affect growth, metabolism and development.

Diseases such as hyperthyroidism, osteoporosis, and diabetes are caused due to hormonal imbalance. The factors responsible for hormonal diseases can be genetic, environmental, or related to diet.

Also Read:Mechanism of Hormone Action

Why are Hormones called Chemical Messengers?

The prominent role ofhormonesis that of a messenger. Hypothalamus is a part of forebrain where a numerous amount of neurosecretory cells are present. These neurosecretory cells are specialized in the secretion of a hormone called neurohormones. They stimulate the anterior lobe of the pituitary to produce various other hormones.

Sometimes, hormones act more than a regulator than a messenger. The changes in the level of hormone production lead to certain changes in the body. Thus, hormone as a regulator maintains the homeostasis of the body. Once the hormones meet their target, their production needs to be controlled and this is attained by a mechanism called feedback control mechanism. The feedback mechanism could either be positive or negative.

Feedback Mechanism Thyroid

Thethyroid glandproduces a hormone called thyroxine, and its secretion is controlled by the Thyrotropin Releasing Hormone (TRH) from the hypothalamus and the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) from the anterior pituitary.

When the level of thyroxine in the blood reduces, the hypothalamus stimulates the thyroxine secretion by stimulating TSH secretion. This represents a positive feedback mechanism.

If the hypothalamus continues to stimulate thyroxine production, it could result in a high level of thyroxine in the blood. This sends negative feedback to the hypothalamus to reduce or stop the TRH and TSH secretion which regulates the thyroxine level in the body. This is a negative feedback mechanism.

Hormones are meant for their target tissues for specific functions. As soon as they meet their target, they are removed. This is mainly done by the liver, kidney and other organs.

Also Read:Feedback Mechanism of Hormones

Learn more in detail about what are hormones, different types of hormones, their functions and other related topics at BYJUS Biology.

Hormones are the chemicals that are responsible for controlling and regulating the activities of certain cells and organs. These hormones are secreted by ductless glands known as endocrine glands.

Hormones are classified into two types, namely: Peptide hormones and steroid hormones.

Hormones are made of either proteins or steroids.

The hormone released by the adrenal glands is called Epinephrine. It is also called adrenaline.

The hormone produced by the pineal gland is Melatonin. It regulates the bodys sleep cycle.

The thyroid gland is responsible for producing thyroxine, triiodothyronine, and calcitonin.

In males, testosterone is produced by the testes while ovaries produce the same hormone in females.

Progesterone is produced by the ovaries.

The hormone responsible for gigantism is growth hormones, which are released by the pituitary gland.

Acromegaly is the result of excess production of the growth hormone by the pituitary gland, commonly as a result of a benign tumour.

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What are Hormones? Types, Functions and Hormonal Diseases - BYJUS

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OverviewWhat are genetic disorders?

Genetic disorders occur when a mutation (a harmful change to a gene, also known as a pathogenic variant) affects your genes or when you have the wrong amount of genetic material. Genes are made of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), which contain instructions for cell functioning and the characteristics that make you unique.

You receive half your genes from each biological parent and may inherit a gene mutation from one parent or both. Sometimes genes change due to issues within the DNA (mutations). This can raise your risk of having a genetic disorder. Some cause symptoms at birth, while others develop over time.

Genetic disorders can be:

There are many types. They include:

Chromosomal disorders

Multifactorial disorders

Monogenic disorders

Genetic disorders may also cause rare diseases. This group of conditions affects fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. According to experts, there may be as many as 7,000 of these diseases.

Rare genetic disorders include:

To understand genetic disorder causes, its helpful to learn more about how your genes and DNA work. Most of the DNA in your genes instructs the body to make proteins. These proteins start complex cell interactions that help you stay healthy.

When a mutation occurs, it affects the genes protein-making instructions. There could be missing proteins. Or the ones you have do not function properly. Environmental factors (also called mutagens) that could lead to a genetic mutation include:

Symptoms vary depending on the type of disorder, organs affected and how severe it is. You may experience:

If you have a family history of a genetic disorder, you may wish to consider genetic counseling to see if genetic testing is appropriate for you. Lab tests can typically show whether you have gene mutations responsible for that condition. In many cases, carrying the mutation does not always mean youll end up with it. Genetic counselors can explain your risk and if there are steps you can take to protect your health.

If theres a family history, DNA testing for genetic disorders can be an important part of starting a family. Options include:

Most genetic disorders do not have a cure. Some have treatments that may slow disease progression or lessen their impact on your life. The type of treatment thats right for you depends on the type and severity of the disease. With others, we may not have treatment but we can provide medical surveillance to try to catch complications early.

You may need:

There is often little you can do to prevent a genetic disorder. But genetic counseling and testing can help you learn more about your risk. It can also let you know the likelihood of passing some disorders on to your children.

Some conditions, including certain rare and congenital diseases, have a grim prognosis. Children born with anencephaly typically survive only a few days. Other conditions, like an isolated cleft lip, do not affect lifespan. But you may need regular, specialized care to stay comfortable.

When you are living with a genetic disorder, you may have frequent medical needs. Its important to see a healthcare provider specializing in the condition. They are more likely to know which treatments are best for your needs.

You may also benefit from the support of others. Genetic disorders often have local or national support groups. These organizations can help you access resources that make life a little easier. They may also host events where you can meet other families going through similar challenges.

A note from Cleveland Clinic

Genetic disorders occur when a mutation affects your genes or chromosomes. Some disorders cause symptoms at birth, while others develop over time. Genetic testing can help you learn more about the likelihood of experiencing a genetic disorder. If you or a loved one have a genetic disorder, its important to seek care from an experienced specialist. You may be able to get additional information and help from support groups.

See the rest here:
Genetic Disorders: What Are They, Types, Symptoms & Causes

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

On This Page

Is cancer a genetic disease?

Genetic changes that cause cancer can be inherited or arise from certain environmental exposures. Genetic changes can also happen because of errors that occur as cells divide.

Credit: National Cancer Institute

Yes, cancer is a genetic disease. It is caused by changes in genes that control the way cells grow and multiply. Cells are the building blocks of your body. Each cell has a copy of your genes, which act like an instruction manual.

Genes are sections of DNA that carry instructions to make a protein or several proteins. Scientists have found hundreds of DNA and genetic changes (also called variants, mutations, or alterations) that help cancer form, grow, and spread.

Cancer-related genetic changes can occur because:

DNA changes, whether caused by a random mistake or by a carcinogen, can happen throughout our lives and even in the womb. While most genetic changes arent harmful on their own, an accumulation of genetic changes over many years can turn healthy cells into cancerous cells. The vast majority of cancers occur by chance as a result of this process over time.

Is cancer hereditary?

Determining breast cancer risk: The discovery of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations improved screening and treatment decisions for breast and ovarian cancers.

Cancer itself cant be passed down from parents to children. And genetic changes in tumor cells cant be passed down. But a genetic change that increases the risk of cancer can be passed down (inherited) if it is present in a parent's egg or sperm cells.

For example, if a parent passes a mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene to their child, the child will have a much higher risk of developing breast and several other cancers.

Thats why cancer sometimes appears to run in families. Up to 10% of all cancers may be caused by inherited genetic changes.

Inheriting a cancer-related genetic change doesnt mean you will definitely get cancer. It means that your risk of getting cancer is increased.

What is a family cancer syndrome?

A family cancer syndrome,also called ahereditary cancer syndrome, is a rare disorder in which family members have a higher-than-average risk of developing a certain type or types of cancer. Family cancer syndromes are caused by inherited genetic variants in certain cancer-related genes.

With some family cancer syndromes, people tend to develop cancer at an early age or have other noncancer health conditions.

For example, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a family cancer syndrome caused by certain inherited changes in the APC gene. People with FAP have a very high chance of developing colorectal cancer at an early age and are also at risk of developing other kinds of cancer.

But not all cancers that appear to run in families are caused by family cancer syndromes. A shared environment or habits, such as exposure to air pollution or tobacco use, may cause the same kind of cancer to develop among family members.

Also, multiple family members may develop common cancers, such as prostate cancer, just by chance. Cancer can also run in a family if family members have a combination of many genetic variants that each have a very small cancer risk.

Should I get genetic testing for cancer risk?

Certain genetic tests can show if youve inherited a genetic change that increases your risk of cancer. This testing is usually done with a small sample of blood, but it can sometimes be done with saliva, cells from inside the cheek, or skin cells.

Genetic tests can help families with a history of breast and ovarian cancer make screening and treatment decisions.

Not everyone needs to get genetic testing for cancer risk. Your doctor or health care provider can help you decide if you should get tested for genetic changes that increase cancer risk. They will likely ask if you have certain patterns in your personal or family medical history, such as cancer at an unusually young age or several relatives with the same kind of cancer.

If your doctor recommends genetic testing, talking with a genetic counselor can help you consider the potential risks, benefits, and drawbacks of genetic testing in your situation. After testing, a genetic counselor, doctor, or other health care professional trained in genetics can help you understand what the test results mean for you and for your family members.

Although its possible to order an at-home genetic test on your own, these tests have many drawbacks and are not generally recommended as a way to see whether you have inherited a genetic change that increases cancer risk.

For more information on what tests are available and who may want to consider them, see Genetic Testing for Inherited Cancer Susceptibility Syndromes.

How can I find out what genetic changes are in my cancer?

If you have cancer, a different type of genetic test called a biomarker test can identify genetic changes that may be driving the growth of your cancer. This information can help your doctors decide which therapy might work best for you or if you may be able to enroll in a particular clinical trial. For more information, see Biomarker Testing for Cancer Treatment. Biomarker testing may also be called tumor profiling or molecular profiling.

Biomarker testing is different from the genetic testing that is used to find out if you have an inherited genetic change that makes you more likely to get cancer. Biomarker testing is done using a sample of your cancer cellseither a small piece of a tumor or a sample of your blood.

In some cases, the results of a biomarker test might suggest that you have an inherited mutation that increases cancer risk. If that happens, you may need to get another genetic test to confirm whether you truly have an inherited mutation that increases cancer risk.

Who can see my genetic test results?

Your genetic counselor, doctors, and other health care professionals might see your genetic test results. In addition, your health insurance company has legitimate, legal access to your medical records.

Legal protections prevent discrimination on the basis of genetic test results, including the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008(GINA) and the Privacy Rule of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

How do genetic changes cause cancer?

Genetic changes can lead to cancer if they alter the way your cells grow and spread. Most cancer-causing DNA changes occur in genes, which are sections of DNA that carry the instructions to make proteins or specialized RNA such as microRNA.

For example, some DNA changes raise the levels of proteins that tell cells to keep growing. Other DNA changes lower the levels of proteins that tell cells when to stop growing. And some DNA changes stop proteins that tell cells to self-destruct when they are damaged.

For a healthy cell to turn cancerous, scientists think that more than one DNA change has to occur. People who have inherited a cancer-related genetic change need fewer additional changes to develop cancer. However, they may never develop these changes or get cancer.

As cancer cells divide, they acquire more DNA changes over time. Two cancer cells in the same tumor can have different DNA changes. In addition, every person with cancer has a unique combination of DNA changes in their cancer.

For more information on the biological changes that make cells cancerous, see What is Cancer? Differences between Cancer Cells and Normal Cells.

What kinds of genetic changes cause cancer?

Fusion proteins, which can occur when parts of different chromosomal regions are joined, may drive the development of many cancers in children.

Credit: Shannon McArdel, Ph.D. Harvard University SITN Blog, June 2017. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Multiple kinds of genetic changes can lead to cancer. One genetic change, called a DNA mutation or genetic variant, is a change in the DNA code, like a typo in the sequence of DNA letters.

Some variants affect just one DNA letter, called a nucleotide. A nucleotide may be missing, or it may be replaced by another nucleotide. These are called point mutations.

For example, around 5% of people with cancer have a point mutation in the KRAS gene that replaces the DNA letter G with A. This single letter change creates an abnormal KRAS protein that constantly tells cells to grow.

Cancer-causing genetic changes can also occur when segments of DNAsometimes very large onesare rearranged, deleted, or copied. These are called chromosomal rearrangements.

For example, most chronic myelogenous leukemias (a type of blood cancer) are caused by a chromosomal rearrangement that places part of the BCR gene next to the ABL gene. This rearrangement creates an abnormal protein, called BCR-ABL, that makes leukemia cells grow out of control.

Some cancer-causing DNA changes occur outside genes, in sections of DNA that act like on or off switches for nearby genes. For example, some brain cancer cells have multiple copies of on switches next to genes that drive cell growth.

Other DNA changes, known as epigenetic changes, can also cause cancer. Unlike genetic variants, epigenetic changes (sometimes called epimutations) may be reversible and they dont affect the DNA code. Instead, epigenetic changes affect how DNA is packed into the nucleus. By changing how DNA is packaged, epigenetic changes can alter how much protein a gene makes.

Some substances and chemicals in the environment that cause genetic changes can also cause epigenetic changes, such as tobacco smoke, heavy metals like cadmium, and viruses like Epstein-Barr virus.

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The Genetics of Cancer - NCI

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7. See man. 2-5. Male, masculine, virile are adjectives that describe men and boys or attributes and conduct culturally ascribed to them. Male, which is applied to plants and animals as well as to human beings, is often used as a biological or physiological descriptor, classifying individuals on the basis of their potential or actual ability to inseminate in bisexual reproduction. It contrasts with female in all such uses: his oldest male relative; the male parts of the flower. Masculine refers essentially to qualities, characteristics, or behaviors deemed by a culture or society to be especially appropriate to or ideally associated with men and boys. In American and Western European culture, these have traditionally included features such as strength, forthrightness, and courage: a firm, masculine handshake; a masculine impatience at indecision. Virile implies a vigor and muscularity associated with mature manhood and often carries a suggestion of sexual or procreative potency: his virile good looks; a swaggering, virile walk. See also manly.

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Male Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

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The male genital system consists of both external and internal parts. The external male genitalia include the penis, urethra, and scrotum. The internal male genitalia include the seminal vesicle, testes, vas deferens, epididymis, prostate, bulbourethral gland, and ejaculatory duct.

The penis is the main part of external male genitalia, which has both sexual and bodily functions. It is able to ejaculate semen (containing sperm) during sex and to relieve the body of urine. The urethra transports the urine from the bladder, out of the male body. Semen also travels through the urethra.

Each male has two scrotal pouches, which house certain parts of the internal male genitalia (epididymis, testes, and lower spermatic cords). The testes are the most important part of internal male genitalia because they make and store sperm, as well as supply the male body with hormones, which control the development of male characteristics and reproductive organs.

The epididymis stores, matures, and transports sperm between the testes and the vas deferens, which channels sperm toward the urethra. The seminal vesicles are adjacent to the urethra and secrete a milky fluid that is ultimately discharged through the ejaculatory duct. The bulbourethral glands also assist in the discharge of semen.

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Male Genitalia Pictures, Anatomy & Diagram | Body Maps - Healthline

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In the male social hierarchy, alpha males are at the top spot. Every man wants to be an alpha male, but only a few genuinely exhibit the characteristics that make them one. Are you wondering what the alpha male traits are and how you can become one?

This article teaches you all you need to know about becoming an alpha male and the qualities that you need to possess.

An alpha male is a powerful and inspirational individual who sits at the top of the social hierarchy.

Other men, like the betas, gammas, and omegas, look up to the alpha because of his influence and command. So naturally, an alpha finds it easy to win people over to his side because of his extroverted and charismatic personality.

To learn more about alpha males, check out this research by P.H Hawley and other authors, which explores the new look at dominance-related behaviors and beliefs among adolescent males and females.

Becoming an alpha male is quite simple. All you have to do is apply some tips that make them stand out. Some of these tips are being assertive and having good communication skills.

An alpha male is also a people person; he is excellent at maintaining relationships, making it easy for him to influence people.

Most times, alpha males are attracted to strong-willed and independent people, some of whom might be their partners in the future. They want to be around people who know what they want and are not scared to get them.

Even though an alpha likes caring for people, he loves it when you put in the effort to look after yourself.

One of the alpha male traits is his humility. He does not allow his achievements to get into his head. Also, he is always willing to help people out and encourage them to stand up to their fears.

An alpha male is usually well-groomed, has excellent communication skills, is a good leader, works out regularly, and is passionate about making society better.

John Alexanders book contains valuable tips on the signs of a real alpha male and how to become one. His book is titled How to Become an Alpha Male, helping men attract women and become great at seduction.

You might have seen some stereotypic traits of alpha males on social media or TV, but it would interest you to note that they may not be suitably represented.

Here are some alpha male traits that help you identify or know if you are.

When identifying the alpha male personality type, it is important to note that they do not avoid challenges. If they are faced with difficult moments, they tackle them head-on till they find a solution.

An alpha male believes that challenges will make him a better and more resilient individual. If other men are discouraged by these challenges, an alpha male is not.

One of the untrue alpha male traits is pride. A true alpha male is humble because he does not use his status to oppress people. Instead, he should use it for a good cause.

For example, an alpha male does not allow his success and achievements to get into his head. This means he will still communicate with others below him like they are equals. Doing this makes the alpha male a loveable leader everyone wants to follow.

When it comes to achieving goals, one of the characteristics of an alpha male is working towards achieving them.

An alpha male loves to set goals and meet them. If they experience any roadblock, they strategize and try other means to meet those goals. He is always self-motivated to smash his goals and set bigger goals.

Being a natural leader is one of the traits of an alpha male. He loves to be in charge of situations where people are unwilling to volunteer. He can easily inspire people because of his superior mindset that many people dont have.

Most alpha males are at the helm of affairs in organizations and politics because of their remarkable leadership qualities. You can also include leadership as alpha male traits in bed to look out for.

One of the qualities of an alpha male is that he knows his flaws. You cannot find an alpha male denying his weaknesses.

An alpha male knows that being aware of your flaws is strength. Therefore, they work towards making their flaws strengths in the long run. They also check in with trusted friends and acquaintances to know whether they are getting better.

An alpha male knows that health is wealth. So when it comes to working out or staying physically active, it is one of the alpha male traits.

An alpha male has made working out his lifestyle. He needs it to remain healthy and also boost his self-esteem. It is important to mention that staying active helps the alpha male to remain calm in turbulent situations.

Honesty is one of the alpha male traits. An alpha male knows that no one would punish him for telling the truth, so he remains honest regardless.

Alpha men are also great at being sincere, even if it is hurtful. However, they try to be diplomatic so that you dont feel bad about it, and at the same time, you will learn the necessary lessons.

Everyone has emotions, but only some people are great at mastering their emotions. Alpha males have a high emotional intelligence quotient. This is what makes them get along with people.

The alpha male personality knows how to manage their emotions; this is why they dont have outbursts. They can read peoples emotions and relate with them without causing a fuss.

Watch this video on how to manage your emotions:

It is easy to spot an alpha male among several men because of the way he carries himself. If you want to know how to act like an alpha male, your physical appearance has to be in top gear. Alpha males wear good cologne and clean clothes, and their hygiene is top-notch.

They also have a good command of their body language and use it to communicate properly. Alpha has a great posture, a firm handshake, good eye contact, etc.

Taking care of his loved ones is one of the key signs of alpha males. You cannot see an alpha male who is not protective of those he cares about. He does everything to ensure that they are safe and cared for.

Anyone who tries to pick on an alpha males loved ones might see his aggressive side because he is fiercely protective.

Good communication skills are one of the alpha male traits. This is one of the attributes that attract other people to him.

An alpha male enjoys conversing with people and keeping them engaged. While they talk, they exude charisma and confidence. They also know when and how to listen when other people are speaking.

One of the alpha male traits is saying no when he is not up for something.

He understands that sometimes, he has to inconvenience himself so that other people will be happy. However, if it gets to a point where people need his input for selfish reasons, he will politely decline without any hard feelings. He is a selfless man who does not rub the back of selfish people.

Assertiveness is one of the answers to the question of what is alpha male personality.

Unlike the passive beta male, the alpha male has a good sense of self-awareness, and he is always determined to get what he wants. This means he is not afraid to set boundaries and inform people when they cross them.

Seeking solid and authentic connections is one of the alpha male traits. He does not crave validation from people because he knows his worth. Instead, he wants to connect with people and build good relationships. If he allows people into his life, he wants a casual, healthy relationship.

An alpha male is not always satisfied with his status quo. He is always looking for means to improve and remain an asset to society.

Unlike beta males who are satisfied with mediocrity, an alpha male wants to be the best at what he does. So, he frowns at any sign of being average in his life.

To learn more about the traits of an alpha male, read Marco Angelos book, Alpha Male. This book is an exhaustive guide that teaches you how to be an irresistible alpha male.

The alpha male traits in this article point to the fact that this category of men is individuals without any toxic attributes. They are at peace with everyone, set clear boundaries, influence society positively, and seek to build healthy relationships.

If you need help adopting some of these traits, you can see a counselor to help out. You can also take a course on becoming an alpha male.

See the rest here:
15 Alpha Male Traits Characteristics of Real Alpha Males

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Start with a less expensive model, Fleming advises beginners. Sometimes trying a more affordable model gives you a sense of what a sensation is like and whether you like it. Of course, if you already know what feeling you like and you need a recommendation for the best sex toy that aligns with that, weve got you too.

Whip out that new toy when youre actually turned on (and not as a way to turn yourself on). Think of it as foreplay, Fleming says. If you want to build up reception to a new toy, start off when youre already highly aroused. The research is clear that people tend to be more open and receptive when already aroused.

And if you dont like the sensation of a new toy the very first time you use it, dont give up on it just yet. The first time we try anything, were doing what we call spectatoring, which is observing ourselves, how its going, what we thought, what our partner thought. Were in our heads and not so much in the experience, says Fleming. So try, try again.

Below, find our experts top picks for masturbation sleeves, prostate massagers, cock rings, butt plugs, dildos, and more, from best-selling retailers and brands such as Lovehoney, We-Vibe, Lelo, Hot Octopuss, and Tenga. Just dont forget to throw good lube in your cart and clean up your toys after.

Masturbation sleeves (also known as strokers or penis sleeves) are cylindrical sleeves or canal-shaped sex toys that envelop the penis and are either open-ended or closed. These sleeves work well for solo stimulation, as theyre like giving yourself a hand job, or your partner can stimulate you with it, Frye-Nekrasova says.

These various strokers can be textured on the inside (like the Tenga Egg, an egg-shaped disposable masturbation sleeve), while others (such as the Fleshlight Pink Lady) mimic human anatomy in look and feel (and are usually closed-ended). Because of the suction or vibration, theres an arousing, pleasurable sensation, Fleming says. Most men will get erect and it will bring them to orgasm.

Often made of soft silicone, the sleeves come in both non-vibrating and vibrating models. The vibrating models are known as power strokers or penis stimulators, as theyre powered by a motor that adds a stroking motion. To really explore a different stimulation thats not just digital, manual stimulation, go for a power stroker, Frye-Nekrasova says. For the majority of your life with a penis, youve likely stimulated yourself only by hand, so introducing a new form of stimulation by way of a power stroker is going to do things for you that you probably never expected.

Ella Paradis

The Hot Octopuss Pulse Duo masturbation sleeve has an adjustable design that fits to any girth, and its open design makes it possible to wear during penetrative sex as well. Sex educator Cassandra Corrado told SELF that this is a nice option for men who have difficulties with erections because you can use it without getting hard. Instead of a motor, the remote-controlled Pulse Duo uses oscillation to create an intense sensation for the wearer, she explains.

Arcwave

Frye-Nekrasova highly recommends the ArcWave Ion, a unique male masturbator that focuses on stimulating the frenulum (the highly sensitive vein on the underside of the penis shaft) with pulsating airwaves. This offers a completely new world of stimulation that many male sex toy users are not used to because theres no other product like it, she says.

Lovehoney

For a vibrating masturbation sleeve, Frye-Nekrasova likes the Blowmotion, which warms and mimics the feel of engaging in penetration with a human partner or receiving a blow job.

Looking to give anal sex toys a try? Prostate massagers are one way to get started. These toys are shaped and designed to target the prostate gland, which is a walnut-size gland behind the penis, inside the pelvis, and between the bladder and rectum. Similar to the female G-spot, this gland is known as the P-spot, and stimulating it can feel amazing. For those who have never explored the prostate, hand stimulation can be intimidating, Frye-Nekrasova says, which is why a sex toy is helpful: Using a toy allows for more exploration without having to step out of your comfort zone too much, and I will die on the hill of encouraging everyone with a prostate to stimulate it.

Lelo

Complete with remote control and vibrating motors in its tip and base, the Lelo Hugo is a smooth, medium-size prostate massager that leads to large-size orgasms. Its a favorite of Adina Mahalli, MSW, relationship expert, and womens health specialist at Maple Holistics, who previously noted to SELF that the Hugo makes an excellent toy for women to try too.

Babeland

Aneros is a brand whose entire line is designed specifically for not only providing prostate pleasure but with prostate health in mind, Lisa Finn, sex educator and brand manager for Babeland, told SELF. The sleekly contoured, self-pivoting design of the Trident prostate massager allows for blissful stimulation of both the prostate and perineum (which lies between the anus and genitals for men), and its flared base and P-tab stops provide external sensations and ensure the toy doesnt move around. You can comfortably massage and stimulate this hot spot internally and externally at onceup and down or in and out, and in any position, Finn says.

Lovehoney

The We-Vibe Vector is a Bluetooth-enabled, app-controlled prostate massager, that can be controlled from a phone (even remotely). Fleming previously told SELF that the Vector works both for masturbation and partnered play, and she appreciates its 10 whisper-quiet, powerful vibration settings.

Another safe and satisfying way to dip your, er, toe in the anal sex pool? Butt plugs are great for starting out in anal stimulation so that you can get used to the feeling of something inserted anally, Frye-Nekrasova says, advising that newbies start small before working their way up to larger anal toys like dildos. Butt plugs come in a range of sizes, textures, and materials. Some vibrate, others are made of heavy metal that provides lots of pressure, while others mimic the sensation of rimming.

Excerpt from:
The 15 Best Sex Toys for Men, According to Experts - SELF

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Diabetes is increasing in younger population, finds study: Doctors share early signs that might help in early medical intervention  Times of India

Read the original:
Diabetes is increasing in younger population, finds study: Doctors share early signs that might help in early medical intervention - Times of India

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

What are vitamins?

Vitamins are essential nutrients our bodies need for a wide array of health functions. If you eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, youre on the right path to getting the vitamins you need for optimal healththats because plant-based foods tend to be great natural sources of vitamins. For example, spinach is a great way to get in vitamin A, and many whole grains are good sources of B vitamins such as folate. And lets not forget oranges and other citrus fruits, which are a rich in vitamin C. Food isnt the only way to get vitamins, however; most famously, vitamin D is nicknamed the sunshine vitamin because you get it from sun exposure.

But even if you spend a lot of time outdoors and follow the most health-conscious of diets, you likely will need to take vitamins as supplements to achieve optimum wellness. Vitamin brands offer these nutrients as capsules, tablets, fat-soluble softgels, powders, and gummies.

People often mistakenly call minerals vitamins, because both are essential to our health. Popular minerals to take in supplement form include bone strength must-have calcium, as well as iron, zinc, magnesium and selenium. Foods are a good natural source of these minerals, but just as its difficult to get enough vitamins from our diet. We also often need to take a dietary supplement to get adequate levels of minerals.

The term supplements refers to vitamins and mineral supplements, as well as amino acids such as L-carnitine, antioxidants such as coenzyme CoQ10, and also herbals like echinacea. You may also find supplement formulas called multivitamins which contain both vitamins and other nutrients necessary for wellness.

Taking vitamins and supplements is a good insurance policy to fill in any dietary gaps. Even if your diet chock full of superfoods that are brimming with nutrition, its likely that youre missing out on some important nutrients. For example, unless you eat fatty fish regularly, you will need to supplement with omega-3 to get the heart and brain health benefits of fish oil. Beyond that, you can also supplement as part of your pursuit of a specific health goalwhether its vitamin C for immune support, collagen for healthy skin and joints, lutein and astaxanthin for eye health, sports supplements, or a specific health formula to support your healthy weight journey.

To avoid a deficiency, you should take a high-quality multivitamin that includes at a minimum vitamin B-complex (consisting of vitamin B12, folic acid, biotin and other B vitamins), vitamin C, vitamin D3, and vitamin E, as well as calcium, magnesium, and other minerals. Curcumin is a great option for heart health, brain function, comfortable joints and more; prebiotics and probiotics support optimal digestive health (and who doesnt want that?). If you follow a plant-based diet, you can obtain most of these vitamins and supplements from vegetarian capsules, including vegan vitamin D3.

Be a picky consumer when shopping for vitamins online! While youll find many natural food stores and online vitamin stores that offer a dizzying array of health products, ensure youre choosing a brand that takes a science-based approach to the formulation of vitamins and supplements. Only order health products that have been tested for efficacy and can provide a Certificate of Analysis verifying quality and safety. Ensure the supplements are being shipped from a climate-controlled facility as well, since spoiling can happen in extreme heat. A final word to the wise: always check the expiration date on your supplements before consuming!

Established in 1980, Life Extension is one of the longest-standing vitamin brands and formulates every product based on scientific research, using the dosages from clinical studies. Choose from an extensive assortment of non-GMO and gluten-free vitamins and supplements, offered at affordable prices. Plus, our Premier Rewards program gives you the chance to earn rewards on every purchase. Theres no risk to order; Life Extension offers a complete one-year satisfaction guarantee return policy. Order today!

Read more:
Shop Vitamins & Supplements - Life Extension

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

This article is for my (J.P.s) sister.

Shes always been the one in my family most vocal about her concerns with the pros and cons of immortality.

Particularly the cons.

And I think the potential problems of increased life expectancy that she identifies are concerns a lot of people share.

Because once you get past the question of if radical human life extension is even possible, the inevitable next question is, Should we do it?

In fact, there are a lot of ethical arguments against life extension (as my sister is wont to remind me).

Im sure youve heard, or even thought of, many of them yourself.

What if only the rich can afford it?

What about overpopulation and the environment?

Wont you just get bored?

Who would want to live to 150 if youre just old and decrepit and in a nursing home all that time?

In this post, were going to try and address all these longevity objections, and more (Immortal dictators! Religious concerns! Social Security!), but first we should talk about that last question (being old and decrepit for decades) briefly.

Many people, when they think about life extension, assume the process will simply extend the tail-end of our lives, adding more years on to that period when we are beset with frailty and age-related mental and physical decline.

Stuck in a wheelchair, youll have to play bingo for an extra fifty years while youre forced to stay alive through uncomfortable tubes up your nose or something.

And believe me, no one, myself included, wants that.

But what spanners and other people interested in human longevity want is not just extended lifespans, but extended healthspans.

As we said in our very first article on human life extension here:

Human life extension addresses both chronological and biological aging; it asks not just how can we live longer, but how long can we live well. Healthspan, or the years of our lives when were unencumbered by disease or disability, addresses just that. What if you could have the body you had at 25 well into your 80s or 100s or 120s? What more could you do with those extra rich years of life? Who could you become?

The technical term for this is compressing morbidity: shortening the decrepit, morbid years and extending the healthy ones. And, as we also discussed in our first article, theres plenty of scientific evidence to suggest that anti-aging interventions can do just this in both animals and in humans.

So what well be talking about throughout the rest of this article on the ethics of life extension is not extending the unhealthy years of our lives, but extending our healthy, active, vibrant years and why (quite a few, actually) people think that could still be a bad thing.

Because this is a (really) long post, feel free to jump to the section youre most interested in, rather than read through everything.

Does death make life meaningless?

Tolstoy and Nietzsche would argue that thats absolutely the caseand theyve gotten plenty of attention for it, especially in Western culture, because it runs contrary to an unspoken assumption that death itself is what gives life meaning. Christians look forward to heaven. Jews see death as a terrible but necessary part of Gods plan. Buddhists believe death leads only to rebirth. In so many philosophical traditions, death is essential for life itself to have meaning.

Some even go as far to claim that death is required for life to have meaning. Theythe likes of the late Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl and philosopher Sir Bernard Williamspresent three major arguments against life extension:

Lets break them all down.

Religious fatalism is the belief that an individuals health is predetermined by a higher power; the individual can not and should not intervene. Religious fatalism isnt something relegated only to cults or extremists. Its significantly correlated with race, people with lower incomes, and people with lower levels of education. Religious fatalism is distinct from fatalism, in that it refers specifically to healthcare decisions. Many who believe in destiny or fate will also argue that they are predetermined to suffer from an illness or disease, and recovery will not hinge on medical interventionits up to the universe.

And, if fate does have a role in medical outcomes, intervening would be foolish. Why waste the money and resources on doing so if youre just going to die anyway? Using this logic, aging should be embraced as a natural part of life.

Following that line of thinking, the medical field should cease to exist. Forget cancer researchclose the childrens hospitals and ER rooms and eliminate the FDA. Life-sustaining drugs like insulin, Albuterol, and Levothyroxine should be banned along with seatbelts and helmets.

Of course, many who believe in religious fatalism dont necessarily want to be so prescriptive to the rest of society. They might see it as an important personal choice, but not something to put on others. Orand I find this common among my circlesits the elimination of age-related death altogether thats off-putting. Theyre completely comfortable with, say, finding a cure for Alzheimers, cancer, and diabetes, but when age itself is indicated as a major precursor to all these diseases, they shrug it off. Ageing is an essential part of life. Its not to be tampered with.

Part of the reason is because being old without being healthy is horrific. Think wheelchairs, struggling to open Jell-O cups, and slowly losing your senseseach one a tragic loss for a 15-year-old but an inevitability for someone over 90. But this goes to show that we just dont consider the elderly as human as those younger than them. Frailty is a tragedy for anyone, not just for those deemed young enough for it to be uncommon.

Thus, the indefinite extension of healthspan, or the years of our lives when were unencumbered by disease or disability, is really the ultimate goal of life extension. And many find that option far more palatable; if one practices yoga or avoids processed carbohydrates in an effort for a longer healthspan, the prospect of a lengthened lifespan becomes far more palatable.

And in the end, the ethics of life extension require that no one is forcing anyone else to live longer than they would like. Just like anyone can deny medical interventions, so too can they choose not to live longer than they believe they were destined to. That is, in my view, nothing but a personal choice.

If we were immortal, we could legitimately postpone every action forever. [] But in the face of death as absolute finis to our future and boundary to our possibilities, we are under the imperative of utilizing our lifetimes to the utmost, not letting the singular opportunities whose finite sum constitutes the whole of life pass by unused.

Frankl, in the quote above, argues that with all the time of eternity, nothing could get done. One could, theoretically, indefinitely put off confessing a love, writing a novel, or starting a company. Of course, discomfort should also be a part of the conversion; while one could choose to never eat because the process takes action, hunger is a tremendous motivator, even if one is nowhere near close to dying from starvation.

Some contemporary psychological studies support Frankl. For example, a 2007 article published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that those who encounter death over a long period are more likely to be intrinsically motivated (and actually write that novel theyve always wanted to). That said, the threat of death isnt necessarily a requirement for intrinsic motivation in general. Realistically, there is a range of reasons why people do thingsfor praise, for accomplishment, or to just do it,and very few of them have to do with the inevitability of death.

In fact, philosophers like Heidegger have argued that most people live their lives in denial of their death. One study on mortality salience (awareness of ones own death) found that research participants actively tried not to engage with their own mortalitya reaction that may be a biological response. It would be tough to argue death is the sole reason for any significant actions people take throughout their lives if theyre actively avoiding considering it.

Lets say that immortality has no effect on your motivationin fact, you have the curiosity of a 25-year-old and the body to match. Youve ticked off your bucket list. You live where you want, work where you want (if you want), and you do what you want. Life is splendid. And boring.

Desperately boring.

This could be one of the major cons of immortality, but Brooke Alan Trisel points out that not all of life is meaningful. He writes, most of our lives are neither meaningless nor meaningful, but lie somewhere between these two extremes.

I would amend his argument further to say that most moments of our individual lives are neither meaningless or meaningful, but lie somewhere in between. For example, celebrating your wedding day might be tremendously meaningful, but the hours spent visiting florists might not be.

Its true that old people experience boredom, and that that boredom can be detrimental to their health. The boredom that they experience, however, often has to do with perils of aging: loneliness, immobility, and declining faculties.

I doubt anyone would advocate that we euthanize everyone over 80 because they might suffer from boredom. Finding interest in new activities, engaging with curiosity, and experiencing excitement, joy, and contentment are all pillars of mental health. Boredom, itself, is a health issue, and not necessarily a reason to prevent life extension.

Weve all seen those dystopian sci-fi stories.

While the rich lead lives of unimaginable luxury in their space stations, enjoying near-immortality and all the sexbots they can afford, the poor toil in the spice mines below, dying early from Spice Lung or malfunctioning cheap cybernetic implants.

No one wants to live in that worldand not just because it would entail having to endure more of Matt Damons terrible acting.

And with rising concerns about wealth inequality, its entirely understandable that many people ask the question:

What if only the rich can afford life-extension treatments?

Because while global wealth inequality has actually been declining for the first time in two centuriesdue largely to the rapid economic growth afforded by technological innovation and the opening of markets, particularly in Asiasome measures of wealth inequality within countries have shown worrying rises.

So is it ethical to pursue life extension if its not accessible to everyone?

A 2016 study found that, The gap in life expectancy between the richest 1% and poorest 1% of individuals was 14.6 years for men and 10.1 years for women.

However, it may not be as bad as it seems.

A more recent study that took into account income mobility (instead of assuming people kept the same income their entire lives) found a gap of only 2.4 years for men with different income levels, and just 2.2 years for women.

They did also caution that though the gap is not as large as originally thought, it has been widening slightly over the last 30 years, possibly due to differences in education levels.

In short: yes, there is already a (small) gap in the longevity of the rich versus the poor.

Will expensive life-extension treatments widen that gap so much that the poor will be doomed to die early?

The answer to that question has several components:

To answer that first component we can look at some real-world examples, both of existing anti-aging treatments already on the market, and of past medical innovations.

For instance, the diabetes drug metformin is a classic candidate for a possible anti-aging pill. According to a recent metformin meta-analysis, Diabetics taking metformin had significantly lower all-cause mortality than non-diabetics, and a host of other studies have shown other beneficial effects of the drug, like cancer protection and slower brain aging.

And the cost of this possible wonder drug?

According to GoodRx, retail costs for 60 tablets of 500mg of metformin (a 1-2 month supply) range from $9 to $16, even without insurance.

Thats about 15-25 cents a pill.

Other potential life-extension molecules are similarly cheap.

Resveratrol, another possible longevity compound, can be bought on Amazon for $16.99-$27.99 for a 30-90 supply .

Glucosamine costs as little as ten cents a pill, has been the subject of several recent studies showing it decreases all-cause mortality by as much as 39%, and may be as effective for longevity as exercise.

Aspirin (shown to extend life in male mice) costs $1 for 100 pills at my local Rite Aid.

And the list goes on.

All the ones listed above have been known about and studied for decadesin some cases over a centuryis there evidence that newly discovered and developed drugs would be similarly inexpensive?

Its likely. Take vaccines.

Vaccines are a good parallel to anti-aging medicines because they are developed to treat a deadly, widespread disease that impacts large swaths of the human population and they thus have a huge demand and a requirement to distribute to the most people possible. Both also represent huge net benefits to society compared to the costs of not treating the diseases they target (some research indicates slowing aging could save the U.S. $7.1 trillion over 50 years).

Developing a vaccine can cost as much as $2.8-$3.7 billion and yet many vaccines, including those for the most widespread diseases, are offered free-of-cost or at very low prices. For example, the flu vaccine is often free and almost always fully-covered by insurance.

Other vaccines can be had, even without insurance, for as low as $6.

Most of these vaccines have been developed only in the last few decades, and yet their cost is low enough that almost everyone can afford them. The combination of widespread demand and subsidies means that usually the obstacle to getting a vaccine is a lack of education or of desire, not of financial means.

And theres good reason to think new anti-aging treatments may be treated like vaccines. If the FDA labels aging a treatable disease (which may well happen), and since fully 100% of the population is afflicted by this disease, demand for effective longevity treatments will be so high that medical and pharmaceutical companies can afford to set prices low, since they will be selling their products to so many people.

But of course, there may be many different types of therapies and interventions that are developed to reverse and slow aging, and not all of them will be as simple or cheap as a pill or a shot.

What if more complex interventions are needed to reverse aging?

Things like gene therapy can cost millions of dollars. In fact, theres already an (unproven) gene therapy for aging on the market, similar to the procedure longevity influencer Liz Parrish of Bioviva performed on herself in 2015, and its price tag is $1 million.

Not exactly pocket change.

So lets look at how likely expensive longevity treatments are to stay expensive, such that only the wealthy can afford them.

In the last 17 years, the cost to have your whole genome sequenced has gone from roughly $1 billion in 2003, to as low as $299 today.

And most technological innovation follows this same pattern.

First an experimental, expensive innovation is developed. Wealthy early-adopters buy it (think investment bankers and car phones back in the 80s), and their purchases fund the research and development needed to improve the innovation, better distribute it, and make it less expensive. Soon, every person who wants one can afford it, and at a much higher level of quality than the original that was available only to the rich.

High initial prices of a new product are thus almost an extended form of R&D funding (and clinical testing with data provided by early adopters). The rich are essentially paying the money necessary to further develop the product and get it to the masses. What the rich pay for with money, the poor pay for with time.

Its the reason the smartphone in your pocket only costs a couple hundred dollars, and you dont need to lug a car around to use it.

Its also the reason your Apple Watch isnt the size of a room, and yet can do way more health monitoring than the early electrocardiogram machines could (and at a significantly lower price).

In fact, Elon Musks business model for Tesla was explicitly written around this principle. He designed and built an impractical, expensive electric sports car (the Roadster) and sold it at exorbitant prices to the rich, in order to fund the research and development of his more affordable mass market car, the Model 3.

And the medical market is little different from the car market (or other technology markets) in this respect. Despite lots of hand-wringing about rising medical costs, especially in the United States, most of the increase in cost is due to increased consumption, not an increase in the cost of individual medical procedures, devices, or medicines themselves (obviously there are exceptions that get lots of media coverage, but in general this is the case). As we get wealthier, it turns out, we want to buy more medical care.

Intuitively, anti-aging medicine should even help lower the total cost of medical care for people, as individuals will have to spend less on treating the very expensive chronic diseases of old-age like Alzheimers or cancer. These health-cost savings from longevity medicine are often referred to as the Longevity Dividend.

Contrary to popular belief, the real money in almost any market is not in selling boutique treatments to a few billionaires, but selling commercialized interventions to the millions (and, globally, billions) in the middle and lower classes.

Globally, the middle class accounted for $35 trillion in consumer spending, and the lower class another $8 trillion, for a combined spending power of $43 trillion. The rich (those spending over $110 a day) accounted for only $11 trillion in total consumer spending.

Globally, the middle class accounted for $35 trillion in consumer spending, and the lower class another $8 trillion, for a combined spending power of $43 trillion. The rich (those spending over $110 a day) accounted for only $11 trillion in total consumer spending.

All else equal, which market would you rather develop an anti-aging product for?

But of course, despite all this there is still a slim chance that life-extension therapies could buck every historical, technological, and market trend ever observed and somehow remain insanely expensive forever.

So if anti-aging medicines and treatments turn out to be one of those rare types of goods that will only ever be available to the super wealthy, is it moral to ban them or prevent their development?

This philosophical question can be addressed from any number of different frameworks. Its an age-old ethical question: should some people (like the rich) be afforded more opportunities than others (like the poor)?

Bioethicist John Harris offers a utilitarian perspective: If immortality or increased life expectancy is a good, it is doubtful ethics to deny palpable goods to some people because we cannot provide them for all.

Harris further analogizes, We cannot and should not seek to prevent the development of [longevity treatments], any more than we should deny kidney transplants because there are not enough kidneys to go aroundin other words, we should develop life-extension even if we cannot provide it to everyone.

Philosophy professor John Davis, in The American Journal of Bioethics, argues that,

We accept the general principle that taking from the Haves is justified only if doing so makes the Have-nots more than marginally better off. If life-extension is possible, then one must weigh the life-years at stake for those who receive the treatment against whatever burdens making such treatments available might impose on the Have-nots, who cannot afford the treatment.

The greatest burdenis that ones death is worse the earlier one dies relative to how long it is possible to live. For example, a death at 17 is much worse than a death at 97. Because life extension changes how long it is possible to live, life-extension will make death at 97 tragic in a way it has never been beforeHoweverwhen this burden is compared to the number of additional life-years the Haves will lose if life-extension is prevented from becoming available, the burden to the Have-nots is marginal compared to what is at stake for the Haves. Therefore, Inhibiting the development of life-extension is unjustified, even though it will probably not be available to everyone for a long time.

In other words, if life-extension research alleviates aggregate suffering even a little, even if only for the wealthy, anti-aging treatments are a moral good.

The rest is here:
6 Pros and Cons of Immortality: The Ethics of Life Extension

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Condition where males and females exhibit different characteristics

Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction.[1] The condition occurs in most animals and some plants. Differences may include secondary sex characteristics, size, weight, colour, markings, or behavioural or cognitive traits. These differences may be subtle or exaggerated and may be subjected to sexual selection and natural selection. The opposite of dimorphism is monomorphism, which is when both biological sexes are phenotypically indistinguishable from each other.[2]

Common and easily identified types of dimorphism consist of ornamentation and coloration, though not always apparent. A difference in coloration of sexes within a given species is called sexual dichromatism, which is commonly seen in many species of birds and reptiles.[3] Sexual selection leads to the exaggerated dimorphic traits that are used predominantly in competition over mates. The increased fitness resulting from ornamentation offsets its cost to produce or maintain suggesting complex evolutionary implications, but the costs and evolutionary implications vary from species to species.[4][5][pageneeded] The costs and implications differ depending on the nature of the ornamentation (such as the colour mechanism involved).[citation needed]

The peafowl constitute conspicuous illustrations of the principle. The ornate plumage of peacocks, as used in the courting display, attracts peahens. At first sight one might mistake peacocks and peahens for completely different species because of the vibrant colours and the sheer size of the male's plumage; the peahen being of a subdued brown coloration.[6] The plumage of the peacock increases its vulnerability to predators because it is a hindrance in flight, and it renders the bird conspicuous in general.[6] Similar examples are manifold, such as in birds of paradise and argus pheasants.[citation needed]

Another example of sexual dichromatism is that of the nestling blue tits. Males are chromatically more yellow than females. It is believed that this is obtained by the ingestion of green Lepidopteran larvae, which contain large amounts of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin.[7] This diet also affects the sexually dimorphic colours in the human-invisible ultraviolet spectrum.[8][9] Hence, the male birds, although appearing yellow to humans actually have a violet-tinted plumage that is seen by females. This plumage is thought to be an indicator of male parental abilities.[10] Perhaps this is a good indicator for females because it shows that they are good at obtaining a food supply from which the carotenoid is obtained. There is a positive correlation between the chromas of the tail and breast feathers and body condition.[11] Carotenoids play an important role in immune function for many animals, so carotenoid dependent signals might indicate health.[12]

Frogs constitute another conspicuous illustration of the principle. There are two types of dichromatism for frog species: ontogenetic and dynamic. Ontogenetic frogs are more common and have permanent color changes in males or females. Ranoidea lesueuri is an example of a dynamic frog that has temporary color changes in males during breeding season.[13] Hyperolius ocellatus is an ontogenetic frog with dramatic differences in both color and pattern between the sexes. At sexual maturity, the males display a bright green with white dorsolateral lines.[14] In contrast, the females are rusty red to silver with small spots. The bright coloration in the male population serves to attract females and as an aposematic sign to potential predators.

Females often show a preference for exaggerated male secondary sexual characteristics in mate selection.[15] The sexy son hypothesis explains that females prefer more elaborate males and select against males that are dull in color, independent of the species' vision.[16]

Similar sexual dimorphism and mating choice are also observed in many fish species. For example, male guppies have colorful spots and ornamentations while females are generally grey in color. Female guppies prefer brightly colored males to duller males.[17][pageneeded]

In redlip blennies, only the male fish develops an organ at the anal-urogenital region that produces antimicrobial substances. During parental care, males rub their anal-urogenital regions over their nests' internal surfaces, thereby protecting their eggs from microbial infections, one of the most common causes for mortality in young fish.[18]

Most flowering plants are hermaphroditic but approximately 6% of species have separate males and females (dioecy).[19] Sexual dimorphism is common in dioecious plants[20]:403 and dioicous species.[21]:71

Males and females in insect-pollinated species generally look similar to one another because plants provide rewards (e.g. nectar) that encourage pollinators to visit another similar flower, completing pollination. Catasetum orchids are one interesting exception to this rule. Male Catasetum orchids violently attach pollinia to euglossine bee pollinators. The bees will then avoid other male flowers but may visit the female, which look different from the males.[22]

Various other dioecious exceptions, such as Loxostylis alata have visibly different sexes, with the effect of eliciting the most efficient behaviour from pollinators, who then use the most efficient strategy in visiting each gender of flower instead of searching say, for pollen in a nectar-bearing female flower.[citation needed]

Some plants, such as some species of Geranium have what amounts to serial sexual dimorphism. The flowers of such species might for example present their anthers on opening, then shed the exhausted anthers after a day or two and perhaps change their colours as well while the pistil matures; specialist pollinators are very much inclined to concentrate on the exact appearance of the flowers they serve, which saves their time and effort and serves the interests of the plant accordingly. Some such plants go even further and change their appearance again once they have been fertilised, thereby discouraging further visits from pollinators. This is advantageous to both parties because it avoids damage to the developing fruit and avoids wasting the pollinator's effort on unrewarding visits. In effect the strategy ensures that the pollinators can expect a reward every time they visit an appropriately advertising flower.[citation needed]

Females of the aquatic plant Vallisneria americana have floating flowers attached by a long flower stalk that are fertilized if they contact one of the thousands of free floating flowers released by a male.[23][bettersourceneeded] Sexual dimorphism is most often associated with wind-pollination in plants due to selection for efficient pollen dispersal in males vs pollen capture in females, e.g. Leucadendron rubrum.[24]

Sexual dimorphism in plants can also be dependent on reproductive development. This can be seen in Cannabis sativa, a type of hemp, which have higher photosynthesis rates in males while growing but higher rates in females once the plants become sexually mature.[25]

Every sexually reproducing extant species of vascular plant actually has an alternation of generations; the plants we see about us generally are diploid sporophytes, but their offspring really are not the seeds that people commonly recognise as the new generation. The seed actually is the offspring of the haploid generation of microgametophytes (pollen) and megagametophytes (the embryo sacs in the ovules). Each pollen grain accordingly may be seen as a male plant in its own right; it produces a sperm cell and is dramatically different from the female plant, the megagametophyte that produces the female gamete.[citation needed]

Insects display a wide variety of sexual dimorphism between taxa including size, ornamentation and coloration.[26] The female-biased sexual size dimorphism observed in many taxa evolved despite intense malemale competition for mates.[27] In Osmia rufa, for example, the female is larger/broader than males, with males being 810mm in size and females being 1012mm in size.[28] In the hackberry emperor females are similarly larger than males.[29] The reason for the sexual dimorphism is due to provision size mass, in which females consume more pollen than males.[30]

In some species, there is evidence of male dimorphism, but it appears to be for the purpose of distinctions of roles. This is seen in the bee species Macrotera portalis in which there is a small-headed morph, capable of flight, and large-headed morph, incapable of flight, for males.[31] Anthidium manicatum also displays male-biased sexual dimorphism. The selection for larger size in males rather than females in this species may have resulted due to their aggressive territorial behavior and subsequent differential mating success.[32] Another example is Lasioglossum hemichalceum, which is a species of sweat bee that shows drastic physical dimorphisms between male offspring.[33] Not all dimorphism has to have a drastic difference between the sexes. Andrena agilissima is a mining bee where the females only have a slightly larger head than the males.[34]

Weaponry leads to increased fitness by increasing success in malemale competition in many insect species.[35] The beetle horns in Onthophagus taurus are enlarged growths of the head or thorax expressed only in the males. Copris ochus also has distinct sexual and male dimorphism in head horns.[36] These structures are impressive because of the exaggerated sizes.[37] There is a direct correlation between male horn lengths and body size and higher access to mates and fitness.[37] In other beetle species, both males and females may have ornamentation such as horns.[36]Generally, insect sexual size dimorphism (SSD) within species increases with body size.[38]

Sexual dimorphism within insects is also displayed by dichromatism. In butterfly genera Bicyclus and Junonia, dimorphic wing patterns evolved due to sex-limited expression, which mediates the intralocus sexual conflict and leads to increased fitness in males.[39] The sexual dichromatic nature of Bicyclus anynana is reflected by female selection on the basis of dorsal UV-reflective eyespot pupils.[40] The common brimstone also displays sexual dichromatism; males have yellow and iridescent wings, while female wings are white and non-iridescent.[41] Naturally selected deviation in protective female coloration is displayed in mimetic butterflies.[42]

Many arachnid groups exhibit sexual dimorphism,[43] but it is most widely studied in the spiders. In the orb-weaving spider Zygiella x-notata, for example, adult females have a larger body size than adult males.[44] Size dimorphism shows a correlation with sexual cannibalism,[45] which is prominent in spiders (it is also found in insects such as praying mantises). In the size dimorphic wolf spider Tigrosa helluo, food-limited females cannibalize more frequently.[46] Therefore, there is a high risk of low fitness for males due to pre-copulatory cannibalism, which led to male selection of larger females for two reasons: higher fecundity and lower rates of cannibalism.[46] In addition, female fecundity is positively correlated with female body size and large female body size is selected for, which is seen in the family Araneidae. All Argiope species, including Argiope bruennichi, use this method. Some males evolved ornamentation[vague] including binding the female with silk, having proportionally longer legs, modifying the female's web, mating while the female is feeding, or providing a nuptial gift in response to sexual cannibalism.[46] Male body size is not under selection due to cannibalism in all spider species such as Nephila pilipes, but is more prominently selected for in less dimorphic species of spiders, which often selects for larger male size.[47] In the species Maratus volans, the males are known for their characteristic colorful fan which attracts the females during mating.[48]

Ray finned fish are an ancient and diverse class, with the widest degree of sexual dimorphism of any animal class. Fairbairn notes that "females are generally larger than males but males are often larger in species with malemale combat or male paternal care ... [sizes range] from dwarf males to males more than 12 times heavier than females."[49][pageneeded]

There are cases where males are substantially larger than females. An example is Lamprologus callipterus, a type of cichlid fish. In this fish, the males are characterized as being up to 60 times larger than the females. The male's increased size is believed to be advantageous because males collect and defend empty snail shells in each of which a female breeds.[50] Males must be larger and more powerful in order to collect the largest shells. The female's body size must remain small because in order for her to breed, she must lay her eggs inside the empty shells. If she grows too large, she will not fit in the shells and will be unable to breed. The female's small body size is also likely beneficial to her chances of finding an unoccupied shell. Larger shells, although preferred by females, are often limited in availability.[51] Hence, the female is limited to the growth of the size of the shell and may actually change her growth rate according to shell size availability.[52] In other words, the male's ability to collect large shells depends on his size. The larger the male, the larger the shells he is able to collect. This then allows for females to be larger in his brooding nest which makes the difference between the sizes of the sexes less substantial. Malemale competition in this fish species also selects for large size in males. There is aggressive competition by males over territory and access to larger shells. Large males win fights and steal shells from competitors. Another example is the dragonet, in which males are considerably larger than females and possess longer fins.

Sexual dimorphism also occurs in hermaphroditic fish. These species are known as sequential hermaphrodites. In fish, reproductive histories often include the sex-change from female to male where there is a strong connection between growth, the sex of an individual, and the mating system it operates within.[53] In protogynous mating systems where males dominate mating with many females, size plays a significant role in male reproductive success.[54] Males have a propensity to be larger than females of a comparable age but it is unclear whether the size increase is due to a growth spurt at the time of the sexual transition or due to the history of faster growth in sex changing individuals.[55] Larger males are able to stifle the growth of females and control environmental resources.[citation needed]

Social organization plays a large role in the changing of sex by the fish. It is often seen that a fish will change its sex when there is a lack of dominant male within the social hierarchy. The females that change sex are often those who attain and preserve an initial size advantage early in life. In either case, females which change sex to males are larger and often prove to be a good example of dimorphism.

In other cases with fish, males will go through noticeable changes in body size, and females will go through morphological changes that can only be seen inside of the body. For example, in sockeye salmon, males develop larger body size at maturity, including an increase in body depth, hump height, and snout length. Females experience minor changes in snout length, but the most noticeable difference is the huge increase in gonad size, which accounts for about 25% of body mass.[56]

Sexual selection was observed for female ornamentation in Gobiusculus flavescens, known as two-spotted gobies.[57] Traditional hypotheses suggest that malemale competition drives selection. However, selection for ornamentation within this species suggests that showy female traits can be selected through either femalefemale competition or male mate choice.[57] Since carotenoid-based ornamentation suggests mate quality, female two-spotted guppies that develop colorful orange bellies during the breeding season are considered favorable to males.[58] The males invest heavily in offspring during the incubation, which leads to the sexual preference in colorful females due to higher egg quality.[58]

In amphibians and reptiles, the degree of sexual dimorphism varies widely among taxonomic groups. The sexual dimorphism in amphibians and reptiles may be reflected in any of the following: anatomy; relative length of tail; relative size of head; overall size as in many species of vipers and lizards; coloration as in many amphibians, snakes, and lizards, as well as in some turtles; an ornament as in many newts and lizards; the presence of specific sex-related behaviour is common to many lizards; and vocal qualities which are frequently observed in frogs.[citation needed]

Anole lizards show prominent size dimorphism with males typically being significantly larger than females. For instance, the average male Anolis sagrei was 53.4mm vs. 40mm in females.[59] Different sizes of the heads in anoles have been explained by differences in the estrogen pathway.[60] The sexual dimorphism in lizards is generally attributed to the effects of sexual selection, but other mechanisms including ecological divergence and fecundity selection provide alternative explanations.[61] The development of color dimorphism in lizards is induced by hormonal changes at the onset of sexual maturity, as seen in Psamodromus algirus, Sceloporus gadoviae, and S. undulates erythrocheilus.[61] Sexual dimorphism in size is also seen in frog species like P. bibronii.

Male painted dragon lizards, Ctenophorus pictus. are brightly conspicuous in their breeding coloration, but male colour declines with aging. Male coloration appears to reflect innate anti-oxidation capacity that protects against oxidative DNA damage.[62] Male breeding coloration is likely an indicator to females of the underlying level of oxidative DNA damage (a significant component of aging) in potential mates.[62]

Sexual dimorphism in birds can be manifested in size or plumage differences between the sexes. Sexual size dimorphism varies among taxa with males typically being larger, though this is not always the case, e.g. birds of prey, hummingbirds, and some species of flightless birds.[63][64] Plumage dimorphism, in the form of ornamentation or coloration, also varies, though males are typically the more ornamented or brightly colored sex.[65] Such differences have been attributed to the unequal reproductive contributions of the sexes.[66] This difference produces a stronger female choice since they have more risk in producing offspring. In some species, the male's contribution to reproduction ends at copulation, while in other species the male becomes the main caregiver. Plumage polymorphisms have evolved to reflect these differences and other measures of reproductive fitness, such as body condition[67] or survival.[68] The male phenotype sends signals to females who then choose the 'fittest' available male.

Sexual dimorphism is a product of both genetics and environmental factors. An example of sexual polymorphism determined by environmental conditions exists in the red-backed fairywren. Red-backed fairywren males can be classified into three categories during breeding season: black breeders, brown breeders, and brown auxiliaries.[67] These differences arise in response to the bird's body condition: if they are healthy they will produce more androgens thus becoming black breeders, while less healthy birds produce less androgens and become brown auxiliaries.[67] The reproductive success of the male is thus determined by his success during each year's non-breeding season, causing reproductive success to vary with each year's environmental conditions.

Migratory patterns and behaviors also influence sexual dimorphisms. This aspect also stems back to the size dimorphism in species. It has been shown that the larger males are better at coping with the difficulties of migration and thus are more successful in reproducing when reaching the breeding destination.[69] When viewing this in an evolutionary standpoint many theories and explanations come to consideration. If these are the result for every migration and breeding season the expected results should be a shift towards a larger male population through sexual selection. Sexual selection is strong when the factor of environmental selection is also introduced. The environmental selection may support a smaller chick size if those chicks were born in an area that allowed them to grow to a larger size, even though under normal conditions they would not be able to reach this optimal size for migration. When the environment gives advantages and disadvantages of this sort, the strength of selection is weakened and the environmental forces are given greater morphological weight. The sexual dimorphism could also produce a change in timing of migration leading to differences in mating success within the bird population.[70] When the dimorphism produces that large of a variation between the sexes and between the members of the sexes multiple evolutionary effects can take place. This timing could even lead to a speciation phenomenon if the variation becomes strongly drastic and favorable towards two different outcomes. Sexual dimorphism is maintained by the counteracting pressures of natural selection and sexual selection. For example, sexual dimorphism in coloration increases the vulnerability of bird species to predation by European sparrowhawks in Denmark.[71] Presumably, increased sexual dimorphism means males are brighter and more conspicuous, leading to increased predation.[71] Moreover, the production of more exaggerated ornaments in males may come at the cost of suppressed immune function.[67] So long as the reproductive benefits of the trait due to sexual selection are greater than the costs imposed by natural selection, then the trait will propagate throughout the population. Reproductive benefits arise in the form of a larger number of offspring, while natural selection imposes costs in the form of reduced survival. This means that even if the trait causes males to die earlier, the trait is still beneficial so long as males with the trait produce more offspring than males lacking the trait. This balance keeps the dimorphism alive in these species and ensures that the next generation of successful males will also display these traits that are attractive to the females.

Such differences in form and reproductive roles often cause differences in behavior. As previously stated, males and females often have different roles in reproduction. The courtship and mating behavior of males and females are regulated largely by hormones throughout a bird's lifetime.[72] Activational hormones occur during puberty and adulthood and serve to 'activate' certain behaviors when appropriate, such as territoriality during breeding season.[72] Organizational hormones occur only during a critical period early in development, either just before or just after hatching in most birds, and determine patterns of behavior for the rest of the bird's life.[72] Such behavioral differences can cause disproportionate sensitivities to anthropogenic pressures.[73] Females of the whinchat in Switzerland breed in intensely managed grasslands.[73] Earlier harvesting of the grasses during the breeding season lead to more female deaths.[73] Populations of many birds are often male-skewed and when sexual differences in behavior increase this ratio, populations decline at a more rapid rate.[73] Also not all male dimorphic traits are due to hormones like testosterone, instead they are a naturally occurring part of development, for example plumage.[74] In addition, the strong hormonal influence on phenotypic differences suggest that the genetic mechanism and genetic basis of these sexually dimorphic traits may involve transcription factors or cofactors rather than regulatory sequences.[75]

Sexual dimorphism may also influence differences in parental investment during times of food scarcity. For example, in the blue-footed booby, the female chicks grow faster than the males, resulting in booby parents producing the smaller sex, the males, during times of food shortage. This then results in the maximization of parental lifetime reproductive success.[76] In Black-tailed Godwits Limosa limosa limosa females are also the larger sex, and the growth rates of female chicks are more susceptible to limited environmental conditions.[77]

Sexual dimorphism may also only appear during mating season, some species of birds only show dimorphic traits in seasonal variation. The males of these species will molt into a less bright or less exaggerated color during the off breeding season.[75] This occurs because the species is more focused on survival than reproduction, causing a shift into a less ornate state.[dubious discuss]

Consequently, sexual dimorphism has important ramifications for conservation. However, sexual dimorphism is not only found in birds and is thus important to the conservation of many animals. Such differences in form and behavior can lead to sexual segregation, defined as sex differences in space and resource use.[78] Most sexual segregation research has been done on ungulates,[78] but such research extends to bats,[79] kangaroos,[80] and birds.[81] Sex-specific conservation plans have even been suggested for species with pronounced sexual segregation.[79]

The term sesquimorphism (the Latin numeral prefix sesqui- means one-and-one-half, so halfway between mono- (one) and di- (two)) has been proposed for bird species in which "both sexes have basically the same plumage pattern, though the female is clearly distinguishable by reason of her paler or washed-out colour".[82]:14 Examples include Cape sparrow (Passer melanurus),[82]:67 rufous sparrow (subspecies P.motinensis motinensis),[82]:80 and saxaul sparrow (P.ammodendri).[82]:245

In a large proportion of mammal species, males are larger than females. Both genes and hormones affect the formation of many animal brains before "birth" (or hatching), and also behaviour of adult individuals. Hormones significantly affect human brain formation, and also brain development at puberty. A 2004 review in Nature Reviews Neuroscience observed that "because it is easier to manipulate hormone levels than the expression of sex chromosome genes, the effects of hormones have been studied much more extensively, and are much better understood, than the direct actions in the brain of sex chromosome genes." It concluded that while "the differentiating effects of gonadal secretions seem to be dominant," the existing body of research "support the idea that sex differences in neural expression of X and Y genes significantly contribute to sex differences in brain functions and disease."[83]

Marine mammals show some of the greatest sexual size differences of mammals, because of sexual selection and environmental factors like breeding location.[84] The mating system of pinnipeds varies from polygamy to serial monogamy. Pinnipeds are known for early differential growth and maternal investment since the only nutrients for newborn pups is the milk provided by the mother.[85] For example, the males are significantly larger (about 10% heavier and 2% longer) than the females at birth in sea lion pups.[86] The pattern of differential investment can be varied principally prenatally and post-natally.[87] Mirounga leonina, the southern elephant seal, is one of the most dimorphic mammals.[88]

According to Clark Spencer Larsen, modern day Homo sapiens show a range of sexual dimorphism, with average body mass between the sexes differing by roughly 15%.[89] Considerable discussion in academic literature concerns potential evolutionary advantages associated with sexual competition (both intrasexual and intersexual) and short- and long-term sexual strategies.[90] According to Daly and Wilson, "The sexes differ more in human beings than in monogamous mammals, but much less than in extremely polygamous mammals."[91]

The average basal metabolic rate is about 6 percent higher in adolescent males than females and increases to about 10 percent higher after puberty. Females tend to convert more food into fat, while males convert more into muscle and expendable circulating energy reserves. Aggregated data of absolute strength indicates that females have, on average, 4060% the upper body strength of males, and 7075% the lower body strength.[92] The difference in strength relative to body mass is less pronounced in trained individuals. In Olympic weightlifting, male records vary from 5.5 body mass in the lowest weight category to 4.2 in the highest weight category, while female records vary from 4.4 to 3.8, a weight adjusted difference of only 1020%, and an absolute difference of about 40% (i.e. 472kg vs 333kg for unlimited weight classes; see Olympic weightlifting records). A study, carried about by analyzing annual world rankings from 1980 to 1996, found that males' running times were, on average, 11% faster than females'.[93]

In early adolescence, females are on average taller than males (as females tend to go through puberty earlier), but males, on average, surpass them in height in later adolescence and adulthood. In the United States, adult males are on average 9% taller[94] and 16.5% heavier[95] than adult females.

Males typically have larger tracheae and branching bronchi, with about 30 percent greater lung volume per body mass. On average, males have larger hearts, 10 percent higher red blood cell count, higher hemoglobin, hence greater oxygen-carrying capacity. They also have higher circulating clotting factors (vitamin K, prothrombin and platelets). These differences lead to faster healing of wounds and lower sensitivity to nerve pain after injury.[96] In males, pain-causing injury to the peripheral nerve occurs through the microglia, while in females it occurs through the T cells (except in pregnant women, who follow a male pattern).[97]

Females typically have more white blood cells (stored and circulating), as well as more granulocytes and B and T lymphocytes. Additionally, they produce more antibodies at a faster rate than males, hence they develop fewer infectious diseases and succumb for shorter periods.[96] Ethologists argue that females, interacting with other females and multiple offspring in social groups, have experienced such traits as a selective advantage.[98][99][100][101][102][excessive citations] Females have a higher sensitivity to pain due to aforementioned nerve differences that increase the sensation, and females thus require higher levels of pain medication after injury.[97] Hormonal changes in females affect pain sensitivity, and pregnant women have the same sensitivity as males. Acute pain tolerance is also more consistent over a lifetime in females than males, despite these hormonal changes.[103] Despite differences in the physical feeling, both sexes have similar psychological tolerance to (or ability to cope with and ignore) pain.[104]

In the human brain, a difference between sexes was observed in the transcription of the PCDH11X/Y gene pair unique to Homo sapiens.[105] Sexual differentiation in the human brain from the undifferentiated state is triggered by testosterone from the fetal testis. Testosterone is converted to estrogen in the brain through the action of the enzyme aromatase. Testosterone acts on many brain areas, including the SDN-POA, to create the masculinized brain pattern.[106] Brains of pregnant females carrying male fetuses may be shielded from the masculinizing effects of androgen through the action of sex hormone-binding globulin.[107]

The relationship between sex differences in the brain and human behavior is a subject of controversy in psychology and society at large.[108][109] Many females tend to have a higher ratio of gray matter in the left hemisphere of the brain in comparison to males.[110][111] Males on average have larger brains than females; however, when adjusted for total brain volume the gray matter differences between sexes is almost nonexistent. Thus, the percentage of gray matter appears to be more related to brain size than it is to sex.[112][113] Differences in brain physiology between sexes do not necessarily relate to differences in intellect. Haier et al. found in a 2004 study that "men and women apparently achieve similar IQ results with different brain regions, suggesting that there is no singular underlying neuroanatomical structure to general intelligence and that different types of brain designs may manifest equivalent intellectual performance".[114] (See the sex and intelligence article for more on this subject.) Strict graph-theoretical analysis of the human brain connections revealed[115] that in numerous graph-theoretical parameters (e.g., minimum bipartition width, edge number, the expander graph property, minimum vertex cover), the structural connectome of women are significantly "better" connected than the connectome of men. It was shown[116] that the graph-theoretical differences are due to the sex and not to the differences in the cerebral volume, by analyzing the data of 36 females and 36 males, where the brain volume of each man in the group was smaller than the brain volume of each woman in the group.

Sexual dimorphism was also described in the gene level and shown to extend from the sex chromosomes. Overall, about 6500 genes have been found to have sex-differential expression in at least one tissue. Many of these genes are not directly associated with reproduction, but rather linked to more general biological features. In addition, it has been shown that genes with sex-specific expression undergo reduced selection efficiency, which lead to higher population frequencies of deleterious mutations and contributing to the prevalence of several human diseases.[117][118]

Sexual dimorphism in immune function is a common pattern in vertebrates and also in a number of invertebrates. Most often, females are more 'immunocompetent' than males. This trait is not consistent among all animals, but differs depending on taxonomy, with the most female-biased immune systems being found in insects.[119] In mammals this results in more frequent and severe infections in males and higher rates of autoimmune disorders in females. One potential cause may be differences in gene expression of immune cells between the sexes.[120] Another explanation is that endocrinological differences between the sexes impact the immune system for example, testosterone acts as an immunosuppressive agent.[121]

Phenotypic differences between sexes are evident even in cultured cells from tissues.[122] For example, female muscle-derived stem cells have a better muscle regeneration efficiency than male ones.[123] There are reports of several metabolic differences between male and female cells[124] and they also respond to stress differently.[125]

In theory, larger females are favored by competition for mates, especially in polygamous species. Larger females offer an advantage in fertility, since the physiological demands of reproduction are limiting in females. Hence there is a theoretical expectation that females tend to be larger in species that are monogamous.Females are larger in many species of insects, many spiders, many fish, many reptiles, owls, birds of prey and certain mammals such as the spotted hyena, and baleen whales such as blue whale. As an example, in some species, females are sedentary, and so males must search for them. Fritz Vollrath and Geoff Parker argue that this difference in behaviour leads to radically different selection pressures on the two sexes, evidently favouring smaller males.[126] Cases where the male is larger than the female have been studied as well,[126] and require alternative explanations.

One example of this type of sexual size dimorphism is the bat Myotis nigricans, (black myotis bat) where females are substantially larger than males in terms of body weight, skull measurement, and forearm length.[127] The interaction between the sexes and the energy needed to produce viable offspring make it favorable for females to be larger in this species. Females bear the energetic cost of producing eggs, which is much greater than the cost of making sperm by the males. The fecundity advantage hypothesis states that a larger female is able to produce more offspring and give them more favorable conditions to ensure their survival; this is true for most ectotherms. A larger female can provide parental care for a longer time while the offspring matures. The gestation and lactation periods are fairly long in M. nigricans, the females suckling their offspring until they reach nearly adult size.[128] They would not be able to fly and catch prey if they did not compensate for the additional mass of the offspring during this time. Smaller male size may be an adaptation to increase maneuverability and agility, allowing males to compete better with females for food and other resources.

Some species of anglerfish also display extreme sexual dimorphism. Females are more typical in appearance to other fish, whereas the males are tiny rudimentary creatures with stunted digestive systems. A male must find a female and fuse with her: he then lives parasitically, becoming little more than a sperm-producing body in what amounts to an effectively hermaphrodite composite organism. A similar situation is found in the Zeus water bug Phoreticovelia disparata where the female has a glandular area on her back that can serve to feed a male, which clings to her (note that although males can survive away from females, they generally are not free-living).[129] This is taken to the logical extreme in the Rhizocephala crustaceans, like the Sacculina, where the male injects itself into the female's body and becomes nothing more than sperm producing cells, to the point that the superorder used to be mistaken for hermaphroditic.[130]

Some plant species also exhibit dimorphism in which the females are significantly larger than the males, such as in the moss Dicranum[131] and the liverwort Sphaerocarpos.[132] There is some evidence that, in these genera, the dimorphism may be tied to a sex chromosome,[132][133] or to chemical signalling from females.[134]

Another complicated example of sexual dimorphism is in Vespula squamosa, the southern yellowjacket. In this wasp species, the female workers are the smallest, the male workers are slightly larger, and the female queens are significantly larger than her female worker and male counterparts.[citation needed]

In 1871, Charles Darwin advanced the theory of sexual selection, which related sexual dimorphism with sexual selection.[136]

The first step towards sexual dimorphism is the size differentiation of sperm and eggs (anisogamy).[137] Anisogamy and the usually large number of small male gametes relative to the larger female gametes usually lies in the development of strong sperm competition,[138][139] because small sperm enable organisms to produce a large number of sperm, and make males (or male function of hermaphrodites[140]) more redundant.

This intensifies male competition for mates and promotes the evolution of other sexual dimorphism in many species, especially in vertebrates including mammals. However, in some species females compete for mates in ways more usually associated with males (usually species in which males invest a lot in rearing offspring and thus are no longer considered as so redundant).[citation needed]

Sexual dimorphism by size is evident in some extinct species such as the velociraptor. In the case of velociraptors the sexual size dimorphism may have been caused by two factors: male competition for hunting ground to attract mates, and/or female competition for nesting locations and mates, males being a scarce breeding resource.[141]

Volvocine algae have been useful in understanding the evolution of sexual dimorphism [142] and species like the beetle C. maculatus, where the females are larger than the males, are used to study its underlying genetic mechanisms. [143]

In many non-monogamous species, the benefit to a male's reproductive fitness of mating with multiple females is large, whereas the benefit to a female's reproductive fitness of mating with multiple males is small or nonexistent.[144] In these species, there is a selection pressure for whatever traits enable a male to have more matings. The male may therefore come to have different traits from the female.

These traits could be ones that allow him to fight off other males for control of territory or a harem, such as large size or weapons;[145] or they could be traits that females, for whatever reason, prefer in mates.[146] Malemale competition poses no deep theoretical questions[147] but mate choice does.

Females may choose males that appear strong and healthy, thus likely to possess "good alleles" and give rise to healthy offspring.[148] In some species, however, females seem to choose males with traits that do not improve offspring survival rates, and even traits that reduce it (potentially leading to traits like the peacock's tail).[147] Two hypotheses for explaining this fact are the sexy son hypothesis and the handicap principle.

The sexy son hypothesis states that females may initially choose a trait because it improves the survival of their young, but once this preference has become widespread, females must continue to choose the trait, even if it becomes harmful. Those that do not will have sons that are unattractive to most females (since the preference is widespread) and so receive few matings.[149]

The handicap principle states that a male who survives despite possessing some sort of handicap thus proves that the rest of his genes are "good alleles". If males with "bad alleles" could not survive the handicap, females may evolve to choose males with this sort of handicap; the trait is acting as a hard-to-fake signal of fitness.[150]

Originally posted here:
Sexual dimorphism - Wikipedia

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

If your hairline is receding or your crown is thinning, you may wonder why this is happening and what exactly is causing your thinning hair. You may also be wondering what, if anything, you can do to reverse this trend.

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The vast majority of men who go bald do so because of a hereditary condition known as androgenetic alopecia, more commonly known as male pattern baldness.

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According to the American Hair Loss Association:

Although male pattern baldness is the leading cause of balding, it isnt the only condition that can trigger hair loss.

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Hair loss from certain medications is usually temporary and once you stop taking the medication, hair growth will likely resume. Some of the known drugs associated with hair loss include:

Hair loss treatments, for male pattern baldness in particular, range from products you rub into your scalp to more invasive treatments aimed at restoring hair growth or replacing lost hair.

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There are both prescription and over-the-counter drugs approved for the treatment of male pattern baldness.

The two medications proven to treat or stave off further male pattern hair loss are finasteride (Propecia, Proscar) and minoxidil (Rogaine, Ioniten). Finasteride comes in a pill form and is only available by prescription. Minoxidil is a topical treatment thats available over the counter.

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With FUE, the surgeon takes individual healthy hair follicles out of the scalp and then makes small holes, where hair isnt growing, and puts the healthy follicles into these holes.

Male pattern baldness is commonly an inherited condition. Its very difficult to nonsurgically reverse any of the hair loss thats seen with this condition.

However, preventing further hair loss at the first sign of thinning is possible. Finasteride and Rogaine are two known treatments that might prevent further hair loss seen with androgenetic alopecia.

Once you discontinue use of these medications, the hair loss may resume. Talk to your doctor about if these medications may be right for you.

To keep your hair healthy and to prevent hair loss from other causes, try the following:

If you have a bald spot or a receding hairline, its likely due to your genes.

In 95 percent of cases, balding is due to androgenetic alopecia, more commonly known as male pattern baldness, which is a hereditary condition. It can affect men of all ages, and may even start before the age of 21.

Although you cant prevent male pattern baldness, there are ways to slow down hair loss. Some options include medications such as Finasteride (Propecia, Proscar) and minoxidil (Rogaine, Ioniten), laser therapy, and hair transplant surgery.

If youre concerned about going bald, be sure to speak to your doctor or dermatologist. They can work with you to figure out the treatment options that are right for you.

Read more from the original source:
Why Do Men Go Bald: Male Baldness Causes, Treatment, Prevention

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Ethnic group in the United States

African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa.[3][4] The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslaved Africans who are from the United States.[5][6][7] While some Black immigrants or their children may also come to identify as African-American, the majority of first generation immigrants do not, preferring to identify with their nation of origin.[8][9]

African Americans constitute the second largest racial group in the U.S. after White Americans, as well as the third largest ethnic group after Hispanic and Latino Americans.[10] Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved people within the boundaries of the present United States.[11][12] On average, African Americans are of West/Central African with some European descent; some also have Native American and other ancestry.[13]

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants identify instead with their own respective ethnicities (~95%).[9] Immigrants from some Caribbean and Latin American nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with the term.[7]

African-American history began in the 16th century, with Africans from West Africa being sold to European slave traders and transported across the Atlantic to the Thirteen Colonies. After arriving in the Americas, they were sold as slaves to European colonists and put to work on plantations, particularly in the southern colonies. A few were able to achieve freedom through manumission or escape and founded independent communities before and during the American Revolution. After the United States was founded in 1783, most Black people continued to be enslaved, being most concentrated in the American South, with four million enslaved only liberated during and at the end of the Civil War in 1865.[14] During Reconstruction, they gained citizenship and the right to vote; due to the widespread policy and ideology of White supremacy, they were largely treated as second-class citizens and found themselves soon disenfranchised in the South. These circumstances changed due to participation in the military conflicts of the United States, substantial migration out of the South, the elimination of legal racial segregation, and the civil rights movement which sought political and social freedom. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States.[15]

African-American culture has a significant influence on worldwide culture, making numerous contributions to visual arts, literature, the English language, philosophy, politics, cuisine, sports and music. The African American contribution to popular music is so profound that virtually all American music, such as jazz, gospel, blues, disco, hip hop, R&B, soul and rock all have their origins at least partially or entirely among African Americans.[16][17]

The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported in the transatlantic slave trade were people from Central and West Africa, who had been captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids,[18] or sold by other West Africans, or by half-European "merchant princes"[19] to European slave traders, who brought them to the Americas.[20]

The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony (most likely located in the Winyah Bay area of present-day South Carolina), founded by Spanish explorer Lucas Vzquez de Aylln in 1526.[21] The ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans. De Aylln and many of the colonists died shortly afterward of an epidemic and the colony was abandoned. The settlers and the slaves who had not escaped returned to Haiti, whence they had come.[21]

The marriage between Luisa de Abrego, a free Black domestic servant from Seville, and Miguel Rodrguez, a White Segovian conquistador in 1565 in St. Augustine (Spanish Florida), is the first known and recorded Christian marriage anywhere in what is now the continental United States.[22]

The first recorded Africans in English America (including most of the future United States) were "20 and odd negroes" who came to Jamestown, Virginia via Cape Comfort in August 1619 as indentured servants.[23] As many Virginian settlers began to die from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers.[24]

An indentured servant (who could be White or Black) would work for several years (usually four to seven) without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland was similar to slavery. Servants could be bought, sold, or leased and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or running away. Unlike slaves, they were freed after their term of service expired or was bought out, their children did not inherit their status, and on their release from contract they received "a year's provision of corn, double apparel, tools necessary", and a small cash payment called "freedom dues".[26] Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom.[27] They raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or European settlers.[28]

By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640, the Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of lifetime slavery when they sentenced John Punch, a Negro, to lifetime servitude under his master Hugh Gwyn for running away.[29][30]

In the Spanish Florida some Spanish married or had unions with Pensacola, Creek or African women, both slave and free, and their descendants created a mixed-race population of mestizos and mulattos. The Spanish encouraged slaves from the colony of Georgia to come to Florida as a refuge, promising freedom in exchange for conversion to Catholicism. King Charles II issued a royal proclamation freeing all slaves who fled to Spanish Florida and accepted conversion and baptism. Most went to the area around St. Augustine, but escaped slaves also reached Pensacola. St. Augustine had mustered an all-Black militia unit defending Spanish Florida as early as 1683.[31]

One of the Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson, would later own one of the first Black "slaves", John Casor, resulting from the court ruling of a civil case.[32][33]

The popular conception of a race-based slave system did not fully develop until the 18th century. The Dutch West India Company introduced slavery in 1625 with the importation of eleven Black slaves into New Amsterdam (present-day New York City). All the colony's slaves, however, were freed upon its surrender to the English.[34]

Massachusetts was the first English colony to legally recognize slavery in 1641. In 1662, Virginia passed a law that children of enslaved women took the status of the mother, rather than that of the father, as under common law. This legal principle was called partus sequitur ventrum.[35][36]

By an act of 1699, the colony ordered all free Blacks deported, virtually defining as slaves all people of African descent who remained in the colony.[37] In 1670, the colonial assembly passed a law prohibiting free and baptized Blacks (and Indians) from purchasing Christians (in this act meaning White Europeans) but allowing them to buy people "of their owne nation".[38]

In the Spanish Louisiana although there was no movement toward abolition of the African slave trade, Spanish rule introduced a new law called coartacin, which allowed slaves to buy their freedom, and that of others.[41] Although some did not have the money to buy their freedom, government measures on slavery allowed many free Blacks. That brought problems to the Spaniards with the French Creoles who also populated Spanish Louisiana, French creoles cited that measure as one of the system's worst elements.[42]

First established in South Carolina in 1704, groups of armed White menslave patrolswere formed to monitor enslaved Black people.[43] Their function was to police slaves, especially fugitives. Slave owners feared that slaves might organize revolts or slave rebellions, so state militias were formed in order to provide a military command structure and discipline within the slave patrols so they could be used to detect, encounter, and crush any organized slave meetings which might lead to revolts or rebellions.[43]

The earliest African-American congregations and churches were organized before 1800 in both northern and southern cities following the Great Awakening. By 1775, Africans made up 20% of the population in the American colonies, which made them the second largest ethnic group after English Americans.[44]

During the 1770s, Africans, both enslaved and free, helped rebellious American colonists secure their independence by defeating the British in the American Revolutionary War.[45] Blacks played a role in both sides in the American Revolution. Activists in the Patriot cause included James Armistead, Prince Whipple, and Oliver Cromwell.[46][47] Around 15,000 Black Loyalists left with the British after the war, most of them ending up as free Black people in England[48] or its colonies, such as the Black Nova Scotians and the Sierra Leone Creole people.[49][50]

In the Spanish Louisiana, Governor Bernardo de Glvez organized Spanish free Black men into two militia companies to defend New Orleans during the American Revolution. They fought in the 1779 battle in which Spain captured Baton Rouge from the British. Glvez also commanded them in campaigns against the British outposts in Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida. He recruited slaves for the militia by pledging to free anyone who was seriously wounded and promised to secure a low price for coartacin (buy their freedom and that of others) for those who received lesser wounds. During the 1790s, Governor Francisco Luis Hctor, baron of Carondelet reinforced local fortifications and recruit even more free Black men for the militia. Carondelet doubled the number of free Black men who served, creating two more militia companiesone made up of Black members and the other of pardo (mixed race). Serving in the militia brought free Black men one step closer to equality with Whites, allowing them, for example, the right to carry arms and boosting their earning power. However, actually these privileges distanced free Black men from enslaved Blacks and encouraged them to identify with Whites.[42]

Slavery had been tacitly enshrined in the U.S. Constitution through provisions such as Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, commonly known as the 3/5 compromise. Because of Section 9, Clause 1, Congress was unable to pass an Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves until 1807.[51] Fugitive slave laws (derived from the Fugitive Slave Clause of the ConstitutionArticle IV, Section 2, Clause 3) were passed by Congress in 1793 and 1850, guaranteeing the right for a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave within the U.S.[40] Slave owners, who viewed slaves as property, made it a federal crime to assist those who had escaped slavery or to interfere with their capture.[39] Slavery, which by then meant almost exclusively Black people, was the most important political issue in the Antebellum United States, leading to one crisis after another. Among these were the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, the Dred Scott decision, and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.

Prior to the Civil War, eight serving presidents owned slaves, a practice protected by the U.S. Constitution.[52] By 1860, there were 3.5 to 4.4million enslaved Black people in the U.S. due to the Atlantic slave trade, and another 488,000500,000 Blacks lived free (with legislated limits)[53] across the country.[54] With legislated limits imposed upon them in addition to "unconquerable prejudice" from Whites according to Henry Clay,[55] some Black people who were not enslaved left the U.S. for Liberia in West Africa.[53] Liberia began as a settlement of the American Colonization Society (ACS) in 1821, with the abolitionist members of the ACS believing Blacks would face better chances for freedom and equality in Africa.[53]

The slaves not only constituted a large investment, they produced America's most valuable product and export: cotton. They not only helped build the U.S. Capitol, they built the White House and other District of Columbia buildings. (See Slavery in the District of Columbia.[56]) Similar building projects existed in the slave states.

By 1815, the domestic slave trade had become a major economic activity in the United States; it lasted until the 1860s.[57] Historians estimate nearly one million in total took part in the forced migration of this new "Middle Passage." The historian Ira Berlin called this forced migration of slaves the "central event" in the life of a slave between the American Revolution and the Civil War, writing that whether slaves were directly uprooted or lived in fear that they or their families would be involuntarily moved, "the massive deportation traumatized black people."[58] Individuals lost their connection to families and clans, and many ethnic Africans lost their knowledge of varying tribal origins in Africa.[57]

The 1863 photograph of Wilson Chinn, a branded slave from Louisiana, like the one of Gordon and his scarred back, served as two early examples of how the newborn medium of photography could encapsulate the cruelty of slavery.[59]

Emigration of free Blacks to their continent of origin had been proposed since the Revolutionary war. After Haiti became independent, it tried to recruit African Americans to migrate there after it re-established trade relations with the United States. The Haitian Union was a group formed to promote relations between the countries.[60] After riots against Blacks in Cincinnati, its Black community sponsored founding of the Wilberforce Colony, an initially successful settlement of African-American immigrants to Canada. The colony was one of the first such independent political entities. It lasted for a number of decades and provided a destination for about 200 Black families emigrating from a number of locations in the United States.[60]

In 1863, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation declared that all slaves in Confederate-held territory were free.[61] Advancing Union troops enforced the proclamation, with Texas being the last state to be emancipated, in 1865.[62]

Slavery in Union-held Confederate territory continued, at least on paper, until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.[63] While the Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U.S. citizenship to Whites only,[64][65] the 14th Amendment (1868) gave Black people citizenship, and the 15th Amendment (1870) gave Black males the right to vote (which would still be denied to all women until 1920).[66]

African Americans quickly set up congregations for themselves, as well as schools and community/civic associations, to have space away from White control or oversight. While the post-war Reconstruction era was initially a time of progress for African Americans, that period ended in 1876. By the late 1890s, Southern states enacted Jim Crow laws to enforce racial segregation and disenfranchisement.[67] Segregation, which began with slavery, continued with Jim Crow laws, with signs used to show Blacks where they could legally walk, talk, drink, rest, or eat.[68] For those places that were racially mixed, non-Whites had to wait until all White customers were dealt with.[68] Most African Americans obeyed the Jim Crow laws, to avoid racially motivated violence. To maintain self-esteem and dignity, African Americans such as Anthony Overton and Mary McLeod Bethune continued to build their own schools, churches, banks, social clubs, and other businesses.[69]

In the last decade of the 19th century, racially discriminatory laws and racial violence aimed at African Americans began to mushroom in the United States, a period often referred to as the "nadir of American race relations". These discriminatory acts included racial segregationupheld by the United States Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896which was legally mandated by southern states and nationwide at the local level of government, voter suppression or disenfranchisement in the southern states, denial of economic opportunity or resources nationwide, and private acts of violence and mass racial violence aimed at African Americans unhindered or encouraged by government authorities.[70]

The desperate conditions of African Americans in the South sparked the Great Migration during the first half of the 20th century which led to a growing African-American community in Northern and Western United States.[72] The rapid influx of Blacks disturbed the racial balance within Northern and Western cities, exacerbating hostility between both Blacks and Whites in the two regions.[73] The Red Summer of 1919 was marked by hundreds of deaths and higher casualties across the U.S. as a result of race riots that occurred in more than three dozen cities, such as the Chicago race riot of 1919 and the Omaha race riot of 1919. Overall, Blacks in Northern and Western cities experienced systemic discrimination in a plethora of aspects of life. Within employment, economic opportunities for Blacks were routed to the lowest-status and restrictive in potential mobility. At the 1900 Hampton Negro Conference, Reverend Matthew Anderson said: "...the lines along most of the avenues of wage earning are more rigidly drawn in the North than in the South."[74] Within the housing market, stronger discriminatory measures were used in correlation to the influx, resulting in a mix of "targeted violence, restrictive covenants, redlining and racial steering".[75] While many Whites defended their space with violence, intimidation, or legal tactics toward African Americans, many other Whites migrated to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions, a process known as White flight.[76]

Despite discrimination, drawing cards for leaving the hopelessness in the South were the growth of African-American institutions and communities in Northern cities. Institutions included Black oriented organizations (e.g., Urban League, NAACP), churches, businesses, and newspapers, as well as successes in the development in African-American intellectual culture, music, and popular culture (e.g., Harlem Renaissance, Chicago Black Renaissance). The Cotton Club in Harlem was a Whites-only establishment, with Blacks (such as Duke Ellington) allowed to perform, but to a White audience.[77] Black Americans also found a new ground for political power in Northern cities, without the enforced disabilities of Jim Crow.[78][79]

By the 1950s, the civil rights movement was gaining momentum. A 1955 lynching that sparked public outrage about injustice was that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy from Chicago. Spending the summer with relatives in Money, Mississippi, Till was killed for allegedly having wolf-whistled at a White woman. Till had been badly beaten, one of his eyes was gouged out, and he was shot in the head. The visceral response to his mother's decision to have an open-casket funeral mobilized the Black community throughout the U.S.[80] Vann R. Newkirk| wrote "the trial of his killers became a pageant illuminating the tyranny of White supremacy".[80] The state of Mississippi tried two defendants, but they were speedily acquitted by an all-White jury.[81] One hundred days after Emmett Till's murder, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Alabamaindeed, Parks told Emmett's mother Mamie Till that "the photograph of Emmett's disfigured face in the casket was set in her mind when she refused to give up her seat on the Montgomery bus."[82]

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the conditions which brought it into being are credited with putting pressure on presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson put his support behind passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and labor unions, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which expanded federal authority over states to ensure Black political participation through protection of voter registration and elections.[83] By 1966, the emergence of the Black Power movement, which lasted from 1966 to 1975, expanded upon the aims of the civil rights movement to include economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from White authority.[84]

During the post-war period, many African Americans continued to be economically disadvantaged relative to other Americans. Average Black income stood at 54 percent of that of White workers in 1947, and 55 percent in 1962. In 1959, median family income for Whites was $5,600, compared with $2,900 for non-White families. In 1965, 43 percent of all Black families fell into the poverty bracket, earning under $3,000 a year. The Sixties saw improvements in the social and economic conditions of many Black Americans.[85]

From 1965 to 1969, Black family income rose from 54 to 60 percent of White family income. In 1968, 23 percent of Black families earned under $3,000 a year, compared with 41 percent in 1960. In 1965, 19 percent of Black Americans had incomes equal to the national median, a proportion that rose to 27 percent by 1967. In 1960, the median level of education for Blacks had been 10.8 years, and by the late Sixties the figure rose to 12.2 years, half a year behind the median for Whites.[85]

Politically and economically, African Americans have made substantial strides during the postcivil rights era. In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American Supreme Court Justice. In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress. In 1989, Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected governor in U.S. history. Clarence Thomas succeeded Marshall to become the second African-American Supreme Court Justice in 1991. In 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois became the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. There were 8,936 Black officeholders in the United States in 2000, showing a net increase of 7,467 since 1970. In 2001, there were 484 Black mayors.[86]

In 2005, the number of Africans immigrating to the United States, in a single year, surpassed the peak number who were involuntarily brought to the United States during the Atlantic Slave Trade.[87] On November 4, 2008, Democratic Senator Barack Obama defeated Republican Senator John McCain to become the first African American to be elected president. At least 95 percent of African-American voters voted for Obama.[88][89] He also received overwhelming support from young and educated Whites, a majority of Asians,[90] and Hispanics,[90] picking up a number of new states in the Democratic electoral column.[88][89] Obama lost the overall White vote, although he won a larger proportion of White votes than any previous nonincumbent Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter.[91] Obama was reelected for a second and final term, by a similar margin on November 6, 2012.[92] In 2021, Kamala Harris became the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to serve as Vice President of the United States.[93]

Proportion of African Americans in each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico as of the 2020 United States Census

In 1790, when the first U.S. Census was taken, Africans (including slaves and free people) numbered about 760,000about 19.3% of the population. In 1860, at the start of the Civil War, the African-American population had increased to 4.4million, but the percentage rate dropped to 14% of the overall population of the country. The vast majority were slaves, with only 488,000 counted as "freemen". By 1900, the Black population had doubled and reached 8.8million.[94]

In 1910, about 90% of African Americans lived in the South. Large numbers began migrating north looking for better job opportunities and living conditions, and to escape Jim Crow laws and racial violence. The Great Migration, as it was called, spanned the 1890s to the 1970s. From 1916 through the 1960s, more than 6million Black people moved north. But in the 1970s and 1980s, that trend reversed, with more African Americans moving south to the Sun Belt than leaving it.[95]

The following table of the African-American population in the United States over time shows that the African-American population, as a percentage of the total population, declined until 1930 and has been rising since then.

By 1990, the African-American population reached about 30million and represented 12% of the U.S. population, roughly the same proportion as in 1900.[97]

At the time of the 2000 Census, 54.8% of African Americans lived in the South. In that year, 17.6% of African Americans lived in the Northeast and 18.7% in the Midwest, while only 8.9% lived in the western states. The west does have a sizable Black population in certain areas, however. California, the nation's most populous state, has the fifth largest African-American population, only behind New York, Texas, Georgia, and Florida. According to the 2000 Census, approximately 2.05% of African Americans identified as Hispanic or Latino in origin,[10] many of whom may be of Brazilian, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, Haitian, or other Latin American descent. The only self-reported ancestral groups larger than African Americans are the Irish and Germans.[98]

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, nearly 3% of people who self-identified as Black had recent ancestors who immigrated from another country. Self-reported non-Hispanic Black immigrants from the Caribbean, mostly from Jamaica and Haiti, represented 0.9% of the U.S. population, at 2.6million.[99] Self-reported Black immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa also represented 0.9%, at about 2.8million.[99] Additionally, self-identified Black Hispanics represented 0.4% of the United States population, at about 1.2million people, largely found within the Puerto Rican and Dominican communities.[100] Self-reported Black immigrants hailing from other countries in the Americas, such as Brazil and Canada, as well as several European countries, represented less than 0.1% of the population. Mixed-Race Hispanic and non-Hispanic Americans who identified as being part Black, represented 0.9% of the population. Of the 12.6% of United States residents who identified as Black, around 10.3% were "native Black American" or ethnic African Americans, who are direct descendants of West/Central Africans brought to the U.S. as slaves. These individuals make up well over 80% of all Blacks in the country. When including people of mixed-race origin, about 13.5% of the U.S. population self-identified as Black or "mixed with Black".[101] However, according to the U.S. census bureau, evidence from the 2000 Census indicates that many African and Caribbean immigrant ethnic groups do not identify as "Black, African Am., or Negro". Instead, they wrote in their own respective ethnic groups in the "Some Other Race" write-in entry. As a result, the census bureau devised a new, separate "African American" ethnic group category in 2010 for ethnic African Americans.[102]

Historically, African-Americans have been undercounted in the U.S. Census due to a number of factors and biases.[103][104] In the 2020 census, the African American population was undercounted at an estimated rate of 3.3%, up from 2.1% in 2010.[105]

After 100 years of African Americans leaving the south in large numbers seeking better opportunities and treatment in the west and north, a movement known as the Great Migration, there is now a reverse trend, called the New Great Migration. As with the earlier Great Migration, the New Great Migration is primarily directed toward cities and large urban areas, such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, Raleigh, Tampa, San Antonio, Memphis, Nashville, Jacksonville, and so forth.[106] A growing percentage of African-Americans from the west and north are migrating to the southern region of the U.S. for economic and cultural reasons. New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles have the highest decline in African Americans, while Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston have the highest increase respectively.[106]

Among cities of 100,000 or more, Detroit, Michigan had the highest percentage of Black residents of any U.S. city in 2010, with 82%. Other large cities with African-American majorities include Jackson, Mississippi (79.4%), Miami Gardens, Florida (76.3%), Baltimore, Maryland (63%), Birmingham, Alabama (62.5%), Memphis, Tennessee (61%), New Orleans, Louisiana (60%), Montgomery, Alabama (56.6%), Flint, Michigan (56.6%), Savannah, Georgia (55.0%), Augusta, Georgia (54.7%), Atlanta, Georgia (54%, see African Americans in Atlanta), Cleveland, Ohio (53.3%), Newark, New Jersey (52.35%), Washington, D.C. (50.7%), Richmond, Virginia (50.6%), Mobile, Alabama (50.6%), Baton Rouge, Louisiana (50.4%), and Shreveport, Louisiana (50.4%).

The nation's most affluent community with an African-American majority resides in View ParkWindsor Hills, California with an annual median household income of $159,618.[107] Other largely affluent and African-American communities include Prince George's County in Maryland (namely Mitchellville, Woodmore, and Upper Marlboro), Dekalb County and South Fulton in Georgia, Charles City County in Virginia, Baldwin Hills in California, Hillcrest and Uniondale in New York, and Cedar Hill, DeSoto, and Missouri City in Texas. Queens County, New York is the only county with a population of 65,000 or more where African Americans have a higher median household income than White Americans.[108]

Seatack, Virginia is currently the oldest African-American community in the United States.[109] It survives today with a vibrant and active civic community.[110]

During slavery, anti-literacy laws were enacted in the U.S. that prohibited education for Black people. Slave owners saw literacy as a threat to the institution of slavery. As a North Carolina statute stated, "Teaching slaves to read and write, tends to excite dissatisfaction in their minds, and to produce insurrection and rebellion."[111]

In 1863, enslaved Americans became free citizens during a time when public educational systems were expanding across the country. By 1870, around seventy-four institutions in the south provided a form of advanced education for African American students, and by 1900, over a hundred programs at these schools provided training for Black professionals, including teachers. Many of the students at Fisk University, including W. E. B. Du Bois when he was a student there, taught school during the summers to support their studies.[112]

African Americans were very concerned to provide quality education for their children, but White supremacy limited their ability to participate in educational policymaking on the political level. State governments soon moved to undermine their citizenship by restricting their right to vote. By the late 1870s, Blacks were disenfranchised and segregated across the American South.[113] White politicians in Mississippi and other states withheld financial resources and supplies from Black schools. Nevertheless, the presence of Black teachers, and their engagement with their communities both inside and outside the classroom, ensured that Black students had access to education despite these external constraints.[114][115]

During World War II, demands for unity and racial tolerance on the home front provided an opening for the first Black history curriculum in the country.[116] For example, during the early 1940s, Madeline Morgan, a Black teacher in the Chicago public schools, created a curriculum for students in grades one through eight highlighting the contributions of Black people to the history of the United States. At the close of the war, Chicago's Board of Education downgraded the curriculum's status from mandatory to optional.[117]

Predominantly Black schools for kindergarten through twelfth grade students were common throughout the U.S. before the 1970s. By 1972, however, desegregation efforts meant that only 25% of Black students were in schools with more than 90% non-White students. However, since then, a trend towards re-segregation affected communities across the country: by 2011, 2.9million African-American students were in such overwhelmingly minority schools, including 53% of Black students in school districts that were formerly under desegregation orders.[118][119]

As late as 1947, about one third of African Americans over 65 were considered to lack the literacy to read and write their own names. By 1969, illiteracy as it had been traditionally defined, had been largely eradicated among younger African Americans.[120]

U.S. Census surveys showed that by 1998, 89 percent of African Americans aged 25 to 29 had completed a high-school education, less than Whites or Asians, but more than Hispanics. On many college entrance, standardized tests and grades, African Americans have historically lagged behind Whites, but some studies suggest that the achievement gap has been closing. Many policy makers have proposed that this gap can and will be eliminated through policies such as affirmative action, desegregation, and multiculturalism.[121]

Between 1995 and 2009, freshmen college enrollment for African Americans increased by 73 percent and only 15 percent for Whites.[122] Black women are enrolled in college more than any other race and gender group, leading all with 9.7% enrolled according to the 2011 U.S. Census Bureau.[123][124] The average high school graduation rate of Blacks in the United States has steadily increased to 71% in 2013.[125] Separating this statistic into component parts shows it varies greatly depending upon the state and the school district examined. 38% of Black males graduated in the state of New York but in Maine 97% graduated and exceeded the White male graduation rate by 11 percentage points.[126] In much of the southeastern United States and some parts of the southwestern United States the graduation rate of White males was in fact below 70% such as in Florida where 62% of White males graduated from high school. Examining specific school districts paints an even more complex picture. In the Detroit school district the graduation rate of Black males was 20% but 7% for White males. In the New York City school district 28% of Black males graduate from high school compared to 57% of White males. In Newark County[where?] 76% of Black males graduated compared to 67% for White males. Further academic improvement has occurred in 2015. Roughly 23% of all Blacks have bachelor's degrees. In 1988, 21% of Whites had obtained a bachelor's degree versus 11% of Blacks. In 2015, 23% of Blacks had obtained a bachelor's degree versus 36% of Whites.[127] Foreign born Blacks, 9% of the Black population, made even greater strides. They exceed native born Blacks by 10 percentage points.[127]

College Board, which runs the official college-level advanced placement (AP) programs in American high schools, have has received criticism in recent years that its curricula have focused too much on Euro-centric history.[128] In 2020, College Board reshaped some curricula among history-based courses to further reflect the African diaspora.[129] In 2021, College Board announced it would be piloting an AP African American Studies course between 2022 and 2024. The course is expected to launch in 2024.[130]

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which were founded when segregated institutions of higher learning did not admit African Americans, continue to thrive and educate students of all races today. There are 101 HBCUs representing three percent of the nation's colleges and universities with the majority established in the Southeast.[131][132] HBCUs have been largely responsible for establishing and expanding the African-American middle-class by providing opportunities not usually given to African Americans.[133][134]

African Americans have benefited from the advances made during the civil rights era. The racial disparity in poverty rates has narrowed. In the first quarter of 2021, 45.1% of African Americans owned their homes, compared to 65.3% of all Americans.[136] The poverty rate among African Americans has decreased from 24.7% in 2004 to 18.8% in 2020, compared to 10.5% for all Americans.[137][138]

African Americans have a combined buying power of over $892billion currently and likely over $1.1trillion by 2012.[140][141] In 2002, African American-owned businesses accounted for 1.2million of the US's 23million businesses.[142] As of 2011[update] African American-owned businesses account for approximately 2million US businesses.[143] Black-owned businesses experienced the largest growth in number of businesses among minorities from 2002 to 2011.[143]

Twenty-five percent of Blacks had white-collar occupations (management, professional, and related fields) in 2000, compared with 33.6% of Americans overall.[144][145] In 2001, over half of African-American households of married couples earned $50,000 or more.[145] Although in the same year African Americans were over-represented among the nation's poor, this was directly related to the disproportionate percentage of African-American families headed by single women; such families are collectively poorer, regardless of ethnicity.[145]

In 2006, the median earnings of African-American men was more than Black and non-Black American women overall, and in all educational levels.[146][147][148][149][150] At the same time, among American men, income disparities were significant; the median income of African-American men was approximately 76 cents for every dollar of their European American counterparts, although the gap narrowed somewhat with a rise in educational level.[146][151]

Overall, the median earnings of African-American men were 72 cents for every dollar earned of their Asian American counterparts, and $1.17 for every dollar earned by Hispanic men.[146][149][152] On the other hand, by 2006, among American women with post-secondary education, African-American women have made significant advances; the median income of African-American women was more than those of their Asian-, European- and Hispanic American counterparts with at least some college education.[147][148][153]

The U.S. public sector is the single most important source of employment for African Americans.[154] During 20082010, 21.2% of all Black workers were public employees, compared with 16.3% of non-Black workers.[154] Both before and after the onset of the Great Recession, African Americans were 30% more likely than other workers to be employed in the public sector.[154] The public sector is also a critical source of decent-paying jobs for Black Americans. For both men and women, the median wage earned by Black employees is significantly higher in the public sector than in other industries.[154]

In 1999, the median income of African-American families was $33,255 compared to $53,356 of European Americans. In times of economic hardship for the nation, African Americans suffer disproportionately from job loss and underemployment, with the Black underclass being hardest hit. The phrase "last hired and first fired" is reflected in the Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment figures. Nationwide, the October 2008 unemployment rate for African Americans was 11.1%,[155] while the nationwide rate was 6.5%.[156]

The income gap between Black and White families is also significant. In 2005, employed Blacks earned 65% of the wages of Whites, down from 82% in 1975.[137] The New York Times reported in 2006 that in Queens, New York, the median income among African-American families exceeded that of White families, which the newspaper attributed to the growth in the number of two-parent Black families. It noted that Queens was the only county with more than 65,000 residents where that was true.[108] In 2011, it was reported that 72% of Black babies were born to unwed mothers.[157] The poverty rate among single-parent Black families was 39.5% in 2005, according to Walter E. Williams, while it was 9.9% among married-couple Black families. Among White families, the respective rates were 26.4% and 6% in poverty.[158]

Collectively, African Americans are more involved in the American political process than other minority groups in the United States, indicated by the highest level of voter registration and participation in elections among these groups in 2004.[159] African Americans also have the highest level of Congressional representation of any minority group in the U.S.[160]

Since the mid 20th century, a large majority of African Americans support the Democratic Party. In the 2020 Presidential election, 91% of African-American voters supported Democrat Joe Biden, while 8% supported Republican Donald Trump.[161] Although there is an African-American lobby in foreign policy, it has not had the impact that African-American organizations have had in domestic policy.[162]

Many African Americans were excluded from electoral politics in the decades following the end of Reconstruction. For those that could participate, until the New Deal, African Americans were supporters of the Republican Party because it was Republican President Abraham Lincoln who helped in granting freedom to American slaves; at the time, the Republicans and Democrats represented the sectional interests of the North and South, respectively, rather than any specific ideology, and both conservative and liberal were represented equally in both parties.

The African-American trend of voting for Democrats can be traced back to the 1930s during the Great Depression, when Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program provided economic relief to African Americans. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition turned the Democratic Party into an organization of the working class and their liberal allies, regardless of region. The African-American vote became even more solidly Democratic when Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson pushed for civil rights legislation during the 1960s. In 1960, nearly a third of African Americans voted for Republican Richard Nixon.[163]

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" is often referred to as the Black national anthem in the United States.[164] In 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had dubbed it the "Negro national anthem" for its power in voicing a cry for liberation and affirmation for African American people.[165]

According to a Gallup survey, 4.6% of Black or African-Americans self-identified as LGBT in 2016,[166] while the total portion of American adults in all ethnic groups identifying as LGBT was 4.1% in 2016.[166]

The life expectancy for Black men in 2008 was 70.8 years.[167] Life expectancy for Black women was 77.5 years in 2008.[167] In 1900, when information on Black life expectancy started being collated, a Black man could expect to live to 32.5 years and a Black woman 33.5 years.[167] In 1900, White men lived an average of 46.3 years and White women lived an average of 48.3 years.[167] African-American life expectancy at birth is persistently five to seven years lower than European Americans.[168] Black men have shorter lifespans than any other group in the US besides Native American men.[169]

Black people have higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension than the U.S. average.[167] For adult Black men, the rate of obesity was 31.6% in 2010.[170] For adult Black women, the rate of obesity was 41.2% in 2010.[170] African Americans have higher rates of mortality than any other racial or ethnic group for 8 of the top 10 causes of death.[171] In 2013, among men, Black men had the highest rate of getting cancer, followed by White, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (A/PI), and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) men. Among women, White women had the highest rate of getting cancer, followed by Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native women.[172] African Americans also have higher prevalence and incidence of Alzheimer's disease compared to the overall average.[173][174]

Violence has an impact upon African-American life expectancy. A report from the U.S. Department of Justice states "In 2005, homicide victimization rates for blacks were 6 times higher than the rates for whites".[175] The report also found that "94% of black victims were killed by blacks."[175] Black boys and men age 1544 are the only race/sex category for which homicide is a top-five cause of death.[169]

In December 2020, African Americans were less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 due to mistrust in the U.S. medical system related to decades of abuses and anti-black treatment. From 2021 to 2022, there was an increase in African Americans who became vaccinated.[176][177][178] Still, in 2022, COVID-19 complications became the third leading cause of death for African Americans.[179]

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Americans have higher rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) compared to Whites, with 5 times the rates of syphilis and chlamydia, and 7.5 times the rate of gonorrhea.[180]

The disproportionately high incidence of HIV/AIDS among African-Americans has been attributed to homophobic influences and lack of access to proper healthcare.[181] The prevalence of HIV/AIDS among Black men is seven times higher than the prevalence for White men, and Black men are more than nine times as likely to die from HIV/AIDS-related illness than White men.[169]

African Americans have several barriers for accessing mental health services. Counseling has been frowned upon and distant in utility and proximity to many people in the African American community. In 2004, a qualitative research study explored the disconnect with African Americans and mental health. The study was conducted as a semi-structured discussion which allowed the focus group to express their opinions and life experiences. The results revealed a couple key variables that create barriers for many African American communities to seek mental health services such as the stigma, lack of four important necessities; trust, affordability, cultural understanding and impersonal services.[182]

Historically, many African American communities did not seek counseling because religion was a part of the family values.[183] African American who have a faith background are more likely to seek prayer as a coping mechanism for mental issues rather than seeking professional mental health services.[182] In 2015 a study concluded, African Americans with high value in religion are less likely to utilize mental health services compared to those who have low value in religion.[184]

Most counseling approaches are westernized and do not fit within the African American culture. African American families tend to resolve concerns within the family, and it is viewed by the family as a strength. On the other hand, when African Americans seek counseling, they face a social backlash and are criticized. They may be labeled "crazy", viewed as weak, and their pride is diminished.[182] Because of this, many African Americans instead seek mentorship within communities they trust.

Terminology is another barrier in relation to African Americans and mental health. There is more stigma on the term psychotherapy versus counseling. In one study, psychotherapy is associated with mental illness whereas counseling approaches problem-solving, guidance and help.[182] More African Americans seek assistance when it is called counseling and not psychotherapy because it is more welcoming within the cultural and community.[185] Counselors are encouraged to be aware of such barriers for the well-being of African American clients. Without cultural competency training in health care, many African Americans go unheard and misunderstood.[182]

Although suicide is a top-10 cause of death for men overall in the US, it is not a top-10 cause of death for Black men.[169]

Recent surveys of African Americans using a genetic testing service have found varied ancestries which show different tendencies by region and sex of ancestors. These studies found that on average, African Americans have 73.282.1% West African, 16.7%24% European, and 0.81.2% Native American genetic ancestry, with large variation between individuals.[187][188][189] Genetics websites themselves have reported similar ranges, with some finding 1 or 2 percent Native American ancestry and Ancestry.com reporting an outlying percentage of European ancestry among African Americans, 29%.[190]

According to a genome-wide study by Bryc et al. (2009), the mixed ancestry of African Americans in varying ratios came about as the result of sexual contact between West/Central Africans (more frequently females) and Europeans (more frequently males). Consequently, the 365 African Americans in their sample have a genome-wide average of 78.1% West African ancestry and 18.5% European ancestry, with large variation among individuals (ranging from 99% to 1% West African ancestry). The West African ancestral component in African Americans is most similar to that in present-day speakers from the non-Bantu branches of the Niger-Congo (Niger-Kordofanian) family.[187][note 2]

Correspondingly, Montinaro et al. (2014) observed that around 50% of the overall ancestry of African Americans traces back to the Niger-Congo-speaking Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria and southern Benin, reflecting the centrality of this West African region in the Atlantic Slave Trade. The next most frequent ancestral component found among African Americans was derived from Great Britain, in keeping with historical records. It constitutes a little over 10% of their overall ancestry, and is most similar to the Northwest European ancestral component also carried by Barbadians.[192] Zakharaia et al. (2009) found a similar proportion of Yoruba associated ancestry in their African-American samples, with a minority also drawn from Mandenka and Bantu populations. Additionally, the researchers observed an average European ancestry of 21.9%, again with significant variation between individuals.[186] Bryc et al. (2009) note that populations from other parts of the continent may also constitute adequate proxies for the ancestors of some African-American individuals; namely, ancestral populations from Guinea Bissau, Senegal and Sierra Leone in West Africa and Angola in Southern Africa.[187]

Altogether, genetic studies suggest that African Americans are a genetically diverse people. According to DNA analysis led in 2006 by Penn State geneticist Mark D. Shriver, around 58 percent of African Americans have at least 12.5% European ancestry (equivalent to one European great-grandparent and his/her forebears), 19.6 percent of African Americans have at least 25% European ancestry (equivalent to one European grandparent and his/her forebears), and 1 percent of African Americans have at least 50% European ancestry (equivalent to one European parent and his/her forebears).[13][193] According to Shriver, around 5 percent of African Americans also have at least 12.5% Native American ancestry (equivalent to one Native American great-grandparent and his/her forebears).[194][195] Research suggests that Native American ancestry among people who identify as African American is a result of relationships that occurred soon after slave ships arrived in the American colonies, and European ancestry is of more recent origin, often from the decades before the Civil War.[196]

Africans bearing the E-V38 (E1b1a) likely traversed across the Sahara, from east to west, approximately 19,000 years ago.[197] E-M2 (E1b1a1) likely originated in West Africa or Central Africa.[198] According to a Y-DNA study by Sims et al. (2007), the majority (60%) of African Americans belong to various subclades of the E-M2 (E1b1a1, formerly E3a) paternal haplogroup. This is the most common genetic paternal lineage found today among West/Central African males, and is also a signature of the historical Bantu migrations. The next most frequent Y-DNA haplogroup observed among African Americans is the R1b clade, which around 15% of African Americans carry. This lineage is most common today among Northwestern European males. The remaining African Americans mainly belong to the paternal haplogroup I (7%), which is also frequent in Northwestern Europe.[199]

According to an mtDNA study by Salas et al. (2005), the maternal lineages of African Americans are most similar to haplogroups that are today especially common in West Africa (>55%), followed closely by West-Central Africa and Southwestern Africa (<41%). The characteristic West African haplogroups L1b, L2b,c,d, and L3b,d and West-Central African haplogroups L1c and L3e in particular occur at high frequencies among African Americans. As with the paternal DNA of African Americans, contributions from other parts of the continent to their maternal gene pool are insignificant.[200]

Formal political, economic and social discrimination against minorities has been present throughout American history. Leland T. Saito, Associate Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, writes, "Political rights have been circumscribed by race, class and gender since the founding of the United States, when the right to vote was restricted to White men of property. Throughout the history of the United States race has been used by Whites for legitimizing and creating difference and social, economic and political exclusion."[65]

Although they have gained a greater degree of social equality since the civil rights movement, African Americans have remained stagnant economically, which has hindered their ability to break into the middle class and beyond. As of 2020, the racial wealth gap between Whites and Blacks remains as large as it was in 1968, with the typical net worth of a White household equivalent to that of 11.5 black households.[201] Despite this, African Americans have increased employment rates and gained representation in the highest levels of American government in the postcivil rights era.[202] However, widespread racism remains an issue that continues to undermine the development of social status.[202][203]

One of the most serious and long-standing issues within African-American communities is poverty. Poverty is associated with higher rates of marital stress and dissolution, physical and mental health problems, disability, cognitive deficits, low educational attainment, and crime.[204] In 2004, almost 25% of African-American families lived below the poverty level.[137] In 2007, the average income for African Americans was approximately $34,000, compared to $55,000 for Whites.[205] African Americans experience a higher rate of unemployment than the general population.[206]

African Americans have a long and diverse history of business ownership. Although the first African-American business is unknown, slaves captured from West Africa are believed to have established commercial enterprises as peddlers and skilled craftspeople as far back as the 17th century. Around 1900, Booker T. Washington became the most famous proponent of African-American businesses. His critic and rival W. E. B. DuBois also commended business as a vehicle for African-American advancement.[207]

Forty percent of prison inmates are African American.[208] African American males are more likely to be killed by police when compared to other races.[209] This is one of the factors that led to the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013.[210] A historical issue in the U.S. where women have weaponized their White privilege in the country by reporting on Black people, often instigating racial violence,[211][212] White women calling the police on Black people became widely publicized in 2020.[213][214] In African-American culture there is a long history of calling a meddlesome White woman by a certain name, while The Guardian called 2020 "the year of Karen".[215]

Although in the last decade Black youth have had lower rates of cannabis (marijuana) consumption than Whites of the same age, they have disproportionately higher arrest rates than Whites: in 2010, for example, Blacks were 3.73 times as likely to get arrested for using cannabis than Whites, despite not significantly more frequently being users.[216][217]

After over 50 years, marriage rates for all Americans began to decline while divorce rates and out-of-wedlock births have climbed.[218] These changes have been greatest among African Americans. After more than 70 years of racial parity Black marriage rates began to fall behind Whites.[218] Single-parent households have become common, and according to U.S. census figures released in January 2010, only 38 percent of Black children live with both their parents.[219]

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For Immediate Release: December 16, 2022

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Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Adstiladrin (nadofaragene firadenovec-vncg), a non-replicating (cannot multiply in human cells) adenoviral vector based gene therapy indicated for the treatment of adult patients with high-risk Bacillus Calmette-Gurin (BCG)-unresponsive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) with carcinoma in situ (CIS) with or without papillary tumors.

This approval provides healthcare professionals with an innovative treatment option for patients with high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer that is unresponsive to BCG therapy, said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Todays action addresses an area of critical need. The FDA remains committed to facilitating the development and approval of safe and effective cancer treatments.

Bladder cancer, one of the more common forms of cancer, is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form a tumor in the tissues of the bladder. These abnormal cells can invade and destroy normal body tissue. Over time, the abnormal cells can also metastasize (spread) through the body. Most newly diagnosed bladder cancers (75% to 80%) are classified as NMIBC a type of cancer that has grown through the lining of the bladder but hasnt yet invaded the muscle layer. This type of cancer is associated with high rates of recurrence (between 30 to 80%) and the risk of progression to invasive and metastatic cancer.

Treatment and care of patients with high-risk NMIBC, including those with carcinoma in situ, or CIS (abnormal cancer cells found in the place where they first formed and that have not spread to nearby tissue), often involves removing the tumor and the use of BCG to reduce the risk that the cancer will recur. Few effective treatment options exist for patients who develop BCG-unresponsive disease. The failure to achieve a complete response, or the disappearance of all signs of cancer as seen on cystoscopy, biopsied tissue, and urine, is associated with an increased risk of death or a disease-worsening event. Without treatment, the cancer can invade, damage tissues and organs, and spread through the body. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 57,000 men and 18,000 women are diagnosed with bladder cancer annually, and roughly 12,000 men and 4,700 women die from the disease each year in the United States.

The safety and effectiveness of Adstiladrin was evaluated in a multicenter clinical study that included 157 patients with high-risk BCG-unresponsive NMIBC, 98 of whom had BCG-unresponsive CIS with or without papillary tumors and could be evaluated for response. Patients received Adstiladrin once every three months for up to 12 months, or until unacceptable toxicity to therapy or recurrent high-grade NMIBC. Overall, 51% of enrolled patients using Adstiladrin therapy achieved a complete response (the disappearance of all signs of cancer as seen on cystoscopy, biopsied tissue, and urine). The median duration of response was 9.7 months. Forty-six percent of responding patients remained in complete response for at least one year.

Adstiladrin is administered once every three months into the bladder via a urinary catheter. The most common adverse reactions associated with Adstiladrin included bladder discharge, fatigue, bladder spasm, urinary urgency, hematuria (presence of blood in urine), chills, fever, and painful urination. Individuals who are immunosuppressed, or immune-deficient should not come into contact with Adstiladrin.

This application was granted Priority Review, Breakthrough Therapy, and Fast Track designations.

The FDA granted approval of Adstiladrin to Ferring Pharmaceuticals A/S.

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The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nations food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

12/16/2022

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FDA Approves First Gene Therapy for the Treatment of High-Risk, Non ...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith