Modern vampire: reverse aging through blood transfusion?

[RainDreamer]

http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/can-aging-be-reversed-by-getting-blood-transfusions-from-young-people

Additional scientific testing on mice has shown that giving old mice blood plasma from young mice improvesmuscle function, cognition, and evensense of smell. Even more striking, those same studies showed that transfusing old blood into young mice sped up signs of aging. The results happened whether the mice’s circulatory systems were surgically combined or simple injections of blood plasma, but further tests are needed to determine why

Is this real?

[cubinator]

A quick Google search for the title of this thread (minus "modern vampire") yielded results from reputable sources indicating it might work, although I don't feel the initiative this late at night to read any. My question is, can it help astronauts with bone and muscle loss too?

[kerbiloid]

And when using infants, they get a levitation skill as a bonus.

On that photo: an elven girl gifts to the White Sorcerer an elven blood with magic abilities.

Spoiler

Quote

who hopes to inject 35-year-olds with the blood plasma of 25-year-olds

Sounds like a nonsense. In wild nature both 25 and 35 are grannies.
If the donor were puberty aged (with blood full of hormones), this could be understood like a hormonal therapy. Maybe in Dracula century such transplantation could make some sense, but unlikely this can be better than a direct hormonal therapy nowadays. At least, because any transplanted organ, including blood, will cause an immune reaction, rather than pure hormons from a bottle.
 

Also, Undeads are fine, too,

 

Do not read if eating.
 

Spoiler

Not exactly about this practice, but of a close theme.

While an embryo consists of less than 10-20 cells, its cells are more or less interchangeable and any of them, being separated, would make a new full-featured embryo. That's how identical twins appear,
Every cell feels one-celled and tends to reproduce uncontrollably and infinitely and to pollute its place with its wastes and enzymes..

But once they are 10-20 or so, their mutual pollution reaches the point when it begins supressing this feast of life. Some cells are inside the colony, others are outside, etc, so their evolvement differs due to the different chemical conditions. Some genes get deactivated, other get stimulated — and instead of a pack of 10-20 similar cells the embryo gets different organs.

An adult creature has this one-cell genes supressed, and any cell reproduction is constrained with its neighbors activity. This allows its organs to keep stable.
If, by absolutely any reason (radiation, chemistry/biochemistry, mechanical damage), this "one-cell uncontrollable division" gene activates again, a colony of such restarted cells begins to grow uncontrollably. In most cases immune system kills 'em all. But if not — they call this "cancer".
Different kinds of cells have different ability to restart this process. Mostly epithelium and bone marrow cells can, as continue intensive splitting all their life.
So, when young persons get cancer it's usually a blood cancer (just because if the marrow activity is uncontrolled, this appears from the very beginning), while elder persons usually get an epithlium cancer which grows very slow - for years and decades.

It's also more or less how the stem or embryo cells therapy works.
They inject a pack of some kind of cells which had not lost their ability to infinitely reproduce and form any organ of human body, it's just supressed. These cells grow inside an adult organ and make a patch.
To this time their activity is supressed by the jealous neighbors. But if  not, and they continue playing - instead of the therapy the client can get a cancer.

As you can see in the article about the dead donors, when a dead body stops supressing its cells, some of them probably can do something similar.

 

 

[kBob]

I think human growth hormone may have more promise (and is simpler).  But we were supposed to have the cure for baldness by now and I'm still waiting.  I don't pay much attention to these things: I'll get interested when they get out of the lab and become commercially available.

[wumpus]

7 hours ago, kBob said:

I think human growth hormone may have more promise (and is simpler).  But we were supposed to have the cure for baldness by now and I'm still waiting.  I don't pay much attention to these things: I'll get interested when they get out of the lab and become commercially available.

Human growth hormone has issues of odd head growth (often used as evidence against Barry Bonds).  More seriously, you really don't want to have growth hormone in your system when developing cancer.

[ImmaStegosaurus!]

Imagine if we harvest blood from pigs in near future. Could we all become youthful and pretty and all that nonsense? There's very little ethically wrong with milking a piglet for life fluids.

[Dispatcher]

You might want to reduce your dosage when you notice that your snout loves to root up truffles and that you tend to roll a lot in mud.

[cubinator]

20 hours ago, Dispatcher said:

You might want to reduce your dosage when you notice that your snout loves to root up truffles and that you tend to roll a lot in mud.

You been reading The Island of Doctor Moreau? That was a creepy book...

[legoclone09]

1 hour ago, cubinator said:

You been reading The Island of Doctor Moreau? That was a creepy book...

I watched the Simpsons episode if that counts. 

[cubinator]

Just now, legoclone09 said:

I watched the Simpsons episode if that counts. 

You should find the book, it's a good read.

[Dispatcher]

Any decent book store should have the books of H. G. Wells.  Of course you can order online or go to the public library.

Here is a trailer of sorts for an early movie based on the book (somewhat).  If you know who Charles Laughton is, you will appreciate his acting.  The trailers out there are not the best but the movie is actually pretty good.  Island of Lost Souls:

 

 

[magnemoe]

6 hours ago, legoclone09 said:

I watched the Simpsons episode if that counts. 

LOL, just had to watch it, way to short, bonus for an happy ending

[Darnok]

So legends about women bathing in blood of very young children is not so fantastic after all.

[James Kerman]

It worked for Lance Armstrong.

[autumnalequinox]

Yet another thing Back to the Future 2 accidentally predicted!  I remember Doc Brown specifically getting a blood transfusion to knock off 20 years.