The fountain of youth locked in that little girl?

[darkangel199]

I found this news story while browsing youtube from a local newstation about a 12 year old stuck in a 9 month old's body.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0rbr3Z_NpU&eurl

 

imagine if you could have some kind of geneticist do that to you in your mid to late twenties? this could truly be the fountain of youth? and it seems she cant die, everytime the doctors think she is close to death she miracously heals herself, the doctors say she is the only known case in the WORLD with this condition. maybe the government or some big company should ask the parents to borrow her and perfom some safe tests on her to figure it out?

[herpguy]

Wow. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[Sisyphus]

Well that's the weirdest thing I've seen in a while. It's even weirder that they seem to have know idea what causes it. Is it possible that they haven't done any genetic testing on her?!

[ecoli]

Well that's the weirdest thing I've seen in a while. It's even weirder that they seem to have know idea what causes it. Is it possible that they haven't done any genetic testing on her?!

 

Maybe the parents don't want it done?

 

I can't imagine that this girl will live too long, though. These conditions usually have life-shortening complications.

[bascule]

I can't imagine that this girl will live too long, though. These conditions usually have life-shortening complications.

 

Yeah... stroke, seizures? Doesn't sound like she's very healthy.

 

If she were a 12-year-old girl with a 9-month-old body but the intellect of a 12-year-old girl, that'd be far more interesting.

 

This just seems like a bizarre case of neoteny.

[FreeThinker]

Amazing.

[darkangel199]

so, no way to maybe do some tests and experiements on her and figure out how her body did it? then apply it to normal humans? like stop aging period?

[AzurePhoenix]

I think they're a difference between "aging" in the sense of the body eventually wearing down, and not developing past an infantile state. They didn't mention anything about that, but I would be willing to put money down on a bet that on a cellular level, she's twelve years old. I don't think applying what she's got to a fully devloped human would be much help in preventing the inevitable body breakdown that comes from aging cells. It is astounding though, either way.

[silkworm]

I'm very curious about what caused this.

 

I agree with AP. This is arrested development, not lack of aging. But it's extreme arrested development.

 

With that said, I wonder if her bones have made any progress towards fusion. She looked pretty jello to me.

[Dr. Dalek]

WORLD with this condition. maybe the government or some big company should ask the parents to borrow her and perfom some safe tests on her to figure it out?

 

Sure, culture a few cells, could lead to a method that prevents organs made through theraputic cloning not age!

[CharonY]

Actually it doesn't look like she is not aging. She is only arrested in her development. One should not confuse aging on the cellular level with maturation. In another report I read that they did not find any obvious chromosomal defects/differences btw.

[Dr. Dalek]

Actually it doesn't look like she is not aging. She is only arrested in her development. One should not confuse aging on the cellular level with maturation. In another report I read that they did not find any obvious chromosomal defects/differences btw.

Hmm, I always asumed cellular aging implied physical maturation and visa versa, well, I guess I learned something new today.

[silkworm]

I heard that Dolly, the cloned sheep, had cells that biologists could tell were the same number of years older than Dolly than was the age of the sheep she was cloned from.

 

Any idea how such a determination is made?

[CharonY]

There are, in fact several elements. The main factor in Dolly was, if I remember correctly the telomere length. Human DNA is essentially linear meaning that during repication the ends might shorten (as the replication does not precisely start at the outermost base). To circuvent this problem the chromosomes possess highly repetitive regions, the mentioned telomeres which serve as a buffer for information loss. However over time the telomeres also shorten and thus might contribute to aging.

Another mechanism is modification of DNA. The DNA is methylated age-dependently. This modification is usually involved in certain regulatory processes which also affect cell development.

[KLB]

That was totally wild. I have seen cases where people "mature" physically at the proper rate, but age at an accelerated rate. This just seems to be the opposite. Aging at the proper rate but not physically maturing. DNA testing could really be insightful.

[silkworm]

There are' date=' in fact several elements. The main factor in Dolly was, if I remember correctly the telomere length. Human DNA is essentially linear meaning that during repication the ends might shorten (as the replication does not precisely start at the outermost base). To circuvent this problem the chromosomes possess highly repetitive regions, the mentioned telomeres which serve as a buffer for information loss. However over time the telomeres also shorten and thus might contribute to aging.

Another mechanism is modification of DNA. The DNA is methylated age-dependently. This modification is usually involved in certain regulatory processes which also affect cell development.[/quote']

 

Thank you.

 

So to make sure, you're saying that telomere's shorten as a function of time? And its a result of replication? So the organism would have to be alive in order for its cells to age in this way?

 

Remember the 10,000 year old woolly mammoth we found in the artic that had tissue but was missing its head? Do you think, if we found a way to clone it, would the cells in the clone would appear be 10,000 years old, or as old as the woolly mammoth was when it died?

[Dr. Dalek]

Do you think, if we found a way to clone it, would the cells in the clone would appear be 10,000 years old, or as old as the woolly mammoth was when it died?

It would be extreamly difficult to clone it either way, but not impossible,

[AzurePhoenix]

And its a result of replication? So the organism would have to be alive in order for its cells to age in this way?

---

Do you think' date=' if we found a way to clone it, would the cells in the clone would appear be 10,000 years old, or as old as the woolly mammoth was when it died?[/quote'] Aye, it's a result of replication, so the clone would kickstart from the point when the cells were last active I believe, but only if the clone suffered from the same problem that Dolly did. Most clones it seem actually have telomeres of normal length, some actually with telomeres longer than those from prior generations.

[silkworm]

Aye, it's a result of replication, so the clone would kickstart from the point when the cells were last active I believe, but only if[/i'] the clone suffered from the same problem that Dolly did. Most clones it seem actually have telomeres of normal length, some actually with telomeres longer than those from prior generations.

 

Thanks. I thought it was a common symptom of clones. (I mean Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer clones, too.) I thought Snuppy had the same problem, but it's tough to weed out fact and fiction in that whole mess.