Sheldon Rowan

@_BrightFocus Congrats to all the recipients. There are some very exciting new projects out there!

BrightFocus Foundation's National Glaucoma Research has just awarded 16 new research grants totaling $2.3 million to support scientists dedicated to preventing, treating, and curing glaucoma. Meet this exceptional group of vision science innovators moving us closer to a cure: bit.ly/3TkVC2V

HUGE breakthrough out today, in arguably the single most neglected aspect of aging, extracellular matrix damage. Top researchers have tried & failed for decades to do this. Massive kudos to Aaron and his team! (Proud to note that Revel is a SENS spinout.) revelpharmaceuticals.com/news

@mike_lustgarten That's helpful. I'm thinking something occupational. Like a shift worker. People's homes just aren't that bright in general.

@SheldonRowan Definitely Sheldon The fully adjusted accounted for many of those factors, including BMI, systolic blood pressure (SBP), HbAc1, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), Townsend deprivation index (TDI), smoking status, and highest education level

When the sun goes down, all the lights are off in my house In fact, I almost never turn them on Association of high-intensity evening light exposure with risk of incident age-related macular degeneration, cataract, and glaucoma link.springer.com/article/10.100…

Christine A. Curcio @AMD_histo_lab et al. determine cross-sectional associations among intake of xanthophyll carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin (L&Z), plasma L&Z, and two wavelength autofluorescence (2WAF) retinal imaging in aging and AMD. doi.org/10.1167/iovs.6…

My take on UPFs continues to be: - there is a need for understanding attributes of foods that influence health beyond classical nutrients, creating metrics around them, and incorporating them into dietary guidance, labeling and regulations. NOVA is a sledgehammer approach to this that has appeal because its an existential cudgel to the industry but is generally unserious as a research tool, let alone a regulatory science tool. Unfortunately, submitting a grant to NIH to understand the physical and sensory properties of food that impact health isn't sexy enough to land a grant. We've also gutted the research infrastructure needed to do this work, which the pre-2010s research environment wasn't ideal for as is. We continue to splice and dice FFQs in a million ways that won't and can't advance nutrition science and the UPF convo is mostly a swan song for a field charged with addressing major public health crises that its ill-funded to address.

If you want to know a lot about a person's brain health, it's embedded in a retina photo, deciphered by AI thelancet.com/journals/landi… @LancetDigitalH

The first participant to receive partial cellular reprogramming for eye disease (advanced glaucoma) in a pilot study of 12 patients was treated. Using 3 of the 4 Yamanaka stem cell factors to potentially achieve cellular rejuvenation @Nature nature.com/articles/d4158…

This week, United in Vision brings together the best of the Foundation Fighting Blindness VISIONS Conference and the @Retina_Int World Congress for an unforgettable global gathering. Researchers. Clinicians. Industry leaders. Advocates. Individuals and families affected by blinding diseases. Together, we'll explore groundbreaking research, emerging therapies, and the latest innovations in assistive technologies, products, and services—all united by a shared commitment to advancing treatments and cures for blinding diseases. As we prepare to kick off this historic event, we're looking back at some of the incredible moments from VISIONS 2024. Will you be joining us in Fort Worth, Texas? Let us know where you're traveling from!

@FightBlindness @Retina_Int Super excited to fly in Boston and present some of my research about nutrition, lifestyle, and risk for macular degeneration!

Preserving lean mass during tirzepatide (Zepbound) treatment. A randomized trial of a myostatin inhibitor for muscle mass building shows proof-of-concept. A 55% retention of lean mass compared with placebo nature.com/articles/s4159… just published @NatureMedicine

Proud to host the 1st International Symposium on Geroscience at CEU! 💙🔬 Don’t miss it: amazing speakers, cutting-edge science… and FREE registration! 🚀🙌 #Geroscience @CienciaUCHCEU

🧬 What if we could read how fast we’re ageing? a molecular “clock” that tracks ageing across humans and other mammals using gene activity—and can even hint at lifespan and health.?? The biology of ageing is more universal than we thought. 🔬 nature.com/articles/s4158…

Wonderful perspective by Tiarnan Keenan, Emily Chew, and colleagues about when to take AREDS2 supplements or consume Mediterranean diet for different stages of age-related macular degeneration. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

The new OMB rule changes put every form of research at risk and turns peer-reviewed science into a political circus act. I was terrified learning about the changes and will be leaving public comment and contacting congress.

Plants live off light, capturing its energy through photosynthesis to make food, but we lack the molecular machinery to do the same. Now, a research team has tricked out lab-grown mouse and human cells with photosynthetic structures—not for nourishment, but to create a treatment for a common, painful condition called dry eye. scim.ag/4ddLRuZ

Earlier this week I posted an example of a fake western blot provided by ThermoFisher to demonstrate the validity of a p53 antibody. I considered it an amusing curiosity. In fact ThermoFisher has systematically manipulated antibody validation data. Short Thread... 🧵

@YoniFreedhoff They don't even know that the visceral fat reduction was involved. Intramuscular adipose might be even more important for cognitive outcomes and would also reduce with long-term MeDi intervention. Eh, it was probably the glycemic improvements..

Or did diet (which changed for these patients) do that job? I honestly don't know, but neither does this study whose participants for 5-16 yrs. ate Mediterranean diet rich in veg, fruit, fish, chicken, green tea, walnuts, and a tiny marine plant called Mankai, with no red meat.