Unwind and Relax: Vestavia Hills Hidden Spa Gems

Rejuvenation is a medical discipline focused on the practical reversal of the aging process.^[1]

Rejuvenation is distinct from life extension. Life extension strategies often study the causes of aging and try to oppose those causes to slow aging. Rejuvenation is the reversal of aging and thus requires a different strategy, namely repair of the damage that is associated with aging or replacement of damaged tissue with new tissue. Rejuvenation can be a means of life extension, but most life extension strategies do not involve rejuvenation.

Various myths tell the stories about the quest for rejuvenation. It was believed that magic or intervention of a supernatural power can bring back youth and many mythical adventurers set out on a journey to do that, for themselves, their relatives or some authority that sent them anonymously.

An ancient Chinese emperor sent out ships of young men and women to find a pearl that would rejuvenate him. This led to a myth among modern Chinese that Japan was founded by these people.

In some religions, people were to be rejuvenated after death prior to placing them in heaven.

The stories continued well into the 16th century. The Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León led an expedition around the Caribbean islands and into Florida to find the Fountain of Youth. Led by the rumors, the expedition continued the search and many perished. The Fountain was nowhere to be found as locals were unaware of its exact location.

Since the emergence of philosophy, sages and self-proclaimed wizards always made enormous efforts to find the secret of youth, both for themselves and their noble patrons and sponsors. It was widely believed that some potions may restore the youth.

Another commonly cited approach was attempting to transfer the essence of youth from young people to old. Some examples of this approach were sleeping with virgins or children (sometimes literally sleeping, not necessarily having sex),^[2] bathing in or drinking their blood.

The quest for rejuvenation reached its height with alchemy. All around Europe, and also beyond, alchemists were looking for the Philosopher's Stone, the mythical substance that, as it was believed, could not only turn lead into gold, but also prolong life and restore youth. Although the set goal was not achieved, alchemy paved the way to the scientific method and so to the medical advances of today.^{[citation needed]}

Serge Abrahamovitch Voronoff was a French surgeon born in Russia who gained fame for his technique of grafting monkey testicle tissue on to the testicles of men while working in France in the 1920s and 1930s. This was one of the first medically accepted rejuvenation therapies (before he was proved to be wrong around 1930–1940). The technique brought him a great deal of money, although he was already independently wealthy. As his work fell out of favor, he went from being a highly respected surgeon to a subject of ridicule. By the early 1930s, over 500 men had been treated in France by his rejuvenation technique, and thousands more around the world, such as in a special clinic set up in Algiers.^[3] Noteworthy people who had the surgery included Harold McCormick, chairman of the board of International Harvester Company,^[4] and the aging premier of Turkey.^[5]

Rejuvenation technology and its effects on individuals and society have long been a subject of science fiction. The Misspent Youth and Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton are among the most well known examples of this, dealing with the short- and long-term effects of a near perfect 80-year-old to 20-year-old body change with mind intact. The less perfect rejuvenation featured in the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson results in long-term memory loss and sheer boredom that comes with extreme age. The post-mortal characters in the Revelation Space series have long-term or essentially infinite lifespans, and sheer boredom induces them to undertake activities of extreme risk.

Aging is the accumulation of damage to macromolecules, cells, tissues and organs in and on the body which, when it can no longer be tolerated by an organism, ultimately leads to its death. If any of that damage can be repaired, the result is rejuvenation.

There have been many experiments which have been shown to increase the maximum life span of laboratory animals,^{[citation needed]} thereby achieving life extension. A few experimental methods such as replacing hormones to youthful levels have had considerable success in partially rejuvenating laboratory animals and humans. A 2011 experiment involved breeding genetically manipulated mice that lacked an enzyme called telomerase, causing the mice to age prematurely and suffer ailments. When the mice were given injections to reactivate the enzyme, it repaired the damaged tissues and reversed the signs of aging.^[6] There are at least eight important hormones that decline with age: 1. human growth hormone (HGH); 2. the sexual hormones: testosterone or oestrogen/progesterone; 3. erythropoietin (EPO); 4. insulin; 5. DHEA; 6. melatonin; 7. thyroid; 8. pregnenolone. In theory, if all or some of these hormones are replaced, the body will respond to them as it did when it was younger, thus repairing and restoring many body functions. In line with this, recent experiments show that heterochronic parabiosis, i.e. connecting the circulatory systems of young and old animal, leads to the rejuvenation of the old animal, including restoration of proper stem cell function. Similar experiments show that grafting old muscles into young hosts leads to their complete restoration, whereas grafting young muscles into old hosts does not. These experiments show that aging is mediated by systemic environment, rather than being an intrinsic cell property.^{[citation needed]} Clinical trials based on transfusion of young blood were scheduled to begin in 2014.^[7] Another intervention that is gaining popularity is epigenetic reprogramming.^[8] Through the use of Yamanaka factors, aged cells can revert to a younger state. It has been demonstrated that reprogramming induces a youthful epigenetic state and can restore vision after injury.^[9] Only through reprogramming were stochastic epigenetic variations, which accumulate with age, successfully reversed, as demonstrated by a stochastic data-based clock.^[10]

Most attempts at genetic repair have traditionally involved the use of a retrovirus to insert a new gene into a random position on a chromosome. But by attaching zinc fingers (which determine where transcription factors bind) to endonucleases (which break DNA strands), homologous recombination can be induced to correct and replace defective (or undesired) DNA sequences. The first applications of this technology are to isolate stem cells from the bone marrow of patients having blood disease mutations, to correct those mutations in laboratory dishes using zinc finger endonucleases and to transplant the stem cells back into the patients.^[11] More recent efforts leverage CRISPR-Cas systems or adeno-associated viruses (AAVs).

Enhanced DNA repair has been proposed as a potential rejuvenation strategy.^[12]

Stem cell regenerative medicine uses three different strategies:

1. Implantation of stem cells from culture into an existing tissue structure
2. Implantation of stem cells into a tissue scaffold that guides restoration
3. Induction of residual cells of a tissue structure to regenerate the necessary body part

A salamander can not only regenerate a limb, but can regenerate the lens or retina of an eye and can regenerate an intestine. For regeneration the salamander tissues form a blastema by de-differentiation of mesenchymal cells, and the blastema functions as a self-organizing system to regenerate the limb.^[13]

Yet another option involves cosmetic changes to the individual to create the appearance of youth. These are generally superficial and do little to make the person healthier or live longer, but the real improvement in a person's appearance may elevate their mood and have positive side effects normally correlated with happiness. Cosmetic surgery is a large industry offering treatments such as removal of wrinkles ("face lift"), removal of extra fat (liposuction) and reshaping or augmentation of various body parts (abdomen, breasts, face).

There are also, as commonly found throughout history, many fake rejuvenation products that have been shown to be ineffective. Chief among these are powders, sprays, gels, and homeopathic substances that claim to contain growth hormones. Authentic growth hormones are only effective when injected, mainly due to the fact that the 191-amino acid protein is too large to be absorbed through the mucous membranes, and would be broken up in the stomach if swallowed.

The Mprize scientific competition is under way to deliver on the mission of extending healthy human life. It directly accelerates the development of revolutionary new life extension therapies by awarding two cash prizes: one to the research team that breaks the world record for the oldest-ever mouse; and one to the team that develops the most successful late-onset rejuvenation. Current Mprize winner for rejuvenation is Steven Spindler. Caloric restriction (CR), the consumption of fewer calories while avoiding malnutrition, was applied as a robust method of decelerating aging and the development of age-related diseases.^[14]

In 2020, scientists reported the reversion of ageing in human cells through nuclear reprogramming to pluripotency. Such process included resetting of epigenetic clock, reduction of the inflammatory profile in chondrocytes and restoration of youthful regenerative response to aged, human muscle stem cells, without abolishing cellular identity.^[15]

The biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey has initiated a project, strategies for engineered negligible senescence (SENS), to study how to reverse the damage caused by aging. He has proposed seven strategies for what he calls the seven deadly sins of aging:^[16]

1. Cell loss can be repaired (reversed) just by suitable exercise in the case of muscle. For other tissues it needs various growth factors to stimulate cell division, or in some cases it needs stem cells.
2. Senescent cells can be removed by activating the immune system against them. Or they can be destroyed by gene therapy to introduce "suicide genes" that only kill senescent cells.
3. Protein cross-linking can largely be reversed by drugs that break the links. But to break some of the cross-links we may need to develop enzymatic methods.
4. Extracellular garbage (like amyloid) can be eliminated by vaccination that gets immune cells to "eat" the garbage.
5. For intracellular junk we need to introduce new enzymes, possibly enzymes from soil bacteria, that can degrade the junk (lipofuscin) that our own natural enzymes cannot degrade.
6. For mitochondrial mutations the plan is not to repair them but to prevent harm from the mutations by putting suitably modified copies of the mitochondrial genes into the cell nucleus by gene therapy. The mitochondrial DNA experiences a high degree of mutagenic damage because most free radicals are generated in the mitochondria. A copy of the mitochondrial DNA located in the nucleus will be better protected from free radicals, and there will be better DNA repair when damage occurs. All mitochondrial proteins would then be imported into the mitochondria.
7. For cancer (the most lethal consequence of mutations) the strategy is to use gene therapy to delete the genes for telomerase and to eliminate telomerase-independent mechanisms of turning normal cells into "immortal" cancer cells. To compensate for the loss of telomerase in stem cells we would introduce new stem cells every decade or so.

In 2009, Aubrey de Grey co-founded the SENS Foundation to expedite progress in the above-listed areas.

• Rejuvenation Research Editor: Aubrey de Grey. Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. ISSN 1549-1684 – Published Bimonthly.

• Media related to Rejuvenation (aging) at Wikimedia Commons

Medical use of laser to cut tissues

Not to be confused with laser hair removal.

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can. (January 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Laser surgery" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)

(Learn how and when to remove this message)

Medical intervention

Laser surgery
MeSH	D053685
[edit on Wikidata]

Laser surgery is a type of surgery that cuts tissue using a laser in contrast to using a scalpel.^[1]

Soft-tissue laser surgery is used in a variety of applications in humans (general surgery, neurosurgery, ENT, dentistry, orthodontics,^[2] and oral and maxillofacial surgery) as well as veterinary^[3] surgical fields. The primary uses of lasers in soft tissue surgery are to cut, ablate, vaporize, and coagulate. There are several different laser wavelengths used in soft tissue surgery. Different laser wavelengths and device settings (such as pulse duration and power) produce different effects on the tissue. Some commonly used lasers types in soft tissue surgery include erbium, diode, and CO₂. Erbium lasers are excellent cutters, but provide minimal hemostasis. Diode lasers (hot tip) provide excellent hemostasis, but are slow cutters. CO₂ lasers are both efficient at cutting and coagulating.^[4] Laser surgery is commonly used on the eye. Techniques used include LASIK, which is used to correct near and far-sightedness in vision, and photorefractive keratectomy, a procedure which permanently reshapes the cornea using an excimer laser to remove a small amount of the human tissue.^[5][6][7]

Effects

[edit]

1. Photochemical effect: clinically referred to as photodynamic therapy. Photosensitizer (photophrin II) is administered which is taken up by the tumor tissue and later irradiated by laser light resulting in highly toxic substances with resultant necrosis of the tumor. Photodynamic therapy is used in palliation of oesophageal and bronchial carcinoma and ablation of mucosal cancers of Gastrointestinal tract and urinary bladder.
2. Photoablative effect: Used in eye surgeries like band keratoplasty, and endartectomy of peripheral blood vessels.
3. Photothermal effect: this property is used for endoscopic control of bleeding e.g. Bleeding peptic ulcers, oesophageal varices
4. Photomechanical effect: used in intraluminal lithotripsy

Equipment

[edit]

Surgical laser systems, sometimes called "laser scalpels", are differentiated not only by the wavelength, but also by the light delivery system: flexible fiber or articulated arm, as well as by other factors.^[8] Types of surgical lasers include carbon dioxide, argon, Nd:YAG laser, and potassium titanyl phosphate. CO₂ lasers were the dominant soft-tissue surgical lasers as of 2010.^[9]

Applications

[edit]

Dermatology and plastic surgery

[edit]

A range of lasers such as erbium, dye, Q switch lasers, and CO₂ are used to treat various skin conditions including scars, vascular and pigmented lesions, and for photorejuvenation. The laser surgery for dermatology often bypasses the skin surface. The principle of laser surgery for dermatologic problems is based on SPTL (selective photothermolysis). The laser beam penetrates the skin until it encounters chromophore which absorbs the laser beam. After absorption of the laser beam, heat is generated to induce coagulation, necrosis of the targeted tissue, this results in the removal of unwanted tissue by laser surgery.

Laser resurfacing is a technique in which covalent bonds of a material are dissolved by a laser, a technique invented by aesthetic plastic surgeon Thomas L. Roberts, III using CO₂ lasers in the 1990s.^[10][11]

Lasers are also used for laser-assisted lipectomy.^[12]

Eye surgery

[edit]

Various types of laser surgery are used to treat refractive error. LASIK, in which a knife is used to cut a flap in the cornea, and a laser is used to reshape the layers underneath, is used to treat refractive error. IntraLASIK is a variant in which the flap is also cut with a laser. In photorefractive keratectomy (PRK, LASEK), the cornea is reshaped without first cutting a flap. In laser thermal keratoplasty, a ring of concentric burns is made in the cornea, which causes its surface to steepen, allowing better near vision. ReLEx SMILE is the latest advancement in laser vision correction technology. In SMILE surgery, ZEISS VisuMax femtosecond laser is used to make a small incision and to create a pre-calculated mini lens tissue (or lenticule) inside the cornea.^[13]

Lasers are also used to treat non-refractive conditions, such as phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) in which opacities and surface irregularities are removed from the cornea and laser coagulation in which a laser is used to cauterize blood vessels in the eye, to treat various conditions. Lasers can be used to repair tears in the retina.

Laser endarterectomy is a technique in which an entire atheromatous plaque in the artery is excised. Other applications include laser assisted angioplasties and laser-assisted vascular anastomosis.

Lasers are used to treat several disorders in foot and ankle surgery. They are used to remove benign and malignant tumors,^[14] treat bunions,^[15] debride ulcers and burns, excise epidermal nevi, blue rubber bleb nevi, and keloids, and the removal of hypertrophic scars and tattoos.^[16]

A carbon dioxide laser (CO₂) is used in surgery to treat onychocryptosis (ingrown nails), onychauxis (club nails), onychogryposis (rams horn nail), and onychomycosis (fungus nail).^[17]

This section is in list format but may read better as prose. You can help by converting this section, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (November 2024)

1. Peptic ulcer disease and oesophageal varices - Laser photoablation is done.
2. Coagulation of vascular malformations of stomach, duodenum, and colon.
3. Lasers can be effectively used to treat early gastric cancers provided they are less than 4 cm and without lymph node involvement. Lasers are also used in treating oral submucous fibrosis.
4. Palliative laser therapy is given in advanced oesophageal cancers with obstruction of lumen. Recanalisation of the lumen is done which allows the patient to resume a soft diet and maintain hydration.
5. Ablative laser therapy is used in advanced colorectal cancers to relieve obstruction and to control bleeding.
6. Laser surgery used in hemorrhoidectomy, and is a relatively popular and non-invasive method of hemorrhoid removal.
7. Laser-assisted liver resections have been done using carbon dioxide and Nd:YAG lasers.
8. The ablation of liver tumors can be achieved by selective photovaporization of the tumor.
9. Endoscopic laser lithotripsy is a safer modality compared to electrohydraulic lithotripsy.

The CO₂ laser is used in oral and dental surgery for virtually all soft-tissue procedures, such as gingivectomies, vestibuloplasties, frenectomies, and operculectomies.^[18] The CO₂ 10,600 nm wavelength is safe around implants as it is reflected by titanium, and thus has been gaining popularity in the field of periodontology. The laser may also be effective in treating peri-implantitis.^[19]

Laser spine surgery first began seeing clinical use in the 1980s and was primarily used within discectomy to treat lumbar disc disease under the notion that heating a bulging disc vaporized enough tissue to relieve pressure on the nerves and help alleviate pain.^[20][21]

Since that time, laser spine surgery has become one of the most marketed forms of minimally invasive spine surgery, despite the fact that it has never been studied in a controlled clinical trial to determine its effectiveness apart from disc decompression.^[22] Evidence-based data surrounding the use of lasers in spine surgery is limited and its safety and efficacy were poorly understood as of 2017.^[23][24]

In thoracic surgery, surgical laser applications are most often used to remove pulmonary metastases and tumors of different primary localizations.^[25] Other areas of application are surgical sectioning of the parenchyma, anatomic segmental resections, removal of tumors from the thoracic wall^[26] and abrasion of the pleura parietalis. Since the introduction of surgical lasers, the amount of potentially surgically resectable pulmonary nodules has significantly increased.^[27] Compared to laser surgery, other conventional surgical methods such as segmental or wedge resections with surgical stapling will normally lead to a bigger loss of lung tissue, especially in patients with multiple pulmonary nodules methods.^[28]

Other advantages of laser surgery compared to conventional methods are that it leads to an improved postoperative lung function and that it gives the additional possibility to histologically analyze the removed material which would otherwise be destroyed through radiation or heat.

Lasers are used to cut or ablate bones and teeth in dentistry.^[29]

The CO₂ laser is also used in gynecology, genitourinary, general surgery, otorhinolaryngology, orthopedic, and neurosurgery.