Cryonics Magazine

Mouse Lifespan Extended Up to 24% with Telomerase Treatment

Editor — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:05:00 +0000

[TECH NEWS]

Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), led by its director Maria Blasco, have proved that mouse lifespan can be extended by the application in adult life of a single treatment acting directly on the animal’s genes using the enzyme telomerase. It appears to be the first successful use of gene therapy to combat aging. The results are published May 15 in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. The CNIO team, in collaboration with Eduard Ayuso and Fatima Bosch of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), treated adult (one-year-old) and aged (two-year-old) mice, with the gene therapy delivering a “rejuvenating” effect in both cases, according to the authors. Mice treated at the age of one lived longer by 24% on average, and those treated at the age of two, by 13%. The therapy, furthermore, produced an appreciable improvement in the animals’ health, delaying the onset of age-related diseases—like osteoporosis and insulin resistance—and achieving improved readings on aging indicators like neuromuscular coordination.

May 15, 2012, CNIO

Discovery May Lead to Targeted Heart Disease Treatments

Editor — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:18:30 +0000

[TECH NEWS]

University of Guelph (Canada) researchers have found the location and effect of abnormal heart proteins that can cause cardiac failure, a discovery that points to potential new ways to treat the most costly health problem in the world. The study appears today in PLoS ONE, a peer-reviewed international journal published by the Public Library of Science. It is available online: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036821 “In order to cure heart disease, you have to understand its fundamental properties,” said study author John Dawson, a molecular and cellular biology professor. “So we looked at variants of naturally occurring proteins that are found in people with heart disease.” Heart disease and stroke is the leading cause of death in Canada, killing tens of thousands each year. Treating cardiovascular disease costs more than $20 billion a year in physician and hospital costs, lost wages and reduced productivity. The study examined gene abnormalities for the actin protein and its role in heart failure. As the most abundant protein in the body, actin helps in vital processes including muscle movement. Abnormal actin genes are linked to heart diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

May 8, 2012, University of Guelph / Eurekalert

Range of Brain Diseases Could Be Treated by Single Drug

Editor — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:39:19 +0000

[TECH NEWS]

The tantalizing prospect of treating a range of brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, all with the same drug, has been raised by UK researchers. In a study, published in Nature, they prevented brain cells dying in mice with prion disease. It is hoped the same method for preventing brain cell death could apply in other diseases. The findings are at an early stage, but have been heralded as “fascinating.” Many neuro-degenerative diseases result in the build-up of proteins which are not put together correctly—known as misfolded proteins. This happens in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s as well as in prion diseases, such as the human form of mad cow disease. Researchers at the University of Leicester uncovered how the build-up of proteins in mice with prion disease resulted in brain cells dying. They showed that as misfolded protein levels rise in the brain, cells respond by trying to shut down the production of all new proteins. It is the same trick cells use when infected with a virus. Stopping production of proteins stops the virus spreading. However, shutting down the factory for a long period of time ends up killing the brain cells as they do not produce the proteins they actually need to function.

May 06, 2012, James Gallagher, BBC News

Computing the Best High-Resolution 3D Tissue Images

Editor — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:47:23 +0000

[TECH NEWS]

Real-time, 3D microscopic tissue imaging could be a revolution for medical fields such as cancer diagnosis, minimally invasive surgery and ophthalmology. University of Illinois researchers have developed a technique to computationally correct for aberrations in optical tomography, bringing the future of medical imaging into focus. The computational technique could provide faster, less expensive and higher resolution tissue imaging to a broader population of users. The group describes its technique this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Computational techniques allow you to go beyond what the optical system can do alone, to ultimately get the best quality images and three-dimensional datasets,” said Steven Adie, a postdoctoral researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the U. of I. “This would be very useful for real-time imaging applications such as image-guided surgery.”

April 24, 2012, Product Design and Development

Get Moving: Daily Exercise May Reduce Alzheimer’s Disease Risk at Any Age

Editor — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:44:03 +0000

[TECH NEWS]

Daily physical exercise may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, even in people over the age of 80, according to a study published in the April 18, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “The study showed that not only exercise but also activities such as cooking, washing the dishes and cleaning are associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” said study author Aron S. Buchman, MD, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. “These results provide support for efforts to encourage physical activity in even very old people who might not be able to participate in formal exercise but can still benefit from a more active lifestyle.” For the study, a group of 716 people with an average age of 82 wore an actigraph, a device that monitors activity, on their non-dominant wrist continuously for 10 days. All exercise and non-exercise was recorded. They also were given annual tests during the four-year study that measured memory and thinking abilities. The research found that people in the bottom 10 percent of daily physical activity were more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as people in the top 10 percent of daily activity.

Apr 18, 2012, American Academy of Neurology / Eurekalert

New Heart Attack Predicting Blood Test Developed

Editor — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:40:45 +0000

[TECH NEWS]

A blood test that can predict whether a person is at high risk of suffering from a heart attack has been developed by researchers at Scripps Translational Science Institute, and published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The test can provide the doctor and patient with this vital information up to two weeks before an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) is likely to occur. Team leader, cardiologist Eric Topol, explains that if this test is demonstrated to be reliable after further studies, doctors will be better equipped and informed to intervene with patients at very high risk of an imminent heart attack, and thus prevent the attack and the subsequent damage it can cause. The authors explain that acute myocardial infarction is currently highly unpredictable, despite recent progress in the diagnoses and treatments of coronary artery disease. They add that doctors desperately need a clinical measurement that can predict an impending heart attack. In this study, a blood test was devised that identifies specific cells that flake off when the blood vessel walls weaken – they are called CECs (circulating endothelial cells), and signal the initial stages of acute myocardial infarction.

March 24, 2012, Medical News Today

Cryonics March-April 2012

Editor — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:54:05 +0000

The March-April issue of Cryonics features an extensive treatment of protecting one’s cryonics arrangements against inflation through life insurance. Insurance agent and Alcor member Rudi Hoffman makes the case for “superfunding” your cryonics arrangements to keep pace with the rising costs of advanced medical procedures. The author explains the differences between the major forms of life insurance (term life, whole life, universal life, etc.), gives advice on how to evaluate the various bells and whistles insurances companies offer, and provides guidance how to read those long policy illustrations. This issue continues the recent focus on identity-destroying brain disorders by offering an article by Alcor staff member Mike Perry about the latest developments in Alzheimer’s Disease diagnosis. Alcor CEO Max More reports on the upcoming Alcor conference and both book reviews deal with the topic of immortality, albeit from a different perspective.

Click on the cover image to peruse or download PDF version.

Progress in Early Detection of Alzheimers Disease

Editor — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:53:33 +0000

[FEATURED ARTICLE]

From Cryonics March-April 2012

By Mike Perry

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure, it worsens as it progresses, and it is uniformly fatal, though typically requiring 7-14 years to run its course from what up to now have been the first detectable, identifiable symptoms. (Symptoms may show up earlier than this but could be from other disorders.) People over 65 are mainly affected by AD, though the less-prevalent early-onset variety can appear much earlier.1 The percentage of population with the disease increases rapidly with age; one source estimates that 5.5% of Americans between age 65 and 74 have it, increasing to 17.4% for those between 75 and 84, and up to a whopping 46.2% (nearly half) for persons 85 and over.2

Because of its lengthy progression Alzheimer’s is one of those diseases that could pose a special difficulty to cryonicists, who want to be preserved with mental faculties intact. It is critically important, absent a cure for the disease, that cryopreservation occur during the earlier stages, before the disease has progressed to the point of causing dementia. In the case of faster-progressing diseases such as many cancers, refusal of food and fluids has been an acceptable means of hastening clinical death to avoid the further progression of the disease and also to avoid autopsy—and this option has been exercised by some Alcor members.3 But it is not clear what would happen for an Alzheimer’s patient in the early stages of the disease who wanted to pursue this course, with catastrophic impairment still years away yet inevitable. Prospects for slowing or curing the disease meanwhile remain grim. There is concern that efforts by pharmaceutical companies to develop effective treatments may be abandoned. (There are treatments for the symptoms of AD—for example, to keep one’s mind functioning at a high level longer—but they do not slow, halt, or reverse the disease.)

Though the outlook for slowing or stopping the disease is presently somber, it is not totally bleak, and it could substantially improve within a few years. For the best treatment it is essential that diagnosis of the disease be made as early as possible, ideally before any outward symptoms occur. Unfortunately, there is no reliable test of this sort at present, and a reliable diagnosis is possible only when mild cognitive impairment (MCI) involving difficulty remembering recent events and the like has occurred. Current diagnostic techniques involve a combination of neuropsychological testing, interviews with family members and caregivers, and methods based on brain imaging and other testing. It is essential, of course, that AD be distinguished reliably from other diseases which could present very similar symptoms (in this case, also MCI) at an early stage; the wrong treatment could be harmful or at best, ineffective.

One fairly new technique, known as PiB PET4 (“Pittsburgh compound B,” developed at Univ. of Pittsburgh, plus “positron emission tomography”5), has been developed for directly and clearly imaging Alzheimer’s beta-amyloid (Ab) deposits in vivo using a tracer that binds selectively to the Ab deposits. The PiB-PET technique uses carbon-11 PET scanning. Recent studies suggest that PiB-PET is 86% accurate in predicting which people with MCI will develop AD (with dementia that is more severe than MCI) within two years, and 92% accurate in ruling out the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s. Though the results are encouraging, it would be desirable to extend the time interval before AD strikes in full force, so that treatments could be started as early as possible.

Studies of AD in animal models have yielded some promising results based on a kind of immunotherapy (more later). Though these results haven’t yet translated into useful human therapies, new possibilities are raised by a recent success with early detection of AD in humans6 based on biomarkers, which is the main subject of this report. The sooner the disease is detected, the less damage it will have done, which provides more opportunity for therapeutic intervention, including the sort that has already shown success in animals.

In the study referred to, 134 aging patients, initially (“baseline”) with MCI, were followed over approximately a decade by a research team at Lund University, Sweden, headed by Physician Oskar Hansson. The study focused on biomarkers—substances present in spinal fluid and linked to AD. A certain combination of markers, low levels of Aβ and high levels of the substance tau, indicate a high risk, about 90%, of developing AD dementia over a 9.2-year period. Those who had memory impairment but normal values for the markers did not run a higher risk of getting AD than healthy individuals. Oskar Hansson previously carried out a study showing that pathological changes can be seen in the brain of an AD patient five years before the diagnosis. The new study has nearly doubled this time span.7

The biochemistry of AD is still far from fully understood. Different theories compete, and deeper understanding may be needed before a cure is found. The Hansson results are encouraging, however, for the extra “lead time” we can now expect to have in studying and combating the disease as it manifests itself in different patients. A larger time window appears to be opened to try approaches that have already shown success in animals. Some further details of the study are of interest, for which a bit of additional background on AD will be useful.

The normal brain uses a substance known as amyloid precursor protein (APP) in a rapid-fire fashion in which APP molecules are created and then destroyed.8 (Just what the APP is used for is not entirely clear, perhaps for such functions as regulation of synapse formation, neural plasticity, and iron export.) By the time AD starts to develop in a patient the clearing away of the used APP molecules has somehow gone awry. Fragments known as β-amyloid or Aβ begin to pile up in aggregates or heaps known as senile plaques. More specifically these fragments take the form of the aggregation-prone 42-amino acid isoform (equivalent form) of Aβ known as Aβ42. Senile plaques average around the size of larger-size neurons (around 50 micrometers) and are thought to be neurotoxic.

In addition to senile plaques the pathologic characteristics of AD include neurofibrillary tangles: insoluble, twisted fibers found inside the neurons containing damaged (hyperphosphorylated) tau protein or P-tau. Normal, undamaged tau protein is important to stabilize microtubules in the neurons, which in turn are essential to their functioning. P-tau does not stabilize the microtubules but instead the structure collapses. Normal tau and P-tau together make up the total tau or T-Tau; the concentrations of T-tau, P-tau and Aβ42 are important in the Hansson study reported here.

According to the amyloid cascade hypothesis, accumulation of Aβ as Aβ42 in the brain drives the neurodegenerative process in AD. This accumulation is believed to start decades before cognitive decline. It might be detected by a reduction in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of Aβ42 and elevated retention of positron emission tomography tracers for amyloid in the brain. According to this theory, the initial, asymptomatic phase of AD is followed by neuronal dysfunction and neurodegeneration, which are reflected by increasing levels of CSF tau and regional cerebral atrophy, which in turn can be visualized by magnetic resonance imaging. Direct evidence supporting this temporal sequence of events in humans affected by AD is still scarce, however, and the theory must be considered provisional. (Some very recent evidence suggests also that AD lesions, Aβ and neurofibrillary tangles, spread like an infection from one affected region of the brain to another, rather than popping up independently in different places, starting in a key memory center known as the entorhinal cortex.9)

AD patients generally undergo a period of MCI in the early or prodromal stages of the disease, before dementia (the “true,” currently diagnosable AD) sets in. There may be difficulty remembering recent events and acquiring new knowledge but the mind is otherwise largely intact and early memories are not much affected. The later dementia stages involve increasing loss of functionality and cognitive performance, including long-term memory degradation and loss of language and motor skills, leading finally to death.

Though MCI is associated with prodromal AD, it is actually a heterogeneous syndrome. Only 30%-60% of patients have prodromal AD. The rest will have a benign form of cognitive impairment, including some reversible forms (depression being one), or another neurodegenerative illness. For the 134 MCI patients involved in the Hansson study, the breakdown is as follows (rounded figures): 54% developed AD dementia, 16% developed other dementias, and the remaining 31% were cognitively stable. It should be noted that the median clinical follow-up time for the study was 9.2 years. “Given that AD is a slowly progressive disorder,” the authors note, “it probably takes at least 10 years before most patients with prodromal AD develop dementia and can be diagnosed as having clinical AD.” Their research appears to be the first that provided nearly this amount of follow-up time; previous studies having much shorter times (typically only 1 to 3 years) must have greatly underestimated the prevalence of prodromal AD.

To complete the study cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from each patient was collected at the start (“baseline”) by lumbar puncture and stored at -80°C until all follow-ups had been completed. The CSF samples were then thawed and concentrations of three biomarkers: Aβ42, P-tau, and T-tau were determined. (Values of these concentrations ranged from tens to hundreds of nanograms per liter.) It should be emphasized that the CSF samples were taken at the beginning of the study, before the results of the follow-ups could be known. It was found that the ratio r of Aβ42 to P-tau was a very good predictor of who would develop AD. The participants (including 39 controls with no MCI along with the 134 patients) were rather sharply divided into two groups, one with r values around 10-12, the other with values about half that size or less. 91% of those with the smaller r values went on to develop AD dementia (positive predictive value), while 86% of those with the larger values did not (negative predictive value; some did develop other dementias).

The authors of the study note that, in comparing early to late converters from MCI to AD (0-5 years versus 5-10 years), there is significant variability in the baseline concentration of both P-tau and T-Tau, but levels of Aβ42 are uniformly low for both groups and distinguishable from levels for non-AD converters. (The ratio of Aβ42 to P-tau still distinguishes better than Aβ42 alone.) It appears that CSF levels of Aβ42 go low and plateau early in AD-converters whenever conversion may occur, but that levels of P-tau and T-tau, while eventually increasing for both groups, take longer to rise in late converters.

In any case, it appears that the basis of a useful diagnostic technique has been achieved, though of course more work is needed to verify and possibly refine the results. The authors note that it would be desirable for clinical use to boost the predictive accuracy to above 95% and express hope that this might be accomplished through combination with other diagnostic aids such as thorough clinical assessment and brain imaging.

Meanwhile AD still is largely untreatable. Identifying it in its early, relatively benign stages will not by itself bring about a cure but should increase the options for developing one. Starting more than a decade ago some hopeful results were obtained with animal models of AD.10 These used immunotherapeutic approaches based on vaccination with Aβ42. Vaccinated animals showed reduction in AD neuropathology though the results have so far not been carried over to humans. But as the authors of the more recent study note, this may be because of the failure, so far, to deal properly with the long developmental period of human AD. It appears that a new corner has been turned in the fight against AD, and new hopes are raised that it will fairly soon be treatable.

References and notes:

[1] “Alzheimer’s Disease,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer’s_disease, accessed 31 Jan. 2012.

2 Liesi E. Hebert et al., “Alzheimer Disease in the US Population: Prevalence Estimates Using the 2000 Census,” (reprinted) Arch Neurol. 2003;60:1119-1122, http://169.237.87.89/outreach/wnews/pdf/1119.pdf, accessed (from Google Chrome) 31 Jan. 2012. (Values shown were derived from a graph and may differ slightly from unpublished values on which the graph was based.)

3 For one such public case see Linda Chamberlain, “Her Blue Eyes Will Sparkle,” Cryonics Dec. 1990, 16, http://www.alcor.org/cryonics/cryonics9012.txt, accessed 31 Jan. 2012.

4 Much of paragraph is taken, with editing, from “Alzheimer’s Disease,” Ibid., Accessed 5 Feb. 2012.

5 “Pittsburgh Compound B,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_compound_B, accessed 6 Feb. 2012.

6 Peder Buchhave, MD, PhD; Lennart Minthon, MD, PhD; Henrik Zetterberg, MD, PhD; Åsa K. Wallin, MD, PhD; Kaj Blennow, MD, PhD; Oskar Hansson, MD, PhD, “Cerebrospinal Fluid Levels of b-Amyloid 1-42, but Not of Tau, Are Fully Changed Already 5 to 10 Years Before the Onset of Alzheimer Dementia,” Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2012;69(1):98-106

7 http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24890&news_item=5773, accessed 31 Jan. 2012.

8 “Amyloid Precursor Protein” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyloid_precursor_protein, accessed 1 Feb. 2012.

9 “Alzheimer’s could be stopped from progressing after scientists find disease ‘spreads like an infection’,”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2095369/Alzheimers-disease-spreads-like-infection-finding-help-slow-progress.html#ixzz1ldq54i1G, 2 Feb. 2012, accessed 6 Feb. 2012.

10 Dale Schenk, Peter Seubert, and Richard B. Ciccarelli. DNA and Cell Biology. November 2001, 20(11): 679-681. doi:10.1089/10445490152717532, http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/10445490152717532?journalCode=dna, accessed 31 Jan. 2012.

Cryonics Life Insurance with Inflation Considerations

Editor — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:53:02 +0000

[FEATURED ARTICLE]

From Cryonics March-April 2012

By Rudi Hoffman

Background on Cryonics Funding

By now, most members and potential members reading these words are aware that Alcor is anticipating enacting an historic — and no doubt much discussed — new pricing model. This will almost certainly impact nearly everyone reading this article, even members of other cryonics organizations or those intending to sign up with a cryonics organization in the future.

After almost four decades of “grandfathering” the original rate which was in effect the day one became an Alcor member, Alcor is developing an incentive program which encourages — some would say requires — that the money needed to cover CURRENT cryopreservation costs be available at the time you “die” and the service is provided.

The reasons and rationales justifying this new program are many and are available on the Alcor website [see Cryopreservation Funding and Inflation]. The details and number of serious calculations performed behind the scenes — the “handwringing” over this issue — goes back decades, and is not the focus of this article. The summary is simply this: Due to technological enhancements and inflation, the actual costs of providing “state of the art” cryopreservation have increased. Eventually these costs go up considerably. Alcor has made a decision to continue to provide the best practices and procedures available. This means that the new higher costs must be paid, and this funding has to come from somewhere to make a sustainable organization. Rather than contribute a lower amount to the Patient Care Trust Fund, or subsidize shortfalls from the Alcor Endowment Fund, the Alcor Board has determined that Alcor cryopreservation pricing must have an intrinsic structure that acknowledges the reality of increasing costs.

Here is what this means to you.

Let’s assume for a moment that you signed up with Alcor in 1994, the year the author of this article signed up. The cost of whole body cryopreservation was $120,000. If I had to be cryopreserved right now, Alcor would provide me with a service legitimately and currently costing $200,000. Recall, this includes adding $110,000 to the Alcor Patient Care Trust.

The new pricing model, to be instituted probably in 2012, says I will need to have a total of $200,000 going to Alcor to secure a state of the art cryopreservation. If I only have $120,000, they will still provide the best protocols and service they are capable of. However, prior to “dying” while remaining a member, I will be charged an additional amount, over and in addition to my regular Alcor dues, which will go into a pooled fund designed to help pay the difference between my funding amount and the actual, then CURRENT, funding amount.

For members who signed up at various points in time with Alcor since 1972, the metrics are pretty simple. For example, if you signed up as a “neuro” when the cost was $35,000, you now need to fund for at least $80,000, the current neurovitrification cost at Alcor. Ideally, you should acquire a substantially higher amount of life insurance coverage, for reasons which are explained below.

The “Rule of 72″ and How to Plan for Your Future Cryopreservation Needs

This short explanation may seem like a digression at first, but we’ll soon find out it is not. It is called “The Rule of 72.” It is astoundingly simple, but powerful.

You can determine the future cost of a compound interest calculation by dividing the number 72 by the interest rate. The result indicates the number of years it will take to double the original amount.

For instance, let’s say we are buying an item which today costs $200,000 — like a whole body cryopreservation at Alcor. Let’s further assume that medical inflation increases costs by 7.2% a year. While no one knows for sure what inflation rate to expect in the future, you are almost surely aware of current macroeconomic events which make ongoing inflation virtually inevitable. It is extremely unlikely, given actual numbers of people signing up for cryonics throughout the planet, that the economies of scale available for commodities like electronics are going to happen in cryonics like they do for your iPhone.

Medical Inflation Rates

By way of a data point of hard reality, the health insurance premiums I pay went up 30% and 17% per year for the last two years. So 7.2% as a working figure for increasing costs of specialty medical interventions is not unreasonable. Although, to be fair, this is higher than the historical price increases Alcor has experienced, based on the analysis done by Robert Freitas [Scenario Analysis using a Simple Econometric Model of Alcor Finances]. However, it is substantially lower than worldwide medical inflation, which is estimated to average 10.5% a year.

Taking this 7.2% into the number 72, we come up with the number 10. This simply means it will take ten years for the buying power or cost of an item to double. In other words, at 7.2% a year inflation rate, a service costing $200,000 will double to $400,000 in — you guessed it — ten years.

Ten years from then it will double again — to $800,000. Needless to say, the reality of compound interest — and inflation is a type of compound interest — is both exciting and frightening. And, like other facts of nature, this simple fact of nature is inexorable, uncompassionate, uncaring, and exists completely independent of anyone’s opinion. The mathematical reality of compound interest is as certain, as mindless, as absolutely undeniable as gravity.

Ignoring the effects of compound interest or gravity is inadvisable. Mathematical and physical reality does not CARE how precious you are, how you have sacrificed for years to pay cryonics dues for your family, how deserving and sincere you are, how loyal to the cause, how your spouse won’t let you spend more on cryonics, how badly the kids need braces or shoes, how you have become old or uninsurable — insert your personal contingency and situation here.

While the mathematics of compound interest and randomness may not care about you, the decision makers at Alcor actually do. So there are options for hardship cases, along with mechanisms to attenuate increased costs for long term members unable to handle rising costs at Alcor.

If you plan on living another thirty years as you read these words, and you are serious about cryonics, you are at this very moment facing a serious — indeed a life threatening — challenge. It has been acknowledged for decades at Alcor that there is a fundamental problem with the grandfathering issue. But current Alcor management is choosing to address this enormous financial problem head on and to deal with it honestly instead of pretending it does not exist.

Again, what does this mean for you, in practical terms, about how much life insurance you should have to ensure adequate funding with Alcor and/or other cryonics organizations?

Superfunding Suggestions

There can be no single “one size fits all” answer to this question. But there can be some broad parameters. If you are young or middle aged and/or can afford it, it is not unreasonable to have one, two, or even three million dollars of total coverage. Increasingly, we are seeing far sighted cryonicists establish a combination of levelized premium universal life policies with renewable and upgradable term policies to provide for both future cost increases as well as to take care of their loved ones.

I personally own $2,300,000 of insurance on my life. Not because I am hugely wealthy, or there is some magic way for insurance brokers to obtain life insurance. I pay my premiums like anyone else, and total insurance costs are a substantial portion of our household budget. This life insurance, however, provides for my current and future cryonics costs, takes care of my beloved wife, and, most importantly, is designed to go into a series of three Cryonics Trusts.

Does this mean you should become discouraged and depressed if you cannot even think of affording this substantial coverage, and do nothing?

Of course not.

While most of us probably cannot afford any far future contingency or cost of future cryopreservation, we certainly CAN recognize that funding above and beyond current cryopreservation minimums is prudent. Alcor has long recommended overfunding, and a 50% overfunding at current rates would amount to $300,000 for whole body members and $120,000 for neuro members.

It does not take a rocket scientist, economist, or financial genius to simply see that, in this circumstance, “more is better.” Given the realities of compounding, having at least double the current minimums is certainly prudent. Recall, excess funds can be directed to your loved ones, causes you care about, and even your own personal revival trust. The Patient Care Trust funded by Alcor with each cryopreservation, is a “pooled” fund, designed to provide care in perpetuity for all cryopreserved members. If you want the possibility of being resuscitated from cryopreservation with personal funds, you should create a personal cryonics trust, which is generally funded with the financial leverage of life insurance.

We will deal with creative insurance and funding concepts in a later section. But if you remain reasonably healthy, the odds are good that there are ways to secure more life insurance now, while you are still relatively young and insurable. Annuity funding is appropriate for uninsurables, but this presumes one can reposition the lump sum of cash required to make current funding minimums. Again, it should be noted that Alcor is planning to look at “hardship” situations on a case-by-case basis.

This brings us to some practical considerations like, “How can I even think of affording the kinds of coverage that the gods of compound interest suggest I should have? Are there ways I can systematically engineer a policy or policies to address this inflation issue?”

This brings us to:

TYPES OF LIFE INSURANCE

We will start with some basics — Life Insurance 101.

TERM LIFE INSURANCE

Term life insurance is, as the name implies, life insurance that is level or in place for a TERM, or period of time. Popular choices include life insurance where the cost, also known as the premium, is LEVEL for fifteen, twenty, or even thirty years. It is pure death protection, generally builds no internal cash values, and the policy will indeed pay the full life insurance proceeds, known as the “face amount” of the policy — if you can arrange to die at the right time, that is.

Not surprisingly, given the fact that people tend to die in the later years of life, not the earlier years, term life insurance is relatively inexpensive for younger persons.

Term insurance is perfect in some situations, especially when we desire coverage for a period of time that can be known in advance. For instance, you are raising a family and you need a huge sum of life insurance to replace the income source you represent to your family. To replace this income, a lump sum of ten or twelve times your annual salary is needed, and it makes sense to fund this need with affordable term life insurance. There is a definite point in time — some twenty years out — when your kids will be raised, your mortgage paid down, your liabilities and financial responsibility to your family largely fulfilled, at which point this “backup” source of funds is no longer necessary.

Or, perhaps you borrow $500,000 on a thirty year mortgage for a house. Your mortgage holder or bank trusts you to pay the loan if you live, but wants life insurance on your life to pay the mortgage off if you die. There is a clear cut end point, a definite period of time the coverage is needed, a definable “term” of liability. In broad parlance, the need can be defined as “temporary” and term life insurance is completely appropriate for this “temporary” need.

A Range of Quality — What Do I Look For in Term Insurance?

Like nearly everything in life, there is a “range of quality” in term life insurance. Ratings and long term stability of the carrier, whether the carrier will allow ownership or joint ownership by a cryonics organization, rates, and quality of administration are among the metrics to consider. Availability and costs of riders, such as a disability waiver of premium, which waives the premium upon disability of the payer, may be a desirable option as well. Most, but not all, term policies can be “renewed” at the end of the term period. Most, but not all, term policies can provide guaranteed upgradability to a permanent or levelized premium policy with no evidence of insurability.

Is Term Insurance Appropriate for Cryonics Funding?

While not ideal for the reasons outlined above, term life insurance may be used to fund the cost of life insurance for cryonics. Depending on life situations, term insurance may be the only way an individual with cost concerns can afford to become a fully funded cryonaut. And, it often makes sense to ADD a large term policy in addition to a permanent policy to guarantee a cryonicist the ability to have more coverage when needed.

As an example, John is a 28 year old PhD student living on a $20,000 annual stipend. He wants to sign up for cryonics, but cannot afford the premium investment for a $300,000 Universal Life policy. So he buys a $300,000 term policy, and qualifies as a Preferred Nonsmoker. In addition to providing $300,000 of coverage, this term policy also guarantees that John can buy $300,000 of permanent coverage at the same Preferred Nonsmoker health category, no matter what happens to his health, anytime over the next ten years. This is called “guaranteed upgradeability” and is an important thing to ask about when shopping for term insurance.

Can I Pay a Net of Zero for My Life Insurance?

There are even new term policies which enable you to get every penny you put in the policy back after a period of twenty or thirty years, called “cashback term.” These programs are becomingly wildly popular because they fill a space between traditional term and some type of cash value building policy. Obviously, the premium on these term policies is higher than conventional term policies which give you nothing back unless you die. The increased cost ranges from 50% to 100% above the cost of straight term. However, the actual number crunching reveals that the distinction in cost amounts to a guaranteed, tax free, risk free return of six to seven percent. Since this is substantially higher than equivalent risk free, or extremely low risk, investments available elsewhere, it makes sense for many analytical individuals to consider this remarkable new innovation.

Additionally, cashback term, like universal life, will pay itself for a period of time once the policy has been in force long enough to accumulate some internal cash value. This makes the policy much more “robust” in real world environments where even responsible people occasionally may miss a policy premium.

There is also the psychological factor. Many people would rather pay in $30,000 over twenty years and get the full $30,000 returned, than pay in $20,000 over twenty years, get nothing back, and be penalized for living by paying the much higher term renewal rate. This makes sense especially for cryonicists, who tend to be life extension enthusiasts who expect to live an extraordinary length of time.

Situations and circumstances differ among individuals, which is why there is no “one size fits all” generic best policy, or even type of policy. Beware of populist and non-nuanced articles or purveyors of advice who confidently prescribe any single type policy or program to everyone.

The Dirty Secret of Term Life Insurance — And How Insurance Companies Make Money on It

While most Alcor members know that the rates for the same amount of insurance coverage will increase at the end of the term, they are shocked, dismayed, repulsed, and downright annoyed when they find the actual extent of this premium increase. The rate does not just double, quadruple, or quintuple. No, you are getting older, and the insurance company wants to shake you off the policy before you do something rude like die during their coverage period. This increase is further compounded by the fact that the insurance company knows that folks who renew their insurance premium without evidence of insurability probably can’t get coverage elsewhere, so they really jack up the rates upon renewal to reflect this reality.

As a consequence, according to the industry organization called the “Life Insurance Marketing Research Association” (LIMRA), some 97% of term policies do not result in a death benefit. This leaves a shockingly low 3% of term policies paying claims — not because the company reneges on the death benefit, but because the term policy has been dropped before there was a death claim!

It turns out the mathematics and variables actuaries use to determine rates are not just mortality at given ages, reserve requirements, reinsurance costs, time value of money, and costs of administration and policy acquisition. The so called “lapse ratio” is a major driver of premium cost. Basically, insurance companies don’t want you to drop your policy in the early few years. The actual costs of underwriting, medical tests, medical review, field force compensation, and administration can represent up to five years of annual premium. So, naturally, brokers are encouraged to write “persistent” business that documentably stays on the books. However, the insurance company would also like it if you would be polite enough to drop their policy before you actually generate a claim. This is the basis of the astoundingly high renewal premium costs for term life insurance in the later years.

Is Cheap Term Better?

Ironically, the “cheap” term rates hyped on internet spreadsheets can wind up the most costly of all insurance. In addition to risk of non-renewability, disingenuous pricing due to health ratings, and being non-cryonics friendly, many initially cheap policies have even higher renewal rates. And the worst decision of all, of course, is a policy which escalates in premium in the later years, forcing the client to drop it before a claim occurs and is actually needed. The best life insurance for anyone to have is the one that is in force when you “die.” The problem, of course, is that we do not know when that day is. And you WANT that day to be a long way off, in the later years when renewal term premiums can rise to costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

PERMANENT INSURANCE

The other broad type of life insurance goes under the name of “Permanent” coverage. Not surprisingly, this is coverage that is designed with “levelized” premium. While obviously more costly in the early years than term life insurance, this premium is engineered to stay level and to never increase. Most of the Universal Life policies utilized for funding human cryopreservation issued since the year 2000 have a “guarantee rider” which GUARANTEES the premium to never increase, even if the client lives to age 120. In actual fact, the premium often stops at age 99 or even before, with the death benefit staying in place even with no further premiums paid.

One can pay higher premiums and accumulate enough money in the “cash value” of the policy that the policy enters a blessed state called “Paid Up” insurance. Especially in recent decades, wealthy people have repositioned money to life insurance due to the safe, creditor protected, tax free growth available in permanent policies. A “Single Premium” policy is the logical extension and exemplar of this, in which an individual pays enough into his policy to never have to pay again. And the death benefit remains in force for as long as need be, even if that is age 118 or older.

Single Premium Policy, Modified Endowment Contracts, and Taxability of Life Insurance

A “Single Premium” policy can be thought of as the ultimate permanent policy. Because not everyone is able to reposition a lump sum sufficient to generate a single premium policy, there is also an option to pay the policy up over a seven year period. This so-called “Seven Pay Premium” also fulfills the requirements of the tax laws which determine the taxability of life insurance. In fact, life insurance has some tremendous tax advantages because the cash value of a life insurance contract grows with no taxes paid on the growth. Additionally, if you “borrow” the money out of your policy, (i.e., make a loan against the internal cash value) there are no taxes paid when you take the money out. So we have both tax-free growth and taxfree withdrawal of the cash values inside a permanent policy.

This benefit is so significant that prior to some tax reform acts in the 1980s, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claimed that life insurance was an “abusive tax shelter.” The IRS promulgated several sets of guidelines to remedy this perceived tax shelter abuse. These guidelines specify when a policy is taxed as life insurance and when it is taxed as an annuity.

Universal Life Insurance Basics

Universal Life is a permanent policy which provides lower costs and more flexibility than Whole Life Insurance.

Universal Life is a more flexible form of permanent insurance than the old fashioned “whole life” policies which were the industry standard from about 1900 to 1980. Regretfully, many of the early Universal Life policies sold in the 1980s were predicated on the then-extant interest rates ranging as high as 14%. When the prevailing interest rates plummeted in the 1990s, these policies, whose internal interest rates were tied to interest rate monitors like the LIBOR, imploded and caused great havoc among consumers and regulators.

The Universal Life policies available today are a function of a remarkable product evolution process, which have generated verifiably more consumer-oriented and secure programs. For instance, the aforementioned “guarantee rider” is a component of many policies which memorializes in writing that the policy will be maintained in force at a given premium with the death benefit guaranteed. And this guarantee is under not just ideal conditions of high prevailing interest rates or favorable mortality costs — but even in the worst case scenario of ultra low credited interest rates combined with maximum internal cost of insurance due to such contingencies as world wars or pandemics.

Illustrations

You have perhaps seen an illustration for a life insurance policy. Rather than a simple rate card, as the old way policies were sold, nearly all policies today are a bit more complicated. In fact, they are complicated enough to require a multi-page illustration to explain them. These illustrations are about 16 pages on the short side — and some run to 90 pages! This is just the illustration, remember. There is also an application which also ranges from 15 to 45 pages in length.

Fortunately, newer illustrations are actually better than older illustrations. As a function of consumer and regulatory pressure, and more importantly the evolutionary, iterative processes of an extremely competitive free market, newer policies are not just better, they are easier to understand. By law, they have less industry jargon, every term of art is explained, and they are actually pretty fun to study.

Bucket of Money Analogy

A Universal Life policy has three basic components. We can think of the simple analogy of putting money into a bucket. Each month we throw our premium into the cash bucket, representing the cash value of the policy. That is, the Universal Life policy has a bucket for accumulating money, which grows in our name for our policy.

However, there is a small bit of money dipped out of this bucket. Some companies charge a premium charge before the money hits the bucket, sometimes called, not surprisingly, the “premium expense charge.” And there is another cost — the actual internal cost of the life insurance, which is dipped out of the bucket. The internal cost of insurance, called “COI,” is usually pretty small in the early years. And there are actually two separate schedules. One is the rate schedule of COI that the company charges now, expects to charge in the future, and, for all practical purposes, is the actual internal COI rate schedule.

It is certainly possible that over the period of time a permanent policy is to be in force, the following could occur: We could experience catastrophic social upheaval, major world conflicts, pandemics, or other perturbations.. These are what some would call “black swan” events which is risk managers’ shorthand for the “unexpected unexpected.” Should situations like this warrant it, nearly all modern insurance companies have a fallback “worst case” schedule of internal cost of insurance that they COULD utilize.

So we have the three variables: (1) the amount of premium we put in; (2) the rate of return of the money as it accumulates in the bucket; and (3) the internal cost of insurance — in essence — the internal “wholesale” risk cost of you dying in any given year.

Now that we have these three variables, we can program the computer to produce a year-by-year analysis of what the policy will do!

But what assumptions do we use? What interest rate for the money in the bucket? Which internal cost of insurance table?

As a practical matter, the company software will show two illustrations. The first, usually located in a table of columns on the right side of the page, is what the policy would do for you at the actual interest rate of cash value the company is offering today, as well as the current, actual internal COI.

Also illustrated, in three or so columns on the left side of the page, is what happens if the company were only crediting their contractually guaranteed minimum interest rate, each and every year. Additionally, a second, “worst case,” scenario is predicated here — these “guaranteed” columns also assume that the insurance company had to do something else. Go to their internal “maximum charge schedule.” Something that (to my extensive knowledge of the industry) has never actually happened.

These “guaranteed” columns assume both the lowest interest rate credited each year that the insurance company guarantees — and also that the MAXIMUM internal cost of insurance (COI)! is charged. The reason insurance companies do not actually USE their higher internal COI rates is because all their healthy consumers would promptly jump ship and get their coverage elsewhere. Technically called “adverse selection,” insurance companies obviously go to great lengths to avoid such an egregious condition.

Comparing Universal Life Illustrations

We should acknowledge a harsh and ugly fact about Univeral Life illustrations. They are almost certainly wrong starting the second year of the policy, because we don’t KNOW what the future interest rates will be. And modern policies, unlike old fashioned “whole life” policies, have a “variable” interest rate structure sensitive to prevailing interest rates. Is this a bad thing?

No, this is actually good — as in good for you and me — as consumers who want our policies to reflect the best possible interest rates credited to our cash value in our policies. But this rate credited to our cash value growth must enable the company to pay for their costs of doing business, provide adequate reserves to meet regulatory requirements, and remain in business long enough to pay your claim on that day, decades away, when you need them to do so.

What Is Variable Universal Life Insurance and Index Universal Life Insurance?

Insurance companies have developed innovations enabling the crediting of cash growth not just to reflect current, environmental fixed interest rates, but also to have some exposure to the stock market or equities. Variable life, or variable universal life, enables the client to select a portfolio of mutual funds which drive the growth of the cash value. This may seem like a good idea given the long term rates of equities historically being higher than fixed or guaranteed returns. While Variable Universal Life (VUL) policies may have a place, they are generally not acceptable for cryonics funding.

The reason for this is straightforward. The stocks and mutual funds making up the equity portion of the policy can fluctuate wildly in value over time. This, in turn, means that the internal cost of insurance is withdrawn from the fluctuating values with the inverse of “dollar cost averaging.” Your internal policy costs are withdrawn from your cash accumulations, meaning that more stock is liquidated when the relative share price is lower. The result of this, as the millions of people who bought VUL policies during the market upswing of the 1990s (and kept the policy through the volatility of the 2000s) found out to their chagrin, is a policy implosion. Unless more money is put into the policy, the policy death benefit goes away. The policy has both zero cash value and zero death benefit!

Not the ideal policy for the kind of secure, worry-free cryonics funding most people want and that cryonics organizations prefer.

Index Universal Life

Index Universal Life is an attempt to provide some higher growth rates to the cash value of a policy, while still providing a “floor” of 0% or perhaps 1% even if the stock market, as measured by a stock market index like the S&P 500, takes a dive and goes negative. The cash value is actually not invested in the market. Instead, the insurance company uses an index as a determiner of growth credited to your policy, if and only if the change in the year is positive. Since there is a “floor” on the downside of the market in declining years, there obviously must be some equivalent tradeoff of growth in the years the market goes up. This is accomplished by having a maximum, or “cap,” that is credited, or crediting only a percentage of the actual growth of the index, or other various ways of enabling the insurance company to give you most of the upside without any of the downside of market fluctuations.

Bonus Interest Credits on Policies

It should be noted that some insurance companies may have a competitive current interest now — and also offer additional incentives as the policy ages — such as an extra percentage point of interest after being in the policy for ten years. This strategy of enhancing cash value is distinct from the exposure to index returns, and often competitive with Index Universal Life while being somewhat more straightforward. This “reward the persistent client” structure within the Universal Life program both encourages persistency as well as making the illustrations look better. Recall that illustrations with fixed, as opposed to stock market sensitive, rates are run showing the current interest rate, even on the non-guaranteed side of the illustration. And prevailing interest rates currently remain counterintuively low. Bank CDs are in the 1-3% range, savings and money market funds at 1/2 to 3%, and the Federal overnight rate close to 0%.

What this means as a practical matter is that a Universal Life policy currently illustrating a 4.5% interest rate could actually be a better transaction over time than a Variable UL or Index UL being illustrated at a higher interest rate. Long term integrity, a track record of doing the right thing for existing clients, and contractual guarantees are all variables one should consider when comparing policies.

The Report Card: Universal Life Gets an “A” — and a “B” — and a “C”

Most Universal Life policies incorporate the cash value of the policy into the face amount of the death benefit. In other words, the death benefit of the policy stays level while there is some growing cash value inside the policy. This means, for instance, if you have a $300,000 face amount policy, your beneficiaries get $300,000 if you “die.” But what if you have $23,000 in the cash value? Your beneficiary is still going to get $300,000.

Is the insurance company ripping you off? Paying the claim, but stealing your portion of cash instead of paying it to your beneficiaries? Actually, not really. The cash value is required to keep the premium and the face level at a given premium level. However — it IS possible to have a UL policy in which the cash value goes in ADDITION to the face of the policy. By selecting what is called “option B,” your cash value, adds to the face amount and death benefit of the policy as it grows. But, it turns out, there are tradeoffs. And, depending on your circumstance, these tradeoffs may be significant.

Think about this. The insurance company has an INCREASING total liability. Along with an INCREASING risk of you dying each year. So the premiums charged to generate an “option B” universal life program are higher. By how much? Depends on age and other factors, of course — but here is an actual, real world example for your edification.

Example of Universal Life with Option B — Actual Costs

Recently, a very smart, very analytical engineer called for some quote options for cryopreservation funding. In fact, he did risk analytics and was responsible for purchasing, of all things, insurance on rocket launches and their payloads. The premiums on these policies are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, so this guy understands that legitimate risk offloading comes with equivalent pricing.

He is also deeply aware of increasing costs for specialty technology, and was concerned, as we all should be, about how future cryopreservation costs would be impacted by inflation and new technologies.

In his forties, the “option A” universal life he was looking at for $300,000 would cost about $207 a month. And this includes the “guarantee rider” enabling a death benefit of $300,000 irrespective of future interest rates or societal conditions.

If he elected the “option B” choice, his premium is around $400 a month. However, it does accumulate a higher cash value. And this cash value does indeed go to increase the death benefit of the policy, enabling it to have an INCREASING death benefit mathematically designed to increase at rates commensurate with inflation rates!

There is, it must be noted, one additional tradeoff one normally makes with “option B.” Unless overfunded quite heavily, the “guaranteed to age 120″ component is not there. This means that, should both those “worst case” scenarios occur every year and funding is not adjusted, the policy could go away before age 120. On those left handed three columns, we can wind up seeing some “zeros” in the later years. While sometimes hard to explain to clients, in the real world these zeros would not occur, because the funding can be adjusted to make sure the policy remains in force.

Option C in Universal Life

Option “C” simply allows one to have an increasing death benefit with the cash value going in addition to the face of the policy for a period of time, and leveling the total death benefit off starting at some selected age. For instance, in the example above, the premium would still be a bit lower than Option B, perhaps $350 a month. And the face amount would rise each year to a maximum of $500,000 and stay at that level till a claim occurred.

Are These “Inflation Adjusted Policies” Good for Me?

Like other basic “what’s the bottom line” questions in life, the answer is “it depends.” At your age, health, and financial picture, an “Option B” Universal Life could be a PERFECT choice. Or it could be an unaffordable program which is not optimal at all in your situation, where a high face upgradeable term would be better. You need to have some illustrations run and talk over them with a knowledgeable planner or broker to see what makes the most sense for you.

What If I Am Uninsurable?

You may not be. Modern underwriting can generally cover people with controlled diabetes, blood pressure, or even a history of cancer or heart problems. Alternately, annuity funding does not require any underwriting, but the actual cost of cryopreservation is required.

An Example, with Actual Costs, of Good Cryonics Planning

A 35 year old software engineer elects to buy a $500,000 universal life policy and qualifies as a preferred nonsmoker. He pays $230 a month, but this premium will never go up. He also adds an upgradeable 20 year cashback term policy for $250,000 for another $60 a month. He makes his wife the beneficiary of the coverage not currently needed for his cryonics. He plans to “upgrade” part of his term policy to a levelized premium Universal Life policy every 5 years as he can afford to do so. Even though he technically only needs $200,000 for his current Alcor full body cryopreservation, he is planning ahead. At the same time he is showing his love for his family by having sufficient life insurance to replace his income.

Conclusion

Cryonics planning and funding, like other components of life, is more of an ongoing process and attitude of enhancement over time as opposed to a single one time event. No one ever claimed that having a realistic, technically advanced, medically credible, financially secure opportunity to overcome permanent physical death would be easy, cheap, or simple. To have a chance at a vastly extended life, in addition to large amounts of luck, each of us must commit to periodically reviewing and upgrading our cryonics funding arrangements.

Rudi Hoffman is an insurance agent and Alcor member.

Antioxidant May Disrupt Alzheimer’s Disease Process

Editor — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:58:34 +0000

[TECH NEWS]

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is now the sixth leading cause of death among Americans, affecting nearly 1 in 8 people over the age of 65. There is currently no treatment that alters the course of this disease. However, an increasing amount of evidence suggests that changes in the way the body handles iron and other metals like copper and zinc may start years before the onset of AD symptoms. A new study shows that reducing iron levels in blood plasma may protect the brain from changes related to AD. In the current study, which was led by Dr. Othman Ghribi, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, rabbits were fed a high-cholesterol diet which caused them to accumulate plaques of a small protein called beta-amyloid (Aẞ). These plaques are toxic to neurons and central to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The rabbits also developed changes in tau protein, which is part of the skeleton of neurons. When this protein becomes heavily phosphorylated, the ability of neurons to conduct electrical signals is disrupted. Following treatment with a drug called deferiprone (an iron chelator), the iron level in the rabbits’ blood plasma was reduced and the levels of both beta-amyloid and phosphorylated tau in the brain were returned to normal.

April 10, 2012, IOS Press