Sunday 22 July 2012

Of mice and a man - Could Putin´s life expectancy be doubled?


Official portrait of President  Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (2050)  
(image by www.kremlin.ru)

Last year the Russian New Times magazine asked "What has happened with Putin's face?":
It spoke to four plastic surgeons who contended that the Russian leader had probably had cosmetic surgery. It was likely that he had undergone Botox injections in his forehead, an eye-lift on his lower lids, and an injection of firming filler into his cheek bones.
Putin's face has contorted and smoothed out so much that it's at times unrecognisable. Talking to teenagers at the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group's summer camp this year, he was at pains to smile. All wrinkles had disappeared. 

Now that Putin has had himself confirmed as de facto lifetime dictator president, it appears that he is looking for something more lasting than a Botox treatment: 

Russian scientists will model a chemical compound to serve as a basis for medicines, slowing aging processes in human body on the Lomonosov supercomputer, CNews reports citing Dmitry Cherepanov, senior scientist in the Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry of the Russian Academy of Science (RAS).

The compound SkQ1 was synthesized in 2004 by a group of Russian scientists, headed by Valdimir Skulachev from RAS. The project includes over 40 organizations, including the Moscow State University, RAS and its institutes, as well as several foreign labs. 

Vladimir Skulachev, the head of the project, said that mice testing showed that the compound could slow down about 40 signs of aging, including eye dryness, balding, losing moustache hair, osteoporosis, hump, etc. As a result of the experiment, life expectancy of mice, living in non-sterile conditions, doubled, Mr. Skulachev said.
PS
It is not yet clear whether the SkQ1 treatment also will be offered to Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev. 

1 comment:

A K Haart said...

"It is not yet clear whether the SkQ1 treatment also will be offered to Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev."

Not required - there will be a number of spares lined up.