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	<title>Articles</title>
	<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html</link>
	<pubDate>Fri, 18 May 2012 01:50:07 +0000</pubDate>
	<ttl>86400</ttl>
	<description>Manage articles</description>
	<item>
		<title>Cryonics</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/templates/cryonics-r40</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The following is a quick overview on Cryonics.<br />
<br />
<em class='bbc'><span style='font-size: 12px;'>NB: The information below is periodically reviewed for accuracy, but LongeCity makes no representations or gives any warranties whatsoever that the following information is accurate and complete at any point in time. LongeCity accepts no responsibility or liability for information contained on this page. The discussion of cryonics service providers and services in no way entails any endorsement on part of LongeCity. The lead author of this page, its editors and other contributors from time to time may be affiliated with one of the service providers mentioned below. Without qualification to the foregoing disclaimers, LongeCity strives to present the following information in an objective an balanced manner. If you feel that information on this page is inacurate or imbalanced please contact the LongeCity <a href='mailto:support@imminst.org?subject=CryonicsPage' title='E-mail Link' class='bbc_email'>Support Email</a>.	 </span></em><br />
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<b>INDEX</b><ul class='bbc'><br /><li><a href="#Overview">Cryonics Overview</a><br /></li><li><a href="#Existing">Existing Cryonics Organizations</a><br /></li><li><a href="#Services">Cryonics Services Offered</a><br /></li><li><a href="#Size">Sizes of the Organizations</a>	<br /></li><li><a href="#Neuro">Whole Body/Neuro Options</a><br /></li><li><a href="#Prices">Cryopreservation and Yearly Fees</a><br /></li><li><a href="#Procedures">Human Cryopreservation Procedures</a><br /></li><li><a href="#Insurance">Funding Cryonics by Insurance</a><br /></li></ul><br />
<a name="Overview"></a><b>Cryonics Overview</b><br />
<br>Cryonics is based on the idea that future medicine will have capabilities well beyond those of current medicine, including the ability to cure all diseases, rejuvenate and repair damage incurred in the cryopreservation process &mdash; through the use of nanotechnology and other technologies. Cryonics can be an ambulance or time capsule to future medicine which can allow us to live many thousands of years or longer in youth and good health. Stored at very low temperatures there will be very little molecular motion in cryonics patients for tens of thousands of years, although most of us do not believe that we will have to wait anywhere near so long for future medicine.<br />
<br />
Although cryonics patients must be legally dead before cryonics procedures to reduce or eliminate ischemic damage and ice formation can be applied, cryonicists do not believe that cryonics patients are dead in an ultimate sense. Nearly all the cells of the body are alive for quite some time after the heart stops &mdash; including neurons. A standby team can be used to minimize the time between pronouncement of death and cooling, cardiopulmonary support, etc. Cryonicists believe that the anatomical basis of mind can survive much longer than six minutes after stoppage of the heart in the absence of cooling &mdash; despite the inability of current medicine to revive patients without neurological damage after more than six minutes of cardiac arrest. (See <a href="http://www.benbest.com/cryonics/IR_Damage.html" target="_blank">Quantifying Ischemic Damage for Cryonics Rescue</a> for more details.)<br />
<br />
<a name="Existing"></a><b>Existing Cryonics Organizations</b><br />
<br>For most of cryonics history (which began in the mid-1960s), all of the cryonics organizations offering cryonics services have been in the United States. In 2005 a cryonics organization was created in Russia (just northwest of Moscow) and there are plans for another cryonics organization in Australia to offer perfusion and storage of cryonics patients within a few years.  LongeCity does not endorse any particular cryonics organization. The data below is taken from the cryonics organizations without LongeCity attempting to verify the accuracy of their claims or the extent of the services they claim to provide. If you are considering utilizing any of these organizations, you should conduct your own investigation.<br />
<br><table border="3" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr><th><b>NAME</b></th><th><b>LOCATION</b></th><th><b>INCORPORATED</b>/th><th><b>NON-PROFIT ?</b></th></tr><tr><td><b><a href="http://www.alcor.org/" target="_blank">Alcor Life Extension Foundation</a></b></td><td><b>Scottsdale, Arizona</b></td><td><b>1972</b></td><td><b>Yes </b></td></tr><tr><td><b><a href="http://www.americancryonics.org/" target="_blank">American Cryonics Society (ACS)</a></b></td><td><b>Cupertino, California</b></td><td><b>1969</b></td><td><b>Yes </b></td></tr><tr><td><b><a href="http://www.cryonics.org/" target="_blank">Cryonics Institute (CI)</a>  </b></td><td><b>Clinton Township, Michigan</b></td><td><b>1976</b></td><td><b>Yes </b></td></tr><tr><td><b><a href="http://www.eucrio.eu/" target="_blank">EUCrio</a> </b></td><td><b>Braga, Portugal</b></td><td><b>2010</b></td><td><b>No </b></td></tr><tr><td><b><a href="http://www.kriorus.ru/en/our-services-russia-and-world" target="_blank">KrioRus</a> </b></td><td><b>Alabychevo, Russia</b></td><td><b>2005</b></td><td><b>No</b></td></tr><tr><td><b><a href="http://www.suspendedinc.com/" target="_blank">Suspended Animation, Inc (SA)</a> </b></td><td><b>Boynton Beach, Florida</b></td><td><b>2002</b></td><td><b>No</b></td></tr><tr><td><b><a href="http://www.transtime.com/" target="_blank">Trans Time, Inc.</a></b></td><td><b>San Leandro, California</b></td><td><b>1972</b></td><td><b>No </b></td></tr></tbody></table><br />
<br />
<br>Alcor Life Extension Foundation and the American Cryonics Society (ACS) are organized as 501&copy;3 charitable organizations, whereas the Cryonics Institute (CI) is simply a non-profit corporation. Although Suspended Animation, Inc. (SA) is ostensibly a for-profit company, it is mainly engaged in research and development of cryonics capabilities financed by the principals of the <a href="http://www.lef.org/" target="_blank">Life Extension Foundation</a>. By 2012 KrioRus had relocated to a facility closer to Moscow.<br />
<br><br />
<a name="Services"></a><b>Cryonics Services Offered</b><br />
<br>Not all cryonics services are offered by all cryonics organizations. <b>Patient administration</b>service is offered by cryonics organizations that sign-up Members who are to be cryopreserved upon legal death and maintain responsibility for those Members while they are Patient's in cryopreservation storage. <b>Perfusion</b> is the replacement of normal body fluid with cryoprotective solutions to reduce or prevent ice formation at cryogenic temperatures. <b>Storage</b> is the storage of a cryonics patient in liquid nitrogen. <strong>Standby/Stabilization/Transport</strong> (<b>SST</b>) involves standing by the bedside of a medically terminal patient destined to be cryopreserved, the application of a heart-lung resuscitator and ice-water cooling as soon as possible after declaration of death,and transport to a perfusion facility while tissues are still being stabilized at low temperature.<br />
<br>The following table represents the services which cryonics organizations say they provide.<br />
<br><table border="3" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr><th><b>NAME</b></th><th><b>PATIENT ADMINISTRATION</b></th><th><b>PERFUSION</b></th><th><b>STORAGE</b></th><th><b>STANDBY/TRANSPORT</b></th></tr><tr><td><b>Alcor</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>ACS</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes*</b></td><td><b>No*</b></td><td><b>Yes*</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>CI</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>No*</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>EUCrio</b></td><td><b>No*</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>No</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>KrioRus</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>No</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>SA</b></td><td><b>No*</b></td><td><b>No</b></td><td><b>No</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>Trans Time</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>No</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>No</b></td></tr></tbody><caption align="BOTTOM"><b>*=simplification, see explanation</b></caption></table><br />
<br />
The American Cryonics Society (ACS) states that it mainly contracts with Suspended Animation,Inc. (SA) for perfusion and standby/transport, and contracts with the Cryonics Institute (CI)for storage. ACS also states that it has equipment, contractors and volunteers which are available for use in perfusion and standby in California should the need arise, although this is far less sophisticated and formal than what SA provides. ACS creates and manages individual charitable trusts for its patients. ACS regards these trusts as an important feature of the benefit gained by being an ACS Member.<br />
<br>Cryonics Institute (CI) Members who reside in the continental United States have the option of contracting directly with SA if they desire professional Standby/Transport.In some cases volunteers or paid funeral directors have provided these servicesto CI Members. SA will keep records of CI Members who have arranged to have SA Standby/Transport, but does not continue any administrative responsibility after the patient has been cryopreserved.<br />
<br>EUCrio states that it will provide Standby, Stabilization and Vitrification perfusion for Members of Alcor, CI or KrioRus living in Europe (European Union plus Norway), but is not affiliated with any of those cryonics organizations.  <br />
<br>Trans Time is currently storing patients, but (despite what their website says) is not currently seeking new Members or Patients.<br />
<br><br />
<a name="Size"></a><b>Sizes of the Organizations</b><br />
<br>There are various ways by which organization size could be measured, but for the purposes of this section size is represented by the number of Members in the organization, the number of patients currently being stored in liquid nitrogen and the numberof full-time paid staff in the organization. The figures below are for January 1, 2012, and are based on the statements of the organization in question.<br />
<br><table border="3" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr><th><b>NAME</b></th><th><b>MEMBERS</b></th><th><b>FUNDED MEMBERS</b></th><th><b>PATIENTS</b></th><th><b>STAFF</b></th></tr><tr><td><b>Alcor</b></td><td><b>957*</b></td><td><b>957*</b></td><td><b>110</b></td><td><b>9</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>ACS</b></td><td><b>?*</b></td><td><b>?*</b></td><td><b>19*</b></td><td><b>1*</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>CI</b></td><td><b>971*</b></td><td><b>473*</b></td><td><b>107*</b></td><td><b>3*</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>EUCrio</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>2+</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>KrioRus</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>18</b></td><td><b>4</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>SA</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>6+</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>Trans Time</b></td><td><b>?</b></td><td><b>?</b></td><td><b>3</b></td><td><b>1?</b></td></tr></tbody><caption align="BOTTOM"><b>*=simplification, see explanation</b></caption></table><br />
<br>Alcor states that it has a large number or full-time paid staff along with part-time workers and volunteers. The American Cryonics Society (ACS) has an organizational policy against publishing the number of Members it has in its organization. As of the beginning of January, 2012 the 19 ACS patients were all in storage at the Cryonics Institute (CI). ACS has had one part-time clerk to do office work and has otherwise relied on volunteers. The 107 patients in storage at CI includes the 19 ACS patients. KrioRus has no Membership program, and the method of counting patients is odd &mdash; four are not stored by KrioRus. KrioRus had 6 pets in storage at the beginning of January, 2012. KrioRus has 4 full-time employees and numerous volunteers. As of January, 2012 Alcor reported 49 pets and CI reported 84 pets.<br />
<br>CI is a subcontractor for storage of the 19 ACS patients. CI has three paid staff (full-time and part-time), a few contractors and very many volunteers. Accounting is done by CI Treasurer Pat Heller (a CPA) with auditing by another CI Directors.Trans Time does not report its Membership numbers. Suspended Animation (SA) is a subcontractor which provides Standby/Transport only to other cryonics organizations (ACS, Alcor and CI), so it has no Members or Patients &mdash; or the reporting of Members or Patients for SA is "Not Applicable" (N/A). Both SA and EUCrio make extensive use of subcontractors when needed.<br />
<br>Alcor and CI member numbers are not directly comparable because the word "Member" has different meanings for the two organizations. Membership in CI provides the privilege of obtaining cryopreservation services: pet, DNA or human cryopreservation. Many join CI only to store DNA or pets or to support CI, including some Alcor Members. Some Alcor Members have even made arrangements to use CI as a "back-up". Alcor does not allow its Members to have Alcor as a "back-up".  All Alcor Members have made arrangements (ie, funding and contracts in place) for human cryopreservation and standby/stabilization/transport. Of the 971 CI Members at the beginning of January, 2012, 473 had made arrangements for human cryopreservation and 113 of those had made arrangements for both human cryopreservation and standby/stabilization/transport (all with SA). Since 2006, CI offers a 'partnership' arrangement for CI Members for SA standby/stabilization/transport.<br />
<br>As noted in the previous section, Trans Time is currently storing patients, but (despite what their website says) is not currently seeking new Members or Patients.<br />
<br>In 2011 and 2012 SA reorganized its staff to have more part-time employees and contractors, but has about 6 full-time and 2 part-time employees in additional to contractors.<br />
<br />
<br>Up-to-date accounts of patient histories and membership growth can be found at:<br />
--<a href="./patients.html" target="_blank">Cryonics Institute (CI) Patient Details </a><br />
--<a href="./statistics_details.html" target="_blank">Cryonics Institute (CI) Statistics Details</a><br />
--<a href="http://www.alcor.org/cases.html" target="_blank">Complete List of Alcor Cryopreservations</a><br />
--<a href="http://www.alcor.org/AboutAlcor/membershipstats.html" target="_blank">Alcor Membership Statistics</a><br />
<br />
<br><a name="Neuro"></a><b>Whole Body/Neuro Options</b><br />
<br>The term neuropreservation (or "neuro") generally refers to the practice of cryopreserving only the head rather than the whole body. A "neuro" is usually, a whole head, not just the brain, but sometimes only the brain is cryopreserved. Keeping the whole head to preserve the brain is convenient for both perfusion and storage (the skull protects the brain). In some cases, however, "neuros"are brain-only. The following represent options various organizations say that they offer.<br />
<br><table border="3" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"><tbody><tr><th><b>NAME</b></th><th><b>WHOLE BODY</b></th><th><b>NEURO</b></th></tr><tr><td><b>Alcor</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>ACS</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>No*</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>CI</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>No</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>EUCrio</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>KrioRus</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>SA</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>Trans Time</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td><td><b>Yes</b></td></tr></tbody><caption align="BOTTOM"><b>*=simplification, see explanation</b></caption></table><br />
<br>Alcor states that its Members have the option of having their whole body cryopreserved or only their head ("neuro") &mdash; with different fees applicable to each choice. At the beginning of January, 2012 Alcor said that it had 72 neuro and 38 whole body patients.<span style='color: #B22222'> </span><br />
<br />
All CI Members with human cryopreservation arrangments are "whole body". ACS states that it does not have a policy against neuropreservation, but as long as it only uses CI as its subcontract or for storage it cannot offer neurocrypreservation as an option. KrioRus states that the 18 patients that it had in storage at the beginning of January, 2012 were 10 whole bodies and 8 neuros. Trans Time has one whole body and two brains. Suspended Animation (SA) is a subcontractor which provides Standby/Stabilization/Transport only to other cryonics organizations, not storage, so the question of storage options with SA is "Not Appliable" (N/A).<br />
<br><br />
<a name="Prices"></a><b>Cryopreservation and Yearly Fees</b><br />
<br>Comparing fees for human cryopreservation and yearly Membership or Emergency Responsibility is difficult to summarize in table form because the policies, procedures and optionsbetween the cryonics organization are so different. A great deal of explanation is required. Note that the high prices for human cryopreservation are generally covered by life insurance policies. The following represent the fees that the following organizations state that they charge.<br />
<br><table border="3" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"><tbody><tr><th><b>NAME</b></th><th><b>WHOLE BODY</b></th><th><b>NEURO</b></th><th><b>YEARLY FEES</b></th></tr><tr><td><b>Alcor</b></td><td><b>$200,000*</b></td><td><b>$80,000*</b></td><td><b>$620*</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>ACS</b></td><td><b>$155,000*</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>$376*</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>CI</b></td><td><b>$28,000*</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>$120*</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>EUCrio</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>&euro;420</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>KrioRus</b></td><td><b>$30,000*</b></td><td><b>$10,000</b></td><td><b>None</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>SA</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>N/A</b></td><td><b>None</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>Trans Time</b></td><td><b>$150,000</b></td><td><b>$50,000</b></td><td><b>$96*</b></td></tr></tbody><caption align="BOTTOM"><b>*=simplification,see explanation</b></caption></table><br>To Alcor's yearly fee of $620 annual dues, those living in the United States and Canada must add $180 yearly standby fees for a total of $800 per year. A lifetime payment plan is also available. Standby service is not available to Alcor Members outside of the US and Canada, but a $15,000 surcharge is added whole body and neuro prices in the United Kingdom, and a $25,000 surcharge is added to the prices paid by those living in other countries.  For details on Alcor pricing, see <a href="http://www.alcor.org/BecomeMember/scheduleA.html" target="_blank">Schedule A: Required Costs and Suspension Funding Minimums</a>.<br />
<br>The prices given for the American Cryonics Society (ACS) are intended to reflect comparable service to what Alcor provides. In fact, ACS has a very wide menu of options and prices available, including reference to a "California Procedure" which is intended to be distinguished from the"Michigan Procedure" offered by the Cryonics Institute. The yearly fee for an ACS Member is $376 for the first four years and $300 peryear there after. For details on ACS options and fees, see:<a href="http://home.jps.net/%7Ecryonics/prices.html" target="_blank">prices and funding</a>.<br />
<br>The Cryonics Institute charges $28,000 for perfusion and storage of a Lifetime Member and $35,000 for a Yearly Member. These prices do not include funeral director costs or shipment to Michigan. (When CI was begun it was imagined that every state would haveat least one cryonics service provider.)  The Lifetime CI Member has paid a one-time $1,250 fee and the Yearly CI Member has paid a $75 initiation fee and is paying a $120 yearly fee. Discounts for additional family members and underage family members apply only to Lifetime Memberships. For service more comparable to what Alcor provides &mdash; including Standby and Transport &mdash; a Lifetime Member pays $88,000 and a Yearly Member pays $95,000. For details on CI pricing see <a href="http://www.cryonics.org/membership.html" target="_blank">Membership</a> and<a href="http://www.cryonics.org/SA/SA_details.html" target="_blank">Details Concerning SA Standby and Transport for CI Members</a>.<br />
<br>For $49,000 KrioRus states that it offers Russians (Europeans?) the option of shipment and storage at the Cryonics Institute in the USA.<br />
<br>As noted in previous sections, Trans Time is currently storing patients, but (despite what their website says) is not currently seeking new Members or Patients.<br />
<br>Suspended Animation (SA) is a subcontractor which provides Standby/Transport only to other cryonics organizations, not Membership or storage, so the question of these options with SA is "Not Applicable" (N/A).<br />
<br>EUCrio states that it provides Standby/Stabilization and Vitrification/Transport services for European members of other cryonics organizations, without being affiliated with those organizations.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name="Procedures"></a><b>Human Cryopreservation Procedures</b><br />
<br>Human cryopreservation procedures are much too complex to be summarized effectively here.<br />
<br>Alcor's procedures are summarized on a page of the Alcor website called <a href="http://www.alcor.org/procedures.html" target="_blank">Alcor Procedures</a>. But is it also very helpful to read actual case reports of Alcor patients in the <a href="http://www.alcor.org/Library/index.html#casereports" target="_blank">Cryopreservation Case Reports</a> section of the Alcor website library.<br />
CI has a summary of its procedures on its website called<a href="http://www.cryonics.org/phases.html" target="_blank">Outline of CI Preservation Procedures for Human Patients</a>. But even more than in the case of Alcor, an understanding of the procedures is best gotten by reading case reports in the <a href="http://www.cryonics.org/refs.html#cases" target="_blank">Case Reports</a> section of the CI site contents page. The best reports to read are the first human vitrification case, which was done in August 2005 (<a href="http://www.cryonics.org/reports/CI69.html" target="_blank">The Cryonics Institute's 69th Patient</a>) and a more recent one done in September 2007 (<a href="http://www.cryonics.org/reports/CI84.html" target="_blank">The Cryonics Institute's 84th Patient</a>).<br />
<br>CI procedures do not include Standby and Transport, though CI will advise Members on obtaining assistance through local funeral directors.CI Members residing in the continental United States who wish to obtain Standby and Transport can do so by subcontracting with Suspended Animation, Inc. (SA) as outlined at <a href="http://www.cryonics.org/SA/Suspended_Animation.html" target="_blank">Suspended Animation Standby for CI Members</a> and described in more detail at <a href="http://www.cryonics.org/SA/SA_general.html" target="_blank">General Comments about Suspended Animation Procedures</a>. An outdated summary of SA capabilities and procedures is available at <a href="http://www.cryonics.org/SA/SA_Protocol.html" target="_blank">Protocol for SA-CI Standby-Transport</a>. A report of a case done by SA in 2004gives some idea, although an outdated one, of what the SA protocol means in practice.This report is available on the SA website as a <a href="http://www.suspendedinc.com/cases/index.htm" target="_blank">Word Document SA Case Report</a>.<br />
<br>Although the American Cryonics Society (ACS) has equipment and volunteers which could be used if necessary, ACS basically relies on SA for Standby/Transport and CI for Perfusion/Storage.The human cryopreservation procedures of Trans Time and KrioRus are not documented on their websites.<br />
<br><br />
<a name="Insurance"></a><b>Funding Cryonics by Insurance</b><br />
The cost of cryonics is many thousands of dollars, but most cryonicists cover these costs with life insurance policies that name a cryonics organization as beneficiary. Premiums of life insurance policies are most affordable for those who are young and healthy. It is not prudent to seek life insurance in old age or after a terminal illness (when life insurance may be unobtainable). Nor is it prudent to believe that cryonics arrangements can be made efficiently or successfully when in a terminal condition.<br />
<br><a href="http://www.rudihoffman.com/cryonics.html" target="_blank">Rudi Hoffman</a> sells the great majority of cryonics life insurance policies. It makes good sense to take advantage of Rudi's considerable expertise in matters of cryonics and life insurance. (A sincere and unpaid plug for Rudi.)]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:06:47 +0000</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title>Cryopreservation Fundraiser</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/projects/cryopreservation-fundraiser-r36</link>
		<description><![CDATA[LongeCity continues its proud tradition to support small-scale, high-impact life extension research. This round, in honor of the pioneer Robert Ettinger recently placed in cryostasis, we were looking to support a project dealing with cryopreservation, cryobiology, biostasis or a related topic.<br />
<br />
<strong class='bbc'>The selection criteria: </strong><br />
<DIV style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px; padding:4px; width:650px;"> A project should  <br />
- be basic or applied research but basic research should have potential for applied development<br />
- present short updates for Members with interim data, photos from the facility etc at agreed intervals<br />
- be led or overseen by a person with a postgraduate qualification in the relevant field or by a person with demonstrable equivalent experience<br />
- have clearly defined interim milestones<br />
- have a flexible project structure that can be adjusted according to the amount of money raised<br />
- be small in scale - one or two key workers<br />
- be short in duration - 6 months maximum<br />
- not be confidential. LongeCity will expect open and public presentation and discussion of research results. However, confidentiality will be accepted where a manuscript is prepared for publication or where a patent is filed.<br />
</div><br />
<br />
Out of several good submissions, the Board, in consultation with knowledgeable peer reviewers drew up a shortlist of two finalists, and the final selection was left to ImmInst Members in a referendum.<br />
<br />
<strong class='bbc'>The winning project has now been selected: </strong><br />
<br />
<DIV style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px; padding:4px; background:#E6E6FA;"><br />
<strong class='bbc'><span style='font-size: 18px;'>Uncovering the mechanisms of cryoprotectant toxicity</span></strong><br />
<br />
Joao Pedro de Magalhaes (aging@liv.ac.uk), Soren Stirling<br />
Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group, University of Liverpool, UK<br />
<br />
<strong class='bbc'>Background</strong><br />
Vitrification led to great hopes in cryobiology, including in human cryonics. However, a large percentage of the intercellular water must be replaced by a vitrifying cryoprotective agent (CPA) to avoid the damaging effects of ice formation. Current CPAs have toxic effects on human tissues, through mechanisms still poorly understood. As such, CPA toxicity remains one of the biggest barriers to clinical application of vitrification in human tissues, including in cryonics (1). In this project we will use cell biology and genomic methods to study the mechanisms of CPA toxicity.<br />
High-throughput gene exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n profiling has proven valuable to study the molecular mechanisms of a number of processes, including ageing and cellular responses to stress (2). Surprisingly very little work has been done to identify gene exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n signatures of cryopreservation or CPA stress in human tissues. Our project will employ functional genomics to study CPA toxicity and cryopreservation in order to identify promising mechanisms for pharmacological targeting.<br />
Human vascular endothelial cells are to be interrogated in this work. These are readily grown in culture and are critical for the integrity of all vascularised tissues. They can be vitrified but suffer from moderate CPA toxicity (3). Strikingly, CPA toxicity neutralization has not been studied in this cell type, and knowing if they exhibit this characteristic is essential. These cells are also important in protecting against reperfusion injury which is critical to cryonics. Therefore, studying CPA toxicity in vascular endothelial cells will not only advance the field but findings in these cells could have important practical applications in cryonics since the integrity of endothelial cells is crucial for whole organ outcome.<br />
<br />
The specific aims of this project are:<br />
1) Determine if vascular endothelial cells exhibit CPA toxicity neutralization;<br />
2) Employ large-scale gene exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n profiling to identify genes and mechanisms of CPA toxicity in vascular endothelial cells.<br />
<br />
<strong class='bbc'>Programme of Work</strong><br />
We will first optimize temperature/permeability coefficients for our cell line to avoid cell insult through osmotic effects. In accordance with the current cryopreservation protocols (4), we will cool cells through to the glass transition temperature at rapid cooling rates (1-3 degrees per minute) to achieve vitrification. CPA will be introduced and washed-out at 0 degrees.<br />
DMSO and ethylene glycol, which are common CPAs used in cryobiology, will be studied. We will use rapid warming. The CPA in LM5 carrier solution will be introduced to cells at 0 C in exponentially increasing concentration increments to reduce osmotic stress. The cells will be held in peak concentration of CPA for 30 minutes at 0 C and then the CPA removed from the cells by exposing them to exponentially decreasing concentration increments including mannitol osmotic buffer. A mortality curve will be constructed to establish LD50, the CPA concentration at which 50% of cells are dead.<br />
Once the above preparatory steps are performed, we will be able to carry out the required analyses to achieve the goals of the project:<br />
Aim 1): Toxicity neutralizers previously reported in other systems, such as amides and sugars (1), will be assayed for effects on LD50.<br />
Aim 2): For the gene exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n profiling we will focus on cells before and after treatment, with and without CPA. Digital gene exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n profiles will be obtained using RNA-seq (5), as already done in our lab. We will identify genes and pathways associated with 1) response to CPAs; 2) response to vitrification/rewarming. In this way, we will build up a body of data setting out critical factors in cryopreservation stress and responses to CPAs.<br />
Complementary histological analyses will be carried out to characterize any gross changes in cells and results will be interpreted together with gene exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n results.<br />
Overall, in addition to determining if endothelial cells exhibit CPA toxicity neutralization, this promises the first detailed molecular view of the current cryopreservation limitations in endothelial cells. Discovery of drug/protein interventions to overcome them can follow, for example by chemoinformatics using the gene exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n profiles obtained to identify drugs that modulate genes and pathways involved in CPA toxicity and thus translate our findings into the clinic.<br />
<br />
<strong class='bbc'>Milestones</strong><br />
#1 Optimize experimental conditions for our cell line.<br />
#2 Test CPA toxicity neutralization.<br />
#3 Perform gene exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n profiling.<br />
<br />
The project is flexible to allow adjustments (e.g., eliminating one of the aims) if sufficient funds are not raised.<br />
<br />
<strong class='bbc'>Budget</strong><br />
Graduate student (six months): $6,000<br />
Part-time bioinformatician (two months): $2,000<br />
Consumables: $1,000<br />
RNA-seq: $3,000<br />
Total: $12,000<br />
<br />
<strong class='bbc'>References</strong><br />
1. G. M. Fahy, Cryobiology 60, S45 (2010).<br />
2. J. P. de Magalhaes et al., Exp Gerontol 39, 1379 (2004).<br />
3. M. C. Wusteman et al., Cryobiology 44, 24 (2002).<br />
4. T. Takahashi et al., Cryobiology 23, 103 (1986).<br />
5. J. P. de Magalhaes et al., Ageing Res Rev 9, 315 (2010).<br />
</div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In the portfolio of life extension research efforts, cryopreservation is a field that is very poorly funded.<br />
This is precisely where even a small community like LongeCity can make a real impact.<br />
Please consider making a donation, however small, and please spread the word as widely as possible to other potential donors.<br />
Every cent will donated will be matched by LongeCity up to an amount of $6000.<br />
<br />
As a <span style='font-size: 18px;'><strong class='bbc'>SPECIAL BONUS</strong></span>: if, together, we manage to support the project at least to a level where it can commence (~$10.000 = 5K from public donations) then LongeCity will <strong class='bbc'>also support the runner-up project </strong>proposed by Ben Best, Aschwin & Chana deWolfe to study the effect of blood washout and vitrification perfusion in a small animal mode, with a seed funding contribution of $1500l!!<br />
<br />
<Center><br />
<DIV style="border-style:solid; border-width:2px; padding:7px; width:500px;"><b><font size="4">To donate</font></b><img src="http://www.imminst.org/forum/public/style_images/donation_tracker/verified/paypal_verified_seal_60x60.gif" hspace="5" align="right" vspace="5"><br />
<a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/donate/goal-8-cryopreservation-research/"><b>Go to the main donate page here</b></a>. Every dollar donated will be matched by LongeCity up to an amount of $6000 total.<br />
<br />
<b><font size="4">Other ways to donate</font></b><br />
If you are <i>unable</i> to use the automated payment, your donation can also be made via <a href="http://www.longecity.org/googlpay.htm"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/images/googlchekout.png"></a>.<br />
<img src="http://www.longecity.org/images/oie_tschek.gif" hspace="3" align="right" vspace="3"><br />
Please note, every cent you donate will go directly to this cause.<br />
There are no admin costs or hidden charges - BUT we have to pay a fee for payment transfer services like paypal.<br />
Therefore, if you are thinking of making a larger donation ($400+), please consider sending it by cheque to<br />
<span style='color: #000080'><strong class='bbc'>LongeCity,<br />
1022 Stark Street<br />
Wausau, WI 54403, USA</strong></span><br />
Please include a note indicating your user/display name in the forums in the note section of the check, unless you wish to remain anonymous.<br />
</div></Center>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:02:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">42a0e188f5033bc65bf8d78622277c4e</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>User Agreement</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/bylawA</link>
		<description><![CDATA[<span style='font-size: 14px;'><b><a href="#A">Bylaw A. User Agreement</a> (Posting <a href="#A2"> Guidelines</a>)</b></span><br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<p><b><font size="5"><a name="A"></a>Bylaw A. User Agreement </font></b></p><br />
<br />
<p><strong class='bbc'>Article 1 </strong><br />
The following shall be the letter of the agreement that all visitors, Members and their guests will be asked to abide by when interacting with the LongeCity("ImmInst") website<strong class='bbc'>: Please read this Agreement carefully before accessing the Site.</strong> </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section01 The Nature of this Agreement </b><br />
(a) The following are the terms and conditions (the "Agreement") offered to any person ("you") for access and use (including but not limited to forum user registration) of the LongeCity/Immortality Institute (ImmInst) web site and all affiliated web sites (the "Site"). The Agreement is the basis for using and interacting with the ImmInst website. By accessing the Site, you agree to abide by this Agreement.<br />
(b) Access to the Site is a privilege and not a right. If you do not agree with this Agreement, or have no intention to follow the rules outlined herein, you may not use the Site. If you have any reason to interact with a representative<br />
of ImmInst, but you do not wish to follow these rules, please email support@imminst.org<br />
(&#99;) The information in this document is subject to change. These changes will be announced on the Site, but you must also agree to periodically review this document for changes. After eight (8) days of any change in the Rules, your continued use of the Site indicates your acceptance of any changes made. </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section02 Account registration</b><br />
(a) Only natural persons aged 16 or above may register an account with ImmInst.<br />
(b) Each natural person may hold one single account. Registering with multiple accounts is not allowed unless specific permission is given by ImmInst.<br />
(&#99;) You may not use the account of another person unless such use is inadvertent and infrequent (e.g. using a family members login from the same computer not noticing that the person forgot to log out).<br />
(d) Persons whose accounts have been suspended, deleted or blocked by ImmInst may never register another account unless specific permission is given by ImmInst.<br />
(e) Users are free to choose any alias as long as the name is not offensive and as long as there is no risk that the username may be confused with a natural person, entity, initiative or endeavour that the person using the account is not authorised to represent. Final decisions on the acceptability of any user alias are made by ImmInst leadership.<br />
(f) An ImmInst Member who has been suspended or banned from the Site is not considered in good standing. A user who has been suspended or banned from the Site may not apply to become an ImmInst Member.<br />
(g) Accounts may be suspended, deleted, or changed by ImmInst for a variety of reasons including but not limited to a violation of this user agreement. If you are unsure why your account is inaccessible you can email support@imminst.org.<br />
You must not register a new account the without express permission from the Secretary.<br />
(h) When an account has been suspended, Members will be notified within 8 days of suspension and may appeal to the Secretary within 8 days after receiving such notification. If no agreement can be reached with the Secretary, the Member may appeal the case to the Board. There is no right to appeal for users or other individuals who are not Members. </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section03 Content </b><br />
(a) ImmInst provides an open platform for registered users to share text, video, audio, programmes, scripts, files, hyperlinks and other material on the Site ("Content") as long as such sharing is lawful and not in contravention of this<br />
Agreement. However, ImmInst does not undertake to scrutinise, evaluate, test or verify any Content prior to it being shared on the Site.<br />
(b) Content from the Site may be downloaded solely for your own non-commercial use.<br />
(&#99;) You understand that by using the Site, you may be exposed to Content that you may deem offensive, indecent or objectionable.<br />
(d) ImmInst does not control the Content contributed by users and, consequently, provides no guarantee as to the correctness, integrity or fitness of such Content.<br />
(e) Content are the responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated. You agree that you and not ImmInst, are entirely responsible for all Content that you upload, post, email, link, transmit or otherwise make available via the Site.<br />
(f) When contributing Content, you agree that this Content may be edited or deleted or rendered to display in a different manner at the discretion of ImmInst.<br />
(g) ImmInst will not use Content you contribute for commercial gain without your express permission, but cannot warrant or guarantee in any way that others who you decide to share the Content with might not use it for commercial activities.<br />
(h) ImmInst cannot be held responsible for any Content that has been contributed through its open platform. ImmInst will not react to requests to verify, redact, edit, delete or obfuscate any Content. </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section04 Intellectual Property & Privacy </b><br />
(a) By contributing Content you agree that you shall have no recourse against ImmInst for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in relation to the Content that you have contributed.<br />
(b) By contributing your own original Content you agree to make this Content available in perpetuity under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. <a href='http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://creativecommo...-nc-nd/3.0/us/</a>unless you give express notification to the contrary at the same time that you contribute the Content.<br />
(&#99;) ImmInst will not share private data with third parties without your consent, however ImmInst may use the information it obtains as a result of your visiting and/or registering with the Site for the purpose of enforcing this Agreement or in order to save a life or prevent unlawful activity.<br />
(d) ImmInst is not responsible if you decide to post or share private information about yourself or others on the forum. ImmInst will not normally redact, remove or alter such data if you subsequently change your mind.</p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section05 Limitation of Liability </b><br />
(a) In no event will ImmInst be liable for consequential or incidental damages<br />
which may arise in connection with your use of the Site. Accordingly, you agree that ImmInst shall not be responsible to you or anyone else for any loss-of-profit, direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages<br />
arising out of the use of the site.<br />
(b) You acknowledge that the limitations set forth herein are integral to the amount of consideration levied in connection with the access and use of the Site and any services rendered hereunder and that, were ImmInst to assume any further liability other than as set forth herein, such consideration would of necessity be set substantially higher.<br />
(&#99;) You agree to defend, indemnify and hold ImmInst and its officers, directors,agents, and employees harmless against all costs, expenses, and losses, incurred from any violation of this Agreement (including negligent or wrongful conduct) by your use and access of the Site.<br />
(d) ImmInst provides the Site and associated information "as is" and does not make any direct or indirect express or implied warranties.<br />
(e) ImmInst does not verify the credentials of anyone contributing Content to the site and does not endorse any Content that is contributed as advice. Anyone providing advice and guidance on or in association with the site is doing this strictly in a personal capacity, whether or not this person has an official role with ImmInst, unless the advice is specifically, expressly and in each instance authorised by an ImmInst director. Users are reminded that 'Advisors' are advising the ImmInst board on policy. This does not constitute an endorsement by ImmInst of that Advisors communications with others.</p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section06 Basic Prohibitions</b><br />
(a) The following activities are strictly prohibited and may lead to immediate suspension or deletion of the account, court action and notification of law enforcement officials.<br />
(b) Violating any applicable local, state, national or international law;<br />
(&#99;) Personal threats to anybody, whether or not that person is using the Site<br />
(d) Misrepresenting yourself as a person who you are not.<br />
(e) Representing yourself as affiliated with an organisation without due authorisation.<br />
(f) Contributing Content that contains a virus, any type of malware or corrupted data;<br />
(g) Interacting with the Site in such a way as to seriously impair the functioning or usability of the Site including but not limited to excessive contribution of irrelevant Content;<br />
(h) Display the contents of the Site on a different web site without permission.<br />
(i) Violate the Site's security including but not limited to accessing unauthorized data or logging into an account or attempt to log into an account for which you do not have authorization, scan or test for hardware or software<br />
vulnerabilities, perform a denial of service attack, attempt to spread a virus or malware, or falsify TCP/IP information.<br />
(j) Contributing any solicitation including but not limited to advertising, promotional materials, junk mail, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes (also see section 8 below) </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section07 Content related to health </b><br />
(a) Any and all advice and/or opinion provided is strictly personal and never endorsed by ImmInst, nor should it be construed to be the official policy of ImmInst to provide health advice.<br />
(b) You must seek professional medical advice prior to embarking on any course or treatment associated with any Content on the Site.<br />
(&#99;) You must determine what government regulations exist associated with the procurement and use of restricted substances such that they do not contravene any laws in your country.<br />
(d) All Information on the ImmInst Forums, including those associated with health, sciences fora are provided as an area for the open exchange of anecdotal experience and information, not as a professional source of advice. </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section08 Advertising, promotions and commercial activity</b><br />
(a) Organisations or individuals seeking to advertise on the Site must first apply to ImmInst for such approval.<br />
(b) Advertising is any Content (including private messages) that draws attention to, solicits, endorses, offers for sale, links to, critiques or otherwise relates to goods or services where one of the parties involved in initiating such Content or one of their associates stands to benefit from financial transactions that may results from such Content.<br />
(&#99;) ImmInst seeks to limit surreptitious advertising where users who may have a financial stake in such matters contribute Content simply to increase product desirability or brand awareness. Such Content will be censored on the basis of suspicion alone. On occasion, 'innocent' Content may inadvertently be subjected to such censure. Users should be aware of this and are kindly asked to refrain from protest in these cases, as the common aim is to increase the quality of Content on the Site.<br />
(d) Even if a promotion has been agreed by ImmInst, this does not imply, and no-one must imply that this constitutes an official endorsement by ImmInst of the promotion, the organisation and individual conducting the promotion or the<br />
promoted products or procedures.<br />
(e) Users must not use the Site for initiating or conducting commercial transactions, whether in private messages, or by using contact details displayed on the Site unless expressly authorised by ImmInst. </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section09 Posting Guidelines</b><br />
(a) Users must agree to consider the posting guidelines as specified in Article<br />
2. Adherence to these guidelines is monitored by ImmInst Moderators, Directors and other designated Officers.<br />
(b) Violation of a guideline will incur a warning. Repeat violation on more than three separate occasions will result in a time-limited suspension of the user account ranging from eight days to eight years.<br />
(&#99;) Disputes regarding the enforcement of posting guidelines should be taken up, in the first instance, with the Moderator who has issued the warning. If no resolution can be found in dialogue, the dispute can be notified to the Lead Moderator. Warnings issued by the Lead Moderator can be disputed with the Secretary. Users who have an open dispute with a Moderator cannot be warned again by the same Moderator &ndash; but the Moderator in question may still report questionable posts by that user.<br />
(d) ImmInst has reserved a forum for the exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n of free speech known as the William O'Rights Memorial Forum. ImmInst will not restrict Content in this forum even if it violates the posting guidelines as long as such Content does not violate the other provisions in this Agreement. This is a forum where users can engage in 'flame wars', ensure that posts are not interfered with by a Moderator, or complain about ImmInst without threat of censure. </p><br />
<br />
<span style='font-size: 24px;'><p><b><a name="A2"></a>Article 2 Posting Guidelines</b>: </p></span><br />
<p><b>Section01 A-- General tone of conversations</b><br />
(a) A.1-- Be polite. That does not mean that you cannot try to destroy another&rsquo;s argument utterly but never lose your tone or your temper while doing so. Also under no circumstances should you employ personal judgments or remarks about people themselves rather than their arguments. Aside from the fact that such judgments are more often than not ill founded, they drag down the overall quality of the discussion as well as costing time and space.<br />
(b) A.2-- Some words are generally considered offensive terms, in polite conversation such as "fuck, "shit", "faggot" or "nigger". Causing offence rarely if ever helps to elevate the quality of a discussion. Generally, use of such words will result in a warning or ban, but discretion may be exercised depending on the context. </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section02 B-- General writing style </b><br />
(a) B.1-- Do not write excessive amounts of text. Be concise! No one has the time or the inclination to plough through a pile of superfluous rhetoric in order to discover your main points. If you really feel that you have to write an essay, then write a summary at the end as every considerate essay-writer would do.<br />
(b) B.2-- While every caution is advised about over-using the forums design tools, please by all means DO use them, if this helps to make the text more accessible. </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section03 C-- Starting a new topic </b><br />
(a) C.1-- Before starting a new topic please consider if the topic is informative, or will stimulate an interesting discourse.<br />
(b) C.2-- Please check if the issue has been discussed before on the Site (It is not important to be a 100% sure about this &ndash; the ImmInst forums are quite large and old. But please make a quick search, especially if you have not been with the community for long. Sometimes, it may make sense to open a new topic anyway, but would be great if you could reference previous discussions.)<br />
(&#99;) C.3-- Please think about a good title. (This is very important. Please spend some time on considering the title. Titles like "A Question", "Hello" or "Life Extension" may lead to an otherwise interesting topic being deleted. Challenging titles may draw a lot of visitors will still incur a warning if they are not informative. Give full titles. "Vitamin E" is bad, "Vitamin E harmful?" is not as good as "Risk of Vitamin E supplements in Cancer".)<br />
(d) C.4-- Is it a privileged topic? (ImmInst Members can create new topics over which they, as threadstarter have editorial control. This is to empower members who are willing to put in a bit of work to maximise the quality and values of a discussion thread. Other contributors must be alerted to the threadstarters intention in the first post, but cannot subsequently complain if their posts are edited.</p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section04 D-- Replying to topics</b><br />
(a) D.1-- Please ask yourself "Does my reply offer a significant contribution?"<br />
<br />
(b) D.2-- It is critical that you try to keep follow-up posts on topic. Avoid going off on a different tangent. If it occurs to you that this might be another thread, open a new thread and put a link to it in the old one. The last word about relevance stays with the Moderators or the threadstarter.<br />
(&#99;) D.3-- As an extension of the previous point, do not derail a topic with fundamental critique even if you think that this would desirable. In particular do not question the necessity of a certain life-extension technique by referring to another method that seems more relevant to you. (Two examples: do not answer a question about the capacity of artificial intelligence to value human emotion correctly by stating that the &lsquo;Singularity&rsquo; is a bunch of nonsense anyway; Do not intrude on an exchange about the bioavailability of resveratrol by stating that you don't care because you are signed up for cryonics)<br />
(d) D.4-- Refrain from posting personal information unless it is inherently necessary to elaborate your views or position.<br />
(e) D.5-- There is usually no benefit for people in reading that you agree unless you give an explanation to go with it.<br />
(f) D.6-- You do not have to be an expert on the subject matter, but if you feel that you really don&rsquo;t know enough about the subject, then ask informed questions before stepping into the ring for debate. If someone posts a link or uploads an article- read it before you go on. Also read the posts of your predecessors and be aware of related discussions elsewhere </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section05 E-- Posting images</b><br />
(a) E.1-- You are welcome to post your own images and drawings when they are relevant to sharing knowledge. Irrelevant or excessive positing of images, including emoticons (smiles) often diminishes quality of the Content and will likely incur a warning.<br />
(b) E.2-- Showing images to illustrate a point or make a humorous quip is popular with some posters, but please consider if such posts could derail a discussion or create issues around copyright infringement.<br />
(&#99;) E.3-- Please be considerate about causing embarrassment when sharing images. As a rule of thumb, if you would be uncomfortable viewing it at work, do not post it.<br />
(d) E.4-- Avatars: ImmInst encourages users to use a small portrait (passport-type) photograph as 'Avatar' of themselves, but this is not a requirement. However, the use of other peoples photographs or the Imminst logo as Avatar is not allowed. </p><br />
<br />
<p><b>Section06 F-- Quotes and references </b><br />
(a) F.1-- When replying to a previous post by quoting it, only quote precisely enough text as is necessary to understand your reply. Using the "reply" function in the forums will quote the entire post that you are replying to. Do not use this feature without due consideration.<br />
(b) F.2-- If you quote, reference the quote properly, but only quote the important bits. (It is customary to put alterations to a quote in square brackets and indicate left-out bits by putting &ldquo;...&rdquo;) Do not quote whole articles, rather give a link or upload them. If you have to quote a substantial passage, then indicate the important passages that you want to draw attention too.<br />
(&#99;) F.3-- The use of references is strongly encouraged. Such references should contain enough information to find the relevant source with one or two mouse clicks. When using a link, please remember that the hypertext url may be specific to your own access and useless to others. </p>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:11:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">7f1de29e6da19d22b51c68001e7e0e54</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Vimmortal</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/projects/vimmortal-r33</link>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="https://www.revgenetics.com/store/p-72-vimmortal-core-multi-vitamin-nutrition.aspx"><img src="http://www.imminst.org/images/Vimmortal-Escape-Velocity.Png" width="520"><div align="center"><font size="5">Order Here</font></div></a><br />
<br />
Extending maximum human lifespan will likely require a wide range of new biotechnology. Powerful interventions such as pharmaceuticals, stem cell technology, and gene therapy are in development but could be years or decades away from widespread implementation. During the intervening time the best way to ward off the ravages of disease and aging is to take care of yourself.<br />
<br />
Members of LongeCity are keenly aware of this reality. That is why LongeCity forum discussions about exercise, nutrition, and supplements are very active and comprehensive. Members are constantly on the lookout for the latest research lending insight into which supplements are beneficial, cost-effective, and readily available. Much has been made of the deficiencies of current multivitamin formulations and this has led to a community effort to design the “perfect multivitamin”.<br />
<br />
In a long process of collaborative discussion, Members designed what in their view comes closer to the 'perfect' anti-aging supplement than any other product on the market. LongeCity then found a partner in RevGenetics Ltd (FDA RegNo: 12757922694) to produce it.<br />
<br />
So, today, we are pleased to present: <a href="https://www.revgenetics.com/store/p-72-vimmortal-core-multi-vitamin-nutrition.aspx"><b>VIMMORTAL</b></a>.<br />
<br />
You can get <a href="https://www.revgenetics.com/store/p-72-vimmortal-core-multi-vitamin-nutrition.aspx">VIMMORTAL</a> at <a href="https://www.revgenetics.com/store/p-72-vimmortal-core-multi-vitamin-nutrition.aspx">Revgenetics</a><br />
<a href="https://www.revgenetics.com/store/p-72-vimmortal-core-multi-vitamin-nutrition.aspx"><b>VIMMORTAL</b></a> has the following formulation (click to enlarge):<br />
<a href="http://www.revgenetics.com/images/imminst/Vimmortal-Ingredients.Png"><img src="http://www.revgenetics.com/images/imminst/Vimmortal-Ingredients.Png" width="520"></a><br />
<br />
<b>Why these ingredients and the dosage?</b><br />
The ingredients for this first multi-vitmain come from through discussions in the imminst.org forums regarding nutrition. Details can be found in the following section which also contains <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/365-community-supplement-design/' class='bbc_url' title=''>ongoing discussions:<br /></a><br />
<br />
<table id="table2" bgcolor="#FFF0E0" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="94%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="4" valign="middle"><img src="http://www.revgenetics.com/store/images/Anthony.gif" border="0" height="30" width="40"><font size="4">Anthony Loera from RevGenetics: </font><img src="http://www.imminst.org/forum/uploads/profile/photo-4527.gif" border="0" height="30" width="40"></td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"><font size="7">“</font></td><td colspan="2"><font size="2">RevGenetics listened to members of the imminst non-profit. Now with your help, we have formulated and provide unique core nutrition through our Vimmortal multi-vitamin. As a paying member and supporter of the non-profit organization imminst.org we will be offering special pricing on this unique formulation. This unique mix can not gain you an unlimited lifespan, but it can help you stay healthy* until cutting edge research provides the breakthroughs that will help end aging. We here at RevGenetics support the growing, historic movement of Advocates & Researchers for Longevity at Imminst.org, we hope that you will too.<br />
<br />
We believe perfection comes through iterations and fine tuning a formulation through discovery, science, and discussion. I expect this formulation to change as we continue to listen to new information regarding proper dosages that will not cause issues over the long term. After all, what is the point of providing you a high dose multivitamin today that makes you feel good tomorrow, but may actually provide a shorter lifespan? We do not use tablets, but encapsulate your daily nutrition in vegetarian capsules that disperse easily. </font><br />
<p><font size="1">*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases.</font></p></td><td align="left" valign="bottom"><font size="7">”</font>&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><br />
<a href="https://www.revgenetics.com/store/p-72-vimmortal-core-multi-vitamin-nutrition.aspx"><div align="center"><font size="5">Order Here</font></div></a><br />
For Immortality Institute Members at LongeCity.org, REVGENETICS provides the core nutrition vitamins at an incredible discount of $25 for 180 capsules.<br />
<a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/topic/44430-vimmortal-discount-code/"><font size="3">Members click here to get the discount code.</font></a>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:21:24 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Metformin a life extension drug?</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/templates/metformin-a-life-extension-drug-r32</link>
		<description><![CDATA[<strong class='bbc'>by Sven Bulterijs </strong><br />
<br />
For hundreds of years it has been known that a plant extract from the French lilac (Galega officinalis) improved the intense urination seen in diabetes patients. From this plant guanidine was extracted but it was too toxic for human use. In the 1920s another extract &ndash; galegine &ndash; of the French liliac was briefly used followed by synthetic analogs &ndash; Synthalin A and B. In the 1950s artificial drugs &ndash; phenformin, butformin and metformin &ndash; with a chemical similarity to guanidine became available for clinical use. In the 1970s however phenformin and buformin were withdrawn from the market because of the increased risk for lactic acidosis (1,2), a severe disease with a mortality rate of about 50% (3). A safer analog of these drugs, metformin, is now probably the most widely prescribed antidiabetic drug in the US (1). It is also used to treat polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), an endocrine disorder, leading to anovulation (failure to release the egg cell from the ovaries) (4).<br />
Calorie restriction (CR) is the best investigated experimental technique to extend lifespan of a wide range of organisms from yeast to rats (5). Metformin has been suspected for quite a while to be a CR mimetic &ndash; a drug that mimics the effects of a CR diet. Indeed, Stephen Spindler found that short-term (8 weeks) of metformin supplementation mimicked 75% of the gene exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n changes observed in long-term CR. In contrast, short-term (8 weeks) CR only mimicked 71% of gene exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n changes (6). Thus the metabolic effects of metformin supplementation and CR are very similar and  suggest that metformin will, like CR, extend the lifespan and reduce the incidence of many degenerative diseases.<br />
Buformin, phenformin, and metformin have been shown to extend the mean and maximal lifespan in mice, rats, and <em class='bbc'>C. elegans</em> &ndash; a tiny round worm and one of the most popular model organisms in biological research (4,7,8). It also reduces spontaneous and carcinogen-induced tumor incidence in normal and cancer susceptible mice, rats and hamsters (9,10). Recently it was found that injection of metformin decreased tumor burden by a remarkable 72%, tumor volume by 50%, and multiplicity by 66% in a toxin-induced mice model for lung cancer (11). Epidemiological studies have shown that diabetes patients treated with metformin have a lower risk for cancer compared to those treated with other anti-diabetic drugs (12,13). The use of metformin as an adjuvant therapy in the treatment of cancer is currently under investigation. Finally, metformin also has a positive effect on a wide range of risk factors for coronary heart disease (CVD) such as decreases in plasma triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL, Lp(a), free fatty acids, and CRP while slightly increasing HDL (4). However, a recent meta-analysis found no significant harm nor benefits of metformin therapy on cardiovascular events (14).  <br />
<br />
<p><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/sci/art03/signalization-pathways-of-metformin.jpg" align="left"></img>Fig. 1 Pathways influenced by metformin that explain its life extension properties. The blunt ending arrows indicate inhibition while the arrows indicate activation. </p><br clear="all"><br />
<br />
The mechanisms for lifespan extension by metformin are not completely understood yet but probably involve AMPK and its downstream target mTOR (fig. 1) (4). mTOR is also the target of the famous life extension drug rapamycin that increases lifespan in mice both when administered early and during middle life (15,16). mTOR inhibits autophagy thus metformin activates autophagy by inhibiting mTOR. Autophagy clears cells from dysfunctional organelles &ndash; such as mitochondria &ndash; and other junk that can impair normal cellular functions and thereby extends lifespan. mTOR stimulates protein synthesis and for still very incomplete understood reasons protein synthesis reduces lifespan. Therefore again metformin is expected to retard aging. If the cell cycle is arrested &ndash; that is the cell temporally stops dividing &ndash; and the cell continues to receive growth signals (mTOR stays active), it can lead to cell senescence &ndash; a state of permanent cell cycle arrest (4). Senescent cells secrete proinflammatory molecules, this has been termed the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, and can locally stimulate tumor growth (17). Metformin is expected to prevent cell senescence by removing the growth signal pressure. AMPK inhibits NAD(P)H oxidase, an enzyme whose action produces superoxide &ndash; a free radical. Metformin thus decreases free radical production (4). Free radicals are molecules that have an unpaired electron, they desperately try to find an extra electron to stabilize their configuration and in the process destroy other molecules by stealing their electrons. The free radical theory of aging is without doubt the most well known mechanistic aging theory. It was first proposed by Denham Harman in 1956 (18). Since then the failure of antioxidants to extend the lifespan has cast doubt on the validity of the free radical theory but still most biogerontologists think that free radicals do play a certain role. In fact some even suggest that the failure of antioxidants is expected because they undermine the bodies stress response (19). AMPK can be activated by: (i) binding of AMP, and (ii) phosphorylation by other enzymes. Metformin has clearly been shown to increase the phosphorylation of AMPK but the effects on AMP are disputed. Phenformin and buformin inhibits complex I of the respiratory chain, so maybe metformin does so too. Such an inhibition would decrease ATP &ndash; the universal energy currency for life &ndash; production and thereby increase AMP levels.<br />
<br />
<strong class='bbc'>ADP + Pi &hArr; ATP	<br />
ADP + ADP &hArr; AMP + ATP</strong><br />
<br />
AMP acts as an activator for AMP and thus complex I inhibition would activate AMPK. This one year study found that metformin inhibits complex I (20) while another one found no such inhibition (21). This is good and bad news. The inhibition of complex I is responsible for lactic acidosis induced by phenformin and buformin and since metformin does not inhibit complex I it is much safer. Indeed, in a meta-analysis of published reports and controlled trials for a total of 36000 patient years of metformin exposure, Salpeter <em class='bbc'>et al.</em> found no cases of metformin-induced lactic acidosis (22). However, several case reports have been published in the literature (23). A common factor among all cases is that the patients have contra-indicators for the use of metformin such as renal problems and heart failure. Of the 47 patients with confirmed metformin-induced lactic acidosis by 1998 only 4 did not have any contra-indications for its use and all 4 recovered (24). The bad news is that complex I inhibition is expected to decrease free radical leakage (4). Metformin has been shown to prevent protein cross-linking (4).<br />
<br />
Chemically metformin is very similar to aminoguanidine (fig. 2), one of the most researched inhibitors of glycation (for a review on glycation and protein cross-linking see 25). AGEs activate RAGE &ndash; a cell membrane receptor &ndash; leading to inflammation. Metformin has been shown to reduce inflammation in cells exposed to AGEs (26). Metformin reduces IGF-1 &ndash; a peptide hormone that stimulates growth. Mice with mutations in the growth hormone signaling pathway have lover IGF-1 levels and life 25-60% longer than control mice (27,28). Based on research in C. elegans and some suggestive evidence in mice (lower IGF-1 in the growth hormone pathway mutant mice) it has been concluded that decreasing IGF-1 will probably extend lifespan (29). Recently it was shown that metformin protects against replicative stress (30).<br />
<br />
<p><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/sci/art03/Metforminversusaminoguanidine.png" align="left"></img>Fig. 2 Structural relationship between metformin and aminoguanidine. Both contain a guaninium-group (as is also found in the side chain of arginine).</p><br />
<br clear="all"><br />
In my recent review (4) I have suggested that AMPK might not be involved in life span extension by CR because of the inconsistent results of several studies on how CR influences AMPK (activation, no-activation, or inhibition). AMPK might however &rsquo;intersect&rsquo; with the &lsquo;CR-pathway&rsquo; and thus I&rsquo;ve termed metformin an &lsquo;indirect CR mimetic&rsquo; (fig. 3). This model also explains why CR and metformin have some different metabolic effects.<br />
<br clear="all"><br />
<p><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/sci/art03/CRpathwaymetformin.png" align="left">Fig. 3 Metformin as an indirect CR mimetic. The blue dots represent different steps (protein cascade) in the &lsquo;CR pathway&rsquo;. Note that even though for simplicity the pathway is represented as a linear series of steps, in reality it will be a complex network that intersects with many other pathways. The double arrow between AMPK and &lsquo;other signaling pathways&rsquo; illustrates that other signaling pathways can activate AMPK and thus influence the &lsquo;CR pathway&rsquo; but that activation of AMPK, for example by metformin, can also activate other pathways that are independent of the &lsquo;CR pathway&rsquo; (idem dito for the other double arrow) (see: ref. 4). </p><br />
<br clear="all"><br />
Rapamycin is a very expensive drug, about 500 USD a month for a daily dose of 2mg. Metformin, on the other hand, is extremely cheap and its side effects are more moderate. Metformin does inhibit vitamin B12 absorption in about 10% (but in some studies up to 30%) of treated patients (31,32). Thus blood levels vitamin B12 should be regularly tested. In conclusion we can say that metformin is an interesting candidate for a cheap and safe CR mimetic.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class='bbc_underline'><strong class='bbc'>NOTE:</strong></span> <em class='bbc'>Statements herein have not been evaluated by the FDA or any regulatory body. LongeCity does not promote the off-label use of any drug without appropriate medical supervision.</em><br />
<br />
<span class='bbc_underline'><strong class='bbc'>References:</strong></span><ul class='bbc'><br /><li>(1) Hundal RS, Inzucchi SE. Metformin. New understandings, new uses. Drugs 2003;63:1879&ndash;1894.<br /></li><li>(2) Bailey CJ, Day C. Metformin: its botanical background. Practical Diabetes Int 2004;21(3):115-117.<br /></li><li>(3) Silvestre J, Carvalho S, Mendes V, Coelho L, Tapadinhas C, Ferreira P, Povoa P, Ceia F. Metformin-induced lactic acidosis: a case series. J Med Case Rep 2007;1:126.<br /></li><li>(4) Bulterijs S. Metformin as a geroprotector. Rejuvenation Res 2011;14(5):469-482.<br /></li><li>(5) <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/templates/calorie-restriction-primer-r25' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...tion-primer-r25</a><br /></li><li>(6) Spindler SR. Use of microarray biomarkers to identify longevity therapeutics. Aging Cell 2006;5:39&ndash;50.<br /></li><li>(7) Anisimov VN, Semenchenko AV, Yashin AI. Insulin and longevity: Antidiabetic biguanides as geroprotectors. Biogerontology 2003;4:297&ndash;307.<br /></li><li>(8) Anisimov VN. Metformin for aging and cancer prevention. Aging 2010;11:1&ndash;15.<br /></li><li>(9) Anisimov VN, Berstein LM, Egormin PA, Piskunova TS, Popovich IG, Zaberzhinski MA, Poroshina TE, Semenchenko AV, Provinciali M, Re F, Franceschi C. Effect of metformin on life span and on the development of spontaneous mammary tumors in HER-2/neu transgenic mice. Exp Gerontol 2005;40:685&ndash;693.<br /></li><li>(10) Anisimov VN, Egormin PA, Bershtein LM, Zabezhinskii MA, Piskunova TS, Popovich IG, Semenchenko AV. Metformin decelerates aging and development of mammary tumors in HER-2/neu transgenic mice. Bull Exp Biol Med 2005;139:721&ndash;723.<br /></li><li>(11) Memmott RM, Mercado JR, Maier CR, Kawabata S, Fox SD, Dennis PA. Metformin prevents tobacco carcinogen-induced lung tumorigenesis. Cancer Prev Res 2010;3:1066-1076.<br /></li><li>(12) Libby G, Donnelly LA, Donnan PT, Alessi DR, Morris AD, Evans JMM. New users of metformin are at low risk of incident cancer: a cohort study among people with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 2009;32(9):1620-1625.<br /></li><li>(13) Currie CJ, Poole CD, Gale EAM. The influence of glucose-lowering therapies on cancer risk in type 2 diabetes. Diabetologia 2009;52(9):1766-1777.<br /></li><li>(14) Lamanna C, Monami M, Marchionni N, Mannucci E. Effect of metformin on cardiovascular events and mortality: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Diabetes Obes Metabol 2011;13(3):221-228.<br /></li><li>(15) Harrison DE, Strong R, Sharp ZD, Nelson JF, Astle CM, Flurkey K, Nadon NL, Wilkinson JE, Frenkel K, Carter CS, Pahor M, Javors MA, Fernandez E, Miller RA. Rapamycin fed late in life extends lifespan in genetically heterogeneous mice. Nature 2009;60:392&ndash;395.<br /></li><li>(16) Miller RA, Harrison DE, Astle CM, Baur JA, Boyd AR, de Cabo R, Fernandez E, Flurkey K, Javors MA, Nelson JF, Orihuela CJ, Pletcher S, Scharp ZD, Sinclair D, Starnes JW, Wilkinson JE, Nadon NL, Strong R. Rapamycin, but not resveratrol or simvastatin, extends life span of genetically heterogeneous mice. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2011;66:191&ndash;201.<br /></li><li>(17) Copp&eacute; J-P, Desprez P-Y, Krtolica A, Campisi J. The senescence-associated secretory phenotype: the dark side of tumor suppression. Ann Rev Pathol 2010;5:99-118.<br /></li><li>(18) Harman D. Aging: a theory based on free radical and radiation chemistry. J Gerontol 1956;11(3):298&ndash;300.<br /></li><li>(19) Lane N. A unifying view of ageing and disease: the double-agent theory. J Theor Biol 2003;225:531-540.<br /></li><li>(20) Stephenne X, Foretz M, Taleux N, van der Zon GC, Sokal E, Hue L, Viollet B, Guigas B. Metformin activates AMP-activated protein kinase in primary human hepatocytes by decreasing cellular energy status. Diabetologia 2011;54(12):3101-3110.<br /></li><li>(21) Larsen S, Rab&oslash;l R, Hansen CN, Madsbad S, Helge JW, Dela F. Metformin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes have normal mitochondrial complex I respiration. Diabetologia 2011; [Epub ahead of print].<br /></li><li>(22) Saleter S, Greyber E, Pasternak G, Salpeter E. Risk of fatal and non-fatal lactic acidosis with metformin in type 2 diabetes. Archives Int Med 2003;163:2294-2602.<br /></li><li>(23) Roche C, Nau A, Peytel E, Moalic JL, Oliver M. Acidose lactique schevere par intoxication accidentele &agrave; la metformine: &agrave; propos de 3 observations. Ann Biol Clin (Paris) 2011;69(6):705-711.<br /></li><li>(24) Misbin RI, Green L, Stadel BV, Gueriguian JL, Gubbi A, Fleming GA. Lactic acidosis in patients with diabetes treated with metformin. New Engl J Med 1998;338:265-266.<br /></li><li>(25) <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/templates/crosslinks-r20' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity.../crosslinks-r20</a><br /></li><li>(26) Ishibashi Y, Matsui T, Takeuchi M, Yamagishi SI. Beneficial effects of metformin and irbesartan on advanced glycation end products (AGEs)-RAGE-induced proximal tubular cell injury. Pharmacol Res 2011;[Epub ahead of print].<br /></li><li>(27) Flurkey K, Papaconstantinou J, Harrison DE. The Snell dwarf mutation<em class='bbc'>Pit1<sup class='bbc'>dw</sup></em> can increase life span in mice. Mech Ageing Dev 2002;123(2-3):121-130.<br /></li><li>(28) Brown-Borg HM, Borg KE, Meliska CJ, Bartke A. Dwarf mice and the ageing process. Nature 1996;384:33.<br /></li><li>(29) Barbieri M, Bonaf&egrave; M, Franceschi C, Paolisso G. Insulin/IGF-1-signaling pathway: an evolutionary concerved mechanism of longevity from yeast to humans. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2003;285(5):E1064-1071.<br /></li><li>(30) Halicka HD, Zhao H, Li J, Traganos F, Zhang S, Lee M, Darzynkiewicz Z. Genome protective effect of metformin as revealed by reduced level of constitutive DNA damage signaling. Aging (Albany NY) 2011;3(10):1028-1038.<br /></li><li>(31) de Jager J, Kooy A, Lehert P, Wulffel&eacute; MG, van der Kolk J, Bets D, Verburg J, Donker AJM, Stehouwer CDA. Long term treatment with metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes and risk of vitamin B12 deficiency: randomized placebo controlled trial. BMJ 2010;3401:c2181.<br /></li><li>(32) Bauman WA, Shaw S, Jayatilleke E, Spungen AM, Herbert V. Increased intake of calcium reverses vitamin B12 malabsorption induced by metformin. Diabetes Care 2000;23:1227-1231.<br /></li></ul>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Dec 2011 23:32:17 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Contact</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/contact-r30</link>
		<description><![CDATA[<strong class='bbc'>Email: </strong><a href="mailto:support@imminst.org"><font size=6> support@imminst.org</font></a><br />
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		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:08:06 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>About</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/about-r28</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The LongeCity (Longecity.org/ImmInst.org) is an international, not-for-profit, membership-based organization ("501-3-c status" in the United States).<br />
<br />
Our mission is "to conquer the blight of involuntary death".<br />
<br />
To advance this mission, we aim to provide:<br />
-- a repository of high-quality information;<br />
-- an open public forum for the free exchange of information and views;<br />
-- an infrastructure to support community projects and initiatives;<br />
-- the facilities for supporting an international community of those with an interest in life extension.<br />
<br />
<strong class='bbc'>Activities</strong><br />
We maintain an online forum for information exchange. We have also published a book, produced a film, and organized three international conferences,.<br />
LongeCity also sponsors small-scale scientific initiatives: A research project on laser ablation of lipofuscin and another on mitochondrial uncoupling in nematodes have been funded with LongeCity matching donations by the community. LongeCity has also sponsored related projects such as Alcor, SENS Foundation and Methuselah Foundsation. In 2010, LongeCity pioneered the "crowdsourced" multivitamin supplement "VIMMORTAL" formulated based on suggestions from the community.<br />
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<strong class='bbc'>Management</strong><br />
LongeCity is a membership-based organization governed by a 'constitution'. Members elect and deselect a Board of Directors from amongst their number. The Board appoints key officers who in turn co-ordinate volunteer activities.<br />
<br />
<strong class='bbc'>Dual Names? </strong><br />
As of January 2011, the Immortality Institute has formally adopted 'LongeCity' as a second 'trading' name. Now, the organisation uses both names, but prefers to use "LongeCity" for its public-facing activities and "Immortality Institute" when referring to the circle of its voting members. The reason for adopting the second name was to overcome doubts about the our credibility when using the word "Immortality" in our outreach and scientific support programmes.<br />
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Our logo makes use of the following symbols:<br />
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--The figure '8' to represent an hourglass, and to represent the mathematical symbol for infinity;<br />
--The double-helix structure of DNA, to represent the 'immortal molecule'.<br />
<br />
<strong>LongeCity</strong> is supported by donations and by sponsored advertising.  To make a one-time donation or to become a member of <strong>Longecity.org</strong>, please see the <strong>"<a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/store/">Donate</a>"</strong> page.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:19:40 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Donate</title>
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<a href="https://www.causes.com/fb/donations/new?ts=1271019316&campaign_id=64813&cause_id=6855"><img src="http://www.imminst.org/images/fbook.png"></a><br />
</p><br />
</td><br />
<td width="135" align="left" height="70" valign="top">  <b><br />
<font size="2" face="Arial">&nbsp;&nbsp;via cheque*</font></b><br />
<br><br><br />
<p><br />
<font size="2" color="#000080" face="Arial">&nbsp;&nbsp;Immortality Institute<br />
<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;c/o Justin Loew<br />
<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;1022 Stark Street<br />
<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;Wausau, WI 54403<br />
<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;USA<br />
</font><br />
</td><br />
</tr><br />
</table><br />
</center><br />
If you would like your donation to go to a specific cause, we are obliged by our constitution to honour your wish. Please affix a note to your donation if you want to restrict how it can be used.   <br><br><br />
<br />
<p><font size="4">*</font>We are grateful for <i>any</i> donations. However, <b>if you have a larger donation in mind<br />
($300 +), please consider sending it by cheque,</b> as the payment software takes a cut for processing credit card payments.<br />
Cheques can be made payable to to "Immortality Institute".</p><br />
<br><br><br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=7546" align="left" width="225" height="225" hspace=10 vspace=10><br />
<br />
<p align="right"><b><font size="7" color="#000080" face="Segoe Print">Thank you!&nbsp;<br />
</font></b></p><br />
<br />
<p><br />
<table width=100%><br />
<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><br />
<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><br />
<tr><br />
<td align="left"></td><br />
<td align="right"><a href="<a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/fundraisers/fundraisers-r24' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...fundraisers-r24</a>">Back to Fundraisers Home</a></td><br />
</tr><br />
</table><br />
</p>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:56:30 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Calorie Restriction Primer</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/templates/calorie-restriction-primer-r25</link>
		<description><![CDATA[<strong class='bbc'>by Sven Bulterijs  &  Paul McGlothin, </strong><br />
<br />
Often described as the only proven intervention that extends mean and maximal life-span in mammalian species, it is also a lifestyle choice for the committed immortalist. But why and how does it work? How to begin and what are the downsides?<br />
<br />
These and other questions are dressed in a short feature by Paul McGlothin, Co-author of &ldquo;The CR Way&rdquo; and<br />
in a voiced slideshow by Sven Bulterijs, LongeCity Director and student in biochemistry and biotechnology.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style='font-size: 14px;'><span style='font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif'><strong class='bbc'><a href='http://www.longecity.org/articles/McGlothin_CalorieRestriction.pdf' class='bbc_url' title=''>-- Article</a></strong><a href='http://www.longecity.org/articles/McGlothin_CalorieRestriction.pdf' class='bbc_url' title=''>on Calorie Restriction by Paul McGlothin (.pdf)</a></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style='font-size: 18px;'><span style='font-family: courier new,courier,monospace'><span style='font-size: 14px;'><span style='font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif'><strong class='bbc'><a href='http://www.longecity.org/media/LongeCityLecture_Bulterijs-CalorieRestriction.pptx' class='bbc_url' title=''>-- Lecture</a></strong><a href='http://www.longecity.org/media/LongeCityLecture_Bulterijs-CalorieRestriction.pptx' class='bbc_url' title=''>on Calorie Restriction</a></span></span></span></span><span style='font-size: 18px;'><span style='font-family: courier new,courier,monospace'><span style='font-size: 14px;'><span style='font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif'><a href='http://www.longecity.org/media/LongeCityLecture_Bulterijs-CalorieRestriction.pptx' class='bbc_url' title=''>by Sven Bulterijs  (.pptx)</a></span></span></span></span>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:03:14 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>fundraisers</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/fundraisers/fundraisers-r24</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Would you like to contribute to your personal &ndash; and everyone`s longevity? There are a number of ways you can make a difference with your money in the progress of Advocacy & Research for Unlimited Lifespans.<br />
<br />
Below, we have listed a few links which will show you the projects that we have, dedicated funds, matching offers, fun group efforts and others. If you don&rsquo;t have time/hours to give, or you would rather leave the work to us, then you can donate to a project of your choice. You can choose the project that you think is most likely to help the cause.<br />
<br />
No donation is too small. Every contribution &ndash; even one dollar &ndash; will help to reach our goal of unlimited lifespans. Remember, one million people donating one dollar will make one million dollars. Your donation also inspires people to take action &ndash; and that is a priceless contribution.<br />
<br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.longecity.org/forum/uploads/gallery/album_24/gallery_523_24_227691.png" width="450" height="450"><br />
<br />
<hr width="80%" color="red" align="center" size="2"><br />
<br />
<hr width="75%" color="blue" align="center"><br />
<center><font size="6">Donation pages:</font></center><br />
<hr width="75%" color="blue" align="center"><br />
<br />
<font size="5">General:</font><br />
<ul><br />
<br />
<li><font color="blue"><a href="http://imminst.org/donate">General Donation</a></font> (recommended) - Not sure which fundraiser to choose? Then this general donation option is the one for you. We use this fund for the next most pressing project from any across the board.   </li><br />
<br />
<li><font color="blue"><a href="http://imminst.org/join">Membership Donation/Join</a></font> - Includes <a href="http://imminst.org/fundraisers/lifetimemembership">*Lifetime*,</a> Yearly, or Monthly. Choose a membership donation and reap a host of rewards.   </li><br />
<br />
<hr width="75%" color="blue" align="center"><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Dedicated Research Fundraisers:</font><br />
<ul><br />
<br />
<li><font color="blue"><a href="http://imminst.org/fundraisers/dedicatedresearch">General Dedicated Research and Development Fundraiser</a></font> - Provides funds for things like lab equipment, resources, grants, and getting research initiatives up and running.<br />
<br />
<li><font color="red">Recently finished :<a href='http://imminst.org/Research2010B'>Microglial Stem Cell Therapy Research Fundraiser. </a><del>Donate Here</del> COMPLETE Thank You!</font><br />
</ul><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Dedicated Marketing Fundraisers:</font><br />
<ul><br />
<br />
<li><font color="blue"><a href="http://imminst.org/fundraisers/dedicatedmarketing">General Dedicated Marketing Fundraiser</a></font> - Provides funds for grass roots marketing, and as we grow this fund will help to hire more and more professionals like publicists, billboard companies, etc&hellip;<br />
<br />
<li><font color="blue"><a href="http://imminst.org/fundraisers/artteam">Art Team Fundraiser</a></font> - Find out more details about the Art Team and donate here.<br />
<br />
<li><font color="blue"><a href="http://imminst.org/fundraisers/vipo">Vip Outreach Team Fundraiser(VIPO) Fundraiser</a></font> - Help us purchase items such as books that we send out in our work to attract more VIPs to the cause. VIPs lend us added legitimacy that helps the cause excel.<br />
<br />
<hr width="75%" color="blue" align="center"><br />
<br />
<font size="5">Donate or invest with affiliates that are working with unlimited lifespans:</font><br />
<br />
	* <a href='https://www.mfoundation.org/index.php?pagename=mj_donations_donate'>Methuselah Mouse Prize and NewOrgan Prize</a> - drive competition in creating longer lived mice and new organs by donating here<br />
<img src='http://www.longecity.org/forum/uploads/gallery/album_24/gallery_523_24_10116.png'><br />
	* <a href='http://www.mprize.org/?pn=mj_donations_the300'>Methuselah Foundation 300</a> - give 1,000 per year for 25 years to be in this elite club<br />
	* <a href='http://www.causes.com/causes/525774-once-we-reach-1-000-members-every-one-of-us-will-donate-100-to-defeat-aging'>SENS Foundation Facebook 1,000 for $100</a> - Everybody donates $100 once 1000 people agree to do so.<br />
	* <a href='https://www.coalitiontoextendlife.org/donations.php'>CEL - Coalition to Extend Life</a> - government lobby work<br />
	* <a href='https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=1002657'>CAR - Campaign for Aging Research</a> - conservative meme<br />
	* <a href='http://maxlife.org/investment-opportunities.php'>MaxLife - Maximum Life Foundation</a> - life sciences investments]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:46:32 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Folding@Home Team</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/projects/foldinghome-team-r23</link>
		<description><![CDATA[<font color=&rdquo;blue&rdquo; size=&rdquo;4&rdquo;>Use your computer's spare processing power to help cure disease!</font><br />
<br />
********************************************************************<br><br />
<img src="http://www.imminst.org/images/Fold003.png" width="180" height="180" align=right hspace=10 vspace=10><strong><p><a &#111;nclick="wind&#111;w.open(this.href,'','');return false" href="http://www.longevitymeme.org">The Longevity Meme</a></strong> has teamed up with Longecity to contribute to the <strong><a &#111;nclick="wind&#111;w.open(this.href,'','');return false" href="http://folding.stanford.edu/"> Stanford Folding@Home</a></strong> distributing computing project &ndash; aimed at curing disease through understanding the basics of protein folding.</p><br />
<br />
<h3>Getting Started</h3><br />
<br />
<ol><br />
  <li>Go to the Stanford Folding@home website and download the folding client to your computer <strong>(or PS3)</strong>, link: <strong><a &#111;nclick="wind&#111;w.open(this.href,'','');return false" href="http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download">http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download</a></strong></li><br><br />
  <li>Enter the number <strong><font color="red">32461</font></strong> (Longevity Meme team number) in the &ldquo;team number&rdquo; box when installing the Folding@home client.</li><br><br />
  <li>Register as a &ldquo;Registered User&rdquo; or &ldquo;Member&rdquo; at Longecity and affirm your participation by making an initial post in this thread: <strong><a &#111;nclick="wind&#111;w.open(this.href,'','');return false" href="<a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/20898-registration-for-the-fh-prize/' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...r-the-fh-prize/</a>"><a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/20898-registration-for-the-fh-prize/' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...r-the-fh-prize/</a></a></strong>. </li><br />
</ol><br />
<br />
<p>For help installing the F@H client on your computer, please see this topic: <a &#111;nclick="wind&#111;w.open(this.href,'','');return false" href="<a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/24849-how-to-install-fh/' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...-to-install-fh/</a>"><a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/24849-how-to-install-fh/' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...-to-install-fh/</a></a></p>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:36:10 +0000</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title>Stewards</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/Stewards</link>
		<description><![CDATA[<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br />
<style type="text/css">.nobrtable br { display: none }</style><br />
<div class="nobrtable" style="float:right;"><br />
<table border="1" width="200" id="table2" bgcolor="#EEF1F7" bordercolor="#FFFFFF" align="right" cellpadding="2" STYLE="margin-left:10px;"><br />
<br />
<tr><td colspan="2"><b><font size="4">Directors / Managers</font> </b></td></tr><br />
<tr><td colspan="2"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/med_gallery_523_2_1698.jpg" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/4466-s123/">Sven Bulterijs, Director</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td colspan="2"><br />
<img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/Eric_Schulke_grey.jpg" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /> <a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/523-brokenportal/">Eric Schulke</a><br />
<br>Director, Teams Coordinator </td><br />
</tr><br />
<tr><td colspan="2"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/ssethe.gif" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/12-caliban/">Sebastian Caliban Sethe</a><br />
<br>President/Chair, Lead Editor</td></tr><br />
<tr><td colspan="2"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/shep.png" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/2324-shepard/">Jeremy Shepard</a><br />
<br>Director, Treasurer</td></tr><br />
<tr><td colspan="2"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/med_gallery_523_2_12653.jpg" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/554-shannon-vyff/">Shannon Vyff</a>, Director, LeadModerator </td></tr><br />
<tr><td colspan="2"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/jloew_gray.jpg" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" />&nbsp; <a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showuser=27">Justin Loew</a><br />
<br>Membership Secretary</td></tr><br />
<tr><td colspan="2"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/kiran-small.jpg" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" />&nbsp; <a href="<a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/user/6985-rwac/' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...user/6985-rwac/</a>">Kiran Prakash</a><br />
<br>Lead Engineer</td></tr><br />
<br />
</tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" colspan="2"><b><font size="4">Guardians </font></b></td></tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/dddeew.gif" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /> <a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/1-bruce-klein/">Bruce Klein</a></td><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/kevin1.gif" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/user/231-kevin/">Kevin Perrott</a><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/elrond.gif" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showuser=1105">Justin Rebo</a></td><br />
<td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/reasonx.gif" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/user/137-reason/">Reason</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/johnss.png" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/83-john-schloendorn/">John Schloendorn</a></td><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/k3.gif" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showuser=18">Kenneth X. Sills</a> </td></tr><br />
<tr><td><b><font size="4">Advisors</font></b></td></tr><br />
<tr><td><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/benbest.jpg" width="60" height="60"  hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/1887-benbest/">Ben Best</a><br />
<br>Advisor: <a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?s=&act=SF&f=61">Cryonics</a>&nbsp; </td></tr><br />
<tr><td><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/susae.gif" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/4-chestnut/">Susan Fonseca-Klein</a><br />
<br>Advisor: Law</td></tr><br />
<tr><td><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/harvey_4.png"   width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/1162-harvey-newstrom/">Harvey Newstrom</a><br> Advisor: Security</td></tr><br />
<tr><td><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/mrw.png" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/727-michael/">Michael Rae</a><br />
<br>Advisor: <a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?s=&act=SF&f=6">Supplements</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/briangg.gif" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/1137-bgwowk/">Brian Wowk,</a><br />
<br>Advisor: <a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?s=&act=SF&f=61">Cryonics</a><br />
</td></tr><br />
<tr><td><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/aubrey3.gif" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/899-ag24/">Aubrey de Grey</a><br />
<br>Advisor: <a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?s=&act=SF&f=44"> Bioscience</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/ma4.png" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/3-michaelanissimov/">Michael Anissimov</a><br />
<br>Advisor: <a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?s=&act=SF&f=11">AI & Singularity</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><br />
</tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><font size="4"><b>Featured Volunteers</b></font></td></tr><br />
<td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><br />
<img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/shawn.png" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showuser=2461">Shawn Bald</a><br />
<br>Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/291-bioscience-health-nutrition/">Health</a><br />
</td></tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=8956" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/6183-victorbjoerk/">Victor Bjoerk</a><br />
<br>Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/385-editors/">Editors</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/Joseph.jpg" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/3768-joseph/">Joseph Henry</a><br />
<br>Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/11-ai-singularity/">AI & Singularity</a></td><br />
</tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/mitkat.png" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/user/2363-mitkat/">Timothy Hughes</a><br />
<br>Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/1-longecity/">Longecity</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/maxwatt.jpg" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /> <a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showuser=4272">Richard Kaufman</a>  <br />
<br>Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/312-resveratrol/">Resveratrol</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/Matt.jpg" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showuser=1955">Matthew Lake</a><br />
<br>Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/1-longecity/">Longecity</a></td><br />
</tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/Matthias.gif" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showuser=1499">Matthias Arwe</a><br><br />
Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/41-nanotechnology/">Nanotechnology</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=8952" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /> <a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showuser=1728">Ilia Stambler</a><br />
<br>Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/321-regional-forums/">Regions</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/jml.jpg" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" />Angelique Velthuysen</a><br />
<br>Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/386-art-team/">Art Team</a><br />
</td></tr><br />
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/stewards/lrp.jpg" width="60" height="60" hspace="3" border="0" align="left" /><a href="<a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/user/12897-lee-robinson-petzer/' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...obinson-petzer/</a>">Lee Robinson Petzer</a><br> <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/385-editors/">Editor</a></td></tr><br />
<tr><td><font size="4"><b>Others</b></font></td></tr><br />
<tr><td><br />
	<p><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showuser=3050">Bart; </a>Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/1-longecity/"><br />
	LongeCity</a><br />
</p><br />
	<p><a href="http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showuser=12403">Chrono</a>;<br />
	Editor; Moderator: <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/169-nootropics/">Nootropics</a></p><br />
	<p>Edouart; Engineer; Editor<br />
	</p><br />
	<p>George; Moderator: Supplements</p><br />
	<p>Droplet; Star Volunteer<br />
	</p><br />
	<p dir="ltr">LS; Moderator: Dental Health</p></td><br />
</tr></table></div><br />
<br />
<div style="width:350px; margin-left:20px;"><p>LongeCity is a membership based organisation. We are guided by our Constitution(Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws) which is drafted in  line with relevant stipulations of the Code of Alabama and US law.<br />
<br>We are governed by a Board of Directors, that is elected by the Membership.All decision making power rests with the Board in the last instance. In the past,Directors terms were time-limited, but now elections are held when the need arises. Members with a track record who are considering to run for Director <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/46080-longecity-leadership/">should read this post</a>.<br />
<br>Many former Directors still remain as 'Guardians' offering advice and the benefit of their experience. The Guardians take no active role in day-to-day affairs, but they can step in at certain specified points, when they feel that things are going awry or that the Board risk loosing sight of our mission.<br />
<br>The most important executive functions rest with our 'LeadOfficers'. At this time, Directors also assume Lead Officer positions, because the Constitution mandates that those roles need to be filled by someone. However, this can be anyone with a proven track record (because those roles carry great responsibility) and there is an <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/42008-lead-officers-sought/">open invitation</a> for volunteers to step forward and apply!<br />
<br>Volunteers are the lifeblood and foundation of everything LongeCity does.Volunteers could be short term, helping out on a specific task or project, or long term, assisting with a specific role.<br />
<br>Some of these roles include:<br />
<li>Moderators who look after forum interactions,  <br />
<li>Engineers who look after the software<br />
<li>Editors who look after content<br />
<br />
<br>There are many other opportunities to become involved. If you are interested,contact the <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/index.php?app=members&module=messaging&section=send&do=form&fromMemberID=523">Teams Coordinator</a>or send an email to <a href="mailto:support@imminst.org">support@imminst.org</a> to find out more.<br />
<br><b>Incentives for volunteering?</b></p><p dir="ltr">The good feeling of making a valued contribution to our shared cause. Regular volunteers get integrated into leadership decision making processes. All volunteers also get 'Thank You' points that they can collect and redeem for <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/index.php?app=ibEconomy&tab=shop">small prizes</a> (gift vouchers or free membership).</p><br />
</div>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 Oct 2011 14:46:08 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Crosslinks</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/templates/crosslinks-r20</link>
		<description><![CDATA[by <b>Johan Sjöberg </b><br />
<br><br><br />
The diseases and complications of aging are infamous –cardiovascular disease, cataracts, Alzheimer's disease, amyloidosis, cancer, and so on. Their effects are often debilitating, and one of them will always end up causing your death in the end. Until relatively recently, though, not much was known about exactly why these things happen. Only since the advent of modern biochemistry and biomedicine have we been able to start exploring the aging process in all its intricate details. However, the world of cellular aging turns out to be far more complex than we initially thought.<br />
<br><br />
Aging is, at its most fundamental level, based on genes and proteins. For example, cells have a finite capacity to divide, and this is thought to be controlled by the length of the ends of our DNA, called telomeres. They act as protective caps, preventing degradation of genes that are important to maintain cellular function. With each cell division, the telomeres are shortened, and when they reach a certain length, the cell normally doesn't divide any further. This may cause various tissues of the body to start to degenerate or diminish, since there are not enough cells produced to maintain them. Alternatively, mutations may occur that allow the cell to continue dividing uncontrollably, inevitably leading to cancer. Further examples are that the proteins and components of the cell cannot break down certain cellular waste-products, causing them to accumulate and potentially become damaging to the body, or that the proteins themselves are modified so that they lose their function or stick together.<br><br><br />
Alternatively, errors in cellular metabolism may cause reactions in<br />
undesired ways, such as oxygen reacting with and damaging various<br />
cellular components, or glucose linking together proteins in<br />
deleterious ways. There are many other such examples that I won't list here, but they are all associated with the diseases of aging in some way. For example, Alzheimer's disease is caused by the degeneration of nerve cells in the brain, and the undesired linking of proteins that are found in the walls of blood vessels may make them less elastic, leading to higher blood pressure and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.<br />
<img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 400px; height: 300px; float: right;" src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/sci/art01/SCI01image002.jpg" alt="The pathways of cellular metabolism in their amazing complexity" hspace="7" vspace="7" title="The pathways of cellular metabolism in their amazing complexity"><br />
<br><br />
In order to do something about aging and its associated diseases, then, one might intuitively want to start at the level of genes and proteins.  If one can protect the genes or the proteins they encode from damage, enhance their function in some way to make them more efficient, or introduce new genes to deal with problems that can't be dealt with naturally, one might prevent the complications of aging from even occurring in the first place. However, the genetics of aging and cellular metabolism is extremely complex, and multiple genes and proteins are often dependent on each other. If one gene is modified, this may affect many others, leading to unforeseen and potentially undesirable consequences. On the other end of the spectrum of interventions in aging is geriatric medicine, which focuses on treating the symptoms of the diseases of aging. Unfortunately, the damage has<br />
already been done by then, and trying to completely reverse diseases of aging which have already reached a pronounced stage has so far not proven to be successful. However, there might be a third way, a middle ground of sorts – attempting to prevent or remove the accumulated waste-products and the results of errors in metabolism, before their levels become high enough to cause diseases. This is the main pathway proposed by Dr. Aubrey de Grey and the SENS Foundation, a non-profit organisation that is aimed at the development of rejuvenation technologies that address the complications of aging. One example of such accumulation is the linking of proteins, or cross-linking, that I mentioned earlier, and that we will now explore in more detail.<br />
<br><br />
Cross-linking is the result of a substance, most often some kind of<br />
sugar, reacting with two or more protein molecules and linking them<br />
together. The effects of cross-linking is perhaps most significantly seen in collagen, which is the most common protein in the human body.<br><br />
Collagen is a major component of bone, tendons, blood vessel walls and skin, among other things, where it adds strength, support and<br />
elasticity by being an important part of the supportive structure,<br />
called the extracellular matrix, that surrounds our cells on the<br />
outside. In many ways, the matrix is similar to rubber, being both<br />
strong and flexible at the same time. However, also like rubber, the matrix loses its strength and flexibility with age, and this is where cross-linking comes into play.<br />
<br><br />
Collagen is made of long threads or fibers, and these move in relation to each other when the collagen is stretched, like for instance when you pinch your skin, or when a blood vessel is widened as blood is pumped through it. When the collagen fibers are linked together by cross-links, the fibers cannot move as much as before, and the collagen becomes more rigid. Besides collagen, there are several other important proteins in the matrix, and they too have their specific roles – for example, there are special proteins that tie the collagen fibers to the outsides of the cells that the matrix supports.<br />
That's not to say that there should be no cross-linking at all, though; on the contrary, a certain amount of cross-links in the matrix are created in a controlled way by the body to keep it together. This is a vital process for normal body function. However, it is the excess cross-linking that occurs uncontrollably, at random places on proteins in the matrix, that is responsible for the age-related damage that is associated with cross-linking [1].<br />
<br><br><br />
As I mentioned earlier, the substance that causes the cross-linking is often some kind of sugar, such as glucose or fructose. Since almost all of the sugar in the body exists in the blood stream, the collagen in blood vessel walls, skin, and other tissues that are exposed to a steady stream of blood has the highest rate of uncontrolled cross-linking. The cross-linking process occurs very slowly and in several steps, the most critical of which is the formation of a substance called an advanced glycation endproduct<br />
("AGE" for short – great abbreviation, right?). There are many different kinds of AGEs, which may react to form cross-links more or less easily. However, once the AGE is formed and linked to a protein, the body cannot cleave it off, and has to replace the protein itself in order to get rid of the AGE. In long-lived proteins such as collagen, which has a life-span of many years, that gives the AGE more than enough time to react with a second collagen fiber and form a cross-link between the two. In collagen, the most common cross-link is called glucosepane [2-3] and is formed from glucose, or blood sugar, but there are several others as well. AGEs can form both inside and outside of the cells. On the inside, they modify the cells' proteins, which makes them less able to do their job, and this disrupts the cells' metabolic processes. On the outside, it makes the ECM less flexible. <br><br><br />
<img style="border: 4px solid;" src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/sci/art01/SCI01image006.jpg" alt="Figure 1. Through several reactions over a long period of time, a cross-link may form between two collagen fibers (in this figure, the cross-link glucosepane is formed from glucose)." title="Figure 1. Through several reactions over a long period of time, a cross-link may form between two collagen fibers (in this figure, the cross-link glucosepane is formed from glucose)." "Figure 1. Through several reactions over a long period of time, a cross-link may form between two collagen fibers (in this figure, the cross-link glucosepane is formed from glucose)."><br />
<br><br><br />
Since glucose is occasionally able to react with proteins and form<br />
cross-links in this way, hyperglycemia and diabetes lead to more<br />
cross-linking than in people with normal blood glucose levels. In one study, researchers found that the levels of the most common collagen cross-link, glucosepane, was more than twice as high in diabetics compared to healthy people. This cross-linking may be responsible for some of the complications sometimes seen with diabetes, as well as with normal aging. One example is in the kidneys, where a part of the kidney called the glomerular basement membrane is crucial for proper function, since it is the part that performs the actual filtration of small substances from the blood. The membrane contains a lot of collagen, and excess cross-linking causes this collagen to clump together and act less like a web, thereby making the pores in the membrane larger and allowing more and larger molecules, including whole proteins, to escape from the bloodstream, thus greatly impairing its function as a tight filter. Diabetics run a much higher risk of kidney failure, partly because of excess collagen cross-linking, since higher glucose levels allow for more cross-links to form [2].<br />
<br><br><br />
<br />
Another example of the effects of excess cross-linking can be found in the lens of the eye. The lens is made up of proteins called<br />
crystallins, which provide the lens with rigidity and flexibility while still allowing it to remain transparent. However, like many other proteins, these crystallins can also be cross-linked, and this causes them to clump together in much the same way as the collagen in the kidney. The effect of this is that the lens may become more cloudy, impairing vision and possibly leading to the formation of cataracts [4]. A third example is the collagen in the walls of blood vessels,which may have an increased amount of cross-linking with aging. This makes the blood vessel walls stiffer and therefore less able to expand when blood is pumped through the vessel, leading to higher blood pressure [5]. Again, diabetes increases the risk for both these things.<br />
<br />
<br><br><br />
You may recall my mentioning that controlled cross-linking is vital for proper functioning of the extracellular matrix. There are a few ways for the body to make these cross-links, and they all involve special enzymes (proteins) that are very efficient in forming them, as well as other enzymes that are able to break the cross-links. However, even these cross-links have the potential of causing problems if they become too numerous. If the production of the enzyme that makes the cross-links increases beyond normal levels, or if the activity of each enzyme molecule is increased, more cross-links will be created than are normally present. This over-abundance of cross-links may contribute to the same problems as the cross-links that are created randomly by, for example, glucose [6].<br />
<br />
<img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 400px; height: 292px; float: left;"src="http://www.longecity.org/pages/sci/art01/SCI01image007.jpg" alt="French fries contain dramatically higher amounts of AGEs than boiled potatoes. The deep-frying process together with the sugar that is often added to make fast-food french fries create an environment where AGEs can form a lot more easily." title="French fries contain dramatically higher amounts of AGEs than boiled potatoes. The deep-frying process together with the sugar that is often added to make fast-food french fries create an environment where AGEs can form a lot more easily." hspace="7" vspace="7"> The formation of AGEs is not confined to the body itself; AGEs can also form outside of the body, in the process of cooking and heating food, by cooking sugars and proteins together. For example, the characteristic browning of grilled meat or baked bread is an indication that AGEs have been formed. (The first steps of this reaction was discovered in 1912 by Louis-Camille Maillard, and is therefore named the Maillard reaction.) The reaction is enhanced by high temperatures, low moisture, and long cooking times, making boiling one of the cooking methods generating the least amount of AGEs, and frying one of the methods generating the most AGEs. Adding sugar to heated food also facilitates AGE formation, since there will be more molecules around that can form cross-links between proteins in the food items. Various meats typically have more AGEs in them than other kinds of foods, too, especially when they are fried or barbecued.<br />
(In fact, according to one study [7], a typical fast-food hamburger contains as much AGEs as about 25 kg of canned corn, or 100 liters of whole milk!) The AGEs that are created in cooked food can be absorbed by the body, and once they have been absorbed, they can bind to certain receptors called RAGE (Receptor for AGE), and this may contribute to some chronic kidney diseases [8], as well as chronic inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis [9]. Presumably, these AGEs may also be able to contribute to protein cross-linking in the same way as AGEs that are created within the body. Thus, there are two different ways that AGEs can contribute to age-related complications –cross-linking and inflammation.<br />
<br />
<br><br><br />
But despite the complexity of AGEs and cross-linking, there is hope on the horizon. Developing drugs that can break cross-links may be possible with current technology, and research is already ongoing or planned at various locations, including a possible project (which I hope to be a part of) funded by the SENS Foundation at Cambridge University, aimed at finding a way to break the most common collagen cross-link, glucosepane. Another way to reduce excess cross-linking with aging is to prevent cross-link formation, and in that area, there has been more success. Several compounds that may prevent excess cross-link formation to some degree are available as dietary supplements; two examples are carnosine [10] and benfotiamine [11]. In addition, there are a number of things you can do yourself to reduce the amount of excess cross-linking in your own body; keeping blood sugar levels under control by avoiding too much sugars and simple carbohydrates is one thing, and reducing the consumption of grilled meat could be another.<br />
<br><br><br />
<br />
So, in conclusion, science is advancing to deal with the problems of excess cross-linking, although we're not quite there yet. And<br />
cross-linking is only a small part of the aging process. However, there is good progress in other areas of aging research as well. Meanwhile, if you take good care of your health, you will increase your chances of living to see the day when definitive treatments for the diseases of aging are finally available, allowing you to live a much longer life in good health. And, to be honest, who doesn't want that?<br />
<br />
<br><br><br><br />
<b>References for further reading</b><br />
<br><br><br />
<li>1. Brownlee M. Advanced protein glycosylation in diabetes and aging. Annu Rev Med. 1995 Feb; 46: 223-34.<br />
<li> 2. Sell DR, Biemel KM, Reihl O, Lederer MO, Strauch CM, Monnier VM. Glucosepane is a major protein cross-link of the senescent human<br />
extracellular matrix. Relationship with diabetes. J Biol Chem. 2005 Apr 1; 280 (13). 12310-5.<br />
<li> 3. Sjöberg JS, Bulterijs S. Characteristics, formation, and<br />
pathophysiology of glucosepane: a major protein cross-link.<br />
Rejuvenation Res. 2009 Apr; 12 (2): 137-48.<br />
<li> 4. Shamsi FA, Lin K, Sady C, Nagaraj RH. Methylglyoxal-derived<br />
modifications in lens aging and cataract formation. Invets Ophthalmol<br />
Vis Sci. 1998 Nov; 39 (12): 2355-64.<br />
<li> 5. Vasdev S, Gill V, Singal P. Role of advanced glycation end products in hypertension and atherosclerosis: therapeutic implications. Cell Biochem Biophys. 2007: 49 (1): 48-63.<br />
<li> 6. Santhanam L, Tuday EC, Webb AK, Dowzicky P, Kim JH, Oh YJ, Sikka G, Kuo M, Halushka MK, Macgregor AM, Dunn J, Gutbrod S, Yin D, Shoukas A, Nyhan D, Flavahan NA, Belkin AM, Berkowitz DE. Decreased<br />
S-nitrosylation of tissue transglutaminase contributes to age-related<br />
increases in vascular stiffness. Circ Res. 2010 Jul 9; 107 (1): 117-25.<br />
<li> 7. Goldberg T, Cai W, Peppa M, Dardaine V, Baliga BS, Uribarri J,Vlassara H. Advanced glycoxidation end products in commonly consumed foods. J Am Diet Assoc. 2004 Aug; 104 (8): 1287-91.<br />
<li>8. Tomino Y, Hagiwara S, Gohda T. AGE-RAGE interaction and oxidative stress in obesity-related renal dysfunction. Kidney Int. 2001 Jul; 80 2): 133-5.<br />
<li> 9. Jandeleit-Dahm K, Watson A, Soro-Paavonen A. The AGE/RAGE axis in diabetes-accelerated atherosclerosis. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2008 Mar; 35 (3): 329-34.<br />
<li> 10. Stracke H, Hammes HP, Werkmann D, Mavrakis K, Bitsch I, Netzel M, Geyer J, Köpcke W, Sauerland C, Bretzel RG, Federlin KF.<br />
Efficacy of benfotiamine versus thiamine on function and glycation<br />
products of peripheral nerves in diabetic rats. Exp Clin Endocrinol<br />
Diabetes. 2001; 109 (6): 330-6.<br />
<li> 11. Sourris KC, Forbes JM, Cooper ME. Therapeutic interruption of advanced glycation in diabetic nephropathy: do all roads lead to Rome? Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008 Apr; 1126: 101-6.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 Oct 2011 14:11:32 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>LongeCity Science Initiatives - Autumn 2011 review</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/longecity-science-initiatives-autumn-2011-review-r19</link>
		<description><![CDATA[&ldquo;To conquer the blight of involuntary death&rdquo; is a complex task: political, economic, logistic, and social factors all play a role in making this dream a reality. Ultimately though, the challenge remains a scientific and technological one. We need to know more about the details of death and aging and we need to test as many different approaches as we can. Recently, LongeCity has sought to contribute to these endeavors in its own small ways. Scientific research and technological development is are complex fields and very costly to pursue. There must now be millions of scientist and technologists in the world &ndash; more than ever in the history of mankind and billions are spend on research and development. In the light of this, what difference can a small online forum really make?  We don&rsquo;t k now the answer, but we realized that just because the task is daunting, this does not mean that we cannot dare to attempt it: LongeCity wouldn&rsquo;t exist it were otherwise. So we started, to try, in out own small way, to make contributions to life extension science. To be sure, there were our many contributions to scientific events and publications, including <a href="http://www.imminst.org/book/">our own book</a> and <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/191-archive-own-conferences/">scientific conferences</a>, there was support which we gave to scientific initiatives, such as the <a href="http://www.mprize.org/">M-Prize</a> and there was also the community-designed supplement <a href="http://www.imminst.org/vimmortal">VIMMORTAL</a> an area which we are <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/51943-new-community-sourced-supplement/">currently considering  to revisit</a>... but in terms of hands-on science, LongeCity now looks back at three specific projects:<br><br />
The first one was &lsquo;Laser Ablation of Lipofuscin&rsquo; &ndash; this project emerged after a presentation by Nason Schooler where he showed that, exposed to a certain wavelength of laser light, young worms remained unaffected whereas old worms died. This was considered to be due to lipofuscin &ndash; a buildup of age-associated debris in the old worms. What if such lipofuscin deposits could be broken down by the application of laser light, leaving the surrounding tissue unaffected? It sounded like a real longshot but Nason was keen to pursue it, he just needed some funding to do it. Nason <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/29366-laser-ablation-of-lipofuscin/">was quizzed by LongeCity members</a> and he held up well in the face of some probing questions. Most importantly, the trailblazing Dr. Aubrey de Grey and the SENS programme endorsed Nasons research, recommended him for funding and agreed to host him, his worms and lasers in their own laboratories in the US. Also, the project seemed a good fit: it was quirky enough that it would struggle to get funding from other sources, it was high-risk pot also potentially high impact perhaps opening the door to an entire new field of anti-aging science. <br><br />
Based on this, we conducted <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/29771-referendum-laser-ablation-of-lipofuscin/">some internal discussions</a> including <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/29512-remit-of-imminst-science-funding/">strategic ones</a> and eventually <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/30279-referendum-laser-therapy-matching-grant/">agreed in a Full Members Referendum </a>to commence a fundraiser &ndash; LongeCity&rsquo;s (them still trading as the<br />
Immortality Institute) first ever fundraiser purely dedicated to practical science. We committed $8000 from institute funds, but only if that amount would be matched by donations. The fundraiser was a great success quickly raising and even exceeding the target amount. With our backing, Nason commend work in the SENS labs &ndash; and then a couple of difficulties arose. First the labs moved, and Nason moved also, but soon needed to relocate again for personal reasons. What to do? We had transferred the funds raised to SENS. To be sure that was a good place to leave them considering the good work this organisation aims to do. However, our members had donated not to support SENS but expressly to support the Laser ablation research project. So we negotiated to get some of the remaining funds back from SENS (who were very supportive) but then agonised over how to proceed: should we just let Nason conduct the research in his garage? Many an internet business was started this way, but we still felt we needed some scientific oversight. Members can trace some of our discussions here, suffice it to say that after many attempts we could not get the oversight regime that we wished, but there was pressure of course to continue the research. We agreed to some research going ahead at Nasons home, <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/48903-laser-ablation-2011-a/">even visited to see his setup and conduct and interview</a>. In short, we did what we could and yet, <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/51318-music-vibration-therapy/">based on recent developments</a>  it turned out that maybe we should have been more reluctant. What remains to be salvaged from this project remains to be seen.<br />
<br />
The next project launched a year later, was more stringently planned: there was a call for applications, and we organised some peer review. Two projects emerged tat we really liked and we decided to fund both, in turn. The first one was again based on worms: it looked at the cellular &lsquo;powerplants&rsquo; &ndash; the mitochondria that play a key role in aging and sought to investigate if if chemical uncoupling by 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) can reduce damage to mitochondria and their specific DNA and if this would lead to extended lifespan in worms.<br> Again, we managed to raise the money relatively swiftly, based on some very generous donations. <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/44784-project-updates/">Jan kept the community informed throughout</a>. Regrettably, after funding the project, the community seemed to take little interest. To be honest, when first launching the project Jan and LongeCity leadership were a bit worried that given LongeCity&rsquo;s large and vibrant supplement discussion forums, some people might jump to very unsafe conclusions and ingest the mitochondrial uncouplers under investigation as a supplement. However, rather than there being too much enthusiasm, there wasn&rsquo;t a lot of engagement. Jan and his team pursued the research, in this case according to best scientific practice as expected, this month,<a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/51872-follow-up-interview-with-jan-gruber">Dr. Gruber will discuss the results with Mind in our podcast</a></a>- If you are interested, you are invited to post a question! <br><br />
But how many people maintained an active interest? Its difficult to say (let us know!) but we were getting a bit worried &ndash; were LongeCity members not quite ready to really engage with our own community science projects?<br><br> It was hard to dismiss that impression during the months to follow when we tried to raise funds for LongeCity's most ambitious science project yet. This was not on worms, it involved mice. In scientific terms (and as far as costs are concerned) that is a huge leap to make things more relevant. The project also wasn&rsquo;t very complicated: it used stem cell therapies &ndash; something everyone has heard of and many LongeCity members are excited about. It targeted a hugely important area &ndash; the brain &ndash; and involved not the garage of a lay person but one of Germany&rsquo;s most prestigious scientific institutions and a researcher with an established track record in anti-ageing research. Yet over the weeks and months to follow, fundraising was slow. Donations were trickling in, but not quite with the speed that were had seen before. Was this the recession beginning to bite? Was the project just too big? Was the community &lsquo;tapped out&rsquo; after the recent fundraiser? Were we not managing to promote the project effectively enough? There were rough patches, <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/392-microglia-stem-cells/">but donations kept coming in</a> and that gave us hope. We could not let those contributors down. An then the breakthrough &ndash; venture investor had somehow learned about the research and saw its potential. We waited until we felt confident that this separate arrangement would make up the (bye now not very large) shortfall in LongeCity funding. The project is now merrily underway and you see <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/50833-microglia-stem-cell-research-reports/">updates on the project</a>  and you <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/44968-questions-to-the-researchers/">can ask questions to the researchers here.</a> <br><br> With that major success achieved should we now stop the science programme and reconsider? We might have done that, but then, this Summer, Cryonics Pioneer Robert Ettinger was placed into biostasis. What better way to pay homage to his achievements than not to dwell in length accolades but to &lsquo;get on with it&rsquo; and do some research. Again, cryonics science is a great field for LongeCity to get involved it: it is niche enough that mainstream funding is hard to obtain, yet the potential impacts even based on a small research budget are quite significant. So last month we closed the <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/50832-research-funding-exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n-of-interest-sought/">call for exp<b></b>ressi&#111;ns of interest on our first cryopreservation research fundraiser</a>, the proposals have been circulated for peer review and the board will draw up a shortlist. As usual, our members will have the final say on funding in a referendum (so <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/index.php?app=nexus&module=clients">join now if you want to have a say</a>), and as usual, the project will only get funded if it received enough matching donations. <br> <br> Let us see how we fare with this project, but whatever the outcome, we are unlikely to give up on the underlying principle: that LongeCity has a role, however small, to not &lsquo;just&rsquo; engage in communication, networking and outreach, but also to make a tangible contribution to hands-on scientific development. This is one of the reasons we change the <a href="http://www.imminst.org/name">&lsquo;public facing&rsquo; name of the Immortality Institute</a> &ndash; to make it easier for serious scientists to engage with us. And to this end, we have launched the LongeCity Science initiative, where aim to improve our scientific communication. <br> As an example, this month we have published the first of a number of &lsquo;gentle introductions&rsquo; on scientific topics --<a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/templates/crosslinks-r20"> an article by Johan Sj&ouml;berg on crosslinking in aging</a>) and we seek to <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/47460-science-initiative/"> involve every LongeCity Member and Affiliate with a science background</a>. In fact, we have just <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/51944-call-for-lead-officers">issued a new call for Lead officers at the Immortality Institute (Members only)</a> to expressly include a Science Officer. So why not join in, at whatever level you like, share your perspective and skills in pursuit of that ambitious mission: "to conquer the blight of involuntary death".]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:35:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">07e1cd7dca89a1678042477183b7ac3f</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Bylaws</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/bylaws-r18</link>
		<description><![CDATA[<font size=2><b><a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/bylawA">Bylaw A. User Agreement</a> (</b>Posting <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/bylawA#A2">Guidelines</a><b>)</b><br />
<div style="padding-left: 10px;"> <br />
<a href="#imm_byb_">Bylaw B. Membership </a><br />
<a href="#imm_byb_art1">Article 1 Membership</a><br />
<a href="#imm_byb_art2">Article 2 Membership Donations </a><br />
<a href="#imm_byb_art3">Article 3 Denial and revocation of membership </a><br />
<br />
<a href="#imm_byc">Bylaw C. Leadership </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byc_art1">Article 1 All Leadership </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byc_art2">Article 2 Directors </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byc_art3">Article 3 Lead Officers </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byc_art4">Article 4 Officers </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byc_art5">Article 5 Guardians </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byc_art6">Article 6 Teams </a><br />
<a href="#imm_byd_">Bylaw D. Decisions & Votes </a><br />
<a href="#imm_byd_art1">Article 1 Officers Decision </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byd_art2">Article 2 Proposing a motion</a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byd_art3">Article 3 Meetings </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byd_art4">Article 4 Voting Rights </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byd_art5">Article 5 Chairs Privilege </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byd_art6">Article 6 Tally </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_byd_art7">Article 7 Amendments </a><br />
<a href="#imm_bye_">Bylaw E. Finances </a><br />
<a href="#imm_bye_art1">Article 1 Sustainability & Non-profit status </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_bye_art2">Article 2 Expenses</a><br />
  <a href="#imm_bye_art3">Article 3 Budgets and reporting </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_bye_art4">Article 4 Dedicated Funds </a><br />
  <a href="#imm_bye_art5">Article 5 Compensation</a><br />
  <a href="#imm_bye_art6">Article 6 Transparency</a> <br />
</div></font><br />
<hr /><br />
<br />
<b><font size="5"><a name="B"></a>Bylaw B. Membership </font></b><br />
<br />
<b>Article 1 Membership</b><br />
Section01 Only one membership may be held by any single private individual.<br />
Section02 Membership is granted at the discretion of a designated Officer acting on behalf of the Board. <br />
<b>Article 2 Membership Donations</b> <br />
Section01 Donations marked 'membership' are considered membership applications. <br />
Section02 Membership donations of or exceeding $5 USD in a single transaction will grant the donating private individual membership status for 30 days from the completion of the transaction. <br />
Section03 Membership donations of or exceeding $50 USD in a single transaction will grant the donating private individual membership status for a year from the completion of the transaction. <br />
Section04 Membership donations of or exceeding $25 USD in a single transaction will grant the donating private individual membership status for a year from the completion of the transaction, where the individual is in financial circumstances meriting special consideration, such as pensioner,student or unemployed. Whether or not this is the case will be determined by a designated Officer. <br />
Section05 Membership donations of or exceeding $500 USD in a single transaction will grant the donating private individual Membership for life.<br />
Section06 Membership donations are non-refundable under any circumstances. <br />
<br />
<b>Article 3 Denial and revocation of membership</b><br />
Section01 All members can cancel their membership by giving written notice to the Secretary. <br />
Section02 The Secretary can deny any membership application if that persons membership<br />
(a) would bring the Institute into disrepute,<br />
(b) cannot be expected to contribute positively to the achievement of the Institutes’ mission.<br />
(&#99;) is not supported by a membership donation <br />
Section03 The Secretary can cancel or revoke any membership if <br />
(a) authorised by a vote of a majority of sitting Directors or<br />
(b) if a person’s membership status is no longer supported by a membership donation<br />
Section04 Decisions by the Secretary can be appealed to the Management Committee and subsequently the Board in accordance with normal procedures.<br />
Section05 Individuals whose membership status has been revoked or denied will not have membership status while the appeal is pending, but must be permitted one appeal hearing by the Board which shall be conducted within 14 days of revocation or denial. <br />
<br />
<b><font size="5"><a name="C"></a>Bylaw C. Leadership </font></b><br />
Article 1 All Leadership <br />
Section01 ImmInst Leadership consists of<br />
(a) Directors,<br />
(b) Officers, and Lead Officers<br />
(&#99;) Guardians <br />
<b>Section02 Personal Details</b><br />
(a) All Leaders must identify themselves by name and current address upon request from an ImmInst Lead Officer or the Board,<br />
(b) All Leaders must consent to such detail being held on file by ImmInst for a period not less than ten years. <br />
<br />
<b><a name="C3"></a>Section03 Pledge </b><br />
All Leaders must sign, agree to, and abide by the following pledge: <br />
<font colour="maroon"> <br />
(a) I agree to abide by the principles and rules set out in the ImmInst Constitution <br />
(b) I understand that ImmInst is represented only by nominated Officers and Directors. <br />
    (&#99;) I understand that I am offering assistance to ImmInst only to the degree that I am comfortable with. I will not engage in activities that I do not have the desire, time or technical expertise to pursue. <br />
    (d) I will notify ImmInst when I plan to cease participation for a period of more than 30 days. <br />
    (e) I understand that I may be trusted with sensitive data, dissemination or mishandling of which could cause harm to ImmInst, its members, its affiliates or others. This data may include, but it not limited to: <div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
-1) personal identifiable information, including data such as names, dates of birth, addresses, contact detail and<br />
-2) technically sensitive information, including data such as passwords, software, scripts and codes and<br />
-3) financially sensitive information, including data such as bank details or details of financial transactions, and <br />
-4) other confidential information, including data that has not obviously been intended for publication to an undefined readership, personal communications, communications with restricted access<br />
-5) and any other information which can reasonably be considered sensitive, personal, confidential or otherwise privileged.</div><br />
    (f) I promise not to communicate, view, store, transfer, alter, delete, copy, convert, disseminate or otherwise engage with such sensitive information unless it is absolutely required.  <br />
    (g) I confirm that I will immediately inform the Board if I become aware of any potential or actual conflict between my interests and those of Imminst. <br />
    (h) I will not either directly or indirectly, receive or accept for my own benefit or the benefit of any person or entity other than ImmInst any gratuity, emolument, or payment of any kind from any person or entity other than ImmInst in relation to my activities for ImmInst <br />
    (i) I understand that ImmInst will not lay claim to any intellectual property which I develop hereunder. I will grant ImmInst a free, nonexclusive, non-transferable license to any intellectual property which I develop hereunder. <br />
    (j) I understand that either myself or ImmInst can terminate this agreement at any time in writing. <br />
    (k) I promise that at the time this agreement terminates, I will deliver to ImmInst any and all documents or any other copies of information or material connected with his agreement and I will destroy or delete any copies of such material at the request of ImmInst. </font><br />
<br />
Section04 Inactivity <br />
(a) All members of leadership shall be considered active unless they have declared themselves on leave for a specified time not exceeding 30 days. <br />
(b) Notification of inactivity <div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
1) If the activity of a member of leadership is in doubt, the President or any Director may write to that Leader using the last recorded email address for that Leader with a formal Request for Confirmation of Activity (RCA). <br />
2) An RCA shall be made known to all Members on the same day it is send out. <br />
3) No more than one RCA may be issued to the same Leader within a period of 40 days. <br />
4) If a member of Leadership does not confirm activity by making a formal reply by email within 14 days of a RCA being send out to that Leader, that Leaders status shall be recorded as inactive. </div><br />
(&#99;) An inactive Leaders status can be restored to active by the Board. <br />
(d) An inactive Leader can be removed from post by the Chair.<br />
Section05 Multiple Offices<br />
Any two or more Leadership positions may be held by the same person, except<br />
(a) The President and the Secretary may not be the same person<br />
<br />
<b>Article 2 Directors </b><br />
<br />
Section01 Election<br />
(a) Directors are elected by referendum according to the special conditions set out in the Constitution.<br />
Section02 Duties<br />
(a) The Board of Directors shall be a committee to conduct all affairs of ImmInst not otherwise specifically provided for in the Constitution.<br />
(b) Directors are expected to vote (or vote abstain) on every motion before the Board.<br />
(&#99;) Directors shall elect a chairperson (the Chair) amongst themselves.<br />
(d) Directors are expected to attend, inter alia to the following matters: <div style="padding-left: 10px;">     <br />
1) Appointing Officers and Lead Officers <br />
2) Fulfil the duties of Lead Officers where no Lead Officer has been appointed. <br />
3) Reviewing reports from all Lead Officers <br />
4) The drafting, agreement and monitoring of a Budget <br />
5) Reviewing appeals by Members and other individuals as described in this Constitution <br />
6) Represent ImmInst in an official capacity including to regulatory and law enforcement authorities, media, contractors and other partners and the public </div>   <br />
<br />
<b>Article 3 Lead Officers </b><br />
<br />
Section01 Lead officers roles<br />
(a) Imminst recognizes the following Lead Officers: <div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
1) the President shall act as the chief executive officer <br />
2) the Secretary shall lead on membership matters <br />
3) the Treasurer shall manage financial affairs <br />
4) the Team Coordinator oversee the Team Leaders <br />
5) the Lead Editor shall serve as an Editor and oversee the Editors <br />
6) the Lead Moderator shall serve as a Moderator and shall oversee the Moderators <br />
7) the Lead Engineer shall serve as a Engineer and oversee the Engineers </div><br />
(b) where a Lead Officer has not been appointed, the Board shall designate one of their number to act in stead of a Lead Officer until such time that a Lead Officer has been appointed and agreed to commence performance of that role.<br />
An up-to date register shall be kept at all times detailing which Director acts in stead of a Lead Officer.<br />
(&#99;) All Lead officers shall submit a report of their activities to the Board on a regular basis as agreed with the Chairman, but at least once every 6 months.<br />
<br />
Section02 Appointment<br />
(a) Lead Officers are elected by Referendum according to the special conditions set out in this section.<br />
(b) To initiate the appointment procedure, the board shall approve a single draft agreement in a Board vote and issue a call for applications to all Members or more widely.<br />
(&#99;) The call for applications shall remain open for no less than 21 days.<br />
(d) Only individuals who have been Members for more than 8 months may stand as candidate for election to Lead Officer.<br />
(e) At the close of the call, the board shall review all applications and agree on a shortlist within 14 days. If more than one candidate has applied, the shortlist shall comprise not fewer than 2 candidates.<br />
(f) After establishing a shortlist, the Board shall initiate a Referendum in which the candidate is appointed. <br />
Section03 President<br />
(a) The President, except where otherwise directed by the Board, is the chief executive officer of ImmInst.<br />
(b) The Board of Directors may authorize the President to sign contracts on behalf of and binding ImmInst, and may at any time, withdraw or terminate such authorization once given. <br />
Section04 Treasurer<br />
(a) The Treasurer shall have the care and custody of all the funds and securities of ImmInst shall deposit the same in the name of ImmInst in such bank or trust as the Board may select.<br />
(b) The Treasurer shall sign all cheques, drafts, notes and orders for the payment of money and shall pay out and dispose of the same when, as, and if authorized to do so by the Board<br />
(&#99;) The Treasurer shall keep full and accurate accounts of receipts and disbursements.<br />
(d) The Treasurer shall render to the President and Directors whenever they may require a current account of all financial transactions and of the financial condition of ImmInst. <br />
Section05 Secretary<br />
(a) The Secretary shall have the care and custody of membership records.<br />
(b) The Secretary shall determine membership matters.<br />
(&#99;) The Secretary shall keep a current record of all members and guardians<br />
(d) The Secretary shall maintain records of membership activity in various Imminst initiatives as required by the Board or other Lead Officer<br />
Section06 Management Committee<br />
(a) The Lead Officers collectively constitute the Management Committee.<br />
(b) The Management Committee shall exchange information, arbitrate disputes and agree strategy among Officers.<br />
(&#99;) Decisions of the Management Committee are made by majority vote.<br />
(d) The President shall convene and preside over all meetings of the Management Committee.<br />
<br />
<b>Article 4 Officers</b><br />
<br />
Section01 Moderators<br />
(a) Moderators moderate individual electronic forum(s) on ImmInst's website.<br />
(b) Moderation includes the enforcement of the User Agreement, editing contributions where appropriate, helping to link and highlight noteworthy information, assisting requests for information and dealing with complaints about the behaviour of users.<br />
(&#99;) Moderators are overseen and appointed by a Lead Moderator.<br />
Section02 Engineers<br />
(a) Engineers work on the software the Institute uses.<br />
(b) Engineers assist with, among other things, identifying software errors and inefficiencies, improving the running of the software, establishing new software, advising on software options and keeping data secure from unwanted interference.<br />
(&#99;) Engineers may have far reaching data access.<br />
(d) Engineers are overseen, appointed and dismissed by a Lead Engineer. <br />
Section03 Team Leaders<br />
(a) Team Leaders lead a particular project or initiative.<br />
(b) Team leaders establish the goals of the team and ensure that those goals are accomplished within a specified timeframe. They report on progress on a regular basis to the Team Coordinator and the membership.<br />
(&#99;) Team leaders are overseen by the Team Coordinator<br />
Section04 Editors<br />
(a) Editors shall draft the content of publications or official website Content in specific agreed areas or for specific projects<br />
(b) Editors are overseen by the Lead Editor<br />
(&#99;) Editors are appointed and dismissed by the Management Committee <br />
Section05 Spokesperson<br />
(a) Spokespersons are authorized to represent ImmInst on specific occasions or for a specific period of time, or on specific subjects.<br />
(b) Spokespersons shall be appointed and dismissed by Board Vote. <br />
Section06 Advisors<br />
(a) Advisors provide expert advice to the Institute Leadership.<br />
(b) Advisors are not appointed to give authoritative advice to the general membership or to the public on behalf of ImmInst and must avoid creating any impression to the contrary.<br />
(&#99;) Advisors shall be appointed and dismissed by the Board.<br />
<br />
<b>Article 5 Guardians </b><br />
<br />
Section01 All Individuals who have previously served as an ImmInst Director or Lead Officer or been a Lifetime Member for a period of at least 3 years shall be eligible as guardians. <br />
Section02 Guardians shall be registered by the Board. <br />
Section03 Guardians advise the community on strategic developments. <br />
Section04 Guardians Veto<br />
(a) Guardians may, in a special veto prevent the taking of any decision by an Officer, by the Board or in a Referendum that would fundamentally compromise the pursuit on the Institutes mission or endanger the Institutes existence<br />
(b) This veto must be proposed by a Guardian and be supported by at least 66% of all registered Guardians. <br />
<br />
<b>Article 6 Teams </b><br />
Section01 ImmImnst shall, from time to time, form such teams as are necessary or desirous to engage in a certain activity<br />
(a) The Team Coordinator shall <div style="padding-left: 10px;">    <br />
1) establish and disband teams as necessary and <br />
2) appoint a Teamleader for each team and <br />
3) be an ex officio member of all teams and <br />
4) inform the Board of all team formations and of all team leader appointments. </div><br />
(b) Teams shall consist of no fewer than one Member but may include non-Members<br />
(&#99;) The mission of the team shall be specified upon its establishment.<br />
(d) Duties of team participants shall be specified in the appointment.<br />
Section02 Team leaders<br />
(a) The Team Coordinator may delegate the authority to appoint team members to the Team Leader of that team<br />
(b) The Team Leader shall be regarded as an officer of ImmInst and as a member of leadership, unless expressly stipulated otherwise by the Board.<br />
(&#99;) The Team Leader may specify such rules, codes of conduct and objectives as required for the effective functioning of the team. <br />
<br />
<hr><br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_byd_">Bylaw D. Decisions & Votes </a></b><br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_byd_art1">Article 1 --Officers Decision </a></b><br />
<a name="imm_byd_art1_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Officers may take individual decisions and conduct day-to-day operations within the remit of their responsibilities as laid out in this Constitution and as agreed by the Management Committee.   <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art1_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; An Officer's decision may be overturned by a Lead Officer who is authorised to appoint that Officer or by Board Vote or Referendum.  <br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_byd_art2">Article 2 --Proposing a motion</a></b><br />
<a  name="imm_byd_art2_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Any issue arising may be made subject of a Board Vote or a Referendum by any two Directors, or by a Guardian and a Director, where either one is proposing the voting brief and the other seconding the same. <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art2_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Votes must be presented in a Voting Brief. The Voting Brief must set out all of the following elements: <div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(a) rationale for proposing the vote;<br />
(b) the projected costs of adopting the motion;<br />
(&#99;) the designated voting period which must be no less than 48 hours for a Board vote or 7 days for a Referendum;<br />
(d) a selection of fixed options to include an option to reject the motion entirely and an option to register an abstention;<br />
(e) any qualifier that must be met for the motion to become effective.<br />
(f) whether the voting is by secret or by public ballot</div>  <br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_byd_art3">Article 3 --Meetings </a></b><br />
  <a name="imm_byd_art3_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Organisation shall maintain an interactive website which shall be considered an ongoing meeting of all Members and Directors as long as the website is commonly and usually accessible from within a majority of states in the US or Europe. <br />
  <a name="imm_byd_art3_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Membersmay represent themselves in this meeting by utilizing an electronic alias. <br />
  <a  name="imm_byd_art3_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;All communications that are disseminated via the Organisations website shall be considered valid notification to the entire membership 24 hours after they have been published unless otherwise stipulated in this Constitution. <br />
  <a name="imm_byd_art3_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Meetings and votes of the Board can also be conducted by other forms of communication but minutes of the meeting and a record of all votes must be deposited on the website within 30 days.  <br />
  <a name="imm_byd_art3_sec5"><b>Section5</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Referenda may only be conducted electronically on or via the website except when authorised by a specific Board Vote. <br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_byd_art4">Article 4 --Voting Rights </a></b><br />
  <a name="imm_byd_art4_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All active Board members may vote in a Board Vote. <br />
  <a  name="imm_byd_art4_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All Members in good standing may vote in a Referendum <br />
  <a name="imm_byd_art4_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A member entitled to vote may vote in person or may vote by proxy executed in writing by the member, or by his duly authorized attorney-in-fact. No proxy shall be valid after 11 months from the date of its execution, unless otherwise provided in the proxy.  <br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_byd_art5">Article 5 --Chairs Privilege </a></b><br />
<a name="imm_byd_art5_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Chairperson may pause any vote once for a maximum period of 30 days pause for any reason  <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art5_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
The Chairperson may halt, reschedule or terminate a vote if<div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(a) theoutcome may collide with any vote that is currently pending or<br />
(b) circumstances have changed so as to render the vote baseless in light of the intentions stated in the voting brief or<br />
(&#99;) the Voting Brief is insufficiently precise.</div> <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art5_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Any decision by the Chairperson under this Article may be overturned by a Board Vote. <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art5_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Chairperson may not exercise Chairs privilege on in a vote specifically aimed at overturning a previous decision by the Chair under this Article.  <br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_byd_art6">Article 6 -- Tally </a></b><br />
<a name="imm_byd_art6_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When the designated voting period has expired, any member of Leadership may present an accurate tally of the votes cast. <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art6_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The first accurate version of such a tally shall be considered the final tally. <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art6_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The option that received the most votes in favour shall be considered the outcome of the vote, unless expressly specified to the contrary by the vote brief.  <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art6_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where the tally indicates that no option has received a majority of votes cast, excluding abstentions, the vote shall be considered defeated.  <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art7">Article 7 --Changes to the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws </a><br />
<a name="imm_byd_art7_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Changes to the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws are decisions subject to votes that may only be made in accordance with the additional provisions in this Article. <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art7_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The proposed change must be notified in full to a Guardian and the Guardian must acknowledge receipt of said notification. <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art7_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The proposed change may not be put to a vote before 48 hours have passed from the time a Guardian has acknowledged receipt. <br />
<a name="imm_byd_art7_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The motion is only valid by either unanimous agreement of the Board or if ratified by a simple majority of the Board and an additional Referendum. <br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_bye_">Bylaw E. Finances </a></b><br />
<a name="imm_bye_art1">Article 1 -- Sustainability & Non-profit status </a><br />
<a name="imm_bye_art1_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Organisation may not sign up to or engage in any activity that involves a variable financial expenditure if that expenditure could, in the estimation of the Treasurer or any Director exceed 80% of current assets and where there is no reasonable option to disengage from the activity in due time to prevent this occurrence. <br />
<a name="imm_bye_art1_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Organisation shall not engage in any activities that would endanger its status as exempt from federal income tax under Section 501©(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or its status as a corporation, contributions to which are deductible under Section 170©(2) of the Internal Revenue Code or any future version of such a federal tax code. <br />
<a name="imm_bye_art1_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The estimation of the Treasurer or any Director according to Section 01 must be published in a manner that it is easily accessible to all Members. The estimation is considered void only if the person who made it retracts it or when is no longer in post as a Treasurer or Director.   <br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_bye_art2">Article 2 -- Expenses</a></b><br />
<a name="imm_bye_art2_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Expenses may only be incurred for the purpose of furthering the Organisations Mission.  <br />
<a name="imm_bye_art2_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Valid receipts must be kept for all expenses. No expense may be reimbursed without a valid receipt.  <br />
<a name="imm_bye_art2_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Any expense incurred on behalf of the Organisation must be approved by the Treasurer before it is incurred. <br />
<a name="imm_bye_art2_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Any Officer may incur expenses of up to $80 in any period of 7 days without the prior approval of the Treasurer, unless that Officer is instructed otherwise by the Treasurer. Such expenses must be notified to the Treasurer as soon as possible and cannot be incurred twice without the approval of the Treasurer. <br />
<a name="imm_bye_art2_sec5"><b>Section5</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A Treasurer's decision to allow or disallow an expense may be overturned by a Board vote. <br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_bye_art3">Article 3 -- Budgets and reporting </a></b><br />
<a name="imm_bye_art3_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Between March 2<sup>nd</sup> & March 18<sup>th</sup> each year, the Treasurer shall take account of all assets and liabilities and make an estimation of the Organisation's operating revenues and expenses and provide an estimate of revenue or losses until the following March 1<sup>st</sup>.<br />
<a name="imm_bye_art3_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Between March 18<sup>th</sup> and March 30<sup>th</sup> each year, the Board shall draft plans for expenditure in the following year (the Annual Budget). <br />
<a name="imm_bye_art3_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Board may revise the Annual Budget at any time. <br />
<a name="imm_bye_art3_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If a Budget or a revised Budget would result in an expense which, in the estimation of the Treasurer or any two Directors would likely mean a reduction of greater than 30% of current assets at the following March 1<sup>st</sup> compared to current assets at the previous March 2<sup>nd</sup>, the Budget must be approved by a Referendum.<br />
<a name="imm_bye_art3_sec5"><b>Section5</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If a Budget or a revised Budget would result in an expense which, in the estimation of the Treasurer or any Director would likely mean a reduction of greater than 60% of current assets at the following March 1<sup>st</sup> compared to current assets at the previous March 2<sup>nd</sup>, the Budget must be approved by a Referendum and by an additional majority vote of all registered Guardians. <br />
<a name="imm_bye_art3_sec6"><b>Section6</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Treasurer shall notify the Board between the 1<sup>st</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> day of each June, September and December about the progress of spending the Budget and about any alterations in the projected revenues, expenses and surplus. <br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_bye_art4">Article 4 -- Dedicated Funds </a></b><br />
<a name="imm_bye_art4_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Research budget <div style="padding-left: 10px;">(a) The Board shall be required to dedicate not less than 10% of the Annual Budget, towards the conduct of novel scientific or technical research that may advance the Institutes mission.</div><br />
<a name="imm_bye_art4_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Project Funds<br />
<div style="padding-left: 10px;">(a) The Board may, from time to time, set aside a Budget under the control of any member of Leadership that this person may use to advance a specific project that has been approved by the Board</div> <div style="padding-left: 10px;">(b) Expenses under this section, do nor require the approval of the Treasurer, unless stipulated otherwise at the time the Budget was initiated.</div><br />
<a name="imm_bye_art4_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dedicated Donations <div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(a) A donation shall be considered dedicated if the donor clearly states that the donation is to be used for a specific purpose only and outlines that purpose upon making the donation.<br />
(b) Anonymous donations cannot be considered to be dedicated.<br />
(&#99;) Donations cannot be dedicated after they have been received.<br />
(d) Dedicated donations may only be used for the purpose of their dedication<br />
(e) Dedicated donations that cannot be used for the purpose of their dedication within 12months shall be returned to the donor unless the dedication specifies otherwise.<br />
(f) Membership donations are not considered dedicated donations.</div><br />
<br />
<b><a name="imm_bye_art5">Article 5 -- Compensation</a></b><br />
<a name="imm_bye_art5_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Payments to Officers <div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(a) No one shall receive payment or salary for acting as a Director.<br />
(b) Officers may receive pay for their time invested.<br />
(&#99;) A Director may receive payment for time invested where a Director has also been appointed as an Officer or fulfils the duties of an Officer or any other duties or activities to the benefit of the Organisation that, in the estimation of the Board warrants financial consideration beyond the reimbursement of reasonable expenses,<br />
(d) Payments to an Officer or Director beyond the reimbursement of reasonable expenses that exceed $200 in any calendar month must be authorised by a Referendum.</div>  <br />
<a name="imm_bye_art5_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Compensation review <div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(a) Scope for compensation for Officer activities, the remit of activities and expected results shall be agreed by the Board ahead of the activities being performed wherever possible.<br />
(b) After the activities have been performed, the Chair shall recommend to the Board to what extend the expected results have been met. If the person performing the activities is also the Chair, the Treasurer shall make the recommendation instead.<br />
(&#99;)The Board may adjust the amount of compensation according to whether particular goals have been met, partially met or exceeded.<br />
(d) The Board may decide to award compensation without a prior agenda according to subsection (a). Compensation under this subsection exceeding $200 per person per year must be authorised in a Referendum.</div>  <br />
<br />
<a name="imm_bye_art5_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Employment<br />
<div style="padding-left: 10px;">(a) The Board shall make fair determination, in accordance with applicable law in each individual case whether an Officer or other person who receives pay from the Organisation on a regular basis shall be considered an employee of the Organisation.</div><br />
<div style="padding-left: 10px;">(b) Where applicable, the Board shall fulfil the legal duties of an employer as determined by the country of residence of the employee.</div> <br />
<br />
<a name="imm_bye_art5_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Reward points <div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(a) The Board shall establish a system of acknowledgement for contributions that may give beneficiaries the opportunity to redeem such acknowledgements for tangible benefits, but not for cash.<br />
(b) The Board shall appoint a person or persons to administer or oversee the system of acknowledgement and to guarantee that it is fair and sustainable.<br />
(&#99;) A Budget shall be set aside to fund tangible benefits under this system.<br />
(d) Persons participating under this system may not <div style="padding-left: 20px;"><br />
1) expect to receive certain rewards or any reward, and <br />
2) assume that a method of apportioning acknowledgement will not change or be changed retroactively, and <br />
3) infer or assert any claims or entitlements whatsoever from participating and <br />
4) receive rewards totalling more than $300 in usual purchase value in any one calendar year.</div></div><br />
<br />
<a name="imm_bye_art6">Article 6 -- Transparency</a><br />
<a name="imm_bye_art6_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Financial details and decisions under this Bylaw shall be shared with the Membership in a timely manner wherever possible.<br />
<a name="imm_bye_art6_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Security, commercial or privacy considerations may preclude transparency according to this article. If a decision has been made to not share certain information, the Treasurer shall periodically review that decision.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:16:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">5ef059938ba799aaa845e1c2e8a762bd</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Articles of Incorporation</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/articles-of-incorporation-r17</link>
		<description><![CDATA[<br><br><br />
<p style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em;"><a<br />
name="imm_art1">Article 1 --<br />
Nature of this Document </a></p><br />
<ul><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art1_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a><br /><br />
This<br />
Organization was originally certified on the 3rd September 2002 in the<br />
State of Alabama, USA pursuant to the Alabama Nonprofit Corporation Act<br />
and retains its<br />
identity with that same Organisation. </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art1_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
name of this nonprofit organization shall be "The Immortality<br />
Institute" or<br />
"Immortality Institute", or "ImmInst", or "Longecity" or "Longe City"<br />
or any similar spelling or any one these words in connection with an<br />
internet sub-level domain name that is registered on behalf of the<br />
Organisation. </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art1_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a><br /><br />
the<br />
Organisation may operate specific aspects of activity under other names<br />
as<br />
agreed by a majority of sitting Directors. The alternative name(s) and<br />
their<br />
associated remit of subsidiary activities shall be listed in the<br />
Bylaws.<br />
  </li><br />
</ul><br />
<br><br />
<p style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em;"><a<br />
name="imm_art2">Article 2 --<br />
Mission </a></p><br />
<br><br />
<ul><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art2_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
mission of the Organisation is to conquer the blight of involuntary<br />
death. </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art2_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a><br /><br />
To advance the mission, the Organisation aims to provide, among<br />
other things:<br />
	<div style="padding-left: 10px;">(a) a<br />
forum for the exchange of information and views;</div><br />
	<div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(b) a<br />
repository of relevant information;</div><br />
	<div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(c.) an electronic infrastructure to support community projects and initiatives;</div><br />
	<div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(d) targeted<br />
funding for relevant community initiatives and projects.</div><br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art2_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Organisation may adopt any further descriptions and announcements and<br />
other<br />
statements of its aims, aspirations, activities, policies, and<br />
positions as<br />
authorised by the Board or made by an authorised Officer. Where such<br />
statements<br />
are to be considered as prominent or important or to referred to on a<br />
regular<br />
basis, the statement shall be incorporated in the Bylaws. </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art2_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Organisation shall operate on a not-for profit basis, organized<br />
exclusively for<br />
charitable, educational, and scientific purposes as may qualify it as<br />
exempt<br />
from federal income tax under applicable sections of the Internal<br />
Revenue Code<br />
(1986), as amended, or corresponding section(s) of any future federal<br />
tax code.<br />
  </li><br />
</ul><br />
<br><br />
<p style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em;"><a<br />
name="imm_art3">Article 3 --<br />
Registered Address </a></p><br />
<br><br />
<ul><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art3_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Organisation shall have the power and right to establish and maintain<br />
offices<br />
and to engage in activity at any other place or places within or<br />
outside the<br />
State it is incorporated in.<br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art3_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
current seat and registered address of the Organisation is c/o Shepard<br />
999 Pleasant<br />
Ave Auburn, Alabama 36832, USA<br />
  </li><br />
</ul><br />
<br><br />
<p style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em;"><a<br />
name="imm_art4">Article 4 -- Internal Regulation </a></p><br />
<br><br />
<ul><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art4_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a><br /><br />
Provisions<br />
for the regulation and management of the affairs of the Organisation<br />
shall be<br />
set out in its Constitution, which consists of the Articles of<br />
Incorporation<br />
and the Bylaws. </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art4_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
operation of the organisation shall be governed by Bylaws. The Bylaws<br />
may be<br />
amended or repealed, in whole or in part, in the manner provided<br />
therein.<br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art4_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a><br /><br />
References<br />
to specific terms in this Constitution shall be to the definition<br />
associated<br />
with that term therein. These specific terms shall be capitalised.<br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art4_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a><br /><br />
References<br />
to specific dates in this Constitution shall be to Greenwich Mean Time.<br />
References<br />
to days as duration shall mean a 24hr period. </li><br />
</ul><br />
<br><br />
<p style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em;"><a<br />
name="imm_art5">Article 5 --<br />
Board of Directors </a></p><br />
<br><br />
<ul><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art5_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Organisation shall be governed by a Board of Directors (the Board)<br />
comprised of<br />
no fewer than three persons. </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art5_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a><br /><br />
All<br />
corporate powers shall be exercised by or under authority of the Board,<br />
and the<br />
business and affairs of the Organisation shall be managed under the<br />
direction<br />
of the Board.<br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art5_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a><br /><br />
Directors<br />
shall be natural persons. The Bylaws may prescribe other qualifications<br />
for Directors<br />
and the manner of their appointment and dismissal. </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art5_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Directors shall not, as such, be liable for obligations of the<br />
Corporation.<br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art5_sec5"><b>Section5</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Board may delegate decisions regarding action, communication, policy,<br />
expenditures, and other matters relating to the affairs of the<br />
Organisation to<br />
appointed Officers or to designated individuals on a temporary basis.<br />
  </li><br />
</ul><br />
<br><br />
<p style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em;"><a<br />
name="imm_art6">Article 6 --<br />
Membership </a></p><br />
<br><br />
<ul><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art6_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Organisation may have one or more classes of Members, the designation<br />
of such<br />
class or classes, the manner of election or appointment and the<br />
qualifications<br />
and rights of the Members of each class shall be set forth in the<br />
Bylaws. </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art6_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a><br /><br />
Members<br />
of the Organisation shall not, as such, be liable for obligations of<br />
the Organisation.<br />
  </li><br />
</ul><br />
<br><br />
<p style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em;"><a<br />
name="imm_art7">Article 7 --<br />
Duration and Dissolution </a></p><br />
<br><br />
<ul><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art7_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
duration of the Organisation shall be perpetual.<br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art7_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Organisation shall not dissolve, disband, discontinue its activities,<br />
deplete<br />
the entirety of its assets or suspend this Constitution except as<br />
provided in<br />
this Article. </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art7_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Organisation shall disband<br />
	<div style="padding-left: 10px;">(a) when<br />
the Mission has been fulfilled as decreed by a unanimous decision of<br />
the Board<br />
and an additional affirmative Referendum (as described in the Bylaws) or</div><br />
	<div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(b) when<br />
it can no longer pursue its mission effectively as decreed by a<br />
unanimous<br />
decision of the Board and an additional affirmative Referendum or</div><br />
	<div style="padding-left: 10px;"><br />
(c.) when<br />
the number of active Directors has been below 3 for more than 150<br />
consecutive<br />
days.</div><br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art7_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a><br /><br />
In<br />
the event of the dissolution of the Organisation, any assets remaining<br />
shall be<br />
disposed of by the Board of Directors, exclusively for the purpose of<br />
fostering<br />
its mission in accordance with law to one or more organizations<br />
(including,<br />
without limitation, organs of federal, state or local government)<br />
engaged in<br />
activities substantially similar to those of the Organisation.<br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art7_sec5"><b>Section5</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
provisions of Title 10, Chapter 3A, and Article 7 of the Code of<br />
Alabama as<br />
amended, or any superseding provisions on the dissolution of non-profit<br />
organisations shall apply.<br />
  </li><br />
</ul><br />
<p style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em;"><a<br />
name="imm_art8">Article 8 --<br />
Transitional arrangements </a></p><br />
<ul><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art8_sec1"><b>Section1</b></a><br /><br />
This<br />
version of the Articles of Incorporation comes into force on January 8<sup>th</sup><br />
2011, 00:08 GMT or as soon as possible thereafter. </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art8_sec2"><b>Section2</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Persons listed in an appendix to these Articles shall continue to be<br />
recognised<br />
as Directors of the Organisation until such time as they are replaced<br />
in<br />
accordance with this Constitution.<br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art8_sec3"><b>Section3</b></a><br /><br />
The<br />
Persons listed in an appendix to these Articles shall continue to be<br />
recognised<br />
as Officers of the Organisation until such time as they are replaced in<br />
accordance with this Constitution.<br />
  </li><br />
  <li style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="imm_art8_sec4"><b>Section4</b></a><br /><br />
Decisions,<br />
votes and agreements made in accordance with the previous Constitution<br />
shall<br />
not be invalidated by the adoption of the revised Articles of<br />
Incorporation,<br />
unless these former decisions, votes and agreements endure and are now<br />
in<br />
conflict with the new revised version in which case they shall be<br />
considered<br />
void wherever possible in law.1<br />
	<p></p><br />
  </li><br />
</ul>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:04:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">eb160de1de89d9058fcb0b968dbbbd68</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Newsletter</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/news/newsletter-r15</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The LongeCity newsletter is usually send out on the 8th day of each month to Members and registered forum users.<br />
<br />
To subscribe or unsubscribe: Visit <a href="http://www.longecity.org/forum/index.php?app=core&module=usercp&tab=core&area=notifications">this link </a> and check if the box for 'Send me any updates sent by the board administrator' is checked.<br />
<br />
<strong><font size="4">Current:</font></strong><br />
<div style="border-color:blue; border-style:solid; margin-left:20px; padding-left:20px; margin-right:20px; background-color:white"><a href="http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2012_04.htm"><img src="http://www.imminst.org/files/imagecache/square_thumbnail/files/announcements/thumbnails/zeitung2.jpg">   <font size="6">April 2012</font></a></div><br />
<hr align="center" color="blue" width="75%"><br />
<strong><font size="3">Past:</font></strong><br />
<strong>-2012-</strong><br />
March 2012: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2012_03.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2012_02.htm</a><br />
February 2012: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2012_02.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2012_02.htm</a><br />
January 2012: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2012_01.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2012_01.htm</a><br />
<br />
<strong>-2011-</strong><br />
December 2012: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_12.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2011_12.htm</a><br />
November 2011: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_11.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2011_11.htm</a><br />
October 2011: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_10.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2011_10.htm</a><br />
September 2011: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_09.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2011_09.htm</a><br />
August 2011: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_08.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2011_08.htm</a><br />
June/July 2011: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_06.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2011_06.htm</a><br />
May 2011: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_05.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2011_05.htm</a><br />
April 2011: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_04.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2011_04.htm</a><br />
March 2011: <a href='http://www.longecity.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_03.htm' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.longecity...ter_2011_03.htm</a><br />
February 2011: <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_02.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2011_02.htm</a><br />
January 2011: <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2011_01.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2011_01.htm</a><br />
<br />
<strong>-2010-</strong><br />
December 2010:  <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_12.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_12.htm</a><br />
November 2010:  <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_11.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_11.htm</a><br />
October 2010:  (Personal address at annual conference)  <br />
September 2010:  <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_09.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_09.htm</a><br />
August 2010:  <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_08.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_08.htm</a><br />
July 2010:  <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_07.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_07.htm</a><br />
June 2010:  <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_06.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_06.htm</a><br />
May 2010:  <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_05.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_05.htm</a><br />
April 2010: <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_04.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_04.htm</a><br />
March 2010: <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_03.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_03.htm</a><br />
February 2010: <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_02.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_02.htm</a><br />
January 2010: <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2010_01.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2010_01.htm</a><br />
<br />
<strong>-2009-</strong><br />
December 2009: <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2009_12.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2009_12.htm</a><br />
November 2009: <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2009_11.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2009_11.htm</a><br />
October 2009: <a href='http://www.imminst.org/newsletter/ImmInstNewsletter_2009_10.htm' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.imminst.o...ter_2009_10.htm</a><br />
<hr>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Sep 2011 06:56:51 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Research funding: Expression of interest sought</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/science/projects/research-funding-expression-of-interest-sought-r14</link>
		<description><![CDATA[LongeCity continues its proud tradition to support small-scale, high-impact life extension research.<br />
 <br />
This round, in honour of the pioneer Robert Ettinger recently placed in cryostasis, we are looking to support a project dealing with cryopreservation, cryobiology, biostasis or a related topic.          <br />
 <br />
Projects should:<br />
- be basic or applied research but basic research should have potential for applied development<br />
- present short updates for Members with interim data, photos from the facility etc at agreed intervals<br />
- be led or overseen by a person with a postgraduate qualification in the relevant field or by a person with demonstrable equivalent experience<br />
- have clearly defined interim milestones<br />
- have a flexible project structure that can be adjusted according to the amount of money raised<br />
- be small in scale - one or two key workers<br />
- be short in duration - 6 months maximum<br />
- not be confidential. LongeCity will expect open and public presentation and discussion of research results. However, confidentiality will be accepted where a manuscript is prepared for publication or where a patent is filed.<br />
 <br />
LongeCity will be able to support a project with a minimum of $2000 and up to $6000, subject to matching by other donors.<br />
LongeCity will launch a call for matching donations and every donation generated in that call will go towards the project budget.<br />
 <br />
 <br />
Interested parties should send<br />
- a project outline of no more than 800 words written in lay language but supported by up to 5 literature references<br />
- a curriculum vitae of the project leader<br />
 <br />
to support@imminst.org<br />
 <br />
<span style='font-size: 18px;'>Deadline: August 31st!</span><br />
 <br />
 <br />
<span style='font-size: 18px;'>--</span>]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:46:25 +0000</pubDate>
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	<item>
		<title>LongeCity Leadership</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/longecity-leadership-r13</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Under the old Constitution, new Director elections would be commenced on January 8th (today). In some respects, this annual election was a very useful event: Members were reminded that they hold the key to determining the direction of the Institute, either by examining the various candidates or by running<br />
themselves. <br><br />
The annual election cycle also had disadvantages. Many activities were put on hold effectively between Jan 1st and Feb.8th. Sometimes it seemed candidates were in the running simply because &lsquo;elections were called&rsquo; &ndash; and to be fair, we often felt that we needed to encourage candidates simply to keep the numbers up.<br />
<br />
Also, the limited tenure of Directors had its own problems: If a Director was active and committed the requirement to run again could potentially dampen enthusiasm. If a Directors ceased to be active, there it was sometimes felt that<br />
it would be easier to wait until the term expires instead of removing that person from post. <br><br />
<br><br />
There are many other arguments for and against the old system. In any event, we have now adopted a new one: Director elections are now possible four times per year, but only if there are actually interested and committed candidates. If you don&rsquo;t like the work of a Director, you can replace him/her by doing better: You can initiate a &lsquo;challenge election&rsquo; by standing against an incumbent Director.<br />
We hope that this system will at the same time be more dynamic while also leading to greater stability in leadership.<br><br />
Nonetheless, the basic tenets have not changed: The responsibility of selecting Directors remains with our membership, and with individual Members. <br><br />
We could certainly use more people on the board. Maybe you would like to serve as Director, or know of someone who should. <br><br />
<b>Suggestions for prospective candidates</b>:<br />
-- If you haven&rsquo;t worked actively with at least one team, you should start there. Through work in a team, you get more interaction with the Board and your capacity and commitment will be apparent to leader- and membership. Easy teams to join are the Editors, Recorders or Moderators.<br />
-- A great start would be to take up the leadership of a specific project &ndash; if you can motivate others and chaperone a project from idea to implementation you are definitely Director material.<br />
-- You should remember that being a Director comes with certain responsibilities, legal, organisational and moral. You need to consider what time you can realistically invest, and base that assessment not just on your current circumstances but planning ahead at least ten months to a year.<br />
-- Look out for Board meetings and management meetings on skype and try to attend as many as possible. Normally these meetings or large parts at least are open to all Members, and you would be expected to attend once in Leadership.<br />
-- Try to get to know people in leadership a little bit, and make sure that you have support from volunteers and Members as well. LongeCity is a community endeavour. Reforms and better ways of working are certainly always on the cards, but we have no need for people who waltz in with a self-satisfied attitude and who only seek to criticise and belittle.<br />
-- Read the &lsquo;decisions archive&rsquo;. Familiarise yourself with previous projects &ndash; including the ones that didn&rsquo;t get off the ground. Study the financial data. ImmInst has been around for a while. You don&rsquo;t need to know the minutiae of our history, but you should demonstrate some understanding of the organisation you are leading.<br />
-- Read the Constitution. You will need to share some personal details (Bylaw C Art.I,s.2), sign the leadership pledge (Bylaw C Art.I,s.3) , and comply with the other duties and requirements outlined therein, and understand &ndash;at least roughly &ndash; how they operate.<br />
<br />
These are just some suggestions. Feel free to get in touch anytime to discuss your individual circumstances and interests.<br />
<br />
<hr><br />
So, this is an open invitation for candidates &ndash; for Director, Lead Officer, for team leader or team member &ndash; to step forward.<br />
	<br><br />
	<b>Directors</font></b>:<br><br />
The next date for Director elections is March. (then June and September). Candidates can formally declare their candidature between March 1st and 8th, (although, as explained above, an informal exp<b></b>ressi&#111;n of interest would be<br />
useful much earlier). Within 56 hours of announcing candidature, a candidate must be endorsed by 8 Members &ndash; so make sure your friends are ready.<br />
Currently, the board is not at full capacity, so you can decide if you want  to simply join the board or if you want to replace a sitting Director.<br />
Only Individuals who have been Members for more than 8 months may stand as candidate for Director election. The elections will be conducted in a Referendum in the same month.<br><br />
<b>Lead Officers:</b><br />
	The following Lead officer positions exist:<br />
	1) the President shall act as the chief executive officer<br />
	2) the Secretary shall manage membership affairs<br />
	3) the Treasurer shall manage financial affairs<br />
	4) the Team Coordinator shall oversee various volunteer activities<br />
	5) the Lead Editor shall serve as an Editor and oversee the Editors<br />
	6) the Lead Moderator shall serve as a Moderator and shall oversee the Moderators<br />
	7) the Lead Engineer shall serve as a Engineer and oversee the Engineers<br />
Currently, all of these roles are filled by Directors in a caretaker capacity. We would much prefer to diversify, so if you are interested in one of these jobs talk to a Director about it.<br />
	<br><br />
	<b>Project leader:</b><br />
This is an informal role, but a great way to join leadership on your own terms. Firstly, you suggest a project in the &lsquo;Project suggestions&rsquo; forum. It may take some time to get the project evaluated and adopted, but if it&rsquo;s a great idea, not too expensive and you are willing to put in the time it shouldn&rsquo;t be too difficult to get official support quickly.    <br><br />
	<b>Teams:</b><br />
Joining most team is much less complicated. You don&rsquo;t have to become a member and you don&rsquo;t have to join leadership. Click here if you would like to join a team. (Link inactive)<br />
---]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:48:23 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>30 seconds to improve this website</title>
		<link>http://www.longecity.org/forum/page/index.html/_/articles/longecity/30-seconds-to-improve-this-website-r12</link>
		<description><![CDATA[<em class='bbc'><span style='font-size: 14px;'>Do you want to take to make this a better website? </span></em><br />
LongeCity is firmly a community website. There is very little 'official' content, because we believe in the wisdom of groups and in the dynamics of collective action.<br />
In the long run, visiting LongeCity is only worth your while if there are not just passive consumers but active contributors.<br />
 <br />
<strong class='bbc'><span style='font-size: 12px;'>Have you got half a minute? </span></strong><ul class='bbc'><br /><li><a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/links/' class='bbc_url' title=''>Add a link</a> to an interesting website<br /></li><li><a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/videos/' class='bbc_url' title=''>Add a video</a> on a relevant topic<br /></li><li>Share a <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/gallery/' class='bbc_url' title=''>picture or a photograph</a><br /></li><li>Share a discussion on facebook, digg or any other social networking site<br /></li><li>Vote reputation on posts of high or low quality<br /></li><li>Suggest a speaker for the <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/63-broadcasts/' class='bbc_url' title=''>LongeCity Chat</a><br /></li><li>Invite someone you know to the forum ( you can use the referral link at the <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/' class='bbc_url' title=''>bottom of the right-hand column here</a>)<br /></li></ul><br />
<strong class='bbc'><span style='font-size: 12px;'>Have you got half an hour?</span></strong><ul class='bbc'><br /><li>Post a comment with a little bit of extra work, using references<br /></li><li>Edit one of our <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/42483-ustream-videos/' class='bbc_url' title=''>archived broadcasts</a><br /></li><li>Edit our <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/47800-imminst-wikipedia-page-ideas/' class='bbc_url' title=''>entry at Wikipedia</a><br /></li><li>Post an article <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/blogs/' class='bbc_url' title=''>to your blog</a>(at LongeCity or syndicated here)<br /></li><li>Review a couple of recent posts in the <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/forum/341-ideas/' class='bbc_url' title=''>ideas forum</a> if there is anything that appeals to you or that you would help with.<br /></li><li>Write a letter to an expert asking him/her to answer a post in the forum.<br /></li><li><del class='bbc'>Convert our <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/47455-constitution-to-html/' class='bbc_url' title=''>Constitution into HTML</a> </del> (done)<br /></li></ul><br />
<strong class='bbc'><span style='font-size: 12px;'>Have you got half a day? </span></strong><br />
 <br />
Volunteers who can spend just half a day per month are urgently needed and can really make a difference in advancing out mission. If you can spare a few hours, please get in touch with our <a href='http://www.longecity.org/forum/user/523-brokenportal/' class='bbc_url' title=''>Teams Coordinator</a> who can help to match your experience, expertise and interests with a suitable project.<br />
 <br />
 <br />
---]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:42:11 +0000</pubDate>
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