Health briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 16, 2001

Report: Sleep gene finding could fight jet lag

Researchers have identified the first gene involved in regulating the human sleep cycle, an advance that could lead to new ways to treat such sleeping problems as jet lag.

Kong L. Toh of the University of Utah and colleagues made the discovery by studying a Utah family with the unusual disorder known as familial advanced sleep-phase syndrome, or FASPS. The disorder causes people to fall asleep unusually early, about 7:30 p.m., and awake unusually early, about 4:30 a.m.

The family members had a defect in a gene known as hPer2, according to a report that will be published in the journal Science. Experiments with fruit flies have shown that the gene plays a crucial role in regulating the body's circadian rhythm -- the body clock that controls a variety of basic bodily functions, such as sleep.

"Such discoveries will likely provide novel insights into human sleep and may improve our ability to treat ... other sleep-phase disorders such as ... jet lag and (problems associated with) shift work," the researchers wrote.

Scientist bets we can live to 150

MOSCOW, Idaho -- Two researchers have bet $500-million on what the world record will be for a human life span -- a jackpot payable long after they are gone.

S. Jay Olshansky and Steven Austad established a trust fund this year with $150 each. The fund will grow until Jan. 1, 2150, when the bet is up and payable to the heirs of the winner.

Austad believes someone already born will win him the wager, living to 150, because technology will allow the growth of replacement parts. Olshansky bet that 130 is the top end of the human life span. The wager coincides with the release of a book Olshansky wrote with Bruce Carnes, The Quest for Immortality: Science at the Frontiers of Aging.

The winner will be decided by three scientists chosen by an international scientific organization. If the winner has no living heirs in 2150, universities will receive the money.

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