Posts Tagged ‘Hormones To Build Muscles’
Top 10 tips for keeping osteoporosis at bay
1. Dear dairy
A rise in “faddy” diets and a decline in dairy consumption means we’re not getting enough crucial bone-building calcium, warns the All-Party Parliamentary Osteoporosis Group (APPOG).
“Make sure you eat dairy products – the amount of calcium you need equates to one pint of milk a day,” advises Julia Thomson, a specialist nurse at the National Osteoporosis Society.
Dried fruit, green leafy veg like kale, broccoli and spinach and bony fish such as tinned salmon and sardines are all good sources, as are breakfast cereals fortified with calcium.
2. Catch some rays
Even if you are eating enough calcium, your body needs vitamin D to utilise it – but studies suggest that a significant proportion of the UK population is vitamin D deficient.
“Although we can get small amounts from oily fish and eggs, our main source is sunshine on the skin,” says Julia, who recommends 10 minutes’ sun each day on bare arms and faces.
If that’s not possible, perhaps because you’re housebound or you cover up for cultural reasons (also if you are pregnant, breast-feeding or over 65), you should consider taking a daily vitamin D supplement.
3. Let’s get physical
Your skeleton grows stronger with regular weight-bearing exercise, and it’s never too late to start.
“This means any kind of physical activity that requires supporting the weight of your own body,” says Julia Thomson. “For example, jogging, aerobics, tennis, dancing and brisk walking – but not swimming or cycling.”
Exercising will not only help to build bone density but also increase flexibility and stability, reducing the chances of a fall.
But don’t go overboard: the hormonal imbalances that result from intense training can lead to decreased bone mass – osteopenia – which is why professional gymnasts, dancers and athletes are at risk of developing osteoporosis.
Incorporate brief bouts of high-impact exercise, like jumping up and down on the spot or skipping, which “jolts” the hips and spine, strengthening them.
4. Simply irresistible
Resistance exercises strengthen the muscle fibres that pull on your bones, causing bones to become denser over time.
Studies show that weight training is a great way to achieve this. You can incorporate resistance exercises using your own body weight by doing press-ups, or you can use hand weights at home while working out to fitness DVDs. Alternatively you can simply use resistance machines at a gym.
5. Weighty matters
While heavier people tend to have a higher bone mass, being overweight has implications for joint health, increasing the risk of osteoarthritis. At the opposite end of the scale, eating disorders such as anorexia – or being so underweight that your periods stop – can increase the risk of osteoporosis. This is because the female hormone oestrogen plays a vital role in protecting the bones. So if you do need to lose weight, do it sensibly over time, rather than by a crash diet.
6. Pass the salt
Salt is thought to speed up the body’s loss of calcium. Most of us consume at least 50 per cent more than the recommended daily limit, so instead of sprinkling it on your food, keep salt levels down by using alternatives in cooking such as herbs, chilli and spices.
Also curb your consumption of crisps, ham, cooking sauces and processed foods such as pies, sausages, ready meals, pizza and soups, all of which tend to be very high in salt.
7. Avoid the fizz
The next time you get a thirst, stop before you reach for a can of pop, because it seems that fizzy drinks can have an adverse effect on bones. Researchers at harvard Medical School reported that girls who consumed several carbonated drinks a day were five times more likely to suffer bone fractures. It is thought that the phosphorous content of the drinks damages bones by altering the balance of minerals in the body. Too much caffeine can have a similar effect, says Julia. So limit your coffee intake and opt for water, squash and milk instead of fizzy drinks.
8. Less is more
While a little of what you fancy can do you good, it seems that certain habits are bad news for your bones. Smokers have significantly lower bone density and, while the odd glass of wine is beneficial to bone health, excess alcohol can prevent bones from absorbing nutrients from your food, which will impact on the production of bone-building cells, says Julia Thomson.
9. Are you at risk?
While lifestyle habits are important, bone health is largely determined by our genes, so you need to be aware of any family history of osteoporosis. Experiencing an early menopause (before the age of 45) also increases your risk, warns Julia. Experts agree that HRT in these circumstances is vital to replace levels of oestrogen, which is essential for bone retention. to assess your individual risk, take the National Osteoporosis Society quiz at www.nos.org.uk/risk.
10. Hip joints
Fracturing your hip over the age of 60 significantly increases your chances of dying within a decade, according to a study in the journal of the American Medical Association. So identify any hazards in the home such as loose rugs, slippery steps or floors, poor lighting and anything that can be tripped over.
Osteoporosis: the facts
Osteoporosis is a disease that causes the bones to become fragile and prone to breaking. Most sufferers are unaware of their condition until they fracture a bone.
The National Osteoporosis Society estimates that 1,150 people die in the UK every month as a result of hip fractures.
Broken wrists, hips and spinal bones are the most common fractures in people affected by osteoporosis, but fractures can occur elsewhere in the body.
Although osteoporosis can’t be cured, there is a range of drug treatments available to help strengthen bones. Most will decrease the risk of fracture by about 50 per cent.
You are in a higher-risk category if you have experienced one or more of the following: a fracture after a minor fall, early menopause, a history of missed periods, or a long-term course of corticosteroid drugs. If any of the above applies to you, talk to your GP. you may be referred for a bone scan or need treatment or specialist advice.
Call the National Osteoporosis Society helpline on 0845 450 0230 or visit www.nos.org.uk.
Increase in testosterone prescriptions raises concerns about abuse – Austin American
The number of middle-aged men with prescriptions for testosterone is climbing rapidly, raising concerns that increasing numbers of men are abusing the powerful hormone to boost their libidos and feel younger, according to a study led by a University of Texas Medical Branch researcher in Galveston.
Testosterone replacement therapy is approved for the treatment of abnormally low testosterone levels, a condition called hypogonadism. The hormone helps build muscle, reduce body fat and improve sex drive. But the study published this month in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that many men who get prescriptions for the hormone have no evidence of a deficiency.
The new study is the largest ever of testosterone prescribing patterns, involving nearly 11 million men who were tracked through a large health insurer. The report showed that the number of older and middle-aged men prescribed the hormone has tripled since 2001.
Men in their 40s represent the fastest-growing group of users. About half of men prescribed testosterone had a diagnosis of hypogonadism, and roughly 40 percent had erectile or sexual dysfunction. One third had a diagnosis of fatigue.
The medical group that sets clinical guidelines for testosterone replacement therapy, the Endocrine Society, recommends treatment only in men who have unequivocally low testosterone levels. That finding requires a blood test. But the new report found that a quarter of men didn’t have their levels tested before they received the hormone. It was also unclear what proportion of men who did undergo testing actually had results showing a deficiency.
Testosterone therapy can cause thickening of the blood, acne and reduced sperm counts. Many doctors worry that it also raises the risk of heart disease and prostate cancer, though some experts say that those concerns are unproved. Jacques Baillargeon, the lead author of the new research, said the safety of long-term testosterone use had yet to be established in good studies.
“I think these relatively healthy men who are starting testosterone at age 40 are potentially going to be exposed for a very long time, and we don’t know what the risks are,” said Baillargeon, a UTMB associate professor of epidemiology.
In men, testosterone levels normally begin a gradual decline after age 30. The average levels for most men range from 300 to 1,000 nanograms per deciliter of blood. But testosterone levels can fluctuate so greatly depending on many factors — sleep, the time of day, medication — that many men who fall into the hypogonadal range one day will have normal levels the next.
Some studies estimate that up to 30 percent of men ages 40 to 79 have a true deficiency, though only a small percentage actually develop such clinical symptoms as depression, hot flashes and erectile dysfunction.
Dr. Ronald Swerdloff, an endocrinologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an author of the Endocrine Society’s treatment guidelines, said the recommendations were “quite clear” that treatment is for men who have had blood tests showing a testosterone deficiency, as well as symptoms consistent with the disorder.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for patients to be treated for hypogonadism without chemical evidence to support it,” he said.
Dr. Abraham Morgentaler, a Harvard Medical School urology professor and author of “Testosterone for Life,” said the findings were a good sign that more testosterone deficiencies were being diagnosed and treated. While many doctors worry about the side effects of testosterone abuse, he said, there are also studies showing that men with low testosterone levels have shorter life spans and an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis.
“Aging is associated with bad vision, bad hearing, bad teeth, bad arteries, bad joints and cancer, and we treat all of these things,” Morgentaler said. “I think it’s an unfair stretch to say that because something is common or natural that we shouldn’t treat it.”
DR. ROLLINS: If diet & exercise don’t work, it might be your hormones
The frustration of not losing weight despite eating right and exercising is usually related to hormone imbalances. Last week I wrote about hormones that cause weight gain. Now let’s consider several hormones that can you help lose weight! Some of them increase metabolism, some build muscle, while others lower appetite and cravings plus stimulate the breakdown of fat.
HORMONES THAT INCREASE METABOLISM
Thyroid hormone is our main metabolic hormone, directly increasing the burning of calories. It increases the body temperature and overall energy. Thyroid helps our fuel (food) burn more efficiently and will improve cholesterol metabolism. Thyroid sensitizes other hormone receptors so they operate better. Optimizing thyroid is similar to turning up the furnace or tuning an engine — the body simply operates better.
Glucagon, from the pancreas, is the opposite of insulin and works to release fat and glucose from storage to be used as fuel. Protein intake will increase glucagon while high blood sugar and high insulin levels will turn down glucagon production.
Many women are progesterone-deficient and have heavy estrogen-dominant menstrual cycles coupled with PMS for several weeks when their estrogen is not balanced with enough progesterone. Aside from weight gain caused by estrogen dominance, the low progesterone encourages weight gain as progesterone supports thyroid while increasing body temperature and metabolism.
HORMONES THAT BUILD MUSCLE
Androgen hormones such as testosterone and DHEA build muscle and break down fat. They directly turn on DNA to make protein and build structure such as muscle and bone. They also “kickstart” enzymes that break down fat. The fat accumulation around the belly of aging men and women (over 40) is partly due to declining levels of these androgen hormones.
Growth hormone is touted as the “mother of anti-aging” hormones since it has so many benefits that promote health and slow aging. Made by the liver, it too will build muscle and bone while breaking down fat.
These hormones are all “anabolic” which means they build tissue. Unlike the synthetic anabolic hormones abused by sports stars, these natural anabolic hormones promote strong healthy bodies. Unfortunately, they normally decline with aging such that by age 50-60 most of us are starting to show the signs of their disappearance.
HORMONES THAT LOWER APPETITE, CRAVINGS
Leptin is a fascinating hormone that was only discovered in 1994 and since then has generated much interest in the area of weight loss. Leptin is made by fat cells and will signal the brain to lower our appetite and increase metabolism. Leptin increases with weight gain, which sounds good, but similar to insulin, as we gain weight and make more leptin, we become more and more resistant to its beneficial effects. When I treat someone with insulin resistance, I just assume they have leptin resistance as well and treat both.
Several hormones affect our mood, sleep and appetite. The key players are melatonin (sleep), serotonin (mood), dopamine (pleasure), and GABA (mood). Melatonin is our main nighttime hormone, helping to promote restful sleep and the production of other hormones such as thyroid and growth hormone. Melatonin levels decline by age 45-50 and many people start having sleep disturbances around this age.
Serotonin deficiency is the cause of low mood and certain foods such as sugar and high-glycemic foods will temporarily stimulate serotonin. Dopamine is our pleasure hormone being associated with cravings, appetite and activities such as sex. Stimulant drugs increase dopamine and lead to the “high” associated with them. GABA influences mood by calming the brain, balancing the effects of dopamine and serotonin, thus promoting restful sleep and a calm, controlled mood. Proper support of this family of hormones will support controlled appetite and cravings.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Restful sleep has so many benefits on natural hormone production that perhaps it is our most important strategy to successful weight loss! During deep sleep we make more anabolic hormones and more leptin. Melatonin is part of the normal sleep cycle and is promoted by absolute darkness, quiet and cooler temperatures.
Regular exercise is another way to increase anabolic hormone production and improve insulin and leptin sensitivity so that each works properly. A combination of aerobic (walking, etc) and anaerobic (strength training) is ideal. Peak intensity training, also called interval or burst training, to threshold will maximize growth-hormone output.
Diet plays a major role in more than just the amount of calories consumed. The proper balance of proteins and carbohydrates is essential. The protein stimulates glucagon production and provides the amino acids necessary to make serotonin, dopamine and GABA. Protein is also necessary for good muscle development. Including anti-inflammatory fats (omega-3) is also important as fats do not stimulate insulin and help provide a long lasting energy source. Eliminating sugar and limiting high-glycemic foods and inflammatory fats (saturated, red meat) will help. Avoid high-fructose energy drinks!
We recommend many natural supplements to help with hormone production. 5-HTP will help serotonin, tyrosine will increase dopamine, and GABA supplements can be taken directly. Irvingia (from Life Extension) is derived from the African Bush Mango and is a great product that helps increase leptin sensitivity. These are just a few of the dozens of natural supplements that can help manage weight.
Thyroid and progesterone imbalances are often cured by recognizing the underlying cause of the deficiency and treating the root cause. Medical conditions such as leaky gut or gut dysbiosis, autoimmune disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome and others need be identified and fixed. At some point, direct hormone replacement is indicated for the normal age-related decline in the anabolic hormones.
Our weight loss program addresses all these issues and many others. Simply telling patients to “watch what you eat and exercise more” is not good enough! Addressing hormone imbalances is a necessary part of successful weight loss.
Scott Rollins, M.D., is board certified with the American Board of Family Practice and the American Board of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. He specializes in bioidentical hormone replacement, thyroid and adrenal disorders, fibromyalgia and other complex medical conditions. He is founder and medical director of the Integrative Medicine Center of Western Colorado (www.imcwc.com) and Bellezza Laser Aesthetics (www.bellezzalaser.com). Call 970-245-6911 for appointments or more information.
5 Vitamins And Supplements To Stop Taking (And What To Take Instead)
As you get older, health advice like “Drink your milk to grow big and strong” gives way to “Take your calcium pills to avoid osteoporosis.” Taking your vitamins is especially important post 50, “as the absorption of nutrients and minerals and vitamins can decline,” explained Dr. Mickey Barber, president of Cenegics Carolinas. “We don’t absorb as efficently as we once did.”
While eating can be a great way to get the vitamins and minerals our bodies need for optimum cell function, it’s impossible to get all of them from every meal. “Unless you’re growing your own food and it’s all organic, pesticide and hormone free, you cook all your own meals [and] you never eat out,” Barber said, “you’re going to need at least a multivitamin.”
But some of the vitamins and supplements we take may do more harm than good, Barber warns. Here’s a guide to five vitamins and supplements you should stop taking. (Be sure to consult with your doctor for any possible counter interactions with medicines you’re currently taking.)
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Men’s Use of Testosterone on the Rise
The number of middle-aged men with prescriptions for testosterone is climbing rapidly, raising concerns that increasing numbers of men are abusing the powerful hormone to boost their libidos and feel younger, researchers reported on Monday.
Testosterone replacement therapy is approved specifically for the treatment of abnormally low testosterone levels, a condition called hypogonadism. The hormone helps build muscle, reduce body fat and improve sex drive. But a study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that many men who get prescriptions for the hormone have no evidence of a deficiency at all.
The new study is the largest of testosterone prescribing patterns to date, involving nearly 11 million men who were tracked through a large health insurer. The report showed that the number of older and middle-aged men prescribed the hormone has tripled since 2001.
Men in their 40s represent the fastest-growing group of users. About half of men prescribed testosterone had a diagnosis of hypogonadism, and roughly 40 percent had erectile or sexual dysfunction. One third had a diagnosis of fatigue.
The medical group that sets clinical guidelines for testosterone replacement therapy, the Endocrine Society, recommends treatment only in men who have unequivocally low testosterone levels. That finding requires a blood test. But the new report found that a quarter of men did not have their levels tested before they received the hormone. It was also unclear what proportion of men who did undergo testing actually had results showing a deficiency.
Testosterone therapy can cause thickening of the blood, acne and reduced sperm counts. Many doctors worry that it also raises the risk of heart disease and prostate cancer, though some experts say that those concerns are unproved. Jacques Baillargeon, the lead author of the new research, said that the safety of long-term testosterone use had yet to be established in good studies.
“I think these relatively healthy men who are starting testosterone at age 40 are potentially going to be exposed for a very long time, and we don’t know what the risks are,” said Dr. Baillargeon, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
In men, testosterone levels normally begin a gradual decline after the age of 30. The average levels for most men range from 300 to 1,000 nanograms per deciliter of blood. But testosterone levels can fluctuate so greatly depending on so many factors — sleep, the time of day, medication — that many men who fall into the hypogonadal range one day will have normal levels the next.
Some studies estimate that up to 30 percent of men ages 40 to 79 have a true deficiency, though only a small percentage actually develop clinical symptoms like depression, hot flashes and erectile dysfunction.
Dr. Ronald S. Swerdloff, an endocrinologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an author of the Endocrine Society’s treatment guidelines, said the recommendations were “quite clear” that treatment is for men who have had blood tests showing a testosterone deficiency, as well as symptoms consistent with the disorder. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for patients to be treated for hypogonadism without chemical evidence to support it,” he said.
Dr. Abraham Morgentaler, a professor of urology at Harvard Medical School and the author of “Testosterone for Life,” said the findings were a good sign that more testosterone deficiencies were being diagnosed and treated. While many doctors worry about the side effects of testosterone abuse, he said, there are also studies showing that men with low testosterone levels have shorter life spans and an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis.
“Aging is associated with bad vision, bad hearing, bad teeth, bad arteries, bad joints and cancer, and we treat all of these things,” Dr. Morgentaler said. “I think it’s an unfair stretch to say that because something is common or natural that we shouldn’t treat it.”
Make Over Your Glute Exercises With These Sculpting Tips
By Tracy Hafen for YouBeauty
If you’ve tried every glute-sculpting workout you can find and still see flat or saggy results, you may just need to tweak what you’re doing to turn disappointment into an uplifting success.
Most glute workouts rightly incorporate squats, lunges, step ups and dead lifts. I’m not going to rehash or describe them here. You can find them easily online. I’m also not going to go into proper technique or discuss the risks associated with each exercise. You can find that elsewhere, too. What I am going to do is tell you how to adjust these exercises to actually make them work for you.
More from YouBeauty:
Top Trainers Share Their Favorite Butt-Toning Moves
Booty-Shaping Workouts For Your Butt Type
The Best Jean Pockets For Your Butt Shape
Up The Resistance
If you can do more than 12 repetitions of your chosen glute exercise, whether that’s squats, lunges, step ups or dead lifts, add more resistance. Ten barbell squats to fatigue will do more to shape your rear than 50 squats without added weight. To build muscle effectively, you must have enough resistance to make the exercise tough… so tough that you can’t do more than 8 to 12 repetitions. Add a barbell, dumbbells, sandbags, a weighted vest, a kettlebell — whatever you want. You can also increase resistance by switching to single leg squats.
Apply Plyometrics And Speed
Add a jump or hop to your traditional glute exercises. Do jump squats, step ups with a hop at the top of the motion (also holding a dumbbell for added intensity, if needed) and lunges with a jump between reps. Use caution when adding extra weight to these plyometric exercises. The extra weight increases injury risk but can also provide more dramatic results. On the cardio interval side, perform short sprints and side-to-side skater leaps to build and shape your glutes — if uphill, all the better.
Bring Your Thigh Closer To Your Chest
The more flexion you have at the front of the hip, the more work your glutes have to do to extend the hip. In practice, this involves leaning the torso forward slightly from the hip (not by curving the back) during exercises such as the lunge and step ups. The closer you get the thigh to the chest, the better. Also, with step ups, place the working leg at least two inches higher than the trailing leg. This may mean skipping one or even two steps when using stairs or using a higher stool than you’re used to. The higher, the better, as long as you can perform the step up safely. Try to minimize push-off with the trailing leg.
Pay Attention During The Lowering Phase
Normally we focus on the “up” or lifting portion of a squat, lunge, step up or dead lift. The “down” portion, or lowering phase, is at least, if not more, important. Take your time with the lowering phase, and control the motion to its end.
Avoid The Treadmill And Elliptical Machine
Treadmills and elliptical machines, because of the movement of the belt beneath you or the help given to the glutes of one leg by the hip flexors of the other leg, can lead to glute “shut down” or glute laziness. When possible, train on firm ground and preferably on hills and/or stairs. This does not mean you can never use these machines, but do not use them exclusively. When you do use the treadmill, incline it 5 to 7 percent.
Building and shaping your glutes requires intense work and places significant demands on your muscles and joints. Not all people can achieve the goal of sculpted glutes without injury. If you notice any signs of overuse or strain, decrease the intensity of your workouts and get with a trainer to make sure your exercise technique is correct. A great looking butt is nice, but a body functioning without pain is nicer.
Finally, realize that genetics do play a role in your results. The shape of your derrière is somewhat predetermined by the length of your tendons and where those tendons of your hamstrings and glutes attach to the bone. In addition, levels of various hormones such as testosterone, growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), affect how much muscle development you will achieve. Some people see more growth than they want, while others won’t quite reach the muscle development they wish for.
Also on HuffPost:
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This Man Is Not a Cyborg. Yet.
Namely: Are you insane?
“I hear that often,” he said with a smile, over lunch one recent afternoon in Manhattan. “There are quotes from people like Arthur C. Clarke and Gandhi saying that when people come up with new ideas they’re called ‘nuts.’ Then everybody starts believing in the idea and nobody can remember a time when it seemed strange.”
It is hard to imagine a day when the ideas championed by Mr. Itskov, 32, a Russian multimillionaire and former online media magnate, will not seem strange, or at least far-fetched and unfeasible. His project, called the 2045 Initiative, for the year he hopes it is completed, envisions the mass production of lifelike, low-cost avatars that can be uploaded with the contents of a human brain, complete with all the particulars of consciousness and personality.
What Mr. Itskov is striving for makes wearable computers, like Google Glass, seem as about as futuristic as Lincoln Logs. This would be a digital copy of your mind in a nonbiological carrier, a version of a fully sentient person that could live for hundreds or thousands of years. Or longer. Mr. Itskov unabashedly drops the word “immortality” into conversation.
Yes, we have seen this movie and, yes, it always leads to evil robots enslaving humanity, the Earth reduced to smoldering ruins. And it’s quite possible that Mr. Itskov’s plans, in the fullness of time, will prove to be nothing more than sci-fi bunk.
But he has the attention, and in some cases the avid support, of august figures at Harvard, M.I.T. and Berkeley and leaders in fields like molecular genetics, neuroprosthetics and other realms that you’ve probably never heard of. Roughly 30 speakers from these and other disciplines will appear at the second annual 2045 Global Future Congress on June 15 and 16 at Alice Tully Hall, in Lincoln Center in Manhattan.
Though billed as a congress, the event is more like a showcase and conference that is open to the public, with general admission tickets starting at $750. (About 400 tickets, roughly half the total available, have been sold so far.) Attendees will hear people like Sir Roger Penrose, an emeritus professor of mathematical physics at Oxford, who appears on the 2045.com Web site with a video teaser about “the quantum nature of consciousness,” and George M. Church, a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School, whose video on the site concerns “brain healthspan extension.”
As these videos suggest, scientists are taking tiny, incremental steps toward melding humans and machine all the time. Ray Kurzweil, the futurist and now Google’s director of engineering, argued in “The Singularity Is Near,” a 2005 book, that technology is advancing exponentially and that “human life will be irreversibly transformed” to the point that there will be no difference between “human and machine or between physical and virtual reality.”
Mr. Kurzweil was projecting based on the scientific and intellectual ferment of the time. And technological achievements have continued their march since he wrote the book — from creating computers that can that can outplay humans (like Watson, the “Jeopardy” winner from I.B.M.) to technology that tracks a game player’s heartbeat and perhaps his excitement (like the new Kinect) to digital tools for those with disabilities (like brain implants that can help quadriplegics move robotic arms).
But most researchers do not aspire to upload our minds to cyborgs; even in this crowd, the concept is a little out there. Academics seem to regard Mr. Itskov as sincere and well-intentioned, and if he wants play global cheerleader for fields that generally toil in obscurity, fine. Ask participants in the 2045 conference if Mr. Itskov’s dreams could ultimately be realized and you’ll hear everything from lukewarm versions of “maybe” to flat-out enthusiasm.
“I have a rule against saying something is impossible unless it violates laws of physics,” Professor Church says, adding about Mr. Itskov: “I just think that there’s a lot of dots that aren’t connected in his plans. It’s not a real road map.”
Martine A. Rothblatt, another speaker at the coming conference and founder of United Therapeutics, a biotech company that makes cardiovascular products, sounds more optimistic.
“This is no more wild than in the early ‘60s, when we saw the advent of liver and kidney transplants,” Ms. Rothblatt says. “People said at the time, ‘This is totally crazy.’ Now, about 400 people have organs transplanted every day.”
Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting from Moscow.
