In what is the first conviction under the U.S. federal statute outlawing black-market organ sales, a Brooklyn man named Levy Izhak Rosenbaum pleaded guilty Thursday to brokering three illegal kidney transplants for at least $120,000 each (a huge markup) and conspiring to arrange yet another sale. He boasted on tape that he actually handled "quite a lot" during the decade-long scheme.

At 60 years of age, Rosenbaum is but one of 46 people arrested in 2009 in a massive federal corruption probe dubbed "Operation Big Rig" that ensnared dozens of officials, politicians, community and religious leaders involved in organ sales, money laundering, and political corruption over an investigative period of 10 years.

From January 2006 to February 2009, Rosenbaum conspired to obtain kidneys from paid donors in exchange for payments of $120,000, $150,000 and $140,000 from three recipients of the organs.

"Rosenbaum admitted he was not new to the human kidney business when he was caught brokering what he thought was a black-market deal," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a release.

"A black market in human organs is not only a grave threat to public health, it reserves lifesaving treatment for those who can best afford it at the expense of those who cannot [...] We will not tolerate such an affront to human dignity."

Rosenbaum faces up to 20 years in prison when he's sentenced February 2. He agreed to forfeit $420,000 he received in connection with the three transplants and admitted that he invented cover stories and fictitious relationships between donors and recipients so doctors wouldn't know a kidney was being sold.

His black market involvement was exposed with the help of Solomon Dwek, a cooperating criminal defendant who helped prosecutors develop charges against defendants in the "Operation Big Rig" case. Posed as an employee of Dwek and claiming that her uncle needed a transplant, an undercover agent met with Rosenbaum in mid-February 2008. He told them that it was illegal to buy and sell organs but that he had been "doing this a long time" and explained that he would help the recipient and donor concoct a false story to support the appearance of a legitimate donation, Fishman said. Rosenbaum also claimed he would be in charge of "babysitting" the donor after the person arrived from overseas.

"I am what you call a matchmaker," he told the snitch. "I've never had a failure."

During Thursday's plea, Rosenbaum admitted that he typically located Israelis who were willing to be paid for giving up their kidneys and that he was responsible for travel arrangements for the donor to the United States along with their accomodations pre- and post-operation. He arranged for blood samples and helped each paid donor and recipient fabricate stories to fool hospital staff. His lawyers noted that the surgeries took place in "prestigious American hospitals and were performed by experienced and expert" surgeons. He remains free on bail and under house arrest pending sentencing scheduled for February 2, 2012.

Methuselah Foundation's New Organ Prize not only serves to catalyze progress in tissue and organ regeneration but it also aims to make the crimes of the black market a thing of the past. In a future where an individual in need of an organ can have one made with their own cells, the market for organs exploited from the disadvantaged and weak will eventually shrink and disappear altogether.

We at Methuselah Foundation echo the words of Attorney Fishman: "We will not tolerate such an affront to human dignity."

Photo Credit: Tony Kurdzuk | The Star-Ledger

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When you think about old age, what comes to mind? Most people associate old age with disability and cognitive and physical impairment but researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have found that old age is not synonymous with impairment and disability. According to the study published by the Public Library of Science in the online journal PLoS ONE, exceptional cognitive and physical function in old age leaves behind a tell-tale immunologic fingerprint.

"Our study indicates that getting older does not necessarily mean that the immune system gets weaker, as many of us assumed," says lead investigator Abbe N. de Vallejo, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics and immunology at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "The immune system is dynamic, and the changes it undergoes over time very much influence function."

Previous studies showed that immune cells called T-cells become more like natural killer (NK) cells, which typically targets virus-infected cell and tumor cells. For this new study, the team collected blood samples from a body of 140 participants who had been followed in the Cardiovascular Health Study for nearly 20 years and were 78-94 years old. Only two were younger than 82--the average age of the group was 86. The researchers gathered information about the participants' health and function, medical history, hospitalizations, self-rated health, and cognitive and physical function assessments via standardized tests.

A closer look at the new study revealed that those who were most physically and cognitively resilient had a dominant pattern of stimulatory NK receptors on the surface of the T-cell. These unusual T-cells can be activated directly through these NK receptors in a manner independent of the conventional ones. The functionally resilient elders also have a distinct profile of blood proteins called cytokines that reflect an immune-enhancing environment.

The group that showed mild health impairment had a dominant pattern of inhibitory NK receptors on their T-cells, with a cytokine profile indicating a pro-inflammatory environment. Both of these immunologic features might suggest greater susceptibility to illness.

"These findings indicate that there is remodeling or adaptation of the immune system as we age that can be either protective or detrimental," Dr. de Vallejo said. "Now we have an immunological fingerprint that can identify individuals who are more likely to stay physically and cognitively well."

References:

Abbe N. Vallejo, David L. Hamel, Robert G. Mueller, Diane G. Ives, Joshua J. Michel, Robert M. Boudreau, Anne B. Newman. NK-Like T Cells and Plasma Cytokines, but Not Anti-Viral Serology, Define Immune Fingerprints of Resilience and Mild Disability in Exceptional Aging. PLoS ONE, 2011; 6 (10): e26558 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026558

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"We are at the cusp of a revolution in medicine and biotechnology that will radically increase not just our life spans but also, and more importantly, our health spans. That is, we will live longer and with a higher quality of life. [We] will examine the fascinating new technologies that will allow doctors to repair or replace worn-out body parts, re-engineer our bodies, and take preventative measures that will radically lengthen our lives." -Sonia Arrison, 100+ Chapter 2: How Science and Technology Will Increase Life Span

With her new book 100 Plus, Sonia Arrison introduces us to the people and the innovations that are transforming our lives while bringing to the fore a very comprehensive picture of how life-extending discoveries will impact our personal, social, and economic spheres. After a decade of research and writing experience on the breakthrough advances in science and biotechnology, Arrison's wide-angle approach to healthy life extension is both sparklingly informative and thought-provoking.

What will your life look like after reaching your 100th year? Will over-population be a major issue? How will living longer and with more vigor affect your family life, your personal belief system, even your finances? Her work is a fantastic attempt in addressing these questions.

Peter Thiel graces 100 Plus with the following words in his foreward:
"Arrison's book begins with a history of the many great men and women of the past who sought human longevity. She surveys he current generation of scientists and technologists who promise to usher in a new era, demonstrating that aging is a foe that can be hobbled and potentially even beaten. From here Arrison goes to the heart of things by directly confronting opposition to longer and healthier lives and outlining the extraordinary economic, social, and cultural changes that will happen as the world wakes up from history..."

The Methuselah Foundation team is voraciously reading 100 Plus with growing excitement for Arrison's well-informed candor and refreshing perspective on the advances of healthy life extension technologies that cover a wide range of angles.

And as if you needed more reason to go read this book as soon as you can get your hands on it, CEO Dave Gobel had this to say about it from his Amazon review:

"The best thing about 100+ is that it documents the increases in healthy longevity that are already happening right now. Refreshingly, it treats widely held cultural and religious values with legitimate respect, without resorting to the typical elitist/dismissive tone others have taken. 100+ carefully covers new ground on topics that I've not seen covered in detail before - such as how longevity will affect the future of childbearing and the family - based on little known trends and science happening right now. This book is also the best survey of the field of life extension to date, giving useful and actionable insights on such topics as population growth, the environment, economics, medical trials and advances in biotech without burdening the reader with red-herring issues like immortality or demonizing the "opposition". The book is an easy and compelling read and even though I've read extensively on the subject, each page of 100+ offers up new facts with real value - no filler or arm waving here! Highly recommended."

Now how's that for a review? Pick it up, read it, think about it, and tell us how it's affected the way you think about living to see a healthy 100... and beyond!

Reference:

Arrison, Sonia. 100 Plus. New York: Basic, 2011. Print.

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Our friend and scientific advisory board member Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest University for Medicine discussed the advances of regenerative medicine in the fourth installment of The University of Rhode Island's Honors Colloquium. The lecture began with a progress report for the new field of regenerative medicine and, reminding the audience that it was only in a few decades ago in 1954 that surgeons transplanted an organ into a human for the first time in history, it's astonishing that as 2012 quickly approaches, medical science has progressed to allow organs such as kidneys, uteruses, bladders, urethras, and even the skin to regrow.

"Is this science fiction?" Atala asks. "Not really. We see it in biology all the time."

He outlined the process a surgeon goes through to regenerate an organ--the easiest organs being flat, such as the skin. For the larger, tubular organs such as the kidney and liver, that happens to be a different, much more difficult ball game.

For skin regeneration, the surgeon simply extracts a bit of cells the size of less than half a postage stamp from the patient. Then, after being mixed with a solution to keep the cells alive, the cells are then sprayed back onto the patient. Should the patient be immobile, he would be scanned by a machine and his cells delivered to a bio-printer. The printer would produce a sticky sheet of gel cells to be administered to the patient to help regenerate his skin.

Nearing the end of his presentation, Atala played a short clip of an interview with former patient Luke M., whose surgery was performed 10 years ago. A new bladder was engineered for him out of his own cells. Prior to the operation, he said he was faced with a lifetime of dialysis. He could barely get out of bed, constantly missed school, and couldn't play basketball with his friends without feeling faint.

"After surgery, I was able to do more things, like wrestle in high school," said Luke, proudly. "I even became captain of the team. Because they used my own cells to build this bladder, I got it for life. So I'm all set."

Atala reminded the audience how 50 years ago, the iron lung was thought to be revolutionary technology. Now, we look back on it and think "Boy, wasn't that primitive?" The goal of medical science is to keep pushing forward and breaking boundaries, he said, so that in the next 50 years, people can look back on his technology and find it primitive as well.

"My goal tonight was to make this look easy to you," he stated. "But I assure you, the work we do is anything but easy. We still have many challenges ahead, but the promise this field holds is to try and make our patients better."

Reference:

Delande, Kimberly. "Colloquium Speaker Addresses Future of Organ Regeneration through Technology." The Good 5¢ Cigar. College Media Network, 5 Oct. 2011. Web. 6 Oct. 2011.
http://www.ramcigar.com/colloquium-speaker-addresses-future-of-organ-regeneration-through-technology-1.2630806#.ToyEoJxZhG8.

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