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Hindustan Times
09-05-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
This new tool measures how fast you're ageing and predicts future health risks: Research
Researchers have created a new "body clock" tool that estimates a person's biological age and may predict the risk of disability or death. Developed by the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, the tool analyses eight key metrics from a patient's physical exam and bloodwork. The method called the Health Octo Tool, is explained in a May 5 study published in the journal Nature Communications. (Also read: Doctor reveals '1 thing that's proven to slow ageing' and reduces your biological age ) Researchers say the Health Octo Tool offers a more complete view of wellness than standard health checks, which often focus on single diseases. Using data from large longevity studies, the tool predicts disability, geriatric conditions, physical decline, and mortality. According to Dr. Shabnam Salimi, researchers have developed a method that offers a more comprehensive approach to health than traditional assessments, which focus on individual diseases. The Health Octo Tool predicts disability, geriatric syndrome, physical function, and mortality with 90% accuracy or higher. The tool measures "health entropy," or the molecular and cellular damage accumulated over time, impacting organ function and overall ageing. It assigns a "body organ disease number" based on whether any organs, like the heart or lungs, have been affected by disease. The study showed that organ systems age at different rates, leading to the creation of a Bodily System-Specific Age metric and the Bodily-Specific Clock to reflect each organ's biological age. The researchers introduced the concept of the Body Clock, a comprehensive measure of overall intrinsic age and body age, reflecting the rate at which the body ages. The tool includes components like Speed-Body Clock and Speed-Body Age, which track how biological age impacts walking speed, and Disability-Body Clock and Disability-Body Age, which monitor the effects of ageing on cognitive function and physical disability. Dr. Salimi pointed out that seemingly minor conditions, such as untreated hypertension early in life, could significantly affect ageing later. Treating these conditions early could slow biological ageing. The researchers are working on developing a digital app to help individuals track their biological age, monitor ageing progress, and assess the effects of lifestyle changes like diet, exercise, or longevity-targeting medications. "This app will allow people to visualise how their body and each organ system responds to changes," said Salimi.
New York Post
08-05-2025
- Health
- New York Post
‘Body clock' could determine biological age and longevity, researchers say
Researchers have developed a new 'body clock' tool that calculates people's biological age — and could even predict the risk of disability or death. The tool, which comes from the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, uses eight different metrics from a patient's physical exam and bloodwork to determine the results, according to a press release from UW. Advertisement The tool's method — officially named the Health Octo Tool — is detailed in the journal Nature Communication in a May 5 publication. The researchers see this method as more comprehensive than current health assessments, which typically focus on individual diseases rather than overall wellness, according to the report's first author, Dr. Shabnam Salimi, a physician-scientist and acting instructor in the Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine at UW. Using data from large longevity studies, the Health Octo Tool was found to predict disability, geriatric syndrome (a group of common health conditions in older adults), Short Physical Performance Battery (a clinical tool that assesses lower extremity function in older adults) and mortality with 90% accuracy or greater, the study reported. 4 The Health Octo Tool, created by the University of Washington, composed of eight components designed to assess multidimensional health. University of Washington Advertisement 'An aging-based framework offers a new path to discover biomarkers and therapeutics that target organ-specific or whole-body aging, rather than individual diseases,' Salimi said in the release. The tool focuses on 'health entropy,' which encompasses the amount of molecular and cellular damage the body has sustained over time. That has a direct impact on the function of a person's organs and overall body systems, which can be used to determine how fast they are aging, the researchers noted. The tool starts by assigning a 'body organ disease number,' ranging from 1 to 14, based on whether the patient has experienced any diseases affecting the heart, lungs, brain or other specific organ systems. Advertisement 'Our findings demonstrated that organ systems age at different rates, prompting us to develop a Bodily System-Specific Age metric to reflect the aging rate of each organ system and the Bodily-Specific Clock to represent each organ system's intrinsic biological age,' Salimi said. 4 The tool starts by assigning a 'body organ disease number,' ranging from 1 to 14, based on whether the patient has experienced any diseases affecting the heart, lungs, brain or other specific organ systems. nenetus – 'Extending this concept to the whole body, we define the Body Clock as a composite measure of overall intrinsic age and body age as the corresponding rate of aging.' Two of the components of the tool, Speed-Body Clock and Speed-Body Age, measure how biological age affects walking speed. Advertisement The Disability-Body Clock and Disability-Body Age components measure aging's impact on cognitive function and physical disability, the release stated. One takeaway from the research was that some seemingly minor conditions, such as untreated hypertension early in life, could have a significant impact on aging in later years, according to Salimi. This indicates that treating these conditions sooner could slow down biological aging. 4 Two of the components of the tool, Speed-Body Clock and Speed-Body Age, measure how biological age affects walking speed. Roman – Looking ahead, the researchers plan to develop a digital app that people can use to track their own biological age, track how fast they are aging, and measure the impact of lifestyle changes. 'Whether someone is adopting a new diet, exercise routine or taking longevity-targeting drugs, they will be able to visualize how their body — and each organ system — is responding,' said Salimi. Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida neurosurgeon who also runs a longevity practice, was not involved in the tool's development, but commented on its potential benefits and limitations. Advertisement 'This tool distinguishes itself by basing its model on readily accessible physical exam findings and standard lab tests, offering a potentially practical framework for clinical application,' he told Fox News Digital. 'An app is also being developed to empower patients and potentially encourage the development of health habits that will positively impact their healthspan — or how long they will remain functional and disease-free.' The doctor also praised the Octo Tool's focus on system-based aging metrics rather than disease-specific assessments. Osborn noted, however, that there are limitations to these types of proposed biological aging clocks — primarily that they can't counter the 'inherent complexity of aging.' Advertisement 'Aging is not a linear or wholly quantifiable process — it is influenced by myriad known and unknown genetic, molecular, environmental and psychosocial factors,' the doctor said. 'It is a truly 'analog' and 'non–digital' process. Therefore, it should be no surprise that no model has captured its entire landscape.' UW's tool doesn't take into account certain genetic and DNA processes that influence biological aging, Osborn noted. 'Aging clocks have also often fallen short when applied across diverse populations or when predicting individual outcomes (lifespan),' he added. Advertisement 4 Looking ahead, the researchers plan to develop a digital app that people can use to track their own biological age, track how fast they are aging, and measure the impact of lifestyle changes. Kzenon – Rather than determining absolute biological age, Osborn suggests using these tools to track trends over time. 'For example, tools like the Health Octo can help evaluate an individual's response to interventions — be it a new exercise regimen, medication or lifestyle change.' The most important thing, according to Osborn, is to use comprehensive testing and tracking as a springboard to the formation of lifelong health habits. Advertisement 'If it saves one person's life by bringing their ailing health (manifested as a downward trend) to their attention, that's a win,' he said. The research was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant from the U.S. National Institute on Aging.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Body clock' could determine biological age and longevity, researchers say
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Researchers have developed a new "body clock" tool that calculates people's biological age — and could even predict the risk of disability or death. The tool, which comes from the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, uses eight different metrics from a patient's physical exam and bloodwork to determine the results, according to a press release from UW. The tool's method — officially named the Health Octo Tool — is detailed in the journal Nature Communication in a May 5 publication. Secrets Of Longevity From The World's 'Blue Zones' The researchers see this method as more comprehensive than current health assessments, which typically focus on individual diseases rather than overall wellness, according to the report's first author, Dr. Shabnam Salimi, a physician-scientist and acting instructor in the Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine at UW. Researchers have developed a new "body clock" tool that calculates people's biological age — and could even predict the risk of disability or death. Using data from large longevity studies, the Health Octo Tool was found to predict disability, geriatric syndrome (a group of common health conditions in older adults), Short Physical Performance Battery (a clinical tool that assesses lower extremity function in older adults) and mortality with 90% accuracy or greater, the study reported. Read On The Fox News App "An aging-based framework offers a new path to discover biomarkers and therapeutics that target organ-specific or whole-body aging, rather than individual diseases," Salimi said in the release. Healthy Eating In Middle Age Has This Key Longevity Benefit The tool focuses on "health entropy," which encompasses the amount of molecular and cellular damage the body has sustained over time. That has a direct impact on the function of a person's organs and overall body systems, which can be used to determine how fast they are aging, the researchers noted. The tool starts by assigning a "body organ disease number," ranging from 1 to 14, based on whether the patient has experienced any diseases affecting the heart, lungs, brain or other specific organ systems. "Our findings demonstrated that organ systems age at different rates, prompting us to develop a Bodily System-Specific Age metric to reflect the aging rate of each organ system and the Bodily-Specific Clock to represent each organ system's intrinsic biological age," Salimi said. Life Expectancy In Humans Not Likely To Increase Much More, Study Suggests "Extending this concept to the whole body, we define the Body Clock as a composite measure of overall intrinsic age and body age as the corresponding rate of aging." Two of the components of the tool, Speed-Body Clock and Speed-Body Age, measure how biological age affects walking speed. "An aging-based framework offers a new path to discover biomarkers and therapeutics that target organ-specific or whole-body aging, rather than individual diseases," said the lead researcher. The Disability-Body Clock and Disability-Body Age components measure aging's impact on cognitive function and physical disability, the release stated. One takeaway from the research was that some seemingly minor conditions, such as untreated hypertension early in life, could have a significant impact on aging in later years, according to Salimi. This indicates that treating these conditions sooner could slow down biological aging. Looking ahead, the researchers plan to develop a digital app that people can use to track their own biological age, track how fast they are aging, and measure the impact of lifestyle changes. "Whether someone is adopting a new diet, exercise routine or taking longevity-targeting drugs, they will be able to visualize how their body — and each organ system — is responding," said Salimi. "Aging is not a linear or wholly quantifiable process — it is influenced by myriad known and unknown genetic, molecular, environmental and psychosocial factors," one doctor said. Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida neurosurgeon who also runs a longevity practice, was not involved in the tool's development, but commented on its potential benefits and limitations. "This tool distinguishes itself by basing its model on readily accessible physical exam findings and standard lab tests, offering a potentially practical framework for clinical application," he told Fox News Digital. "An app is also being developed to empower patients and potentially encourage the development of health habits that will positively impact their healthspan — or how long they will remain functional and disease-free." Retirement Could Be Bad For Your Health, Says Wellness Expert: 'Powered By Purpose' The doctor also praised the Octo Tool's focus on system-based aging metrics rather than disease-specific assessments. Osborn noted, however, that there are limitations to these types of proposed biological aging clocks — primarily that they can't counter the "inherent complexity of aging." Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter "Aging is not a linear or wholly quantifiable process — it is influenced by myriad known and unknown genetic, molecular, environmental and psychosocial factors," the doctor said. "It is a truly 'analog' and 'non–digital' process. Therefore, it should be no surprise that no model has captured its entire landscape." The most important thing, according to one expert, is to use comprehensive testing and tracking as a springboard to the formation of lifelong health habits. UW's tool doesn't take into account certain genetic and DNA processes that influence biological aging, Osborn noted. "Aging clocks have also often fallen short when applied across diverse populations or when predicting individual outcomes (lifespan)," he added. Rather than determining absolute biological age, Osborn suggests using these tools to track trends over time. "For example, tools like the Health Octo can help evaluate an individual's response to interventions — be it a new exercise regimen, medication or lifestyle change." The most important thing, according to Osborn, is to use comprehensive testing and tracking as a springboard to the formation of lifelong health habits. For more Health articles, visit "If it saves one person's life by bringing their ailing health (manifested as a downward trend) to their attention, that's a win," he said. The research was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant from the U.S. National Institute on Aging. Original article source: 'Body clock' could determine biological age and longevity, researchers say
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto Investment Firm Dao5 Raises $222M Fund to Back Institutional Blockchain Adoption
Crypto investment firm dao5 raised a $222 million fund to invest in blockchain projects targeting institutional and government adoption. The fund brings the firm's total assets under management to $550 million. Founded in 2022 by Tekin Salimi, a former partner at Polychain Capital, dao5 made early bets on projects including Story Protocol, Bittensor, Berachain and EigenLayer. The firm's first fund, launched during the final days of the last bull market three years ago, was fully deployed and has already returned 'the vast majority of commitments to its limited partners,' according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. 'Crypto is entering its adolescence phase. The industry's dependency on pure speculation as the driver of growth is no longer as effective as it once was,' Salimi said. Future success will be a product of 'the real integration of blockchain technology into global financial, governmental, and private sector systems,' he said. The new fund's focus is on-chain public infrastructure, novel stablecoin systems and 'state-sovereign artificial intelligence.' In tandem with the fundraise, the firm plans for its dao5 fund to convert into a decentralized autonomous organization later this year. To support its expansion, the firm added George Lambeth, who previously backed projects like Avalanche and Celestia, as General Partner. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive: Crypto venture firm dao5 closes $222 million second fund after investments in Berachain and Bittensor
Even as global investors face macro headwinds and the evaporation of initial public offerings, crypto venture capital continues to attract major funding. The blockchain-focused venture firm dao5 recently closed a $222 million second fund, Fortune can exclusively report. Founded in 2022 by Tekin Salimi, a former corporate lawyer and alumnus of the crypto venture giant Polychain, dao5 previously raised a $125 million debut fund, which it has fully deployed into crypto startups, including the layer-1 blockchain Berachain and the decentralized AI project Bittensor. In an interview with Fortune, Salimi said that dao5's edge in the crowded crypto venture market comes from his long track record in the industry, as well as the firm's ability to serve as an adviser, especially to early-stage startups. "Sometimes the job [of VC] can range from everything to investor to close friend and then therapist of these young founders," Salimi said. "So I just try to be very ingrained in the relationship." In the often Wild West world of crypto, Salimi came into the industry through an untraditional path: corporate law. He grew up in Toronto, which has its own storied place in the blockchain annals as the hometown of Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin, and found crypto when he was looking for interesting areas to build a practice around. This was the "initial coin offering" era around 2017, and Salimi recalls being one of the "few suits" at blockchain meetups, trying to meet as many founders as he could. He decided to quit his white-shoe law firm job and set out on his own, helping projects with everything from raising capital to restructuring, often receiving payments in Bitcoin or pre-launch tokens in return. Salimi joined Polychain, the venture firm founded by early Coinbase employee Olaf Carlson-Wee, in late 2017. Though he worked on the investment team, he also helped with legal work, such as assisting in building novel deal structures at the time, such as token warrants, which give investors the right to purchase future cryptocurrencies from projects they're backing. After working on some of the biggest deals in crypto during that era, such as the layer-1 blockchain Avalanche, Salimi decided to start his own venture fund in late 2021 as Polychain grew into a megafund, with billions of dollars worth of assets under management. "I really just missed the early startup feel," he told Fortune. "Frankly, there are benefits to having a smaller pool of capital as well." Salimi's first fund out of dao5 was a 2022 vintage—the tail of a boom period that capped off with the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX at the end of the year. Still, Salimi fully deployed the fund, including becoming one of the first venture backers of the decentralized AI project Bittensor, as well as investing in the seed round of Berachain, whose valuation later topped $1 billion. According to Salimi, dao5 has begun to harvest positions from the first fund with a 1x DPI, meaning it has already paid back its investors the capital they originally put in. "I credit that to a big part of why we're able to have a successful fundraise in this market," Salimi said, adding that the new fund is concentrated in around 15 limited partners, mostly from family offices and high net worth individuals. An LP from dao5's first fund, the crypto angel investor George Lambeth, is joining the firm as a general partner. Despite crypto's ascendancy under President Trump, who has embraced the industry and helped shepherd key policies such as a strategic government Bitcoin reserve, prices of top assets have remained relatively stagnant due to macroeconomic concerns, including Trump's trade war. Salimi said that after previous cycles centered around what he described as "extremely sci-fi projects" with long-time horizons, such as NFTs or even Bittensor, his current focus is on institutional adoption of blockchain technology, including stablecoins and tokenization. "It's almost like the less sexy products are now more important," Salimi told Fortune. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
