Everest Provides Laboratory For Mayo Clinic To Study Aging

A team from The Mayo Clinic set out this week to conduct research from the world's highest peak, since as it turns out the effects of altitude on the body mimic the symptoms of chronic conditions associated with aging, such as sleep apnea and heart disease.

The research team will monitor members of an Everest expedition co-sponsored by National Geographic, The North Face, and Montana State University from base camp, the clinic noted in a press release. Head researcher Bruce Johnson told The Minneapolis Star Tribune they will assemble a remote laboratory, allowing them to observe the affects of altitude on healthy bodies and hopefully gain insight into conditions such as pulmonary edema, a condition that effects both mountain climbers and heart patients. They will be blogging and tweeting from base camp, allowing interested parties at home to see their research in action.

Check out the video below for a dispatch from one of the climbers the Mayo clinic team will be monitoring:

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Comments

[Gregg-O]

04:13 AM on 04/24/2012

So let's do a test in some of the least polluted air in the world and see what happens.

[Between the lines 68]

03:19 PM on 04/22/2012

Fact the fastest way to get a child proof cap off a bottle is to hand it to a child. Reason very simple. We watch children's actions then try to make it fool proof. Children are in the learning process, so it makes sence there younger brain works faster than our older brain with all the things we have already stored. I would wonder if the team doing the research is going to have children there. I would take a bet that a 6 year old would get the answer faster than a person say 60. My known factors: less O2, cold, runners born at higher elevations have increased lung capacities.

[jgamble28]

01:39 PM on 04/22/2012

Sounds like a lot of money spent on something stupid. Since we already know the results what is the reason for climbing again? Maybe it's a little vacation.

[Canefighter]

11:14 AM on 04/22/2012

This is a waste of time and money. The results are already known, especially by Pulmonary Doctors. Sounds like a fun trip for those doing the study, hope none of them get altitude sickness.

[commento]

09:56 AM on 04/22/2012

Their findings will definitely be related to a human body's response to high altitude and low temperature environment. But how will their findings be applied to normal daily environmental conditions that a human body is subjected to ?
This is just a thought by a layman like me.

[wildtill9]

10:16 AM on 04/22/2012

You need to stop thinking and do as the nice man from the gubermint tells you to do.

[cbrown4115]

01:00 PM on 04/22/2012

You never know... research might start out in one direction and end up in another. Someone didn't think that this study was a waste of money or it wouldn't be funded...

[commento]

02:10 PM on 04/22/2012

cbrown4115 I hope the outcome of the research turns out to be beneficial to everybody.

[lochadro]

09:49 AM on 04/22/2012

I think this is a good idea. I know when I gain altitude by going up in my attic here in Alabama in the summertime, I get this really hot feeling. Maybe they can discover why.

[lochadro]

09:48 AM on 04/22/2012

Seems to me that there are some pretty high mountains here in the USA. This group can only go, and sustain themselves, at a much lower altitude than Everest peaks at. The expense of the study could be greatly reduced if it were done in Alaska or Washington. Maintenance of a camp would not be necessary if they rounded up some of the guides who work Everest and gave them a good evaluation. Mayo and NatGeo has deep pockets I guess. It will make for entertaining viewing when it is all over. I will attempt to follow the blog.

[Jt John]

03:08 PM on 04/21/2012

We already know telomeres are the reasons for why we age. Why not focus on that?

[Tony Baja]

12:47 PM on 04/20/2012

Interesting study, at a medical level too!

[oldwolf49]

06:18 AM on 04/20/2012

Sounds like a research "vacation" to me.

[Nicko]

11:41 PM on 04/19/2012

Ask the Sherpas.

[WaitForIt]

11:22 PM on 04/19/2012

So we get this, but nothing about Bucky Balls?

http://extremelongevity.net/wp-content/uploads/C60-Fullerene.pdf

Wonderful.

[jokamachi]

11:17 PM on 04/19/2012

Climb it once every ten years, then you'll know exactly how old you are.

[daily randy]

10:45 PM on 04/19/2012

I wish all these studies about aging would turn up something soon ... I'm 52 and running out of time. GOSH!

[jgw845]

11:02 PM on 04/19/2012

Randy, Neither you nor I (67) have any idea how much or how little time we have left. As for myself, I don't worry so much about it. I try to enjoy each day without obsessing about it. Some days, I sleep a lot and I consider it a day well spent. Other days, I work on projects. Also days well spent. Last week I spent a day in hospital. A day well spent. When I have no more time, I will not feel slighted. I will have had exactly enough time and I will be at peace with the universe.

[daily randy]

10:41 AM on 04/20/2012

Actually, I'm fine with having only 74 years or so … but I don't like the whole idea of losing my hearing and vision more and more, not being able to walk up and down stairs with ease, and so on. I'm okay with checking out when it's my time … I just want to feel great until the very end. :)

[HellBank]

10:37 PM on 04/19/2012

Sounds like a bunch of doctors scamming a vacation. As if they didn't get paid enough at Mayo.