Assessment of growth parameters and life span of GHR/BP gene-disrupted mice

GH has many biological roles, including promotion of growth. Most, if not all, of its roles are achieved through interaction with its receptor. We chose to study the effects of loss of GH signaling on growth and aging in a mouse model for Laron Syndrome (LS) in which the GHR/BP gene has been disrupted. We observed that mice homozygous for the disruption (−/−) were significantly smaller than normal wild-type (+/+) mice as well as mice heterozygous for the disruption, even at 1.5 yr of age. IGF-I levels were also significantly lower in the −/− mice and remained low as the mice aged. IGFBP-3 levels were severely reduced in the −/− mice, whereas IGFBP-1, -2, and -4 levels remained unchanged. Finally, the −/− mice lived significantly longer than +/+ and +/− mice. The latter result contradicts the anti-aging GH data and suggests the need for further analysis of GH and aging

Lessons from the New Deal: Did the New Deal Prolong Or Worsen the Great Depression?

Since the current recession began in December 2007, New Deal legislation and its effectiveness have been at the center of a lively debate in Washington. This paper emphasizes some key facts about two kinds of policy that were important during the Great Depression and have since become the focus of criticism by new New Deal critics: (1) regulatory and labor relations legislation, and (2) government spending and taxation. We argue that initiatives in these policy areas probably did not slow economic growth or worsen the unemployment problem from 1933 to 1939, as claimed by a number of economists in academic papers, in the popular press, and elsewhere. To substantiate our case, we cite some important economic benefits of New Deal-era laws in the two controversial policy areas noted above. In fact, we suggest that the New Deal provided effective medicine for the Depression, though fiscal policy was not sufficiently countercyclical to conquer mass unemployment and prevent the recession of 1937-38; 1933's National Industrial Recovery Act was badly flawed and poorly administered, and the help provided by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 came too late to have a big effect on the recovery