Abstract: Methods and systems for determining a set of control molecules for use in a combinatorial approach for the treatment of medical conditions, including providing one or more sets of control molecules, where each control molecule within the set acts on a set of targets and the number of control molecules within the one or more sets of control molecules is fewer than the number of targets within the sets of targets; and searching within the sets of control molecules to identify a subset of control molecules that together with a subset of targets form an artificial system to produce a biological effect through the modulation of the subset of targets.

Abstract: Methods and systems for determining a set of control molecules for use in a combinatorial approach for the treatment of medical conditions, including providing one or more sets of control molecules, where each control molecule within the set acts on a set of targets and the number of control molecules within the one or more sets of control molecules is fewer than the number of targets within the sets of targets; and searching within the sets of control molecules to identify a subset of control molecules that together with a subset of targets form an artificial system to produce a biological effect through the modulation of the subset of targets.

Abstract: Compositions and methods are provided that are based on a discovery that a combination of three compounds, doxycycline, selenium, and zinc, retards physiological age-related changes (for example cardiac aging and the decline in exercise capacity) and can also prolong survival.

Abstract: The relationship between aging and decreased cardiac function is well known. However, the human cardiac system is extremely complex and humans are very long-lived animals. Therefore, there is a need for simple models of the heart that can be rapidly tested over time. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has served as a valuable model-organism for the study of aging and is the first organism possessing a circulatory system to have its genome completely sequenced. The present inventor has found that maximal heart rate is significantly and reproducibly reduced with aging in Drosophila, analogous to observations in elderly humans. The present inventor has also described several other aspects of the cardiac physiology of young adult and aging Drosophila, including an age-associated increase in rhythm disturbances. The present invention contemplates methods for studying cardiac function in vivo in adult flies.

Abstract: The present invention provides a novel method of screening for a gene or an agent affecting cardiac function after or during hypoxia or anoxia, including the steps of: providing an adult Drosophila in conditions able to induce hypoxia or anoxia, imaging the heart of the Drosophila, measuring the movements of the heart in the image, analyzing the measurements of the movements, and identifying a gene affecting the cardiac function of the Drosophila or identifying the effect of the agent on the cardiac function. The method may include administering an agent before, during or after hypoxia.

Abstract: The relationship between aging and decreased cardiac function is well known. However, the human cardiac system is extremely complex and humans are very long-lived animals. Therefore, there is a need for simple models of the heart that can be rapidly tested over time. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has served as a valuable model-organism for the study of aging and is the first organism possessing a circulatory system to have its genome completely sequenced. The present inventor has found that maximal heart rate is significantly and reproducibly reduced with aging in Drosophila, analogous to observations in elderly humans. The present inventor has also described several other aspects of the cardiac physiology of young adult and aging Drosophila, including an age-associated increase in rhythm disturbances. The present invention contemplates methods for studying cardiac function in vivo in adult flies.