Abstract: Methods and systems for monitoring interventions and/or a subject, such as a human patient. One exemplary embodiment of a method includes measuring at least one biological parameter of a subject, determining a biological state from the measuring, administering (after the measuring) an intervention which includes a caloric restriction (CR) mimetic to the subject and measuring, after the administering, the at least one biological parameter and determining a later biological state from the measuring after the administering.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a DNA marker ladder useful in Southern blot hybridizations. The ladder is made up of pooled DNA restriction endonuclease digests, where each restriction digest contains at least one fragment complementary to a probe and at least one fragment not complementary to the probe. The regions of complementarity between the probe and the complementary fragments are double-stranded segments of the fragments. The ladder is characterized by an approximately even spacing of bands, resulting from choosing fragments having an logarithmic size distribution. Kits incorporating this ladder and a probe or means for making a probe or a probe and a means for labeling a probe are also disclosed.