PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

We're all living longer, but longevity increases not benefitting everybody

2012-12-15
(Press-News.org) TORONTO, ON – Global lifespans have risen dramatically in the past 40 years, but the increased life expectancy is not benefitting everybody equally, say University of Toronto researchers. In particular, adult males from low- and middle-income countries are losing ground.

People are living longer on average than they were in 1970, and those extra years of life are being achieved at lower cost, the researchers, led by U of T Chemical Engineering PhD candidate Ryan Hum, say in a paper published in the open access science journal eLife this month.

However, the costs for an extra year of life among adult males in lower-income countries are rising, Hum and his colleagues say, while the costs for an extra year of life among children worldwide and for adults in high-income countries continues to drop.

Hum, who is also a member of U of T's Centre for Global Engineering, co-wrote the paper with Professors Yu-Ling Cheng, director of the Centre, Prabhat Jha of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Anita McGahan of the Rotman School of Management.

The researchers made the discovery when they took the Michaelis-Menten (MM) equation – a well-known mathematical model first used to analyze enzyme kinetics in 1913 – and applied it to adult and child mortality at different incomes. They reasoned that just as chemical catalysts affect enzyme velocity; the public health catalysts react with income to affect life expectancy.

"We noticed the similarity in the curvature and became fascinated with the beauty of the analogy," said Hum. The MM equation is standard curriculum for biochemistry, biology and most chemical engineering undergraduate students and we knew there could be added knowledge that we could decipher purely from the math."

"Over the past few decades, research and development of new technologies (drugs, vaccines, policies) have focused mostly on childhood and infectious disease, with fewer worldwide investments for adult chronic diseases," the U of T researchers suggest. "Increasing coverage of inexpensive health interventions such as immunization, insecticide-treated nets, and case management of childhood infections could be contributing to decline in critical income for child survival."

Hum and his colleagues conclude by recommending that society invest in research and treatment of adult chronic disease, most notably the control of smoking and other risk factors for chronic diseases, and low-cost, widely useful treatments for these diseases.

In the paper, "Global divergence in critical income for adult and childhood survival: analyses of mortality using Michaelis-Menten", the authors expand on the analogy between enzymes and incomes: "Income directly enables certain technologies, immunization programs, epidemiological knowledge, education, and sanitation systems and other areas, which may themselves be interpreted as 'catalysts' – agents that accelerate the rate of a reaction without being fully consumed in the process," they write.

They came up with a new parameter, critical income, which they define as the level of income needed to achieve half of the maximal overall life expectancy found in high-income countries. For example, in 1970, the critical income for overall life expectancy (in inflation adjusted 2005 dollars) was $1.48 per day. By the year 2007, the critical income had fallen to $1.21 per day. In other words, a lower national income is needed to achieve a higher life expectancy now, compared to 40 years ago.

However, that good news is due mostly to improvements in children's health and to increased life expectancy in high-income countries, the researchers say. For adults (aged 15 to 59) in lower-income countries, critical income has actually risen since 1970. In other words, adults in low- and middle-income countries need to have higher incomes on average in order to add an extra year of life. Adult males in these countries are especially affected, though adult females also suffer.

"Under the current conditions, an approximate national income per capita of $2.20 per day would be required in 2007 to attain the same achievable adult male survival rate with $1.25 per day in 1970. Moreover, should the critical income costs for adults continue to rise (in line with current trends)," they warn.

Hum and his colleagues noted that increases in smoking, especially among adult males, and HIV prevalence are responsible for part of the life expectancy gap. By contrast, worldwide attention to childhood health including much research on new technologies, vaccines and political attention mean a rosier future for children – it's becoming less expensive to give children the chance for longer lives.

### Link to paper: http://elife.elifesciences.org/content/1/e00051


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

The HER2 paradox: HER2-positive stem cells found in HER2-negative breast cancer

2012-12-15
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A multicenter study led by researchers at UC Davis describes new, paradoxical characteristics of the most common type of breast cancer. The findings shed light on how the disease can evade treatment and could improve diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. The research, led by Jian Jian Li, director of translational research in the UC Davis Department of Radiation Oncology, examined breast tumors previously thought to lack the HER2 protein, which, when over-expressed, is associated with disease recurrence. Instead, researchers found in the tumors ...

UCLA engineers develop new energy-efficient computer memory using magnetic materials

2012-12-15
By using electric voltage instead of a flowing electric current, researchers from UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have made major improvements to an ultra-fast, high-capacity class of computer memory known as magnetoresistive random access memory, or MRAM. The UCLA team's improved memory, which they call MeRAM for magnetoelectric random access memory, has great potential to be used in future memory chips for almost all electronic applications, including smart-phones, tablets, computers and microprocessors, as well as for data storage, ...

A drug used to treat HIV might defuse deadly staph infections

2012-12-15
A new study by NYU School of Medicine researchers suggests that an existing HIV drug called maraviroc could be a potential therapy for Staphylococcus aureus, a notorious and deadly pathogen linked to hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations each year. Their study is published online this week in Nature. "What are the chances that a drug for HIV could possibly treat a virulent Staph infection?" asks Victor J. Torres, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology, and senior author of the study. "These findings are the result of a fantastic collaboration that we hope will result ...

Ibrutinib has 'unprecedented' impact on mantle cell lymphoma

Ibrutinib has unprecedented impact on mantle cell lymphoma
2012-12-15
ATLANTA - An international study of ibrutinib in people with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) continues to show unprecedented and durable results with few side effects. Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center presented interim findings of the multi-center Phase 2 study today at the 54th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition. "I believe we are witnessing a breakthrough in mantle cell lymphoma. This is great news for patients," said Michael Wang, M.D., associate professor in MD Anderson's Departments of ...

If you cut down a tree in the forest, can wildlife hear it?

If you cut down a tree in the forest, can wildlife hear it?
2012-12-15
BOZEMAN, MT (December 13, 2012) – A new tool developed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and its partners is being used by scientists and land managers to model how noise travels through landscapes and affects species and ecosystems— a major factor in land and wildlife management decisions such as where to locate new roads or recreational trails. The tool, SPreAD-GIS, uses spatial data layers to predict how sound spreads from a source through the surrounding landscape and how it is affected by such factors as vegetation, terrain, weather conditions, and background ...

Fungus responsible for 5 deaths in the wake of massive tornado

2012-12-15
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Dec. 14, 2012 — A fast growing, flesh-eating fungus killed 5 people following a massive tornado that devastated Joplin, Mo., according to two new studies based on genomic sequencing by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Health officials should be aware of infections caused by the fungus Apophysomyces, according to the studies, which tracked 13 people infected by the pathogen during the Class EF-5 tornado — the most powerful category — whose 200-plus mph winds plowed through ...

Extending Einstein

2012-12-15
Physicists at the University of Calgary and at the Institute for Quantum Computing in Waterloo have published new research in Nature Physics which builds on the original ideas of Einstein and adds a new ingredient: a third entangled particle. Quantum entanglement is one of the central principles of quantum physics, which is the science of sub-atomic particles. Multiple particles, such as photons, are connected with each other even when they are very far apart and what happens to one particle can have an effect on the other one at the same moment, even though these effects ...

Aerobic exercise trumps resistance training for weight and fat loss

2012-12-15
DURHAM, N.C. – Aerobic training is the best mode of exercise for burning fat, according to Duke researchers who compared aerobic training, resistance training, and a combination of the two. The study, which appears Dec. 15, 2012, in the Journal of Applied Physiology, is the largest randomized trial to analyze changes in body composition from the three modes of exercise in overweight or obese adults without diabetes. Aerobic exercise – including walking, running, and swimming – has been proven to be an effective way to lose weight. However, recent guidelines have suggested ...

The Preiss Company Announces Appointment of Craig Eick as Vice President of Design & Construction

2012-12-15
The Preiss Company is pleased to announce that Craig Eick has recently joined the company as Vice President of Design & Construction. He will be responsible for overseeing the Raleigh real estate company's interest in current development projects under construction, working with joint venture partners on projects in the development phase, and collaborating with the company's Executive Vice President of Development on potential new development projects. Eick brings 25 years of experience in the industries of real estate development and construction management. Prior ...

VP at MedImmune to Speak at Cytokines Conference Jan 31, 2013 in San Diego, CA

2012-12-15
Tomas Mustelin, Vice President of Research, Respiratory, Inflammatory, and Autoimmune Diseases at MedImmune will give a featured presentation on "Targeting Cytokines in the Appropriate Patient Subsets" at the 11th Cytokines and Inflammation Conference to be held in San Diego, CA on January 31 - February 1, 2013 by GTC. Dr. Mustelin is Vice President and Interim Head of Research at MedImmune. On top of his many responsibilities, he oversees departments for novel therapeutics for grievous respiratory, inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases. He is currently a ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Teaching lasers to self-correct in high-precision patterned laser micro-grooving

EGFR-targeted therapy resistance in breast and head & neck cancers

JMIR Medical Informatics invites submissions on ambient AI scribes and AI-driven documentation technologies

Global trends and cross-country inequalities of acute hepatitis E in the elderly, 1990–2021

New catalyst enables triple-efficiency decomposition of ammonia for clean hydrogen

FAU Harbor Branch receives $1M grant to study gulf’s mesophotic coral habitats

WSU study provides detailed look at the declining groundwater in regional aquifer system

Creatine may help the brain, not just muscles

Teams develop CO₂ capture-conversion tandem system adaptable to a wide range of CO₂ concentrations

Endocrine Society proposes research efforts to improve treatment options for people with type 1 diabetes

In menopause, sleep is vitally important for women’s long-term heart health, study finds

Why do some brain regions resist Alzheimer’s?

Like humans, monkeys are attracted to videos showing conflict

Dr. Richard M. Peterson elected 39th president of American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery

Addressing “spay-neuter syndrome" with testosterone restoration for neutered male dogs

The ACMG releases 2025 update to secondary findings gene list; SF v3.3

More rural, minoritized people get amputations – AI gets closer to why

First look at defects in single-crystal indium gallium zinc oxide could fix persistent display instability

Understanding childhood maltreatment and its effect on biological aging

Turning step-growth into chain-growth with click polymerization

Researchers find surgical technique reduced risk of early preterm birth for patients with cervical insufficiency

Novel nanostructures in blue sharks reveal their remarkable potential for dynamic colour-change

People with ‘young brains’ outlive ‘old-brained’ peers, Stanford Medicine scientists find

Make-your-own weight-loss drug using an innovative genome editing approach

Cancer is extremely rare in turtles, finds a new study

AI used to create protein that kills E. coli

Major autism study uncovers biologically distinct subtypes, paving the way for precision diagnosis and care

Study shows how AI could help pathologists match cancer patients to the right treatments—faster and more efficiently

Implantable device could save diabetes patients from dangerously low blood sugar

Need a new 3D material? Build it with DNA

[Press-News.org] We're all living longer, but longevity increases not benefitting everybody