Calcium deficiency is a constant menace to land-abiding animals, including mammals. Humans enjoying exceptional longevity on earth are especially susceptible to calcium deficiency in old age.
Type Ia tricuspid atresia, with extensive coronary artery abnormalities, is identified in the oldest living patient with this condition, a 22 year old woman. Clinical characteristics include severe cyanosis, effort dyspnea, myocardial infarction in the past and persistent angina pectoris. "Ideal" pulmonary flow and adequate left ventricular function, despite an akinetic apical segment, are substantive factors for this exceptional longevity.
A family with hyperalphalipoproteinemia is described, being exceptional the longevity of some of their members. The proband, a 36 years-old woman with excellent health, showed total cholesterol levels of 6.77 mmol/l, HDL-cholesterol 3.00 mmol/l and apoprotein (apo) AI 2.4 g/l. HDL-cholesterol levels of her mother and two sisters were 1.86, 2.07 and 2.02 mmol/l, respectively. Their serum apo AI levels were 2.11, 2.32 and 2.30 g/l, respectively.
How we age as individuals is no doubt a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Studies of certain populations with optimal environments and health-related behaviors, as well as twin studies, suggest that the average set of genetic variations should facilitate the average person's ability to live to around age 85. Average life expectancies are lower than this because we generally fight survival advantage with bad health habits that can lead to premature aging, chronic illness, and death at a significantly younger age.
The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
OBJECTIVE: A systematic genome survey was initiated to identify loci that affect the likelihood of reaching age 90 with preserved cognition. This communication describes the clinical characterization and comparison of the experimental groups, validation of the experimental method, and results for the Y chromosome. METHODS: The genome survey was conducted at 10 cM resolution for simple sequence tandem repeat polymorphisms (SSTRPs) that identify genes for successful aging by virtue of linkage disequilibrium.
Centenarians are people who escaped from major common diseases, including cancer, and reached the extreme limits of human life-span. The analysis of demographic data indicates that cancer incidence and mortality show a levelling off around the age of 85-90 years, and suggests that oldest old people and centenarians are protected from cancer onset and progression.
Quintessence International (Berlin, Germany: 1985)
The basic mechanism of dental amalgam corrosion has been thoroughly studied during the last 50 years by various experimental techniques, most often carried out in vitro. Electrochemical methods were extensively employed, and it was recognized that a gradual dealloying of the more electroactive components, Zn, Sn, and to a lesser extent Cu, contributed to change the surface composition. It is also well known that, in all circumstances, galvanic coupling threatens the longevity of the restoration.
The 20th century will be remembered for its technological and scientific discoveries and for the exceptional changes in the demographic structure brought about by these and the improved economic and social conditions; in fact, the reduction in the birth rate and a fall in the death rate have caused an increase in the population of the elderly.
The purpose of this study is to test the prediction of the evolutionary theory of aging that human longevity comes with the cost of impaired reproductive success (higher infertility rates). Our validation study is based on the analysis of particularly reliable genealogical records for European aristocratic families using a logistic regression model with childlessness as a dependent (outcome) variable, and woman's life span, year of birth, age at marriage, husband's age at marriage, and husband's life span as independent (predictor) variables.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between blood groups and life expectancy. We compared frequencies of ABO blood group in 269 centenarians (persons over 100 years) living in Tokyo and those in regionally matched controls (n=7153). Frequencies of blood types A, O, B, and AB in centenarians were 34.2, 28.3, 29.4, and 8.2%, respectively, while those in controls were 38.6, 30.1, 21.9, and 9.4%, respectively. Blood type B was observed more frequently in centenarians than in controls (chi(2)=8.41, P=0.04).
