Life Expectancy News and Research

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Life expectancy is the expected (in the statistical sense) number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by e''x'', which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged ''x'', according to a particular mortality experience.

Annual screening tests do not decrease deaths from prostate cancer

There's new evidence that annual prostate cancer screening does not reduce deaths from the disease, even among men in their 50s and 60s and those with underlying health conditions, according to new research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

6 Jan 2012

Research roundup: Unraveling why elderly men are tested for prostate cancer; Difficulty paying medical bills

Medical Center Characteristics Associated With PSA Screenings In Elderly Veterans With Limited Life Expectancy -- Medical guidelines recommend against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screenings for prostate cancer in men with limited life expectancy, but studies have shown that many elderly men still get the test.

23 Dec 2011

NPR's 'Morning Edition' examines USAID's efforts to improve medical care in Afghanistan

NPR Morning Edition host Renee Montagne on Thursday spoke with Alex Thier, who oversees USAID projects in Afghanistan, about the "tremendous efforts that have been made to improve medical care in the country over the last decade," noting, "A new survey shows stunning progress in medical care in the war-torn country."

23 Dec 2011

Chlorthalidone may reduce risk of death in patients with systolic hypertension

Patients with systolic hypertension who were treated with the diuretic chlorthalidone for 4.5 years as part of a clinical trial had a significantly lower rate of death and a gain in life expectancy free from cardiovascular death about 20 years later compared to patients who received placebo, according to a study in the December 21 issue of JAMA.

21 Dec 2011

Antihypertensive drug therapy associated with longer life expectancy

More than 68 percent of Americans 65 and older - 80 percent age 75 and over - have hypertension (high blood pressure), according to a 2010 report by the Centers for Disease Control. Left untreated, this chronic condition can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure or premature death. Researchers at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have shown in a follow-up to the landmark clinical trial, Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (SHEP), that the use of antihypertensive drug therapy is associated with longer life expectancy.

21 Dec 2011

FLI, IZW partner to begin ageing research project in 2012

Jena`s Leibniz Institute for Age Research - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) and Berlin`s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) from Germany are jointly starting a project for ageing research in 2012.

16 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: Politics overtakes Plan B; Gingrich's entitlement plans; Cheeseburgers and death

Once again, the politics of birth control have trumped science and sound public policy. On Wednesday, the Obama administration overruled a carefully reasoned decision by the Food and Drug Administration to make the so-called morning-after pill available without prescription to adolescent girls below the age of 17.

9 Dec 2011

Longer lives of US Presidents contrary to popular belief

According to Dr. Michael Roizen U.S. Presidents may be aging twice as fast as the rest of us while they occupy the Oval Office. Roizen, chairman of the Wellness Institute at the esteemed Cleveland Clinic, is the developer of RealAge, whose premise is that one’s calendar age isn’t necessarily in sync with the actual wear and tear on the body.

7 Dec 2011

Breast reconstruction after mastectomy safe for older women

Breast cancer is on the rise and 48 percent of all breast cancers occur in women older than 65, but very few of them choose to have breast reconstruction. A new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center sought to determine if breast reconstruction after mastectomy is safe for older women. The answer is yes.

7 Dec 2011

Towards a national plan of action for rare diseases

"Rare diseases", by their very definition, occur in no more than 5 people out of every 10,000 inhabitants. Barely noticed by the general public, only around 1,000 of the currently 6,000 or so different rare diseases currently listed on the Internet platform Orphanet are treatable nowadays.

5 Dec 2011

Unigene acquires exclusive worldwide rights to oral PTH program from GSK

Unigene Laboratories, Inc. today announced that the Company terminated its amended and restated exclusive worldwide license agreement and related development services and clinical supply agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) pertaining to an oral formulation of a recombinantly produced parathyroid hormone (PTH) analog for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

5 Dec 2011

Novartis to showcase 160 presentations on breast cancer, hematological disease drugs at SABCS and ASH

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation will showcase more than one hundred and sixty presentations on data from its robust oncology portfolio at two key medical congresses this month, demonstrating significant advances for patients with cancers and hematological diseases.

3 Dec 2011

NYU Langone establishes new LVAD Program for patients with advanced heart failure

The Cardiac & Vascular Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center has established its new LVAD Program. This surgical intervention program offers eligible, advanced heart failure patients implantation of the latest, lifesaving tool - a left ventricular assist device.

2 Dec 2011

Life expectancy rising in Afghanistan with infant, maternal mortality declining, survey shows

"Afghans are living longer, fewer infants are dying and more women are surviving childbirth because health care has dramatically improved around the country in the past decade, according to a national survey released Wednesday," the Associated Press/Guardian reports.

2 Dec 2011

Hospice family caregivers require unique care needs

A study led by the University of Kentucky researcher Elaine Wittenberg-Lyles found that hospice family caregivers are "second order patients" themselves and require their own unique care needs.

1 Dec 2011

Critical breakthrough in development of treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Academics from Royal Holloway, University of London and a team lead by scientists at the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH), have made an important breakthrough in the development of a treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) which in the future could help the likes of the Lloyd family who were featured on last night's X-Factor show.

29 Nov 2011

OECD report finds U.S. pays more by far for health care

The U.S. healthcare system is more effective at delivering high costs than quality care, according to a new study that found first-rate treatment for cancer but insufficient primary care for other ailments. The study, released on Wednesday by the 34-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, said Americans pay more than $7,900 per person for healthcare each year -- far more than any other OECD country -- but still die earlier than their peers in the industrialized world.

24 Nov 2011

Nature Medicine publishes dexpramipexole Phase 2 ALS study results

Knopp Biosciences LLC today announced the publication in Nature Medicine of comprehensive results from the Phase 2 study of dexpramipexole, a small-molecule modulator of mitochondrial bioenergetics, in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

21 Nov 2011

Positive preliminary results from Alnylam's ALN-TTR01 Phase I clinical trial for TTR-mediated amyloidosis

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today positive preliminary results from its Phase I clinical trial with ALN-TTR01, an RNAi therapeutic targeting transthyretin (TTR) for the treatment of TTR-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR).