Life expectancy increases globally as death toll falls from major diseases…

 

People are living much longer worldwide than they were two decades ago, as death rates from infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease have fallen, according to a new, first-ever journal publication of country-specific cause-of-death data for 188 countries. Causes of death vary widely by country, but, at the global level, drug use disorders and chronic kidney disease account for some of the largest percent increases in premature deaths since 1990. Death rates from some cancers, including pancreatic cancer and kidney cancer, also increased. At the same time, countries have made great strides in reducing mortality from diseases such as measles and diarrhea, with 83% and 51% reductions, respectively, from 1990 to 2013. Globally, three conditions -- ischemic heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) -- claimed the most lives in 2013, accounting for nearly 32% of all deaths. Published in The Lancet on December 18, the study, "Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013," was conducted by an international consortium of more than 700 researchers led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. Compared to previous Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies, researchers from more than 100 nations incorporated more country-level data as well as additional data on specific conditions. They also examined whether leading causes of death in lower-income countries are beginning to mirror those in higher-income countries. What they found is that even with big improvements in longevity in low-income countries, the types of health challenges faced by countries such as Bolivia, Nepal, and Niger are far different from those faced by countries such as the Japan, Spain, and the United States. The health challenges of many middle-income countries such as China or Brazil are also closer to those in the US. The average age of death increased from 46.7 in 1990 to 59.3 in 2013, as a result of declining fertility and a demographic shift in the world's population to older ages. Partly because of global population growth, the number of deaths in both sexes for all ages combined increased from 47.5 million to 54.9 million. The number of people dying from certain conditions, such as heart disease, has increased as population has increased, but decreases in age-specific mortality rates for these conditions is a sign of progress. Death rates from most cancers, including breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colon cancer, have decreased, but the reverse is true for pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. "People today are less likely than their parents to die from certain conditions, but there are more people of older ages throughout the world," said IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray. "This is an encouraging trend as people are living longer. We just need to make sure we are making the right health policy decisions today to prepare for the health challenges and associated costs that are coming." Global life expectancy for both sexes increased from 65.3 years in 1990 to 71.5 years in 2013, and women made slightly greater gains than men. Female life expectancy at birth increased by 6.6 years and male life expectancy by 5.8 years. If trends seen over the past 23 years hold, by 2030 global female life expectancy will be 85.3 years and male life expectancy will be 78.1 years. Disparities remain across age groups and countries. In all age groups except 80 and older, mortality has decreased more for women than men. Men aged 30-39 and over 80 showed some of the smallest declines in mortality. The gender gap in death rates for adults between the ages of 20 and 44 is widening, and HIV/AIDS, interpersonal violence, road injury, and maternal mortality are some of the key conditions responsible. For children under 5, diarrheal diseases, lower respiratory tract infections, neonatal disorders, and malaria are still among the leading causes of death. Given the size of India's population in particular, and projections that it may soon become the world's most populous country, mortality trends there have global implications. In 2013, India accounted for 19%, or 10.2 million, of the world's deaths. The country has made great strides in reducing both child and adult mortality since 1990. The average yearly rates of decline in mortality have been 3.7% per year for children and 1.3% per year for adults. Between 1990 and 2013, life expectancy at birth increased from 57.3 years to 64.2 years for males and from 58.2 years to 68.5 years for females. "It's very encouraging that adults and children in India are living longer and healthier lives," said Dr. Jeemon Panniyammakal of the Public Health Foundation of India and a co-author of the study. "But India's growing influence on global health means we must do more to address the diseases that kill people prematurely." In other parts of the world, life expectancy gains in sub-Saharan Africa were mainly driven by reductions in deaths from diarrhea, lower respiratory tract infections, and neonatal disorders. Reductions in cardiovascular disease, some cancers, transport injuries, and chronic respiratory conditions have led to the longevity gains in high-income regions. A variety of causes contributed to life expectancy declines globally. Diabetes, other endocrine disorders, and chronic kidney disease decreased life expectancy across many regions, including central Latin America; mental disorders had a negative impact in multiple regions, especially North America; intentional injuries reduced life expectancy in South Asia, the high-income countries of the Asia Pacific region, and southern sub-Saharan Africa. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, cirrhosis took a toll on life expectancy. HIV/AIDS was a major cause of death in Southern sub-Saharan Africa and to a smaller extent in Western and Eastern sub-Saharan Africa. "Almost a decade after HIV/AIDS peaked globally, this remains the leading cause of premature death in more than a dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa," said Dr. Andre Kengne, of the South African Medical Research Council, and a co-author of the study. "As fewer young people die from childhood diseases we must do more to ensure that HIV/AIDS does not become a threat for people of all ages." When looking at other causes of death, progress is seen in lower death rates despite increasing numbers of deaths. Some of the biggest increases in premature mortality since 1990 were seen for diabetes, HIV/AIDS, hypertensive heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and Alzheimer's disease. But for many disorders, including stomach cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, rheumatic heart disease, peptic ulcer disease, appendicitis, and schizophrenia, death rates have fallen by more than one-third since 1990. Death rates for some cancers have fallen (lung by 9%, breast by 18%, and leukemia by 20%). Global age-standardized death rates also have fallen by more than one-fifth for ischemic heart disease and stroke. Overall, global mortality rates increased significantly for very few diseases between 1990 and 2013.

Putin's insane-sounding quote about bears is essential for understanding Russia today

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a press conference on Thursday to address the country's increasingly dire economic crisis, made an extended, bizarre reference to bears that is drawing a lot of attention, and rightly, because it makes him sound absolutely crazy. But Putin's bear quotes — and the bear, it is widely understood in Russia, is a metaphor for the Russian nation — are actually essential for understanding Putin and his growing hostility to the West. Here is the quote, per the AP's translation, and its summary of a related point he made midway through: Sometimes I think, maybe it would be better for our bear to sit quiet, rather than chasing around the forest after piglets. To sit eating berries and honey instead. Maybe they will leave it in peace. They will not. Because they will always try to put him on a chain, and as soon as they succeed in doing so they tear out his fangs and his claws. [Putin says that by fangs and claws he meant Russia's nuclear weapons. And the West wants to weaken Russia, he says, to win control over its rich natural resources.] Once they've taken out his claws and his fangs, then the bear is no longer necessary. He'll become a stuffed animal. The issue is not Crimea, the issue is that we are protecting our sovereignty and our right to exist. Yes, to be clear, you are correct to read his argument as bananas crazy: that there is a Western conspiracy to destroy Russia and its nuclear weapons so as to steal Russian resources — the same oil that is trading at bargain-basement lows right now — and that Russia can only prevent this catastrophe by "chasing around the forest after piglets," in other words by being occasionally aggressive against other, smaller countries. What Putin is really talking about But this isn't just Putin randomly popping off on a bizarre tangent. This line of reasoning is, and has always been, a deliberate part of this strategy. That strategy is to portray any Russian economic downturn as the fault of nefarious Western aggressors, play up Russian imperial-style nationalism as a means of generating popular support, and to launch aggressive military campaigns that bolster and connect those two things. Putin, in this quote about bears, is directly referencing Russia's imperial past, and the idea that Russia is an inherently powerful and superior country whose basic nature — indeed, whose right according to natural law — is to physically domineer other countries. That's about justifying Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea, and its ongoing invasion of eastern Ukraine, not to mention Putin's more recent shows of aggression against other eastern European states, but it's about much more than that. This idea is popular among Russians; since the fall of Soviet Union, and especially the economic catastrophes of the 1990s, there has been a sense of lost greatness and lost pride in Russia. Putin is telling Russians that they are still a great world power, and blaming any feelings of national shortcoming not on failures of Russian leadership but on Western aggressors whose very existence just further proves that Russia is an equal and competitor. Putin's bear strategy works in the short term, but it is extremely dangerous What's canny about this is that Putin is basically arguing that the real reason Russia's economy is collapsing is in fact because the Russian state is so great, that those nefarious Western imperialists just couldn't stand it and are trying to chain up the bear. And he is further arguing that the way for Russia to deal with this problem isn't to, say, institute painful but necessary economic reforms, or back out of the Ukraine invasion that has invited damaging Western sanctions — rather, the answer is for Russia to be even more aggressive, because "chasing piglets" is Russia's inherent and glorious nature, and only that can stave off the real threat. This sort of rhetoric is popular in Russia. People like to hear that their problems are actually a sign of their strengths, that their country is something they should have great pride in, that they are inherently above and apart from the rest (you would not have to look hard to find similar rhetoric in US politics). But it is extremely dangerous, for the world and for Russia itself, because Putin is setting himself up to solve every problem with nationalist rhetoric and military aggression — which in turn will only invite more problems, and require more nationalism and aggression to paper over.

The potential value and toxicity of chromium picolinate as a nutritional supplement

 

Abstract The element chromium apparently has a role in maintaining proper carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in mammals. As this role probably involves potentiation of insulin signalling, chromium dietary supplementation has been postulated to potentially have effects on body composition, including reducing fat mass and increasing lean body mass. Because the supplement is absorbed better than dietary chromium, most studies have focused on the use of chromium picolinate [Cr(pic)(3)]. Cr(pic)(3) has been amazingly popular with the general public, especially with athletes who may have exercise-induced increased urinary chromium loss; however, its effectiveness in manifesting body composition changes has been an area of intense debate in the last decade. Additionally, claims have appeared that the supplement might give rise to deleterious effects. However, over a decade of human studies with Cr(pic)(3) indicate that the supplement has not demonstrated effects on the body composition of healthy individuals, even when taken in combination with an exercise training programme. Recent cell culture and in vivo rat studies have indicated that Cr(pic)(3) probably generates oxidative damage of DNA and lipids and is mutagenic, although the significance of these results on humans taking the supplement for prolonged periods of time is unknown and should be a focus for future investigations. Given that in vitro studies suggest that other forms of chromium used as nutritional supplements, such as chromium chloride, are unlikely to be susceptible to generating this type of oxidative damage, the use of these compounds, rather than Cr(pic)(3), would appear warranted. Potential neurological effects (both beneficial and deleterious) from Cr(pic)(3) supplementation require further study. Author information Department of Chemistry and Coalition for Biomolecular Products, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0336, USA. jvincent@bama.ua.edu

Os bebês assustados

 

How information moves between cultures

 

By analyzing data on multilingual Twitter users and Wikipedia editors and on 30 years' worth of book translations in 150 countries, researchers at MIT, Harvard University, Northeastern University, and Aix Marseille University have developed network maps that they say represent the strength of the cultural connections between speakers of different languages. This week, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they show that a language's centrality in their network -- as defined by both the number and the strength of its connections -- better predicts the global fame of its speakers than either the population or the wealth of the countries in which it is spoken. "The network of languages that are being translated is an aggregation of the social network of the planet," says Cesar Hidalgo, the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation Career Development Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and senior author on the paper. "Not everybody shares a language with everyone else, and therefore the global social network is structured through these circuitous paths in which people in some language groups are by definition way more central than others. That gives them a disproportionate power and responsibility. On the one hand, they have a much easier time disseminating the content that they produce. On the other hand, as information flows through people, it gets colored by the ideas and the biases that those people have." Plotting polyglots Hidalgo and his students Shahar Ronen -- first author on the new paper -- and Kevin Hu, together with Harvard's Steven Pinker, Bruno Gonçalves of Aix Marseille University, and Alessandro Vespignani of Northeastern, included a given Twitter user in their data set if he or she had at least three sentence-long tweets in a language other than his or her primary language. That left them with 17 million of Twitter's roughly 280 million users. They had similar thresholds for Wikipedia users who had edited entries in more than one language, which gave them a data set of 2.2 million Wikipedia editors. In both cases, the strength of the connection between any two languages was determined by the number of users who had demonstrated facility with both of them. The translation data came from UNESCO's Index Translationum, which catalogues 2.2 million book translations, in more than 1,000 languages, published between 1979 and 2011. There, the strength of the connection between two languages was determined by the number of translations between them. The researchers also used two different definitions of global fame. One was the measure that Hidalgo's group had used in its earlier Pantheon project, which also looked at global cultural production. Pantheon had identified everyone with (at the time) Wikipedia entries in at least 26 languages -- 11,340 people in all. The other fame measure was inclusion among the 4,002 people profiled in the book "Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 BC to 1950," by the American political scientist Charles Murray. Murray's list was based on the frequency with which people's names were mentioned in 167 reference texts -- encyclopedias and historical surveys -- published worldwide. Relative correlatives There were, naturally, differences between the networks produced from the separate data sets and their correlations with the two fame measures. For instance, in the network produced from Wikipedia data, German is much more central than Spanish; in the Twitter network, the opposite is true. Similarly, the network produced from UNESCO's translation data correlated better with Murray's fame index, which, as the subtitle of his book indicates, concentrated on science and the arts. The Wikipedia and Twitter networks correlated better with the Pantheon index, which included many more pop-culture figures. But with both fame measures, at least one of the networks, taken in isolation, provided better correlation than the number of speakers of a language and the GDPs of the countries in which it is spoken. And when the networks were combined with population and income data, the correlations were higher still. "We have to be very clear about what we're talking about," Hidalgo says. "This paper is not about global languages. All three networks are representative of elites. But those elites are the ones that drive the transfer of information across cultures." "This thought-provoking paper expands the intersection between big-data network science and linguistics," writes Kenneth Wachter, a professor of demography and statistics at the University of California at Berkeley. "It offers reproducible criteria for a language to serve as a global hub and is likely to stimulate many alternative perspectives."

Pílula que substitui exercício físico

 

Cientistas estudam pílula que substitui exercício físico. Em laboratório, pesquisadores de Harvard identificaram substâncias que, como a atividade física, são capazes de transformar gordura "ruim" em "boa". A criação de uma pílula contra a obesidade, capaz de imitar o efeito emagrecedor de exercícios aeróbicos, como a corrida, pode estar mais próxima. Em um estudo publicado nesta segunda-feira, pesquisadores da Universidade Harvard revelam ter identificado duas moléculas que, uma vez dentro das células, reduzem o excesso de gordura acumulada e aumentam o gasto calórico. A pílula, no entanto, não substitui os outros benefícios das atividades físicas, como aumento da massa muscular ou melhora da saúde cardiovascular. Além disso, trata-se de uma pesquisa em fase inicial, realizada em laboratório. Portanto, uma abordagem desse tipo ainda não está disponível. No estudo, cientistas do Instituto de Células-Tronco de Harvard analisaram células-tronco humanas e, a partir de um banco de dados de 1 000 compostos, identificaram dois que podem desencadear o processo que transforma gordura branca, ou “ruim”, em gordura marrom, ou “boa”. Gordura corporal — O tecido adiposo de uma pessoa é constituído por dois tipos de gordura: a branca e a marrom. A energia excedente do corpo é estocada como lipídio nas células de gordura branca. Quando um indivíduo não gasta tantas calorias quanto consome, o organismo produz mais células de gordura “ruim” para estocar essa energia excedente. Já a gordura marrom libera a energia excedente para, por exemplo, manter a temperatura do corpo. Ela também é capaz de reduzir o tamanho das células de gordura branca. Por isso, é considerada como “boa” e uma possível aliada contra a obesidade e doenças relacionadas. Mecanismo — Em testes feitos no laboratório, os pesquisadores observaram que os dois compostos identificados são capazes de transformar células-tronco de gordura, fazendo com que elas deixem de produzir células de gordura branca e passem a gerar gordura marrom. É o processo desencadeado por atividades físicas aeróbicas, como caminhada, corrida e natação. A nova pesquisa, publicada na revista Nature Cell Biology, ainda deverá passar por outras etapas para que a descoberta resulte em uma pílula milagrosa. Um dos motivos é o fato de ambos os compostos poderem, a longo prazo, levar a reações inflamatórias do organismo e comprometer o sistema imunológico. Por isso, as substâncias precisam sofrer modificações nos estudos futuros.No entanto, um desses compostos já é aprovado nos Estados Unidos para o tratamento de artrite reumatoide, doença autoimune que provoca inflamação nas articulações. “A boa, ou má, notícia é que a ciência é lenta: ter provas em relação a um conceito leva uma enorme quantidade de tempo. Nós pensamos que trabalhar com células-tronco levaria à descoberta de novos medicamentos e terapias, e agora isso está realmente começando a acontecer. Uma década de trabalho científico árduo está valendo a pena”, diz Chad Cowan, professor da Universidade Harvard e coordenador do estudo. Cinco passos para sair do sedentarismo: Avalie o seu físico Passar por uma avaliação de flexibilidade, fôlego, força muscular e composição corporal é importante para medir o progresso que virá com a prática de exercícios. Esse teste pode ser feito por um profissional de educação física. Já pessoas sedentárias com mais de 40 anos ou que tenham algum fator de risco, como sobrepeso e hipertensão, devem agendar uma consulta com um médico antes de iniciar uma atividade física. "Há recursos que traçam o perfil do indivíduo e permitem dizer se ele pode fazer exercícios mais intensos ou se deve optar pelos moderados", diz o fisiologista Turíbio Leite de Barros. Trata-se de testes como o cardiopulmonar, que mede a aptidão cardiorrespiratória, e o ergométrico, que avalia o coração em situação de stress, geralmente com o paciente se movimentando em uma esteira ou bicicleta estacionária. Estabeleça metas realistas Ter objetivos ao iniciar uma atividade física é motivador – desde que eles sejam realistas. "Uma pessoa que decidir perder 10 quilos em dois meses dificilmente vai conseguir alcançar a meta e, de certo, vai desistir do compromisso", diz Renato Dutra. O ideal, segundo o educador físico, é estabelecer objetivos de curto (um a três meses), médio (quatro a seis meses) e longo prazo (um a dois anos). "Metas possíveis para um sedentário são, por exemplo, emagrecer 1 quilo em dois meses ou, em um mês, correr 10 minutos ou subir um lance de escada sem se sentir tão cansado." Um dos melhores estímulos é enxergar os resultados. Escolha um exercício prazeroso É comum que corrida e musculação, pela difusão e pela praticidade, sejam as primeiras opções na hora de escolher um exercício. Mas isso não quer dizer que elas sejam prazerosas para todo mundo. A regra é experimentar diferentes modalidades até encontrar a mais agradável. "Para sair do sedentarismo, a pessoa deverá buscar um exercício com o qual se identifique", diz Renato Dutra. "Só assim ela descobrirá que, em vez de musculação, prefere pilates, ou que se sai melhor na dança do que na corrida." Comece devagar Pessoas que não estão acostumadas a se exercitar devem começar uma atividade física aos poucos, com uma intensidade leve e respeitando os limites do corpo. Isso vai ajudar a evitar lesões e diminuirá as chances de o indivíduo se sentir desestimulado com o exercício. Variar as modalidades também é uma medida que ajuda a espantar o desânimo. "Faça, por exemplo, musculação em um dia, um exercício aeróbico no outro e uma aula de alongamento no dia seguinte”, diz o educador físico Renato Dutra. Persista nos novos hábitos É normal que uma pessoa decida se exercitar duas vezes por semana, mas, logo no início, um imprevisto a impeça de cumprir esse objetivo. "Ela não pode desanimar por causa disso. Se não deu, deve tentar de novo na outra semana. Para criar um hábito, é preciso investir nele, reforçando determinados comportamentos. Uma pessoa que sempre foi sedentária não pode ser tão exigente consigo mesma”, afirma Dutra.