23 THE END Flashcards
What milestone was reached in 2011 regarding global mortality?
For the first time, more people globally died from non-communicable diseases than from all infectious diseases combined.
What percentage of deaths are sudden, as with a heart attack or car crash?
About one-fifth.
What percentage of deaths result from a protracted decline?
About 60 percent.
What is the percentage of Americans over 65 who will spend time in an intensive care unit in their final three months of life?
Nearly a third.
What is the chance of a seventy-year-old man in America dying in the next year as of today?
2 percent.
How much would finding a cure for all cancers add to overall life expectancy?
Just 3.2 years.
What is the estimated increase in life expectancy if all forms of heart disease were eliminated?
5.5 years.
What did Daniel Lieberman note about the relationship between added life and healthy life since 1990?
For every year of added life, only 10 months is healthy.
What percentage of the population do elderly individuals constitute in the U.S.?
Just over a tenth.
What is the cost of falls among the elderly to the U.S. economy annually?
$31 billion.
What has happened to the average retirement duration for people born in 1971 compared to those born before 1945?
Increased from about eight years to approximately twenty years.
What phenomenon describes the programmed limit of cell division discovered by Leonard Hayflick?
The Hayflick limit.
What role do telomeres play in cell division?
They shorten with each cell division until the cell dies or becomes inactive.
According to a study, what percentage of the additional risk of death after age sixty is accounted for by telomere length?
As little as 4 percent.
What are free radicals?
Wisps of cellular waste that build up in the body during metabolism.
What do antioxidants do?
Neutralize free radicals.
Is there scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of antioxidant supplements?
No.
What is the role of the enzyme telomerase in cell division?
It instructs the cell to stop dividing after a preset quota.
What happens to blood volume pushed out with each heartbeat as we age?
It gradually falls.
What is one consequence of aging related to the bladder?
It becomes less elastic and cannot hold as much.
What is menopause?
The stage in a woman’s life when she ceases to have menstrual periods, usually associated with a decline in estrogen production.
What are the two hypotheses regarding the purpose of menopause?
- The mother hypothesis
- The grandmother hypothesis
What is the best indicator that a woman is entering menopause?
Irregular periods.
What is the maximum age that most researchers believe people can live to?
About 115 years.
What is the view of Dr. Aubrey de Grey regarding the lifespan of some people alive today?
Some may live to be one thousand.
What percentage of the population currently lives to be 100 years old?
About one in ten thousand.
Who is the chief science officer of the SENS Research Foundation?
Dr. Aubrey de Grey
What is the theoretical lifespan suggested by Richard Cawthon?
One thousand years
What is the probability of reaching your 110th birthday?
About one in seven million
Which gender is more likely to reach 110 years old?
Women
What was the longest-lived person’s age at death?
122 years and 164 days
Who was the longest-lived person recorded?
Jeanne Louise Calment
What lifestyle choice did Jeanne Louise Calment maintain until age 117?
Smoking
What was the oldest man recorded and his age at death?
Jiroemon Kimura, 116 years and 54 days
What type of lifestyle is suggested to play a significant role in longevity?
Healthy lifestyle
What is a significant factor that affects longevity according to Daniel Lieberman?
Family genes
What condition can cause dementia without amyloid and tau buildups?
Other types of dementia
What are the two proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease?
Beta-amyloid and tau
What is the percentage of dementia cases attributed to Alzheimer’s disease?
60 to 70 percent
What is the estimated number of people affected by Alzheimer’s worldwide?
Fifty million
What type of dementia arises from damage to the frontal and temporal lobes?
Frontotemporal dementia
What is the estimated annual cost of dementia to the National Health Service in Britain?
£26 billion
What is the failure rate of Alzheimer’s drugs in clinical trials?
99.6 percent
Fill in the blank: Alzheimer’s is often considered the _______ most common cause of death among older people.
third
What has been the trend in research funding for dementia compared to other diseases?
Underfunded
What was the cause of death for Alois Alzheimer?
Complications of a severe cold
How does social connection affect telomere length in Costa Ricans?
Good relationships physically alter DNA
What is the average lifespan comparison between men and women throughout history?
Women live several years longer on average than men
What was the name of the woman who first presented to Alois Alzheimer with forgetfulness?
Auguste Deter
What condition may Auguste Deter have actually suffered from instead of Alzheimer’s?
Metachromatic leukodystrophy
What is a common characteristic of dementia patients that can distress loved ones?
Loss of inhibitions and control of impulses
What is the relationship between education and Alzheimer’s susceptibility?
More education reduces likelihood of Alzheimer’s
What lifestyle factors can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s by about 60 percent?
Healthy diet, moderate exercise, maintaining a sound weight, not smoking, and not drinking to excess
True or False: No one has officially died of old age in the United States since 1951.
True
What percentage of terminally ill patients report comforting dreams about death?
50 to 60 percent
What is the emotional experience often reported by terminally ill patients before death?
Intense but highly comforting dreams
According to a 2014 study in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, 50 to 60 percent of terminally ill patients report these dreams.
What chemical surge occurs in the brain at death?
A surge of chemicals that may account for intense experiences reported by near-death survivors.
What is a common sound made by dying individuals when they can no longer cough or swallow?
Death rattle.
What is agonal breathing?
A type of labored breathing at death where the sufferer cannot get enough breath due to a failing heart.
How long can agonal breathing last?
It can last for a few seconds to over forty minutes.
What is a common ethical concern regarding the use of neuromuscular blocking agents at death?
It is thought to hasten death and may be considered unethical or illegal.
What percentage of cancer patients in America receive chemotherapy in their final weeks of life?
One in eight.
What have studies shown about palliative care compared to chemotherapy in dying cancer patients?
Patients receiving palliative care live longer and suffer less.
What is the accuracy rate of doctors predicting survival for terminally ill patients?
Doctors were correct within a week in only 25 percent of cases.
What physical change occurs almost immediately after death?
Blood drains from capillaries near the surface, leading to pallor.
What is livor mortis?
A process where blood pools in the lowest parts of the body after death, turning the skin purple.
What is autolysis?
A self-digesting process where internal cells rupture and enzymes spill out after death.
How long after death does rigor mortis typically set in?
Between thirty minutes and four hours.
What gases are produced by gut bacteria during decomposition?
Methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, cadaverine, and putrescine.
What is the average time for decomposition in a sealed coffin?
Between five and forty years.
What is the myth regarding hair and nails after death?
That hair and nails continue to grow after death.
What is the average weight of ashes after cremation?
About five pounds.
Fill in the blank: The famous muscle stiffening known as _______ sets in after death.
rigor mortis.
True or False: Most graves are visited for more than fifteen years.
False.
What significant milestone in human history occurred in 2011 regarding causes of death?
For the first time, more people globally died from non-communicable diseases than from all infectious diseases combined.
What percentage of deaths are sudden or occur quickly after a short illness?
About 40 percent (one-fifth sudden, one-fifth quickly after illness).
What percentage of deaths result from a protracted decline?
About 60 percent.
What is the probability of a seventy-year-old man in America dying in the next year as of today?
2 percent.
In 1940, at what age did a man have a 2 percent chance of dying?
Age fifty-six.
What is the average time spent in retirement for someone born in 1998?
Approximately thirty-five years.
What is the Hayflick limit?
The phenomenon where cultured human stem cells can divide only about fifty times before losing their power to divide.
What role do telomeres play in aging?
They shorten with each cell division until the cell dies or becomes inactive.
What enzyme regulates telomere chemistry?
Telomerase.
True or False: Telomere shortening accounts for the majority of aging.
False.
What are free radicals?
By-products of metabolism that contribute to aging.
What is the misconception about antioxidants?
That they effectively counteract aging, which lacks scientific support.
What happens to the bladder as we age?
It becomes less elastic and cannot hold as much.
What is a common symptom of menopause experienced by women?
Hot flashes.
What are the two principal theories regarding menopause?
- Mother hypothesis
- Grandmother hypothesis
What is the average decrease in blood volume to the kidneys after age forty?
1 percent per year.
Fill in the blank: The aging process is initiated from _____ the organism.
[within]
What percentage of the population over fifty suffers from chronic pain or disability?
Nearly half.
What is the economic cost of falls among the elderly in the U.S.?
$31 billion a year.
What is the average life expectancy increase if all cancers were cured?
3.2 years.
What is the average life expectancy increase if all heart diseases were eradicated?
5.5 years.
What happens to the heart’s output as we age?
The amount of blood pushed out with each heartbeat gradually falls.
True or False: Menopause is triggered by women exhausting their supply of eggs.
False.
What is a consequence of aging concerning the immune system?
It fails to detect intruders as reliably as it once did.
What is the expected lifespan of the oldest humans according to a study by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine?
Unlikely to exceed about 115 years.
Who believes that some people alive today may live to be one thousand?
Dr. Aubrey de Grey.
Fill in the blank: Aging is universal across all species, and it is _____ initiated.
[intrinsically]
What does Dr. Aubrey de Grey believe regarding human lifespan?
Some people alive now may live to be one thousand.
What is the likelihood of reaching your 110th birthday?
About one in seven million.
Who keeps track of supercentenarians?
The Gerontology Research Group (GRG).
What is the gender difference in reaching 110 years old?
Women are ten times more likely than men.
Who was the longest-lived person known to date?
Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived to 122 years and 164 days.
What was Jeanne Louise Calment’s lifestyle like?
She never worked, smoked her entire life, and ate two pounds of chocolate weekly.
What unusual financial deal did Jeanne Louise Calment make?
She sold her apartment for 2,500 francs a month until her death, outliving the lawyer who made the deal.
Who was the oldest man known to date?
Jiroemon Kimura, who lived to 116 years and 54 days.
What role do family genes play in longevity according to Daniel Lieberman?
They seem to play a significant role in living much longer.
What is the average lifespan of people in Costa Rica compared to the U.S.?
Costa Ricans live longer despite poorer health care and wealth.
What factor is associated with longer telomeres in Costa Ricans?
Closer social bonds and family relationships.
Fill in the blank: Alzheimer’s disease was named after _______.
[Alois Alzheimer].
What did Auguste Deter complain of when she first met Alois Alzheimer?
Persistent and worsening forgetfulness.
What accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients?
Beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles.
What percentage of dementia cases does Alzheimer’s account for?
Between 60 and 70 percent.
What is the main cause of death from dementia in older adults?
Alzheimer’s disease.
What is the common misconception about the cause of death in older adults?
Old age was officially removed as a cause of death in the U.S. in 1951.
What factors reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s?
- Healthy diet
- Moderate exercise
- Maintaining a sound weight
- Not smoking or drinking excessively.
Fill in the blank: The oldest confirmed age of a person is _______.
[122 years and 164 days].
What is the failure rate of Alzheimer’s drugs in clinical trials?
99.6 percent.
What is the third most common cause of death among older people?
Alzheimer’s disease.
What was the life expectancy of the oldest woman and man recorded?
122 years and 164 days for the woman, and 116 years and 54 days for the man.
What is one of the most significant challenges in Alzheimer’s research?
Lack of effective treatment and high failure rates in clinical trials.
What is described as the ‘excruciating terror’ related to death?
The ‘razor-sharp claws digging into that interior organ where all dreaded things come to scrape and gnaw and live in me.’
According to a 2014 study in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, what percentage of terminally ill patients report intense but comforting dreams about their impending passing?
Between 50 and 60 percent.
What phenomenon occurs in the brain at death that may explain intense experiences reported by survivors of near-death incidents?
A surge of chemicals in the brain.
What common sound do dying individuals make when they lose the ability to cough or swallow?
Death rattle.
What is agonal breathing?
Labored breathing at death where the sufferer struggles to get enough breath due to a failing heart.
How long can agonal breathing last?
It can last for a few seconds or up to forty minutes or more.
What ethical concerns arise regarding the administration of neuromuscular blocking agents to dying patients?
It is thought to hasten death and may be considered unethical or illegal.
What is the routine treatment for dying people that is often criticized?
Overtreatment, such as chemotherapy for cancer patients up to the last two weeks of life.
What did studies show about cancer sufferers receiving palliative care compared to those receiving chemotherapy?
They actually live longer and suffer much less.
What did Dr. Steven Hatch find about doctors’ predictions of survival for terminally ill patients?
Doctors were correct to within a week of survival in only 25 percent of cases.
What physical change occurs almost immediately after death?
The blood begins to drain from the capillaries near the surface, leading to a ghostly pallor.
What term describes the process of blood pooling in the lowest parts of the body after death?
Livor mortis.
What is autolysis?
A self-digesting process that occurs when internal cells rupture and enzymes spill out.
Which organ continues to break down alcohol after death?
The liver.
How quickly do brain cells die after death?
In about three to four minutes.
What is rigor mortis?
Muscle stiffening that sets in between thirty minutes and four hours after death.
What happens to a corpse’s bacteria after death?
Bacteria devour the body and produce gases such as methane and hydrogen sulfide.
How long does it take for a body in a sealed coffin to decompose?
Between five and forty years, depending on whether it is embalmed.
What percentage of Britons and Americans are cremated today?
Three-quarters of Britons and 40 percent of Americans.
How much do the ashes of a cremated person typically weigh?
About five pounds.
True or False: Hair and nails continue to grow after death.
False.
