A simple eye test that predicts death from cardiovascular disease has been developed by British scientists. It combines artificial intelligence (AI) with scans of the retina – a membrane at the back of peepers that contains light sensitive cells. The technique could lead to a screening programme – enabling drugs and lifestyle changes to be prescribed decades before symptoms emerge. Lead author Professor Alicja Regina Rudnicka, of St George’s University of London, said the test is inexpensive, accessible and non-invasive. People at risk of stroke, heart attack and other circulatory conditions could undergo RV (artificial intelligence enabled retinal vasculometry) during routine visits to the optician.

Prof Rudnicka said: “It has the potential for reaching a higher proportion of the population in the community because of ‘high street’ availability. “RV offers an alternative predictive biomarker to traditional risk-scores for vascular health – without the need for blood sampling or blood pressure measurement. “It is highly likely to help prolong disease-free status in an ever-aging population with increasing comorbidities, and assist with minimising healthcare costs associated with lifelong vascular diseases.”

An algorithm called QUARTZ was developed based on retinal images from tens of thousands of Britons aged 40 to 69. It focused on the width, area and curvature, or tortuosity, of tiny blood vessels called arterioles and venules. The performance of QUARTZ was compared with the widely used Framingham Risk Scores framework – both separately and jointly.

The health of all the participants was tracked for an average of seven to nine years, during which time there were 327 and 201 circulatory disease deaths among 64,144 UK Biobank and 5,862 EPIC-Norfolk participants respectively. In men, arteriolar and venular width, tortuosity, and width variation emerged as important predictors of death from circulatory disease. In women, arteriolar and venular area and width and venular tortuosity and width variation contributed to risk prediction.

The predictive impact of retinal vasculature on circulatory disease death interacted with smoking, drugs to treat high blood pressure, and previous heart attacks. Overall, these predictive models, based on age, smoking, medical history and retinal vasculature, captured between half and two-thirds of circulatory disease deaths in those most at risk.

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/

Long life, de-aging, and immortality are some of the concepts that humans keep fiddling with. But, so far, there have been no answers that could unlock the secret of immortality, if it exists. Scientists have now turned for answers to the immortal jellyfish, a creature capable of repeatedly reverting into a younger state.

Spanish researchers have managed to decipher the genome of the immortal jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii, and have defined various genomic keys that contribute to extending its longevity to the point of avoiding its death. Led by Dr. Carlos López-Otín of the University of Oviedo, the team mapped the genetic sequence of the unique jellyfish in hopes of unearthing the secret to their unique longevity and finding new clues to human aging. The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They sequenced Turritopsis dohrnii, together with that of its sister Turritopsis rubra to identify genes that are amplified or have different variant characteristics between the two.Turritopsis rubra is a close genetic cousin that lacks the ability to rejuvenate after sexual reproduction. They unraveled that T. dohrnii has variations in its genome that may make it better at copying and repairing DNA and they appear to be better at maintaining the ends of chromosomes called telomeres. The telomere length has been shown to shorten with age in humans.

“Rather than having a single key to rejuvenation and immortality, the various mechanisms found in our work would act synergistically as a whole, thus orchestrating the process to ensure the successful rejuvenation of the immortal jellyfish,” Maria Pascual-Torner, first author of the article said in a statement. ”

Like other types of jellyfish, the T. dohrnii goes through a two-part life cycle, living on the sea floor during an asexual phase, where its chief role is to stay alive during times of food scarcity. When conditions are right, jellyfish reproduce sexually. Although many types of jellyfish have some capacity to reverse aging and revert to a larval stage, most lose this ability once they reach sexual maturity, the authors wrote. Not so for T. dohrnii.

Meanwhile, Carlos López-Otín, professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Asturian university said, “This work does not pursue the search for strategies to achieve the dreams of human immortality that some announce, but to understand the keys and limits of the fascinating cellular plasticity that allows some organisms to be able to travel back in time. From this knowledge, we hope to find better answers to the numerous diseases associated with aging that overwhelm us today“.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/

“Take it easy. Stop working so hard. You’re going to give yourself a heart attack. I’m really worried about you.” At one point in your career, you may have heard this from a loved one.

You probably met this concern with excuses and rationalizations saying things like, “The company is depending on me. I’m close to getting a raise and promotion if I keep this up!” You don’t think of the toll taken on your emotional, mental and physical health. It’s all about building and growing your career, in an attempt to climb the corporate ladder.

It’s easy to believe that you can keep putting in the long hours and endure the unrelenting stress without repercussions. There is a feeling of invincibility. “Bad things happen to other people,” you tell yourself. “I’m relatively young and healthy,” you believe. “These are my prime earning years and I have to hustle.”

The problem is, according to a study by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), “Long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016, a 29% increase since 2000.” The substantial number of strokes and heart disease resulted from working “at least 55 hours a week.” The study by the WHO and ILO concludes that working 55 or more hours per week is associated with a higher risk of a stroke and dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working 35 to 40 hours a week. There is heightened concern that people are working increasingly longer hours, which puts more people at risk of an “early death.” They are literally working themselves to death.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/

There are two sources that provide age, sex, and comorbidity statistics:

We will list data from both, labeling them as “confirmed cases” and “all cases” respectively in the tables.

COVID-19 Fatality Rate by AGE:

*Death Rate = (number of deaths / number of cases) = probability of dying if infected by the virus (%). This probability differs depending on the age group. The percentages shown below do not have to add up to 100%, as they do NOT represent share of deaths by age group. Rather, it represents, for a person in a given age group, the risk of dying if infected with COVID-19.

Source: https://www.worldometers.info/