Comments on: Feelin’ the Gompertz Law

By: Sergey

Sergey — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 17:12:49 +0000

No, Don Carlos, you are wrong. Apoptosis is a defence mechanism, perfectly normal, it protects us from degenerating cell and cancers. It is even necessary for longevity and is more, not less, active in long-living species and phylogenetic lines. What is behind the decline of organisms with age, also preprogrammed, is exponential decay of number of stem cells circulating in bloodstream. These stem cells can replace any kind of cells trown away in apopthosis. But why the numbers of stem cells decline in this exponential fashion? This also needs some explanation, now absent.

By: Don Carlos

Don Carlos — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 18:11:35 +0000

Apoptosis. Programmed cell death; after X generations of any particular cell line, death of that line kicks in. Skin is a good example. We wear a new skin every two weeks, but the line is dying, thus the thinning skins that come noticeable with getting older.

By: Ray

Ray — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:43:17 +0000

I always looked at it as an example of the Russian roulette statistics problem. If you play Russian roulette one time your chances of survival are fairly good, but if you continue playing it you chances of survival steadily decrease. It’s a case of conditional probability. Every day you stay alive is like surviving a game of Russian roulette and each day your chances of survival become smaller.

By: Geoffrey Britain

Geoffrey Britain — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 03:10:48 +0000

“the regularity and predictability of the increase is startling, as well as its universality”

Try to imagine a universe in which that societal ‘increase’ was not regular and predictable and then, think of the implications. The old must make way for the young or societal stability is impossible because the opportunity for advancement would be strangled in its crib. (perhaps, just maybe… the ‘Big Kahuna upstairs’ actually knows what he’s doing?)

‘Joking’ advice I find of worth; “Don’t take life too seriously. You’re never going to get out of it alive.”

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 02:40:37 +0000

So, when Obama finally leaves office after eight years we will, all of us, have twice the probability of dying compared to when he was inaugurated!

Another dismal effect of enduring his presidency.

By: J.J.

J.J. — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 02:16:50 +0000

bumsrush: “Living here in this retirement community as I do, one thing I’ve noticed is there are a few people here already dead, they just don’t know it yet.”

Ain’t that the truth.

I live in an “Active Adult” (over age 55) community. It’s almost as quiet as a cemetery. All activities seem to center around food.

My 85 year old neighbor and her 92 year old boy friend are dancers. Whenever there is a potluck, they put on music and dance. They’re pretty darn graceful, all things considered. They’re still alive and trying to relive their high school years. Good on ’em.

We have had two in the neighborhood pass on in the last year, and the 90 year old widow across the street is preparing to decamp to a nursing home in the next few days. It’s a study in aging – some gracefully, some not so gracefully. Such as me. I’m raging against the falling of the light. I know it’s a fixed fight that I can’t win, but I’m not resigned to it yet.

By: Artfldgr

Artfldgr — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 01:01:58 +0000

dissecting leftism:
Medical researchers tend to get very excited even when they detect a very small effect of something. Below is such a case. When everything was controlled for in their analyses, they found a pathetic .66 hazard ratio (“the adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause mortality were 0.66”). Statisticians don’t usually conclude that something real is going on until the ratio exceeds 2.0. So the lifespan benefits of taking regular exercise are somewhere between tiny and negligible. Pity that.

What we see below is another example of the failure of theory.

It seems obvious that we are designed for an active life so therefore we should live longer if we are active. But we don’t — not to any appreciable extent, anyway

jama article comment above was for
Effect of Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity on All-Cause Mortality in Middle-aged and Older Australians
By Klaus Gebel et al.
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=2212268

By: vanderleun

vanderleun — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 00:53:23 +0000

“Now? Trailblazers.”

I don’t care what trail they’re blazing, I ain’t going down it.

By: snopercod

snopercod — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 00:21:48 +0000

All I can say is getting older isn’t for sissies.

By: Harry The Exremeist

Harry The Exremeist — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 23:41:19 +0000

There was also this video demonstration that had one crossing their legs and lowering and raising themselves from a sitting position without the use of ones hands to assist. A greater likelihood of death within 5 years for those who needed assistance in both lowering and raising themselves from this position. I was afraid to even attempt to lower myself without causing myself serious injury.

Id like to go ahead and subscribe to the after-life edition of NeoNeocon, now if its available. The soonest you could provide the link would probably be better….