Watching the World.- Life Expectancy. While futurists hope that life expectancy will rise to 100, it is difficult to increase it beyond 80. According to The Globe and Mail of Canada, experts say “no quantum leap in life expectancy can occur unless biomedical researchers find a way to modify the aging process and make it widely available at low cost. Until that happens, regardless of how many lifestyle improvements we make, how many vitamins we ingest and how many hormones we inject, the number will not change markedly.” With regard to life expectancy, Canada was ranked 12th among 191 countries by the World Health Organization last year. The number of healthy years before sickness was calculated at 70 for men and 74 for women. In Japan, deemed to be the healthiest nation, a citizen can expect to live almost 75 illness-free years, the report states. Graveyard of Giant Oysters. Over 500 fossilized giant oysters, some with a circumference of up to 11 feet [3.5 m] and weighing up to 650 pounds [300 kg], were found in Acostambo, Peru, at an elevation of 12,300 feet [3,750 m] above sea level, reports the newspaper El Comercio. Paleontologist Arturo Vildozola found the oyster bed just a few meters from a highway that runs between the towns of Pampas and Colcabamba. Apparently, the oysters had not caught anyone’s attention in the past, despite being scattered on the ground for many years. This find of giant oysters reinforces the idea that at one time the ocean covered the Andes mountain range. “New Car” Smell. Chemicals emanating from interior finishes in buildings can cause the health problems sometimes referred to in Japan as “sick-house syndrome.” But high concentrations of toxic chemicals are also released by materials in new cars, reports the newspaper The Daily Yomiuri. In testing one new vehicle, researchers at the Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health found the concentration of harmful substances to be about 34 times the limit set for houses by the Health and Welfare Ministry. Even after a year of vehicle use, the chemical level remained above the provisional limit. Notes Iwao Uchiyama of the National Public Health Institute: “When one is in the close confines of an automobile for extended periods, it would be good to be careful.” How? He comments: “If outside air is brought in, a car can be aired out more quickly than a house.” Teen Pregnancy in the United States. “The United States leads the developed world in teen pregnancy,” says the magazine U.S.News & World Report. It is estimated that every year, one million teenagers in the United States become pregnant and that 25 percent of these will have a second child within two years of the first. The figures from 1997 show that Mississippi had the highest percentage of births to teenagers (20 percent), while Massachusetts had the lowest (7.2 percent). Overall, the highest teen pregnancy rates occurred in the so-called Bible Belt, located in the southern part of the United States. Domestic Violence Against the Aged. “Property disputes are becoming a common cause of domestic violence against the aged,” reports O Estado de S. Paulo. A study of complaints filed with police in São Paulo, Brazil, between 1991 and 1998 showed that relatives—children, grandchildren, their spouses, and others—were involved in 47 percent of the cases. “Physical and psychological violence usually result from an attempt to force the elderly one to transfer property or divide up his belongings among relatives while he is still alive,” said prosecutor João Estêvão da Silva. Heartless abandonment in State hospitals and rest homes is also sometimes financially motivated. “Because of poverty, older ones become a burden, and this causes family tension,” explained Silva.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 19:03:16 +0000
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