The purpose of this study was to identify factors at various time points in life that are associated with surviving to age 90. Data from men enrolled in a cohort study since 1948 were considered in 12-year intervals. Logistic regression models were constructed with the outcome of surviving to age 90. Factors were: childhood illness, blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), chronic diseases, and electrocardiogram (ECG) findings. After 1996, the Short Form-36 was added. A total of 3,976 men were born in 1928 or earlier, and hence by the end of our study window in 2018, each had the opportunity of surviving to age 90. Of these, 721 did live to beyond his 90th birthday.The factors in 1948 which predicted surviving were: lower diastolic BP, lower BMI, and not smoking. In 1960, these factors were: lower BP, lower BMI, not smoking, and no major ECG changes. In 1972, these factors were lower BP, not smoking, and fewer disease states. In 1984, these factors were lower systolic BP, not smoking, ECG changes, and fewer disease states. In 1996, the factors were fewer disease states and higher physical and mental health functioning. In 2008, only higher physical functioning predicted survival to the age of 90. In young adulthood, risk factors are important predictors of surviving to age 90; in mid-life, chronic illnesses emerge, and in later life, functional status becomes predominant.

Au-delà des symptômes qui les caractérisent, les troubles mentaux sont associés à une diminution de l’espérance de vie pouvant aller jusqu’à 25 ans chez les patients atteints de schizophrénie. Contrairement à une croyance répandue, cette surmortalité n’est que partiellement expliquée par un risque accru de suicides et d’accidents, mais relève essentiellement de causes somatiques. Au premier plan de ces causes figurent les maladies cardiovasculaires mais les patients atteints de troubles mentaux présentent également une surmortalité liée à d’autres causes telles que les maladies respiratoires, les maladies infectieuses et les cancers. Cette surmortalité de cause naturelle s’explique en partie par des comportements de santé à risque (consommation de tabac, sédentarité, etc.), voire par des voies biologiques directes (par ex. hyper-activation du système nerveux autonome). Il est cependant vraisemblable que ces patients souffrent d’une véritable perte de chances en matière de soins somatiques, non seulement en raison d’un moindre accès aux soins mais également en raison de soins de moindre qualité : négligence de points d’appel somatiques, moindre recours au dépistage, retard au diagnostic des cancers, traitement insuffisant de la maladie coronarienne, etc. Les causes de cette perte de chances sont liées au patient lui-même et notamment au handicap psychique associé aux troubles mentaux, mais également à la représentation de ces troubles chez les professionnels de santé et à l’organisation du système de soins, notamment au cloisonnement persistant entre soins psychiatriques et soins somatiques.

Depuis de nombreuses années, la santé physique des patients atteints d’une pathologie mentale a été négligée. Des études s’accordent pour conclure à une surmortalité et une comorbidité importantes chez ces patients. Le taux de mortalité (toutes causes confondues) est 4,5 fois plus élevé que pour la population générale. Ainsi un patient schizophrène a une espérance de vie diminuée de 20 % par rapport à la population générale. Les principales causes de décès sont les maladies cardiovasculaires. D’autres études ont mis en évidence des anomalies métaboliques telles que le diabète, les troubles lipidiques qui tendent à favoriser les maladies cardiovasculaires. Cette augmentation de la mortalité s’explique par des causes multifactorielles : environnement défavorable, conditions socioéconomiques précaires, conduites addictives, mauvaise hygiène alimentaire sans oublier les effets secondaires de certains traitements psychotropes. Rendre plus accessible la prévention, le dépistage, lutter contre les facteurs de risque, réaliser de façon systématique des évaluations somatiques et biologiques, et permettre à ces patients de bénéficier des mêmes stratégies de soins que celles proposées à l’ensemble de la population, constituent des priorités que nous devons intégrer à nos pratiques. Des recommandations viennent aider à cette évaluation et le suivi et permettent une alliance collaborative entre psychiatres et somaticiens.

La catégorie « trouble : symptômes somatiques » du DSM-V répond à une exigence d’intelligibilité et d’acceptabilité du trouble, pour les patients comme pour les professionnels de santé, tout en renvoyant à une réalité éprouvante au quotidien pour les patients qui en souffrent, consommateurs d’examens et de soins médicaux, plus que psychiatriques. Elle recouvre une diversité de configurations, depuis les troubles les plus banals et passagers jusqu’aux manifestations les plus durables et/ou les plus résistantes, voire à celles que l’on peut considérer comme largement redevables aux effets « iatrogènes » d’approches médicales inappropriées ou aux réactions revendicatives de la part de malades ou de leurs associations, à la recherche d’une identité socialement reconnue. Avec le DSM-V, non seulement l’existence d’une pathologie médicale concomitante n’exclue pas le diagnostic, mais la présence de facteurs de stress ou d’anomalies psychologiques n’est plus exigée comme condition nécessaire à la survenue du trouble, ce qui permet de dépasser à la fois l’opposition réductrice entre organique et fonctionnel et la recherche d’une psychogenèse à tout prix. Et pourtant le trouble reste considéré comme un trouble mental, en raison de la place occupée par la rumination anxieuse dans sa définition. Quant aux facteurs psychosociaux, il peut être utile de différencier ceux qui interviennent en tant que facteurs prédisposants, précipitants ou d’entretien, voire de renforcement. Un tel assouplissement dans l’approche du trouble peut permettre d’espérer une facilitation des prises en charges conjointes ou une meilleure efficience des adressages de ces patients auprès d’un spécialiste en santé mentale. Il importe aussi de savoir, contrairement à une idée reçue, que la présence d’une préoccupation somatique n’est pas sans conséquence pour l’avenir somatique, puisqu’elle prédit une mortalité accrue par causes naturelles, raison de plus pour considérer le trouble comme « sérieux » et pour s’engager dans sa prise en charge.

A survey to document the behaviour characteristics and mortality pattern of indigenous chicken of Kerala and a field egg recording study to record egg production characteristics of these birds were conducted. Flight distance and height was 13.29 and 3.97 m, respectively. The territory radius of cocks was 121.15 m. The chick survivability at 4 weeks of age was 64.98 percent. The day-old and 8th week body weights were 28.83 and 347.24 g, respectively. The 20th and 40th week body weight of males were 1,428.42 and 1,936.67 g and that of females were 1,114.04 and 1,445.63 g, respectively. The mortality up to 72 weeks was 69.38 percent and major cause of mortality during chick, grower and layer stage were mongoose (44.63 percent), wolf (24.29 percent) and diseases (52.18 percent) respectively. The fertility was 71.22 percent and hatchability on total and fertile egg set were 62.26 and 87.42 percent, respectively. There were 2.13 clutches in a laying cycle with inter-clutch intervals of 1.11 days. The average clutch size and number of eggs per cycle were 7.27 and 14.32, respectively. The egg number up to 72 weeks on hen-day and hen-housed basis was 116.81 and 85.84, respectively and the eggs were laid in 7.7 cycles. The age at first egg and average age at sexual maturity were 155 and 199.26 days, respectively. The egg weight at 28, 40 and 72 weeks of age was 37.80, 40.74 and 43.31 g, respectively, and egg mass per bird was 4,659.04 g. The broodiness and incubation pause were 26.03 and 121.75 days, respectively.

Two indigenous chicken breeds: naked neck (N) and local white (W) feathered chicken called Netch as sire lines and two exotic chicken breeds: Fayoumi (F) and Rhode Island Red (R) as dam lines were crossed with the objective of producing 4-way cross-bred chicken population, which will later be used as base population to produce synthetic chickens. They were tested under on-station conditions in a college farm and under on-farm conditions at several typical village farms. Mortality during brooding period was lower under on-farm than on-station conditions, which may be owing to housing of the chicks in hay box-brooder on-farm and the coccidiosis infection on-station. However, higher on-farm mortality was observed during the laying period than on-station; mainly because of predation. There was a significant difference between the two systems in recorded body weight from early age to maturity. Age at first egg was lower on-farm than on-station. Average number of eggs produced was not significantly different; although chickens on-station laid more eggs than those on-farm. Hen-housed egg production was lower on-farm than on-station owing to higher mortality in the on-farm system.

Non-institutionalized dependent older adults present high morbidity and mortality, demand care from their families, and consume primary health care resources. To expand knowledge about this group, we conducted a population-based one-year prospective cohort study of 130 non-institutionalized dependent older persons (age 60 and older), stratified according to baseline mobility: independent walking (group A), use of walking aids (group B), and bedridden or confined to a wheelchair (group C). The outcomes analysed were death, hospitalization, and mobility disability. Total mortality was 8.5 per cent (p = .05). Overall hospitalization rate was 34.6 per cent; the main causes were stroke and pneumonia. After one year, there was a decline in the proportion of subjects classified as independent walking (57% vs. 43%; p = .03). We conclude that there was a high rate of mortality and hospitalization in this group of dependent older people, and an increase in disability after a one-year follow-up.

We analysed a prospective cohort study to determine (1) if self-rated health (SRH) predicts mortality in older adults with and without depressive symptoms, and (2) to determine if there is an interaction between SRH and depressive symptoms on mortality. We followed 1,751 community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older over five years. Measurements included age, gender, education, the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D), SRH, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS), and the Older Americans Resource Survey (OARS). Our outcome measure was time to death. Analyses were conducted in those with, and those without, depressive symptoms. We constructed Cox regression models with an interaction term for the CES-D and SRH. The hazard ratio (HR) for mortality was 1.63 for those with depressive symptoms; it was 1.68 for those without. No significant interaction was found between depressive symptoms and SRH for mortality.

The association of institutional relocation and mortality among elderly patients has been the subject of considerable debate, in part, because of equivocal findings in the literature. However, much of the research in this area is limited by small sample sizes, use of arbitrary follow-up periods and crude statistical methods. The present analyses are based on six years of mortality data in a chronic care hospital that experienced a mass relocation of patients to a new facility. After adjusting for age, gender and length of stay before follow-up, the odds ratio for mortality associated with relocation was 1.53.

A comparative analysis of injury mortality in 24 developed countries during the period 1985–1989 shows the importance of this cause of death among the elderly. One out of four men and one out of two women who dies from injury is aged 65 and over. There is an over-representation of the elderly among injury-related deaths and the risk of death is still increasing after age 65. Some differences can be noted for the elderly as compared to other age groups: a lower male excess mortality ratio and a much larger proportion of violent deaths related to accidental falls. Among developed countries, a wide scope of variations exists in age groups and cause-specific patterns. Hierarchical clustering is used to obtain different aggregations of countries, based on the level, the structure and the causes of violent mortality. Although the classification of countries varies according to a chosen criteria, we often find aggregations of countries belonging to the geographical area.

Data from longitudinal studies have a number of advantages for gerontological research, but the effects of attrition and the increased complexity of data structures with multiple observations may pose some problems for statistical analysis. Proportional hazards models allow for the examination of event histories using all observations of a dependent variable, and these models can incorporate time-dependent covariates to increase their explanatory power. The assumptions and applications of event history analysis using proportional hazards models are described, and the analysis of mortality data from the Ontario Longitudinal Study of Aging provides a relevant example. Extensions of proportional hazards models and commercially available software are also discussed.

Sixty-five has long been used to define the beginning of “old age”. Yet it is clear that the definition is arbitrary, and with continuing reductions in mortality and morbidity rates it will become increasingly inappropriate as time passes. We consider how the definition might be modified to reflect changes in life table probabilities, and how the future numbers and proportions in “old age” would be affected. In a similar manner, we consider also the redefinition of the “oldest old” from a current definition of 85 and over.

Hospitalization is a sentinel event that leads to loss of independence for many seniors. This study of long-stay hospitalizations (more than 30 days) in seniors was undertaken to identify risk factors for not going home, to characterize patients with risk factors who did go home and to describe one year outcomes following home discharge. Using Manitoba's health care databases, the likelihood of death in hospital, discharge to a nursing home, and transfer to another hospital was determined for a set of risk factors in seniors with long-stay hospitalizations in Winnipeg's acute hospitals. Of the 17,984 long-stay hospitalizations during 1993–2000, 45 per cent were discharged home, 20 per cent died, and 30 per cent were discharged to a nursing home or another hospital. Seniors who received home care prior to hospitalization were more likely to be discharged to a nursing home or die in hospital than to go home. Stroke and cognitive impairment increased the likelihood of discharge to a nursing home. Seniors with neoplasms, multiple co-morbidities, and length-of-stay more than 120 days were more likely to die in hospital. Long-stay patients with risk factors who did go home had few co-morbidities. Within one year of home discharge, 20 per cent of seniors died, 5–15 per cent were admitted to a nursing home or long-term care institution, and 26–35 per cent of persons were re-hospitalized from home. A full 37 per cent experienced none of these outcomes. Our findings point to opportunities to improve discharge outcomes and plan support services for seniors.

The spatial distribution, pupation behaviour and natural enemies of Cirina forda in the soil around its host, the sheanut tree, Vitellaria paradoxa were investigated in the field. Results indicated that final instars pupated within a 6–15 cm depth of soil located within a 90-cm radius around the host tree. Pupal density was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in soils on the north and west axes than on the south and east axes around the host tree. Pupal mortality was significantly higher within the top 5 cm and beyond a 16 cm depth of soil around the host tree. Four fungal pathogens, Trichoderma sp., Aspergillus nigers, A. flaus and Fusarium solarti isolated from diseased larvae were implicated in the significantly high larval and pupal mortality that occurred within a 90-cm radius of the host tree trunk. Percentage field parasitism of the eggs by a parasitic wasp Entedon sp. (Hymenoptera: Eulophiidae) averaged 18%. Investigation on the potential of these microorganisms for biological control of C. forda is ongoing. An integration of effective biocontrol agent(s) with a slow release insecticide with a penetration depth of 15–20 cm could form part of an integrated management plan for the pest.

Introduction. La mineuse des agrumes Phyllocnistis citrella, introduite en 1994 en Tunisie, est un ravageur sténophage n'évoluant que sur jeunes pousses et lorsque les conditions thermiques sont favorables. Afin de pouvoir envisager par la suite une lutte intégrée contre P. citrella, nous avons étudié les relations entre la mineuse, ses ennemis naturels, le climat et la plante hôte. Matériel et méthodes. Le suivi des populations de la mineuse a été effectué sur citronniers et orangers de 1997 à 1999. Des échantillons constitués de pousses de différents âges ont été prélevés chaque semaine, puis examinés sous loupe binoculaire. Tous les stades pré-imaginaux morts ou vivants de la mineuse ont été dénombrés. L'émergence en laboratoire d'adultes de parasitoïdes a permis leur identification. Résultats. L'oranger présente trois poussées de sève : au printemps (février à avril), en été (juin à juillet) et en automne (mi-août à octobre). Les pousses de printemps sont les plus importantes (60 % du feuillage) mais sont peu attaquées par la mineuse ; les deux autres poussées végétatives, qui dépendent de la charge de l'arbre et des conditions climatiques ambiantes, sont à 100 % infestées et permettent le développement de huit générations successives de mineuses. Chez le citronnier, en revanche, des jeunes pousses sont émises presque toute l'année et permettent donc à P. citrella de s'y maintenir constamment et de développer jusqu'à 10 générations annuelles. Le taux de mortalité du ravageur dépend des fortes chaleurs de l'été, des basses températures, de la raréfaction de la ressource alimentaire et des ennemis naturels. Discussion et conclusion. L'impact de ces différents facteurs sur la régulation des populations de P. citrella en Tunisie est analysé et discuté.

Patterns of parasite infestation by plerocercoid forms of the tapeworm Ligula intestinalis (Cestoda, Pseudophyllidea) in the second intermediate host, the roach Rutilus rutilus, were analysed in three fish populations of South-Western France during 1998. In all three studied sites, i.e. Pareloup Lake, Lavernose-Lacasse and Muret gravel pits, roach were commonly parasitized with plerocercoids. A strong increase in prevalence, mean number of parasites and parasitic load was observed in the youngest hosts with a maximum peak reached in the medium-age (2+, 3+)roach classes. Such trends as a function of host fish age would indicate the occurrence of parasite-induced host mortality, with the most heavily infected fish specimens being removed from the three roach populations. The three roach populations infected by L. intestinalis exhibit different patterns of parasite-induced mortality which could correspond to different possible ecological and evolutionary responses associated with local variation in host-parasite interactions. The parasite-induced host mortality observed, i.e. direct mortality caused by pathogenic effects and /or enhanced fish predation by piscivorous birds to increase parasitic transmission is discussed within the context of the adaptative parasite-induced manipulation hypothesis.

Les performances zootechniques de la race N'Dama ont été déterminées de 1994 à 1997 à partir du noyau reconstitué en 1993 dans le cadre de l'amélioration génétique des races locales à la Ferme Elevage de l'Okpara au Bénin. Les poids moyens à la naissance, à 6, 12 et 24 mois sont respectivement 17.4, 55.6, 95.9 et 158 kg. La vitesse de croissance de la naissance à 12 mois est de 215 g/j. Excepté le poids à la naissance, le poids et les mensurations corporelles sont largement en dessous de ceux obtenus chez la race dans son berceau. L'intervalle de vêlage a été de 413±54 jours, l'âge moyen au premier vêlage a été situé à 48 mois ± 33 jours, et le taux moyen de fécondité à 84.3%. Les naissances s'observent d'octobre à janvier avec une mortalité variant selon les années de 0 à 8.1% chez les jeunes. Aucun cas de mortalité n'a été enregistré chez les adultes. En somme, il est remarqué que l'expression phénotypique des caractères de productions de la N'Dama est limitée dans le ranch de l'Okpara.

Le banc ostréicole de Ronce (175 ha) au sud du bassin deMarennes-Oléron (France) constitue un site atelier expérimental pourl'étude des mortalités estivales de l'huître creuse Crassostreagigas. En 1997, la croissance, la maturité sexuelle, la survie etl'environnement des élevages à plat et sur tables sont comparés surquinze sites expérimentaux. En 7 mois, le taux de mortalité desélevages à plat atteint 23−33 % contre 8−19 % pour les élevages surtables. La mortalité varie avec la saison. Elle s'intensifie avec latempérature, en période de pré-ponte et de catabolisme duglycogène. Des modèles statistiques de production de chair sèche del'huître sont établis selon la latitude de la longitude des sites. Cesmodèles (en poids sec) sont orientés nord - nord-ouest et montrent que ladisponibilité alimentaire pour les cheptels d'huîtres, diminueprogressivement du large vers le fond de la baie. Les rendements biologiques (poidstotal), sont compris entre 85 et 2 %, respectivement pour des sites sur tables à25 et 50 % d'exondation. Pour les élevages à plat, une perte de productionsupérieure à 10 % est enregistrée dans certains parcs du sud dubassin. Les meilleurs sites, à 50 % de production (poids total), sontsitués dans la partie est - nord-est du banc de Ronce.

Most highly fecund marine fish show a steep decline in natural death rate from egg to first maturity, after which the natural mortality rate remains constant, or may even increase with age for old animals. Relatively few investigations have quantified early life-history mortality vectors for short-lived invertebrate stocks, but this overall picture is also true here for species with planktonic life stages such as penaeid shrimps, and for squids. If M decreases rapidly with age, one logical approach to demographic analysis is by subdividing the lifespan into intervals which increase in duration in proportion to the age up to the start of each interval. This time subdivision strategy is referred to as `gnomonic’. Earlier work (Caddy, 1990) showed that if a reciprocal mortality function applies with age, the product of the instantaneous annual rate of natural mortality and interval duration should be roughly constant for gnomonic intervals. This working hypothesis is shown to produce similar results to the reciprocal function for Mt, but allows a simpler approach to generating realistic life history Mt vectors in the absence of direct estimates of M for stock assessment. Values of a constant probability of death, G = Mt Δt, were used to generate vectors of M-at-age for a gnomonic series of intervals from hatching up to the mean parental age. The value of G is found by iteration that results in 2 survivors from the mean population fecundity by 1 year of age, under the assumption of steady-state population replacement for an unexploited stock. The natural mortality rate in the final, longest interval was assumed to correspond to the ‘constant adult M’ value used in stock assessment. Two extremes of reproductive strategy were chosen by comparison with data from for annual species of cephalopods or penaeid shrimps: cephalopods such as Sepia sp. and Rossia sp., with few, large yolky eggs (and/or parental care), occupy one extreme, and are contrasted with high fecundity penaeid shrimps and at least some Illex squids.

The first category has a low fecundity (130–150 eggs, and a K-selected reproductive strategy). Values of ‘adult M’ of the order of 1.0–1.3 are predicted for the last 60–80% of the annual life span. The high fecundity category (200 000 eggs or more) are opportunistic spawners such as many penaeids and some oceanic squids, and follow an r-selected reproductive strategy. An instantaneous value for pre-spawning M of the order of 2.8–3.4 is predicted for the same period mentioned above. Neither range of values falls outside those in the literature, for which a brief summary is presented.

An important research question relates to the order of magnitude of post-hatching mortality under population stability: it is suggested that irrespective of the specific model used for changes in M with age, this falls rapidly from an initial rate of some 50–75% per day for short-lived, high fecundity species in the 2 days following hatching, unless adult M values are much higher than above, and of the order of 25–40% for the low fecundity organisms over the same initial interval.

In the late 1980's juvenile oysters, Crassostrea virginica, spawned and cultured in New England and New York, began experiencing up to nearly 100% mortalities in some batches of juveniles. The cause of these mortalities was not ascertained immediately, but examination of dead and dying oysters did not reveal a previously recognized disease syndrome. Early studies showed that it was not an environmental or genetic problem, thus we hypothesized that a new, transmissible disease agent caused the observed mortality. This was verified under laboratory conditions where the disease was readily transmissible. Transmission was enhanced by warm water temperatures, 22–26 °C, and salinities of 18–30 ppt. Also, the infectious agent was filterable and sensitive to erythromycin, supporting the hypothesis that the causative agent may be a protistan parasite in the 2–6 μm size range. No evidence to support a viral or bacterial etiology was found.