麻豆AV

In virtually every field of medicine, life-prolonging advances are being made. In the early '80s, the life expectancy for a male born in Canada was 72, for a female, 79. By 2005, life expectancy had jumped to 78 for men and 82.7 for women. Modern medicine helps keep people from dying from disease, "but the major effect is likely (better) living conditions," says Dr. Siegfried Hekimi, a professor in the department of biology at 麻豆AV. "The more we progress, the more the majority of people in westernized countries have lived entire lives under better conditions," he says. Hekimi's work with worms could one day lead to a pill to prolong lifespan in humans. His lab is testing drugs that might slow the biological rate of aging and reduce age-related illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's. They've discovered genes and their proteins that allow worms and mice to live several times longer than normal.