Insight into Stagnating Life Expectancy: Analysing Cause of Death Patterns across Socio-economic Groups

This article analyzes the complexity of female longevity improvements. As socio-economic status is found to influence health and mortality, we partition all individuals, at each age in every year, into five socio-economic groups based on an affluence measure that combine an individual’s income and wealth. We identify the particular socio-economic groups that have been driving the standstill for Danish females. Within each socio-economic group, we further analyze the cause of death patterns. The decline in life expectancy for Danish females is present for four out of five subgroups, however with particular large decreases for the low-middle and middle affluence groups. Cancers, smoking related causes, and other diseases particularly contribute to the stagnation. Moreover, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are found to be important for capturing the following catch-up in longevity

Sosa on Knowledge, Judgment and Guessing

In Chapter 3 of Judgment and Agency, Sosa (Judgment and Agency, 2015) explicates the concept of a fully apt performance. In the course of doing so, he draws from illustrative examples of practical performances and applies lessons drawn to the case of cognitive performances, and in particular, to the cognitive performance of judging. Sosa’s examples in the practical sphere are rich and instructive. But there is, I will argue, an interesting disanalogy between the practical and cognitive examples he relies on. Ultimately, I think the source of the disanalogy is a problematic picture of the cognitive performance of guessing and its connection to knowledge and defeat. Once this critical line of argument is advanced, an alternative picture of guessing, qua cognitive performance, is articulated, one which avoids the problems discussed, and yet remains compatible with Sosa’s broader framework

Longevity risk and capital markets: the 2021–22 update

This Special Issue of the Journal of Demographic Economics contains 10 contributions to the academic literature all dealing with longevity risk and capital markets. Draft versions of the papers were presented at Longevity 16: The Sixteenth International Longevity Risk and Capital Markets Solutions Conference that was held in Helsingør near Copenhagen on 13-14 August 2021. It was hosted by PerCent at Copenhagen Business School and the Pensions Institute at City, University of London

Treatment of Helminth Co-Infection in Individuals with HIV-1: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Many people living in areas of the world most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic are also exposed to other common infections. Parasitic infections with helminths (intestinal worms) are common in Africa and affect over half of the population in some areas. There are plausible biological reasons why treating helminth infections in people with HIV may slow down the progression of HIV to AIDS. Thus, treating people with HIV for helminths in areas with a high prevalence of both HIV and helminth infections may be a feasible strategy to help people with HIV delay progression of their disease or initiation of antiretroviral therapy. After a comprehensive review of the available literature, we conclude that there is not enough evidence to determine whether treating helminth infections in people with HIV is beneficial

Extended self-knowledge

We aim to move the externalism and self-knowledge debate forward by exploring two novel sceptical challenges to the prospects of self-knowledge of a paradigmatic sort, both of which result from ways in which our thought content, cognitive processes and cognitive successes depend crucially on our external environments. In particular, it is shown how arguments from extended cognition (e.g., Clark A, Chalmers D. Analysis 58:7–19 (1998); Clark A. Supersizing the mind: Embodiment, action, and cognitive extension. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2008)) and situationism (e.g., Alfano M. The Philosophical Quarterly 62:223–249 (2012), Alfano M. Expanding the situationist challenge to reliabilism about inference. In Fairweather A (ed) Virtue epistemology naturalized, Springer, Dordrecht, pp 103–122 (2014); Doris JM. Noûs 32:504–530 (1998), Doris JM. Lack of character: Personality and moral behavior. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2002); Harman G. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. 99:315–331 (1999), Harman G. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 100:223–226 (2000)) pose hitherto unexplored challenges to the prospects of self-knowledge as it is traditionally conceived. It is shown, however, that, suitably understood, these apparent challenges in fact only demonstrate two ways in which our cognitive lives can be dependent on our environment. As such, rather than undermining our prospects for attaining self-knowledge, they instead illustrate how self-knowledge can be extended and expanded

Downregulation of MIP-1α/CCL3 with praziquantel treatment in Schistosoma haematobium and HIV-1 co-infected individuals in a rural community in Zimbabwe

The results of our study show that the MIP-1alpha/CCL3 levels were positively associated with S. haematobium egg counts at baseline but not with HIV-1 infection status. MIP-1alpha/CCL3 levels were significantly reduced at three months post treatment with praziquantel. We therefore conclude that MIP-1alpha/CCL3 is produced during infection with S haematobium. S. haematobium infection is associated with increased MIP-1alpha/CCL3 levels in an egg intensity-dependent manner and treatment of S. haematobium is associated with a reduction in MIP-1alpha/CCL3

May Measurement Month 2017: An analysis of blood pressure screening results in Nepal - South Asia

Hypertension is the leading risk factor of mortality in Nepal accounting for ∼33 000 deaths in 2016. However, more than 50% of the hypertensive patients are unaware of their status. We participated in the May Measurement Month 2017 (MMM17) project initiated worldwide by the International Society of Hypertension to raise the awareness on the importance of blood pressure (BP) screening. In this paper, we discuss the screening results of MMM17 in Nepal. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 years was carried out in May 2017 following the standard MMM protocol. Data were collected from 18 screening sites in 7 districts covering 5 provinces. Screenings were conducted either in health facilities, public places, or participants' homes. Trained volunteers with health science background and female community health volunteers were mobilized to take part in the screening. A total of 5972 individuals were screened and of 5968 participants, for whom a mean of the 2nd and 3rd readings was available, 1456 (24.4%) participants had hypertension; 908 (16.8%) of those not receiving treatment were hypertensive; and 248 (45.2%) of those being treated had uncontrolled BP. MMM17 is the first nationwide BP screening campaign undertaken in Nepal. Given the suboptimal treatment and control rates identified in the study, there is a strong imperative to scale up hypertension prevention, screening, and management programmes. These results suggest that opportunistic screening can identify significant numbers with hypertension. Mobilization of existing volunteer networks and support of community stakeholders, would be necessary to improve the overall impact and sustainability of future screening programmes