Death
hideDeath is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical enquiry. Many religions maintain faith in either some kind of afterlife or reincarnation. The effect of physical death on any possible mind or soul remains for many an open question.
Animals almost without exception (see hydra) die in due course from senescence. Intervening phenomena which commonly bring death earlier include malnutrition, predation, disease, accidents resulting in terminal physical injury, or, in extreme circumstances, grave ecosystem disruption. Intentional human activity causing death includes suicide, homicide, and war. Roughly 150,000 people die each day across the globe. Death in the natural world can also occur as an indirect result of human activity: an increasing cause of species depletion in recent times has been destruction of ecological systems as a consequence of the widening spread of industrial technology.
Death in this context is now seen as less an event than a process: conditions once considered indicative of death are now reversible. Where in the process a dividing line is drawn between life and death depends on factors beyond the presence or absence of vital signs. In general, clinical death is neither necessary nor sufficient for a determination of legal death. A patient with working heart and lungs determined to be brain dead can be pronounced legally dead without clinical death occurring. Precise medical definition of death, in other words, becomes more problematic, paradoxically, as scientific knowledge and technology advance.
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News tagged with death
Experts: Colon cancer deaths could make big drop
13 hours ago |
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(AP) -- Colon cancer deaths could drop dramatically in the next decade because of better screening and treatment, according to an optimistic new prediction by top researchers.
Not all parents place their babies 'back to sleep,' research finds
15 hours ago |
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Placing infants on their backs for sleep can help reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). But a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers and their colleagues shows that while the practice helped reduce ...
Delinquent boys at increased risk of premature death and disability by middle age
22 hours ago |
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Men who have a history of delinquency in childhood are more likely to die or become disabled by the time they are 48, and not just from the obvious consequences of antisocial behaviour, new research indicates.
Higher risk for heart disease and diabetes associated with androgen deprivation therapy
14 hours ago |
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Men of all ages treated for prostate cancer with androgen deprivation therapy, specifically with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRH), have an increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to ...
Search results for death
Popular diabetes drugs linked to increased risk of heart failure and death
Medicine & Health / Medications
Dec 04, 2009 |
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Sulphonylureas, a type of drug widely used to treat type 2 diabetes, carries a greater risk of heart failure and death compared with metformin, another popular antidiabetes drug.
Death from childhood stroke
Dec 01, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Stroke is an important cause of childhood morbidity and is in the top ten causes of childhood death. For the first time, new research has looked at trends in death from childhood stroke in ...
Death-inducing proteins key to complications of bone marrow transplantation
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Treatment for a number of cancers and other medical conditions is transplantation with bone marrow from a genetically nonidentical individual (a process known as allogeneic bone marrow transplantation [allo-BMT]).
Racial disparity in lung cancer rates narrowed in young adults due to larger decrease in smoking
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Effective prevention of smoking among teenagers, particularly black teenagers, is narrowing the disparity in lung cancer rates between blacks and whites, according to a report published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & ...
Coroner: Self-help course led to woman's suicide
1hour ago |
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(AP) -- An Australian coroner said Tuesday that participation in an intense self-help course led a woman to suffer a psychotic breakdown before she stripped naked and leaped to her death from an office window ...
3 Questions: Suzanne Corkin on the world's most famous amnesic
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 01, 2009 |
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H.M., the well-known amnesic patient whose condition helped scientists understand memory and memory impairment, died a year ago at the age of 82. H.M. (whose full name, Henry Gustav Molaison, was disclosed ...
Head and neck cancer survivors who use alcohol and cigarettes have increased death risk
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption before head and neck cancer diagnosis strongly predicts the patient's future risk of death, according to published studies. Now, results of a new study show a similar effect among ...
Netherlands reports mutant swine flu death
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Dutch authorities said Thursday a patient infected by a mutant strain of the swine flu virus had died, but added that this was not the cause of death.
Exercise reduces death rate in prostate cancer patients
29 minutes ago |
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As little as 15 minutes of exercise a day can reduce overall mortality rates in patients with prostate cancer, according to findings presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention ...
New cancer study takes major step toward improved treatment
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Cancer researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have found a way to turn ineffective new cancer drugs into cancer-fighters. By using their patented chemical compound, SHetA2, researchers tricked cancer ...
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