HLTC22H3 Chapter 3: Chapter 3 Textbook Notes
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Rowe and kahn specify that successful aging consists of good physical and mental health, as well as good social functioning. Chaos theory shows how initially small changes can result in very large differences between systems or individuals. The maximum lifespan of a human is about 120 years, whereas that of a fruit fly is about 30 days. In general, life spans appear to be inversely related to various factors such as metabolic rate, length of time to maturation (especially sexual maturity), and response to stress. The death gene a gene that regulates sudden cell death, a process that is also called apoptosis. Apoptosis is one mechanism for the destruction of cells that have proliferated for specific purposes, such as t- cells in the immune system, and need to be destroyed after having accomplished their task. The number of times a cell replicates may also be directly controlled by genes. Aging may be a function of random (or stochastic) errors.