Empire Life Introduces First-Of-Its-Kind Permanent Hybrid Life Insurance

The Empire Life Insurance Company (Empire Life) today introduced an innovative permanent life insurance product that combines guaranteed and adjustable features and can allow customers to benefit from lower insurance premiums should long-term interest rates rise.

"Hybrid Solution 100 is the first of its kind in Canada and a timely addition to the permanent insurance marketplace. Canadian consumers and their advisors have dealt with multiple price increases and more limited permanent insurance product choices over the past two years due to prolonged low interest rates," said Sean Kilburn, Senior Vice-President, Life Insurance.

"We keep hearing that interest rates are going to rise and mortgages and other costs will go up," he added, "The beauty of Hybrid Solution 100 is that it could help offset these increasing costs with lower insurance premiums. It truly offers downside protection with upside potential to those who believe long-term interest rates will rise."

Coverage amounts are guaranteed and the product offers maximum and minimum price and value limits. Premiums can move up or down only as a result of changes in an interest rate range that is determined annually using a Government of Canada long-term bond yield benchmark. No other factors influence any premium increase or decrease. Customers and their advisors have the transparency and security of knowing when and how insurance premiums change every year.

"Empire Life is committed to working with advisors to help protect Canadians and their families with life insurance that is simple, responsive and cost-effective," said Kilburn.

Protective Life Insurance Company Introduces Protective Indexed Annuity

Protective Life Insurance Company today announced the release of the Protective Indexed Annuity. The annuity includes a range of withdrawal charge schedules and three interest crediting strategies to help customers grow contract value over time. It also has available principal protection.

“Less-than-favorable market conditions have consumers looking for low risk investment options which offer better returns than are available in some financial products,” said Carolyn Johnson, chief operating officer for Protective Life. “With its collection of unique features, the Protective Indexed Annuity fills that need.”

Along with a fixed interest crediting strategy, the Protective Indexed Annuity offers two indexed interest crediting strategies, annual point-to-point and annual tiered rate. The latter credits an industry-unique interest rate enhancement when index performance meets or exceeds a pre-determined performance tier.
The product also offers the flexibility to access contract value for unforeseen circumstances, such as unemployment, terminal illness and nursing home confinement.

“Consumers know they need to invest their money to protect their financial tomorrow, but the low interest rate environment combined with the risk associated with stock market investment have led them to reconsider their choices,” Johnson said. “The Protective Indexed Annuity provides customers comfort by knowing that they are protected from the downside, but given the opportunity for a higher rate of return, all with an optional return of premium benefit.”

Life Fitness Unveils New Color Options for Cardio Equipment, Allowing Facilities to Visually Differentiate Exercise Spaces

Life Fitness, the global leader in commercial fitness equipment manufacturing, introduces new colors for the next generation of the Elevation™ Series Treadmills, Cross-Trainers and Lifecyle™ Exercise Bikes with Discover™ Tablet Consoles. As demand for customization within the industry grows, these new color choices allow facilities to further differentiate themselves and offer exercisers a unique experience. The Elevation Series colors, which now include Arctic Silver, Titanium Storm, Black Onyx and Diamond White, can complement the tone of a facility and provide a fresh feel.

The new Discover SE and Discover SI Tablet Consoles are the first to sync with the Android mobile devices, in addition to Apple iOS, and feature an ultra-responsive touch screen with Swipe™ Technology for superior navigation and a more personalized experience.

Discover cardio products integrate with Life Fitness' new LFconnect™ technology, a cloud-based solution that allows facility owners and managers to customize available content to exercisers and enables free asset management. LFconnect also gives exercisers log-in capabilities, personalization options and workout recommendations, made popular by the original Life Fitness Virtual Trainer website. With LFconnect, exercisers will be able to access personal online content and navigate the web directly from the equipment, as well as create their own workout programs and set content preferences.

"Our research indicates that more than 95 percent of exercisers desire access to online content on equipment," said Dan Wille, vice president of global marketing and product development for Life Fitness. "This new line of Discover open platform products gives exercisers unprecedented access to not just online content like YouTube and Facebook, but the latest fitness applications and custom entertainment. At the same time, these products offer expanded personalization options for facilities, allowing them to customize the products and enhance the exercise space."

Life Science Research Tools Market Size, Growth and Trends 2006-2016

This report provides an overview of the life sciences research tools market from 2006 to 2016. Life sciences research tools companies offer instruments, reagents and services to scientists in academic, BioPharma and applied market laboratories. Top vendors include Agilent, Bio-Rad, EMD Millipore, Life Technologies (Invitrogen / Applied Biosystems), Roche, Sigma-Aldrich and Thermo Fisher; smaller emerging players are highlighted as well (e.g., genomics players [Fluidigm, Raindance, Oxford Nanopore, NABSys, GnuBio]). Segmenting the market by technology, we estimate that the life science research tools market reached $37.4B in 2011, and is expected to grow -4% p.a. in the next 5 years.

Many reports on individual technologies report bullish growth rates of 5%-20% for Academic, BioPharma and Applied market customers (and excluding in vitro diagnostics). While our analysis confirms that applied market might experience double digit growth for many technologies, current market size estimates for these customers do not support an overall market growth of 10% for the overall life science research tools sector. This is especially true in light of the current global economic slowdown (including in India and China) and continued sovereign-debt crisis in Europe. A review of public fillings and guidance from the top players in this space -as well as an analysis of the funding reality in Academia and BioPharma- confirms this outlook.

This report evaluates which technologies are expected to capture and loose market share in this mid-single digit growth rate market. In this second edition, we updated our analysis to reflect the most current market sales and trends in 5 broad segments:

1) Pure genomics technologies: qPCR, next generation sequencing (NGS) / third generation sequencing (3GS), microarrays, PCR, CE sequencing, molecular biology tools, digital PCR;

2) Pure proteomics technologies: protein isolation and analysis, ELISA, protein production, western blots and protein microarrays;

3) Cell biology technologies: discovery services, basic cell biology reagents, flow cytometry, transfection and electroporation, media and sera, microscopy, cell culture equipment, whole cell analysis, cells and tissues, high content imaging;

4) Other analytical technologies: liquid chromatography, mass spectroscopy, structural analysis methods, in vivo study, spectroscopy, multiplex technologies, label free technologies;

5) Other supplies and technologies: lab supplies and disposables, glassware, automation, sample preparation, LIMS, magnetic beads. For each of these 35 subsegments, we present an analysis detailing sales of instruments and reagents for 2006, 2011 and 2016.

In addition, we detail market drivers and moderators, market trends, a high level end-customer breakdown (Academic, BioPharma and Applied markets customers) and key competitors. Many of these technologies are increasingly used for clinical diagnostics purposes. Therefore, we briefly cover the size, growth and trends of the in vitro diagnostics and molecular diagnostics markets. All data are based on manufacturer sales as publically reported and interviews with life sciences experts in academic, BioPharma and applied market laboratories.

Mars Announcement Raises Question: What Is Life?

NASA officials announced March 12 that ancient Mars could have supported primitive life. But this begs the question: What exactly constitutes life?

Merriam-Webster.com defines life as "an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli and reproduction." But there's no single satisfactory definition of life.

"I think it is a mistake to try to define life, because we have only one example of life, familiar life on Earth, and we have reason to believe that this example may be unrepresentative of life in general," Carol Cleland, a philosopher of science at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told LiveScience in an email.

Defining life
Aristotle made the first attempt at a definition, describing life as something that grows, maintains itself and reproduces. But this definition would exclude mules, which are sterile, while including things like fire.
Calling life something that has a metabolism, the ability to take in energy to grow or move and excrete waste, is no good either; cars do this, for example.

In 1944, the physicist Erwin Schrödinger gave life a definition based on the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy, or disorder, of a closed system increases over time. Schrödinger defined life as something that decreases or maintains its entropy. Yet this definition fails because it includes crystals, which resist entropy by forming highly structured lattices.

Trying to define life by its qualities is the wrong approach, Cleland said. As an example, she cites scientists' early attempts to define water in terms of properties like being wet, transparent and a good solvent. "We didn't 'define' water as H2O, but rather discovered, in the context of molecular theory, that it is a chemical substance composed mostly of H2O molecules," Cleland said.

Life on Earth is typically divided into two main groups: the cellular life forms, which include archaea, bacteria and eukarya (all the plants and animals), and non-cellular life forms, like viruses. Whether viruses, which can replicate only inside the cells of a host organism, count as "life" is debated.

Life in the universe
Finding an airtight definition for life may not be so important, astrobiologist Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center in California wrote in an email to LiveScience. It's "much better to have an idea of what life is built of," McKay said. "Life is built of complex, organic molecules."

Characterizing life is vital for identifying it elsewhere in the universe, a possibility now beyond the realm of science fiction. McKay said that if life exists somewhere else, it would be a material system evolving through reproduction, mutation and natural selection.

Beyond Earth, one of the first places humans have sought to find life is Mars. The Viking Mission in the 1970s looked for evidence of life in the Martian soil. One experiment appeared to find evidence of metabolic reactions, but these were dismissed as coming from a non-living source (though some still debate those results).

With the announcement that NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence that life could have once existed on Mars, Curiosity has answered the question it set out to study in November 2011. The finding comes just seven months after the rover landed on the Red Planet on Aug. 5, 2012.
Given that Mars could have supported life, McKay said, "Now we need to look for it."

Alien Life May Be Rare Across the Universe

When it comes to life across the cosmos, the universe might just be an "awful waste of space" after all.

A new theory presented at a conference this week would confirm the worry of Ellie Arroway, Jodie Foster's character in the film "Contact," that life might not exist on other worlds.

Some scientists think that just because exoplanets could have habitable environments, that does not mean that life evolved there.

"The pervasive nature of life on Earth is leading us to make this assumption," Charles Cockell, the director of the U.K. Center for Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement."On our planet, carbon leaches into most habitat space and provides energy for microorganisms to live. There are only a few vacant habitats that may persist for any length of time on Earth, but we cannot assume that this is the case on other planets."

Cockell's hypothesis states that, although habitable alien planets might abound in solar systems around the universe, it does not mean these locales harbor extraterrestrial life.

"It is dangerous to assume life is common across the universe. It encourages people to think that not finding signs of life is a 'failure,' when in fact it would tell us a lot about the origins of life," added Cockell.
It is also possible that scientists will not be able to detect alien signs of life, even if it exists, Cockell said. Life might be markedly dissimilar from planet to planet, making it unlikely that astronomers on Earth will see recognizable signatures of life. But not all hope is lost.

"Professor Cockell explains that in coming decades, increasingly powerful telescopes and developments in spectroscopy may allow us to look for the signals of life on planets beyond our solar system," officials from the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's national academy of science, said in a statement."However, regardless of this, our view is still going to be heavily influenced by our knowledge of life on Earth."

Life Insurance Brokerage Trusted Quote Commemorates International Women’s Day

Trusted Quote, a top national brokerage of insurance products for life, long-term care, vision, and dental, will commemorate International Women’s Day on Friday, March 8th. This holiday, celebrated worldwide since 1911, raises awareness for women’s issues across the globe.

In the U.S., International Women’s Day often raises issues of economic insecurity. According to the Department of Labor, women account for 47% of the total U.S. workforce, but many of those women undervalue their contributions to their families, both in money and time spent as a caretaker, which can have disastrous consequences for the family should something happen to her.

Life insurance protects the financial contributions a woman makes to her family, yet few women have it. According to LIMRA, a leading financial research institution, 70% of women agree that life insurance is a necessity, yet 43% have no coverage at all. The statistics are worse for married women. LIMRA notes that 33% of wives have no life insurance, despite the fact that 70% of households are dual-income and 30% of wives earn more than their husbands.

Nancy Pinney, Chief Operations Officer for Trusted Quote, urges families to consider women’s contributions to their homes, especially in light of International Women’s Day. “It’s a tragedy when a family member dies, but especially so when their death means that the temporal needs of the family will be left unmet. Life insurance can meet those needs and provide the resources to pay for a home and caretaker for the family. Unfortunately, many families fail to consider the financial and other contributions of women,” says Pinney.

To commemorate International Women’s Day, Trusted Quote will release social media & blog posts focused on women and their achievements. The company’s goal is to educate the public on the importance of life insurance for women. By providing tools to help compare and select affordable life insurance policies, Trusted Quote hopes to increase the number of women who have protected their families against future economic uncertainty.

Does Your Kid Need Juvenile Life Insurance?

You may need life insurance after getting married or having a child, but do you need it from the day you're born? Advocates of juvenile life insurance say "yes" and hail the policies as financial planning essentials, while critics argue they're a waste of money.

Just like grown-up life insurance, two types of policies are available for kids: juvenile term insurance, which provides coverage until age 23 or 25 and offers the family a death benefit to cover unexpected funeral expenses for the child; and juvenile permanent insurance, which includes both a death benefit and a savings reserve that builds "cash value" as the child ages. Here's what a family needs to know.

Child death benefit pros and cons
Companies offering juvenile term life insurance talk about how the policies can provide a family with "peace of mind" by offering financial assistance -- namely, a death benefit -- "if the worst were to happen" to the child.

Juvenile term policies are sold on the idea that the death benefit is not designed to replace income, as it would be for an adult, but instead is geared toward covering burial and funeral costs if a child passes away.

Pros: Funerals are expensive. According to the most recent survey by the National Funeral Directors Association, the average cost is about $4,300, and that doesn't even include casket and cemetery expenses.

Cons: Chances are remote that a parent would ever need to pay for a child's funeral. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that only 0.03% of U.S. children die between the ages of 1 and 4. And then, for children ages 5 through 14, that mortality rate drops by about half.

Since the death of a child is so unlikely, purchasing juvenile life insurance strictly to cover potential funeral costs is "very short-term thinking," says J. Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.
If families are concerned about covering unexpected funeral costs, Hunter says, they'd be better off creating a college savings fund and pulling from that if needed, rather than purchasing a juvenile life insurance policy.

Savings component pros and cons
The real advantage of a juvenile life policy is for saving, says Jack Dolan, spokesman for the American Council of Life Insurers, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group.

"What we see more clearly year after year is that the savings in a cash-value life insurance policy provide a good, solid return. And, particularly when you're in a low-interest-rate environment, it becomes an attractive means of saving," he says.

Pros: Dolan points out that the insurance plans offer tax-deferred growth, and many come with guaranteed returns, meaning your money will increase regardless of what happens in the financial markets as long as you keep making premium payments.

Unlike money kept in other savings vehicles for children, such as 529 college savings plans and Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, a juvenile life insurance policy's cash value doesn't have to be used solely for education but can be used by a grown child for other purposes, such as wedding expenses or to launch a business.

An added bonus is that children who have permanent, cash-value life insurance won't have to worry about qualifying for a policy as an adult, adds James Garfinkel, the founder and CEO of New York-based New Amsterdam Life and a director of the nonprofit Juvenile Life Insurance Foundation.

"(Juvenile insurance) guarantees the future insurability of the child, regardless of their future health, lifestyle or residence," Garfinkel says. "It's issued without any physical exam whatsoever."

Cons: Cash-value life insurance comes with fees, service charges and commissions that can prevent a policy from generating any actual returns for at least a decade, acknowledges Garfinkel. He says the rewards come over the long haul.

Hunter says the fee structure of juvenile policies makes it difficult to understand what a child's policy is really worth.

"It's much better to put money in some kind of an investment account to build to college years," he says. "It's much more understandable. It's much more transparent."

If putting money aside for college is indeed the goal, 529 prepaid tuition and college savings plans can generate returns more quickly than juvenile life insurance, and some of those plans offer state tax incentives or matching grant money that isn't available with the insurance policies.

Sun Life Financial Offers Group Dental with United Concordia Alliance Network

The Employee Benefits Group of the U.S. business group of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF, TSX: SLF) today announced that Sun Life’s Group Dental plans now provide access to the United Concordia® Alliance network. Available to customers as of March 1, 2013, the arrangement provides 27%1 more dental provider access points to Sun Life dental customers than the Advantage Plus Network, which the new arrangement replaces.

Sun Life Dental offers dental PPO plans in all states, with coverage for employees and dependents. Employers can customize many plan features, including deductibles, benefit waiting periods, coinsurance levels, and plan maximums. Optional benefits include built-in routine care, orthodontia for children and adults, and an annual maximum rollover benefit. Fully-insured plans can be structured as 100% employer-paid, 100% employee-paid (“voluntary”), or as a shared-funding model (“contributory”).

Administrative Services are available to employer groups who prefer to self-fund their dental plans. Two plans can be offered for a Dual Select, or “high-low” plan design, providing employees greater choice.1
In July 2011, Sun Life entered an agreement with United Concordia that provided access to the Advantage Plus dental PPO network. Sun Life Dental plans will now be sold with United Concordia’s Alliance PPO network, which boasts 96,000 providers at over 246,000 access points across the country.

“Sun Life is a leader in disability insurance and is committed to the full array of employee benefits. We’ve provided group dental plans in the U.S. for over 20 years. We’ve thoughtfully and deliberately worked to grow our dental block with smart product development,” said Michael E. Shunney, Senior Vice President Distribution, Sun Life Financial U.S. “Our partnership with United Concordia is helping us take our dental offerings to the next level. The continued growth of their PPO network is a great win for us and for our customers.”

Sun Life provides Group Life, Disability, Dental, and Medical Stop-Loss insurance to over 33,000 U.S. customers, protecting over 10 million employees and their dependents, with $2 billion of in-force business. For more on Sun Life, visit www.sunlife.com/us.

Alliance Network applies only to dental plans underwritten by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and Sun Life Insurance and Annuity Company of New York. Excludes plans underwritten by Sun Life and Health Insurance Company U.S. The network is made available through an agreement with United Concordia Companies, Inc. Claims administration services are provided by United Concordia Companies, Inc. and regulations. Group insurance policies are underwritten by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Wellesley Hills, MA) in all states, except New York, under Policy Form Series GP-A and GC-A. In New York, group insurance policies are underwritten by Sun Life Insurance and Annuity Company of New York (New York, NY) under Policy Form Series GP-A and GC-A. Product offerings may not be available in all states and may vary depending on state laws and regulations.

Spanish have highest healthy life expectancy in Europe

They may be out of work and struggling with financial disaster, but the Spanish have the highest healthy life expectancy in Europe – and beat Australia, Canada, Norway and the USA as well.

Spain has an excellent healthcare system, ranked seventh in 2000 on the only occasion the World Health Organisation has compiled a league table. The UK was 18th. But it is not just the structures or even the skills of the doctors that matter. It is also the state of health of the people who arrive in the clinics.

Maybe the Mediterranean diet, heavy on fruit, salads, fish and olive oil, is responsible for the low death rate from heart disease – Spain has the 3rd lowest level of years of life lost. It also does well on a number of cancers – pancreatic, prostate, breast and oesophageal. Families still care for ailing relatives – taking daily meals to those in hospital is normal and premature deaths from falls are low.

Life insurance from marriage into midlife

Sliding out of your 20s and into your 30s means you're probably about to face some serious life changes. For many people, the next couple of decades are a time to focus on family, whether that means starting a new one or expanding the one you already have.

As your life moves on, your life insurance needs will, too. Here are the life insurance issues you may encounter at the mile markers people reach in their 30s and 40s.

Parenthood
As you add members to your clan, you'll also need to add life insurance to ensure your babies are taken care of if something happens to you or your spouse. For new parents, figuring out how much coverage you'll need isn't easy and means figuring what your family's future costs might be, says Glenn E. Stevick Jr., an adjunct professor of insurance at The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

"When (new parents) think about life insurance, most people kind of focus on what we call 'final expenses.' What does it take to bury me or cremate me, pay off my debts, and so on?" he explains.

But what parents typically forget, he says, are the major bills the family will encounter in the future, such as the cost of sending the children to college. You need enough life insurance so the family would be able to cover these sorts of expenses if a breadwinner dies.

Most new parents in their 30s will need "somewhere between 15 to 20 times their income" in life insurance coverage, says Onofrio Cirianni, a partner with New York-based EisnerAmper Financial and Insurance Services LLC. People in their 40s will need 10 to 15 times their income, he says.

Employers provide many families with a head start toward their life insurance needs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 73 percent of full-time workers in the private sector are eligible for some life insurance benefits through their company.

To do a comprehensive analysis of your family's potential expenses in the future and determine how much coverage you need beyond your employer-sponsored life insurance, Cirianni recommends enlisting the help of an insurance agent or financial planner.

Remarriage
Most people get married in their 20s, but it's not uncommon to walk down the aisle again in your 30s or later. A survey released in 2011 by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the median age for second marriage is about 36 for men and 33 for women.

Life insurance needs are different for those in second marriages, especially when stepchildren are involved, says Sonali Virendra, a vice president with New York Life Insurance Co. In addition to examining each spouse's income, assets and debts, couples also must factor in alimony and child support payments they may be making or receiving, and coordinate with their exes to ensure that all children are adequately covered.

"If you have a family that's now a blended family, you need to now redo (a life insurance analysis) you may have already done in the past," Virendra notes.

Aging
Another major life insurance concern facing those in their 30s and 40s is time. Those who are eyeing life insurance, whether to cover a new baby or protect a new spouse, should do so as soon as possible to get the best rates, says Cirianni.

"Unlike investing, insurance always requires someone to be underwritten, and you have to qualify for it," he explains. "There's no better time to look at what amount of coverages you're eligible for than when you're young and healthy."

In most cases, life insurance premiums rise steadily as policyholders age. Plus, the older you get, the more likely you are to develop a condition that could spike your premiums dramatically or even render you ineligible for life insurance altogether, Cirianni says. Conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular issues, high cholesterol and abnormal liver function can increase your insurance rates by up to 50 percent.

"It's really unfortunate because where there may have been an opportunity to set up coverage earlier in life, they (now) may be stuck with a higher premium," he says.

To sidestep higher life insurance charges as you progress through your 40s and 50s, Cirianni says to start the needs-analysis process early and maintain healthy habits.

Fitch Rates Manufacturers Life Insurance Subordinated Debt 'A-'

Fitch Ratings assigns an 'A-' rating to Manufacturers Life Insurance Company's (MLI) recently issued debentures:

The debentures are fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a subordinated basis by parent, Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC). Fitch anticipates that the net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including refinance debt. These subordinated debentures receive no equity credit in Fitch's financial leverage ratio.

At Dec. 31, 2012, MFC's financial leverage was 25%. Pro forma financial leverage, including the CAD200 million subordinated debentures increases incrementally but is expected to decline modestly in the intermediate term driven by improved organic capital generation and maturity of debt.

Fitch considers MFC's debt service capacity as below average for the rating as fixed-charge coverage on reported earnings was 3.5x and on a core earnings basis 5.6x in 2012. Fitch expects core earnings-based, fixed-charge coverage to exceed 5.5x in 2013.

On Feb. 11, 2013, Fitch affirmed MFC's and its primary insurance related operating subsidiaries' ratings, including The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (MLI) and John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.) (JHUSA). The Outlook is Negative for all ratings.

How to Develop Effective End-of-Life Plans

Retaining control over life decisions and maintaining dignity as the end of life approaches are top priorities for nearly everyone. These objectives can be achieved by good planning and the preparation of the proper directives under your state's laws. These safeguards have been greatly improved in many states in recent years. Still, experts say, few seniors have the right tools to make sure their end-of-life wishes are followed by family members and caregivers.

People often think of such matters only when they or a family member are seriously ill. But if a stroke, dementia, or another incapacitating event occurs, it may be too late. If people cannot make decisions for themselves and do not have directives or a power of attorney in place, decisions may be made for them that they would never have agreed with if they had been able to decide.

Michael A. Kirtland, an elder care attorney in Colorado Springs, Colo., says there are two ways to make sure your final wishes are followed: one is through legal documents, and the second is by communicating your wishes to anyone who might be involved in carrying out those wishes should you become incapacitated.

"Everybody ought to have either a will or revocable living trust," he says, with the preferred document depending largely on applicable state law. "Everybody ought to have a medical power of attorney ... and everybody should have a living will." Elder care lawyers in other states interviewed by U.S. News were not always in favor of living wills. But they all advocated a power of attorney for healthcare reasons, also called a healthcare proxy in some states. And some attorneys said they also recommended a separate power of attorney for property matters in addition to a healthcare proxy.

"A lot of these documents have different names in different states," says Wendy Sheinberg, who practices on Long Island. In New York, the power of attorney cannot be used to make medical choices, she says, so a healthcare proxy is needed. "The healthcare proxy becomes effective at the time when you are unable to make medical decisions for yourself." However, the proxy is not limited to end-of-life situations. A living will, by contrast, does speak to end-of-life decisions, she explains. As such, it may include very specific wishes in the event a patient's condition is terminal and they are unable to speak for themselves.

The healthcare proxy, or power of attorney, leaves more specific decisions in the hands of the healthcare agent or advocate who you designate as your proxy. For this reason, attorneys say, you should find someone (usually a family member) you trust who either agrees with your wishes, or at least promises to carry them out. Often, the agent is required to sign the healthcare proxy as well, to acknowledge an understanding and acceptance of his or her role.

The first, and often hardest, step toward creating final directives, experts agree, is having an extended conversation about how you want to be treated at the end of your life. Elder law attorneys say they may devote many hours to helping people not only select the right healthcare advocate, but open up and seriously think about how they want to end their life. The discussion usually begins between spouses and spreads to other family members. But in the case of an older parent whose spouse has died, an adult child often triggers the discussion.

"They are very hard conversations to have, and they are important to have," Sheinberg says. "This can't be over the phone. You have to sit down with these people and say, 'I trust you, I love you, and I'd like you to be the person to make medical choices for me.' You have to really sit there and have that conversation." Family dynamics often make choosing the best advocate difficult, and a spouse or child simply may not agree with a person's final wishes or be able to carry them out when the time comes.

"In discussing your desired medical choices with the person who you ultimately name as agent, it is important not just to tell them what choice you would like made, but to also explain your decision-making process and what values you consider important in formulation that decision," she adds. "Understanding a principal's decision making process can be helpful if the agent later confronts a situation that they did not specifically explore ... The goal of these documents is to empower someone else to make the decisions you would make for yourself but for the incapacity, having a deep and heartfelt conversation about these things goes a long way toward meeting that goal."
"Clients have weird thought processes that lead them to choose particular healthcare agents," says Will Lucius, an elder law attorney who works at Paul A. Sturgul Law Offices in Hurley, Wisc. "Rather than selecting an agent that can make can and will actually follow the person's wishes, clients often choose their agents in order of priority by age or who is in close proximity. These choices, while convenient, can often lead to individuals being selected as an agent who are simply not the most appropriate person."

Gregory S. French, an elder law attorney in Cincinnati and president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, says he favors separate powers of attorney documents for healthcare and property because they require different attributes in an effective agent. "I often find the best advocate for care and well-being may not be the best person to manage finances, and vice versa," he says.

"The sad cases I see are people with debilitating conditions, and they wait and wait and wait," says Kirtland. "If people would come to me as their health issues are first discovered by their physicians ... then I can provide some help." If they wait until their decision-making abilities are compromised, however, they may not even be able to execute advance directives, and key decisions will be taken out of their hands.

"When their spouse is suffering from advanced dementia and they're looking at the door of a nursing home," Lucius notes, "they're not terribly interested in having a will or doing estate planning. They're trying to figure out how to come up with $7,000 a month to afford the nursing home."

"I don't think you can ironclad final-care wishes," sums up Howard Krooks, who practices elder law in Boca Raton, Fla. "I think you can state what you want but then [you have to] cross your fingers. It's a question of whether the healthcare providers are on board with what you say you want done." The medical profession's goal to preserve and extend life may still be in conflict with end-of-life wishes.

"I think that that is starting to get stripped away, and the concept of dying with dignity is starting to take hold," Krooks says. "But it's going to take some time."

Life Technologies Stays at Neutral

We recently reiterated our Neutral recommendation on Life Technologies Corporation (LIFE), a global biotechnology tools company. While we hold a favorable view regarding Life Technologies’ Genetic Analysis sales that received a strong boost from the Ion Torrent franchise; economic uncertainties lowering discretionary spending, NIH funding cut and unfavorable currency were the major headwinds for the company during the reported quarter. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Why at Neutral?
Life Technology’s fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.11 remained in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate but were down 5.7% year over year. Adjusted revenues increased 4.5% at CER to $999 million, ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $990 million.
Life Technologies enjoys a strong position in the life sciences market and we are impressed with the strong momentum of its Ion Torrent franchise. Moreover, the company is working on expanding its portfolio with several product launches.

In Feb 2013, a dozen new products for the Ion Torrent platform were launched, aimed at expanding clinical research across the globe.These new products enabled the Ion Torrent semiconductor sequencing technology to expand 1,000-fold in just 2 years and gain a 60% market share of benchtop sequencers.
Also, the recent acquisitions of BAC BV, Navigenics, Pinpoint Genomics and Compendia along with new distribution agreements in China and Chile would enable the company strengthen its diagnostics franchise and extend its footprint in emerging markets.

However, Life Technology’s exposure to the U.S. government funding is somewhere between 10% and 15%, depending on the level of funding. The recent sequestration cuts (implemented with effect from Jan 2, 2013) that curbed the NIH (National Institutes of Health) budget by 8% are expected to restrict the company from opting for medical innovations. Based on the NIH budget cut, the company provided a conservative 2013 outlook.

President's personal life hits French stage

A vow to keep his private life out of the public eye helped sweep Francois Hollande to power last year as France's president, attracting voters tired of his flashy predecessor's amorous exploits. Now, the words of the one-time dull Socialist are back to bite him in a new play.

"Mr. Normal, His Women and Me," a comedy of errors set in the presidential Elysee Palace, is inspired by a real-life Twitter scandal involving his glamorous live-in girlfriend, journalist Valerie Trierweiler, and the elegant and influential mother of Hollande's four children, politician Segolene Royal.
The affair last year shook up Hollande's carefully cultivated dull image and hurt his popularity. And it immediately caught the attention of director and writer Bernard Uzan.

"When I first saw the tweet... it was a vaudeville before my eyes," said Uzan, referring to a message sent by Trierweiler during last June's legislative elections expressing support for Royal's political opponent.

Days later, Royal lost her bid for a parliamentary seat. Widely criticized as a vindictive move, the tweet went viral and dominated French media for days.
When writing the play, Uzan says he interviewed real politicians and used genuine quotes and anecdotes.

Indeed, the characters are very thinly disguised. The play features a portly, bespectacled protagonist called Francois Gouda — named after a Dutch cheese — who's chased around the Elysee by an obsessive ex-partner, Marjolaine Loyal, and bossy First Lady Nathalie Valtriere, who likes designer dresses.
Though it is fictional, the play — which opened on Jan. 24 — points out some uncomfortable truths about the last nine months, which have seen Hollande's popularity plunge at the same speed as the country's economic fortunes.
"I, as president, won't expose my private life to the eyes of the French," says Gouda, evoking Hollande's pledge a month before his election victory in May to not mix up his public and private lives.

Hollande's words were calculated to distance himself from his conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy. He was criticized for letting his private life get too public during his presidency, divorcing his second wife Cecilia and marrying his third, former supermodel and singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy while in office.

Two months after winning the election, it was Hollande in the hot seat, answering an uncomfortable question on Bastille Day about his own love triangle. His 27-year-old son, Thomas, was dragged into to the affair, dubbed "tweetgate," to defend his mother, Royal.

Mirroring the image political satirists paint of Hollande, the play shows the presidential character as incapable of controlling the two warring women who throw insults at each other.

To chuckles, an exasperated Gouda says, "I never asked to be here ... Why can't I just resign, like the pope?"

Actor Daniel Jean Colloredo plays the president as a weak, ridiculous leader — steered by the characters around him, including his aide who tries to teach him the confidence to say "I am a winner" to a mirror. He eventually manages with a weak "we-we-winner."

"He really doesn't have the strength of character to choose either woman," said Colleredo.

Hollande's ex-partner Royal was back in the news this week causing controversy, with an announcement of her appointment as vice president of the new government-funded Public Investment Bank.

Top business leader Laurence Parisot questioned Royal's experience for the job, while journalists have called it a political appointment from the Elysee to keep Royal happy — a charge she vehemently denies.

The play also tries to address the key question on everyone's lips: What is the irresistible appeal of Hollande, who has been nicknamed "flanby" after a bland custard dessert?

"We asked ourselves this, too. How can this (love triangle) have come about?" says Dominique Merot, the actress who plays Loyal. "He must have a lot of charm behind closed doors."

Life Time Fitness Announces Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2012 Financial Results

Life Time Fitness, Inc. (LTM), The Healthy Way of Life Company, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2012.

Fourth quarter 2012 revenue grew 9.7% to $275.3 million from $250.9 million during the same period last year. Total revenue for the year grew 11.2% to $1.127 billion from $1.014 billion in 2011.

Net income for the quarter was $23.4 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, compared to net income of $19.8 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, for 4Q 2011. Net income for the year was $111.5 million, or $2.66 per diluted share, compared to net income of $92.6 million, or $2.26 per diluted share, in 2011.
“For 2012, I am pleased to report double-digit growth in revenue, operating profit, net income, and earnings per share,” said Bahram Akradi, chairman, president and chief executive officer.

“We also saw total-center revenue growth above 10%, along with solid revenue-per-membership and same-store-sales. Looking ahead, we are positioning our company for top-line growth through center expansion, new membership and programming initiatives, and expanded products and services. For 2013, we plan to open one new center in the first half of the year, our first in Alabama, and two in the second half, including one in Virginia and one in New Jersey. We also have initial plans to double our center openings in 2014, led by openings in New York and California early in the year.”

Individuals Are Complicit in Work-Life Flexibility Failure, Say Workplace and Academic Experts

For years, the mandates for more work life flexibility were directed at organizations and management, but workplace and academic experts say the boss or company are no longer the ones to solely blame for flexibility failure. Increasingly the challenge is for risk-averse employees, especially in the current economic climate, to focus less on sweeping transformative change and instead make small every day shifts in work style.

"We've spent nearly the last two decades calling out the companies and management for the need for work life flexibility.  Many have responded, but now employees also need to step up and assert control by making small, subtle, practical choices that no one will notice but them," explains Cali Williams Yost (www.worklifefit.com), a leading thinker on workplace issues and author of the just published Tweak It: Make What Matters To You Happen Every Day (January 2013/Center Street/Hachette).

Adds Brad Harrington, Ph.D., the Executive Director of the Boston College Center for Work and Family, "For over 20 years, our Center has stressed the importance of organizational culture, the right types of management support, and the most effective human resource policies and programs needed to facilitate work life fit. But I have always stressed my belief that ultimately it is the individual who must solve this problem, must determine their fit, and must manage the process of achieving it."

But according to research Yost conducted with ORC International nearly 75 percent of the population believes that work life flexibility is only possible if their employer and/or boss provide it.  Employees do not feel empowered and are stressed by increased workloads and lack of time, the most cited obstacles to work life flexibility in Yost's research. 

Both Yost and Harrington agree the workplace has become more supportive, offering flexibility programs and policies that help employees manage life's major transitions such as parenthood and illness. But for many, it's unrealistic to regularly work from home, have a compressed or reduced schedule, or take advantage of some other formal flexibility offering.  Even so, that doesn't mean work life fit has to be a lost cause or failed resolution.

"Major life events matter," explains Yost, "but it's the everyday routine we crave and where employees struggle the most with managing work life fit.  We can't wait for HR or the boss to solve this conflict for us.  Employees themselves need to manage work life fit as a daily practice.  And while it may be counterintuitive, it starts by thinking small – by yes, sweating the 'small stuff.'"

During the nearly two decades that Yost has advised hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals, she has observed a small segment of the population that she calls the work+life fit "naturals" – the envied few who seemingly fit all of the pieces of their personal and professional lives together with ease while the majority of us continue to struggle. 

"The 'naturals' make small, consistent changes in how, when and where they manage their work and their lives," Yost says.  "There is no scary, bold, disruption.  No one-size-fits-all balance that is never achieved.  Instead they 'tweak', taking granular deliberate actions that over time build the foundation for a successful work life fit that collectively transforms their performance on and off the job."

In her new book Tweak It (www.worklifefit.com/book), Yost uncovers the secrets of the work life fit naturals and describes four simple steps that surprisingly few of us follow to ensure that what matters to us happens with the competing demands of work and life.  These include merging our work and life calendars and to do lists so that we have a complete picture to guide daily decision making, progress tracking and fine tuning.

"Yost's latest contribution to the field provides individuals with a simple yet elegant way to take hold of their lives and in doing so, achieve their personal and professional goals," notes Harrington.  "Tweak It illustrates vividly how small changes can have a big impact on the quality of our lives and work."

Yost will share her insights and more on this "downsized" approach to work life flexibility at several noteworthy 2013 conferences including the American Psychological Association's 2013 Work & Wellbeing Conferences, South by Southwest, and Invent Your Future. 

Sun Life Reverses Prior-Year Loss

The Canadian life insurer Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF) announced operating earnings $457.1 million (C$453 million), compared to an operating loss of $216 million (C$221 million) in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Adjusted revenue was $5.7 billion (C$5.6 billion), compared to $4.6 billion (C $4.7 billion) in the year ago quarter. The increase in revenue came on the back of higher premium revenue from SLF Group Retirement Services in Canada and SLF Life and Investment Products businesses in the U.S., higher investment income and increased fee income from Mutual Fund Segment (:MFS).

Total benefits and expenses was $ 3.9 billion (C$3.9 billion) down from $5.4 billion (C$5.5 billion) in the year ago quarter.

Full Year Highlights

The company reported operating earnings of $1.6 billion (C$1.6 billion), compared to loss of $361 million (C$370 million) in 2011.

Adjusted revenue of $19.5 billion (C$19.5 billion) was up from $ 18.7 billion (C$19.1 billion) in full year 2011. The increase was driven by higher fee income from MFS and favorable impact from currency movements.

Segment Results

During the quarter SLF Canada reported operating income of $149 million (C$149 million), down 18% year over year, led by favorable impact of investment activity on insurance contract liabilities in Individual Insurance & Investments and Group Retirement Services, and positive morbidity and mortality experience in Group Benefits.

SLF U.S. operating income during the quarter was $93 million (C$93 million), compared to an operating loss of $75 million (C$77 million) in the year ago quarter. Results were favorably impacted by the refinement of certain actuarial assumption updates from the prior quarter, partially offset by unfavorable morbidity experience in Employee Benefits Group as well as an investment in voluntary benefits capabilities.

MFS Investment Management reported operating net income of $85 million (C$85 million) compared to $66 million (C$68 million) in the year ago quarter.

SLF Asia reported operating income was $50 million (C$50 million), compared to $43 million (C$44 million) in the year ago quarter

Corporate segment reported operating net loss of (C$44 million), compared to an operating loss of $6.8 million (C$7 million) in the year ago quarter

The company reported operating return on equity of 12.9%, compared to a negative 6.5% in the year ago quarter.

Sun Life Assurance's MCCSR ratio was 209% as at Dec 31, 2012, compared to 211% as at Dec 31, 2011. The decline in capital ratio was due to low interest rates and volatile equity markets.

In an effort to shed its variable annuity exposure, during the fourth quarter the company entered into an agreement to sell off its U.S. annuities business. It also made agreement to sell certain of its U.S. life insurance businesses including all of the issued and outstanding shares of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada.

Results reflect the company’s consistent effort towards its growth strategy. We expect favorable results from the company going forward.

Other players in the same field StanCorp Financial Group Inc. (SFG), Lincoln National Corporation (LNC), Protective Life Corp. (PL) all reported fourth quarter earnings ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate.   

Life Insurance Comparison Website lifeinsuranceselect.net Helps 5,000 Visitors in First 10 Days Online

A brand-new life insurance comparison website has hit the Internet and is already getting a lot of attention from life insurance shoppers. In their first 10 days online they reached the milestone of 5,000 people helped, and today just announced that they have unveiled their new cutting edge life insurance comparison software.

According to Danielle Lynn, director of marketing for lifeinsuranceselect.net, the new software represents the forefront of technology for comparison software: "When we first started in this industry in 2002 the software we used required readers to enter sensitive information such as their credit card number, birth date, and even home address. Today however, the need for sensitive personal information is no longer required. With a simple zip code our website provides side-by-side comparisons of the most reputable life insurance companies in any given area. Further, our new software does it 25% faster than before and has access to almost triple the gigabytes of information than our previous technology."

Indeed, the trend for the life-insurance industry has completely changed over the last two years. Before, life insurance shoppers had to reach out to life insurance companies in their area just to get price quotes or to see outlines of their plans. This put the advantage in the hands of the life-insurance companies and made the process of searching for life insurance an exhausting endeavor.

Today, in stark contrast to that dynamic, shoppers are now in the driver seat. They can go to websites like lifeinsuranceselect.net, gather price quotes of all the life-insurance companies in their area, and contact each company on their own terms- pitting one life insurance company against the other and making them fight it out for their business.

According to the website owners this new software has created a spike in their viewership, effectually tripling their weekly average views in its first 10 days after release. "The real difference between us and our competition is we have invested in the absolute best comparison software available," says Daniel Lynn. "We require no personal information from our readers and our results aggregate in just seconds. A viewer can click over to our website, enter their zip code, and in the time it takes to read this sentence have a full list of the prices, policies, and specific details of all the best life insurance companies in their area."

To learn more about lifeinsuranceselect.net, or to get a side-by-side comparison of all the best life insurance providers in an area, please visit www.lifeinsuranceselect.net.

Life returns to normal in Kashmir Valley

Life returned to normal in Srinagar and other major towns of the Kashmir Valley Monday after seven days of curfew and two days of separatist-sponsored shutdown following the Feb 9 execution of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Shops, banks, post offices, business establishments and government offices were open in the Jammu and Kashmir summer capital, while public transport was plying normally.

Students attended tuitions and coaching classes in the morning, as the city's educational institutions have been closed for winter vacations.

Railway officials said train services in Jammu and Kashmir would resume by afternoon.
The curfew, imposed after the execution of Afzal Guru at Delhi's Tihar Jail, was lifted in the entire Kashmir Valley Saturday. However, life remained paralysed for the next two days owing to a total shutdown called by Syed Ali Geelani, chairman of the hardline Hurriyat group.

Three people died across the region during clashes with the security forces in the aftermath of Guru's hanging.

Meanwhile, rumours continue to do the rounds in north Kashmir's Baramulla district and Srinagar city about the possibility of Afzal Guru's body being returned to the family for last rites. However, there has been no official confirmation on this so far.

A Life of Galileo, RSC

Brecht’s Life of Galileo sounds like a straight biographical account, but of course it’s a drama. The real history of Galileo is more interesting and complex than the attenuated cliché that has come down to us since, of the lonely, heroic scientist standing up to the might of the repressive, backward-looking Roman Catholic Church.

It was Cardinal Newman who pointed out that when ­people argued that the Catholic Church had always stood in the way of scientific advance, about the only example they could come up with was Galileo. Even this is a hazy memory. In 1610, Father Clavius wrote to tell Galileo that his fellow Jesuit astronomers had confirmed his observations. (The Jesuits were always at the forefront of astronomy, which is why there are 35 mountains and craters on the moon named after them.) Galileo was greeted rapturously in Rome the next year. In 1612 his work on sunspots received an enthusiastic letter of congratulation from Cardinal Barberini, later Pope Urban VIII, and his Dialogue of 1632 was also written at the urging of the Pope.

These are all interesting details that indicate a more complex truth beneath the popular legend — but this A Life of Galileo, for its own reasons, sticks firmly with the legend. It’s not just about Galileo, it’s about Brecht’s passionate conviction that intellectuals must always resist tyranny and totalitarianism, no matter what the cost. That’s Bertolt Brecht, by the way, lifelong Marxist, winner of the Stalin Peace prize in 1954, who was furious with Einstein for suggesting that perhaps the Soviet Union ought not to have the atomic bomb.

Before the dawn of modernity and science, all is darkness. “Our cities are cramped, so are our minds,” Galileo tells us at the start. “Superstition, plague...” Then he makes a new telescope, looks up at the stars and sees that “heaven is empty”. Instantly he seems to become a 21st-century atheist. Ian McDiarmid communicates an invigorating sense of excitement at new discoveries and makes a genial, enthusiastic, sometimes peppery Galileo until the end, when, apparently having been cruelly tortured and broken by the Inquisition (historical note: he wasn’t), he comes shuffling on like Lear himself, white-haired, white-gowned, defeated, though still with a nice line in mordant irony against his oppressors.

There are some wildly over-the-top costumes, though Galileo is just a scruffy old boffin in a tweed suit. The young Cosimo de’ Medici appears in silver DMs and on a scooter, for no clear reason; three of Jupiter’s moons are dancers wearing silver discs in front of their faces, like something out of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The sinister Inquisitor is comic-book and there’s a ­hysterical old ­cardinal, who shrieks “Everything depends without question on me, God’s creation in the centre, the image of God, the eternal and...”, then collapses.

Just when you are beginning to think that, despite all McDiarmid’s amiability, everything here rather lacks subtlety and nuance, it gets a whole lot worse. Act II begins with a kind of diabolical carnival of celebration and revolt, with various figures leaping and cavorting about the stage, singing: “Who doesn’t want to be their own master?” Galileo is looking down a telescope and discovering that Jupiter has moons, you see. He has begun to unstitch the very fabric of hierarchical European society almost overnight. The oppressed proletariat are starting to liberate themselves from their chains and a new world is born. There’s a nun of the Sacred Heart in heavy make-up, a girning man in a white robe covered in crosses, another cross splatted across his face like an England supporter at the World Cup. Oh, and most daringly of all, Christ himself, crowned in thorns, in crucified pose, but looking utterly ridiculous in bright red Y-fronts!

Just to emphasise the RSC’s bravery and daring here, a minute later he is bouncing around the stage on a space ­hopper like an overgrown child. How insanely and courageously satirical to make mock of such a figure in a nation still so devoutly and indeed fiercely Christian! Yet if we were to ­suspect that the RSC wouldn’t dream of making mock of any other religious figure in this way, might it not suggest a rather pathetic and contemptible sort of cowardice?

This interlude only emphasises what a schematic play this is, made more so by Roxana ­Silbert’s direction and Mark Ravenhill’s translation. “Science good, church bad!” — we are ­hectored for two and a half loquacious hours. And I thought theatre was supposed to set up conflicts, represent different points of view, rather than try to hammer into the thick skulls of the groundlings its pre­decided opinions.

Life Wireless to offer cellphone service to eligible low-income customers in Arizona

Life Wireless is now offering subsidized mobile phone service to eligible low-income residents in Arizona.

Life Wireless provides phone service through the federal Lifeline program, which was created by Congress in 1985 to ensure that all Americans have access to quality telephone service and the security and opportunities that it affords. Eligible subscribers in Arizona must take part in a federal assistance program such as Medicaid or Food Stamps or earn less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Customers may not receive service from more than one Lifeline carrier at the same time.

Life Wireless customers receive a basic mobile handset with voicemail, text messaging, call waiting, and other features. Smart phones are not available. Calling plans offer up to 250 minutes a month.

"We're excited about this new venture into Arizona," said Jim Carpenter, a senior vice president with Life Wireless. "We want to fulfill the mission of the Lifeline phone program by having our sales representatives go out into the community to reach those most in need of telephone service."

Life Wireless recently had its compliance plan approved by the Federal Communications Commission. The compliance plan details the industry-leading steps Life Wireless takes to preserve the integrity of the federal Lifeline program and deliver affordable telephone service to eligible low-income families and individuals. Life Wireless performs multiple checks on each potential customer to verify that they qualify for phone service through the Lifeline program. All Life Wireless sales representatives receive extensive training and oversight to ensure that company policies are upheld.

"A cellphone is no longer a luxury item, it's a necessity," said Carpenter. "A cellphone helps people to stay in touch with their doctors, loved ones, and potential employers, and enables them to contact 911 during an emergency."

Life Science Association of Manitoba (LSAM) Honours Innovation and Expertise in Manitoba

LSAM has its work cut out for itself when trying to choose winners for their highly coveted awards program.

“This is an industry of innovators, so choosing just a few of them to receive recognition is challenging,” says Tracey Maconachie, President, LSAM. “But, what a fantastic position to be in. The whole industry is becoming a major success story for our province and this year’s winners showcase the best and the brightest we offer to the world.”

The life science industry in Manitoba, which now accounts for 7% of the province’s GDP, covers a wide range of core businesses. The over 100 LSAM member companies can be grouped into three primary categories: agriculture and food products, health products and industrial bio-products.
This year’s winners exemplify that variety of expertise in a very real way.

“With such a big range of businesses covered by life sciences our awards program is truly representative of the breadth and impact of this industry,“ says Earl Gardiner, Board Chair, LSAM. “From a green pulp and paper company to life saving medical equipment, the awards showcase the far reaching impact our province is having on the world outside our borders.”

Winners were chosen in several categories: outstanding leadership in research, life science company of the year, life science award for innovation (health), life science award for innovation (agriculture) and most promising life science student.

“We’re honoured to have been recognized for our accomplishments to date, and for our further potential going forward,” said Christopher J. Moreau, President and Chief Executive Officer, Miraculins, winner of the Life Sciences Company of the Year award. “We are proud to share news of this award and this recognition with our shareholders, our investors, and our customers. Furthermore, we are pleased to be acknowledged amongst the many deserving companies in Manitoba and we are proud to be a part of this important industry in a region with a true appreciation for innovation.”

The Life Science Association of Manitoba (LSAM) presents its annual Life Science Awards as a way to recognize the leaders and innovators of the life science community.

All awards are being presented at the Life Science Association Award Gala, February 13, 2013 at the Winnipeg Winter Club. Key note speaker James Robbins is a motivational speaker and adventurer whose new book Nine Minutes to Monday is the Globe and Mail’s #1 business book for 2012. He is sharing how to transform leadership in just minutes a day.

Should Cohabitees have Life Insurance?

Official statistics show that the total figure of cohabiting adults has increased over the last 15 years in England and Wales.

Figures show that in 1992 there were 2.7 million cohabiting adults - in 2007 this had risen to 4.5 million. Reports suggest that this number will continue to rise amongst the ''never married'' adult group.

Figures also show that there is a decline in the number of people under the age of 30 who are cohabiting, yet an increase in adult couples aged over 30 who are living together.

Further research shows that between 2001 and 2010 the number of opposite sex cohabiting couple families increased from 2.1 million to 2.7 million.

This means that the total number of children growing up in households where adults are unmarried has increased from 1.3 million to 1.8 million in the same time.

It is not just unmarried couples living together who are pushing up the trend. Groups of friends are collectively pooling their cash together to buy properties and live together for longer.

Mortgages are often considered one of the largest financial commitments that anyone can make in their lifetime. For this reason many co-habiting people may want to opt to take out a mortgage life insurance policy. A policy could safeguard finances in the event of death. Should one of the part homeowners suddenly pass away or suffer from a life threatening illness, the cover could provide financial support and peace of mind when you need it most.

George Sanchez Calderon’s work: art, memories, Americana

Art Basel set up shop in Wynwood and provided Miamians a glimpse into the art world. But before “socially relevant” art was a prerequisite in an artist’s portfolio and before Cuban-American identity had any cachet, Miami-bred Cuban-American artist George Sanchez Calderon was creating art that spoke of and to his surroundings in the most provocative and profound way.

I became familiar with Sanchez Calderon’s work in the mid to late 1990s — the first time art not only spoke to my soul but also made me question, revise and reaffirm notions and values that were for the most part digested as rote, traditions passed on from previous generations.

Sanchez Calderon’s latest work is PAX Americana, a piece that was unveiled last fall as part of a public arts project in the ritzy community of Bal Harbour. The work consists of two major pieces: a recreation of a Levittown-style house (the quintessential suburban home in the United States popularized after World War II) and a stainless steel sign that reads “AMERICANA.” The sign rests on the lawn of the present day St. Regis Bal Harbour Hotel, which stands on sandy land that was once home to the Morris Lapidus-designed Americana Hotel.

“The work is a reflection on post World War II American values. It was the age of American cultural expansionism, which had a strong impact on our immigrant parents’ generation that was weaned on Platters records and the recently deceased Stan ‘The Man’ Musial,” explained Sanchez Calderon. “I am the son of Cuban exiles who grew up respecting the core American beliefs that Musial embodied. When I learned of his passing I immediately thought of my father.”

The lore of Americana was based on the fundamental promise of freedom and prosperity that so many Cuban exiles who came here fleeing tyranny in the 1960s and ’70s passed on to their children. Part of what makes Sanchez Calderon’s work so eerily grounded is his working-class upbringing. His parents ran the Tastee Bakery on Washington Avenue on Miami Beach for 28 years — that meant nearly three decades of his parents rising at 4 a.m. “Sometimes you don’t know or appreciate how much you miss a person until you have to bury them,” said the Rhode Island School of Design graduate about his father’s passing last year. “With him, and many of his generation, went that well-defined code of ethics that served as a compass for many American Baby Boomers,” Sanchez Calderon said. “And when I say Americans I don’t just mean people born in the U.S. I’m referring to natives of the American continent.”

Pax Americana is yet another example of Sanchez Calderon’s reflective oeuvre. His substantial body of work is devoid of didactic clichés. In his engaging, sometimes brazen conceptualizations and installations, the artist pricks your intellect without pounding you into submission with his interpretations.

What initially intrigued was the cultural relevance, given my Cuban-American heritage and my interest in the Cuban diaspora. However, what made Sanchez Calderon’s work unique and engaging was the thematic universality of human frailty that his pieces exude.

He cleverly summed up for me why throughout the turbulent physical, political, and cultural changes Miami endures, Cuba remains an important issue: “Because we have yet to close that chapter in our lives.”

On March 19 (the first commemoration of the artist’s father’s birthday since his death), Sanchez Calderon will burn the Levittown house in the spirit of the Spanish tradition of “ Las Fallas,” a pagan ritual where large paper mache puppets are burned to celebrate the onset of spring and commemorate St. Joseph’s Day, which is Father’s Day throughout Spain.

Life Insurance Settlement Association's 2013 Events Announced at Significantly Lower Rates

The Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA) announces dates for three life settlement events in 2013. "If you are active in the market or have an interest in the space, you will not want to miss these conferences," says Darwin Bayston, President of LISA. 2013's lineup includes:

3rd Annual Investor Conference - March 11, 2013 at the Harvard Club in New York City
19th Annual Spring Conference - May 29-31, 2013 at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas
19th Annual Fall & Compliance Conference - October 9-11, 2013 at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando
"For the past 18 years, LISA has been the undisputable leader in conferences for the life settlement industry. Every innovation and new development related to life settlements has been introduced, discussed and debated at LISA's Spring, Fall and Investor Conferences by leading experts from within and outside the industry," says Bayston. "2013 will be no exception."

For 2013, LISA is offering a Super Early Bird Special: Purchase a Bundled Registration Package of all three conferences before February 15, 2013 at a special price of $1,495 for members and $2,195 for non-members. This package represents $299 per conference day ($690 savings from 2012 early bird rate) for members and $439 per conference day ($1,305 savings from 2012 early bird rate) for non-members. Payment for the Bundled Registration Package must be received before February 15, 2013. There will be no refunds given.

Fitch Places Life Technologies' Ratings on Evolving Watch

Fitch Ratings has placed Life Technologies Corp's (Life Tech) ratings, including the company's 'BBB' Issuer Default Rating, on Rating Watch Evolving. The ratings apply to approximately $2.4 billion of debt outstanding at Sept. 30, 2012.

The ratings reflect the following key credit considerations:
There is an overhang on the credit profile related to the heightened potential of a transformational credit event, which Fitch thinks could include a going-private transaction, an acquisition of the company by a strategic interest, or restructuring of the business. Earlier this month, a media outlet reported that Life Tech had approached private equity firms to discuss an acquisition of the company. The Board of Directors subsequently issued a statement that it has hired Moelis & Co. and Deutsche Bank to assist in its annual strategic review. The statement indicated that no particular course of action has been determined at this time.

Life Tech generates strong and stable cash flow from its portfolio of mostly consumable products, which could make it an attractive acquisition target for private equity. That said, Fitch thinks that there is a lack of an obvious business strategy behind a LBO transaction, such as cost cutting opportunities. Furthermore, resultant high leverage could limit the company's financial flexibility to invest in growth opportunities in the evolving life sciences industry.

An acquisition by a strategic interest could be more likely given opportunities for cost synergies, coupled with the attractive growth potential of the company's next-generation DNA sequencing assets. The company has recently been investing in building its portfolio of next-gen assets, but it remains a small part of the overall business. The realization of strong uptake of the next-generation assets in clinical end markets will require financial flexibility to make incremental investments.

The effect of any transaction on the ratings is highly situational and would depend upon the manner in which it is financed and the effect on the company's credit metrics. Fitch believes that the debt financing necessary to execute a LBO would result in debt well in excess of 3.5x EBITDA, which is the level Fitch views as consistent with maintenance of investment grade ratings for Life Tech.

All series of Life Tech's senior unsecured notes include an offer to purchase at 101% upon a change of control event and a subsequent downgrade to non-investment grade, providing some protection for bondholders. The note indentures do not have restrictions on additional debt or subsidiary guarantees. As a result, Fitch thinks its likely holders would put the notes for repurchase in the event of an LBO.

If the notes are not put for repurchase, the indentures limit liens with a permitted carve out of up to $350 million or 15% of CNTA. Fitch estimates the size of this carve out at $350 million as of Sept. 30, 2012. Fitch expects the notes would likely become subordinate to any potential debt issued to fund an LBO to the extent of the permitted liens basket.

More Aggressive Capital Deployment Post Decline in Leverage
Life Tech's debt leverage has consistently declined over the past two years, mostly due to the application of nearly $650 million of cash to debt reduction, although EBITDA expansion of 3.7% also contributed to the decline. At 2.0x at Sept. 30, 2012, debt leverage is now at the low end of the company stated target leverage range of 2.0x-2.5x.

Fitch does not believe the company has financial incentive to manage its balance sheet with debt below 2.0x, and so expects the company could increase debt in the near term to fund acquisitions and share repurchases. The company has stated that it intends to return about 50% of FCF to shareholders through share repurchases over a multi-year period, and to invest the remaining 50% in the future growth of the business. Life Tech does not currently fund a dividend.

Fitch forecasts sustained annual FCF generation of about $700 million for Life Tech, implying that the company could fund $350 million of acquisitions from cash on hand annually while meeting its 50% return to shareholders' target. In 2011 and 2012, Life Tech spent significantly less than this amount on acquisitions, making a series of small tuck-ins focused on acquiring distribution capabilities in emerging markets and adding to its product portfolio in its faster-growth end markets.

The biggest risk to Life Tech's operating outlook is ongoing pressure on government and academic research funding. Sales to research end markets comprised about 35% of the company's revenue in the LTM period ended Sept. 30, 2012. Favorably, 85% of sales in the period were of consumable products, which are somewhat less susceptible to volume and price headwinds than sales of larger capital equipment. However, consumable sales are not immune to these pressures, as reflected in tepid organic topline growth for Life Tech of 1-2% in each of the last three quarters.

Fitch thinks that demand for life science tools and products in the developed markets of the U.S. and Eurozone will rebound slightly in 2013. 2012 was affected by the roll-off of U.S. government stimulus funding which benefited life science researchers in 2010-2011. Furthermore, the agreement reached in U.S. Congress to avoid some elements of the fiscal cliff delayed 8% sequestration of NIH research funding until at least March 2013.

Helping to offset weak growth prospects in the research end-markets, Life Tech has recently made progress in diversifying its product portfolio to expand in the hospital/clinical and commercial end-markets. The company has also been investing in the expansion of distribution and manufacturing capabilities in faster-growing emerging markets.

Fitch thinks that the company has its best growth potential in the clinical end-market, based on its growing portfolio of next-generation DNA sequencing assets. In late 2010, Life Tech's acquisition of Ion Torrent provided a base of assets that it has subsequently developed. The uptake of gen-next sequencing in clinical markets is, however, in its nascent stages. There remains risk related to obtaining the regulatory and government approvals necessary to support wider application of the technology in clinical settings.

Life Tech's liquidity profile is solid relative to the 'BBB' IDR and is highlighted by the company's strong FCF generation. Liquidity is provided by availability on the company's $750 million credit facility revolver due February 2017 ($599.6 million available at Sept. 30, 2012) and cash on hand ($274 million at Sept. 30, 2012). FCF for the LTM period ended Sept. 30, 2012 was a solid $764 million, representing a 20.1% FCF margin. The company's FCF margin has expanded by about 260 bps since 2008, as a result of improved profitability, better management of working capital and lower capital expenditures. Fitch expects Life Tech to generate FCF of about $700 million in 2013.

The company's debt maturity schedule is not currently a credit concern. Debt outstanding includes:

Fitch thinks Life Tech will refinance the 2013 notes maturity; the company does have capacity on its credit revolver to address the maturity. The credit facility terms include a financial maintenance covenant requiring total debt-to-EBITDA of below 3.25x. The company had ample operating cushion under the bank facility leverage covenant at Sept. 30, 2012.

In the event of an equity-friendly transaction, such as an LBO, the IDR will be based on the post transaction capital structure. A downgrade of the ratings out of investment grade would be caused by total-debt-to EBITDA above 3.5x.

There has and continues to be a good deal of consolidation activity in the segments in which Life Tech operates. After completing a series of small tuck-ins in 2011-2012, Fitch believes the company could ramp up its acquisition activity in 2013. Maintenance of the 'BBB' IDR for Life Tech will require debt-to-EBITDA maintained between 2.0x and 2.5x in the near to medium term, although periodic increases to fund acquisitions could be tolerated within the current rating category.

Allianz Life Launches New FIA: Allianz 222 Annuity

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz Life), a leading provider of fixed index annuities (FIAs), today announced the launch of the Allianz 222SM Annuity, a new FIA available exclusively to field marketing organizations, broker/dealers, and agents associated with the Allianz PreferredSM platform. Available today in 44 states, the newest FIA to the Allianz Life lineup offers integral benefits to help power retirement income. These features and benefits are included in the FIA contract automatically with no additional fees.

“We understand that Americans are desperate for solutions that can help them prepare for a more secure retirement,” said Allianz Life Chief Distribution Officer Tom Burns. “As the industry leader in fixed index annuity sales, Allianz Life continues to provide product innovation based on customers’ need for both guarantees and the opportunity to increase income in retirement.”

Allianz 222 Annuity is the third exclusive product offered through the Allianz PreferredSM platform. This new FIA provides traditional annuity benefits such as accumulation potential through indexed or fixed interest, principal protection and tax deferral, and has an accumulation value that can be taken as a lump sum after the 10-year surrender charge period, or for annuitization after five years, less any bonuses. In addition, it can help meet retirement income needs by offering a Protected Income Value (PIV) specifically designed for lifetime income withdrawals that have the opportunity to increase. The PIV includes bonuses on premium in the first three contract years and potential interest bonuses. Lifetime income withdrawals can be taken from the PIV after holding the contract at least 10 years and if the income is elected between the ages of 60 and 100.

The 'Life And Times' Takes Audiences On A Lengthy Journey

Life and Times is a 10-hour play about the life of one ordinary woman. It opens this week in New York city, and weekends on All Things Considered host Robert Smith attended a performance, complete with meals. He talks to the play's directors and to the woman on whose life it's based.

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ROBERT SMITH, HOST:

Hey, thanks for sticking with us. It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Smith.

Opening this week in New York City, you can see a musical that demands a little something extra from its audience: endurance. The show is called "Life and Times," and it is more than 10 hours from start to finish. It's a production of Soho Rep at the Public Theater. And before the musical starts, the audience has that focus that you only see in marathon runners, preparing for the long haul.


SMITH: Yeah, yeah, you'll get breaks. So what epic tale could take more than 10 hours to tell? Henry V? The Bible? Not quite. "Life and Times" is the story of one average woman's life. The creators of the musical called her on the phone a few years ago out of the blue and they said: Tell me your life story - all of it - from the very beginning. And they recorded every stutter, every false start.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (as Kristin Worrall) (Singing) What's the - oh, yes. Oh, and I do remember, um...

SMITH: And once the words finally start flowing, we are inside the memories of Kristin Worrall, child of suburban Providence, Rhode Island.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (as Kristin Worrall) (Singing) And they didn't expect me. They planned both my brother and sister before me. And so my mother says that she was very happy that I was a girl. And she was like: You were so beautiful. And I didn't cry a lot, I don't think. I was very peaceful.

SMITH: We hear about first grade teachers, art projects, a very dramatic dance class. But even the cast admits at one point...

SMITH: Surprisingly, most of the time, no apology is needed. The stories are hilarious, and the language is addictive. It's like listening in on someone's secret thoughts. Pavol Liska is the co-creator of the work. His company is called the Nature Theater of Oklahoma. And Pavol says he never intended this to be quite the epic it turned out to be.

PAVOL LISKA: Originally, I was going to talk to several people and ask them to tell me their life story and compile one project out of multiple stories.

SMITH: Pavol wasn't interested in any particular story but the way we tell stories - the rhythm of, you know, how we, like, speak today. Kristin Worrall just happened to be first on Pavol's list. She says he didn't tell her at first what the project was really about.

WORRALL: I assumed I was going to, you know, just be edited with a bunch of other people, and it was going to be a montage, and I'd be anonymous. So, yes, I was completely speaking off the cuff and, you know, telling him about 17 crushes I had in elementary school. I mean, who cares about that stuff?

SMITH: Turns out Pavol did. At the end of a two-hour phone call, they had only made up to year eight of her life. So he called her back, over and over, recording each time. Pavol and his co-creator, Kelly Copper, say what they loved about Kristin's life was the exact opposite of what Hollywood looks for. It was fairly unremarkable, no major trauma, no life-altering romance, no explosions. It's life as most of us remember.

LISKA: What we were interested in is to take something that's not art at all, that's not even close to art, and beat our heads against the wall to figure out how the hell do we make this into art.

KELLY COPPER: And in a way, music is the most formally challenging thing you could do to it. It's the least realistic.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) And then everyone, like, sort of acknowledged that I was, like, the smartest kid in the class. And I really wanted to maintain that status and (unintelligible).

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (as Kristin Worrall) (Singing) And, uh, I don't really remember much from fourth grade.

SMITH: The music gets more complex. A disco beat hits as Kristin enters adolescence. We get first kisses, sneaking cigarettes, heartbreak at the school dance. All these trivial stories start to add up, though. They start to become a moving portrait of how serious everything seemed when we were teenagers.

The musical started at 2 p.m. There are a couple breaks - cast serves dinner, dessert. It is almost midnight when Kristin gets through high school. And there it ends, with the ominous words: to be continued. I asked Pavol Liska: As enjoyable as this all is, did it really have to be this much of a marathon? He said he thinks of it like going to the gym.

LISKA: You're not going to go to a gym and get a good workout if somehow you're not sweating and have - be in a little bit of pain afterwards. This is the same thing to me. It's a total body workout, even for your, you know...

SMITH: Pavol Liska is the director, along with Kelly Copper, of "Life and Times." If you are weak of fortitude, I suggest watching it in shorter sections - they do offer that option. The marathon sessions go on Saturdays. In fact, they're all trapped there right now, as we speak, probably somewhere around eighth grade.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (as Kristin Worrall) (Singing) I dreamed that song, I walked, I was about to walk up to Matt Wolf(ph). And I was, like, just about to, like, tap him on his shoulder. And then he went and asked Jennifer Wilts(ph) to go dance with him.

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Pacific Life Foundation Grants $282,000 To Local Community Organizations In Greater Omaha

The Pacific Life Foundation announced today that 19 nonprofit agencies and 10 K-12 schools serving the Greater Omaha, Nebraska area will receive a total of $282,000 in grants.

2013 grants will be awarded to the following organizations:
Arts and Culture
Omaha Area Youth Orchestra: A $7,500 grant to help underwrite the 2013 “Side-by-Side” Concert Program for high school musicians from the Youth Symphony and professional musicians from the Omaha Symphony.

Omaha Community Playhouse: A $7,500 grant to support the organization’s core programs including 10 annual theater productions, in addition to education and outreach programs for students and adults.

Omaha Film Festival: A $10,000 grant to support the 8th Annual Omaha Film Festival and Conference which provides networking, classes, lectures, and workshops related to all aspects of filmmaking.

Omaha Performing Arts Society: A $10,000 grant to support arts programming and services for a diverse audience, including the underserved populations in Omaha.

Omaha Theater Company: A $50,000 capital grant to support the restoration and refurbishment of the roof, domes, and exterior facades of the historic Rose Theater.

WhyArts?: A $5,000 grant to support the Arts for Special Populations Program which consists of workshops in music, visual arts, and storytelling for mentally challenged or physically disabled individuals and their families.
Civic, Community, and Environment
Nebraska Community Foundation: A $10,000 grant to support “Leadership Nebraska,” a program that fosters leadership development to help local citizens become involved in the issues and opportunities facing Nebraska.
Education
Boys & Girls Clubs of Council Bluffs: A $10,000 grant to support the Readers to Learners Program which emphasizes parental involvement and collaboration between the club and school administrators to ensure an optimal after-school learning experience for the club members.

Omaha Children’s Museum: A $10,000 grant to support the museum’s interactive educational programs that engage children in science, art, and health.

Omaha Zoo Foundation: A $10,000 grant to support the zoo’s K-12 Education Programs which are utilized both in and out of the classroom and have an emphasis on conservation.

In addition to the educational grants above, the Foundation’s 3T’s of Education program will contribute the following grants to K-12 schools where there are concentrations of children or grandchildren of Pacific Life employees. A 3T’s of Education grant must be designated in one of the following areas: Teacher Training, Textbooks, or Technology.

Assistance League of Omaha: A $5,000 grant to support Operation School Bell which annually provides new clothing to 3,400 school-aged children in need.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands: A $10,000 grant to support the Community-Based Mentoring Program in Douglas County. The program matches adult mentors with vulnerable children to establish a one-to-one relationship that changes the lives of the children for the better.

Child Saving Institute, Inc.: A $7,500 grant for the Bridging the Gap Program which assists low-income families that qualify for government childcare subsidies with gap funding to cover the “out of pocket” monthly program expenses.

Habitat for Humanity of Omaha: A $10,000 grant to support the building of new homes for low-income families in struggling neighborhoods.

HELP Adult Services: A $7,500 grant to support the Health & Medical Equipment Loan Program which provides low-income residents access to free medical equipment prescribed by their physicians or medical facilities.
NorthStar Foundation: A $25,000 capital grant to support the construction of a facility and athletic field in North Omaha. The new facility will provide before and after school programs for local males 10-18 years old.

OneWorld Community Health Centers, Inc.: A $50,000 capital grant to support the construction of a primary healthcare center, day care center, and an expanded urgent care clinic for low-income residents in downtown Omaha, as well as build 32 affordable apartments for low-income seniors.

Youth Care and Beyond, Inc.: A $10,000 grant for housing and support services for developmentally disabled youth and adults.

Youth Emergency Services, Inc.: A $7,500 grant to support outreach, emergency shelter, and transitional housing for homeless youth.

The Pacific Life Foundation also announced a pledge to contribute a total of $560,000 toward marine mammal education, conservation, and research efforts throughout 2013. In addition, the Pacific Life Foundation continues to provide a robust matching gift program for Pacific Life employees, matching donations up to $5,000 per employee to their local United Way, up to $2,000 per employee to institutions of higher education, and up to $500 per employee to nonprofit organizations.

Annual funding of grants allows the Pacific Life Foundation to support a broad spectrum of community needs by partnering with nonprofit agencies that serve a large geographic area. Contributions are made primarily in areas with large concentrations of Pacific Life employees. Currently, Pacific Life has 285 employees working in its regional business center in Omaha, Nebraska. The Pacific Life Good Guys, an employee volunteer group, worked at 10 events with Greater Omaha area nonprofits during 2012.

The Pacific Life Foundation was established in 1984. Together with Pacific Life, the Foundation has contributed donations totaling over $72.2 million to thousands of nonprofit organizations across the country. The Foundation plans to contribute a total of $5.6 million in grants to nonprofit organizations throughout 2013.

Quitting smoking prolongs life at any age

It's never too late to quit smoking, and researchers have new data to prove it. Even at the age of 64, kicking the habit can add four years to a person's life, while quitting by age 34 can increase life expectancy by a decade, according to a study published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

After analyzing health data from more than 200,000 Americans, researchers calculated that current smokers were three times more likely to die during the course of the study compared with people who had never smoked. For the most part, their deaths were caused by smoking-related ailments, including heart and lung disease. Overall, their odds of surviving to age 80 were half as good as for never-smokers.

But the study, one of two large-scale surveys in the journal providing updated information on smoking and mortality, saw significant benefits for those who quit. Giving up smoking between the ages of 35 and 44 was associated with a gain of nine years of life, and those who quit between 45 and 54 lived an extra six years.

"The good news is, because the risks are so big, the benefits of quitting are quite substantial," said study leader Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist and director of the Center for Global Health Research, based in Toronto.

While the U.S. smoking rate has declined to 19.3% among adults, there are still an estimated 45.3 million smokers in this country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette use is responsible for about 443,000 U.S. deaths each year, the CDC says.

Using the National Health Interview Survey, the researchers followed 113,752 women and 88,496 men in the U.S. between 1997 and 2004, categorizing them as smokers (at least 100 cigarettes within their lifetime), former smokers (no smoking within the last five years) and never-smokers. Former smokers were held to the five-year rule in order to weed out those who were already in declining health because of potentially fatal smoking-related diseases.

The researchers checked death records in 2006 and found that 8,236 of the women and 7,479 of the men had died. By comparing mortality rates among the groups, Jha's team calculated that women between the ages of 25 and 79 who were current smokers were three times more likely to die than women who never smoked. Among men in that age group, those who still smoked were 2.8 times more likely to die than never-smokers. The results were adjusted for age, education, body mass index and alcohol consumption, since smokers tended to be thinner, have less education and be more likely to drink.

The vast difference in mortality rates is partly due to the increasing health standards of the nonsmoking population, Jha said.

The second study examined mortality rates over half a century in 2.2 million people 55 and older — possibly the largest such survey undertaken, said lead author Michael Thun, recently retired from his work as a cancer epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society.

Thun's survey measured trends in death rates across three time periods: 1959 to 1965, 1982 to 1988 and 2000 to 2010.

The analysis revealed a worrying trend that also cropped up in Jha's study: Women's death rates from smoking, which had long lagged behind men's, had pulled even.

Consider lung cancer. In the early 1960s, women smokers were 2.73 times more likely to die from lung cancer than their nonsmoking counterparts; by 2010, they were 25.66 times more likely to die of the disease, Thun found. (Male smokers' relative risk of dying of lung cancer rose from 12.22 to 24.97 over the same period.)

"It's staggering," Thun said.

It's an unsurprising glass ceiling to break, doctors said. Women began smoking routinely after World War II, about two decades after men took up the habit, so it was only a matter of time until their mortality rates caught up.

The two papers did not draw distinctions between people who smoked a pack a day and those who might smoke just a few cigarettes a day, said Dr. Steven Schroeder, director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at UC San Francisco. A next step in terms of study would be "to find out how much less health problems there are for smokers who smoke fewer cigarettes," he said.

Taken together, the studies point to a need for far more effective efforts to reach potential and current smokers, Schroeder added.

The message needs to get out to young and old smokers alike, he said: "There's a ray of hope. It's never too late to quit."