"However, those that did die are much younger than in seasonal flu so the years of life lost will be much more, " she told the BBC.

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The average commute in the U.S. is about 50 minutes, the scene of accumulated years' worth of lost life and productivity, trapped behind the wheel.

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She was just nine years old when she lost her life.

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The steepest declines were for white women without a high school diploma, who lost five years of life between 1990 and 2008, said S. Jay Olshansky, a public health professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the lead investigator on the study, published last month in Health Affairs.

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And with this in mind, I was not at all surprised to read today that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, who lost two years of his life and tens of millions of dollars when he went to prison for killing dogs, had signed a new endorsement deal with Unequal Technologies, a provider of the football pads Vick wore during most of last season.

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But unless something is done to defeat the disease, years from now people who are today young and strong will be fighting it, and -- when the disease strikes their favorite actors, athletes and singers who are in 2012 so full of youth and energy, and who will inevitably grow old -- they, too, will be reminded of the passing years, and of life's memories lost and found.

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White women without a high-school diploma, Olshansky also reported, lost a full five years of life expectancy from 1990 to 2008.

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Jose lost only six years of his life.

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