The Italian island of Sardinia recently lost its oldest citizen. Family members say Antonio Todde died in his sleep early this month. Mr. Todde was 112 years old. It was less than three weeks away from his 113thbirthday. Record-keeping experts say he was the world's oldest man.          His long life and that of other very old Sardinians are the subjects of a scientific project called Akea. Luca Deiana of Sassari University is directing the study. He says the name Akea comes from a traditional greeting on Sardinia. It means"health and life for 100 years". Professor Deiana and his team started to collect information for the study in 1997. They identified more than 220 Sardinians who were centenarians--100years old or older. His team required three documents to confirm a person's age. They were a government birth record, a church record and a statement by a close family member.          The Akea study has produced two major findings. The first is Sardinia's extremely high number of centenarians. The island had about 135 centenarians for every one million people. In other Western countries, the average is about seventy five centenarians for every one million people. The second major finding is an unusual rate of female to male centenarians. Sardinia has two women centenarians for every male centenarian. In central Sardinia there are equal numbers of female and male centenarians.          Studies in other parts of the world have shown a much higher percentage of female centenarians. The Akea study collected information about the health and diet of about 140 of the centenarians. About ninety percent of those in the study agreed to provide blood for scientific testing. The study team hope to identify genetic material in the blood that can be linked to successful aging. Study leaders say there is no single reason why people on Sardinia live so long. They believe the answer is a combination of genetic and environmental conditions. Centenarians refer to people who are  _  years old.
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