Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 24, 1995 TAG: 9505240098
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CHICAGO - The deadliest problem among blacks with heart trouble in a new study was enlarged hearts, not clogged arteries or loss of pumping power - a finding that may help explain why blacks with heart disease have a higher death rate than whites.
Enlargement of the heart plagues whites, too, but it is thought to be more common among blacks because of their higher rate of hypertension, which causes the heart to overwork and become overmuscled, fibrous and inefficient.
In the study, published in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, 37 percent of deaths among blacks were attributable to enlargement of the heart's main pumping chamber, the left ventricle. That compares with 23 percent attributable to clogged arteries and about 9 percent to weakened pumping power.
- Associated Press
Injected genes shrinking tumors
LOS ANGELES - In a new, experimental approach to fighting cancer, scientists are doing something akin to painting a bull's eye on tumors.
They inject extra genes into tumors to make them look like foreign invaders. That triggers an attack by the body's natural defenses.
This approach, described Tuesday, is the latest attempt to harness the tools of genetic manipulation to induce the body to cure itself. More testing is necessary, but so far, scientists have seen tumors shrink
In the new approach, described by Dr. Gary J. Nabel of the University of Michigan, scientists mix genes with a fatty substance and inject the concoction directly into tumor cells. The genes contain the code for an antigen.
The tumor starts producing this antigen. And it makes the cancer look like a transplanted organ. This touches off an attack by the immune system.
- Associated Press
by CNB