ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610020063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
Girls to score with changes in PSATs
WASHINGTON - In response to allegations of gender bias, a new multiple-choice section that measures writing skills will be added next year to the Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test.
``We're satisfied that adding the test of written English will improve the disparity that we have noticed between the men and women,'' Norma Cantu, the Education Department's assistant secretary for civil rights, said Tuesday.
In 1994, the National Center for Fair and Open Testing complained that the preliminary college entrance test, taken by 1.8 million high-schoolers, discriminated against females. The test is used to determine semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship program.
``As a result, millions of dollars more in scholarships should go to the young women who earned them through superior academic performance,'' said Pamela Zappardino, executive director for the testing center.
- Associated Press
Breast cancer gene found in Jewish sect
A second mutant gene that sharply raises the risk of breast and ovarian cancer has been found to be unexpectedly common among women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, scientists are reporting.
The gene, BRCA2, occurs in about 1 in 100 Ashkenazi women, about the same frequency as the first breast cancer-causing gene discovered, the researchers say. Ashkenazi Jews constitute the majority of Jews in America.
Both genes sharply raise a woman's chance of breast or ovarian cancer. The researchers, who tested hundreds of Ashkenazi blood samples taken for other genetic tests, said they found no cases of a woman carrying both genes.
The rate of the mutant genes in the general population is thought to be much lower, perhaps 1 in 800 women. However, only 5 percent to 10 percent of breast cancers are thought to be due to inherited genes.
- The Boston Globe
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