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Gene appears to boost risk of coronary heart disease in smokers |
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April 28, 2000
CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, APR 27 (AP) - Smokers who carry a common gene face twice the risk of heart disease than smokers who don't, according to a study of heart disease patients in four communities.
The study, conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health and other institutions, found the gene GSTT1 sharply raises the risk of heart disease in smokers.
The findings appeared in the April issue of Atherosclerosis. Scientists studied 1,290 people. They were among 14,239 people enrolled in the continuing Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, a federally supported effort to understand the risk factors of heart attacks and strokes.
A total of 400 people had suffered heart attacks or were newly diagnosed with heart disease, while 890 served as controls, said James S. Pankow, assistant UNC-Chapel Hill professor and a study co-author.
Pankow said those who suffered heart attacks or had heart disease were more likely to be smokers, which he said was unsurprising.
"What was new was that individuals without the gene had about a 60 percent greater risk of heart problems if they smoked and that those with the gene had about a 180 percent greater risk," Pankow said. "Among people who don't smoke, the gene seems to make no difference in heart disease."
The study showed roughly four of five study subjects had the GSTT1 gene, considered integral to the body's ability to process chemicals found in tobacco smoke. Pankow said the gene already has been linked to some other sm oking-related illnesses, such as bladder cancer.
"We've known for a long time that smoking is bad for the heart," he said, "but we don't fully understand why. We hope this research will provide some clues."
CAHOKIA MOUNDS STATE HISTORIC SITE, Illinois (AP) - A significant increase in illegal ATV or all-terrain vehicle use is threatening to destroy some of North America's most valuable prehistoric relics - the mysterious Indian earthworks of Cahokia Mounds, state officials said.
Riders are causing deep ruts in the site's burial and ceremonial mounds by running their vehicles up and down the structures. If the problem is not stopped, some mounds may soon be beyond repair, said Neil Rangen, Cahokia site manager for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
"These mounds are a unique, irreplaceable part of our heritage, and to destroy them for the sake of amusement is a despicable act," Rangen said.
The mounds date from a prehistoric Native American civilization generally considered the largest north of Mexico and reflect the culture's apparently high level of political and scientific sophistication, according to archaeologists. They are believed to have been built more than 1,000 years ago.
The mound builders - called Mississippians - mysteriously disappeared before European settlers reached the area but only after building a culture whose influence stretched throughout the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys.
Rangen said arrests and prosecutions are likely if ATV users persist in damaging the mounds.
So far, the problem has not affected the site's star attraction, the 100-foot (30-meter) tall Monks Mound - one of the largest earthen structures in the world.
In 1997, the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois named the mounds - located about 15 miles (24 kilometers) east of St. Louis - as one of the state's 10 most endangered historic sites. The group cited increasing pressure to develop open land in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs.
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