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`_dE WASHiINOl'ON PCST Wt3shington, D.C. Smoking Habits Studied YIT~MIR A LTP KBD M M YORK MM T4 LU1~~'~ C~CE~S New York, Ne~t York April 22, 1962 . _-„ - uirt'ritiort Studies Cited by cigarettes Linked to Heart Ills ,By Nate HRaelfine' er in smokers than. non- now' have a listing or several d wlth the number dr k H e ers. un aatf Reporter smo HEAVY C'I G A R E T T E pF CHEER for thosel who l growing every year. Dr,.John H: Menkes, assist. smokers run a risk oflsuffer- once smoked but gave up the ant professor of'.pediatrics at' ing heart attacks three times habit' is the finding that the Johns Hopkins University of greater than that of smokers, pipe smokers and c i'g a r smok- ers. Andi ciga+ rette smokers lessen th e i'= risk of' subse- -quent h e a r t trouble when they give up the habit. Such are the findings of biostatisticians who related the smoking habits of' two groups totaling 4120 menn with subsequent' sickness and eath, from coronary heart disease~ The groups consisted of' 1'838' men originally 39 to 55 years of age and living in Albany, N. Y., and 2282 men originally 30 to, 62 years old resi'lding in Framingham, Mass. The Albanyy group was followed for six years; the Framingham for eight years. All were free of detectablee coronary disease at first ex+ aminations: IN BOTH the Albany and' Framingham studies, the in- vestigators concluded that cigarette smoking was as- °ociated with a mortality rate from, all causes sigrlificant:ly higher than for non-cigarette smokino~ That excess mortal- ity was due in large part to coronary artery disease. The mechanism whereby heavy cigarette smoking in. creases the death rate not' only from coronary heart' dis, ease but' from all causes is obscure, the report in a re- cent issue of the New Eng- land Journal of, Medicine concluded. In each of the two popula on groups, the report shows . Q ne incidence rate of myo- cardial infarction (death of heart muscle deprived of blood) is nearly three times greater, the total deat'h rate over five timer greater and the death rate from coronary heart disease five times tfreat- mortalrty rate for cigar, pipe hiedicine told the Federation and former cigarette smokers was not greatly different from that of the men who never smoked cigarettes reg.- ularly. The study, the authors stressed, was based on smok- ing habits as reported at the first examination. No acconnt' was taken of possible changes In smoking, habit after that time. "The relation of' morbidity and niortality of coronary heart disease to changing smoking habits is an analytic problem of, extreme complex- ity currently under investiga- tion," the investigators said. "Preliminary results suggest that the hazard of coronary heart d:sease from cigarette smoking increases as the du- ration and intensity of expos- ure increase."' . . s +. Doctor Seeks Clue MILK - SOUi;'INGI bacteria may tell medical scientists someday what goes awry in the body chemistry of' some infants that kills themi within a few days of its observable onset: The condition, called maple s;; rup disease, begins about a week, aft; r birth. The baby- its perspiration„ urine and body itself-begins to smell like maple syrup. A few days later the victim Is dead. The disease is presently in- curable. Its basic faults lie locked' in, the infant's, chro- mosomes, those tiny cellular rods that carry one's heredi- tary traits. Within the chros mosomes are the genes, ini. tiators of life's variedi chcmi+ call processes. A FAULTY, missing or mis: placed gene can fail to directt or mis-direct chemical proc- esses. Sometimes the results are fatal~ as in maple syrup disease. Such genetic mis- takes are raliled inborn errors of mz•ihboli,m„ and scientists of'Ameritan Societies for Ex- perimental Biology; meeting recently ln Atlantic City, that the maple syrup disease error seems to lnvolve an, Incorrect handling of' aminoo acids, basic chemicala in: body build-up. Amino acids, under the proper'di'rection of the genes, are joined together to form protein molecules of differ- ent' structures and functions. These in turn become special- iaed body tissues with spe- cialized roles and functions.. IN MAPLE SYRUP dis- ease, Dr. Menkes reported, the fat material that makes up the brain sheath sub- stance myelin seems to get f o r m e dl wrong: Defective myelini produces a defectlvee nervous system because mye- lin can be likened to the in- sulation on electric wires, and nerve fibers need proper inisullation for successful transmission of nerve im- pulses. In maple syrup disease, the research pediatrician ex- plained, a substance called alpha-keto-iso c a p r o i e acid lacks the genetic direction to convert it to other forms, as occurs in normal babies. In some a~ay' KICA jams the chemical mechanism that manufactures normal' myelin. By coine i d'e nce, certain strains of' genetically altered milk-souring bacteria (Lacto- bacillus casei) suffer growth inhibition when KICA is added to their growth me- dium. It seems, Dr. Menkes said, to prevent the forma- tion of a particular growth factor which may be similar in structure to 4suman brain myelin. Bacterial life holds lit- tle resemblance to human life, but since their crhemis- triies are similar, carefut', studies on bacteria may yield' - clues to better knowledge of human chemistry. . Jbrvy Research Team . By ROBERT S. PLUMB Experiments suBBeating, that' increase 1n lung cancer, fre- quency in the last few deeadea may be due In, part to better ~, .•'+ nutrltion have been performed ~ -,' 4 at the Fairleigh Dickinson I7ni veraity In Madlaon,N. J. The studiea were conductedd by Dr. William E. Smith, direc- tor of'the Health Iiesearch Ino atttutie of' Falrtelgh Dickinson, and' Dr. Uonas Miller and Dr. Etirahim Yaa.dL They have been published in The Prooeedings of the Americaa Association for Cancer Research. The research team found that large amounts of vitamin A stimulated the growth of ' traas, planted lung caneers that were formed as a result of the ap- plication of a chemical' from cigarette smoke andi from au+ tomobilo exhaust. The studies were unde ken Ao find whether large doses of vitamin A would prevent ma- lignant change in l.ung, tissur exposed to a cancer-causing chemical. Quite the opposite ef- fect was found In the experi- ments, It was reported. In tba-etudies, mice were ex- posed to methyl cholanthrene. a chemical related to the com+ pounds that are formed when tobacco, oil or gasoline are burned. Results of E=periments ' The tumor tissues that arose as a result of treatment with methyl cholanthrene were transplanted to the leg mus- cles of other mice. Bronchogenic types of can- cers, similar to those, found, in , a majority of human lung can- cer cases, grew in 4 per cent of a group of mice on a diet de- ficient in vitamin A. When an- other group of mice was placed on, a diet containing an ade- quate amount of vitamin A, 9 per cent of the cancers grew. And when a third group of'mice was given excess vitamin A it was found that,20 per cent of the bronchogenic cancers grew. The results are now being checked on groups of mice larg- er than the units of'twenty=five -to thirty-three on which the experiments were first conduct- ed. Dr. Smith said. In contrast to the results with bronchogenic cancers, the Fairleigh Dickinson team re- ported~ high doses of vitamin A slowed the growth of a differ- ent type of' lUng, cancer known as adenocarcinoma. Adenocar, cinonla occurs occasionally In human lungs but it is rare iw comparLson, with, bronchogenic cancer. Dr. Smith said that the re- sulta suggested the possibility that increased use of high po- tency vitamin pilis and foods rich! In vitamin A might be p,laykng a role in stiinulating, cancerous growths in human i lungs exposed to cancer- causing chemicals. --. ~.~---- .