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The committee comprising Dr. Reimanny Chm.,'Dr. Bing, Dr. Cattell and Dr. Sommers. FROM: Robert C. Hockett SUBJECT: New grant application from Jack P. Strong, M.D. -#632. . We enclose herewith a new grant application from Dr. Jack P. Strong of the Louisiana State University Medical Center iri New Orleans, Louisiana. Yeteran members of the Board will recoanbze this as a nronasal to continue. vithout essential change, the autopsy study of the degree of sclerosis of certain arteries as it may be correlated with a few selected life-history factors on which information is collected retrospectively fromi"next'-of-kin" after decease. These factors include smoking history. . The project, in an earlier and somewhat different phase, was started originally under Dr. R.L. Holman it, 1958'and continued, first under Dr. H.C. McGill and then under Dr. J.P. Strong for a total of eight years. In line with our policy of trying to limit implied commitments to some realistic time basis, we asked~Dr. Strong in 1963 to make an estimate as to how much longer the study would need to be continued to make possible statis- tically significant conclusions. His estimate was that two more years would be needed from February 1, 1964. Our budget projections were made on that basis, and a sixth renewal grant was approved to be.-effeetive on February 1, 1964 with one additional year of priority consideration promised. In accord- ance with this, a seventh renewal was approved, effective on February 1, 1965, -vith notification that this completed commitments of the Council and any fur- ther application would be considered "de novo"'in the light of the current situation, without priorities. In this last application Dr. Strong stated, "we wish to continue the study another year in accordance with the plan outlined in our lsst application. At the present rate of case completion, another year should be sufficient'for the collection of the estimated minimum number 1ny underscorin93 of cases needed'in most of the major sub-elassiii~ca~=~ons. ?art of an ad- ditional year will be required for processing the intervieu data, completing the evaluation of the arterial specimens, andifor conducting the definitive analysis of the data." The SAB authorized an extension of the project, without additional funds, from February 1, 1966 to August 1, 1966 for some of this dat'a.processing. The project then terminated technically as of the latter date and a final comprehensive progress reaort and financial accounting are due. (The last financial accounting was received on April' 9, 1964,covering the period from February 1, 1963 to January 31, 1964). A"final" progress report will no doubt depend on the completion of the interim data analysis mentioned in the appli- cation on page 2-a. Meanwhile addition of cases has continued. L I

Tnr•. CouNciL I+`ol: `1`oBAcco PE sLrkl:cr1-U.S.A. 'A first public report on the study was made at the October 19-20, • (See attached memo of J.M.B. and my memorand=to the Board dated July-l8, smoking per se was responsibile for speeding the atherosclerotic process £_ the degree of atherosclerosis could not be interpreted as showing that the ' the platform that the association he observed between smoking history and '` sentation. Persons present at the meeting reported that he did state on ~' copy of the release by the American Heart Associati= on the day of pre- ~~ ,letter of comment I wrote to Dr. Strong on receipt of this abstract and a-~' paper presented at that time is attached. Also attached is a copy of the 1956 Annual Meeting, of the American Heart Association. An abstract of the 1961)'. and pathologically very similar to human ones and can be scored for severity ; cholesterol and coconut oil, arterial lesions appear that are anatomically 114~ and on a diet of what they call their basic "monkey chow" with added butter, the wild state they show no lesions, but in captivity with limited activity monkeys may turnout to be a good animal model for atherosclerosis work. In~, and learn more about his animal studies. He told rne about their comparative atherosclerosis studies in baboons, rhesus monkeys and squirrel monkeys both in the wild state and in captivity. They believe that the small squirrel , by Drs. McGill and Strong on the induction of atherosclerosis in primates. Following preliminary correspondence on this subject (copies enclosed) I made a visit to Dr. Strong on January 4, 1967 to reviewthe project work ` Meanwhile there were newspaper reports of studies being conducted thyroid for induction of lesions. autopsy material. The monkeys, unlike dogs, do not have to be made hypo- by methods very similar to thQse in use by Strong's group for scoring human inite results and this study probably ought to be rounded out by somebody. ~ argue that if further cases are to be added, this should be done now while ~ the personnel and procedures are ready for the task. It does seem that if iPb any job is worth doing at all, it is worth doing well enouoh to yield def- CT~ The tr,ain item in our grants has been provision for her salary. They will ally good at this and Dr. Strong evidently wants to keep her onithe job. days of Dr. Holman. He and his successors all think that she is exception- (Mrs. Richards has been the interrogator in this project since the we have received the proposal for extension of the autopsy study. whether chronic nicotine absorption superimposed upon a tested atherogenic regimen would'influence the degree of atherosclerosis resulting. Instead ceived would suggest controlled experiments with small primates to deter,~ine discussed with Strong. I had rather expected that the next proposal we re-'` Yq letter of May 9, 1967 comments further on some of the topics I the strenoth of the correlation. If the association vanished, definite con- cases mmiEbt confirm the association more definitely or conceivably diminish PERSONAZ ~ CU^.EP;T: ~ I cannot judge fromiany data I have seen as to how signi- ficant Strong's reported association between smoking history and severity of atherosclerotic lesions really is. An extension of the study to more r n . i persisted, we would remain where we are - clusions could be d * If t aFl ' ' - T

, i Triv. Cou.Ncil, Foiz 'hom%-cc. o RLSEaAr.cri - U. S. A. I do contribute causally to the progression of arteriosclerosis. Controlled in a state of uncertainty as to whether nicotine and/or smoking actually animal experiments with chronic nicotine or smoking exposure and studies istically, might provide better clues toward a solution of this key question of how other characteristics and life practises cluster with smoking stat= and thus be a better investment. R. C. H. ._.,~.:,... <~..:,~.._......_~..

February 1, 1959 February 1, 1960 1174R2 - February 1, 1960 - February 1, 1961 $7,705.00 7,705.00 7,705.00 (+ 3,500.00 SUP MEW dlw~

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