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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 1992)
4 August 1 tley from Page 11 re picked by Cj o win the natior st only to hai off after the reason to Miami :ory was played 39. ght be the fate no 1992 season : a nationals [S. Wednesday, August 26,1992 Texas A&M WORLD The Battalion Page 15 Study links smoking to cataracts The Associated Press Classic, lollege Station, heard dealt wi nning their run ison. ButinSoi the talk m Valsh. i of the three-tit ampion coachh e television pt spaper abides, ence Tuesday Slocum was; 'turn of V\ m expectations, when someonf acognition thi mes out of retire >ge football ate i analyst on ne 's definitely a nly one. pressure felt in am on Wedm with the Aggii ung Stanford ateYy will d( at Walsh's rete r a failure, nal (yes, it's sire d a successfuls • Dennis Green, cord and winr: : inal 8 games, ti of their old od in the NR: i and high goa m. jectations soa; this is a newis w system, coach that hi in the sidelines Stanford's team shown on nati ch, especially m as much f ough the talk! but the Aggies sses back homi they will ha« rile their oppc: with somethii: i to open its se iana State in" iry would be di essure would hi ting for the A; against an archr venge. > Aggies have! varmth of theC ing in a few ride and putting side to prepare 696-0901 arder and your waiting for yoi r ; CcppdmUtmtU tun/'tfuntw u •, or (In CHICAGO — Smoking more than a pack of cigarettes a day doubles the likelihood a person will develop cataracts, the clouding of the eye lenses that afflicts 3 million Americans, two news studies found. The studies, involving almost 70,000 men and women, suggest approximately 20 percent of all cataract cases may oe attributed to smoking, said a researcher who found a link between the eye disease and smoking in an earlier study. More research is needed to determine precisely how smoking damages the lens, Sheila West of the Dana Center for Preventive Ophthalmology at Johns Hopking'Hospital said in an editorial accompanying the studies in Wednesday's Journal of the American vhy A&M fa down on their ie Lord for theD Medical Association. "For now, it appears that the litany of ills associated with smoking is growing, as we add to it cataracts, the world's leading cause of blindness," she wrote. More than a million Americans undergo cataract surgery each year at a total cost of billions of dollars. The latest studies involved 17,824 male U.S. icians tracked from 1982 through 1987 and i,828 female U.S. nurses tracked from 1980 through 1988. In the Physicians' Health Study, subjects who smoked 20 cigarettes or more a day were 2.05 times more likely to be diagnosed with a cataract than subjects who had never smoked, the researchers said. Of the 17,824 men, 1,188 smoked 20 or more cigarettes daily, and 59 cataracts developed among them, a rate of 2.5 cataracts per 100 eyes. Among the 9,045 men who had never smoked, 228 cataracts developed, a rate of about 1.3 cataracts per 100 eyes. Smokers of fewer than 20 cigarettes daily had no increased risk compared with non-smokers, the researchers said. Further study is needed to determine whether there is a "dose-response" relationship — that is, if the more you smoke, the greater your risk of developing cataracts, as other studies have suggested, said the chief author. Dr. William G. Christen. Former smokers had 1.4 times the risk of non- smokers for one type of cataract, but no increased risk for another, wrote his team, at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. "This is the strongest data to date that suggest cigarette smoking may be a cause of cataract," said Christen, also an instructor at Harvard University Medical School. Smoking may reduce the number of nutrients in blood plasma that keep the lens clear, the researchers said. In the Nurses' Health Study, women who smoked 35 cigarettes or more daily had 1.63 times the likelihood of undergoing cataract surgery as non smoking women. The number of nurses in each category were not given. Past smokers of more them 35 cigarettes a day had a similarly elevated risk, even 10 years after they had quit, the researchers found. They said damaged cells are compressed toward the center of the lens rather than being replaced. Unlike the doctors' study, the nurses' study showed a proportional increase in cataract risk with the amount of cigarettes smoked. The nurses' study was led by Susan E. Hankinson, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a research associate at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Robert Sperduto, chief of epidemiology at the National Eye Institute, said two studies in which his agency participated contradicted the latest studies. He acknowledged that the latest research increases already mounting evidence of a link between smoking and cataracts. "It seems to me one has to concede that now there are four studies pointing in the same direction," he said by telephone Tuesday, noting that two previous large studies found a link. "As you get cumulative evidence, the evidence is more convincing." Skinheads attack Romanian refugee camp The Associated Press ROSTOCK, (Germany) — Authorities moved about 200 Gypsies from Romania and other refugees Monday after their temporary home was attacked by skinheads and young rowdies who fought pitched street battles with police for three straight days. About 800 police battled some 500 people armed with stones and firebomos for nearly seven hours before restoring order, police said. Hundreds of residents hampered police and cheered as the radicals attacked the home overnight, said Lothar Kupfer, interior minister for Western Pomerania state. Several troublemakers and 74 police officers were injured during the weekend fighting, authorities in the northern coastal city. No asylum-seekers were harmed, police said. Rostock authorities said about 150 people were arrested. The rightists came from many parts of Germany and the attack appeared to have been coordinated in advance, police said. Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government denounced the violence, and Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters rushed to this economically depressed eastern German city to assess the situation. About 100 police in riot gear stood by as the refugees left the 12-story apartment building and headed to buses that took them to other refugee shelters in eastern Germany. About 500 residents milled about and stared. "We all want the same thing — to get rid of them," a middle-aged man shouted. "Five buses came and took them away, and everything is quiet." ARD television said a newly arrived group of Gypsies seeking political asylum made further disturbances almost "pre programmed." Windows in the refugee home were shattered, and the grassy square in front was charred in places where cars, including police vehicles, burned over the weekend. Several flagpoles were bent over and shards of glass covered the ground. "Germany is and remains a country that is friendly to foreigners," said Norbert Schaefer, a spokesman for Chancellor Helmut Kohl. He said "all necessary legal means" would be used to stop radical violence. Before about 200 extremists first attacked the home on Saturday, neighborhood residents had staged a protest against the presence of asylum-seekers, complaining about their loitering, police said. The residents started shouting xenophobic slogans and encouraged the radicals when they began attacking the home with firebombs and stones, they said. Selection, style, and savings - Get it all at Post Oak Mall! And now, just for shopping at any of the mall's 130 specialty stores receive free "GEAR UP" accessories. 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