Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-19
Science Pushes Fight
On Advertisements
Busic Cause Of Hardening
Of Arteries Still Is Unknown
BY THONGS R. Henry

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Medical research is making major
advances against arteriosclerosis.
A decade ago this form Of hardening
Of the arteries which eventuates in
many heart attacks was called zone of
tine indispensable penalties Of living"
1t still is major problem of heart
research workers. It's basic cause re-
mains unknown. It kills about q half
million year.
Still, according to testimony offered
before the House Committee on Inter-
state and Foreign Commerce at hear
ings on the Nations current health
problems, the hard outer shell of the
malady appears to have been cracked
in several places.
Notable Discovery.
Most notable has been the discovery
of the so-called lipoproteins in the
human blood. They are large fat
protein molecules which always are
present in the disease and tend to be
deposited along the inner walls Of the
arteries. For some years it has been
known that the turbidity of blood
serum. due to fat globules present after
q meal. could be reduced or cleared
entirely by the chemical heparin. Ma
Nonal Heart Institute studies have
shown that 1t is not the heparin itself
which clears the blood but an engine
like material which is formed in heart
and lungs in the presence Of heparin.
This finding, 1t was pointed out to
the committee, opens up the posi-
bility that routine blood test can be
developed to detect early hardening of
the arteries and provide physicians with
ways to counter defects in blood leading
to the condition.
Drug Helps Patients.
A powerful new drug. procaine amide,
has been developed which has the
ability to abolish the irregular heart
rhythms which often prove fatal in
patients recovering from heart attacks
and in persons under deep anesthesia
during operations. In addition, drugs
have been developed which prevent the
growth Of blood clots. Clinical use Of
one Of these, dicumarol, was fastened
by a cooperative study carried out in
16 hospitals in 10 cities under the
auspices Of the American Heart Asso-
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the National Heart Institute. Thus,
according to reports to the committee,
the answer to vital question was OBJ
tanned in less than two years which
otherwise might have required
decade.
Fat persons are more. likely to die
of arteriosclerosis than thin ones.
Medical science, according to the
testimony, still is puzzled by this. But
in the absence of further evidence from
the studies that are under way, doctors
have about concluded that the best
thing they can do for their patients
is to bring the weight down.
Any Age Vulnerable.
Advertisements may strike at any age,
but it is most often met with in middle
age. In the forties and fifties it is
primarily a disease of active men,
rather than of women. Recent ex.
periments have shown, according to
the testimony, that administration of
certain female sex hormones to male
chickens prevents the development of
quite similar disease of birds, coronary
artherogenesis.
This lead still is being held in
allegiance until some logical reason for
the difference can be found. There is
a possibility that some of the so-called
estrogens have an effect in inhibiting
the formation of the abnormal ipo-
proteins in the blood serum.
Numerous attempts have been made
during the past few years to produce
the disease in laboratory animals.
Various fat-f1lled diets, it has been
found, will cause the condition in both
rats and monkeys, but only when there
is a deficiency Of certain of the amino
acids.