Fort Lauderdale News from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 62

16C Fort Lauderdale News, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 1980 Skin color distinctive but harmless 'Blue People' of Kentucky inherit inbred trait He said the condition is called congenital methemoglobinemia and, except for their skin color, doesn't have any harmful effects. "It didn't impair the health of any of the individuals we studied," Cawein said. "Most lived to a bright old age." "Their skin is pale blue, but it's blue," Cawein said. "It is the same shade of blue as an Oxford shirt.

Naturally, it was embarrassing for them. Skin color is an important thing to that society." Not restricted to Troublesome Creek, the disorder was first reported early in this century. Cawein said it is known to occur in family groups in Alaska. The Troublesome Creek family Cawein studied consisted of about 200 known individuals both living and dead. Cawein estimated that about 60 people in the area are still living with the condition.

The first known blue person, Cawein said, was born in France around 1800. That individual, a male orphan, came to the United States and settled along Troublesome Creek in 1820 after receiving a land grant there, Cawein said. "By chance, he married a woman with the exact same traits," Cawein said. "They set the pattern." Because the Troublesome Creek area was accessible only by foot until 1900, family members never mingled with anyone without the same last name. So inbreeding was common, Cawein said.

By 1930, a few family qpembers achieved mobility only after coal mining, paved roads and the railroad reached the area. But It was not until the mid-1950s that some family members began leaving the area and marrying ouUide the family, Cawein said. Cawein first became awure of the Blue People while at the university. "I heard rumors about these people," he said in an interview. "I actually had to go out Into the hills searching for them." But Cawein'i first contact with thorn was at a Hazard heart clinic where he nutt a blue brother and sister.

thought they were cyanotic," Cawein said, referring to a condition emmi by luck of oxygen. "They were very cooperative and Introduced me to other family members," United PrM lateruMonal FRANKFORT, Ky. They somewhat reluctantly call themselves the "Blue People" because their skin is colored blue. Their origins are along the banks of Troublesome Creek in Perry County in extreme southeastern Kentucky. Dr.

Madison Cawein says the Blue People are the products of several generations of inbreeding. Cawein, a hematologist formerly at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, conducted extensive research on the the Blue People in the mid-1960s. "These people are missing an enzyme in their red blood cells," said Cawein, currently a research director at Merrell-National Laboratories of Richardson-Merrell in Cincinnati. Pintail Albeitsons V(r I A ULLMAN RUBBERMAID ICECUBE TRAY OR BIN CORNINGWARE GRAB IT BOWL FROM FREEZER TO OVEN TO TABLE DUPONT FLAIR SQUARES DIP SLIP INTO PLACE SPONGE POPCORN BOWL II 1 i I 2 PACK m. mm I 15 OUNCE SMOOTH la EACH ji lea' tea'; ry hi in i i "ii I I 11 IH I Ml HI Hi OFF ON ANY 50 OFF ON ANY COUPON NAIL ENAMEL AAlinAkl REVLON uuuruw face MAKE-UP LjJ i if Touch If I I GGIowii I I 1 REVLON II I LIMIT ONE PER COUPON LIMIT ONE COUPON PER LIMIT ONE PER COUPON LIMIT ONE COUPON PER CUSTOMER Ms Alhitflsnns CUSTOMER if I 'J) E3r Alhiwons 1 I CLEARASIL ACNE TREATMENT nrn ii a A kllCUIMr ONE-A-DAY MULTIPLE VITAMINS OR PLUS IRON YOUR CHOICE I FORMULA SURE NATURAL 30 COUNT II Interferon shown to fight more cancer types Toiled PntH Interoutionjil WASHINGTON The virus-fighting drug interferon has a limited tumor-shrinking effect in some patients with advanced, hard-to-treat cancers of the colon, prostate and ovary, a Houston researcher reported yesterday.

Dr. Jordan Gutterman, whose earlier studies prompted an acceleration of interferon research, said the significance of the new, but preliminary, findings is that the drug is showing activity against an increasing variety of cancers. Scientists hope purer and less expensive interferon expected to be available soon and better treatment techniques will make it a new weapon against cancer. Cancers of the colon, prostate and ovaries generally are resistant to conventional treatment. Interferon is a protein that serves as a key element of the body's complex defenses against disease." Its anti-cancer mechanism appears different from that of standard drugs, prompting speculation that interferon can be combined with conventional chemotherapy to deliver a two-pronged assault against Gutterman, from the M.D.

Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston, issued the initial preliminary report on the colon, prostate and ovarian cancer trials to the First Annual International Congress on Interferon Research. He said interferon has been tried in 10 patients with very advanced colon cancer. One person had significant tumor shrinkage, two others showed some improvement and seven have had no response so far. One man with advanced prostate cancer had a partial remission, three showed improvement and four have had no response. Identical findings were reported for women with advanced ovarian cancer.

"We've not seen any complete remissions, but don't forget, we're talking about enormous tumor burdens here," Gutterman said in an interview. "We are really tackling a tough problem. "We're encouraged in all three because we have seen something in all three." He said the three cancer types are resistant in varying degrees to conventional drug treatment. The patients in the studies, with one exception, already have had chemotherapy, Gutterman said, "and there was no known effective agent left for them to be treated with." Gutterman used a type of interferon produced in Finland from white blood cells. He said purer interferon produced in bacteria "factories" with new gene-splicing technology is expected to be available next year.

In addition, Gutterman said other types of interferon, which can be produced by the new bacterial process, may be more effective against some kinds of cancer. "I think we're seeing the very beginning. That's the important thing. Whatever we re seeing has to be, I think, at the very minimum (of effectiveness)." Threat cited from enzymes in intestines New York Timn Natural chemicals in red wine, tea and grape juice can be converted to potentially hazardous substances by enzymes produced by bacteria that reside in the human intestinal tract, according to studies at the University of California at Berkeley. The enzymes, collectively called fecalase.

can act on glycosides found in many commonly consumed plant foods, converting them into substances that can damage genes, the researchers showed. Many such substances, called mutagens, are also capable of causing cancer. In a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers note that some foods, such as pickles and red wine, contain mutagenic substances even without the action of gut bacteria Although the implications of the findings for human cancer are not known, the researchers suggest that plant breeding may be used to diminish the amount of naturally occurring glycosides in human foods. MAXI YOUR CHOICE SHIELDS v. 11 EACH fib TNCE EACH 60 COUNT EACH )99 ALBERTSONS COSMETIC PUFFS.

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