Calendar

        Change: “Personal Vision, Powerful Choices: An Interactive Health Program for Women 35 Years and Beyond,” comes to Cincinnati from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. May 19 at the Syndicate in Newport. Cost is $15. Registration deadline is Friday.

        The program gives women the opportunity to hear from experts about preparing for menopause and choices for managing the “change of life.” Topics include perceptions of menopause, symptoms of peri-menopause, risk factors for osteoporosis, breast cancer and heart disease, diet and exercise, hormone replacement therapy and alternative therapies, the benefits of soy for menopausal women and communication.

        Information: 585-3678.

        Serenity: Kim Horn will present “Meditation 101” at 10 a.m. May 12 at Mercy Center for Health and Wellness in Anderson Township. The class will emphasize basic principles of meditation and practice and how to use meditation to manage stress. Cost: $25. Registration: 956-3729.

Shelf Help

        Relief: Living Well with Cancer: A Nurse Tells You Everything You Need to Know About Managing the Side Effects of Your Treatment (G.P. Putnam's Sons; $24.95) by Kate Moore and Libby Schmais. Ms. Moore, an oncology nurse practitioner, gives tips on easing the stress of cancer treatment with aromatherapy, herbal remedies, massage and yoga. Tips are organized symptom by symptom.

Research

        Gene factor: A gene that helps control blood clotting is part of why African-Americans are six times more at risk for heart disease, according to a new study.

        The gene studied maps a protein called thrombomodulin, which converts the enzyme thrombin from a clotting agent to an anti-clotting agent. A small shift in the thrombomodulin gene occurs when one amino acid — alanine — is replaced by another — valine. The shift is associated with increased risk of heart attack.

        Amino acids like alanine and valine join to form proteins, researchers say, and changing the order of those amino acids in genes affects the protein's function. Reduced levels of normal thrombomodulin because of the altered gene may cause a greater risk for blood vessel damage and blood clots.

        Researchers followed 467 men and women who developed coronary heart disease after being recruited for the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Patients were recruited from 1987 to 1989 for the national study.

        After identifying the thrombomodulin gene in 376 men and women, researchers found that African-Americans with at least one copy of the altered gene had a 6.1 times greater risk for heart disease. The altered gene was not associated with a significantly higher risk of heart disease in whites, says Dr. Kenneth K. Wu, lead author of the study and director of the Hematology and Vascular Biology Research Center at the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center.

        The findings show the need to study genetic risk factors by ethnic group and provide a genetic basis for the much higher risk African-Americans face for heart disease, Dr. Wu says.

        Dr. Wu says researchers aren't sure why the altered gene has different effects for African-Americans and whites, although it is possible the gene manifests itself differently in the two groups.

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