Smoking Addiction Gene; Diabetic Death Rate Drops
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Researchers have found addiction to smoking can be linked to a specific gene.
They studied 32,000 african Americans and found a variant gene that seems to dramatically increase smoking.
Doctor Sean David says it's on chromosome 15; a different biomarker from european Americans but both powerfully influence areas of the brain that control aversion to and pleasure from nicotine.
"So maybe a pharmaceutical company can say we should really be looking at this gene and seeing if maybe there's a new drug that we could develop," said Dr. David.
Cigarettes kill half of people who smoke and is the leading cause of death for people of all races and both sexes worldwide.
There is encouraging news for people who suffer from diabetes.
Researchers at the CDC say the death rate for people with diabetes dropped significantly from 1997 to 2006.
Deaths from heart disease and stroke related to diabetes dropped 40–percent while overall deaths of diabetics dropped by 23–percent.
The CDC says healthier lifestyles and better disease management get credit for the improvement.
However, diabetes is still the seventh leading cause of death.
