i African diet may cure ills "Gimme a D Gimme an A Gimme an 1'.. . . .*Y Give the MICHIGAN DAILY that old college try. CALL 764-0558 to order your subscription COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Some West African societies seem to protect themselves against the worst effects of sickle cell anemia by the food they eat, a Stanford University anthropologist said yesterday. And, according to Stanford's William Durham, the West Africans gain protection against malaria through the combined effects of their religious ob- servances and the sickle-cell anemia in their blood. DOCTORS IN the United States are trying to learn whether the Africans' diet can lead to a treatment for sickie- cell anemia, a genetic disease suffered by many black Americans and many Americans of Mediterranean descent. The West Africans have an unusually high rate of sickle-cell anemia but live longer than most other victims of the disease. Durham wanted to know why. First, he discovered that sickle-cell anemia was more common in societies that grew yams than in neighboring societies that grew and ate rice. NO ONE COULD explain the dif- ference, Durham told a science writers' seminar sponsored by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. But Durham said he knew of research that seemed to indicate that sickle-cell anemia would protect victims against malaria, which is common in West. Africa. The malaria parasite, which causes disease.by working into red blood cells, cannot live very well in the sickle-. shaped red blood cells of sickle-cell anemia sufferers. the cells, because of their shape, can become trapped in the capillaries. The blood cells then rup- ture, and the malaria parasites die. BUT SICKLE-CELL anemia is also a dangerous disease. the cells that collect in the capillaries eventually, block the flow of blood, causing blin- dness, pain the extremities and death in severe cases. So the advantages the Africans gained by surviving malaria would be lost if they died from sickle-cell anemia. But Durham discovered their diet gave some, protection against sickle-cell anemiaa. The Africans eat primarily the yams that grow in the region. The yams con- tain a chemical called thiocyanate which prevents cells from developing a sickle shape, and thus protects ,those who eat it. THAT EXPLAINED why the Africans survived sickle-cell anemia. But if the yams kept the Africans from developing sickle cells, how were the Africans fighting off malaria. The answer was found in their religious beliefs; which provide that newly harvested yams cannot be eaten during the rainy season. The Africans were developing sickle cells during the rainy season, because they were nqt eating yams, and the sickle cells were protecting them from malaria, Durham discovered. THE RAINY season is the time they most need protection from malaria, he said, becasue the disease is carried by mosquitoes that multiply in the wet months. If you ate yams during the rainy season, you would lose your resistance to malaria, Durham said. When the rainy season ends, West African societies hold festivals to mark the time when they can once again eat the newly harvested yams. The return of yams to their diet once again protec- ts them from the worst symptoms of sickle-cel Vemia. Photo- by JeftSchrier Trafficpileup- Traffic is bumper upon bumper at this six-tiered Ann Arbor parking lot that provides a study in horizontal design. - I--t- -1 Supreme Court rejects state obscenity law (Continued from Page 1) Z--- Alabama, California, Georgia, Louisiana and North Carolina, accor- ding to court documents. The Washington law declares business establishments to be "moral nuisances" if they exhibit "lewd films or publications." It provides for con- fiseation of all money from sales or admissions, and permits court orders to close the business for as long as one year. In striking down the law, the 9th U.S., Circuit Court of Appeals said, "The ability of a court to close a place tem- porarily because obscene materials 'may' have been sold, distributed or exhibited on the premises is an imper- missible prior restraint." IN SEPARATE actions, the court refused to protect parents of public school students from having to pay for school property vandalized by their children and agreed to decide whether the NAACP must pay for a 1960s boycott of white-owned businesses in Mississippi. In the school vandalism case, the court voted 7-2 to leave intact a New Jersey law-similar to laws in every. state but Georgia - that imposes such parental liability. The precedent-setting value of yesterday's action in the school van- dalism case is far from clear, but for now New Jersey's law is safe from challenge. THE COURT granted review to a National Assocation for the Advan- cement of Colored People attempt to get out from under a lawsuit filefi by a group of Port Gibson, Miss. store owners. At one time, the NAACP was ordered to pay $1.25 million - an award that would have threatened the civil rights group's existence, that award was struck down by tha Mississippi Supreme Court last Dec. 10 as ex- cessive. Frm eres o nlaio.Peat, Marwick, Mitchell. From me rie o g to itheCoopers&Lybraind. Academy Awards-these eight financial 'Institutions wield an I Pe atW l J wsawesome power over every facet Atero s . reporter takes you iide th s A evolution of their perva-'i ns& S ll. sive economic influence. Ernst &vv ii lie + "Stevens addresses the. issue Er s &W n e . of conflict of interest... T h e p o in ts h e r a is e s a re g e r m a neaTwe wh epd r g . and. . well worth pondering.... i*c e o s An instructive look at how Big Athurnun Eight firms operate-fromd their, IiIU I J I hard-sell recruitment pitches on college campuses and in-house jockeying for partnerships to the i ndustry's closed-ranks stand against critics."Y -&irkuA Rei'iews "An enlightening study of a con- spicuously discreet industrv - Hoklis An Inside View of America's Eight Most Powerful and Influential Accounting Firms - BY MARK STEVENS 2 A Pli bo Y ook Club A e t e Sel" c ti~on .1.,r^I ot + -, 1 0'1 4i %IACmlii IA% P1111 SIUN C.'% C \(MPI, i( tUS G IOokHrio~n Street. ,'er~ide'. %108370 r' ti n 'U 'U' officials get budget calls (Contmnued from Page u heythad called. The response, he said, of his assistants answered the callers' howed that students are still concer- et Holmes, wh took calls in red about these issues. 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