[ RadSafe ] "Additional research is needed . . . " U.S. Nuclear Power Industry Workers Study - HealthyWorker Effect

[John Jacobus]

Speaking of long term funding . . . 

>From the Scientist, Volume 19 | Issue 5 | 12 | Mar.
14, 2005

A 44-year-old grant

By Maria W. Anderson 

Step into David Kritchevsky's irregularly shaped
basement office at the University of Pennsylvania's
Wistar Institute, and you'll immediately be able to
tell that he's been there for a while. Two walls are
covered with shelves containing textbooks on nutrition
and cancer, old almanacs, the Holy Kabbalah, and The
Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter. A blue electric
typewriter, set aside to make room for a new Apple
computer on the counter, is half buried under
newspapers, journals, and a red U of Penn baseball
cap. The plaques and framed certificates wallpapering
the two remaining walls include nods from the
Hollywood Academy of Medicine, the American
Association of Cereal Chemists, and the American
Cancer Society, some dating back to 1962. Near eye
level, across from the door, is a framed 1988 Cancer
Research cover featuring a black and white photo of
Kritchevsky.

Kritchevsky is one of only three US researchers to be
a recipient of the same grant since John F. Kennedy
was president. Along with Saint Louis University
molecular virologist Maurice Green and University of
Minnesota chronobiologist Halberg Franz, Kritchevsky
was awarded an NIH Research Career Award in 1961.
Although the NIH awarded more than 50 of these grants,
all the other recipients have changed their research
focus, retired, or died. These three retained their
funding for more than four decades by continuing to
work in the same field at the same institution.

Born in Russia and raised in Chicago, Kritchevsky
earned his master's degree at Chicago University and
his PhD from Northwestern University. In 1957 he came
to the Wistar Institute, where he has spent his career
investigating the role of fat metabolism in
degenerative diseases like cancer and heart disease.
He's studied the effects of caloric restriction on
tumor growth in rats and the effects of conjugated
linoleic acid on atherosclerosis in rabbits. He wrote
the first textbook on cholesterol in 1958 and served
as a member of the Food and Nutrition Board of the
National Academy of Sciences that authored the
controversial booklet "Toward Healthful Diets" in
1980, which created a media frenzy because it claimed
that dietary fat, consumed in moderation, is not
harmful.

At age 84, he still contributes to the ongoing debate
on nutrition and health. He points out that Americans
are living longer and healthier lives than they ever
have before; but, he adds, many public health experts
are predicting that even the healthiness trend will be
reversed if we persist in our sedentary lifestyle.
Little things, like the switch from manual to electric
car windows, drastically affected the number of
calories people burn on a daily basis. Portion sizes
at restaurants are too big, office-dwellers get too
little exercise, and no-fat, no-carb diets are
unrealistic. The result is the current obesity
epidemic, for which he offers a simple solution: learn
self-control, eat less, and work more.

Kritchevsky's dedication to his field has earned him
top honors from numerous institutions and professional
societies around the globe, including those in heart
disease and cancer research. In April, the Wistar
Institute will honor him with a two-day symposium
celebrating his life and work. Speakers will include
colleagues and former students.

While some friends fondly recall Kritchevsky's days as
pitcher for the WistaRats intramural softball team,
including an 11-inning win, it's his forays into music
performance and composition that he expects to be
remembered for most vividly. As a teaching assistant,
he used his piano skills (acquired in Chicago's jazz
clubs) to write lyrics about biochemical reactions,
sung to popular tunes, to help his students learn more
quickly. His repertoire includes "Sulfur Chemistry" to
the tune of "Chiquita Banana," the "Cholesterol
Biosynthesis Song" to the tune of "Jingle Bells," and
"Macrophage" to the tune of "Mack the Knife." More
frivolous entries in his songbook include "If I Had a
Big Grant," based on "If I Was a Rich Man," from
Fiddler on the Roof. The American Oil Chemists'
Society published his compositions in "Parodies and
Commentaries," now for sale at all of their meetings.

Firmly agreeing with Ashley Montagu's advice to "die
young as late as possible," Kritchevsky says that
he'll continue to read and work as long as he's
physically able. His lifetime grant, which comes up
for renewal every five years, was renewed two years
ago. "We'll see how I feel in three years. I have no
ambitions to be the world's oldest vegetable."

-- "Glenn R. Marshall" <GRMarshall at philotechnics.com>
wrote:
> And of course the conclusion a 10-year-old should be
> able to predict by
> now is found on page 16: "Additional research is
> needed..."
> 
> Sorry - getting cynical in my old age.
> 
> > The report "Mortality Among Female Nuclear Weapons
> > Workers" can be
> > downloaded at
> > http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/2001-133g17.pdf . 
> 

+++++++++++++++++++
"Embarrassed, obscure and feeble sentences are generally, if not always, the result of embarrassed, obscure and feeble thought."
Hugh Blair, 1783

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com