Monday, January 25, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
Nation/World
Yugoslavs free eight rebels
The Associated Press
LIKOVAC, Yugoslavia — The day after she was freed from a month in a Yugoslav military prison, 16-year-old Merita Ramadani said Sunday she wanted to take up a rifle and avenge the deaths of her ethnic Albanian comrades killed by the Serbs.
"Today I'm with my family," she told The Associated Press. "Tomorrow, I'm going to put on an army uniform and take a gun and go to the front line."
Ramadani was among nine rebels freed Saturday under a secret deal negotiated by U.S. and European diplomats to secure the release two weeks ago of eight Yugoslav soldiers. The Yugoslav government, which denied that there was any such deal, has not acknowledged the release.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe hailed the latest release as "an act of good will" that could help "create an atmosphere conducive" to a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Kosovo, a southern province of Yugoslavia's main republic, Serbia.
About 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanians, and the vast majority of them want independence.
Peace with the Serbs was not on the minds of Ramadani and two other newly released prisoners Sunday, a day after they were brought to a regional headquarters of the Kosovo Liberation Army in Likovac, 25
miles west of Kosovo capital Pristina.
Last month, Ramadani, a nursing assistant for the KLA, had just crossed back into Kosovo from neighboring Albania, where she had accompanied a group of wounded KLA fighters for medical treatment in the Albanian capital, Tirana. They and another group of rebels were ambushed Dec. 14 by government forces seven miles north of the border, she said.
Government troops killed 36 ethnic Albanians and captured nine, including Ramadani. They were taken to a prison in nearby Prizen, 40 miles south of Pristina. After two days, they were transferred outside of Kosovo to a military prison in Nis in central Serbia.
The first two days were the worst, said another of the freed prisoners, Azem Suma.
"They beat us badly for 48 hours, using wooden and rubber sticks," Suma, 26, said. "Even the girl. I can't explain in words how they mistreated her."
Ramadani appeared to be in good health. But the vacant, distant stare behind her glasses gave an indication of what she had experienced.
"They were beating us every day and swearing and calling us every bad name." Ramadani said in a clear, monotone voice. "It was horrible."
For more than a month, each of the nine was kept in a dark, 30-square-foot cell, shared with a Serb prisoner.
"It was terrible, especially for those of us who didn't speak Serbian," Ramadani said.
On Jan. 8, the KLA seized eight Yugoslav soldiers and offered to exchange them for Ramadani and the eight others. After five days of intensive negotiations, the rebels released the soldiers in what the government said was an unconditional move.
But the KLA insisted it had received assurances from U.S. and European mediators that the nine would be quietly released within 10 days.
The ethnic Albanian prisoners knew nothing of the arrangement.
On Friday, the nine rebels were loaded into a prison bus and driven to Prizren.
in Prizen, they were handed over to international monitors Saturday and driven to LiKovac.
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Smoking may have genetic cause
Study suggests that gene could play role in cigarette addiction
The Associated Press
Scientists have identified another gene that might affect how vulnerable a person is to cigarette addiction. The finding may help researchers develop new ways to stop smoking.
Having a certain form of the gene makes it easier to kick the habit, or perhaps to avoid getting hooked in the first place, two studies suggest. But that apparent influence is modest.
"This is just one small piece of the puzzle" of what influences smoking behavior, said psychologist Caryn Lerman, an author of one of the studies.
in this month's issue of the journal Health Psychology.
Lerman is director of cancer genetics at the Lombardi Cancer Center of Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. Her work and a follow-up study by Dean Hamer of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues appear
It's at least the third gene to show evidence of an effect on smoking. Scientists hope that by understanding such biological influences, they can tailor treatments to particular smokers and give hints for finding better therapies.
Ken Kidd, a Yale University geneticist who has studied the genetic marker used by the researchers, criticized the design of the studies and analysis of the results. "I do not accept their conclusions," he said.
Nicotine causes a surge of a substance called dopamine between certain brain cells. That feels good to the brain, so it encourages addiction. Brain cells use squirts of dopamine to communicate, and the gene in the new research tells brain cells how to make a structure called a transporter that mops the chemical up.
Why would one version of this gene discourage nicotine addiction? Lerman and colleagues theorize that it leads to a less efficient dopamine transporter, which leaves more dopamine between the
brain cells. That might reduce a person's desire to pump up dopamine levels by using nicotine, they suggest.
Hamer's team found that people with the apparently protective version of the gene scored lower than other people on novelty-seeking, a personality trait that includes impulsiveness and an interest in experiencing new sensations. Novelty-seeking might promote cigarette addiction, so scoring lower on this trait might also be protective, they said.
Lerman and colleagues studied 289 smokers and 233 people who'd never been hooked on smoking. The apparently protective version of the transporter gene appeared in 56 percent of nonsmokers vs. just 47 percent of smokers. That suggests it helped people avoid getting hooked.
Hamer's group found no sign that the gene affects whether a person gets hooked, but results suggested it can help smokers quit. The study compared the frequency of the gene version in smokers, former smokers and people who'd never smoked significantly, with a total of 1,107 participants.
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