Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-05-26

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] What is happening in Greece is a disgrace for EU, says MEP Rangel

[02] A unique gene protects the heart of the residents of Mylopotamos, Crete

[01] What is happening in Greece is a disgrace for EU, says MEP Rangel

Rangel, who is the rapporteur of the report of the Constitution Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, expressed his solidarity to the Greek people, on the positions of the Greek authorities and the Greek MEPs in the last months and condemned the EU's stance towards Greece calling it "a disgrace".

We should not play games with a country in such a difficult position, said Rangel and sternly criticised German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble stance. "I do not say he is against Europe because I know he is not but sometimes the people forget that he is the Finance Ministry of his country and of whole the eurozone," he said.

Rangel said he does not understand his colleagues, particularly from Germany but also from Finland, Austria and the Netherlands on the way they behave in the Eurogroup. "I don't know what more do they want. I do not know what more can offer the Greek state. Greece is the victim of an argument of those who believe that the IMF should participate but do not accept the way the IMF is functioning".

The Portuguese MEP said that he has met with Commissioners who said that Greece is on a positive course and things were going well "not for the people but for the macroeconomics" however afterwards the Eurogroup said that something is missing and Greece should give more guarantees and impose more measures. "This is unacceptable," said Rangel and expressed the view that it is a clash between the IMF and some creditors.

It is widely accepted that the Greeks have done whatever possible, both the people and the government. The problem is the operation of democracy inside this framework, he concluded.

[02] A unique gene protects the heart of the residents of Mylopotamos, Crete

In their research, the scientists have analyzed the genome of 250 inhabitants of those villages.

Although the inhabitants of Mylopotamos eat animal fats, their health is good and they usually live for many years. That is why scientists wanted to shed more light on the genetic profile of these people.

Researchers at Britain's largest genetics institute, Wellcome Trust Sanger, led by the Greek Professor of Genetics Epidemiology, Eleftheria Zeggini, who made the publication in Nature Communications, created a genetic portrait of the inhabitants of Mylopotamos, analyzing sample DNA of 250 inhabitants.

It was the first time that the entire genome of the inhabitants of the area was analyzed, and these data were combined with genetic data for 3,200 inhabitants, which were already known.

Scientists have discovered a new gene variant (rs145556679), not yet known, that has cardioprotective properties. Thanks to this gene, a person naturally has lower levels of "bad" cholesterol (LDL) and lower levels of "bad" lipids (triglycerides). This reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease for anyone with this gene, even if he does not follow a particularly healthy diet.

This variation of this gene is probably found only in Mylopotamos population. To date, genetic analyses in thousands of Europeans have revealed a single copy of this gene to only one person in Tuscany, Italy. A different variant of the same gene has been found to be associated with lower triglycerides in the Amish population, USA.

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