What killed Lenin? Stress didn't help, poison eyed

BALTIMORE (AP) — A doctor says stress, family medical history or possibly even poison led to the death of Vladimir Lenin, contradicting a popular theory that a sexually-transmitted disease debilitated the former Soviet Union leader.

UCLA neurologist Dr. Harry Vinters and Russian historian Lev Lurie reviewed Lenin's records for an annual University of Maryland School of Medicine conference that opens Friday on famous people's deaths.

The conference is held yearly at the school, where researchers in the past have re-examined the diagnoses of figures including King Tut, Christopher Columbus, Simon Bolivar and Abraham Lincoln.

The 53-year-old Soviet leader suffered several strokes before dying in 1924 and what caused them isn't clear....