Word: fetus
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...checked by a special diet if the defect is immediately identified; 43 states now require a PK.U test at birth. Doctors can recognize the chromosomal flaw that causes mongolism and 27 of the genetic quirks known to cause retardation. More important, they can diagnose these in the fetus by amniocentesis. A needle is inserted into the uterus to draw off a sample of the fluid in which the fetus floats. The material is analyzed for extra or missing chromosomes or absent enzymes...
Folkman pointed out that the only tissues other than solid tumors in which he has found TAF are the placenta and the fetus...
...Book of Genesis had it wrong. In the beginning God created Eve," says Johns Hopkins Medical Psychologist John Money. What he means is that the basic tendency of the human fetus is to develop as a female. If the genes order the gonads to become testicles and put out the male hormone androgen, the embryo will turn into a boy; otherwise it becomes a girl. "You have to add something to get a male," Money notes. "Nature's first intention is to create a female...
Physical differences appear even before birth. The heart of the female fetus often beats faster, and girls develop more rapidly. "Physiologically," says Sociologist Barbette Blackington, "women are better-made animals." Males do have more strength and endurance-though that hardly matters in a technological society...
Recent research hints that there may even be sex differences in the brain. According to some experimenters, the presence of the male hormone testosterone in the fetus may "masculinize" the brain, organizing the fetal nerve centers in characteristic ways. This possible "sex typing" of the central nervous system before birth may make men and women respond differently to incoming stimuli, Sociologist John Gagnon believes...