Word: testes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Well, for the most part, the Eight Ball seems pretty reasonable. But I offer one question to test the validity of its answers...
Buried in those numbers are unexpected stories. Ruth, 37, was among the first to be tested, in 1986, back when scientists knew only the approximate location of the gene and the test had only 95% accuracy. At the time, Ruth had a solid marriage, one son, another on the way, and no doubts about wanting to know whether she would get the disease that had driven her ailing mother to make three suicide attempts. "I believe that if you know you're at risk but don't know if you have the gene, you'll live your life like...
Ruth was less prepared for a happy outcome. Within a year of testing negative, she separated from her husband. "I didn't know what I wanted anymore," she says. "A lot of decisions I made didn't make sense. I just wanted to be free." After the discovery of the Huntington's gene in 1993 and the development of a virtually error-free test, Ruth was retested. Again, negative. She has since remarried, had a third son and trained as a physical therapist. Often she works with HD patients...
...clients resonate to Brandt. "He gave me perspective," says Ruth. Before testing, she was afraid that she would become "mean" like her mother. "He said to me, 'Your mother's personality is very different, so if you think the manifestations will be the same for you, you're wrong.' I'll never forget that." The most moving testimony, though, came from John, a married man who deeply desired a child but feared passing on the Huntington's gene. In a recent letter to Brandt's team, John thanked them for providing the "strength and courage" to take the test, which...
What set this particular test apart, however, was the ensuing debate--one that scientists at Shaman Pharmaceuticals, the cutting-edge company conducting the research, will never forget. At issue was whether or not to throw a live crab into the extract, just as native healers do. "We're thinking, How important could that be, for God's sake?" says Lisa Conte, president and CEO of Shaman. "But wouldn't you know, of the three extracts, the one with the crab in it was the only one that showed activity." Turns out that a component in a crab's shell...