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Show H,mrTJ,y "Wr''ir 'pi iniiimt' nmm-tet- . Mwmg1 Medical 16, 1973 DESERET NEWS, MONDAY, APRIL 12A research-front- ier for women Second of a series on Women in Medicine By Carma Hadley Deseret News Staff Writer . . One more bend in the road one more frontier to conquer. . . . one more hill to climb-- . Thats what the field of medical research is like, accordare actively in vowed in the quest for ing to two girls who more facts, additional information, new methods. Its interesting work . . . always different, said Kathy Parks, genetics technician at the University of Utah Medical Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Of course, she said, you have to love this kind of work or it could drive you crazy. There is a lot of detail. Everything must be precise, accurate, measured. Marjorie Allen, who is also a genetics technician, agrees. This is a difficult field. It takes a special talent. But I love it. I would be unhappy doing anything else. And both think research is a particularly good field for women. Women often have a creative approach to a problem, says Kathy. A creative approach Is an excellent trait to have when you work with problems where there is no set answer or sure way to solve them. In research you work somewhat individually. In some fields women have been held back because the men in power have felt threatened by their work. This is generally not true in research. You can work your heart out and be as good as you want to be. A lot of work is done at tne microscope. The researcher must be a patient person, said Marjorie, able to sit still for a long time and concentrate. The particular field of research Kathy and Marjorie are involved in is genetics. They work with chromosomes those important little parts of the cel! that contain all the hereditary information for an individual. where We have a mouse program, explained Kathy, we are looking for birth defects in second generation baby mice. Its to see the effects of an tranquilizer. d Marjorie Allen's specialty as a genetics technician is tissue culture work. DEAR ABBY: My husband s a delivery man, and he teeps telling me how many ipportunities he has to get iomething going with women in his route. I know its true because A1 and s a friendly ias vav about him. He says the women keep elling him that their husbands ire at work and their kids are n school all day, and wouldnt or le like a cup of coffee ;omcthing. good-lookin- well-buil- t, easy-to-kno- its too But its a drug often given to pregnant women, and we feel it might be dangerous to any offspring. If birth defects appear in mice, the same experiment is tried with larger animals. If the results are positive again, its pretty safe to assume that positive results could occur in humans, also. We have just completed a study involving the effects of marijuana on chromosomes, explained Kathy. We are really interested in birth defects. There are so many drugs these days and we know they can affect the chromosomes, but we dont know just how. It may be ten years before we see any effects in offspring. In the lab, the girls also do tissue culture work. This is Marjories specialty. We draw amniotic fluid from the pregnant woman who thinks she has a chance of having an abnormal child. We she ceils and then match chromosome pairs, grow tAplained. We look for breaks in the chromosomes, for extra ones, missing ones. as for example, in If there are extra chromosomes or missing chromosomes the chances of an mongolism abnormal child are increased, and the mother may consider therapeutic abortion. The field is so new. Its only been since 1959 we have known that a mongoloid child has an extra G chromosome. Who knows what the next decade will bring? That, after all, is what reseat ch is all about. certainly doesn't rate a good conduct medal True-Blu- e' ty Abigail Van Buren So far, they are in the middle of the project and soon to tell the results. research includes an experiment of a tranquilizing drug. effects with mice to determine the Kathy Park's work in medical A1 them says, Of coures I turn all down because Im What do you advise? HIGHLAND PARK HOUSEWIFE true-blu- Nevertheless it annoys me to be reminded of his loyalty nearly every day. I told my girl friend about it and she said: Oh, hes just trying to make you jealous. Laugh it off and pretend you dont care what he does. Somehow Im not very good at pretending. Im 35 and Als 36, and Im still slim and atthree tractive. We have school-agchildren. e DEAR HOUSEWIFE: Dont laugh it off. Let him know you care a lot. And ask him if it ever oc- curred to him that you are also a woman with a husband at work and kids in school all day. Then tell him youre true-blutoo, but dont think youre entitled to a good conduct medal. e, Hell get the message. DEAR ABBY: I wrote to you about a year ago, telling vou how depressed I was because I was dumped by a boy I thought I loved. I wanted to show him I so I could be popular, threw awav mv and went all the way with three different guys on the first date. None of them ever called me back, and I felt so cheap I wanted to die. Then I wrote to you and told you and you told me I would never get a decent boy ABBY friend by going all the way with him. You encouraged me to try and to rebuild my to keep my morals high from then on, and it would pay off. Thats exactly what I did, and you were right. I am now going with this really great guy who respects me. We have a lot of fun together, and I am all through worrying and feeling cheap. If this letter convinces only one girl that premarital sex doesnt pay. it will be worth printing. I am no kid. Im 22, and Ive never been happier in my life. . me good luck, Abby, and it finally came my way. Thanks for saving my. life. HAPPY IN HARTFORD You wished DEAR HAPPY: No thanks due me. I only threw you a rope. You caught it. DEAR ABBY: I dont wish to revive the controversy about how often a woman should bathe, but history records the fact that Cleopatra never took a bath in her life and she seemed to get J. along OK with the boys IN PAULS VALLEY, OKLA DEAR J.: Where, pray, is this fact recorded? If it is indeed true, Ill bet the ASP died, too. . CONFIDENTIAL TO FEELS BETTER IN TEXAS whose conscience bothered ter for so many years: I sen the $20 to the store you in your letter, mentioned explained the circumstances and kept your identity confidential. Bless you. Its never too late. Problems? You'll feel better if you get it off your chest. For a personal reply, write to ABBY: CO the Deseret News, P.O. Box 1257, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. enEnclose stamped, velope, please. For Abbys new books Want to What let. Know," send SI to Abby, CO the above mentioned newspaper. |