The Michigan Doily-Thursday, May 20, 1982-Page 5
STUDY MIGHT EXPLAIN HIGHER MALE TEST SCORES
Hormone linked to intelligence
From APand UPI
} BOSTON - A physician says that his study,
published today in today's New England Journal of
Medicine, may explain why men generally score
higher than women in tests of math and technical
skills.
This conclusion was reached after discovering that
men who had very low levels of sex hormones during
puberty did poorly on spatial ability tests.. These
tests measure talents for recognizing shapes and
handling objects.
The study was done by Drs. Daniel B. Hier of
Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center in
Chicago and William F. Crowley Jr. of Massachuset-
ts General Hospital in Boston.
In an interview, Hier said the study suggests that
male sex hormones, called androgens, help men
develop stronger spatial ability. But he said intellec-
tual differences between men and women are
probably more complicated than simple body
chemistry.
New drug
offers hope
for many
arthritis =
sufferers
From AP and UPI
NEW YORK- A new one-a-day ar-
thritis pill that holds hopes of fighting MI
joint destruction went on the market amwom
yesterday in the war on the nation's
number one crippling disease.
Eli Lilly and Co. said laboratory
studies on animals indicated the drug
limits the destruction of joints.
"IT MIGHT actually be retarding the
progression of the disease," Dr. Ian
Shedden, vice president of Lilly
Research Laboratories, said at a news
conference.
The drug, sold under the brand name
Oraflex and known chemically as
benoxaprofen, has been shown to be ef-
fective in reducing symptoms of
osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis,
two of the most severe forms of the
disease, Lilly said. Some
Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers will on Oli
take part in a three-year test, the com-
pany said. R i
LILLY SAID the once-a-day drug,
which costs the patient $1.14 a day,
produces fewer serious gastrointestinal
side effects than aspirin in most patien-
ts.j 1
However, about 10 percent of those
treated with Oraflex have experienced
a phototoxic-burning skin-reaction to LOS A
sunlight. Light-skinned people in tem- research
perate areas were most susceptible, described
Lilly said. detector
The Arthritis Foundation said it curately
"feels very good about the drug." the influen
LAURA ETHEL Clark, an 82-year-old Dr. Sta
grandmother and an arthritis sufferer, California
will probably feel good about the drug, small dev
too. recent m
Yesterday, in Houston, a judge post- breath an
poned Clark's arraignment on the for driving
charge of growing marijuana plants in Gross
her garden to treat her arthritis. James So
... An absence of sex hormones
produces a change in human in-
tellectual behavior. '
-Dr. Daniel Hier
I think that it's possible that differences in the
levels of androgens are a factor," he said. "I would
doubt that they are the sole factor or necessarily the
most important factor. It's suggestive that it may
play apart."
"The most important point is that it's the first
study that shows an absence of sex hormones
produces a change in human intellectual behavior,"
said Hier.
The doctors gave IQ tests to 19 men in their late 20s
who had idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism,
a disorder in which boys fail to produce enough sex
hormones at puberty.
Women also have male sex hormones but in
smaller amounts than men. Men with the disorder
produced levels of sex hormones similar to women's.
The men with the disorder did considerably worse
than 19 normal men on tests that measured spatial
ability. The tests involved identifying geometric
forms camouflaged by distracting lines and using
blocks to build geometric designs.
Some experts suggest women do worse on such
tests because of cultural, social and environmental
influences. Among these experts is Harvard
psychologist Jerome Kagan, who reviewed the study
in an editorial in tie same issue.
He said women do not try as hard on spatial ability
tests because they are brought up to believe they will
do poorly.
Like women, he wrote "men with idiopathic
hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, who have un-
virilized body builds during most of their adolescen-
ce, are likely to question their ability to perform with
excellence on tests that they believe are solved most
efficiently by more masculine males."
Doily Photo by JACKIE BELL
Look out below
people went to extreme lengths to savor yesterday's fabulous weather. Michelle Dreyfuss peers out of her window
via Street to experience that glorious sunshine.
reath-detector for
arijuana revealed
NGELES (AP) - A medical UCLA School of Medicine and Receptor
NeLEas u(Aei)e--hateda Research Laboratory in Glendale, have
er has unveiled what he created a small mouthpiece containing
as a fool-proof marijuana material that absorbs tetrahydrocan-
that can quickly and ac- nabinol, or THC, the active ingredient
determine if a person is under that causes euphoria.
nce of the drug. ANALYSIS OF the mouthpiece can
nely Gross of the University of determine if the suspected user has
- Los Angeles developed the smoked marijuana in the previous few
ice that can be used to detect hours, Gross said. Soarez said each test
arijuana use on a person's costs about $10.
d which might lead to arrests Soarez said a blood test is about as
g under the influence of pot. accurate as the marijuana
and fellow researchers, Drs. breathalyzer, but the breath test is
ares and James Grant of the easier and painless.
Amity
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