Evening star., 1951-08-22
Siumese Twin Rats Used
In FutuI Radiation Tests
New Principle Of Protection
Discovered Through Studies
By Thomas r. Henry

By Thomas r. Henry
Artificially created Siamese twin rats
at the Naval Medical Research Center
are bringing to light new principle
Of protection against fatal radiation.
The results, for which there yet is
no satisfactory explanation have been
reported to the Society for Expert
mental Biology and Medicine by DR..
E. P. Crokite of the research center
tional Institutes of Health.
In their first experiment, eight such
pairs were formed Six weeks later one
partner of each pair was given fatal
dose of X-radiation while the other
was protected. Three of the pairs died
within a month but the other five
survived. They were separated shortly
afterwards. and the ten individuals
are still alive and in good health. The
radiated partners appear normal but
are slightly smaller than the others.
All single rats receiving the same
dose were dead, most of them within
ten days.
= Second Experiment
In the second experiment IA rats
were given fatal doses of radiation. A
few hours later, they were joined to
non-irradiated litter mates. Eight of
the pairs were dead within a month,
Those that survived were separated.
They are still alive and gaining weight.
Survival OF the irradiated rats, 81
per cent of which normally would die,
is attributed to more rapid regeneration
Of the bone marrow where blood cells
are formed. This may be due, the ex-
perimenters report, to the transfer of
some protective material from the nom
irradiated partner or to the transplanta-
tion of blood forming cells from one to
the other. There is also the possibility
that some poison formed by the irradia-
ton is offset by a hypothetical sub
stance transferred from the partner.
Thus far, the two doctors say, nobody
has succeeded in finding a radiation
produced poison, although several theo-
rieS have been advanced to the effect
that one is formed. They seriously
question, they say, any poison -antidote
explanation. This leaves open the ques-
ton as to whether some bone marrow
regenerator is present in normal blood
which is passed from one twin" to
another.
He-men breed boys.
This is the conclusion of Dr. Marianne
E. Bernstein, now Fulbright fellow at
the Institute of Statistics at Rome, after
analysis of the birth records of large
series of American families. She has
reported her findings to the American
Association for the Advancement of
Science here.
It has been established for some time
that there is hereditary tendency in
families to produce offspring of one sex
only or primarily Of one sex. DR.. Bern
stein concludes that the genes, units
of heredity responsible for this, are very
closely associated with the sex hormones
of the father.
Her statistical study shows, she says,
that fathers suffering from endocrine
disturbances, such as gout, have more
than the average number of female off,
spring. Bald men were found to have
40 per cent more male offspring than
men with full hair or with receding
hairline that had not developed into
full badness. It is well known that male
hormones play part in the develop
ment of badness"
Other Indications.
The statistics also strongly indicate,
DR.. Bernstein says, that men engaged
in aggressive, extrovert occupations in
which few women have become out
standing are more masculine than men
engaged in introvert, retiring occupa-
tionS. In families where the fathers are
members of the armed forces, business
executives, politicians, lawyers, farmers
and abstract scientists like astronomers
and mathematicians, the sex ratio of
5,400 children was found to be 120 boys
for every 100 girls. In families where
the fathers were engaged in professions
in which many famous women also were
engaged-actors, social workers, child
educators, fiction writer's and all sorts
of artiStS-the sex ratio for 1900 chill
rem was found to be IS boys for every
100 girls. An intermediate group was
formed by families in which the father
was engaged in religious profession,
was a research worker or an applied
scientist such as chemist or biologist.
II believe" DR.. Bernstein continues.
''that the genes controlling the sex ratio
in mammals are identical with, or act
through, the genes controlling the male
female sex hormone balance"
Recent experiments with rats at the
University of Chicago, she says. tend to
confirm this hypothesis.