Team Assesses Applicants for Sex Change
(Continued from page 1)
relatively brief interview to get an
idea of how deeply motivated a
person is to have the operation
performed.
"We try to leam if the patient has
any sort of serious mental disorder,"
she explained. "Is the patient
psychotic, or is he or she a true
transsexual?
Psycho-Sexual Histoiy
"We often see individuals who
have a homosexual orientation and
feel guilty about it," she said. "There
are others who might be more
properly classified as transvestites,
usually men who feel compelled to
dress in women's clothing.
"Frequently these people have a
mistaken idea that they are
transsexuals, or they just want
reassurance that they are still good
people," she said.
"When we look at transsexuals, we
try to assess their psycho-sexual
history to see whether or not they
indeed have the thoughts, feelings
and attitudes of the opposite sex and
whether this has been a lifelong
problem for them."
Among the tests she has the
candidates take are the objective
"paper and pencil" personality
inventories and such projective
personality yardsticks as the
Rorschach "inkblot" test and figure
drawings.
Tests and Interviews
Descriptions of what inkblot
patterns suggest to a person help to
give a trained analyst a general
psychological picture of that person,
Crovitz said. Figure drawings tend
to reveal how a jjerson views his or
her own body when compared with
drawings done by more normal
jjersons.
Psychiatrist Rhoads said he does
not perform psychological tests but
relies instead on lengthy interviews
with the applicants.
"I take as complete a history as 1
can of the patient's life up to this
point," he said. "Through the
HAPPY A N -
NIVERSARY — The
Depart ment of
Ophthalmology re
cently celebrated 12
full months without
a delinquent
medical record by
sponsoring a party
for the secretaries
and medical records
personnel involved.
Pictured left to right
are Sylvia Trembly,
Judy May, Janie
Messer, Carolyn
Owen, department
chairman Dr. Joseph
A.C. Wadsworth,
Brenda Edwards, Jo
Ann Caldwell,
Alwayne Gee, Mae
White, and Lou Ann
Gooch. (Photo by
Ned Hinshaw)
answers I receive and through
observation, I try to reach a
conclusion as to what we should or
should not do."
He said he frequently finds that
"surgery would not only be not
appropriate, but would also be a
disaster" for some of the people who
seek it.
No Married Patients
No one who is legally married or
who has children is operated on at
Duke, Rhoads said, because the
emotional consequences may be too
great, especially for the children.
Glenn said that if any of his
colleagues has reservations about a
particular patient, the surgical team
will not operate on that patient.
Those who are tentatively accepted
are asked to live as the opposite sex
for a year and also to take the
appropriate male or female
hormones, Crovitz said.
Those adults who have had their
sex changed at Duke have had little
in common other than being mature,
otherwise well-adjusted and
"generally very nice people," the
surgeon said. Among them have
been a college professor, a dance
instructor, a factory worker, a
beautician and a hotel restaurant
hostess, all of whom have reported
being happy with their conversions
afterward.
Rejectees Upset
“Some of those we turn down are
very upset and don't realize that our
rejection of them as surgical
candidates is in their own best
interest," Glenn said. A few have
threatened to operate
even
on
Trading Post
FOR SALE —'67 Chevrolet Malibu.
Call 489-2463.
FOR SALE—GMC Sierra Grande 1/2
ton pickup truck; automatic
transmission, power brakes and steering,
steel belted radial tires, excellent
condition. Call 732-3841, Hillsborough,
after 9 p.m. and weekends.
CAR POOL—Riders wanted to form
car^ool to _ajid from Burlington,
Mon.-Fri., 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Contact Jack
Wray, 227-7892; or box 3112, medical
center.
FOR SALE-1976 Chev. 1/2 ton
pickup, long bed, 11,000 miles, like new,
automatic, V-8 350; may assume
pa\Tnents and pay small equity or pay
the balance and refinance; 30 months left
owning. Call Hillsborough, 732-7731,
after 6 p.m. and weekends.
FOR SALE—Two white pantsuits, size
7 double knit, 3/4 sleeves; $12 per pair.
C all Phyllis, 383-3760, after4:30 p.m.
PLANT SALE —Indoor and outdoor,
foliage and bloomers, some rare
varieties; also kitchen herbs; proceeds
used for care and aid of homeless
abandoned animals of Durham Co.; Sat.,
June 25, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., 1102 Englewood
Ave. (comer of Ctollar, off Club, near
Northgate).
FOR SALE—Children's clothes (boys'
and girls'), size 4-6x; toys, good shape;
misc. Call 682-4237, after 6 p.m.
FOR SALE —1952 Chevy bus camper;
four burners, gas stove; lefrig; slwps
four; 30 gal. water tank with sink; factory
rebuilt engine; good tires. Call 383-6452.
FOR SALE —Window screens,
aluminum, standard sizes, $1; two
window fans, excellent condition, $10 &
$15; VW air conditioner & compressor,
$10 or make offer for parts; kitchen sink &
faucet, $10. Call 489-2628.
PLANNING HELP
Whether you plan to vacation in
Timbuktu or on the Outer Banks
ask at the Perkins Library
Reference Desk for travel
information such as motel
directories and guides.
"I went on vacation to forget
everything. When 1 opened my
suitcase, I found that I had."
themselves.
"Clearly, these people are ill and
need psychiatric help, not surgery
they think will end all their other
problems."
He said that after giving their
opinions, he and his colleagues don't
try to dissuade applicants from
seeking surgery elsewhere "because
they are going to have it done
anyway."
"What we do is to give them the
names and addresses of surgeons
around the country who do this
competently and try to steer them
away from places where they are
going to be hurt," he added.
Biochemist Says Coal Not Genetic Hazard
Intercom
is published weekly for Duke Uni
versity Medical Center employees,
faculty, staff, students and friends by
the medical center's Office of Public
Relations, Joe Sigler, director; David
Williamson; medical vnriter; William
Erwin, Comprehensive Cancer Center
medical vmter; Miss Annie Kittrell,
secretary.
Editor
Mrs. Ina Fried
Public Relations Assistant
John Becton
By David Williamson
Fears that the increasing use of
coal reserves having a high sulfur
content will present a genetic hazard
to humans have no scientific basis,
according to a medical center
scientist.
Dr. K.V. Rajagopalan, a professor
of biochemistry, said that
experiments conducted in his
laboratory indicate that the human
body has a very high capacity for
detoxifying sulfur dioxide, a major
environmental pollutant released
into the atmosphere by burning coal
containing sulfur.
The finding may be important,
Rajagopalan believes, because the
nation's cod reserves in some states
have a high sulfur content, and large
doses of sulfur dioxide are known to
produce chemical modifications in
nucleic acid, the genetic material of
living systems, under laboratory
conditions.
Still Concerned about Lungs
The researcher said his studies will
not, however, lessen concern that
acid pollution caused by burning
k)w grade coal may result in lung
damage, as scientists now suspect.
In the sulfur dioxide experiments,
Rajagopalan and his colleagues
found that an enzyme known as
sulfite oxidase, produced in the liver
and some other organs in humans
pi
m
DR. K..V. RAJAGOPALAN
and animals, converts a water
soluble form of sulfur dioxide
(bisulfite) to sulphate compounds
that are excreted in urine.
The enzyme sulfite oxidase was
discovered at Duke in the late 1950s
by Dr. Philip Handler, now
president of the National Academy
of Sciences, and Dr. Irwin Fridovich,
who is also a Duke biochemistry
professor, Rajagopalan said.
In Living Tissue
The enzyme has since been shown
to convert sulfur dioxide to sulphate
compounds in the test tube, but its
action in living tissue had never
been demonstrated.
"To leam whether the enzyme
detoxifies sulfur dioxide in animal
tissue, we! had to develop a system in
which the enzyme worked in certain
laboratory animals and didn't work
in others of the same species," the
scientist said.
"We found that sulfite oxidase
contains the rare metal molyb
denum," Rajagopalan said. "This
was interesting because very few
enzymes are known to contain it."
(Continued on page 4)