Genetic counseling probes hereditary numbers game
(Editor's Note: This is the second of two articles about genetics. Yesterday's Kansan presented a discussion of genetic research. Today's article discusses implications of that research, genetic counseling.
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By BARBARA ROSEWICZ
Since man's beginning, his biological characteristics have been carried out of his spring through his brain.
Stored in the genes is the coded information that determines the sex of the offspring, influences his eye and hair color and, basically, all of his body characteristics.
In the reproductive process, genes unite in unique combinations.
But sometimes, things go wrong.
A MUTATION in a sperm or egg cell can result in a genetic deficiency in a child.
a genetic deficiency in a child.
Some deficiencies can be cured or treated. Others are crippling or fatal. Some can be diagnosed at birth. Others aren't apparent until adulthood.
In any normal pregnancy, there is a 30 to 5 per cent chance that the child will be genetically deficient.
These odds can be increased by certain environmental factors or by disorders inherent in the body.
Scientific research hasn't found ways to repair defective human genes, either those that recently have mutated or those that have carried defective information through generations of families.
HUT KNOWLEDGE of how and why some genes cause disorders has created some preventive measures.
Genetic counselors play a numbers game to determine a patient's chance to have a normal birth. Genetic counselors make people aware of the risks before their child is born, as do some clemensy.
Peter Hathaway is a genetic counselor at the KU Medical Center. His training in internal medicine was supplemented with three years of work with a fellow neurologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md.
Hathaway talks to prospective parents, parents who have had a defective child, or individuals, all who suspect for various reasons that their offspring might be genetically deficient.
People go to genetic counselors because they are concerned.
"BASICALLY WHAT I try to do is establish the risk for the occurrence of a certain, specific disorder and educate the parents as to what the risks are and what they mean." Hathaway said recently.
Some have a genetically defective child and want to know the likelihood of a recurrence in a second
Others know of a disorder that runs in their families or fear that a disorder is hereditary. Couples may want to know the risks involved in child rearing even before marriage.
Individuals affected by a disorder want to know the chances of offspring being affected by the same condition.
AND SOME, who know of no disorders in their families, note counseling because of other factors.
For example, a pregnant woman could be concerned if she contracted German measles during pregnancy, a situation that could cause birth defects.
women more than 35 years old might worry about
bearing a child with Down's syndrome. This disorder causes birth damage if a baby is in her late childbirth season in her
Screening of the population could help researchers learn more about genetic defects. Chromosome analysis can be used to test for some disorders. There is no way to test for most disorders.
A genetic counselor might not be the person who gives the test. His job is to interpret the results.
AT THE MED Center, genetic counseling costs a minimum of about $60, and more if tests such as X rays or blood tests are required. Three of four cases a week are tested.
A genetic counselor reviewing test results looks into family histories for inherited diseases or for distant family ties between the individuals involved. He also considers environmental factors that could cause disorders before making his diagnosis.
"At the root of giving good counseling is a good diagnosis," he said.
THE DIAGNOSIS isn't as clear if the disease isn't recognized. Sometimes a patient's disorder still may be undiagnosed or may be an environmental variable, he saidsolely his answers are then more varue.
A carrier isn't affected by the disease, but has the altered gene and may use it on to offspring.
Counseling is individualized and tailored to the specific problems of specific couples, he said.
AFTER studying the pieces of the genetic puzzle, a counselor can refer to empirical studies of diseases and to patterns of inertions that certain disorders may cause. A person's chance of having a genetically defective child.
Each case involves different combinations of the factors that determine genetic defects. A counselor must determine what the disorder is, how it can be inherited, whether parents carry the gene with the disease or have the disease and whether there are any other important factors that may affect a fetus.
See GENETICS page seven
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Vol.87 No.69
Thursday, December 2, 1976
Basketball team gets win No.2
See story page eight
Loss of money kills Whomper after 5 years
By BARRY MASSEY
Staff Writer
Lawrence's only day-to-day newspaper collection center, the Whomper Institute, Sixth and New Hampshire streets, will officially close Dec. 18, ending a recycling program that began at the University of Kansas five years ago.
Arly Allen, president of the Whomper's board of directors and vice president and chairman of the Whomper group, yesterday that low market prices for waste paper combined with the recycling center's inability to collect more than 15 tons of paper a month had caused the Whomper to lose $7 million.
From November 17 to November 1976, the Whmpper lost $1,500. Allen said.
"We'll recycle anything that we can earn money on." Allen said.
ALTHOUGH THE Whomper's paper collection center will close, he said that the Whomper Inc. was just going into "a sort of bibernation—a holding pattern."
Staff photo by JAY KOELZER
He said that even though the recycling center was going out of the newspaper collection business, it might reopen if a profitable recycling project was found.
Any profit from the recycling business was used to finance various community projects and groups, Allen said. Money from the center was used to pay for the landscaping at Whomper Park, 15th and Connecticut streets, he said. The center is currently financing the landscaping of a new park at 200t Street and Naimshi Drive.
IN THE PAST, the Whomper has donated money to parent-teacher organizations at several schools, the University of Kansas and St. Joseph's School, Penn House and the KU Rugby Club.
Alen said that the newspapers collected at the center were sold to either Diversified Insulation Co. of Wellsville, which uses shredded newspaper as blown-in insulation, or to Batliner Stock Co., Kansas City, Mo., which sells waste paper to paper mills.
Most of the newspapers collected by the Whomore were bought from individuals and
See WHOMPER page three
Leland Mellor, professor of occupational therapy, blew his harmonica in a bluegrass mood last night at Off the Wall Hall. Mellor is one a group of KU professors who spend their weekends on the campus playing accordion and organ.
Bluegrass blowin'
Senate passes events bill
Rv SANDY DECHANT
Staff Writer
After only 15 minutes of discussion the Student Senate voted last night to place the University Events Committee under the Senate's jurisdiction.
The proposal, which passed with only one dissenting vote, would restore a student voting majority on the committee, would require Senate approval of all Events Committee policies and would create a committee subcommittee to oversee the committee.
Staff and administration representatives now compose a majority on the committee.
Steve McMurray, chairman of the Senate Rights, Responsibilities and Privileges Committee, said last night, "The fact that there was limited debate indicates that students feel University Events should be a committee with considerable student input.
"THERE is a fine line between simply scheduling events to avoid conflicts and making policies that affect individual freedom. Student Senate should have an integral part in determining how University events will tread that fine line."
Caryl Smith, chairman of the Events Committee, presented the nomination on the Senate's action after the month.
The proposal would replace 14 faculty and administration members and nine student members who currently make up the committee with nine voting student members. According to the proposal, nonvoting members could be added when necessary.
THE PROPOSAL resulted from a meeting Nov. 8 between the Rights Committee and members of the Events Committee from the Events Committee was responsible.
At that meeting Smith said that the Events Committee was responsible to only Chancellor Archie Dykes and Del Shankel, executive vice chancellor.
McMurry disagreed. He said that the only mention of the Eventa Committee's function is at the end of Chapter 15.
According to the University of Kansas Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Privileges, "Authority for the promulgation of rules and regulations in the student conduct resides in the Student Senate."
MCMURY SAID that although Dykes could veto any legislation passed by the Senate, he didn't foresee that happening. He said that if Dykes approved the proposal, which will be sent to him immediately, the Events Committee would have to comply.
The controversy over the Events Committee's jurisdiction arose in mid-May when two men playing guitars on campus were asked by KU Police to move because they hadn't received the Events Committee's permission to play.
In other action, the Senate approved a proposal to establish a student housing
Sherri Gray, All Scholarship Hall Council president, said that the purpose of the board was to "create effective lines of communication between students and campus housing and the administration."
"Each living group, both on and off campus, has problems which are of concern to the others," she said. "We haven't效率 with these problems in the past."
She said that the Administrative Housing Board, the only organize housing board at the City of New York.
By MARTIN ZIMMERMAN
Rape victims said to get fair deal from local police,court system
The plot of the television show is familiar. A woman is brutally raped, then further degraded by callous policemen and finally publicly humiliated in a courtroom by a fast-talking defense attorney.
The screenwriter's depiction of what a rape victim must go through was largely true in the past and in some areas still may be. But in Lawrence, law enforcement officials and volunteers have been working to ease the rape victim's trauma and thereby also increase the likelihood of arresting and convicting the rapist.
Kathy Hoggard, a volunteer for the Douglas County Rape Victim Support
Service, said Monday that better treatment of rape victims was essential in uncovering the large number of assaults that are never reported because the victim fears public attention. Hoggard said that assaults reported to police were "just the tip of the iceberg."
FBI RECORDS support her view. The team at the agency raps occur for every one that is reported.
"People see on TV how rape victims are treated by the police and in the courts and they are afraid they will get the same brutal treatment," Hoggard said.
Open mike lures musicians, fans
By MARSHA WOOLERY
"I suspect that in many places rape victims are still treated like damaged goods. But in Lawrence, a woman who is raped will be treated very well by the sex."
Staff Writer
People clap, nod, and occasionally get up to dance a polka or footrock with a mixed group of musicians plays. A 3-year-old girl spins herself around, stops briefly to direct the group, then falls at the musicians' feet to watch and listen.
It's Wednesday night at off the Wall Hall,
737 New Hampshire St., and people have come to enjoy a jam session of bluegrass, folk and country music as participants and audience members. They approach the lighted area to listen or collect at tables and chairs to tune up.
“It’s always interesting here because the group’s composed of so many different kinds of people, each of whom knows some different music,” he said recently.
THE RELAXED, FREE atmosphere here has kept three University of Kansas professors coming back as participants for about a year.
Richard Dishinger, assistant professor of art, is playing his fiddle for the group. He lays aside his cigarette and bottle of beer to watch her dance, keeping time with his tapping right toe.
A woman is sitting at a nearby table, strumming her washboard as he talks. One man prefers to stay seated on some back bleachers as he adds his guitar to the music.
"THEME ARE COACHES everywhere, and you can learn by watching. Also, when you get up there in a group you don't have stage fright." Dishigner said.
be liked the sessions because they involve one in the music.
"It isn't something you sit and look at.
You have to get up and do it." he said.
Miller's gleeful encouragement the restful planners to display their intentions will enhance
One of the singers is Leland Miller, professor of occupational therapy, who said
Miller often plays at the hall until midnight, then puts in an eight-hour shift at Headquarters Crisis Center, 1662 St. S., and teaches classes the following day.
MANY ARE WILLING to learn some of the old dances, he said, so he gladesly teaches the footrot, polka or waltz, or simply plays them. He usually steps, then steps, usually on an empty dance floor.
Robert Numley, professor of geography,
plays his guitar in some of the bluegrass
and country music sessions. He said he
enjoyed playing with the group because he
didn't like music that is a "canned
imitation" of live music.
He takes a break from playing to spin a light-footed woman through some complicated dance steps. Later, he is dancing with students who have come to watch.
"Students now are mostly consumers, and a lot of the young people in our country have Miller said regretfully.
"I almost can't listen to a record. There's something so artificial about it. Almost any live music is better than canned music. It's the difference between interacting with a beautiful person and looking at a picture of a beautiful person." he said.
THE LITTLE girl is now sitting at her
mother's feet strumming a stringless board.
Nunley explains that the open sessions give people an opportunity to perform with a microphone in front of an audience. Goofs are only human, he said.
If you play everything perfectly,
if you play beneath yourself," he said.
Nunley said jokingly that his music friends had told him to stress that he was a professor.
Both Numley and Miller said they weren't sure their colleagues in the department of music appreciated the open performances at the hall.
THE AMEATURES DRIFT on and off the platform, spontaneously picking up the
All three professors said the success of the weekly sessions was due to the perseverance and organization of Gloria Kearns, a vector of the Kareas Folkulture Association.
a group of them came down once, and I 1
would say 'bless their minds.' Miller said chuckling.
THRONE AND STEVE MASON, OF McKinney-Mason Signed Instruments, 737 New Hampshire ST, began having people play together as a group about two years
In the summer they met at Apply Valley Farm every Thursday night but moved the sessions to the front of their store in the fall. Throne tends to bar, pauses and talks tok about the farm and players.
Mason leads the group into one of his
THRONE SAID the sessions hadn't been the same since they moved into the hall last January. In the smaller group, everyone knew each other and could be included in the selection of music and special help, she said.
All three professors own several instruments of their own. Dishinger began playing the fiddle about five years ago and became a member, one of which he plays most of the time.
"When I began playing, there were only a couple of fiddlers around Lawrence--Billy Spears and some others," he said. "In the middle of it, they were where we are fiddle players all over."
THE FIDDLE has become popular because it is light, portable and easy to find
Miller owns a regular Marine Band harmonica for each key A through G, and an echo harmonica that he's had for about 15 years.
Dishanger steps into the middle of the group, soling a hard-clamping tune, and is led to the other side where he
"I don't ever remember not playing one," he said. "I suppose I started getting the bag when I was about nine or ten years old and played an uncle who played the harmonica at barn dances.
Nunley owns seven guitars, four of which
plays regularly. Guitar is one of the
most valuable instruments, worth several
See BLUEGRASS page three
"RAPE ISN'T like other crimes," Hoggard said. "The police will say to the victim, 'What did you do to bring this on?' I don't think that sort of happens here."
Hoggard also said that Americans were culturally conditioned to blame the woman when rape occurred, and that this attitude caused rape victims to develop guilt feelings about the murder. These feelings are the said court prevent the victim from going to the police.
"It's just common knowledge here that the way you say 'rapist' victim is not the way you say 'TV show'. It's not TV, but on a TV," he said.
Carroll Crossfield, a detective for the Lawrence Police Department who has worked on many of the city's rape cases, acknowledged yesterday that he and other officers tried to treat rape victims with sympathy and understanding.
THE NUMBER of raps that are reported annually in Lawrence has remained fairly steady over the past five years, despite national trends to the contrary. Local police records show 78 raps from 1971 to 1975, and nine for the first six months of 1976. The peak year was 1972 with 26 assaults and there were 15 raps reported last year.
Although there is no way of being certain, Crossfield said he thought the improved treatment and a more open community attitude toward rape were helping to encourage women to go to the police after an assault.
MICHAEL MALONE, assistant county attorney, said that a new Kansas law was helping to diminish the trauma a rape victim faces in the courtroom. The law, which became effective in July, prevents a rape victim from being introduced as evidence by the defense unless it can be shown in a pretrial hearing to be relevant, Malone said.
“In the past,” he said, “much of the evidence that was brought up in court about a victim's past sexual conduct was about as little as she could have had chicken pox when she was young.”
According to FBI statistics, however, rape became the fastest growing violent crime in the United States by increasing 165 per cent from 1960 to 1975. The FBI said the increase in rapes nationwide last year was about one per cent.
Much of this increase, however, is due to the fact that many more rapes are reported now than previously, and the jump may be due to reports rape reports rather than rapes themselves.
IT WAS FOR this reason that Hoggard said, "Statistics are meaningless when you're talking about a crime like rape. It's an exercise in futility."
Hoggard said there was a "potentially very dangerous assault situation" in Lawrence because of the city's large number of women in the 19 to 24 age group. This age group, she said, comprised most rape victims in the United States and according to statistics, Lawrence has fewer rages than might be expected.
Crossfield also said the low number of raps reported in the city was surprising.
"For as many kids as we've got at KU in that age group," he said. "It seems that our statistics are way down and I don't know why that is."
"It's still a major problem, though. Even one or two rages is major."
Job applications for Kansan staff due noon today
The deadline for applying for the spring semester Kansan staff is noon today.
Applications are available in 105 Ft Hall, the Student Senate office, 105B of the Kansas Union, and the dean of men's and the dean of women's offices in Strong Hall.
Interviews will be conducted by the spring editor and business manager this fall. An interview schedule to follow. An interview schedule is posted outside the Kaiser newsroom, 112 Flt.