- Reaction score
- 306
Güevedoces is what children with a specific type of intersexuality are referred to as in the Dominican Republic. They are classified as girls when they are born but, around the age of 12, they start developing male genitalia. This is due to a deficiency in the production of 5α-reductase, an enzyme involved in the metabolism of testosterone.
The first scientific investigations of the güevedoces occurred in the 1970s, when Dr. Julianne Imperato-McGinley, an endocrinologist from Cornell University traveled to the village of Salinas (population 4300) in the Dominican Republic to investigate reports of apparently female children becoming male children at the onset of puberty.[6] The cause was determined to be 5α-reductase deficiency, and the results were published in the journal Science in 1974.
Another thing that Imperato-McGinley discovered, which would have profound implications for many men around the world, was that the Guevedoces tend to have small prostates.
This observation, made in 1974, was picked up by Roy Vagelos, head of research at the multinational pharmaceutical giant, Merck. He thought this was extremely interesting and set in progress research which led to the development of what has become a best-selling drug, finasteride, which blocks the action of 5-alpha-reductase, mimicking the lack of dihydro-testosterone seen in the Guevedoces.
My wife, who is a GP, routinely prescribes finasteride as it is an effective way to treat benign enlargement of the prostate, a real curse for many men as they get older. Finasteride is also used to treat male pattern baldness.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Güevedoce
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34290981
The first scientific investigations of the güevedoces occurred in the 1970s, when Dr. Julianne Imperato-McGinley, an endocrinologist from Cornell University traveled to the village of Salinas (population 4300) in the Dominican Republic to investigate reports of apparently female children becoming male children at the onset of puberty.[6] The cause was determined to be 5α-reductase deficiency, and the results were published in the journal Science in 1974.
Another thing that Imperato-McGinley discovered, which would have profound implications for many men around the world, was that the Guevedoces tend to have small prostates.
This observation, made in 1974, was picked up by Roy Vagelos, head of research at the multinational pharmaceutical giant, Merck. He thought this was extremely interesting and set in progress research which led to the development of what has become a best-selling drug, finasteride, which blocks the action of 5-alpha-reductase, mimicking the lack of dihydro-testosterone seen in the Guevedoces.
My wife, who is a GP, routinely prescribes finasteride as it is an effective way to treat benign enlargement of the prostate, a real curse for many men as they get older. Finasteride is also used to treat male pattern baldness.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Güevedoce
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34290981
