hey i just read something about ppl with XXY & YYX sex.
What are they?
and what are the letters for male/female?
X is the female chromosome; Y is the male chromosome.
IIRC, XXY tend to be males with slight female characteristics: more body fat, wider hips, slight breasts. XYY tend to be overly-aggressive males; many violent offenders are found to have this genome.
XYY is called “Super Male Syndrome”, while XXY is something else. There are also chromosomal abnormalities that occur in females, called “Kleinfelter Syndrome” (female lacks female sex characteristics) and Testicular Feminism (T-fem). These women tend to be very statuesque. As a little motivational pic, there are two VERY famous actresses who are “suspected” to be T-fem. (it’s not like they’d be likely to admit it)
AWB is mostly correct, spritle is not.
XYY is basically phenotype-less (no reproducible symptoms). Last I read, studies showing a hyper-aggressive or violent phenotype or a greater percentage of XYY males in jails were debunked. The old “Super Male Syndrome” description is incorrect.
XXY individuals have Klienfelter Syndrome. These are males with certain varibale characteristic features, but again mostly symptom-less (besides 100% sterility).
These two are examples of sex chromosome aneuploidy syndromes, which occur when you have a variation from XY or XX.
Perhaps the most severe of these diseases is Turner Syndrome, a female with an XO karyotype. This means that she only inherited one X chromosome. These females are short, have webbed necks, have ovarian dysgenesis, and are usually developmentally delayed with mental retardation.
Other sex chromosome aneuploidy syndromes are not severe at all (XXX, XXXX, XYYY, etc.) because extra copies of the X chromosome are deactivated and the Y chromosome contains very few active genes.
Testicular feminization is not a chromosomal abnormality, rather a point mutation or a deletion of the androgen receptor in an XY male. This leads to feminization during early embryogenesis.
This came up about a month ago in the “Identical Twins marry identical twins” thread. I tried linking to the thread, but failed (I’ve really got to learn how to link to a SD thread. I bet it turns out to be something simple I’ve missed). It basically says what edwino said, but more simply. I’ve copied it over in case the information link is useful.
I heard Jamie Lee Curtis has one of those conditions…
In one of Cecil’s books there was an excerpt of a thread from the AOL message board on Jamie Lee Curtis’s supposed condition. Basically, it’s an urban legend. As I recall on of the posters had gone to high school with her and seen her in the showers. She claimed Jami Lee was in no way abnormal in her sexual equipment.
I’ve heard that Jamie Lee Curtis is a testicular female. This means that she is chromosomally a normal male, but she has a mutation in one of her androgen receptors. This mutation interrupts the masculinization process during embryogenesis. The default pathway is to become a female. These individuals are outwardly female in every respect, except they have very little secondary sexual characteristics (armpit hair, pubic hair, and breasts). They also tend to be quite tall and have somewhat masculine (angular) faces. They are often considered quite attractive.
The sad part is that many times these girls don’t know that anything is wrong until puberty, when they don’t ever menstruate. A visit to the gynecologist or endocrinologist reveals a blind-ending vagina with no uterus or ovaries. The next step of action is exploratory surgery to remove the primordial testes (these are formed before the masculinization pathway is interrupted), as they often become cancerous.
Yes, and I’ve heard that the moon is made of green cheese.
But it is not. Please stop spreading unsubstantiated rumors.
I’ve heard that YYZ is Toronto International…but I don’t have a site to back that up.
(Sorry for the hi-jack…couldn’t resist. 
)
As opposed to YKK, the code for the international zipper illuminati.
I’ve heard it from two sources - an endocrinologist who taught me in second year medical school and a human geneticist who taught me in first year graduate school. Here is another MD who is saying the same thing. I, of course, have not received accurate confirmation of this (nor has the link’s MD). It could all be hearsay. I’ve just heard it from more than one credible sources. My response was just to UncleBeer’s statement that
A testicular female (complete androgen insensitivity syndrome) would be indistinguishable in the shower from a normal female. That’s it.