Clinical Problems: Sextuplet Pregnancy

In a sextuplet pregnancy which followed gonadotrophin therapy the principal problems were threatened abortion, premature labour, and placental insufficiency. Delivery was by caesarean section soon after the onset of labour at 32 weeks. The five liveborn babies thrived. The sixth was a macerated stillbirth.     

Genetic and environmental influences on human birth weight

Path-analytic techniques were used to demonstrate a significant influence of both fetal genes and maternal environment on birth weight in a sample of infants born to primarily white, middle-class, nonsmoking mothers. If the mother smoked before conception, however, the expression of the fetal birth-weight genes in males was significantly reduced. Multiparity was associated with an increase in genetic variance. This is the first report that genetic influences on birth weight are dependent on the environmental conditions imposed on the fetus by the mother.