Evaluation of the obstetric significance of some pelvic characters in an 18th century British sample of known parity status.

The excavations at Christ Church, Spitalfields (1984-86) produced a sample of 968 human skeletons which were interred between 1729 and 1859. Of these, 387 were recovered in association with coffin plates stating name, age at death, and date of death. There are 138 adult females in the named sample and the obstetric histories of 94 have been reconstructed from historical documentation. Such variables as birth spacing, number of children, and age at first and last births are known for the majority of this sample. Any individual about whose history there is any doubt has been excluded from the analysis. A middle-class group, they were largely of high nutritional status and, by the standards of the day, lived in sanitary and comfortable conditions. Both males and females have a mean age at death of 56 years. The presence or absence, the typology, the severity, the width and the length of the preauricular sulcus, the presence or absence and the number of pits on the dorsal aspect of the pubic body, sulci along the anterior sacrum adjacent to the auricular facet, and the extension of the pubic tubercle were evaluated in relation to the obstetric histories of these females. Statistical analysis has demonstrated a relationship between the presence of pubic tubercle extension and parity status and between the degree of extension and the number of children borne (P < .02). Statistically there is no significant relationship (P > .05) between either the preauricular sulcus or pubic pitting and parity status. Sacral scarring is significantly associated (P < .05) with parity status, but as it was evident in only eight females it has little practical application. Sample sizes are small, and it must be considered that statistical evaluation of larger samples might detect associations between variables not demonstrated here. There is no significant relationship between any of the cortical variants under consideration and age at death.     

Reproductive parameters of female Japanese macaques: Thirty years data from the arashiyama troops,Japan

Over a 30-year period from 1954 to 1983, 975 live births were recorded for Japanese macaque females at the Iwatayama Monkey Park, Arashiyama, Japan. Excluding unknown birth dates, primiparous mothers gave birth to 185 infants (182 cases with age of mother known) and multiparous mothers gave birth to 723 infants (603 cases with age of mother known). The peak month of birth was May with 52.3% of the total births occurring during the period. Multiparous females who had not given birth the previous year did so earlier than multiparous females who had given birth the previous year and also earlier than primiparous females. Among the females who had given birth the previous year, females whose infant had died gave birth earlier than females who had reared an infant the previous year. The offspring sex ratio (1:0.97) was not significantly different from 1:1, and revealed no consistent association with mother's age. Age-fecundity exhibited a humped curve. The annual birth rate was low at the age of 4 years but increased thereafter, ranging between 46.7% and 69.0%, at between 5 and 19 years of age, but again decreased for females between 20 and 25 years of age. Some old females displayed clear reproductive senescence. The infant mortality within the first year of age was quite low (10.3%) and the neonatal (less than 1 month old) mortality rate accounted for 49.0% of all infant deaths. There was no significant difference between the mortality rates of male and female infants. A female's rank-class had no apparent effect on the annual birth rate, infant mortality, and offspring sex ratio. These long-term data are compared with those from other primate populations.     

圈养獐分娩的初步观察

2004年的5~7月,在浙江省嵊州市河麂种源繁育基地对34只獐(Hydropotes inermis)的分娩活动进行了观察。结果表明,母獐通常选择安全的地点进行分娩。獐集中分娩的时间为6月3日到6月19日,占分娩母獐总数的73.53%(n=34),并且分娩多在白天进行。产程(从胎膜露出到胎盘娩出)平均为(302.20±15.27)min(n=15)。胎儿娩出的姿势多为前躯前置(前足、头先露出),占83.78%;少数为后躯前置(后足先露出),占16.22%。幼仔首次吮乳时间在单胎和多胎间无显著差异,平均为出生后(44.97±2.73)min(n=35)。幼仔出生后首次平均站立时间在双胞胎、三胞胎和四胞胎分别为(32.25±2.49)min(n=16)(、29.42±2.52)min(n=12)和(65.00±7.39)min(n=6)。每胎幼仔数越多,初生幼仔的平均体重越轻。     

胎次、性别对成年小鼠海马齿状回神经发生及学习记忆的影响

目的探讨胎次、性别是否对成年小鼠海马齿状回神经发生及学习记忆产生影响。方法运用Morris水迷宫系统检测第1～3胎成年小鼠的学习记忆能力,腹腔注射BrdU,标记神经干细胞,检测不同胎次、性别小鼠海马齿状回中的神经发生的差异。结果 （1）在同性别、不同胎次成年小鼠间,第2胎的学习记忆能力（LMA）均显著地高于第1、3胎的,其影响规律为LMA2〉LMA1〉LMA3,且P〈0.05;在同胎次、不同性别成年小鼠间,雌性小鼠的LMA均高于雄性小鼠的,但其差异无显著性（P〉0.05）。（2）在同性别、不同胎次成年小鼠间,第2胎海马DG新生神经细胞的数量（N）均高于第1、3胎的,其影响规律分别为NF2〉NF3〉NF1和NM2〉NM1〉NM3,但其差异无显著性（P〉0.05）;在同胎次、不同性别成年小鼠间,雌性小鼠的N均高于雄性小鼠的,但其差异无显著性（P〉0.05）。结论胎次、性别对实验动物神经发生及学习记忆等方面产生的影响是肯定的。因此,在使用实验动物时,应予以充分考虑,尽量使用胎次、性别相同的。     

β-decay,Bremsstrahlen, and the origin of molecular chirality

Summary A brief review is presented of the Vester-Ulbricht -decay Bremsstrahlen hypothesis for the origin of optical activity, and of subsequent experiments designed to test it. Certain of our experiments along these lines, begun in 1974 and involving the irradiation of racemic and optically active amino acids in a 61.7 KCi⁹⁰Sr–⁹⁰Y Bremsstrahlen source, have now been completed and are described. After 10.89 years of irradiation with a total Bremsstrahlen dose of 2.5×10⁹ rads, crystallinedl-leucine, norleucine, and norvaline suffered 47.2, 33.6, and 27.4% radiolysis, respectively, but showed no evidence whatsoever of asymmetric degradation.d- andl-Leucine underwent about 48% radiolysis and showed 2.4–2.9% radioracemization. Other samples in solution were too severely degraded to analyze. Probable intrinsic reasons for the failure of the Vester-Ulbricht mechanism to afford asymmetric radiolysis in the present and related experiments involving -decay Bremsstrahlen are enumerated.A portion of this material was presented at the 7th International Conference on the Origins of Life, Mainz, FRG, July 10–15, 1983     

Effects of parity and age on female attraction to faces of infants and neonates in rhesus macaques

This study investigated the effects of parity and age on female rhesus macaque attention toward infants, and assessed whether the faces of neonates are more attractive than those of older infants. Six nulliparous and six multiparous females were shown digitized images of neonates’ and 5- to 6-month-old infants’ faces. Attention and preferences for images were measured by gaze duration and other picture-directed behaviors, including lip smacking, approaches, and presentations. As predicted, nulliparous females displayed significantly longer gaze durations for images than did multiparous females. There were no significant differences in gaze duration for faces of neonates and those of infants, but images of infants were approached more frequently than images of neonates. This difference is tentatively explained on the basis of differences in female familiarity with neonates’ and infants’ faces and differences in opportunities for allomothering with neonates and infants.     

Alloparenting in Steller sea lions (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Eumetopias jubatus</Emphasis>): correlations with misdirected care and other observations

Alloparental care is rarely observed in Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) where maternal care is extended to a single pup for up to 1 year or more. However, we observed 28 allonursing events and one case of adoption at a small breeding rookery in the western Gulf of Alaska between the years 2001 and 2005. Multiparous and primiparous females were observed nursing nonfilial individuals with equal frequency, but primiparous females spent significantly more time nursing nonfilial individuals. Multiparous females allowed allonursing only while sleeping and unaware while most primiparous females were aware that they were allonursing. These results are consistent with the misdirected-care hypothesis suggesting that primiparous (presumably younger) females nurse nonfilial pups due to inexperience, whereas multiparous (presumably older) females are victims of milk stealing during times of inattentiveness. Nonfilial pups were aggressively tossed most often during the pupping season and only by multiparous females, while allonursing events occurred more frequently after the pupping season. Starveling pups were not cared for by any female, but two were attended by a single bull during separate autumn seasons.     

妊娠期妇女产次与龋病及牙周病发生关系的探究

目的 探究妊娠期妇女龋病及牙周病发生情况和不同产次对妊娠期妇女龋病及牙周病发生的差异。方法 以228名妊娠期妇女（其中初产妇140名,经产妇88名）和85名同龄未妊娠妇女（对照）为研究对象,检查其龋病及牙周病发生状况,并记录菌斑指数（PLI）、探诊深度（PD）、临床附着丧失（CAL）、牙石指数（CI）和龈沟出血指数（SBI）,进行组间统计分析。结果 （1）初产组（47.86%）、经产组（67.05%）的患龋率均高于对照组（29.41%）（P0.05）。结论 妊娠可能导致妇女患龋率、PLI、CI、PD、CAL和SBI的增加,且产次增加可能导致妇女患龋率、PD和SBI的增加。     

The oviduct is a brood chamber for facultative egg retention in the parthenogenetic oribatid mite Archegozetes longisetosus AOKI (Acari, Oribatida)

Archegozetes longisetosus is a parthenogenetic oribatid mite and a chelicerate model organism. We examined the localisation of processes between vitellogenesis and embryogenesis as well as the anatomy and histology of involved structures by means of light- and electron microscopy. The proximal oviduct is differentiated into an oviductal bulb, exhibiting a strong secretory epithelium. Here, solidification of the egg shell instantaneously occurs upon passing of the egg from the perivitelline space into the oviductal lumen. This is interpreted as an internalised oviposition with the generation boundary being effectively located at the ovary-oviduct transition, rendering the oviducts into functional brood chambers. The parity mode combines elements of oviparity and ovolarviparity with facultative egg retention.     

Review of genes in development: re-reading the molecular paradigm

Genes in Development is a collection of 13 stimulating essays on "post genomic" approaches to the concept of the gene. At the risk of caricaturing some complex balances, the contributors tend to be skeptical about genetic determinism, the central dogma of molecular biology, reductionism, genes as programs and the concept of the gene as a DNA sequence. They tend to like emergent properties, complexity theory, the parity thesis for developmental resources, developmental systems theory, and membranes. But within this broad weltanschauung the essays in Genes in Development vary widely in their interests and emphases––from the history of twentieth century genetics to the social and ethical issues raised by contemporary genetics––which makes for an attractive and valuable collection.