bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Fecundability following the discontinuation of IUD use among Taiwanese women
Authors: Jain A. K. , Moots B. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThis paper examines the antifertility effects of an IUD (Lippes Loop) subsequent to the discontinuation of its use. The experiences of 4449 urban Taiwanese women who discontinued the use of the Lippes Loop initially inserted during the period July 1962 to May 1965 are analysed. These women were followed annually for 6 to 9 years through clinic visits and home interviews. The effect of duration of IUD use on average fecundability and sterility is examined after controlling for women's age at discontinuation of use of the IUD. The results indicate that, among Taiwanese women, the level of sterility increases and the average fecundability decreases with the increase in the duration of IUD use. These differentials are quite substantial and are mainly observed among those women who were at least 30 years of age at the discontinuation of IUD use. Various implications of this finding are discussed. The results refer only to the Lippes Loop and cannot be generalized for other types of IUD.
Non-Marital Pregnancies and ex-nuptial births in New Zealand
Authors: Trlin A. D. , Ruzicka L. T. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryAn investigation of the incidence and pattern of non-marital pregnancies in New Zealand, and their outcome as nuptial or ex-nuptial births, has revealed four major features. The post-war period has been marked by a steady increase in the incidence of non-marital pregnancies, especially since the early 1960s (following the inclusion of Maori vital events). Pre-marital or bridal pregnancies increased during the 1950s, but have steadily declined at all ages between 16 and 23 years during the 1960s and early 1970s. Nuptial fertility rates for women aged 35 years and over have declined continuously since 1945, and since the early 1960s the decline has commenced for women at younger ages as well. Ex-nuptial fertility rates have been increasing throughout the post-war period and particularly since the early 1960s.
Coital rate, cycle day of insemination and sex ratio
Authors: James W. H. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryGuerrero (1975) has cited a wealth of direct data supporting the hypothesis that timing of insemination is related to the sex of the resulting zygote. It is argued here that if this hypothesis were correct, then parental coital rate would be associated with the sex of the resulting children. It is suggested here that empirical data support this inference and hence support the hypothesis.It is estimated that if Pmale (the probability that a zygote will be male) declines linearly across the fertile period, that decline is from about 0·57 to 0·45.
The use of fresh and frozen semen in human artificial insemination
Authors: Jackson M. C. N. , Richardson D. W. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryIn a medical practice in which artificial insemination has been carried out for over 40 years, 40% of women inseminated with donor semen (AID), and 21% inseminated with homologous semen (AIH) gave birth to children. Up to December 1975, 399 pregnancies were achieved using fresh donor semen and nineteen with deep-frozen semen. There was no apparent increase in the incidence of birth anomalies in children conceived with frozen semen, nor was there a significant increase in the incidence of still-births, ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage when compared to the rate in the normal population. Eight conceptions were achieved using deep-frozen semen stored for 6 months or longer, and one pregnancy was achieved with a specimen frozen for 3 years. Good cryosurvial was observed in semen frozen for up to 6·7 years. The development of many of the children was followed, and it was concluded that the great majority of marriages into which AID children were born, were undoubtedly enriched and psychological and sociological problems were few. The whole field still awaits the implementation of recommendations concerning the legal status of children born as a result of AID.
Some problems of compulsion in family planning
Authors: Mehta P. V. , Pathak K. B. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThe success of a compulsory sterilization programme depends on obtaining a correct history of family size from the couples concerned. Accordingly, we carried out a feasibility study at Prabhadevi Municipal Hospital, Bombay. At registration for confinement the women were required to produce some documentary proof such as a ration card, Employee's State Insurance Scheme card, or a letter from the Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat for women coming from villages, to indicate the number of their living children. The difficulties met by the staff in obtaining the necessary information and the problems of the women in providing documentary evidence are discussed, together with the results of the survey.
Population changes in St Kilda during the 19th and 20th centuries
Authors: Clegg E. J. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryDuring the century before its final evacuation in 1930 the population of St Kilda declined from over 100 to 36. While undoubtedly emigration and natural disasters played a part in this depopulation, ongoing processes were also important. In particular, replacement levels were never sufficient to maintain a constant population size. In the early part of this period the main factor responsible was heavy neonatal mortality, almost all from tetanus (‘eight-day sickness’), but latterly the fertility of those who survived was low, even though mortality rates had declined. In part at least, this decline in fertility could be ascribed to a lower frequency of marriage—a phenomenon seen elsewhere in the Outer Hebrides during the latter part of the 19th century.Estimates of the opportunity for selective pressure on the population suggest very high levels, due earlier mainly to high pre-reproductive mortality and later to lowered fertility.
Demographic and socio-economic characteristics of men choosing vasectomy
Authors: Parsons Mary A. , Wood Heather A. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThe results are presented of a survey of male subjects attending the Kingston Contraceptive Clinic for vasectomy. The men living in the Kingston Area (KA) were compared with those living in the Out of Kingston Area (OKA) for economic and other differences.For both groups, the average age of the subjects at the time of interview was 36 years and the average age of their partners was 33 years. The couples in both groups had an average of 2·4 living children. The OKA sample had been married on average 3 years longer than the KA sample.Economic differences were minimal, both groups having an average weekly income £22 in excess of the estimated average national wage. Educationally the groups were broadly similar, the OKA sample having a higher proportion of graduate subjects. The social class distribution of both samples was significantly different from that of the South-East of England, and showed that usage of vasectomy was predominantly by Social Classes II, IIIN and IIIM. This is interpreted as indicating the gradual spread of acceptability of vasectomy as a means of birth control through the social classes, in a manner similar to that already documented for the pill.
The origins of fluctuations in the human secondary sex ratio
Authors: Roberts Alun M. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryA probabilistic model of the human reproductive process is used to assess the success of hypotheses designed to explain human sex ratio fluctuations. It is shown that theories based on different maturation rates or effective lifetimes of X- and Y-bearing spermatozoa cannot account for many of the major sex ratio fluctuations.A specific physiological model is proposed, based on differential motility of the two types of spermatozoa in the female reproductive tract, which together with differential fetal mortality, accounts successfully for most of the ratio fluctuations. On this theory the principal factor determining sex ratio is the physiological state of the female reproductive tract which in turn is governed by complex physiological and psychological parameters.
Parental predetermination of the sex of offspring: II. The attitudes of young married couples with high school and with college education
Authors: Adelman Stuart , Rosenzweig Saul 
Published: July 2008

SummaryIn a previous pilot project (Rosenzweig & Adelman, 1976) the sex choice attitudes of married couples with university (graduate school) education were explored. The present study extends this work by investigating the sex-choice attitudes of high school and partially college-educated subjects. Once again, the basic decision-making unit of husband and wife was sampled. Differences in sex preferences and sex-choice attitudes, based on the size of the marital family (no child, one child), were systematically explored. A greater effort was made to determine the effect of additional information regarding new methods of fetal sex determination, contraception, and related topics on sex-choice attitudes. Questionnaires were completed before and after information had been provided. Discussion was encouraged between husband and wife but discouraged with others. Results indicated that the exercise of sex choice is favoured by the majority of subjects across all three educational groups. Most individuals would employ sex control to ensure a balance of the sexes in a limited, two-child family. Little desire was shown to choose first child sex but active choice of a second child of opposite sex from the first appears a strong probability. Male preference, while pronounced, was a much weaker influence on the desire to make choices than the balance principle. Selective intercourse and a sex-choice pill were acceptable methods of sex control, but both artificial insemination and fetal sex determination combined with selective early abortion were rejected. Added information had a measurable but only slight effect on attitudes. Public education as to the possibilities of sex choice and control will be gradual and sex control will probably be selectively employed in the near future. But general use of such procedures is not imminent. Once put into practice, however, sex choice will create new marital problems that may require professional counselling.
Human interaction as a type of variable
Authors: Adams Reed 
Published: July 2008

SummaryA review of empirical findings which differentiated between the effects of social and non-social variables in the determination of human conduct found non-social variables most frequently to have been superior. A two-factor comparision of the impact of money and social cues, discriminative stimuli, and rewards from delinquent peers on incarcerated juvenile delinquents found money to be the more powerful determinant of cheating behaviour (P < 0.001). It is suggested that explanations of human behaviour should not ignore the effects of non-social variables.
Parental age and parity in dyslexic boys
Authors: Jayasekara R. , Street J. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThe influence of parental age at birth, and parity, was studied in a series of 48 dyslexic boys. It was concluded that both increased paternal and maternal age contributes to a greater incidence of the condition. The similarity to the age distributions of chromosomal aberrations and some mutation defects suggests some genetic implication. The findings thus favour a biological rather than environmental element in the aetiology.
Sexual behaviour and contraceptive practice of undergraduates at Oxford University
Authors: Anderson P. , McPherson K. , Beeching N. , Weinberg J. , Vessey M. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryAt the end of the 4th week of the Hilary Term 1977, 1006 male and 1009 female undergraduates at Oxford University were sent a questionnaire enquiring about their sexual behaviour and contraceptive practice. Of the 862 women and 634 men who replied, 512 women (59%) and 332 men (52%) had experienced sexual intercourse, 396 women and 191 men in the 4-week period preceding receipt of the questionnaire. No contraception had been used by 27% of the women on the first occasion that they had had intercourse; during the 4-week period preceding receipt of the questionnaire 10% of sexually active women had had intercourse on one or more occasions without using a contraceptive. The use of contraception increased with the frequency of intercourse and the stability of the relationship. Thirty-one women had been pregnant in the past; none was known to be pregnant at the time of the survey, although sixteen suspected that they might be. Ninety per cent of the students approved of the free distribution of a booklet on contraception and related matters to all undergraduates.
Seasonality of birth in India
Authors: Bernard R. P. , Bhatt Rohit V. , Potts D. M. , Padma Rao A. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThe conception rate in Baroda and Manipal, India, is lowest during the hottest weather. The greatest extremes are found in Baroda and, following high summer temperatures, there is a prolongation of low conception rates which may indicate that part or all of the effect is mediated through an effect on scrotal temperature. However, other factors may also be involved and a reduction of coital frequency is likely at extremes of temperature. Seasonal changes in abortion, stillbirths and prematurity are also observed. Changes in spontaneous abortion could be due to heat stress in the mother or possibly to abnormal sperm production at high temperature or to less frequent coitus, leading to embryonic defects.
A longitudinal study of the changing pattern in Aboriginal infants & Growth 1966–76
Authors: Warwick cox John 
Published: July 2008

SummaryComparison of some longitudinal data on infant weight in two samples of Australian Aborigines indicates changes in infant growth between 1966 and 1976 which suggest that at the time when the child comes off the breast, weight gain slows. This faltering of weight gain is often followed by a partial catch-up, but the resultant weight for age at 1 year corresponds with a lower British centile than the child was at just before weaning.
Population structure in the western Pyrenees: I. Population density, social class composition, and migration, 1850–1915
Authors: Abelson Andrew 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThis paper tests the hypothesis that the inverse relationship between population density and migration distances in pre-industrial Europe results from variation in the social class composition of communities. Data from two pyrenean valleys in Navarre, spain, provide support for the hypothsis. Further effect on mugration distances may result from vatiation in the settlement pattern of communities. Seasonal movement associated with certain occupations seems to be unimportant.
Inbreeding among Dhangar castes of Maharashtra, India
Authors: Malhotra K. C. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryConsanguinity is studied in a large sample of marriages among Dhangars of Maharashtra, India. The 22 endogamous castes included in the study show great variation in incidence, about an overall frequency of 26.4%. Matrilateral first cross-cousin unions are more frequency than patrilateral, and maternal uncle-niece nuions least frequent. Geograbhical differences are conspicuous, and all three types of consanguineous union show characteristic patterns; matrilateral unions increase in frequncy northwards, patrilateral and uncle-niece decrease northwards. The inbreeding levels among the Dhangars are high compared to other Maharashtrian groups, but substantially lower than in southern Dravidian speaking groups.
Social factors in patients for artificial insemination by donor (AID)
Authors: Ledward R.S. , Crawford L. , Symonds E.M. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryA programme of artificial insemination, using donor semen, within the NHS began in Nottingham in 1975. Since the inception of the programme all couples have been interviewed by a senior medical social worker, either at home or, later in the programme, within the clinics. This paper reports on features including education, employment, relationship to fertility status, relationship to parents and childhood, religion and reaction to adoption or fostering from the first 147 couples interviewed. All couples have stated a willingness for follow-up assessments and further studies are planned to review their marriages and psychological make-up in later years.
An analysis of reproductive motivation in Shiraz, Iran
Authors: Tolnay S. E. , Mehryar A. H. , Jamshidi S. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryIn a sample of 260 married men in Shiraz, the relationship is studied of fertility to demographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial variables, the last measuring the perceived economic value of children. The number of children ever born is closely associated with duration of marriage, but socioeconomic variables also exert a significant influence, especially the wife's educational level. Recent fertility is more closely associated with age of wife, but also with ownership of modern goods which is also the major factor in current contraceptive use. The perceived value of children appears unimportant, negligible in recent fertility and contraceptive use, and only showing a slight positive relationship between expected reliance on children for support in old age and the number of children ever born.
On the absence of implicit sex-preference in Ghana
Authors: Goody Jack , Duly Colin , Beeson Ian , Harrison Graham 
Published: July 2008

SummaryAs part of a comparative analysis of uterine sibling groups to discover any evidence of ‘stopping rules’ related to actual preferences for children of one sex or another, the distribution of sequences of births by sex from a Ghanaian sample of 9392 mothers has been examined. No such rules can be detected.
Frequency of Colour Vision Defects Among Zulus in Natal
Authors: Pickford R. W. , Pickford Ruth 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThe HRR test was used to study the frequency of colour vision defects in 297 Zulu men and 43 Zulu women of Natal, two Basuto men in Natal, and two Swazi men and 21 Swazi women in the Transvaal.The frequencies agree with the work of other authors, that the numbers of red–green defectives in the black populations of Africa are less than half those among European whites. The observed frequency of women defectives is greater than that expected from the number of males, and the difference is probably due largely to the inclusion of a small number of women with considerable heterozygous manifestation.No yellow–blue deficient subjects were found.
Maternal nutrition, prolonged lactation and birth spacing in Ethiopia
Authors: Wenlock R. Jane , Wenlock R. W. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryData from 375 Ethiopian mothers show lactations of between 25 and 30 months in the majority, very prolonged even by African standards. Maternal nutritional status, as shown by body weights, was low due to very low food energy intakes. With frequent suckling already raising prolactin levels, these very low energy intakes may also result in yet more prolactin secretion. New pregnancies are delayed and birth intervals extended beyond normal African standards by all these factors.
The action of natural selection on the human menstrual cycle: a simulation study
Authors: Métral Gérard 
Published: July 2008

SummaryReproductive performance of the human female is simulated by Monte Carlo methods. The results clearly suggest the operation of natural selection on the length of the female menstrual cycle, brought about by differential fertility. It is argued that the selection pressure towards a shorter cycle, with a selective advantage of approximately 1% per day of shortening, is balanced by internal physiological determinants preventing excessive shortening, so the result is a situation of stabilizing natural selection.
Marital migration and gene flow on the mainland of New Guinea
Authors: Nurse G. T. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThe apparently closed societies of the New Guinea Highlands were traditionally in possession of quite large quantities of pearl shells traded from the coast. Since these constituted almost the only category of goods not produced as easily in the Highlands as the lowlands, and since they formed an appreciable component of the bride wealth, they suggest directional mating leading to an outward movement of women from the Highlands. Marriage movement in three samples of women confirms this suggestion.
Children's perceptions of length of gestation period, the birth exit, and birth necessity explanations: a cross-national study of Australian, English, North American and Swedish Children
Authors: Goldman Ronald J. , Goldman Juliette D. G. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryA sample of 838 children aged 5–15 in Australia, England, North America and Sweden were interviewed about how they perceived biological and sexual development. One of the six sections covered gestation and the birth process. Responses were scored on a biological realism scale. The English-speaking children's estimates of the gestation period achieved realistic levels by 11 years, with Swedish children generally at 9 years. In perceiving where the baby emerged at birth, several orifices were named with strong support for cloacal theory at 5 and 7 years. English-speaking children tended to nominate the realistic birth exit by 11 years, Swedish children earlier at 9 years. The necessity of birth at about 9 months was explained realistically between 11 and 13 years although the explanations were couched in crude and simplistic terms. Certain sex and cultural differences are discussed.
The age of weaning in Britain 1500–1800
Authors: Fildes Valerie 
Published: July 2008

SummaryInformation is collected from the literature on the age at which British children were weaned from the breast between 1500 and 1800. The weaning age recommended by ‘professionals’ was compared with that said by contemporaries to be common, and with those found in a sample of 42 children. A significant decrease was found in the length of suckling particularly after 1750; this was possibly related to the availability and social acceptability of artificial feeding, an increase in the incidence of maternal suckling among upper and middle class women, and the effects of industrialization. The reason for weaning was individual to each nursing couple; no significant difference was found between the weaning age of males and females, or between wet nursed and maternally breast-fed infants; the weaning age within families was not significantly different from a sample of unrelated children within the same period. Between 1650 and 1800 the weaning age recommended by medical writers was apparently representative of actual practice.
Death Loss, Fetal Wastage And Completed Family Size
Authors: Ballweg John A. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryAn examination of pregnancy histories for 969 Filipino women assessed the extent to which pregnancy wastage or loss of a live born child influenced completed family size. Respondents were ever married women 45—49 years of age at the time of the survey; most respondents were beyond their childbearing years. It was found that 56% of the women lost at least one pregnancy or a live born child. While it might be expected that the loss of a child would lower completed family size, the findings indicated that women who reported the loss of one or more children had larger completed families than their counterparts who sustained no miscarriages or childhood deaths. Implications of fertility–mortality relationships are discussed.
The socioeconomic burden of Huntington's chorea in South Wales
Authors: Tyler Audrey , Harper P. S. , Walker D. A. , Davies Kathleen , Newcombe R. G. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryAn unselected group of 92 patients, suffering from Huntington's chorea in South Wales, has been studied in relation to the effects of the disease on employment, need for hospitalization, and the financial burden to the state. Results are compared with data from a matched control group. The difficulties of costing are discussed: a total figure of £21,500 is estimated to be the minimum unit cost per patient in 1980.