bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Socio-economic factors and the sex ratio at birth
Authors: Teitelbaum Michael S. , Mantel Nathan 
Published: July 2008

Using a large special study population and refined indicators of socio-economic status, the relationship of the live birth sex ratio to socio economic variables is examined. The analyses provide control for the possible confounding effects of race and birth order.The sex ratio is shown to be significantly and positively associated with socio-economic variables. The relationship is not linear, however, but instead is characterized by an apparent ‘diminishing returns’ curve. The major increase in sex ratio is detected as socio-economic status increases from low to moderate. No significant change occurs between moderate and higher socio-economic levels.Even after controlling for the significant socio-economic effect, the analyses detect a significant difference between the sex ratios of Whites on the one hand and Negroes and Puerto Ricans on the other.No significant association between birth order and the sex ratio can be detected in the study population.
Prenatal mortality and genetic wastage in man
Authors: Kerr Melville G. 
Published: July 2008

Human pregnancy wastage is probably of the order of 50%. It is greatest in the earliest weeks of conception when there is a close correlation with defective embryogenesis, approximating to 100% in the first 3 weeks.Approximately 36% of all clinically recognized abortuses have a chromosome anomaly. This figure does not represent the primary incidence of heteroploidy at conception, because it excludes pre-implantation and early implanted losses which are not recognized clinically.This heteroploidy is most common in early pregnancy at the time when pregnancy wastage is highest. It is not a homogeneous problem but involves a wider range of chromosome anomalies than those found in the adult, autosomal trisomies, XO monosomy and triploidy being the most common findings.It follows that errors in gametogenesis, fertilization and early cleavage divisions are a major cause of prenatal mortality. Biological factors which predispose to these faults include maternal ageing, pre-ovulatory and post-ovulatory ageing of the oocyte and ageing of the spermatozoon. Parental chromosome rearrangements are of minor importance as a cause of chromosome anomalies in abortuses, although they may be of greater significance in recurrent abortions.
Social Class and Season of Birth
Authors: James W. H. 
Published: July 2008

In all societies for which data exist, there is seasonality in the incidence of births, a major cause of which in the UK appears to be season ality in sexual activity.In contrast to the findings of Cowgill for earlier periods in other places, there has recently been in Great Britain a greater degree of seasonality in legitimate than in illegitimate births and in upper-class than in lower-class births.Part of the explanation of the change in illegitimate seasonality could be the recent increase in the numbers of illegitimate births. The greater seasonality of upper-class births could be due to longer and more mobile holidays.
Grain Prices and Vital Statistics in a Portuguese Rural Parish, 1671–1720
Authors: Cowgill U. M. , Johnson H. B. 
Published: July 2008

The rural parish of Turcifal in Portuguese Estremadura in 1671 reflected its standard of living in an unexpected fashion. If the prices of grain grown by the people of this parish are used as an economic guide with high prices reflecting poor agricultural years and low ones representing successful harvests, and such data are then compared with the local statistics, interesting demographic facts result. The mean annual number of marriages and births did not differ significantly between good and bad harvest years. There were, however, a statistically significantly larger number of girls born in poor harvest years; whereas in good years boys were born in excess of the expected sex-ratio. It is suggested that poor nutrition during pregnancy, or possibly some other factor influencing both simultaneously, increased the incidence of unsuccessful gestations, which are more likely to be of males, resulting in a proportionately higher number of female live births.Linear correlations between the price of wheat or barley and the mortality of females showed high significance when the grain is barley and a low significance when it is wheat, suggesting that there may have been a differential use of the food supply. No significance appears when the price of grain is compared with male mortality implying that the men had preferential access to scarce food. The sex-ratio at death, including all ages and all causes, shows an excess of females.
Motivational Factors in IUD Termination: Data from the Second Taiwan IUD Follow-Up Survey
Authors: Hermalin Albert I. , Chow Lien-Pin 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThe Second Taiwan IUD Follow-up Survey, reported on here, is a representative sample of all IUD acceptors in Taiwan up to the middle of 1966. The data show that 30 months after insertion, 36% of acceptors are continuing users, on a first segment basis, and that if reinsertions are taken into account, the proportion increases to 45%. Compared with extensive clinic data from the city of Taichung, the island-wide termination rates are about 5% higher at 30 months, for first segments, but the all segment rates show little difference at this duration.Termination rates by social and demographic characteristics show that these rates decline with increasing age and parity, as expected. Sizable differentials in these rates were also found when acceptors were classified as to their purpose in using an IUD—for limiting or spacing—and as to their desire for more children. These effects were partially independent of age and parity. These ‘motivational’ variables were used in cross-tabulations to show how they might clarify the effect of age and parity, as well as to derive a number of other implications for the evaluation and operation of a family planning programme. The effects of education, urban-rural residence, and prior use of contraception, on IUD termination are studied in some detail by cross-classifying these characteristics with age and with one another.Lastly, this study presents reinsertion rates in relation to a number of social and demographic factors. The rate of reinsertion is seen to depend on the type of termination and, taking this into account, to be generally inverse to the patterns of termination by social and demographic characteristics.
Male Attitudes to Family Planning Education in Santiago, Chile
Authors: Hall M.-Francoise 
Published: July 2008

Editorial note. The material presented below was originally recorded in an article by Dr Hall in Cuadernos Medico-Sociales, 10, 1969. This Chilean medical journal is published in Spanish and is relatively inaccessible in Europe. In view of the interest and importance of the attitude of the male to family planning, especially perhaps of the South American male, it seemed desirable to bring Dr Hall's findings to the attention of a wider audience. The paper which follows is a revised version of the original English text from which the Spanish translation was prepared. I am much obliged to Dr Hall for her cooperation.A survey of 584 men in Santiago and 217 men in an adjacent rural area showed that:(1) Men were favourable to family planning, both in their own personal relationships and for other adults. In all socio-economic strata, more respondents favoured giving information to men than women. It is suggested that male support be enlisted in efforts to reduce induced abortions.(2) Men favoured giving contraceptive information to youths of both sexes. The family planning programme, therefore, could provide information to adolescents at a time when attitudes toward sex are developing.(3) There was wide agreement that family planning education be discussed in schools ‘in accordance with the age of the children.’ There is thus an opportunity for the schools to help children develop a system of values within the framework of widely available effective contraception.
Recent trends in mortality in Australia
Authors: McDonald P. F. 
Published: July 2008

Before World War II, mortality in Australia had decreased progressively since 1860, the first year for which statistics are available. The present study shows that this decline in mortality, although interrupted by the war, continued again during the 1950s but appears to have halted around 1960. In some age groups, death rates have even increased during the 1960s.The alteration in the trend of mortality has occurred mainly in the middle age group, 35–64, while death rates for persons aged over 64 have tended to remain constant and those for persons aged 15 and under have continued to decline. Death rates for males aged 15–34 declined throughout the period, tending to level off towards the end, whereas the rates for females aged 15–34 have increased during recent years.The retardation of mortality decline appears to have resulted from a slight increase in death rates from arteriosclerotic and degenerative heart disease, together with rapid increases in death rates from lung cancer for males and motor vehicle accidents for females.
Knowledge, practice and effectiveness of contraception in Belgium
Authors: Cliquet R. L. 
Published: July 2008

An investigation has been undertaken, within the framework of the 1966 national survey, of the knowledge, practice and effectiveness of contraception in Belgium. The basic findings are presented here.Knowledge of contraceptive methods was rather slight. With the exception of oral contraception, it was the reproductively least effective and sexually most disturbing methods which were best known. Also, the data on the sources of knowledge of contraceptive methods showed a discrepancy between reality and what was considered desirable. Although contraceptive practice was very widespread, a great many of the women questioned felt inhibited about this problem. In general, a restricted number of methods was used and a large majority of the users exclusively practised non-appliance methods. According to shifts in use, a scale of relative acceptability of methods has been prepared.On the basis of information for a subsample, the majority of the conceptions appeared to be unplanned and this phenomenon increased with parity.The contraception data have been related to a limited number of sociocultural identification and performance variables, some of which are of considerable sociobiological importance. The relative effect of these variables on contraceptive behaviour has been examined. Interaction between several of them has been demonstrated.The qualitative analysis of the questionnaires not only allowed answers to be checked and interpreted but also largely confirmed the statistical findings.
The altered seasons of death in America
Authors: Lyster W. R. 
Published: July 2008

The seasonal distribution of deaths in the United States has progressively altered since 1940. The proportion of deaths in the first half of the year has declined. During the 1940s there were 7·44% more deaths in the first half than in the second half of the year, but during the 1960s the difference was only 4·85%.The continuous shift in the seasonal distribution of the crude death rates from all causes is in association with a similar movement in the monthly fertility rates of the United States.
An epidemiological study of schizophrenia
Authors: Dube K. C. , Kumar Narendra 
Published: July 2008

This report is based on the findings of an epidemiological study of 29,468 rural, semi-rural and urban inhabitants of the Agra region of Uttar Pradesh. The survey was made in order to find out the prevalence of severe mental disorders and associated conditions in an Indian community. The sampling was purposive and areas selected were contiguous. Census methods were used. All inhabitants were investigated by a team consisting of a psychologist, a statistician, social workers and psychiatrists. After reconnaissance and initial contact by home visits, suspected cases were detected by a searching inquiry and the information so obtained was carefully documented. These cases were subjected to psychiatric examination and abnormal ones identified. Consultation with another psychiatrist was necessary to make a final diagnosis.The lifetime prevalence rate of schizophrenia was 2·2 per thousand, about the same frequency as found in other parts of the world. The maximum number of cases occurred in males between the ages of 15 and 24 and in females between the ages of 35 and 44. Single people, that is, never married, widowed, divorced or separated suffered significantly much more from the disease than bachelors and married people. A significant relationship was found between schizophrenia and castes in Vaish and Brahmin males as compared with others. The highest rate of schizophrenia was found among people in unremunerative status. Intoxicants were used more by schizophrenics than by normal people. Caste group indulgents had their own preferences in drug use, cannabis indulgence being highest among Brahmins. No association of schizophrenia with residence, educational status or sex was found.
Sexual behaviour of Rhodesian Africans
Authors: Symington R. B. 
Published: July 2008

A survey of sexual habits was conducted among Africans living in and around the Salisbury area of Rhodesia. With the exception of a high rate of venereal disease (overall occurrence 22%) the general health of the interviewees was good. Of men interviewed, 63% had heard of family planning but only 25% completely favoured its practice. Reasons against family planning included cost, religious or political beliefs and unwillingness to interfere with nature. The most commonly used contraceptive method was the pill.Among married men, average frequency of intercourse was 2·1 times daily. Bachelors reported this parameter in terms of frequency per ‘date’ (2·8). The interval between dates varied from 2 to 9 days. Of married men, 90% had intercourse at night whereas the majority of bachelors had intercourse at an opportune time. Among married men, 22% had regular extra-marital intercourse.Mean age of men at first intercourse was 18·0 years and that of their partner 16·8 years. Seventy-six per cent of men reported that intercourse normally lasted less than 5 min, and 57% always experienced orgasm during intercourse. The most favoured method for intercourse (66%) was the male superior-female supine position. Twice as many married men either used or had used aphrodisiacs as had bachelors (23%). Despite the widespread availability of beetles which contain twice as much cantharides as do Spanish fly, the most commonly used aphrodisiacs were of plant origin.
Cycle day of ovulation
Authors: James William H. 
Published: July 2008

The length of the post-ovulatory phase in a composite sample of menstrual cycles increases linearly with cycle length until cycle length reaches about 30 days, but thereafter it ceases to increase (Vollman, 1953; Bailey & Marshall, 1970). By contrast, plotted against the mean cycle length of the individual, the length of the post-ovulatory phase continues to increase roughly linearly with mean cycle length. It is concluded (a) that many long cycles are aberrant occurrences among cycles of normal length and are due to lengthening of the pre-ovulatory phase and (b) that where the mean cycle length is long, ovulation, as in shorter cycles, occurs just before the middle of the cycle, so that the post-ovulatory phase is longer than usual.The most fertile day seems to be the one before mid-cycle. These conclusions are the basis for the following formula for calendar rhythm:If x is the shortest and y the longest cycle in a woman's menstrual record, the ‘unsafe’ days start on Day (½x − 5) and last for (y − x + 8) days.
Is there a relationship between childlessness and marriage breakdown?
Authors: Chester Robert 
Published: July 2008

The common belief that childlessness is positively associated with instability of marriage derives from official statistics which appear to show higher divorce rates for childless than for fertile couples. The official findings are a procedural artifact, however, and the relationship shown is certainly exaggerated and possibly spurious.The appropriate strategy in determining whether divorcees are relatively infertile is to find a population with disrupted marriages and measure its fertility experience. In doing so it is necessary to take note of the definition of fertility, the remarriage factor, and (most importantly) the duration of marriage. The official statistics use the conception of legal duration of marriage. Since this ignores separation before divorce, its use exaggerates the infertility of divorcees, as does failure to exclude remarriages. De facto duration of marriage (wedding to separation) is a superior statement of opportunity to conceive, and calculations on this basis eliminate or even reverse the fertility differential between divorcing and stable couples. Local figures are used to illustrate this effect, and the finding is supported by evidence from a sample of marriages ending in legal proceedings lesser than divorce. It is concluded that the alleged relationship between childlessness and instability of marriage is probably either non-existent or the reverse of that normally assumed, and that in any case measurement of the net overall effect of childlessness does not provide a helpful datum. An alternative strategy of research is suggested, which would seek patterns of effect rather than net overall effect, taking heed of relevant variables, and also considering all forms of marital breakdown including marriages in which cohabitation continues only with disharmony.
Biological aspects of a high socio-economic group II. IQ Components and Social Mobility
Authors: Gibson John B. , Nicholas Mascie-Taylor C. G. 
Published: July 2008

Data are presented on the verbal and performance (non-verbal) IQs of a sample of university scientists, their surviving fathers and male sibs.Although mean IQs differ between scientific disciplines the disciplines do not differentially attract scientists from particular socio-economic classes.The verbal IQs of both the scientists and their fathers are positively correlated with socio-economic class but only in the fathers' sample is the performance IQ/class correlation significant. The variance of both verbal and performance IQs increases from Class I to Class IIIM. The overall estimate of heritability for the verbal IQ is higher than that for the performance IQ.Verbal and performance IQs are related to the distance the scientists have moved on the socio-economic scale. The effects of social mobility on the genetic and environmental components of the verbal and performance IQ phenotypic variances are discussed.
Offering bonuses for reduced fertility
Authors: Enke Stephen , Hickman Bryan D. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThe performance of population programmes suggests that even the more successful ones have acceptance rates that are only a fifth or so of what is needed to reduce population growth rates to the 1% a year that permits significant improvements in income per head. It is also clear that no programmes use bonuses at anything approaching the monetary values per recipient that are justifiable. There is no guarantee that such bonuses will produce the number of acceptors that are needed, but it is fairly evident that without larger bonuses there will not be enough acceptors.Briefly, if bonuses are to become an effective and acceptable feature of national family planning programmes, they must meet at least the following requirements:(1) The various bonuses must be an integral part of an evolving and expanding system, and such bonuses must be evaluated in terms of the same criteria used to evaluate the overall family planning programme.(2) Bonuses should be substantial, equal to perhaps one-half or more of the maximum that society, through government, can afford to pay for reduced fertility.(3) Bonus qualification and administration should be reasonably cheat-proof, and the majority of couples using contraceptives should not be able to collect more than one kind of bonus.(4) Selective discrimination among acceptors, at least by age, should be attempted by government to reduce payments of unnecessarily large bonuses to those who would practise effective contraception for a smaller bonus.(5) Bonuses should be used to gain the acceptance of more cost-effective methods, or of more fertile couples, even during early stages when a family planning programme is generally supply constrained.Finally, because in a real sense transfer payments are less costly than more customary activities incurring resource costs, bonuses should be used whenever their budget cost is no greater than more traditional expenditures that are equally effective in terms of reducing births. As such bonuses are really a form of compensation, paying for valuable services undertaken at some inconvenience and sacrifice, there is nothing morally reprehensible in paying them. Moreover, inasmuch as poorer people are most likely to respond, there is a favourable income redistribution effect and, of course, a prospect of higher average incomes because of the fertility reduction.
Selected studies of the Menopause
Authors: McKinlay Sonja M. , McKinlay John B. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryLiterature on the subject of the menopause, primarily from the past three decades, is selectively reviewed in the form of an annotated bibliography. In order to highlight particular methodological problems, the review is presented in three sections, each preceded by a brief discussion, as follows: (a) the general report of clinical observation or experience, (b) the survey, and (c) the clinical trial. Several recommendations are also made for further research in this field.
Birth Weight In Israel, 1968–70 I. Effects of Birth Order and Maternal Origin
Authors: Grossman S. , Handlesman Y. , Davies A. Michael 
Published: July 2008

SummaryAn analysis of 96% of Israeli live births, 1968–70, gives a mean birth weight of 3299 ± 543 g with 5·7% weighing less than 2500 g. The mean values increased from 3193 ± 510 g for first born to 3469 ± 604 g for tenth and subsequent births.There were significant differences between the mean birth weights, adjusted for birth order, of the different ethnic-origin groups. Infants of Jewish immigrants from North African countries weighed 3356 g followed by Christian Arabs (3337 g), Israeli-born Jews (3310 g), immigrants from Western countries (3303 g), Moslem Arabs (3251 g), Druze (3244 g) and immigrants from countries of Asia (3223 g).For the Jewish groups, the differences were diminished in the second generation of Israeli-born but those descended from Asian immigrants continued to be the lighter group.In order to determine the extent to which these differences are truly ‘ethnic’ further analyses of more homogeneous groups will be necessary taking into account a number of other demographic and socio-economic variables. (Summary in Hebrew, p. 58.)
Components Of Period Fertility in England and Wales
Authors: Farid S. M. 
Published: July 2008

SummaryThe method of decomposition is applied to evaluate the role played by fertility and age composition of women at risk in annual fluctuations in the number of legitimate live births in England and Wales during the period 1956–70. The analysis shows that the upward trend in the numbers of births during the period 1956–64 was mainly due to a rise in the level of period fertility and that the downward trend thereafter has been due to a declining trend in fertility alone. The analysis also shows that the size and age distribution of women at risk have strongly affected the size of birth cohorts born since 1964. Such effects have been in the direction of increasing the numbers of births to women under 25 years of age in a period of falling fertility.