Reproductive synchrony tends to be widespread in diverse species of plants and animals, especially at higher latitudes. However, for long-lived mammals, birth dates for different individuals can vary by weeks within a population. A mother's birth timing can reveal useful information about her reproductive abilities and have important implications for the characteristics and survival of her offs...

Management of congenital anomalies of the upper limb is reviewed with reference to classification and aetiology, incidence, diagnosis before birth, broad principles of treatment, timing of x rays and scans, functional aims, cosmetic appearance, counselling of parents, therapists, scars, skin grafts, growth, and timing of surgery. Notes on 11 congenital hand conditions are given.

RATIONALE Bronchiolitis during infancy is associated with an increased risk of childhood asthma. Whether winter viral infections cause asthma or are a manifestation of a predisposition to asthma development is unknown. OBJECTIVES To study the relationship of winter virus infection during infancy and the development of childhood asthma. METHODS We studied over 95,000 infants born between 199...

OBJECTIVE We aimed to determine the timing and size of the cognitive deficit associated with poverty in the first 5 years of life and to examine the role of parental characteristics, pre- and postnatal growth, and stimulation in the home in Bangladeshi children. We hypothesized that the effect of poverty on cognition begins in infancy and is mainly mediated by these factors. METHODS We enroll...

Timing of first appearance and subsequent distribution of adipose tissue were assessed in 488 normal-for-age human fetuses. The sample represented each of the three trimesters of normal pregnancies. Light microscopy showed that adipose tissue first appears and progressively develops from the 14th to 24th week of gestation (100-216 mm crown-rump length) in those areas where it characteristically...

background : migrant studies offer a unique opportunity to analyze variation in disease occurrence due to background factors. the role of environmental and lifestyle exposures are of particular interest in cancer research, and migrant studies can be considered as natural experiments in epidemiological research. large numbers of immigrants from different regions of the world and the availability...

Israel’s 1994 adoption of free in vitro fertilization (IVF) provides a natural experiment for how fertility time horizons impact women’s marriage timing and other outcomes. We find substantial increase average age at first following the policy change, using both men Arab-Israeli women as comparison groups. This shift appears to be driven by increased marriages older younger delaying marriage. A...

STUDY OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to analyze season of birth effects on preferred sleep-wake cycle timing as assessed by Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS The MEQ was administered to a sample of 5,720 university students (3,851 Italians and 1,869 Spaniards; 3,877 female and 1,843 male; mean age 22.23 +/- 2.98 years). RESULTS Females preferred t...

Preterm birth is a complex disorder defined by gestations of less than 37 weeks. While preterm birth is estimated to have a significant genetic component, relative few genes have been associated with preterm birth. Polymorphism in one such gene, follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR), has been associated with preterm birth in Finnish and African American mothers but not other populations....