Paul (1931) found that the spread of the disease through families suggested that the disease was due to an infection, in which the possible ioles of environment and of an inherited disposition were undetermined. Roberts and Thomson (1934) considered that the most reasonable explanation of the family incidence of the disease was that it is due to genetically determined differences in susceptibil...

A new analysis of the original data from the four largest studies (Newman, Freeman and Holzinger. 1957; Shields. 1962; Juel-Nielsen.I965; Burt. 1955) of the intelligence of monozygotic twins reared apart. totaling 122 twin pain. leads to conclusions not found in the original studies or in previous reviews of them. Statistical analysis of the twin differences reveals no significant differences a...

A disease resembling childhood coeliac disease occurred in one of identical twins. When the twins were investigated at the age of 23 the initial diagnosis could not be substantiated but the twin who had been ill had selective IgA deficiency. Differences dating from early infancy may have been a result of the discordance for IgA deficiency. Thus in some patients environmental influences may be i...

In a pair of 19-year-old monozygotic twin girls, one developed insulin-dependent, ketosis-prone diabetes at the age of three and has required insulin for the past 16 years. Her identical twin has maintained normal oral and intravenous glucose tolerance with normal insulin release and glucagon suppression. An unequivocal hypertrophy of the muscle capillary basement membrane (1,800 +/- 148 A) was...

Two 21-year-old female twins are described. They presented simultaneously with hirsutism and oligomenorrhoea. Investigation showed they had polycystic ovaries, they were identical and were not cases of post-pubertal adrenogenital syndrome.

Lichen nitidus is an uncommon idiopathic chronic dermatosis characterized by minute, flesh-colored or hypopigmented, shiny papules commonly occurring on the abdomen, chest, genitalia, and extremities. The disorder is most often localized but, rarely, can become extensive or generalized. The occurrence of lichen nitidus during infancy is extremely rare. A perusal of the English literature reveal...

Using an infrared recording system we examined the nystagmus waveforms of a pair of monozygotic twin girls and found them to be dissimilar. It is proposed that in view of the common mode of inheritance the differences are a result of environmental influences.

The common cause of simple pneumothorax is rupture of an emphysematous bleb or bulla. The aetiology of these is uncertain. A familial predisposition has previously been suggested' and we report the incidence of concurrent spontaneous pneumothoraces in identical twins. We have found no previous report in the English literature of concurrent spontaneous pneumothorax in identical twins treated sub...

A 62 year man with tablet-controlled type 2 diabetes was referred by his general practitioner to the emergency medical unit with shortness of breath. He was found to be in atrial fibrillation with a heart rate of 130 beats/min and the patient was commenced on sotalol and warfarin. Thyroid function tests were requested and found to be abnormal, with thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) 7.75 mU/l (r...

To the Editor: We found the study of clinical responses to opioids by Angst et al.1 to be an excellent first-of-its-kind study for distinguishing the contribution of heredity versus environment. Much work has been done using twins to separate heredity from environment and this addition to our literature is timely. Although the use of twins to separate nature from nurture is a long-established m...