Identifying twins for a population-based register can be achieved through birth records or community surveys. We studied the feasibility and effectiveness of different methods of identifying and recruiting twins to establish a population based register. To trace twins a population survey was carried out using an interviewer administered questionnaire. We also inspected the birth registration ce...

BACKGROUND Smaller studies and many case series reports indicate that congenital heart defects may be more common in monochorionic twins than in dichorionic twins and singletons. METHODS AND RESULTS We investigated congenital heart defect occurrence in all twins and 5% of all singletons born in Denmark in 1977-2001 and followed through 2006 by linking the Danish Twin Registry and Statistics D...

Pregnancy- and birth-related factors may have an effect on handedness. Compared with singletons, twins have a lower birth weight, shorter gestational age, and are at higher risk for birth complications. We tested whether the prevalence of left-handedness is higher among twins than singletons, and if so, whether that difference is fully explained by pregnancy and birth-related differences betwee...

BACKGROUND Monozygotic twins are at greater risk of dying and of serious morbidity than dizygotic twins, and both are at greater risk than singletons. This is only partly explained by the higher proportion of low birthweight infants among twins. AIM To compare, in same sex and different sex twins, birth weight specific neonatal death rates and cerebral palsy prevalence rates in the surviving ...

BACKGROUND Twins compared to singletons are at increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). AIMS To compare the epidemiology of SIDS in twins and singletons and to test the hypothesis that monozygous (MZ) were at greater risk of SIDS than dizygous (DZ) twins. METHODS Data from the Office for National Statistics on all registered live births and infant deaths with registered cause ...

Traditionally, monochorionicity has been regarded as synonymous with monozygosity. However, several recent cases of monochorionic dizygotic twins have shown that monochorionic twins can be dizygous. We report a rare case of monochorionic diamnionic, gender-discordant twins who were conceived spontaneously. Initially, a monochorionic placenta was diagnosed by ultrasonography at 8 weeks of gestat...

Distinguishing identical twins using their face images is a challenge in biometrics. The goal of this study is to construct a biometric system that is able to give the correct matching decision for the recognition of identical twins. We propose a method that uses feature-level fusion, score-level fusion, and decision-level fusion with principal component analysis, histogram of oriented gradient...

OBJECTIVE To compare the growth and development of twins with normal control singletons and also with matched 'high risk' singletons, at one and four years of age. DESIGN A four year prospective follow up study. SETTING High risk clinic (HRC) of a referral hospital. SUBJECTS Twin pairs enrolled in the HRC; normal full term singleton controls; and high risk "matched" singletons enrolled in...

This study examined the genetic and environmental contribution to people's preference for spouses and friends to be similar to themselves. In their responses to 130 personality, attitude, and demographic questions, 174 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) twins resembled each other (r= .53) more than did 148 pairs of dizygotic (DZ) twins (r= .32), 322 pairs of spouses (r= .32), and 563 pairs of best frien...