OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate chorionicity and zygosity as risk factors for adverse perinatal outcomes in twins. STUDY DESIGN A population-based, retrospective cohort study was conducted of all twin deliveries in Nova Scotia, Canada, from 1988 to 1997. Chorionicity was established by histologic examination. Zygosity was determined by chorionicity, sex, and infant blood g...

Myasthenia gravis in one member each of two sets of twins is described. A 17 year old girl developed generalized myasthenia gravis at the age of 14 years, while her monozygotic twin sister has remained in good health during a three year period of observation. Another patient was a 19 year old woman with the onset of generalized myasthenia gravis at the age of 11 years, and her dizygotic twin si...

It has been suggested that the high rates of prematurity, low birth weight, perinatal morbidity and mortality in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) infants are due to the increased frequency of multiple gestations in this population. The aim of our study was to test this hypothesis by comparing the outcome of IVF twins with that of twins born after spontaneously conceived pregnancies. The perinatal o...

The association of twins with health-giving powers is widespread in mythology, folklore, and religion. The Ashvins of the Rig-Veda, the classical Dioscuri, and the early Christian saints Cosmos and Damian are among the many examples of twins divinely empowered in the area of health and fertility. A characteristic set of attributes of twins recurs in different mythologies of wide distribution. I...

A recent large-scale study of Finnish adolescent twins (Pulkkinen et al., 2003) reported that individuals from opposite-sex twin pairs were more socially adaptive than individuals from same-sex pairs or singletons. This finding raised questions about the social learning effects of being an opposite-sex twin. The current article predicted on the basis of this finding, and evidence from singleton...

This is a follow up study of twins within the Stockholm area, including 32 families and their twins attending grade nine. The twins have been followed from birth to 16 years of age. The main purpose of this study from its inception was to assess mental and cognitive development at different ages. Another aim was to see how the twins who were born prematurely are developing during the school age...

BACKGROUND Studies in twins may be questioned with respect to their representativeness of the general population, not least considering the potential importance of the fetal environment for future health and disease. To better understand the influence twinning may have on health, we investigated long-term health outcomes of twins, their singleton siblings and singletons from the population. M...

AIM To determine the size of the growth deficit in Dutch monozygotic and dizygotic twins aged 0-2.5 years as compared to singletons and to construct reference growth charts for twins. METHODS Growth of twins was studied using longitudinal data on over 4000 twins aged 0-2.5 years of the Netherlands Twin Register. The LMS method was used to obtain growth references for length/height, weight, an...

Based on a true incident, Cyril Dabydeen's poem explores two Euro-Canadian children's responses to race.

Xipho-omphalopagus twins are conjoined twins sharing some part of gastrointestinal system and lower sternum. These types of twins have best chances of survival if successfully separated. We report a case of successfully separated Xipho-omphalopagus twins, highlighting the importance of proper planning and team effort in such separations.