An unselected group of 92 patients, suffering from Huntington's chorea in South Wales, has been studied in relation to the effects of the disease on employment, need for hospitalization, and the financial burden to the state. Results are compared with data from a matched control group. The difficulties of costing are discussed: a total figure of £21,500 is estimated to be the minimum unit cost per patient in 1980.

In this paper the genetic fitness of the two heterozygotes Hb A/E and β-thalassaemia trait, in Calcutta, is examined in terms of their reproductive performance. It is found from fertility that the heterozygote Hb A/E enjoys some selective advantage over the normal homozygote Hb A/A, but the other heterozygote (β-thalassaemia trait) does not. But from overall reproductive performance (fertility and infant mortality together) it is postulated that the heterozygotes will eventually suffer from a selective disadvantage in a place like Calcutta, where malaria was eradicated about three decades ago.

The paper analyses results of a survey of sexual and reproductive behaviour in a sample of 2301 currently married women aged less than 50 years. The survey was conducted in 22 villages of the ICDDR, B field station in Bangladesh. Admittedly, the sample is not representative as co-operation could not be obtained from about one-third of eligible women. The results suggest higher coital frequencies among Hindu than among Muslim respondents. There appears to be a clear age and marriage duration pattern with coital frequencies declining rapidly to a plateau after about 5 years of marriage and among women aged 25 and over, followed by another steep decline at durations of marriage over 20 years and age 40 and more. Generally, recently married, young, non-breast-feeding, non-contracepting and pregnant respondents reported higher coital frequencies than their peers of opposite characteristics. Post-partum abstinence among both Muslims and Hindus was comparatively short, generally not exceeding 3 months.

All centres of Sri Lanka Moor concentration were identified, together accounting for 87·2% of the total Moor population of the island. The variations in the child/woman ratio that occur locally between wards within these communities show strong negative correlations with two measures of departure from conservatism, the proportion of females of school age attending school and the proportion of males engaged in non-agricultural occupations. These two variates together account for the greater part of the variation in the child/woman ratio from ward to ward in 1971.

In contrast to early studies of parental preference for the sex of their offspring which showed an over-riding son preference in terms of both the expressed desires for a male infant and of the sex ratio of completed families, more recent studies show that the desire for a balance of sexes outweighs the preference for a particular sex. A recent attitude survey in the UK (Dunnell, 1979) confirms this and also claims to find no difference in the pattern of preferences between social classes.

This article examines family building patterns among Aberdeen families over the last 20 years in the light of these earlier findings. The analysis shows first that considerably more families continue to have a third child after two children of the same sex than after one boy and one girl, thus supporting the proposition that parents prefer a balanced sex composition. Second, a multivariate analysis of the data shows in contrast to other findings that this tendency to continue to have a third child does vary according to social class.

This study examines data from 15,172 episodes of hospitalization pertaining to Aboriginal Australians discharged from public and private hospitals in New South Wales during 1978. Morbidity patterns revealed provide quantitative evidence on a whole population basis for the often impressionistic statements of those dealing with limited areas or with specific diseases.

Respiratory diseases are by far the most common and their occurrence seems to be out of proportion in relation to other diagnoses. Gastrointestinal and diarrhoeal diseases are important among young children, alcoholism among men, and diabetes among older people of both sexes. The most common surgical procedures involved abdomen, female genitals and ear, nose and throat.

It was noted that for most disease categories Aborigines were more likely to be hospitalized than non-Aborigines, the major exception being neoplasms. On the other hand, Aborigines were significantly less likely to be hospitalized for surgical operations. Overall, Aborigines were found to suffer higher levels of ill-health primarily due to their depressed economic conditions and social exclusion as well as racial discrimination to which they are commonly subjected in Australia.

The average gains in life expectancy and in working life ages for Koreans in Japan and Japanese are examined when four selected causes of death are hypothetically eliminated. The life expectancy at birth of Korean males and females in Japan (1974–76) was 67·1 and 77·1 years, respectively. The largest increases in life expectancy at birth for Koreans in Japan and Japanese (both sexes) result when cardiovascular diseases are eliminated. At the working ages, 15–65 years, of Koreans in Japan and Japanese (both sexes) the largest gains result from elimination of malignant neoplasms. The implications of the results are discussed in relation to the public health services and acculturation of Koreans in Japan.

In rural women in Andhra Pradesh, major determinants of early menopause are poor health status, particularly low haemoglobin and protein levels, increased parity, and pathological conditions including infection by bacteria, fungi and viruses. Early menopause leads to increased likelihood of extramarital sexual relations by husbands, resulting in family disharmony. As remedial measures, a greater age difference between prospective spouses, education in sexual hygiene, improvement of health and nutritional status, and limitation of conception are indicated.

A study has been made of twinning rates throughout the world over the last two decades. There has been a decline in age-specific dizygotic twinning rates in almost all of the developed countries during this period. Exceptions to this trend are provided by the United States, where the only decline in twinning rates in the last two decades was in births to older women in the 1960s, and by Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria, where an initial decline in twinning during the 1960s was followed by stable twinning rates.

It is suggested that the cause may be some form of environmental pollutant, perhaps a pesticide, which has been the subject of restrictive legislation first in the United States and later in the three Communist countries. Possibly the cause of this decline may be identified by a study of such legislation.

This seems to be the first study of twinning rates in Central and South America. The low twinning rates in some of the countries there may indicate the genetic affiliations of their inhabitants with those (of Mongoloid origin) of countries in the Far East.