Blood group incompatibility between mother and foetus

Effects of age and gender on the location and orientation of the foramen magnum in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Endocasts from 378 rhesus macaque skulls from the Cayo Santiago skeletal collection were measured to determine the effects of age and gender on the position and orientation of the foramen magnum. The foramen magnum migrates from a rostral to a caudal position and its angle changes during postnatal development. The angles and relative positions of the foramen magnum are similar for both genders of infants and for both genders of adults. However, analyses of linear response and plateau (LRP) functions reveal significant differences between males and females in the timing of reorientation of the angle and migration of the foramen magnum. The mean adult angle and relative position of the foramen magnum are reached by 4.7 years in females, but they do not achieve their adult values until 7.1 years in males. A similar pattern is observed for the brainstem region of the basicranium. Mean adult lengths of the brainstem region are reached at 5.2 years in females and 7.1 years in males. The relationships between cranial capacity, the growth pattern of the brainstem, and the pattern of change for the angle and the relative position of the foramen magnum are examined. Quantification of the effects of age and gender on the location of the foramen magnum in a large sample of endocasts from one species of higher primate has potential implications for research on human development, and for interpretation of juvenile specimens in the hominid fossil record.

Rh prevention: a report and analysis of a national programme

A nation-wide Rh prevention programme was started in Finland in 1969. Before that, a control series of approximately 1000 Rh-negative mothers giving birth to an Rh-positive child was collected to estimate the number of mothers with antibodies at either three, six, or nine months post partum. During the three-and-a-half year period altogether 14,980 Rh-negative patients were given 250 μg of anti-D immunoglobulin prepared from Finnish raw material in the Central Laboratory of the Dutch Red Cross. Out of those treated before the end of June 1972, 12,720 (97%) were tested four to six months post partum. Seventeen or 0·13% had detectable antibodies; in five of them the infant was ABO incompatible. The number of protected mothers with a subsequent Rh-positive infant was 1017; 10 had formed antibodies before the delivery of the second child.

The risk of primary immunization initiated during a single pregnancy was estimated to be 0·35%. In addition, there was approximately a 0·60% risk of forming antibodies by the next Rh-positive pregnancy.

The effect of prevention on the prevalence of haemolytic disease was calculated and compared with observed figures.