Object loss, aggression, and gender identity

This paper arises from a clinical, observational, longitudinal study of aggression in normal children in the first two years of life. In this study of one of the research children the authors seek to delinate how the emergence and vicissitudes of aggression in a little boy are affected by a variety of strains in the course of his early development and how the aggression affects all the major developmental tasks in his young life. In particular, the authors attempt to follow the interdependent currents of object relations, aggression, and early sexual development.

Pattern of menstrual cycles and incidence of congenital malformations

An analysis has been made of the general reproductive characteristics of mothers, including the temperature curves of preconception and conception cycles, in a prospective study which ended in the birth of 22 malformed infants and 894 normal infants. The differences observed have shown that the mothers of malformed infants had their first menstrual period at a later age (13.4 vs 12.8 years), their menstrual cycles were more often irregular (77% vs 40%) and lasted longer (32.9 vs 30.1 days). Moreover, they had a longer hypothermic phase during both their preconception cycle (21.7 vs 17.6 days) and during their conception cycle (24.0 vs 18.1 days), as well as a longer temperature rise during their conception cycle (3.7 vs 3.0 days). By taking into account the relation between these variables, we have been able to show that increased risk of malformation is associated with increase in the length of the hypothermic phase and the temperature rise of the conception cycle.

Fertility of couples following cessation of contraception

A retrospective study has been undertaken among 5108 women of the delay in conception after stopping different methods of contraception. Particular attention was paid to the delay that sometimes separates the cessation of contraception and the beginning of intercourse without precautions and to the effect of possible confounding factors.

It was possible to demonstrate a decreased fertility for couples after the pill and, to a lesser degree, after IUD use, but only among those who did not take other precautions (waiting period). For couples observing a waiting period, there is no decrease of fertility following the initial exposure to the risk of conception.

The different prevalence of these confounding factors from one population to another can explain the various results reported of other studies.

Smoking during pregnancy and placental pathology

The pathological study of all placentas from women smoking at least five cigarettes daily during pregnancy (248 cases) and of those placentas from a corresponding control group randomised among all the non-smokers (196 cases) has been set up at the maternity hospital of Haguenau (France) since 1974. The systematic histological examination has shown among smokers a higher frequency of abonormal trophoblast and especially of nuclear clumps in the syncytiotrophoblast. On the other hand, according to a standard protocol, the grouping of various abnormalities has shown, among smokers, a higher frequency of "signs of hypoxia". The lack of relationship between these "signs of hypoxia" and the well-known decreased birthweight among smokers suggests that smoking during pregnancy could always go with a decreased birthweight without a corresponding decreased placental weight, and seldom with an intra-uterine hypoxia. These two effects are independent.

[Prolonged pregnancy and perinatal distress]

212 out of 2806 women who delivered in the Haguenau Maternity had a period of amenorrhoea markedly longer than 42 weeks, when the menstrual cycle was 28 +/- 8 days. 39 of the 212 pregnancies, which means 18 per cent of the infants, showed signs of postmaturity and in these there was an excess of fetal distress. Those children who were born after pregnancies which were theoretically "prolonged" but did not show signs of postmaturity did not suffer neonatal distress any more than those children born at term. Having scans of uterine growth makes one come to the conclusion that these are not really prolonged pregnancies.

Smoking during pregnancy and placental weight: a multivariate analysis on 3759 cases

The analysis of a survey of 3759 births shows that the difference in placental weight between smokers and nonsmokers is, if not nil, at least minimal, and that is definitely less than might be expected taking birth weight and other factors into consideration in a multivariate analysis (Tab. II). The distortion between the fetal and placental weights, which are very closely correlated, assigns to smoking a peculiar place among the factors influencing these two weights, a result which may lead to various interpretations.