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I. Skinfold thicknesses at seven sites were measured during and after pregnancy in eightyfour women ; in forty-eight of these, total body water was measured concurrently.2. Early in pregnancy (10 weeks) the skinfold measurements were highly correlated with each other and with maternal weight, ratio of observed weight to standard weight-for-height, 'dry' (water-free) weight, and with calculated estimates of body fat.3. At nearly all sites, skinfold thicknesses increased up to about 30 weeks of pregnancy. Increases were greater at 'central' and least at 'peripheral' sites, and were not proportional to the initial skinfold thickness.4. From 30 to 38 weeks of pregnancy, the patterns were variable: the mid-thigh skinfold continued to increase and at the other sites there was little change or a decrease.5. All sites decreased by a surprisingly large amount between 38 weeks of pregnancy and the end of the first post-partum week. The evidence suggests that this change, which was not related to the presence or absence of oedema, occurred about the time of parturition.6. From the end of the first post-partum week to 6-8 weeks post partunz, the changes were again variable. 7.The increase of skinfolds during pregnancy was greater in underweight than in overweight women, and in primiparae than in multiparae. The pattern of change was not affected in any consistent manner by oedema.8. The changes in skinfold thicknesses during pregnancy, especially up to about 30 weeks, showed patterns similar to those of total body-weight and 'dry' body-weight. A formula is given by means of which 'dry' weight can be predicted from five skinfolds, height and duration of gestation.

GPR50 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) located on Xq28, a region previously implicated in multiple genetic studies of bipolar affective disorder (BPAD). Allele frequencies of three polymorphisms in GPR50 were compared in case-control studies between subjects with BPAD (264), major depressive disorder (MDD) (226), or schizophrenia (SCZ) (263) and ethnically matched controls (562). Significant associations were found between an insertion/ deletion polymorphism in exon 2 and both BPAD (P ¼ 0.0070), and MDD (P ¼ 0.011) with increased risk associated with the deletion variant (GPR50 D502-505 ). When the analysis was restricted to female subjects, the associations with BPAD and MDD increased in significance (P ¼ 0.00023 and P ¼ 0.0064, respectively). Two other single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tested within this gene showed associations between: the female MDD group and an SNP in exon 2 (P ¼ 0.0096); and female SCZ and an intronic SNP (P ¼ 0.0014). No association was detected in males with either MDD, BPAD or SCZ. These results suggest that GPR50 D502-505 , or a variant in tight linkage disequilibrium with this polymorphism, is a sex-specific risk factor for susceptibility to bipolar disorder, and that other variants in the gene may be sex-specific risk factors in the development of schizophrenia. Bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) is a severe psychiatric disorder affecting approximately 1% of the world's population, and shows no difference in lifetime prevalence between male and female subjects. Twin and adoption studies have demonstrated a strong genetic component, with a concordance in BPAD between monozygotic twins of 60%. 1 Major depressive disorder (MDD) has a lifetime prevalence of 17% with women twice as likely as men to develop the disorder. 2 Estimates of the heritability of MDD vary, but a meta-analysis of studies gives a point estimate of heritability of liability to MDD of 0.37. 3 Schizophrenia (SCZ), as with BPAD, has an estimated frequency of 1% in the population, but heritability estimates suggest that it has a larger genetic component than either BPAD or MDD, with monozygotic twins giving a point estimate of comorbidity of 0.81 in another recent meta-analysis. 4 Despite the strong genetic component in these major psychiatric disorders, there are also strong environmental influences.Linkage to Xq28 has been studied many times in BPAD. Two loci, colour-blindness (CB), and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), have been detected through linkage and association in more than one population. 5 Most significant are LOD scores of 8.1 and 7.35 between CB and BPAD in the American and Belgian populations, respectively, although reanalysis of much of the data from positive linkage results on the X chromosome has resulted in much reduced evidence for linkage and suggestions of ascertainment bias. 6-9 Several more recent studies have again renewed interest in the distal end of Xq, although the region implicated in these studies (Xq24-28) is larger than that depicted in the earlier reports. 5,[...

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. (1970). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 45, 566. Standards for birthweight at gestation periods from 32 to 42 weeks, allowing for maternal height and weight. Standard charts are given for assessing the normality of birthweight for length of gestation from 32 to 42 weeks; first-born and later-born infants are shown separately, and allowance is made for maternal height and mid-pregnancy weight.

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Menstrual blood losses were measured in 348 women aged 17 to 45 years in a Northumbrian mining village. Menstrual loss was found to be related to parity and to the birthweight of previous children. It is possibly associated with height, and may be partly controlled by uterine size and blood flow.

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