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Reproductive Failure and Wastage

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Human Reproduction and Developmental Biology

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Abstract

We are all well aware of imperfections and wastage in the human reproductive process such as the pregnancy which ends in a miscarriage or a stillbirth and that tragically embodied in the child who suffers a major deformity or permanent handicap. These distressing outcomes of pregnancy are reminders that human reproduction is fallible and that conception does not automatically result in the birth of a live and healthy infant. The causes of failure and the inefficiencies of the human reproductive process are discussed in this chapter, with special emphasis on those developmental errors which give rise to abnormalities of the newborn.

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Further reading

  • Catalano, L. W. and Sever, J. L. (1971). ‘The role of viruses as causes of congenital defects’, Annual Review of Microbiology, 25, 255

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  • Emery, A. E. H. (ed.) (1973). Antenatal Diagnosis of Genetic Disease, Churchill Livingstone, London

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  • Harris, H. (1975). The Principles of Human Biochemical Genetics, North-Holland, Amsterdam

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  • Mirkin, B. L. (ed.) (1976). Perinatal Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Academic Press, London

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  • Raivio, K. O. and Seegmiller, J. E. (1972). ‘Genetic diseases of metabolism’, Annual Review of Biochemistry, 41, 543

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  • Scrimgeour, J. B. (ed.) (1978). Towards the Prevention of Fetal Malformation, Edinburgh University Press

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  • Wilson, J. G. (1977). ‘Teratogenic effects of environmental chemicals’, Federation Proceedings, 36, 1698

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  • Berry, C. L. (ed.) (1976). ‘Human malformation’, British Medical Bulletin, 32(1), 1–89

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. King’s College, London, UK

    D. J. Begley BSc, PhD (Lecturer in Physiology) & J. R. S. Hoult BA, PhD (Lecturer in Pharmacology)

  2. St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, UK

    J. A. Firth MA, PhD (Senior Lecturer in Structural Biology)

Authors
  1. D. J. Begley BSc, PhD
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  2. J. A. Firth MA, PhD
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  3. J. R. S. Hoult BA, PhD
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Copyright information

© 1980 D. J. Begley, J. A. Firth and J. R. S. Hoult

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Begley, D.J., Firth, J.A., Hoult, J.R.S. (1980). Reproductive Failure and Wastage. In: Human Reproduction and Developmental Biology. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16260-4_10

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