Court Brown Research Articles

Human population cytogenetics. By W. M. Court Brown. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 1967

American Journal of Physical AnthropologyVolume 29, Issue 3 p. 445-446 Book Review Human population cytogenetics. By W. M. Court Brown. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 1967 Leonard Atkins, Leonard Atkins Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General HospitalSearch for more papers by this author Leonard Atkins, Leonard Atkins Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General HospitalSearch for more papers by this author First published: November 1968 https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330290322AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume29, Issue3November 1968Pages 445-446 RelatedInformation

X chromosome errors in female criminals.

<h3>To the Editor:—</h3> Since W. M. Court Brown¹first raised the broad question of whether individuals with abnormal sex-chromosome complements "could be held in law to suffer from diminished responsibility," much attention, both lay (<i>New York Times</i>, April 21, 1968) and scientific,²has been accorded the legal status of criminal XXY and XYY males. We are not aware that the same question has been asked with explicit reference to criminal females; we would like to ask it and to demonstrate its relevance. In Pennsylvania correctional institutions for women, we have recently performed buccal smears on 117 juvenile delinquents, confined largely for chronic truancy, and 133 adults incarcerated for more serious offenses including murder, larceny, and burglary. Only one abnormality was found; among the adults, a 22-year-old woman held as an incorrigible, guilty of defiant behavior and prison breach, repeatedly gave buccal smears containing nuclei displaying two, and occasionally

Radiation Cytogenetics Human Radiation Cytogenetics H. J. Evans W. M. Court Brown A. S. McLean

Radiation Cytogenetics Human Radiation Cytogenetics H. J. Evans W. M. Court Brown A. S. McLean

Book Reviews

Book Reviewed in this article: British Medical Bulletin. Blood Transfusion in Clinical Medicine. 4th edn. By P. L. Mollison. Biology of the Laboratory Mouse. 2nd edn. The Jackson Laboratory. Ed. by Earl L. Green. Chroniques Hématologiques. By Jean Bernard. The Lymphocyte in Immunology and Haemopoiesis. Ed. by J. M. Yoffey. Human Radiation Cytogenetics. Proceedings of an International Symposium held in Edinburgh, 12–15 October 1966. Ed. by H. J. Evans, W. M. Court Brown and A. S. Mclean. Human Population Cytogenetics. By W. M. Court Brown. The Blood Morphology of Laboratory Animals. 3rd edn. By Siegmund Schermer.

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article: The Origin of Genetics. A Mendel Source Book. Edited by Curt Stern and Eva R. Sherwood. San Francisco and London: W. H. Freeman and Company. 1966. Pp. 179. 18s. paper; 36s. cloth. Fundamental Genetica. Edited by Milan Sosna; selection and commentary by Jaroslav Kfiie‐neckf. Prague: Publishing House of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences; Brno: Moravian Museum; Oosterhout (N.B.), The Netherlands: Anthropological Publications. 1965. Pp. 400. Human Population Cytogenetics, by W. M. Court Brown. North‐Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam: 196'7. Pp. xii+107. 40s. CIBA Foundation Study Group No. 25. Mongolisnz. In commemoration of Dr John Langdon Haydon Down. Edited by G. E. W. Wolstenholme and Ruth Porter. Published by J. and A. Churchill, Ltd. London. Pp. 99 + ix. 18s. Advances in Reproductive Physiology. Vol. I. Edited by Anne McLaren. London: Logos Press, and New York: Academic Press. 1966. 295 pp. Price 100s. Norrie's Disease. A Congenitd Progressive Oculo‐Acoustico‐Cerebral degeneration. By M. Warburg. Munksgaard: Copenhagen. 1966. Pp. 147. Price 65 Danish Kroner.

A sex chromatin survey of newborn children in two London hospitals.

Liveborn children delivered at Queen Charlotte's Hospital were studied between February 1962 and July 1963 and those born at Guy's from February 1962 onwards. A group of 9688 babies has been studied to date, comprising 4754 girls and 4934 boys. The sex chromatin findings (based on thionine or Feulgen stained oral smears) are presented in Table I, where they are also compared with published data (Moore, 1959; Bergemann, 1961; Wiesli, 1962; Maclean, Harnden, Court Brown, Bond, and Mantle, 1964; Marden, Smith, and McDonald, 1964). In view of the difficulty of following up some of these children, this report does not include clinical summaries or complete chromosome studies. Among the 4754 girls, 5 were chromatin negative; 3 still await follow-up; the remaining 2 were found to have XY sex chromosomes. One case presented with inguinal hernias which were found at operation and by subsequent histological studies to contain testes. This child is a presumptive case of testicular feminization. The other XY female was found to have lipoid adrenal hyperplasia-a very rare condition due to a recessive gene which may cause feminization of a male foetus (O'Doherty, 1964). Two girls had two sex chromatin masses in a proportion of cells and are presumptive XXX females. Among the 4934 boys, 11 had cells containing single sex chromatin masses. One boy had a proportion of cells with two masses. Of the 11 with single masses, 2 had Down's syndrome (mongolism), and the remaining 9 were clinically normal. One of these 9 was a twin: he and his co-twin, a girl, were born prematurely with birthweights of only 1330 g. and 1275 g., respectively; both were clinically normal and both died at 1 day of age due to immaturity.

Chromosome Damage in Man

Human Radiation Cytogenetics Edited by H. J. Evans, W. M. Court Brown and A. S. McLean. Pp. 218. (Proceedings of an International Symposium held in Edinburgh, October 12–15, 1966.) (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1967.) 70s.

The Negro Teacher and the Fourteenth Amendment

Negro teacher in the South has borne a special burden during the progress towards school desegregation since ,the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision in 1954. At times he may even envy the Negro pupil. Despite defiance, delays, tokenism and resegregation, the Negro pupil's rights are well defined and his progress toward integrated classrooms is a matter of Federal Government policy. Negro teacher's position is much less secure. As one Federal judge in Arkansas commented during a 1965 suit brought by three Negro teachers who had lost their jobs due to desegregation, The Fourteenth Amendment . . . is not a teacher tenure law.1

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Humangenetik. Ein kurzes Handbuch in fünf Bänden, vol. v, part 1. Edited by P. E. Becker. Klassische und molekulare Genetik. By C. Bresch. Chromosome Studies on Adults. By W. M. Court Brown, Patricia A. Jacobs, Karin E. Buckton, Ishbel M. Tough, E. V. Kuenssberg and J. D. E. Knox. Nineteenth Annual Symposium on Fundamental Cancer Research, 1965. Developmental and Metabolic Control Mechanism and Neoplasia. Determinants of Infant Behaviour, III. Proceedings of the third Tavistock Study Group on mother‐infant interaction held at the house of the Ciba Foundation, London, September 1963. Edited by B. M. Foss with a foreword by John Bowlby. Genetics. By Robert C. King

Sex chromosome abnormalities in children

HE FREQUENCY of sex chromosome abnormalities in the general population is difficult to assess. What information is available is based on surveys of the nuclear sex ~ f newborn babies such as those of Moore in 19591 and Maclean et al. 2 in 1964 and on a small number of chromosome studies on selected populations/,4 The surveys in which chromosome studies have been done are undoubtedly more complete since nuclear sexing alone will not detect some mosaic patients, nor those patients, where, despite a chromosome abnormality, the phenotypic sex agrees with the nuclear sex. However, because of the labor involved, the number of individuals who can be screened at present for chromosome abnormalities is small and the samples must inevitably be unrepresentative of the population as a whole because of the segregation of individuals in institutions, in the armed forces and in other ways, and because of the undoubted loss of some individuals with chromosome abnormalities before maturity is reached. At present, therefore, estimates of frequency must be based mainly on the surveys of newborn babies. Using these data the frequency of sex chromosome abnormalities is roughly 1 in every 400 live births. The frequency for autosomal trisomy is also approximately 1 in 400 live births, 5,6 while Court Brown et al. 3 have estimated that one person in every 200 will have a rearrangement of the auto somes. One can say, therefore, that roughly one child in every 100 born alive will have a chromosome abnormality. Not all these children will appear to be abnormal since the effect of these chromosome abnormalities on the physical and mental development of the individual will vary from one type of abnormality to another. The child may have obvious malformations at birth, but in other instances the deleterious effects of the genetic abnormality may not become apparent until some time afterwards and in some cases not until after puberty. A few chromosome abnormalities appear to have no adverse effect on the individual carrying the abnormality but they may be associated with either an increased frequency of spontaneous abortion or with the production of congenitally malformed children. There are also a few types of chromosome abnormality which appear to have little or no effect on the individual or on his or her progeny. Sex chromosome abnormalities c~m fall into all these categories. Turner's syndrome is an obvious example of the situation where congenital malformations are present at birth, while in,the majority of cases of Klinefelter's syndrome the defects are not apparent until after puberty. Some females with an XXX sex chromosome From the Medical Research Council, Clinical Effects of Radiation Research Unit, Western

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Mongolism in Newborns. A Clinical and Cytogenetic Study. By Bertil Hall. Stockholm, Sweden: Almquist and Wiksell. 1964. The Pathology of Development. A Study of Inherited Skeletal Disorders in Animals. By Hans Grüneberg. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. 70s.Down's Syndrome. A Clinical and Cytogenetical Investigation. By Karl‐Henrik Gustavson. Almqvist and Wiksell, Uppsala. 1964.Abnormalities of the Sex Chromosome Complement in Man. By W. M. Court Brown, D. G. Harnden, Patricia A. Jacobs, N. MacLean and D. J. Mantle. Med. Res. Co. Sp. Rep. Ser., No. 305. London: H.M.S.O. 1964.

LYMPHOCYTES.

It might well be asked why I should address the British Institute of Radiology, a body composed of physicians, physicists, engineers and a mixture of other disciplines on the subject of lymphocytes. My answer is that the members of the Institute, in spite of their many labels, have a common interest in the interaction of radiation and man. In their professional occupations all are probably exposed to ionizing radiation and fully aware of the occupational hazards of radiation, extremely small now (Court Brown and Doll, 1958), since personal exposure has been drastically reduced, compared with the pioneering days of Mackenzie Davidson, whom we commemorate today. Spear (1953), a previous Mackenzie Davidson lecturer, has given us the classical record of the early “radiation martyrs”. At this time all that needs to be said is that acute overexposure to penetrating radiation leads to anaemia, with lymphocytes perhaps the cells of the blood most readily depleted by ionizing radiation, and that chronic over-exposure facilitates the development of malignant growths in practically all tissues. Most members of the Institute are intimately concerned with the radiological diagnosis and treatment of cancer. It is now claimed that, while all flesh is mortal, only vertebrates with a lymphatic system are subject to malignant disease (Ullman, 1963).

A psychiatric investigation of triple-X chromosome females.

Among recent developments in human chromosome studies a triple-X state has been recognized in females in whom the chromosome number is 47, composed of 44 autosomes and 3 X chromosomes (Jacobs et al., 1959). Early surveys of nuclear sex have shown that the triple-X state is a not uncommon chromosomal anomaly. A survey of Edinburgh babies gave a frequency at birth of these abnormal females of 1.78/1,000 births (Court Brown, 1962) and by combining data of surveys from Edinburgh (Maclean et al., 1962), Glasgow (Fraser et al., 1960) and Baltimore (Johnston et al., 1961) the estimated frequency of the triple-X state in mental subnormality institutions is 4.51/1,000 in-patients.

Acute Paramyeloblastic Leukaemia following X-ray Therapy of Breast Cancer

Ionizing radiations are well recognised causes of leukaemia in man, cases having been recorded following irradiation in a variety of circumstances. Thus, leukaemia has been noted among atomic bomb survivors in Japan (Lange, Moloney and Yamawaki, 1954; Moloney, 1955; Heyssel, Brill, Woodbury, Nishimura, Chose and Hoshino, 1960); in radiologists occupationally exposed (March, 1944, 1950; Ulrich, 1946); in patients, following radiodiagnostic procedures (Stewarth, Webb and Hewitt, 1956); and in particular in patients following radiotherapy. The first case following therapeutic irradiation was described by Merklen and Wolf (1925) as a complication of radiotherapy of a fibromatous uterus. Since then leukaemia has been described following radiotherapy of ankylosing spondylitis (van Swaay, 1955; Abbatt and Lea, 1956; Court Brown and Abbatt, 1955; Court Brown and Doll, 1957; Cooper and Steinbeck, 1958; Graham, 1960; Silberberg, Frohman and Duff, 1960), thymic enlargement in infancy (Simpson, Hempelmann and Fuller,...

Expositionsdosen des Knochenmarks bei einigen modernen röntgenologischen Untersuchungsmethoden des Herzkreislaufapparates

Measurements were made of the radiation dose received by the bone marrow during cardiac catheterization with prolonged screening and angiocardiograms with biplane apparatus. For this purpose a phantom resembling a human body and containing bones inside scattering material was employed. From the data obtained, the average dose and the integral dose received by the bone marrow were calculated. It was found that during cardiac catheterization without correct protection procedure the average dose received by active bone marrow exceeded that which is said to double the incidence of spontaneous leukemia (which is, according to Court Brown, 50 r). (auth)

A further note on mongolism in twins.

The discovery of an abnormality of the chromo somes of the cells of mongoloid defectives (Lejeune, Gautier, and Turpin, 1959a) and its later confirma tion (Lejeune, Gautier and Turpin, 1959b; Jacobs, Baikie, Court Brown, and Strong, 1959) would seem to provide evidence that the causal mechanism of this condition operates at an early stage in the development of the affected individual. It now seems most likely that the condition is determined at or shortly after conception. In view of this evi dence, it is surprising that examinations of con cordance and zygotic type of affected twin pairs reported in the literature appear to show that the reported incidence of concordance is significantly less than that expected if monozygous pairs are invariably concordant. The present author (Smith, 1955) and more recently Keay (1958) have examined series compiled from the literature and have considered the question in two ways:

Dose-Response Relationship in Radiation Leukæmia

A SIGNIFICANT contribution is achieved by Drs. Armitage, Court Brown and Doll in evaluating some models postulated in assessing the leukaemogenic potency of radiations. Along this line, it appears relevant to discuss some possible interpretations of a linear dose-response, observed over a limited range of leukaemia incidence, as evidenced in the study of patients irradiated for ankylosing spondilytis. Basic assumptions of some theoretical models will be first examined.

Leukaemia following irradiation for ankylosing spondylitis.

A Number of published reports have drawn attention to leukaemia developing in subjects exposed to irradiation of various types: Dunlap (1942) reviewed 24 such cases and others have been described since (Court Brown and Doll, 1957). van Swaay (1955), Court Brown and Abbatt (1955) and Abbatt and Lea (1956) have drawn attention to leukaemia occurring in patients after irradiation for ankylosing spondylitis and Court Brown and Doll (1957) give reasons for believing that the association of ankylosing spondylitis and leukaemia is unlikely in the absence of irradiation. The following case is reported as it is the first known instance of leukaemia after irradiation, carried out by the Queensland Radium Institute for ankylosing spondylitis. The Institute, responsible for almost all radiotherapy and its follow-up in Queensland (population 1·4 millions), had from 1946 to 1955, inclusive, treated 198 patients for ankylosing spondylitis. 17 patients treated in the subsequent years, although at risk, are probably outsi...

Leukaemia following irradiation in utero.

Court Brown and Doll (1957) have stressed the causal association between irradiation and leukaemia. Faber (1957) argued that acute leukaemias can be induced by irradiation, with a latent period of five years or less. Stewart, Hewitt and Webb (1956), in a preliminary communication, suggested that diagnostic irradiation in utero, or doses of not more than 5 r to the foetus, may cause leukaemia in post-natal life; Faber (1957) had also concluded that some leukaemias in his series must have been caused by diagnostic irradiation. Court Brown and Doll (1957), and Lewis (1957), accepting that leukaemia is induced in man by ionizing radiations, suggested a non-threshold effect.

Medicine's genetic horizons.

Editorial1 August 1958MEDICINE'S GENETIC HORIZONSJAMES V. NEEL, M.D.JAMES V. NEEL, M.D.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-49-2-472 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptFor something over 500,000 years there have existed on this earth species of man with a cranial capacity approaching that of modern man. For at least 99% of that time span the generation-to-generation rate of cultural change has been, viewed from our current vantage point, almost unbelievably slow. By cultural change I mean nothing more profound than changes in the circumstances of day-to-day living. It took something like 75,000 years for the rough Chellean hand-axe to be replaced by the more even, symmetric Acheulian hand-axe in Western Europe during the Pleistocene. Then, starting with the Agricultural Revolution, and accelerating with...1 NeelSchull JVWJ: The effect of exposure to the atomic bombs on pregnancy termination in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, National Academy of Science, National Research Council Publication No. 461: xvi and 241, 1956. Google Scholar2 Neel JV: The delayed effects of ionizing radiation, J. A. M. A. 166: 908, 1958. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3 Auerbach C: Chemical mutagenesis, Biol. Reviews 24: 355, 1949. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4 Boyland E: Mutagens, Pharmacol. Rev. 6: 345, 1954. MedlineGoogle Scholar5 Barthelmess A: Mutagene Arzneimittel, Arzneimitt.-Forsch. 6: 157, 1956. MedlineGoogle Scholar6 Westergaard M: Chemical mutagenesis in relation to the concept of the gene, Experientia 13: 224, 1957. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar7 MacMahonKoller BEK: Ethnic differences in the incidence of leukemia, Blood 12: 1, 1957. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar8 Lewis EB: Leukemia and ionizing radiation, Science 125: 965, 1957. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar9 Court Brown WM: Gonad doses from diagnostic and therapeutic radiology, in Effect of radiation on human heredity, 1957, World Health Organization, Geneva, pp. 95-99. Google Scholar10 Wood WB: The underlying cause of unrest in university medicine, J. A. M. A. 164: 548, 1957. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar11 Beckman H: An end to tranquilization! Marquette M. Rev. 22: 114, 1957. Google Scholar This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: *Presented at the Symposium on Genetics of the Thirty-ninth Annual Session of The American College of Physicians, Atlantic City, New Jersey, April 30, 1958.From The Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byEvolutionary Health PromotionJames V. Neel, M.D., Ph.D. (March 22, 1915–January 31, 2000): Founder EffectHereditary aspects of coronary heart diseaseEditorialDie sogenannten funktionellen Krankheiten des kardiovaskulären Systems als Syndrome der neurokardiovaskulären Inadaptation betrachtet 1 August 1958Volume 49, Issue 2Page: 472-476KeywordsGeneticsHuman genetics ePublished: 1 December 2008 Issue Published: 1 August 1958 PDF downloadLoading ...