The selection by parents of the sex of children -- feasible but not practised.

PIP: In 1984, 3 techniques for the preselection of the child were known and practiced: 1) Ericsson's ESA gradient technique of separating, in vitro, sperm cells carrying the Y-chromosome from those carrying the X-chromosome by means of a filter, followed by artificial insemination of the sperm enriched with sperm cells carrying the desired chromosome. 2) Papa-Henrion's ionic technique based on 2 different diets followed by the future mother. 3) The Shettles-James regime of timing intercourse within the monthly cycle of the future mother. The Shettles regime proved to be utterly inefficient in the famous Singapore trial. Papa-Herion's ionic technique was applied during the 1980s in Paris in several hundred cases, but was apparently abandoned around 1990. Ericsson's ESA gradient is the only technique that is still easily accessible in the US, England, and other parts of the world. It has never claimed to have a rate of success of more than 70%, 75%, or at most 80%. In the late 1980s came a 4th technique, Handyside's, which relies on pre-implantation diagnosis. The first step consists of the in vitro fertilization of a number of oocytes. Between 40 and 48 hours after fertilization, when the preembryos reach the 8-cell stage, a hole is drilled through the zone pellucida, 1-2 cells are aspired for DNA analysis, and the sex chromosome X or Y are accurately identified by means of the dioxyribonuclear amplification technique. One or more preembryos of the desired sex can be transferred to the uterus of the mother on the same day. Handyside's technique is hardly ever used for sex selection, which is probably due neither to its inconvenience to the mother nor to its price. Physicians are reluctant to use the technique for sex selection because: they generally hesitate to manipulate embryos or preembryos for any reason; they are especially unwilling to discard healthy, viable embryos because of their sex; and they are ethically opposed to taking the first steps onto the path that leads to eugenics.^ieng

[The need for coordination among the countries of Southeast Asia]. / Esigenza di un coordinamento tra i paesi dell'Asia sud-orientale.

PIP: Migration trends in Southeast Asia are reviewed. The author looks separately at emigration from the region, migration within the region, and internal migration within individual countries. Separate consideration is given to the Indonesian transmigration program and to urbanization. The policy implications of these movements are examined.^ieng

Mortality, population fluctuations and the nuclear danger.

PIP: The author considers recent reversals in downward mortality trends and the risks involved in nuclear energy, expressing concern over prospects for mortality developments in the future.^ieng

A note on the state of the art of preselection of the sex of children.

"In this paper the author presents the state of the art of preselection of the sex of children. To this purpose attempts to control the sex of offspring are classified into four categories: 1) selective conception; 2) treatment of ova or embryos, 3) presexing of embryos; and 4) selection of sperma. The nature and the availability of the different approaches are described as well as the various socio-medical aspects involved. In spite of the general impression that, at present, no reliable technique with clearly known probabilities of success and failure is available, this goal seems to be at close reach and sex selection of children will certainly become accessible in a not very remote future." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND ITA)

A study of change in family structure and of the domestic cycle in an Indian village by means of a transition matrix.

"Two kinds of Family Transition matrices are identified--Distant transition matrix and Immediate transition matrix. The former studies transitions which produce changes in the distribution of families of different structural types between two time points while the latter takes into consideration the paths by which each family reached its final state. Using the data of Freed and Freed (1983) from an Indian Village, at two time points separated by 19 years, the changes in the family structure and the pattern of domestic cycles are studied."

Pre-assessment of preselection of the sex of children: the demographic aspect.

PIP: The eventual demographic consequences of techniques for preselecting the sex of children are assessed. In particular, the author discusses such related questions as what percentage of couples would avail themselves of a preselection capability, in which situations would they do so, how would the numbers of births (male, female, and total) be affected, and what social and economic effects would result from a marked disequilibrium in the sex distribution of a population. (summary in FRE, ITA)^ieng

Some principles of cost-benefit analysis of family planning services in developing countries.

Summary A number of controversial issues are discussed, relating to the assessment of both costs and benefits of family planning services. All costs and benefits, whether accruing to society or the parents of the child whose birth is averted, and the child itself, should be included in the analysis, even if they cannot easily be measured or appear as externalities. Different rates of interest to be used in discounting to obtain present values apply to various items; these rates may vary between the commercial rates of interest and negative values. It is also shown that the costs of running a service include, in addition to current expenditure, not only basic investments, but also that the benefit accruing to society by averting births comprises a kind of investment, namely the amount spent on the subsistence of the child whose birth is averted before he would have started producing. Marginal values are to be preferred to average values for the calculation of costs and benefits. Thus, the costs of a family planning service should be expressed as the amount of money needed to avert one additional birth and the benefits as the amount saved by one additional averted birth. The latter cannot be measured by comparing the GNP per head when the birth is averted, with the situation when it is not. This can only be done by computing the excess of the child's life-time consumption over his life-time production.

The marriage squeeze.

If the sex-age structure of the population is equilibrated, observed marriage patterns are assumed to reflect preferred mate selections. With regard to age, these preferences can be expressed in terms of the probabilities of unmarried persons of given ages marrying persons of various ages. To study the situation of unequilibrated sexes, these probabilities can be used to compute, for each combination of ages of groom and bride, the expected number of grooms and the expected number of brides. If either of these numbers exceeds the other, the corresponding sex is in a "marriage squeeze." The comparison among the expected number of grooms, that of brides, and the observed number of marriages supplies information on the effects of the squeeze.In Australia, marriage statistics of 1949 were considered to reflect preferred selections. In 1958, men of most ages were in a squeeze. As a consequence, some relatively younger and older men did not get married, and some relatively younger and older women improved their chances of marriage in the year under consideration. 291-299.