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Observations on the role of the Rh factor in human disease, with particular reference to mental deficiency

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GilmourD_1949redux.pdf (12.50Mb)
Date
1949
Author
Gilmour, David
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Abstract
 
 
The study of the Rh Factor in all its ramifications is an extraordinarily fascinating one, and the discovery of its presence in human blood has lead to far -reaching consequences. Many workers on both sides of the Atlantic have done intensive research work on this subject since the discovery of the factor was first published in 1940. The great majority of these workers have been concerned essentially with its influence on physical disease, the mental aspects being either ignored entirely or only lightly touched upon.
 
Recent work in America, however, has suggested that possibly the Rh factor may play an important part in the aetiology of some cases of mental deficiency, at present of unknown aetiology. The number of cases of mental deficiency in our institutions, apart from the large number cared for at home, both in this country and in America, as well as in other countries, lends urgency to any research which will throw light on the cause of this distressing condition; as prophylaxis is even more essential in mental deficiency than in most other forms of disease owing to the fact that there is no possible cure. If a means of preventing even a small proportion of the present number of defectives from being born could be found, the result would be well worth while from an economic and social point of view, apart altogether from the avoidance of the distress caused to parents who have the misfortune to produce a :mentally defective child.
 
The object of the present work is two-fold. In the first place, a review of the literature will be given, showing on the one hand how the Rh factor came to be associated with the condition known as E rythroblastos is Foetalis, and on the other how this condition was associated with Kernicterus and its consequences. An attempt will be made to correlate these two lines of research and to show how the idea developed that the Rh factor may cause certain cases of mental deficiency other than those obviously associated with Kernicterus. In the second place, my own investigations will be described, and my results compared with those already in the literature. Certain case histories will be described and commented on, and finally, attention will be drawn to any inference and conclusions that can be made,
 
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http://hdl.handle.net/1842/28105
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