Young adult children of alcoholic fathers: depressive experiences, coping styles, and family systems.

College students with alcoholic fathers (adult children of alcoholics, ACA; n = 84) and with nonalcoholic parents (n = 123) were studied with regard to perceptions of their families, depressive experiences, and coping styles within a developmental model of depression that focuses on object representations (Blatt, 1974). Eight measures were used. Multivariate analyses of variance showed that ACAs differed in family perceptions (p less than .0001), with paternal inconsistency discriminating most effectively between groups. As predicted, ACAs exhibited greater introjective depression (p less than .01) but no increase in anaclitic depression. Also, ACAs relied more on aggressive defenses (p less than .01). Findings demonstrate that young adult children of alcoholic fathers manifest distinct, identifiable emotional characteristics and suggest that Blatt's model of depression may provide a useful theoretical context for understanding certain effects of paternal alcoholism.

Hirschsprung disease: etiologic implications of unsuccessful prenatal diagnosis.

We describe an infant with Hirschsprung disease (congenital aganglionosis of the intestine) involving the colon and terminal ileum. Midtrimester prenatal diagnosis of this disorder in this infant was attempted utilizing amniotic fluid disaccharidase analyses, ultrasound, and amniography. Decreased disaccharidase activities in amniotic fluid have been reported previously in association with other forms of intestinal obstruction. At 15 weeks' gestation, normal amniotic fluid disaccharidase levels were obtained. Serial ultrasound evaluations did not indicate any pathology, and the results from amniography were inconclusive. The implication of the normal disaccharidase values is that Hirschsprung disease may in some cases result from degeneration of intestinal ganglia after 16 weeks' gestation rather than from faulty migration of neural crest cells. The inheritance of Hirschsprung disease is generally consistent with sex-modified multifactorial inheritance with a lower threshold of expression in males. The case we report has a family history of three affected first- and second-degree relatives. Autosomal dominance with variable expressivity is a possible explanation in this family.

Microcephaly, microphthalmia, falciform retinal folds, and blindness. A new syndrome.

We have observed an apparently new, heritable syndrome consisting of severe microcephaly, microphthalmia, falciform retinal folds, and blindness. Two brothers were affected with these problems. The mother, while she has no ocular malformations, has severe microcephaly and mild mental retardation. The only other offspring of the parents, a boy, is normal. Laboratory evaluation of the affected sibs was uninformative. An environmental cause of this condition has been sought, but none has been identified. Possible modes of inheritance include autosomal dominant inheritance with variable expressivity, X-linked recessive inheritance with partial expression in the mother, or autosomal recessive inheritance that is etiologically unrelated to the mother's microcephaly.