A study of sleep and dream characteristics has been carried out by questionnaire on a sample of 77 MZ and 76 DZ same-sex twin pairs of two age groups, 6–8 and 16–18 years. Genetic effects could not be detected in the younger age group and appeared to be rather limited in the older one, possibly as a result of the limited variability of the considered variables and of the levelling influence of the common environment.

The condition of low birth weight is compared in twins and in singletons in terms of birth weight distributions and with respect to factors such as the incidence of sillbirths, length of gestation, maternal age, parity, and legitimacy. In the light of demographic, biological, and developmental considerations, it is concluded that low birth weight in twins is a different condition from low birth weight in singletons and should be dealt with independently, especially in view of the different implications for child growth and survival.

A case is reported of a 14-year old male MZ twin pair, with only one partner affected by situs viscerum inversus, whereby the condition is termed situs viscerum specularis. The high degree of mirror imaging is seen as an abnormal variation of the biological time of the cleavage giving rise to MZ twinning. Electrocardiographic findings are presented and the biological implications of the condition are discussed.

SummaryThe concordance of physiological and pathological times in human identical twin pairs induced the authors to postulate the existence of a hereditary biological time.Having formulated the hypothesis that the information of each gene has a given period of existence and that, therefore, every gene has its own inherited temporal dimension, the authors report on five different experimental studies intended to verify their hypothesis.In the first study (cf II. 1) a twin research on bone age and dental age is performed. The chronological study of the appearance of ossification nuclei in carpal bones and of mineralization of the gems of permanent dentition, in 20 MZ and 20 DZ human twin pairs, indicates that these wellknown “biological timetables” exhibit about 70% of genotypical control.In order to verify whether biological time is a function of the genotype as a whole, or a property of each individual gene, the authors carried out an experimental study on the mean lifespan in different strains of Drosophila melanogaster whose genotypes were fully known (cf II.2). Their results indicate that the specific information of certain genes controls the insect's lifespan; it may also be inferred that the differential persistence of its specific information is an attribute of each individual gene. This chronological dimension of the gene is called chronon, which the authors also define as “the period during which the original information of the gene remains unchanged” — whether it is used for transcription or duplication, or it remains at the potential stage.The determination of alkaline phosphatase activity in the same strains of D. melanogaster (cf II.3) affords an estimate of the amount of genie information (intensity of the individual trait) and the variation thereof during the gene's chronon. The authors observe that the amount of information decreases gradually during the gene's chronon, suggesting that this be due to the gradual exhaustion of a given specific energy. The decrease in the amount of information in the longitudinal study of chronon leads the authors to identify a further fundamental parametric unit of the gene which they call ergon.Ergon is defined as “the degree of stability of a gene”.In the fourth study (cf II.4) the twin test is applied to the chromosome association index in subcultures of lymphocytes from MZ and DZ twins at age 6 and age 60. This study affords a parallel estimate of chronon (i.e., duration of information) and ergon (i.e., stability of information).Chronon and ergon are found to be interrelated; they may be considered as variables in a dimensional equation of the gene. Thus, the existence of the Ergon/Chronon (E/C) system is postulated.Nine parameters of development and of senescence (first smile, first word, first steps, first pubic hair, menarche, first white hair, first loss of a permanent tooth, first use of reading glasses, onset of menopause) are studied in an experimental population of 666 twin pairs of either zygosity, leading the authors to formulate several conclusions concerning the characteristics of the E/C system (cf II.5).The interpretation of their experimental findings leads the authors to consider the ergon (energy of stability) of a gene as the total result of the stabilities of all the nucleotides making up the DNA sequence of that gene. Since it is well known that the stability of adenine-thymine (AT) bonds exceeds the stability of guanine-cytosine (GC) bonds, and that different combinations of codons (differing in at least one nucleotide) may provide the same information, it is clear that identical polypeptide chains may be produced under the control of genetically different ergons resulting in genetically different chronons.The authors summarize these concepts in the following two aphorisms: “one gene, one stability” (ergon) and “one gene, one time” (chronon).Biological time, development, senescence, homeostasis and disease are interpreted by the authors in the light of the E/C system.

A new approach is proposed in twin research based on the study of twins who, though reared together, have subsequently lived apart for a period of at least five years. With respect to the more powerful study of twins reared apart, the twins living apart test has the advantages of being more realistic and affording easier access to sufficiently large samples. In this pilot study, the test has been applied to a sample of 92 monozygotic pairs now aged 35–45; 15 pairs were still living together and 77 had lived apart for over five years. As a first approach, comparisons have been made, in the cotwins of the two subsamples, with respect to the following traits: height, weight, presbyopia, presbyacusia, alcohol consumption, tobacco consumption, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), dental caries, and hours of sleep.