37 forts of 24 serum pratcins and erythrocyte enzvimes. He and Dr. KLE. Ferrel! kindly consented to examine blood samples collected in 1974 from 187 Marshallese children and parents (exposed of the Ub finger, prominent head of ulna, disto- cated wrist, enlarged cornea, larluosity of retinal vessels, asyinnetry of face, congenital nystagmus, and pigmentation of the cares. Studies of Garuilial paticoons of sach defects have not been done, they are not celited to cxpeasure, The possible increaae in miscarriages and still. births among the exposed worn cutaiy the fast Sovears diay lead to speculations that rad bation tae dhuced lethal oiutatiogs in germ cells of the ovary and unexposed). he results, summarized below, included no significant findings indicating radiaHieg-induced mutations, b. The Frequency of “Rare” Protein Variants. of, tess dikely, in spoon cells." “Phe presence of chromosome aberrations in peripheral blood lyin phocytes bathe Marshallese [@ years post ex por sure, and the possible sumatic mulation i the hemoglobin, described above, support speculations that mutations ithe germ plasm occucred and nighe be detected inthe offspring by more sensi live tests, However. in viewof the relatively small those al radiation and the sanall size od the popnalae ton. and freer rounds a clear-cut denanistration af a venetie cHeet af radian in the children born loexposcd purcnis would seem unlikely, Nevers theless. wivens the trature of the ciairastances, it lhas bern deemed desipable to nake every ctort ta collect such data. Siaee recessive combinations Deiat corse deel E Chie thas eet aes ca ciel on tapescd women faarenerd te He Apaeed eu ‘The blood sunples mentioned above were subfeeted to electrophoretic analyses for poly mur. phisins and care variants of proteins and erythro: cyte enavmes.*? ‘The findings were summarized by Neel et al"! as fullows, * Blood specimens from a sample of 187 Marshall blanders were studied with reference to variants of 24 scrumproteins and erythrocyte enzymes, Six of the traits studied exhibited gence polyinorphisins (adenosine deaminase, phosphoglucoInutases, acid phosphatase, 6- phosphoyluconate dehydrogenase, haptoglobin, group specifie com- ponent). There was in addition one ‘rare’ variant (ofalbumins in 4047 determinations. Phese resulis on rare Variants have been combined with those of others on Micronesians, and the frequency of rare Varbiats in Micronestans compared with the free quencies in West European Caucasians, Japanesc, and Sinerindians. Phere are many difficulies in such comparisons, and, although the observed val- ves for the four ethnic groups differ by a factor of Table wz Gecne Prequcte ies for Sis Genete Polvinorphists ia the Marshall dsharncbe! Phaeeaty pe Sa ster 1 ay ! “Voual Gene hequemy Nadeaveostine clerataninben las Ww iF Wo ADA = UK Crrenaps space Wie cetipe eet bli “ab 2 bat ta? = thyh sa My [Tre at Mh Al 1 V7 nH yet WOaNd,! = th7u = eh? J Heapotengleddan* Braue ony ol teeny lene oosansat nner . “ Al is Acid phosphatase al aA a] Hts AUS = UT4S tT hespteaghacsnete cedis die lye haut ZN u ib te PChS = thee The ELptty pe was olaervedd bE aedivabinels, 8 Pwccesaaples al the POM phenoi pel 7 and. aostoude phenotype Tf wen absent cal 1G Mi 000d). “4 4 ahese, concerned with the occurrence of variant ‘The principal aberrations noted in Marshallese adulis and children have been bilateral shortening ve4 t3 f ok have shown, an the basis of incidence of gross anomalies, ag evidence of inherited radiation. inehoocd riutations. “yl Ae may take several generationsto affect the phenolype, recognition of their radiation cticlogy may be extremely difficult, Necl et al. are at present carrying out more sophisticated studies in the Jap- children born to an exposed parent or parents Pe ee eeualiet Ma HM RTE TT eee et = ee oe 't £ a t