CONGENITAL ANOMALIES

[摘要] I AM greatly honored by the Award which the American Academy of Pediatrics has bestowed upon me and I am certain that this recognition of our studies will stimulate my co-workers and myself to further efforts in the line of work which we began about 12 years ago.I have repeatedly had the privilege of presenting our experimental work to meetings of the American Academy of Pediatrics and it is not necessary, therefore, to describe to you again in detail the congenital anomalies induced in animals by maternal dietary deficiency. It seems preferable to give you today a brief summary of the general aspects and results of our studies and to present to you some of the conclusions which may be drawn from them.The incentive to our experimental work was a marked interest in congenital anomalies of children. Adverse factors acting in prenatal life contribute appreciably to the mortality of infants and many children go through life deformed or crippled because of unfavorable intrauterine conditions. Congenital anomalies are at the root of many chronic and of some intractable diseases of childhood, a fact which is brought out with increasing certainty by improved diagnostic methods. Without going into details I wish to point out how many congenital anomalies of the urinary tract are now recognized intra vitam , which only one or two decades ago puzzled us by their nonspecific symptoms. Congenital anomalies of the intestinal tract which were previously diagnosed as "vomiting," "malnutrition," etc., are now better understood and often accessible to surgical treatment.

[学科分类] 儿科学