Twins reared apart: a forgotten case/twin research reviews: X-inactivation and female co-twin discordance for hemophilia; transplantation for breast reconstruction; chimerism and telomere attrition in dizygotic twins; divergent life histories in twins reared apart/current concerns: high ACT-scoring twins; dating a twin; when gender identities diverge/the Holland twins

Twin Res Hum Genet. 2009 Feb;12(1):123-6. doi: 10.1375/twin.12.1.123.

Abstract

A forgotten story of monozygotic twins reared apart is described. The pair, born in 1941 in Fribourg, Switzerland, were separated due to switch-baby incident in the hospital. This caused one twin to be raised as a singleton by an unrelated family, and the other twin to be raised as a 'dizygotic' twin with an unrelated child. This is followed by reviews of recent twin research and case studies of X-inactivation and hemophilia, breast reconstruction, chimerism and life histories. The final section of the article includes human interest pieces on academic twins, dating twins, transsexual twins and athletic twins.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Hemophilia A*
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Organ Transplantation*
  • Sex Characteristics
  • Telomere*
  • Transplantation Chimera*
  • Twin Studies as Topic / history
  • Twins, Dizygotic*