The death of a baby in the infant special care unit.

We are learning about the meaning of the death of an infant, and its impact on the family. We are becoming aware that by being there, health care staff become important in how the life-long process of grieving will get started. Educational and supportive practices for staff and programs for bereaved family members that set the stage for healthy grieving are difficult but valuable in the work of neonatal intensive care.

Emotional impact on parents of transported babies. Considerations for meeting parents' needs.

The authors discuss the transport of critically ill newborns in relation to the psychological impact of attachment in pregnancy, transition to parenthood, and prenatal experience of a medical emergency. Interviews with parents and medical staff are included to provide an understanding of the experience from these perspectives. Considerations and recommendations are given for building an effective program to address the emotional needs of families of transported babies.

Parental adjustment to intrapartum and delivery room loss. The role of a hospital-based support program.

Perinatal loss prompts a unique bereavement for parents and their families that is unlike the mourning process experienced at the death of other loved ones. The Support Center For Perinatal and Childhood Death has developed a comprehensive program to provide support, counseling, and information to families who experience miscarriage, stillbirth, fetal anomalies, and therapeutic abortion for genetic or congenital abnormalities. The impact of perinatal loss is felt not only in the real loss of the wished-for child but also in the loss of self-esteem, the role of parent, and the loss of confidence in the ability to produce a healthy child.

An inversion that disrupts the Antennapedia gene causes abnormal structure and localization of RNAs.

Mutations in Drosophila homeotic genes lead to the developmental replacement of one normal body part by another. We have examined the mechanism by which a dominant allele of the Antennapedia (Antp) gene causes the antennae to be replaced by legs. Normal Antp gene activity is required for thoracic but not for head development.