Date:6/10/2012 Title: “Does Having Boys or Girls Run in the Family?” by Joseph Rogers & Debby Doughty Type of material:Short non-fiction essay Where you got it: Online http://www.amstat.org/publications/chance/2001/CHANCE%2014_4.pdf Why you picked it:We’re having a second baby & wanted to know it the wives’ tail is true that your chances of having same sex are higher than 50/50. Time reading amount read:20 minutes - All of it. Response: Wives’ tail is false. Chances do not considerably increase depending on the sex of the first child. Generally the chances are close to 50/50. The second child doesn’t vary far from 50/50 although surprisingly the chances of a boy are slightly higher if you already have a boy (but only very slight). As you would expect statistically the chances of a same sex family with a large number of children is small & gets smaller as the size of the family increases.
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Date: June 12, 2012 Title: Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) Type of material: Handout from the doctor’s office – non-fiction Where you got it: From the doctor’s office (pediatrics urologist) Why you picked it: Doctor gave it to us to understand our son’s condition Time reading amount read: 20 minutes - All of it. Response: Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is a condition where urine is transferred back up the ureters to the kidney during urination. A normal ureter has a 1-way valve that prevents the urine from backing up but in kids with VUR it isn’t functioning correctly. If the condition is bad enough surgical intervention may be required. The most frequently performed operation for the correction of reflux is the Cohen cross-trigonal reimplantation. This is done through an incision in the bladder and the ureters are relocated into the bladder to prevent reflux.