insert blank line in paragraph

[Tristan Fiedler <fiedler@cshl.edu>]

Could someone please let me know how to insert a blank line in a 
paragraph:

   <para>First sentence. Second sentence (<xref linkend="figure1"/>).
	
	    <mediaobject id="figure1" xreflabel="Figure 1">
	    <imageobject><imagedata entityref="fig1" width="4in" 
align="center"/></imageobject>
	    <textobject><phrase>Vulval development is a multi-step 
process</phrase></textobject>
	    &fig1legend;
	    </mediaobject>
	
<!-- In pdf output, I wish to insert a single blank line between the 
mediaobject and the next sentence -->

	   paragraph continues here.....
</para>

Thank you in advance,        Tristan
---
Tristan J. Fiedler
Postdoctoral Fellow - Stein Lab
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory