OBJECTIVES To examine the consequences of informing smokers of a genetic predisposition to nicotine dependence and of providing treatment efficacy information tailored to genetic status. DESIGN Analogue study using four vignettes; 2 (genetic status) x 2 (whether treatment efficacy information provided) between subjects design. PARTICIPANTS 269 British adult smokers. OUTCOME MEASURES Prefe...

It is estimated that around 30% of all malignancies are caused by a “high-risk” genetic predisposition [1]. This estimation is based on an evaluation of occurrence of disease among monozygotic twins. If one of them is affected with prostate (PC) or breast cancer (BC), then the probability of occurrence of this disease in the second sibling is 40% for PC and 30% for BC [2]. The concordance among...

THE question of the roles of heredity and environment is of prime importance to the understanding of the nature of chronic diseases. Genetic mechanisms must be known not only for a better understanding of pathogenesis but, to the extent to which genetic forces are operative, also to identify susceptible persons prior to the onset or full development of the pathological process. Knowledge of the...

 Background: Behçet’s disease (BD) is a multi-system inflammatory vascular disorder with auto immunity background. It is a genetic disease that may be affected by environmental factors. Behçet’s disease may involve different organs like urogenital, skin, eyes and gastrointestinal system. According to geographic area and genetic predisposition, prevalence of the disease is different. The aim of...

High risk of schizophrenia requires high genetic predisposition to develop schizophrenia, plus an environmental trigger. A schizophrenic family environment is commonly believed to represent this trigger. The hypothesis is presented here that, on the contrary, a high predisposition to schizophrenia in significant others protects against overt illness. The trigger may be the predominance around t...

Schizophrenia is a heavily biologically determined psychiatric disorder with unequivocal evidence for a major genetic component in its transmission. In addition to its genetic determination, schizophrenia is also associated with increased morbidity and mortality with illness and suffering and with death rates that are higher than would be expected. One of the intriguing possibilities is that th...

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. Although several genetic defects have been identified in patients with a family history of this disease, the majority of cases involve individuals with no known genetic predisposition. A mutant form of ubiquitin, termed Ub(+1), has been selectively observed in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, including those with nonfam...

Shiftwork has been associated with elevated blood pressure (BP) and decreased heart-rate variability (HRV), factors that may increase the long-term risk of cardiovascular-related mortality and morbidity. This study explored the effect of shiftwork on dynamic changes in autonomic control of HRV (cardiac stress), systolic BP and diastolic BP, i.e., SBP and DBP (vascular stress), and recovery in t...

Kanner (1943) was the first investigator in the field of infantile autism to suggest a genetic predisposition in children who later developed the symptoms of autism. Family and twin studies of autism have shown that autism is occasionally aggregated in families (reviewed by Folstein & Rutter, 1987). These kinds of studies, however, tell us little about the nature of the genetic defect or defect...

Sarcoidosis is a systemic noncaseating granulomatous disease that can affect any organ, while lungs, lymph nodes, and skin seem to be the most commonly affected organs (1,2). We read with interest the recent paper, entitled “Unusual manifestation of cutaneous sarcoidosis: a case report of morpheaform sarcoidosis”, published in the Acta Medica Iranica (3). The authors presented a case of cutaneo...