Patients vary widely in their response to drugs. Having an understanding of the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of various medications is importantwhen assessing ethnic differences in drug response. Genetic factors can account for 20 to 95 percent of patient variability. Genetic polymorphisms for many drug-metabolizing enzymes and drug targets (e.g., receptors) have been identifi...

The recent increase in the prevalence of obesity in many parts of the world is clearly driven by secular changes in exposure to environmental factors, including the increased availability and reduced costs of energy-den e food and a reduction in physical activity during work and lei ure time (1,2). The peed with which this 'obesity epidemic' has occurred has led to the widespread misconception ...

" What's his infection sensitive to? " In 1995, getting the answer to this question required a house officer to find an unoccupied computer at the nursing station , sign on, and traverse the necessary screens to get the culture result. Armed with the answer — say, " levofloxacin " — she would ask the follow-up question: " What's the renal dosing? " The next step would typically entail a search ...

Sarcoidosis is an immune mediated disease thought to be caused by complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Involvement of genetic factors in sarcoidosis is supported by familial clustering, increased concordance in monozygotic twins and varying incidence and disease presentation among different ethnic groups. Studies have revealed several human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and ...

"The darkest hour is just before dawn."

A mutation first described in the Italian Contrusi family’s SNCA gene, encoding the protein alpha-synuclein, was described in 1990. At the same time, it was first described as a mutation in Parkinson's disease. However, in 1998 the first described mutation in the PRKN gene encoding the Parkin protein was found. The turn of the XXI has seen a breakthrough in the study of the genetic determinant ...

Childhood environment, social environment and behavior, leisure time activities and life events have been hypothesized to contribute to individual differences in cognitive abilities and physical and emotional well-being. These factors are often labeled 'environmental', suggesting they shape but not reflect individual differences in behavior. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that ...