The Wilson-Patterson conservatism scale was psychometrically evaluated using homogeneity analysis and item response theory models. Results showed that this scale actually measures two different aspects in people: on the one hand people vary in their agreement with either conservative or liberal catch-phrases and on the other hand people vary in their use of the "?" response category of the scal...

The fitness of genotypes created by crossing strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was measured in axenic pure culture in a set of chemically defined environments. There was substantial and highly significant genotype-by-environment interaction, with genetic correlations between environments averaging only about +0.1 for both r and K. Higher-order interactions with combinations of environmental ...

Attachment theory predicts and subsequent empirical research has amply demonstrated that individual variations in patterns of early attachment behaviour are primarily influenced by differences in sensitive responsiveness of caregivers. However, meta-analyses have shown that parenting behaviour accounts for about one third of the variance in attachment security or disorganisation. The exclusivel...

One of the most solid generalizations of transmission genetics is that the phenotypic variance of populations carrying a major mutation is increased relative to the wild type. At least some part of this higher variance is genetic and due to release of previously hidden variation. Similarly, stressful environments also lead to the expression of hidden variation. These two observations have been ...

The timing of puberty is complex, possibly involving many genetic factors that may interact with environmental influences. Familial resemblance for age at menarche was studied in a sample of 4,995 female twins, 1,296 sisters, 2,946 mothers and 635 female spouses of male twins. They had indicated their age at menarche as part of a larger longitudinal survey. We assessed assortative mating for ag...

Interactions among genes and the environment are a common source of phenotypic variation. To characterize the interplay between genetics and the environment at single nucleotide resolution, we quantified the genetic and environmental interactions of four quantitative trait nucleotides (QTN) that govern yeast sporulation efficiency. We first constructed a panel of strains that together carry all...

Advances in molecular genetic techniques have led to an increased ability to examine gene-environment interactions. Studies to detect gene-environment interactions are motivated by different situations, including 1) most identified cancer genes having associated lifetime risks less than 100% (i.e., incomplete penetrance), 2) hereditary factors that control the metabolism of carcinogens that may...

Pollution is a common stress in the marine environment and one of today's most powerful agents of selection, yet we have little understanding of how anthropogenic toxicants influence mechanisms of adaptation in marine populations. Due to their life history strategies, marine invertebrates are unable to avoid stress and must adapt to variable environments. We examined the genetic basis of pollut...

background: the possible association between allergy and neoplastic disorders has been the subject of many investigations but no general relationship has been determined. little attention, however, has been paid to the possible role of allergy in the clinical manifestations of these diseases. in this study, the role of allergy in the susceptibility to uterine leiomyomas and in their growth was ...