Large scale surveillance studies, case studies, as well as cohort studies have identified the influence of thyroid hormones on calvarial growth and development. Surveillance data suggests maternal thyroid disorders (hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism with pharmacological replacement, and Maternal Graves Disease) are linked to as much as a 2.5 fold increased risk for craniosynostosis. Craniosynosto...

The incidence of craniosynostosis is one in every 1,800-2500 births. The gene-environment model proposes that if a genetic predisposition is coupled with environmental exposures, the effects can be multiplicative resulting in severely abnormal phenotypes. At present, very little is known about the role of gene-environment interactions in modulating craniosynostosis phenotypes, but prior evidenc...

Copy Number Variants (CNVs) are now recognized as playing a significant role in complex disease etiology. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of irreversible vision loss in the western world. While a number of genes and environmental factors have been associated with both risk and protection in AMD, the role of CNVs has remained largely unexplored. We analyzed the tw...

PURPOSE The 32Q (rs641153; A) and 32W (rs12614; T) variants of complement factor B (CFB) cause less efficient complement activation in vitro than the common 32R variant. This is thought to be the reason that the 32Q variant is associated with decreased risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We investigated whether the 32W variant was also associated with decreased risk of AMD. METHOD...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the pharmacogenetic effects of complement factor H (CFH) Y402H, LOC387715 and high-temperature requirement factor A1 (HTRA1) genotypes on the treatment of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by intravitreal bevacizumab injection in a Korean population. METHODS Seventy-five patients diagnosed with exudative AMD were treated with i...