Gene-environment interaction is likely to be a common and important source of variation for complex behavioral traits. Often conceptualized as the genetic control of sensitivity to the environment, it can be incorporated in variance components twin analyses by partitioning genetic effects into a mean part, which is independent of the environment, and a part that is a linear function of the envi...

The consequences of sex-specific selection for patterns of diversification remain poorly known. Because male secondary sexual traits are typically costly to express, and both costs and benefits are likely to depend on ambient environment and individual condition, such traits may be expected to diversify via changes in reaction norms as well as the scaling of trait size with body size (static al...

Linkage of body mass index (BMI) to a broad region of chromosome 7q22-35 has been reported in multiple studies. We previously published a multipoint LOD score of 4.9 at D7S1804 for BMI from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study. Leptin (LEP), the human homolog of the mouse obesity (ob) gene, is positioned near the linkage peak and is the most prominent candidate gene ...

Financial accounting standard setting involves making choices among alternative accounting methods. Accounting methods are multidimensional in nature, and each has many attributes which may be relevant for making a choice. The latest attempt to articulate relevant attributes appears in Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No. 2: Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting Information (FASB ...

BACKGROUND Studying personality traits with the potential to differentiate between individuals engaging in suicide attempts of different degrees of severity could help us to understand the processes underlying the link of personality and nonfatal suicidal behaviours and to identify at-risk groups. One approach may be to examine whether narrow, i.e., lower-order personality traits may be more us...

Genomewide association scan (GWAS) data mining has found moderate-effect "gold nugget" complex trait genes. But for many traits, much of the explanatory variance may be truly polygenic, more like gold dust, whose small marginal effects are undetectable by traditional methods. Yet, their collective effects may be quite important in advancing personalized medicine. We consider a novel approach to...

Asthma is a complex heritable inflammatory disorder of the airways associated with clinical signs of atopy and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Recent studies localized a major gene for asthma to chromosome 5q31-q33 in humans. Thus, this segment of the genome represents a candidate region for genes that determine susceptibility to bronchial hyperresponsiveness and atopy in animal models. Homologs...

background : β-thalassemia trait is one of the most common genetic disorders in mediterranean countries. previous studies have shown that β- thalassemia trait has a protective effect against malaria, coronary artery disease, hypertension and alzheimer disease. we hypothesize that due to the shorter life span of red blood cells and increased hematopoiesis, these patients are at increased risk of...