population-based genetic association studies have proven to be a powerful tool in identifying genes implicated in many complex human diseases that have a huge impact on public health. an essential quality control step in such studies is to undertake hardy-weinberg equilibrium (hwe) calculations. deviations from hwe in the control group may reflect important problems including selection bias, po...

To the Editor: I am delighted to see that Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology has taken the lead in initiating an open discussion about genetic association studies in such a prominent manner. As correctly pointed out in the editorial by Dr Hegele,1 the number of publications has exponentially increased in the last decade. Despite the intrinsic problems with this approach, this ex...

With the completion of the HapMap project1 and the development of technology that allows the examination of 1 million genetic polymorphisms at once, genetic association studies are becoming more comprehensive. This article first provides a brief overview of the rationale for genetic association studies; it then discusses the primary features differentiating genetic from standard association stu...

established thatthere is a strong genetically inherited contributionto attention-deficit hyperactivitydisorder (ADHD) and the geneticmechanisms involved are being soughtwith considerable success.It is nowestablished thatcertain alleles of the genes coding for the dopamine D4 receptor and the dopamine transporteroccurmore frequently in childrenwith ADHD thanin healthycontrols, andwe are findingo...

The widespread availability of DNA from large population studies, the development of rapid throughput genotyping assays, and the identification of numerous polymorphisms in genes of interest make it easier to perform genetic association studies in humans. We consider these studies appropriate areas of research in relation to atherosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology. In this issue, Drs ...

Recent studies have provided evidence that common genetic variations could account for a proportion of leukemia in adult or children. To evaluate the contribution of candidate gene association studies to the understanding of genetic susceptibility to acute lymphoblastic leukemia we conducted a systematic review from published studies. The polymorphisms of genes encoding carcinogen-metabolizi...

Anxiety comprises many clinical descriptions and phenotypes. A genetic predisposition to anxiety is undoubted; however, the nature and extent of that contribution is still unclear. Extensive genetic studies of the serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) transporter (5-HTT) gene have revealed how variation in gene expression can be correlated with anxiety phenotypes. Complete genome-wide linkage s...