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...

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 ...

Population stratification or confounding by genetic ancestry is a potential cause of false associations in genetic association studies. Estimation of and adjustment for genetic ancestry has become common practice thanks in part to the availability of ancestry informative markers on genome-wide association study (GWAS) arrays. While array data is now widespread, these data are not ubiquitous as ...

Epistasis that may explain a large portion of the phenotypic variation for complex economic traits of animals has been ignored in many genetic association studies. A Baysian method was introduced to draw inferences about multilocus genotypic effects based on their marginal posterior distributions by a Gibbs sampler. A simulation study was conducted to provide statistical powers under various un...

Chronic widespread pain (CWP) is a prevalent disorder associated with a low pain threshold and increased levels of psychological distress. Evidence indicates that there is a genetic component to CWP syndromes and pain sensitivity. Here we have identified and reviewed the current literature on genetic association (GA) studies of CWP and pain sensitivity by searching MEDLINE and EMBASE between Ja...