Inherited retinal dystrophies represent the most frequent hereditary disorders of the ocular posterior segment. The chronic eye diseases included in this heterogeneous group of genetic degenerative disorders of the retina are also habitually named retinitis pigmentosa, a term coined by Donders more than 150 years ago. Taking into account all the different forms of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), amo...

vitiligo Generalized vitiligo (GV) is the most common depigmentation disorder, in which acquired multifocal patches of white skin and overlying hair result from loss of melanocytes in the involved areas (Figure 1) [1,2]. Th e prevalence of GV is approximately 0.5% in various populations [3], with an average age of onset at about 24 years and occurring with approximately equal frequency in males...

The chapters on deafness, audiometry, and surgical procedures on the temporal bone move forward in a clear and straightforward way, as might be expected from an author who has for many years been professionally concerned with these aspects of hearing. Students, whether clinically or nonclinically oriented, will find this material informative and useful. An extensive bibiography, indices to both...

1 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, 2 Social and Environmental Health Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom, 3 Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, 4 International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Lyon, France, 5 Depa...

Gallbladder cancer is a malignancy of biliary tract which is infrequent in developed countries but common in some specific geographical regions of developing countries. Late diagnosis and deprived prognosis are major problems for treatment of gallbladder carcinoma. The dramatic associations of this orphan cancer with various genetic and environmental factors are responsible for its poorly defin...

Psychiatric genetics, which is growing in size and influence within psychiatry, employs four major research paradigms: 1) basic genetic epidemiology, 2) advanced genetic epidemiology, 3) gene finding methods, and 4) molecular genetics. Paradigms 1 and 2 study aggregate genetic risk factors inferred from patterns of resemblance in relatives. Paradigms 3 and 4 study individual susceptibility gene...

The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is relatively constant in many populations, at 0.5-1.0%. However, a high prevalence of RA has been reported in the Pima Indians (5.3%) and in the Chippewa Indians (6.8%). In contrast, low occurrences have been reported in populations from China and Japan. These data support a genetic role in disease risk. Studies have so far shown that the familial re...

We review how molecular markers and evolutionary analysis have been applied to the study of schistosome parasites, important pathogens that infect over 200 million people worldwide. Topics reviewed include phylogenetics and biogeography, hybridization, infection within snails, mating systems, and genetic structure. Some interesting generalizations include that schistosome species hybridize freq...

Noninvasive genetic approaches continue to improve studies in molecular ecology, conservation genetics and related disciplines such as forensics and epidemiology. Noninvasive sampling allows genetic studies without disturbing or even seeing the target individuals. Although noninvasive genetic sampling has been used for wildlife studies since the 1990s, technological advances continue to make no...