| Canadian Family Physician • Le Médecin de famille canadien 639 Case scenario Your spouse (also an FP) is ensconced in the living room doing some journal reading when you hear her say, “Wow. I have always wondered what that meant.” You ask her what she is talking about. “Phylogenetics. It is high-tech detective work. It is the analysis of the small genetic changes that viruses and bacteria und...

OBJECTIVE Knowledge about the genetic basis of psychiatric illness is growing rapidly, and psychiatrists may be called upon to incorporate this information into clinical practice. The goal of this study was to assess psychiatrists' familiarity with and attitudes toward genetic information. METHOD We surveyed 844 participants, the majority of whom were psychiatrists, attending a continuing med...

Marketers of genetic tests often openly or implicitly misrepresent the utility of genetic information. Scientists who are well aware of the current limitations to the utility of such tests are best placed to publicly counter misrepresentations of the science.

The rapidly declining costs and increasing speeds of whole-genome analysis mean that genetic testing is undergoing a shift from targeted approaches to broader ones that look at the entire genome. As whole-genome technologies gain widespread use, questions about the management of so-called incidental findings-those unrelated to the question being asked-need urgent consideration. In this review, ...