OBJECTIVE One of the first tools for performing linkage analysis, Haseman-Elston regression (HE), has been successfully used to identify linkages to several disease traits. A recent explosion in extensions of HE leaves one faced with the task of choosing a flavor of HE best suited for a given situation. This paper puts this dilemma into perspective and proposes a modification to HE for highly a...

Exploring heritability of complex traits is a central focus of statistical genetics. Among various previously proposed methods to estimate heritability, variance component methods are advantageous when estimating heritability using markers. Due to the high-dimensional nature of data obtained from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in which genetic architecture is often unknown, the most app...

The mitochondria are the power plants of the cell; when they are unable to meet the brain’s substantial energy demands, neurodegeneration occurs. Leigh syndrome (LS) and Neuropathy, Ataxia, and Retinitis Pigmentosa (NARP) are two such neurodegenerative diseases, and are caused by dysfunctional ATP synthase. This enzyme is composed of fifteen subunits that work together to couple the flow of pro...

As expressions are developed which describe planetesimal collisions, it is instructive to find probability distributions for planetesimal parameters which maximize growth of the planetesimal system. Finding such optimal distributions provides clues as to the general efficiency of planet formation, and may help astronomers to determine whether young systems are likely to form planets. We conside...

With our harried schedules in academic research environments, it seems there is less and less time available to have good open dialogue and debate on issues. During my postdoctoral fellowship, I was exposed to the British tradition of breaking for tea twice daily. The department chair and my advisor, Dr. Robert Elston, took this very seriously, and everyone knew that at 10:00 am and 3:00 pm you...

The sexual pain disorders included in different editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R 1987; DSM-IV-TR, 2000) are dyspareunia and vaginismus. Both these clinical entities have undergone intense scrutiny and international discussion in the more recent years (Basson et Al 2003; Binik 2005; Graziottin, 2005; Meana et Al, 1997; Pukall et Al, 2005, Reissing ...

We propose a new splitting rule for recursively partitioning sibpair data into relatively more homogeneous subgroups. This strategy is designed to identify subgroups of sibpairs such that within-subgroup analyses result in increased power to detect linkage using Haseman-Elston regression. We assume that the subgroups can be defined by patterns of non-genetic binary covariates measured on each s...

BACKGROUND Monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) degrades catecholamines in presynaptic nerve endings and is also active in platelets. There is evidence to suggest that platelet MAO-B activity level is controlled by a major genetic locus distinct from the structural gene on the X chromosome. To expand on a prior report, new linkage analyses for platelet MAO-B activity have been performed on the previousl...

Between 1996 and 2002 Mortality published 11 papers which address gender issues. Some make women their focus, others address the relationships between the genders, or make comparisons between them. Some adopt an explicitly feminist perspective; others simply take gender as a variable. Alongside ‘gender’, they address its cross-cutting relationship with age, race or social class. They might seem...