Suchergebnisse

Summary: There is good evidence from recent studies that depression is familial, and that a substantial proportion of the variation in liability is explained by genes. Suicidal behavior, including completed suicide, also seems to cluster in families. First-degree relatives of individuals who have committed suicide (included dizygotic twins) have more than twice the risk of the general population. For identical co-twins of suicides, the relative risk increases to about 11. Applying a simple structural equation model to the published data suggests a heritability for completed suicide of about 43% (95% confidence intervals 25-60). It is not known at present whether the genes predisposing to suicide are identical with those predisposing to affective disorder, but since only about half of those committing suicide have a diagnosis of depression, it seems probable that the overlap is incomplete. The mode of inheritance of suicidal behavior is almost certain to be complex, involving many genes. There have already been some initial studies of allelic association with polymorphisms in candidate genes such as those involved in serotonergic transmission. Further progress is likely to come from candidate gene and linkage disequilibrium studies that are capable of detecting multiple genes of small effect.

Contrary to the environmental determinism presumed by most social science commentators, & to the genetic determinism propounded by advocates of hardcore "sociobiology," presented here is the transactional, epigenetic approach commonly accepted in the life sciences. For the study of humans, this approach requires a focus on the reciprocal effects between genotype & both physical & sociocultural environments throughout development. Discussed are: the biology of human sexuality, sex roles, & political behavior. Political models & practices are proposed that will take better advantage of the characteristic differences between M & F brains in political thinking & behavior, & that will require a major reversal of the contemporary ratio in sex representation in political roles. Modified HA.

Background: Research on attitudes toward genetics and medicine registers skepticism among minority communities, but the reasons for this skepticism are not well known. In the past, studies linked mistrust of the medical system to historical ethics violations involving minority groups and to suspicions about ideological premise and political intent. Methods: To assess public knowledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding human-genetics research, we surveyed 858 Americans onsite in four community settings or online in a geographically nonspecific manner. Results: Compared to participants as a whole, African Americans were significantly more likely to believe that clinical trials might be dangerous and that the federal government knowingly conducted unethical research, including studies in which risky vaccines were administered to prison populations. However, African Americans were also significantly more likely to believe that the federal government worked to prevent environmental exposure to toxicants harmful to people with genetic vulnerabilities. Conclusions: Our data suggest that most Americans trust government to act ethically in sponsoring and conducting research, including genetics research, but that African Americans are particularly likely to see government as powerfully protective in some settings yet selectively disingenuous in others.

Three main reasons why a genetic approach is unlikely to be a solution to common diseases in the foreseeable future are discussed. The first is the great importance of environmental circumstances in determining health, the second reason is the great complexity of gene/gene, gene/environment interactions, and the third reason is human behavior with regard to compliance with medical recommendations. Since particular interests are likely to push for a genetic approach to disease, there will be a need to protect the public interest so that premature and inappropriate use of genetics is not made, and so that a balanced opportunity to better the health of all is not missed.

Motivated by earlier work studying the genetic basis of political attitudes (Martin, Eaves, Heath, Jardine, Feingold & Eysenck 1986, Alford, Funk & Hibbing 2005), researchers found that political behaviors such as voter turnout (Fowler, Baker & Dawes 2008), broader participation (Fowler, Baker & Dawes 2008), and partisan attachment (Settle, Dawes & Fowler 2009, Hatemi, Hibbing, Alford, Martin & Eaves 2009) also have a significant heritable component. These findings prompted a great deal of discussion and debate and helped spawn the nascent field of "genopolitics". However, in order to push this area of research forward scholars must identify causal mechanisms linking genes to political behaviors. The goal of this dissertation, which is made up of three distinct chapters, is to explore potential causal pathways my testing potential mediators such as personality traits and cognitive ability as well as identifying new genetic variants that may be associated with political behaviors. The first chapter presents a twin study testing whether the psychological traits cognitive ability, personal control, and extraversion mediate the relationship between genes and political predisposition and acts of participation. The second chapter is a candidate gene association study that tests the hypothesis that extraversion mediates a relationship between a variant of the COMT gene and partisan attachment. The third chapter presents the results from a genome-wide association study of validated voter turnout in the 2010 election. To complete this work I have utilized four novel genetically informative data sets. Two of these data sets were constructed here at UCSD, one at the University of Minnesota, and another with a research team from Sweden. All three studies shed new light on the relationship between genes and these political behaviors. However, the mediation results from Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 suggest only a modest amount of the relationship between genes and political behaviors are mediated by personality traits and cognitive ability. In addition, the investigation of over 500,000 genetic variants presented in Chapter 3 did not turn up many new significant associations. However, all three chapters provide a template for how future work in this area should be done as well as highlight the pitfalls in this burgeoning area of research

By combining one-half of a regular genetics course with a special half describing the use of genetics in legal decisions, a new course, "Genetics and the Law," has been offered at Union College for the past few years. The course stresses the interface between strictly genetic discoveries and their use in all fields of law as a basis for judicial actions. The course, open to all except biology majors and premedical or predental students, serves as part of Union College's "Liberal Learning Program," and as one of the two courses, among many, serving as science credits needed for graduation. The special conditions under which this course is possible, as well as the methods of teaching and the problems encountered both in attracting students and in designing a comparable course are presented.

Chapter 1. Laterality of Fish – Anti-symmetry in Fish Populations Maintained by the Interspecific Interaction -- Chapter 2. Universality of laterality among fish and invertebrates in aquatic communities -- Chapter 3.Predominance of Cross Predation or Parallel Predation in Fish -- Chapter 4.Behavioral laterality in the scale-eating cichlid fish: detailed movement, development, and neuronal mechanisms -- Chapter 5.Models of Lateral Asymmetry Dynamics:Realistic Oscillations by Time Delay andFrequency Dependence -- Chapter 6.Mathematical models of predators and prey with laterality -- Chapter 7.Statistical Analysis of Lateral Asymmetry:Detect Antisymmetry and Oscillation fromUnequal-Interval Binomial Data -- Chapter 8.Models of Genetic System of LateralAsymmetry: Population Dynamics DriveEvolution of Genetic System -- Chapter 9.Mechanisms Underlying Variations in the Dentition Asymmetry of Asian Snail-Eating Snakes -- Chapter 10.Single-gene speciation, balanced polymorphism, and antagonistic coevolution in left-right asymmetry of land snails.

Advances in genetics, such as the Human Genome Project's successful mapping of the human genome and the discovery of ever more sites of disease-related mutations, invite re-examination of basic concepts underlying our fundamental social practices and institutions. Having children, assigning responsibility, identifying causes, using social and scientific resources to improve human well-being, among other concepts, will never be the same. Our concepts of moral and legal responsibility, cause and effect, disease prevention, health, disability, enhancement, personal identity, and reproductive autonomy and responsibility are all subtly changing in response to developments in genetics. Biology, law, medicine, and other disciplines are also evolving in response to mutating concepts in genetics itself-for example, dominance, causation, behavior, gene expression, and gene. The selections in this volume employ philosophical and historical perspectives to shed light on classic social, ethical, and philosophical issues raised with renewed urgency against the backdrop of the mapping of the human genome

What distinguishes humans from all other animals? In this book, rationality, social learning, and cooperation – the basis of cultural evolution – are placed under the microscope from a comparative philosophical perspective. The view is developed that anthropological difference is based upon the sum of many small differences, and that we are more like other animals than we often think. Tobias Starzak, Ruhr-Universität Bochum.