Genes, Chromosomes, and Disease

Genes, Chromosomes, and Disease
Author: Nicholas Wright Gillham
Publisher: FT Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2011-03-15
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0132623242

This very readable overview of the rise and transformations of medical genetics and of the eugenic impulses that have been inspired by the emerging understanding of the genetic basis of many diseases and disabilities is based on a popular nonmajors course, "Social Implications of Genetics," that Gillham gave for many years at Duke University. The book is suitable for use as a text in similar overview courses about genes and social issues or genes and disease. It gives a good overview of the developments and status of this field for a wide range of biomedical researchers, physicians, and students, especially those interested in the prospects for the new, genetics-based personalized medicine.

Genes, Chromosomes, and Disease: From Simple Traits, to Complex Traits, to Personalized Medicine

Genes, Chromosomes, and Disease: From Simple Traits, to Complex Traits, to Personalized Medicine
Author: Nicholas W. Gillham
Publisher: FT Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2011
Genre: Anatomy
ISBN:

This readable overview covers the rise of medical genetics through the past century, and the eugenic impulses it has inspired. Nicholas Gillham reviews the linkages between genes and disease; ethnic groups & rsquo; differential susceptibility to genetic traits and disorders; personalized medicine; and crucial social and ethical issues arising from the field & rsquo;s progress.

Biosocial Surveys

Biosocial Surveys
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 429
Release: 2008-01-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309108675

Biosocial Surveys analyzes the latest research on the increasing number of multipurpose household surveys that collect biological data along with the more familiar interviewerâ€"respondent information. This book serves as a follow-up to the 2003 volume, Cells and Surveys: Should Biological Measures Be Included in Social Science Research? and asks these questions: What have the social sciences, especially demography, learned from those efforts and the greater interdisciplinary communication that has resulted from them? Which biological or genetic information has proven most useful to researchers? How can better models be developed to help integrate biological and social science information in ways that can broaden scientific understanding? This volume contains a collection of 17 papers by distinguished experts in demography, biology, economics, epidemiology, and survey methodology. It is an invaluable sourcebook for social and behavioral science researchers who are working with biosocial data.

Assessing Genetic Risks

Assessing Genetic Risks
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 1994-01-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309047986

Raising hopes for disease treatment and prevention, but also the specter of discrimination and "designer genes," genetic testing is potentially one of the most socially explosive developments of our time. This book presents a current assessment of this rapidly evolving field, offering principles for actions and research and recommendations on key issues in genetic testing and screening. Advantages of early genetic knowledge are balanced with issues associated with such knowledge: availability of treatment, privacy and discrimination, personal decision-making, public health objectives, cost, and more. Among the important issues covered: Quality control in genetic testing. Appropriate roles for public agencies, private health practitioners, and laboratories. Value-neutral education and counseling for persons considering testing. Use of test results in insurance, employment, and other settings.

The Human Genome in Health and Disease

The Human Genome in Health and Disease
Author: Tore Samuelsson
Publisher: Garland Science
Total Pages: 547
Release: 2019-02-07
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 042966429X

The human genome is a linear sequence of roughly 3 billion bases and information regarding this genome is accumulating at an astonishing rate. Inspired by these advances, The Human Genome in Health and Disease: A Story of Four Letters explores the intimate link between sequence information and biological function. A range of sequence-based functional units of the genome are discussed and illustrated with inherited disorders and cancer. In addition, the book considers valuable medical applications related to human genome sequencing, such as gene therapy methods and the identification of causative mutations in rare genetic disorders. The primary audiences of the book are students of genetics, biology, medicine, molecular biology and bioinformatics. Richly illustrated with review questions provided for each chapter, the book helps students without previous studies of genetics and molecular biology. It may also be of benefit for advanced non-academics, which in the era of personal genomics, want to learn more about their genome. Key selling features: Molecular sequence perspective, explaining the relationship between DNA sequence motifs and biological function Aids in understanding the functional impact of mutations and genetic variants Material presented at basic level, making it accessible to students without previous studies of genetics and molecular biology Richly illustrated with questions provided to each chapter

Genetic Breakthroughs-- Their Implications for You and Your Health (Collection)

Genetic Breakthroughs-- Their Implications for You and Your Health (Collection)
Author: Haig H. Kazazian
Publisher: FT Press
Total Pages: 1137
Release: 2012-02-27
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0133039633

3 cutting-edge books reveal the latest genetic breakthroughs – and their implications for you, your health, and your world These three cutting-edge books reveal how modern genetics has already transformed the world – and will transform it again and again in the coming years. Mobile DNA book thoroughly reviews our current scientific understanding of the significant role that mobile genetic elements play in the evolution and function of genomes and organisms–from plants and animals to humans. Renowned geneticist Haig Kazazian offers an accessible intellectual history of the field’s research strategies and concerns, explaining how advances have opened up new questions, and how new tools and capabilities have encouraged still more progress. He introduces today’s key strategies for advancing the field, and previews long-term research strategies that may lead to even deeper insights. Next, in Investigating the Human Genome, leading medical genetics scholar Moyra Smith reviews current and recent work in genetics and genomics to assess progress in understanding human variation and the pathogenesis of common and rare diseases linked to genetics. You’ll discover how these advances are shedding new light on issues ranging from human origins to psychiatric disease, Alzheimer’s to epigenetics. Finally, in Genes, Chromosomes, and Disease, Nicholas Wright Gillham offers an exceptionally readable overview of the rise and transformations of medical genetics – and of the eugenic impulses that it has inspired. From world-renowned leaders and experts, including Haig H. Kazazian, Moyra Smith, and Nicholas Wright Gillham

Sickle Cell and the Social Sciences

Sickle Cell and the Social Sciences
Author: Simon Dyson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2019-03-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351580841

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a severe chronic illness and one of the world’s most common genetic conditions, with 400,000 children born annually with the disorder, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Brazil, the Middle East and in diasporic African populations in North America and Europe. Biomedical treatments for SCD are increasingly available to the world’s affluent populations, while such medical care is available only in attenuated forms in Africa, India and to socio-economically disadvantaged groups in North America and Europe. Often a condition rendered invisible in policy terms because of its problematic association with politically marginalized groups, the social study of sickle cell has been neglected. This illuminating volume explores the challenges and possibilities for developing a social view of sickle cell, and for improving the quality of lives of those living with SCD. Tackling the controversial role of screening and genetics in SCD, the book offers a brief thematic history of approaches to the condition, queries the role of ethnicity and includes a discussion of how the social model of disability can be applied, as well as featuring chapters focusing on athletics, prisons and schools. Bringing together a wide range of original research conducted in the USA, the UK, Ghana and Nigeria, Sickle Cell and the Social Sciences is anchored in the discipline of sociology, but draws upon a diverse range of fields, including public health, anthropology, social policy and disability studies.

Thinking Through Breast Cancer

Thinking Through Breast Cancer
Author: Mary Ann G. Cutter
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2018-03-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0190637056

Anyone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer or knows someone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer recognizes that cancer raises a host of questions concerning its nature and how we treat it. Such questions frame the difficult decisions that patients must make about their treatment and care. Thinking Through Breast Cancer is a philosophical investigation of how breast cancer is described, explained, evaluated, and socialized in medicine. Written by a breast cancer survivor, the book interweaves personal experience with a systematic breakdown of key and highly pertinent philosophical concepts, and brings to light insights that emerge in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, social and political philosophy, and bioethics. Further, it is an investigation of the ethical implications of understanding breast cancer. Cutter seamlessly combines clinical information with philosophical analysis and makes recommendations as to how we can navigate the complex and, at times, uncertain terrain of breast cancer knowledge and care. In this way, the book is not simply a survey of what we know about breast cancer, but a personal search for guidance about navigating the complex, confusing, and frightening terrain of breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survival.

Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment

Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2006-11-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309133815

Over the past century, we have made great strides in reducing rates of disease and enhancing people's general health. Public health measures such as sanitation, improved hygiene, and vaccines; reduced hazards in the workplace; new drugs and clinical procedures; and, more recently, a growing understanding of the human genome have each played a role in extending the duration and raising the quality of human life. But research conducted over the past few decades shows us that this progress, much of which was based on investigating one causative factor at a time—often, through a single discipline or by a narrow range of practitioners—can only go so far. Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment examines a number of well-described gene-environment interactions, reviews the state of the science in researching such interactions, and recommends priorities not only for research itself but also for its workforce, resource, and infrastructural needs.

Textbook of Personalized Medicine

Textbook of Personalized Medicine
Author: Kewal K. Jain
Publisher: Humana Press
Total Pages: 762
Release: 2015-03-17
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1493925539

Advances in the technology used in personalized medicine and increased applications for clinical use have created a need for this expansion and revision of Kewal K. Jain’s Textbook of Personalized Medicine. As the first definitive work on this topic, this book reviews the fundamentals and development of personalized medicine and subsequent adoptions of the concepts by the biopharmaceutical industry and the medical profession. It also discusses examples of applications in key therapeutic areas, as well as ethical and regulatory issues, providing a concise and comprehensive source of reference for those involved in healthcare management, planning and politics. Algorithms are included as a guide to those involved in the management of important diseases where decision-making is involved due to the multiple choices available. Textbook of Personalized Medicine, Second Edition will serve as a convenient source of information for physicians, scientists, decision makers in the biopharmaceutical and healthcare industries and interested members of the public.