Facts on File Encyclopedia of Health and Medicine

DISORDERS, doctors and their patients grapple with the ethics of both research and therapeutics. The issues touch many of what h ...

are no genetic tests or diagnostic procedures that conclusively diagnose familial Mediterranean fever; the doctor makes the diag ...

G gamete A spermatozoon (SPERMcell) or an ovum (egg cell). A gamete, also called a germ cell or sex cell, is a haploid cell; it ...

See also ETHICAL ISSUES IN GENETICS AND MOLECU- LAR MEDICINE; MOLECULARLY TARGETED THERAPIES; RECOMBINANT DNA; SOMATIC CELL. gen ...

Multifactorial Disorders Researchers suspect many health conditions arise as a result of an interplay between genetic and enviro ...

ease, and type 2 DIABETES. An individual’s GENOTYPE establishes genetic vulnerability through mecha- nisms researchers do not fu ...

to develop the disease in midlife. GENETIC COUNSEL- ING is almost always a valuable and necessary component of genetic testing. ...

H–K Human Genome Project A collaborative under- taking among researchers around the world, organized under the joint auspices of ...

rather than affect structures of the body. Though mitochondrial mutations may be single-GENE, they often have widespread effects ...

M–N mitochondrial disorders Inherited mutations in mitochondrial genes that result in functional dis- turbances in various body ...

See also CELL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION; CHROMO- SOMAL DISORDERS; EDWARDS SYNDROME; INHERITANCE PATTERNS; MUTATION; PATAU’S SYNDROM ...

P–R Patau’s syndrome An AUTOSOMAL TRISOMYdisor- der that results from a REPLICATION ERRORduring cell division in which a GAMETE( ...

phenylalanine. Phenylalanine is common in all foods that contain protein (such as meats, dairy products, fish, and legumes) and ...

tachycardia (rapid HEART RATE) URINARY RETENTIONand URINARY INCONTINENCE The diagnostic path includes blood and urine tests to ...

forms of MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY. At the present time there is no treatment, cure, or prevention for progeria. See also CELL STRUCTUR ...

S senescence The gradual and progressive slowing of cellular activity, including cell division, that occurs with aging. Cells lo ...

Researchers have had some success with stimu- lating blood stem cells, in the laboratory, to func- tion as though they were othe ...

T–Z Tay-Sachs disease An inherited genetic disorder that causes a progressive, fatal form of gangliosido- sis (the accumulation ...

at highest risk for Tay-Sachs disease are those of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. A blood test became available in 1985 to detect ca ...

pairing, with more or less obvious results. VARIA- TIONalso occurs through MUTATION, in which DNA sequences change during replic ...