...genetic medicine, a place that researchers say increasing numbers
of us may visit in the years ahead. In 1997 there were genetic tests
for about 150 inherited diseases. Today, that figure exceeds 1,100 and
grows daily. Most tests can't determine for sure that you'll develop a
specific disease -- but they can often tell you whether you're an
above-average candidate for a slew of conditions. Positive results can
spur you into fight mode, hoping to avoid what your twisted strands of
DNA have in store for you. But, though knowledge is power, it can be
hard to accept: You're forced to squint into a future in which your
body is more vulnerable than you expected, and the TMI factor can be
daunting...
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/dna-testing
Medical genetics is the specialty of medicine that involves the
diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders. Medical genetics
differs from Human genetics in that human genetics is a field of
scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, but medical
genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For
example, research on the causes and inheritance of genetic disorders
would be considered within both human genetics and medical genetics,
while the diagnosis, management, and counseling of individuals with
genetic disorders would be considered part of medical genetics. In
contrast, the study of typically non-medical phenotypes such as the
genetics of eye color would be considered part of human genetics, but
not necessarily relevant to medical genetics (except in situations
such as albinism). Genetic medicine is a newer term for medical
genetics and incorporates areas such as gene therapy and personalized
medicine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_genetics
...The causes of human experience include genes, accidents,
infections, birth order, teachers, parents, circumstance, opportunity,
and chance, to name just the most obvious. Sometimes one cause looms
large, but not always. When you catch a cold the chief cause is a
virus, but when you catch pneumonia the bacterium is only an
opportunist-your immune system usually needs to have been run down
first by starvation, hypothermia, or stress. Is that the "true" cause?
Likewise, "genetic" diseases such as Huntington's chorea are caused
precisely and simply by a mutation in one gene; environmental factors
have almost no influence on the outcome. But phenylketonuria (PKU), a
form of mental retardation caused by an inability to digest
phenylalanine, could be said to be caused by the mutation, or by phen-
ylalanine in the diet-it can be seen as either nature or nurture,
depending on your bias. How much more complex is the pattern when many
different genes and many different environmental factors are almost
certainly involved, as is probably the case with schizophrenia.
NATURE VIA NURTURE - genes, experience, and what makes us human
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060006781/
