We report the development of a 3-week laboratory activity for an undergraduate molecular biology course. This activity introduces students to the practice of basic molecular techniques such as restriction enzyme digestion, agarose gel electrophoresis, cloning, plasmid DNA purification, Southern blotting, and sequencing. Students learn how to carry…

A practical experiment on the PCR is described that has been used over several years as part of an undergraduate biochemistry and molecular biology course for chemistry students. In the first experimental session, students prepare their own DNA samples from epithelial cells of the mouth and use them as templates in the PCR. In the second session,…

The aim of this article is to provide an in-depth description of early development in a young child with Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS). SMS is a multisystem, neurodevelopmental genetic disorder associated with mental retardation that predisposes individuals to a distinct pattern of maladaptive behaviors and other neuropsychological impairments.…

The genetic and environmental etiologies of diverse aspects of language ability and disability, including articulation, phonology, grammar, vocabulary, and verbal memory, were investigated in a U.K. sample of 787 pairs of 4.5-year-old same-sex and opposite-sex twins. Moderate genetic influence was found for all aspects of language in the normal…

Today, many biology instructors use visual models to help students understand abstract concepts like cell division. For all biology instructors, dealing with student misconceptions of cell division may seem hopeless at times--even after using visual models. Although student errors in cell division are built around the three key events of cell…

Advances in the field of molecular biology, powered by a technological revolution, have increased dramatically over the past decades. Notable developments such as the cloning of adult sheep, the sequencing of the human genome, and the production of genetically modified organisms capture the attention of biologists, their students, and the general…

Most studies have considered the effects of particular characteristics on academic achievement individually, which means that little is known about how they function together. Using the population-based Minnesota Twin Family Study, the authors investigated the effects of child academic engagement (interest, involvement, effort), IQ, depression,…

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is experienced by a significant proportion of youth today, occurring at an earlier age than found in previous generations. Major Depressive Disorder can produce long-lasting detrimental effects on a child's life, which raises the question of etiology. Three areas were examined for evidence identifying specific…

Dyslexia may represent the first example of a LD whereby a possible pathway may link the observed behavior to an underlying neurological substrate that has a neurodevelopmental history beginning with an abnormal gene. Similar efforts are being made to link other cognitive disorders of development to a molecular pathway involved in brain…

Maternal ratings on internalizing (INT) and externalizing (EXT) behaviors were collected in a large, population-based longitudinal sample. The numbers of participating twin pairs at ages 3, 7, 10, and 12 were 5,602, 5,115, 2,956, and 1,481, respectively. Stability in both behaviors was accounted for by genetic and shared environmental influences.…

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a neurogenetic developmental disorder that presents with progressive muscular weakness. It is caused by a mutation in a gene that results in the absence of specific products that normally localize to muscle cells and the central nervous system (CNS). The majority of affected individuals have IQs within the…

We conducted behavior?genetic analyses of kindergarten reading, spelling, phonological awareness, rapid naming, and spoken sentence processing in 172 pairs of monozygotic and 153 pairs of same-sex dizygotic twin kindergarten children sampled in the United States and Australia. We also modeled progress from preschool to kindergarten in…

Background: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disability (RD) tend to co-occur and quantitative genetic studies have shown this to arise primarily through shared genetic influences. However, molecular genetic studies have shown different genes to be associated with each of these conditions. Neurobiological studies have…

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), a genetic form of mental retardation, involves a myriad of physical and behavioral problems. Poor social adjustment has been reported, but the origin of this difficulty is unknown. The Social Attribution Task, a measure of one's ability to make appropriate social attributions from an ambiguous visual display [Klin…

Asperger syndrome (AS) is a childhood-onset disorder often described as a mild variant of autism. Although classified as a distinct disorder in the DSM-IV, its overlap with autism continues to be a matter of ongoing debate. While the family genetic origins of autism are well established, few studies have investigated this topic in AS using current…