One interpretation of the Pearson product-moment correlation ("r"), correlation as the probability of originating from common descent, important to the genetic measurement of inbreeding, is examined. The conditions under which "r" can be interpreted as the probability of "identity by descent" are specified, and the…

Special issue of the "Journal of Health Psychology" (Vol. 7, No. 2, 2002) was reviewed. Articles covered a variety of qualitative studies conducted using an interpretive phenomenological analysis method to examine the interviews with people who had received genetic testing and counseling. Implications for the broader counseling field…

The Human Genome Project is brining new opportunities to predict and prevent diseases. Although pediatric nurses are the closest to these developments, most nurses will encounter genetic aspects of practice and must understand the basic science and its ethical, legal, and social dimensions. (Includes commentary by Peter Birchenall.) (SK)

Reviews family, linkage, and twin studies of reading disability. Reports on application of behavioral genetic methods to reading performance data from 96 identical twin pairs and 72 fraternal twin pairs in which at least one twin was reading disabled. Found approximately one-half of the reading deficit observed in the probands may have been…

Discusses the relationship between a person's phenotype and allele products, which are different forms of genes. (MKR)

A survey of 15 genetics nurses reveals both grassroots and top-down approaches to advancing genetics in nursing practice, research, and education. As genome-based health care spreads, nursing should concentrate on bringing genetics into clinical practice and scholarship. (Contains 33 references.) (SK)

Analysis of four transcripts of genetic counseling sessions shows how Jarvis' model of contemplative learning helps elucidate the process genetic clients undergo. The model can be applied in other areas of health care involving patient learning. (SK)

Objective: To comment on the article in this issue of the Journal by Professor Michael Rutter, "Environmentally Mediated Risks for Psychopathology: Research Strategies and Findings," in the context of current research findings on gene-environment interaction, epigenetics, and gene expression. Method: Animal and human studies are reviewed that…

This article explores how different raters have different strengths and weaknesses. Parents know their children well, but have a narrower framework on which to base their judgments about behavior problems. Moreover, in some cases such as hyperactivity, they are prone to exaggerate differences between their children. Teachers have greater expertise…

Objective: Panic disorder (PD) has been linked to perturbed processing of threats. This study tested the hypotheses that offspring of parents with PD and offspring with anxiety disorders display relatively greater sensitivity and attention allocation to fear provocation. Method: Offspring of adults with PD, major depressive disorder (MDD), or no…

Before he was wrongly sent to death row for the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in 1984, Kirk Bloodsworth enjoyed the life of a Chesapeake Bay waterman. Convicted largely on the testimony of a seven- and a ten-year-old eyewitness, by 1989 Johnson had exhausted almost every legal option available--after winning a new trial, he was convicted…

Recent studies have validated the phenomenon of autistic regression, but little is known about how regressive and congenital onsets of the disorder influence parents' thinking about autism and its etiology. Parents (N = 327) of children with autism spectrum disorders completed an online questionnaire about their children's development.…

The executive attention network is involved in regulating emotions and cognitions, forming a neural basis for temperamental self-regulation. New brain imaging and molecular genetics methods can enhance our understanding of common mechanisms of self-regulation and individual differences in their expression.

Given well-known difficulties in justifying the Galtonian conception of intelligence as innate general intellectual capacity, a historical explanation is required of why this problematic notion became so prominent in Britain and in the USA in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Parallels are drawn between it and various features of the…

The study describes the process of DNA-DNA hybridization and the history of its use by Sibley and Alquist in simple, straightforward, and interesting language that students easily understand to create their own phylogenetic tree of the hominoid superfamily. They calibrate the DNA clock and use it to estimate the divergence dates of the various…