Unlocking Your Genetic History : A Step-by-Step Guide to Discovering Your Family's Medical and Genetic Heritage

by Shawker, Thomas H., M.D.; Crow, Amy Johnson

• ISBN13: 9781401601447
• ISBN10: 1401601448
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-08-11
• Publisher: Rutledge Hill Pr

Summary

If Gilda Radner, one of the original cast of Saturday Night Live , had known of her family's medical pedigree and her ethnic heritage, she possibly could have prevented her death from ovarian cancer, the silent killer that tragically took her life at the age of 42. Cancer, mental illness, diabetes, and heart disease all have a hereditary component. Unlocking Your Genetic History explains how to integrate a family health history into your genealogy, how to get the appropriate medical information and analyze it, and how to design a medical pedigree in order to detect the genetic influence on your family's health. Early awareness, identification, and treatment can mean the difference between life and death.The second part of the book discusses the exciting new field of using genetic testing to link you to your ancestors and verify your genealogy. Genetic testing was used to show that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with his slave Sally Hemings and has direct male descendents living today.  It has shown that Jews retained their genetic identity despite the Jewish Diasporsa.  DNA testing can help identify Native American ancestry, determine who settled Polynesia, and track the march of Genghis Khan as he swept out of Mongolia. Today DNA testing is being used in court and to identify human remains.Unlocking Your Genetic History will help readers understand their family's medical and genetic history and help them understand the genetic revolution.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: Who Should Read This Book?	1	(4)
Ignorance Is Not Bliss: Know Your Family's Health History	5	(8)
Family Health History	6	(3)
It Runs in the Family	9	(1)
Genetics	9	(4)
Dominant and Recessive Diseases: Our Genetic Inheritance	13	(28)
Genes and Diseases	13	(8)
Recessive Diseases	21	(3)
The Founder Effect	24	(6)
Dominant Diseases	30	(2)
Mad King George	32	(1)
The Importance of Location	33	(2)
Marfan Disease	35	(1)
Huntington Disease	36	(2)
The Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick	38	(3)
When Genes Go Bad	41	(20)
Chromosome Diseases	42	(7)
Single-Gene Diseases	49	(8)
Multifactorial Diseases	57	(2)
Other Genetic Diseases	59	(2)
Compiling Your Family's Health History	61	(10)
The Interview	63	(3)
A Review of Systems	66	(1)
Be Specific	67	(4)
Do You Speak Medicalese?	71	(26)
Death Certificates	72	(6)
Coroners and Medical Examiners	78	(3)
Obituaries	81	(1)
Cemetery and Funeral Records	81	(3)
Hospital and Physician's Records	84	(1)
The Federal Census	84	(6)
Other Records	90	(2)
Research Aids	92	(1)
Analyzing the Information	92	(5)
Draw Your Pedigree	97	(12)
Format	98	(3)
Constructing the Pedigree	101	(3)
Design	104	(5)
What Have I Found?	109	(14)
The Warning Signs	109	(3)
Patterns of Inheritance	112	(5)
Cousin Marriages	117	(1)
Familial Diseases	118	(5)
Common and Important Genetic Diseases	123	(48)
The Heart and Blood Vessels	123	(5)
The Lungs	128	(1)
The Stomach and Intestines	129	(6)
Nervous Conditions	135	(6)
Muscle, Bone, and Skin Conditions	141	(10)
The Blood	151	(2)
The Kidneys, Bladder, and Reproductive System	153	(4)
The Sensory System	157	(2)
Hormone and Metabolic Conditions	159	(4)
Cancer	163	(8)
Tracking Your Genes: Molecular Genealogy	171	(16)
What Is a Gene?	171	(4)
The Structure of DNA	175	(1)
How Does DNA Function?	176	(3)
Mutations	179	(3)
Using DNA for Genealogy	182	(5)
Y Chromosome Testing: Your Father's Father's Father . . .	187	(28)
Y Chromosome Inheritance	187	(3)
How to Analyze the Y Chromosome	190	(3)
Genealogy	193	(5)
Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings	198	(6)
Starting Your Own Y Chromosome Project	204	(1)
Deep Ancestry	205	(1)
Jewish Y Chromosomes	206	(2)
Genghis Khan	208	(1)
The Irish Surname	209	(1)
Identification	210	(1)
Disease	211	(4)
Mitochondrial DNA: Tracking Mom's Line	215	(18)
mtDNA Inheritance	215	(4)
How to Analyze mtDNA	219	(2)
Genealogy	221	(3)
Starting Your Own mtDNA Project	224	(2)
Deep Ancestry	226	(2)
mtDNA and Anthropology	228	(1)
Identification	229	(1)
Disease	230	(3)
More Information on the Internet	233	(16)
The National Library of Medicine	233	(1)
MEDLINE	234	(1)
MEDLINEplus	235	(2)
Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man	237	(1)
Genetics Home Reference	238	(1)
The National Human Genome Research Institute	239	(1)
Other Government Web Pages	240	(2)
Universities	242	(1)
Organizations	243	(1)
Pharmaceutical Companies	244	(1)
Mailing Lists	245	(1)
Y Chromosome Family Projects	246	(1)
DNA Databases	247	(2)
Ethics, Privacy, and the Future of Genetics and Genealogy	249	(14)
Investigating Family Health	249	(3)
Genetic Tests	252	(1)
Testing and Family Information	252	(1)
Quality	253	(1)
Privacy Concerns	254	(1)
Eugenics	255	(1)
Government's Role	256	(1)
The New Genealogy	257	(2)
21st Century Medicine	259	(4)
Epilogue	263	(4)
Appendix A: Forms for Compiling Your Family's Health History	267	(8)
Appendix B: National Genealogical Society Standards and Guidelines	275	(6)
Guidelines for Using Records, Repositories, and Libraries	276	(1)
Standards for Use of Technology in Genealogical Research	277	(1)
Guidelines for Publishing Web Pages on the Internet	278	(1)
Guidelines for Genealogical Self-Improvement and Growth	279	(2)
Glossary	281	(8)
Bibliography	289	(6)
Index	295