Genetics and the epidemiology of chronic diseases : a symposium, June 17-19, 1963, Ann Arbor, Michigan ... / edited by James V. Neel, Margery Shaw, William J. Schull.

Date:
1965
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Genetics and the epidemiology of chronic diseases : a symposium, June 17-19, 1963, Ann Arbor, Michigan ... / edited by James V. Neel, Margery Shaw, William J. Schull. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/412 (page VIII)
    In some sequences the dominant characteristic results in a hand with a flush; in others the proper arrangement emphasizes the dominant feature of the hand as straight. In these situations an effort is made to match the items as homozygotes, and this adds further power whereas the appearance of a heterozygote may not provide the essential combination and the experimenter, recognizing that his hypothesis of hand formation is not further tenable, will announce that he drops out and forfeits his chance and will shortly undertake a new formulation. Another type of combination is seen when the same code number may reappear in successions and pairs. This may result in an effort toward explanation known as Queens full of genes. There is a distinct statistical probablility which applies to these formulations, but at times the concept of wild genes is introduced, meaning that certain of them can be accepted in any locus and with increased dominance, so that strong combinations may rapidly be formed and their value supported, but the statistical signiñcance is often difficult to calculate. The investigator who completes and defends his formula of hand formation most effectively is rewarded by a modified Mendelian prize—not of colored beans, but a collection of discs. Instead of black and white, however, they are commonly blue, red, and white. The successful contestant then arranges them in piles and calculates their distribution until the next exercise is begun. As a result of his suc¬ cessful manipulations of the genes, the winner earns the title, Genius. This brief and incomplete discussion can only mention that the exercise has different sets of guidelines. One form is called penny ante—named for the character in a child's book, Henny Penny. It means the contestants are chicken. Another level which is under¬ taken with grave demeanor and full appreciation of the values involved commonly requires limited light, a haze of tobacco incense and some¬ times other stimuli, so that the persons will poke about in the gene pool with better appreciation of its content. I could describe this better had I a better knowledge of the genetic code. This is to welcome you to the game and hope that you will defend your formulations with judgment and enthusiasm, recognizing, how¬ ever, that a sequence of four does not gain acceptance at full value. Other contestants may demand full evidence or offer competing infor¬ mation of greater power. Ladies and gentlemen, I shall now proceed to open. We have previously described epidemiology as the study of the laws and factors governing the occurrence and distribution of disease and disorder in a population. These factors include the characteristics of the population, the causative agencies, and the biological, social, and physical environment. Of all the factors which may be involved in the occurrence or absence of disease, the genetic influence is probably the most pervasive. Our very presence here to discuss the effect of 2