New advances in genetics have dramatically expanded our ability to avoid, prevent, diagnose, and treat a wide range of disorders. Now, more than ever, families need to know about these new discoveries, especially as there are some 7,000 rare genetic diseases that afflict about 1 in 12 of us. In Your Genes, Your Health, Aubrey Milunsky provides an invaluable and authoritative guide to what you should know about your genes. Illustrated with poignant family histories that underscore the lifesaving importance of knowing one's family medical history and ethnic origin, the book highlights...

For over 20 years I have accepted the challenge and had the privilege of caring for sick children, agonizing with their parents during periods of serious illness, which were sometimes fatal. Because of my particular interest in and concern about birth defects and genetic disease, many of these children had severe disabling handicaps, which were often genetic and included mental retardation. Hence care of these children and their families was often complicated by the presence of serious or profound genetic defects. The initial realization of the nature of the disorder invariably led to...

Technological advances continue to expand the number of genetic disorders that can be diagnosed in utero. Utilization of this new technology has de manded special expertise available in relatively few academic centers. As these new applications have become more widespread so have the realities of the medicolegal implications. Notwithstanding the laboratory challenges, most legal action, at least in the United States, has arisen from the physician's failure to inform a patient about the risks of a genetic disorder or the oppor tunities presented by prenatal diagnosis. Hence an extensive...

About 21 years ago prenatal diagnosis became part of the physician's diagnostic armamentarium against genetic defects. My first monograph in 1973 (The Prenatal Diagnosis of Hereditary Disorders) critically assessed early progress and enunciated basic principles in the systematic approach to prenatal genetic diagnosis. Six years later and under the current title, a subsequent volume provided the first major reference source on this subject. The present second (effectively third) edition, which was urged in view of the excellent reception of the two earlier volumes, reflects the remarkable...

Society has historically not taken a benign view of genetic disease. The laws permitting sterilization of the mentally re tarded and those proscribing consanguineous marriages are but two examples. Indeed as far back as the 5th-10th centuries, B.C.E., consanguineous unions were outlawed (Leviticus XVIII, 6). Case law has traditionally tended toward the conservative. It is reactive rather than directive, exerting its influence only after an individual or group has sustained injury and brought suit. In contrast, state legislatures have not been inhibited in enacting statutes. Many of their...

The state of health care is reflected by perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality as well as by the frequencies of long-term neurologic and developmental disorders. Many factors, some without immediately rec ognizable significance to childbearing and many still unknown, undoubt edly contribute beneficially or adversely to the outcome of pregnancy. Knowledge concerning the impact of such factors on the fetus and sur viving infant is critical. Confounding analyses of pregnancy outcome, especially these past two or three decades, are the effects of newly un dertaken invasive or inactive...

The state of health care is reflected by perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality as well as by the frequencies of long-term neurological and developmental disorders. Many factors, some without immediately recognizable significance to childbearing and many still unknown, undoubtedly contribute beneficially or adversely to the outcome of pregnancy. Knowledge concerning the impact of such factors on the fetus and surviving infant is critical. Confounding analyses of pregnancy outcome, especially these past 2 or 3 decades, are the effects of newly undertaken invasive or inactive...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, ... it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. . . . -Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities Dickens, of course, did not have the contemporary dilemmas of modern genetics in mind. Indeed, we need to remind ourselves how short the history of modern genetics really is. Recognition that genetic traits are carried by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) occurred only about 40 years ago. Knowledge of the three-dimensional...

The state of health care is reflected by perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality as well as by the frequencies of long-term neurologic and developmental disorders. Many factors, some"without immediately recognizable significance to childbearing and many still unknown, undoubtedly contribute beneficially or adversely to the outcome of pregnancy. Knowledge concerning the impact of such factors on the fetus and surviving infant is critical. Confounding analyses of pregnancy outcome, especially these past two or three decades, are the effects of newly undertaken invasive or inactive...

The state of health care is reflected by perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality as well as by the frequencies of long-term neurological and developmental disorders. Many factors, some without immediately recognizable significance to childbearing and many still unknown, undoubtedly contribute beneficially or adversely to the outcome of pregnancy. Knowledge concerning the impact of such factors on the fetus and surviving infant is critical. Confounding analyses of pregnancy outcome, especially these past 2 or 3 decades, are the effects of newly undertaken invasive or inactive...