Description
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 the importance of recognizing seemingly unrelated disorders in a family as due to the same gene mutation and it outlines the key genetic tests needed for diagnosis, detection of carriers, and prenatal diagnosis. Many genetic disorders are discussed including cancer, heart disease, autism, mental illness, birth defects, neurologic disorders, diabetes, obesity and much more. The message of this book is clear--know your family history, be cognizant of your ethnic origins, seek appropriate consultations, and opt for meaningful genetic tests. Recognition of your risk(s) enables prompt preemptive action. By knowing your genes, you may save your life and the lives of those you love.
Table of Contents
Contents1. Why and What You Should Know2. Too Many or Too Few Chromosomes3. X's and Y's: The Sex Chromosomes4. Chromosome Rearrangements5. Blueprints: You and Your Genes6. How Genes are Transmitted7. Prenatal Diagnosis8. When Good Cells Go Wrong9. Matters of the Heart10. Consequences of a Failure to Diagnose11. Genes Gone Missing12. Earlier and More Severe Genetic Disorders13. The Determination to Have a Healthy Child14. Irrevocability and Acceptance15. Ancestral Genetic Burdens16. Puzzling Fevers17. Bleeding and Clotting18. Blood Vessels that Burst19. Connectivity: Abnormal Brain Connections20. Skin: A Mirror to the Brain21. Genes with Signatures 22. Maternal Inheritance and Inevitability23. Harmful Maternal Effects on the Fetus24. Patterns of Anomalies25. Treatment Options26. Sugar and Metals27. Obesity: A Weighty Burden28. HypertensionFrequently Asked QuestionsAppendix 1: Cancer Family Syndromes for which Preimplantation Genetic Diagnoses have been PerformedAppendix 2: Genetic Disorders with Germline MosacismAppendix 3: Disorders with Dynamic MutationsAppendix 4: Genetic Disorders that show AnticipationAppendix 5: Guidelines for Presymptomatic or Predictive TestingAppendix 6: Genetic Disorders in which Dilatation of the Aorta may OccurAppendix 7: Genetic Disorders with ImprintingAppendix 8: Genetic Resources and Support OrganizationsIndex
