Every human being has 46 chromosomes, including two chromosomes (X ,Y) that determine gender. The Y chromosome is unique to males. Inheriting an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the father makes the child male. Because the Y...
The exact cause of ovarian cancer is unknown. The Mayo Clinic explains that this cancer used to be known as a "silent killer," because patients usually did not recognize the symptoms until it had spread to other areas of their bodies. Now symptoms...
Elevated pressure in the main artery to the lungs is termed pulmonary arterial hypertension or PAH. This rare disorder carries a poor prognosis and there is no cure. Many cases have no identifiable cause. However, there is an inherited form, and...
Approximately 3 to 4 percent of all babies are born with a genetic disease or birth defect, according to information provided by Net Wellness. Genetic diseases are those that are passed down from parent to child through damaged or defective genes,...
Color blindness is more accurately referred to as color vision deficiency, because it is very rare for individuals to be able to see no color at all, to be truly color blind. Most cases of color blindness occur because of a sex-linked gene located...
Hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) is a heritable type of cancer that affects the digestive tract, most often the colon, as well as the endometrium, ovaries, brain, skin, liver or bile ducts, and the urinary tract. In the United States,...
Copper is a trace mineral present in all of the tissues in your body. You must get sufficient amounts of copper from your diet to prevent becoming deficient. Certain copper deficiencies may also require medical treatment. Knowing the warning...
As genetic influences are thought to play a part in bipolar disorder (BPD), when a person is assessed for this condition she is asked whether anyone in her family has, or had, this or any other psychiatric problems.
Genes are the portion of DNA that determine traits such as eye color or height. Genetic disorders may run in families. A child may inherit a specific eye disease such as Stargardt's disease or a complex developmental disorder such as Turner's...
Genes seem to influence mental disorders in three major ways. First, they may contribute to the cause of disease's such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia or autism. Second, they can be responsible for abnormalities that occur before or after birth....
Approximately 5,000 people a year in the United States develop Lou Gehrig's disease. Lou Gehrig's Disease is also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a fatal neurological disease that affects the motor neurons, causing the person...
Cellulite, the puckered, lumpy skin common on the thighs, buttocks and stomach, is caused by fat pushing against the connective tissues under your skin. People of all weights and ages can get cellulite, and its occurrence has been linked to genes,...
Genetic diseases are those that are passed on from parent to child through genes that carry the codes for each specific trait. Many of the diseases and disorders that affect the eyes have genetic factors. Some diseases are linked to a single gene...
At least 10 percent of people in the United States suffer from clinical depression at some point in their lives, says the Stanford School of Medicine. One way to study the genetic elements involved in depression is to study depressed individuals...
All humans have both "male" (testosterone) and "female" (estrogen) hormones naturally circulating in their body. Males normally have much higher levels of testosterone and lower levels of estrogen, compared to females. However, these low amounts...
Autoimmune diseases are diseases that are caused by the body's immune cells mistaking the normal cells of the body as foreign objects and therefore attacking them. Genetic diseases are those that occur because of defective genes, specific pieces...
In spite of some promising trends, cancer continues to cause more than half a million deaths each year in the United States. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the 2009 Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer found an...
If you're concerned about going grey, the bad news is that your risk of seeing strands of silver increases by up to 20 percent every 10 years after age 30, states the Library of Congress website. While there are extrinsic factors that can cause...
Known as the "royal disease" because of its connection to Queen Victoria, hemophilia is a hereditary bleeding disorder resulting from the deficiency of a protein necessary for blood clotting. Queen Victoria, a carrier of hemophilia, passed the...
The idea that male pattern baldness is passed on by the mother's side of the family because of the X chromosome appears to have been dispelled by recent research that suggests more complex causes. The study blaming it on the person's mother was...
Numerous proteins are associated with human genetic diseases. According to the Human Genome Project Information website, protein interactions can be the root cause of genetic pathologies. A genetic disease is a condition that is caused by...
Graying hair is generally associated with growing old. While gray hair and the aging process are inextricably linked, the premature arrival of silver strands is closely linked to your genes. At the root of each hair are special cells called...
Eczema is not a specific skin condition but is the name for a group of skin conditions characterized by swollen, irritated and itchy skin. The specific cause of each different type of eczema in not known but it tends to run in families suggesting...
Hereditary baldness, also known as androgenetic alopecia or AGA, is characterized by premature hair loss in men and women. A January 1995 article in the "The American Journal of Medicine" reports that the prevalence of hereditary baldness is...
Bipolar disorder, sometimes called manic-depression, is a mental illness known to be hereditary. The condition causes wide, sometimes disabling mood swings between euphoria and depression. According to the Mayo Clinic, signs of the "manic phase"...
Parkinson's disease is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder that affects more than 1.5 million Americans, according to Saint Mary's Health Care. It is a progressive disease that involves the continued death of nerve cells within the brain,...
The human brain produces a number of "feel good" chemicals--from serotonin and dopamine, to norepinephrine, GABA and endorphins--all of which work together in to produce feelings of well-being. When levels of these "feel good" chemicals are low or...
Inflammation is both friend and foe. It's your friend when it's battling bacterial and viral invaders, repairing damaged tissue and removing debris. But when chronic, low-grade inflammation -- which leads to heart disease, type 2 diabetes,...
Dementia involves loss of cognitive abilities. All forms of dementia entail progressive memory loss and confusion that impacts abilities to perform daily activities, communicate and walk. However, symptoms and treatment vary depending on the type...