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PubMed · 10789320

Genetics advances and learning disability.

W J Muir
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Medicine is rapidly becoming molecular medicine, and little escapes the grasp of modern genetics. Most disorders associated with learning disability have at least a genetic component influencing their expression; in many disorders, disturbances of genetic mechanisms play a pivotal role. AIMS: Dynamic mutations, imprinting mechanisms and gene-dosage effects are explained with reference to genetic disorders that lead to learning disability. METHOD: A review of recent important studies in the genetics of learning disability. RESULTS: A host of new genetic connections to conditions associated with learning disability have been made. CONCLUSIONS: A basic understanding of these genetic connections is important for all learning disability psychiatrists if they are to follow the rapid changes--already beginning to influence our practice--that hold immense promise for the future.

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Angelman SyndromeDown SyndromeHumansLearning DisabilitiesPolymerase Chain ReactionPrader-Willi SyndromeX ChromosomeJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tReview

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W J Muir. 2000. Genetics advances and learning disability.. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.176.1.12

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