The use of race, ethnicity and ancestry in human genetic research

Post-Human Genome Project progress has enabled a new wave of population genetic research, and intensified controversy over the use of race/ethnicity in this work. At the same time, the development of methods for inferring genetic ancestry offers more empirical means of assigning group labels. Here, we provide a systematic analysis of the use of race/ethnicity and ancestry in current genetic research. We base our analysis on key published recommendations for the use and reporting of race/ethnicity which advise that researchers: explain why the terms/categories were used and how they were measured, carefully define them, and apply them consistently. We studied 170 population genetic research articles from high impact journals, published 2008–2009. A comparative perspective was obtained by aligning study metrics with similar research from articles published 2001–2004. Our analysis indicates a marked improvement in compliance with some of the recommendations/guidelines for the use of race/ethnicity over time, while showing that important shortfalls still remain: no article using ‘race’, ‘ethnicity’ or ‘ancestry’ defined or discussed the meaning of these concepts in context; a third of articles still do not provide a rationale for their use, with those using ‘ancestry’ being the least likely to do so. Further, no article discussed potential socio-ethical implications of the reported research. As such, there remains a clear imperative for highlighting the importance of consistent and comprehensive reporting on human populations to the genetics/genomics community globally, to generate explicit guidelines for the uses of ancestry and genetic ancestry, and importantly, to ensure that guidelines are followed

ICAR: endoscopic skull‐base surgery

n/

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as Detected by Quantitative in Vivo Spectroscopic Imaging From the Departments of Psychiatry

ABSTRACT The thalamus has been implicated in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Using a multislice spectroscopic imaging sequence, w

Palliative Care in Pediatric Oncology

Pediatric palliative care (PPC) in oncology is the active total care of the child’s body, mind, and spirit and involves giving support to the family. Pediatric palliative oncology includes patients across the age spectrum from infancy through young adulthood, and can be embodied as a philosophy of care or applied by an interdisciplinary team of experts. PPC should be initiated at the time of a child’s cancer diagnosis and continued regardless of whether or not the child receives treatment directed at the cancer. PPC aims to prevent and relieve suffering across multiple realms (physical, psychological, social, and existential or spiritual) and enhance quality of life. PPC can be either primary (administered by the primary oncology team) or specialty-focused (administered by an expert or team of experts in PPC), depending on the unique needs of the patient, family, and health care team. Despite evidence demonstrating the benefits of PPC, numerous barriers to its implementation remain. Ongoing education and research are necessary to support consistent access for patients, families, and health care clinicians