Gene mapping in Gypsies identifies a novel demyelinating neuropathy on chromosome 8q24

Founder effect and linkage disequilibrium have been successfully exploited to map single gene disorders1, and the study of isolated populations is emerging as a major approach to the investigation of genetically complex diseases2. In the search for genetic isolates ranging from Pacific islands to Middle East deserts, the 10 million Gypsies resident in Europe3 have largely escaped the attention of geneticists. Because of their geographical ubiquity, lack of written history and the presumed social and cultural nature of their isolation, Gypsies are construed as not meeting the criteria for a well defined founder population. Gypsy society has a complex structure with subdivisions and stratifications that are incomprehensible to the surrounding populations. Marginalization by the health care systems in most countries results in a lack of information on causes of morbidity and mortality and little is known about hereditary disorders or the population genetic characteristics of Gypsies. This study is the first example of mapping a disease gene in endogamous Gypsy groups. Using lod score analysis and linkage disequilibrium, we have located a novel demyelinating neuropathy to a narrow interval on chromosome 8q24. We show that the disease, occuring in Gypsy groups of different identity and history of migrations, is caused by a single mutation whose origin predates the divergence of these groups

The Emotion of Interest and its Relevance to Consumer Psychology and Behaviour

Consumers are known to show a paradoxical tendency to favour both familiar and novel marketing stimuli such as products and advertisements. However, an explanation for this paradox has yet to be proposed. This provides immense challenges for marketing practices that conventionally strive to build familiarity (e.g. building awareness, recognition, recall, and customer relationships). Using the emotion differentiation framework, this theoretical paper shows that this paradox is a result of two distinct emotions – liking and interest. Specifically, consumers like familiarity but are interested in novelty. This paper offers six empirical propositions to: (1) differentiate interest from liking; (2) show that liking motivates consumers to favour familiarity whereas interest motivates consumers to prefer novelty; (3) demonstrate that interest accounts for previously explained boundary conditions of the familiarity–liking effect; and (4) provide insights to explain previous conflicting findings in the field of innovation, advertising, and consumer psychology research