Annals of medicine
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Twenty years ago Parkinson's disease (PD) was thought of as an environmentally determined neurodegenerative disease. It is now known that there are two autosomal dominant disease genes, alpha-synuclein and dardarin, and three genes responsible for autosomal recessive PD, parkin, DJ-1 and PINK-1. Although these gene mutations are not common, their identification has led to a new understanding of the pathogenesis of PD, and to a development in the understanding of the clinical and pathological definitions of PD and Lewy body disease. Ultimately, these advances may lead to the development of new disease-modifying therapies, but more immediately these discoveries have led to a more coherent view of the spectrum of PD and Lewy body diseases and to accurate genetic diagnosis and counselling for some families.
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Adiponectin is an adipocytokine with lowered blood levels in obesity and Type 2 diabetes mellitus. We sought to define the specific effects of different alleles of the gene encoding adiponectin. ⋯ The carriers of the His111 allele may have a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Racial differences were found between Blacks and Whites in body composition and lipids according to ACDC genotypes. Sequence variants in the adiponectin gene appear to be associated with diabetes and diabetes-related phenotypes.