ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To derive estimates of age-gender specific food availability, based on data collected at household level. DESIGN: Two alternative modelling approaches are described leading to linear and non-linear optimisation, respectively. The idea of penalised least squares is used for estimation of model parameters. The effect of household characteristics can be incorporated into both modelling approaches. SETTING: Household budget survey data from four European countries (Belgium, Greece, Norway and the United Kingdom), circa 1990.
Subject(s)
Family Characteristics , Food Supply/statistics & numerical data , Household Work/statistics & numerical data , Models, Economic , Age Factors , Belgium , Budgets , Databases, Factual , Diet Surveys , Food Supply/economics , Greece , Household Work/economics , Humans , Norway , Sex Factors , United KingdomSubject(s)
Gardnerella vaginalis/genetics , Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods , RNA, Bacterial/genetics , RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics , Base Sequence , Biotechnology , DNA Primers/genetics , Female , Gardnerella vaginalis/isolation & purification , Humans , RNA, Bacterial/isolation & purification , RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/isolation & purification , Vaginosis, Bacterial/diagnosisABSTRACT
In order to identify genetic factors governing expansion of the CGG repeat in the FMR1 gene and to determine what predisposes or causes a normal stable allele to change to an unstable premutation allele, it is essential to study and understand the basis of normal variation. The aim of this study was to investigate genetic variation and intergenerational stability of the FMR1 CGG-repeat region in 100 unrelated three-generation families from the general population (651 meioses). The number of CGG-repeats in the FMR1 gene was determined in all 750 individuals from the 100 families (a total of 1,132 X-chromosomes), and the allele frequencies and variability were analyzed. Thirty-six different alleles (12-60 repeats) were seen with 30 (45.8%) as the most common allele; overall female heterozygosity was 73%. Most (>96%) of the normal array lengths were less than 40 repeats. Fifteen families with at least one allele equal to or greater than 40 repeats (40-60) were identified; in one of these families there was an increase of one triplet repeat during transmission from a mother to son. These findings, together with future molecular analyses, may provide data to test proposed models that attempt to explain the mutational process and the population dynamics of the triplet repeat region of the FMR1 gene, including the transition from normal to unstable alleles, or to test other putative cis-acting sequences that may be involved with instability in the FMR1 gene.
