The prenatal genetic questionnaire given to every pregnant woman provides a useful basis for teaching genetics concepts.

One critical step toward to a better understanding of creativity is to unveil its underlying genetic architectures. Recently, several studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of dopamine (DA) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) related genetic polymorphisms on creativity. Among DA related genes, dopamine D2 receptor gene…

Phylogenetic trees are widely used visual representations in the biological sciences and the most important visual representations in evolutionary biology. Therefore, phylogenetic trees have also become an important component of biology education. We sought to characterize reasoning used by introductory biology students in interpreting taxa…

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability and the most common known genetic cause of autism. FXS is associated with psychiatric impairments, including anxiety disorders. There is a paucity of well-developed measures to characterize anxiety in FXS. However, such scales are needed to measure therapeutic…

Individuals with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) are at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including socialization problems. The PWS chromosome 15q11-13 maternal uniparental disomy (mUPD) subtype displays greater ASD symptoms than the paternal deletion (DEL) subtype. Since interpreting faces leads to successful socialization, we compared face…

This study aimed to characterize social cognition, executive functions (EFs), and everyday social functioning in adolescent girls with fragile X syndrome, and identify relationships among these variables. Participants were 20 girls with FXS and 20 age-matched typically developing peers. Results showed significant between-groups differences in…

Use of inquiry-based research modules in the classroom has soared over recent years, largely in response to national calls for teaching that provides experience with scientific processes and methodologies. To increase the visibility of in-class studies among interested researchers and to strengthen their impact on student learning, we have…

Purpose: This research explored whether sustained maternal responsivity (a parent-child interaction style characterized by warmth, nurturance, and stability as well as specific behaviors, such as contingent positive responses to child initiations) was a significant variable predicting vocabulary development of children with fragile X syndrome…

Studies of individuals with Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) have described changes in mood and behavior with age, although no empirical or longitudinal studies have been conducted. Caregivers of individuals with CdLS (N = 67), cri du chat syndrome (CdCS; N = 42), and Fragile X syndrome (FXS; N = 142) completed the Mood, Interest and Pleasure…

The aim of this paper is to investigate in a systematic and comparative way previous results of independent studies on the treatment of genes and gene function in high school textbooks from six different countries. We analyze how the conceptual variation within the scientific domain of Genetics regarding gene function models and gene concepts is…

This study aimed to examine family history of functional articulation disorders (FAD) among Jordanian patients who present with FAD, as well as to investigate the relation of other factors related to the disorder (age, gender, genetic connection between parents, sounds affected, and type of disorder). A convenience sample of 45 patients (ages…

Purpose: The authors of this article examined the etiology of developmental language impairment (LI) at 4 and 12 years of age, as well as the relationship between the 2. Method: Phenotypic and quantitative genetic analyses using longitudinal data from the Twins Early Development Study (Oliver & Plomin, 2007) were conducted. A total of 2,923…

In this activity, freshman college students learn biotechnology techniques while playing the role of a laboratory technician. They perform simulations of three diagnostic tests used to screen newborns for cystic fibrosis. By performing an ELISA, a PCR analysis, and a conductivity test, students learn how biotechnology techniques can be used to…

We tested the hypothesis that dopamine D1 and D2 receptor gene (DRD1 and DRD2, respectively) polymorphisms and the development of working memory skills can interact to influence symptom change over 10 years in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Specifically, we examined whether improvements in working memory maintenance…

Background: People who have profound intellectual and multiple disabilities face significant challenges to participating in their community and are reported to have few friends. In this paper, the issue of how this is addressed by parent-carers of young women with Rett syndrome is explored. Method: Transcripts of in-depth interviews with 6…