Supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

An approach combining social worker and geneticist expertise in adoption is outlined in the study involving 180 families. Genetic counseling has shown to be an essential safeguard to the preservation of the adoptive family unit. (Author/SW)

Provides an introduction to a special section on developmental behavioral genetics (the study of genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in behavioral development), discussing the potentialities of the interdiscipline and presenting an overview of the following articles. (Author/RH)

The feasability of applying the simple techniques of clinical evaluation and/or pedigree analysis to diagnose genetic etiologies of deafness was investigated with 22 families having 26 students in a school for the deaf. (SW)

A six-year-old mentally retarded child is presented with a clinical picture consistent with the diagnosis of childhood autism. Chromosomal studies revealed a male karyotype with approximately 11 percent of the cells counted containing a fragile site on the X chromosome. (Author)

The authors describe their methods for establishing the presence or absence of the fragile-X chromosome and discuss some of the clinical implications of their findings in relation to the clinical diagnosis of autism. (SW)

Uses anatomical studies to question the belief that australopithecines are on the main human evolutionary lineage. Includes numerous photographs and diagrams. (MA)

A review of research relating to the role of genetic factors in the hyperactive child syndrome is presented. Twin studies have been limited and adoption studies have been methodologically weak. Findings, however, are consistent and suggest that the genetic transmission hypothesis is plausible. (PHR)

Describes a second-year undergraduate practical course in quantitative genetics and biometrics, based upon computer-assisted learning (CAL); and discusses the educational benefits of the course, some problems encountered, and some implications of the extensive use of CAL. (Author/CMV)

A moderately retarded female adult with a 48,XXXX chromosome complement was found to have an extremely low ridge count in dermatoglyphic patterns. (Author)

Provides an introduction to the field of molecular evolution. Changes in genetic material and proteins help to time the stages of species evolution. (BB)

Written in response to an earlier article questioning certain aspects of evolution theory. Discusses ontogeny and phylogeny, the basis of evolution, chance or purpose in evolution, micro and macro-evolution, reversibility, and the evolution processes today. (MA)

Describes a very simple and effective method of DNA extraction from dried peas. Presents information on the Green Machine Science Education Center that promotes education in gene technology. (JRH)

Proposes local similarity pattern (LSP) as a new method for computing digital image similarity. Topics include optimizing similarity computation based on genetic algorithm; relevance feedback; and an evaluation of LSP on five databases that showed an increase in retrieval precision over other methods for computing image similarity. (Author/LRW)