Hereditary

C. Excreted in the urine in the rare hereditary disease alkaptonuria. Homogentisic acid is easily oxidized in the air to dark-coloured polymeric products, so that urine from patients with alkaptonuria turns gradually black. It is formed from tyrosine and is an intermediate in tyrosine breakdown in the body. Alkaptonuria is due to the absence of the liver enzyme which cleaves the aromatic ring. 

Several aspects affect the extent and character of taste and smell. People differ considerably in sensitivity and appreciation of smell and taste, and there is lack of a common language to describe smell and taste experiences. A hereditary or genetic factor may cause a variation between individual reactions, eg, phenylthiourea causes a bitter taste sensation which may not be perceptible to certain people whose general abiUty to distinguish other tastes is not noticeably impaired (17). The variation of pH in saUva, which acts as a buffer and the charge carrier for the depolarization of the taste cell, may influence the perception of acidity differently in people (15,18). Enzymes in saUva can cause rapid chemical changes in basic food ingredients, such as proteins and carbohydrates, with variable effects on the individual. 

Whatever the physiology of odor perception may be, the sense of smell is keener than that of taste (22). If flavors are classed into odors and tastes as is common practice in science, it can be calculated that there are probably more than 10 possible sensations of odor and only a few, perhaps five, sensations of taste (13,21,35—37). Just as a hereditary or genetic factor may cause taste variations between individuals toward phenylthiourea, a similar factor may be in operation with odor. The odor of the steroid androsterone, found in many foods and human sweat, may eflcit different responses from different individuals. Some are very sensitive to it and find it unpleasant. To others, who are less sensitive to it, it has a musk or sandalwood-like smell. Approximately 50% of the adults tested cannot detect any odor even at extremely high concentrations. It is befleved that this abiUty is genetically determined (38). 

Alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor and antithrombin III are used to treat people with hereditary deficiencies of these proteins. Both can be recovered from Cohn Fraction IV (Table 7) using ion-exchange chromatography (52) and affinity chromatography (197), respectively. Some manufacturers recover antithrombin III directiy from the plasma stream by affinity adsorption (56,198,199). 

Primary immunodeficiencies are uncommon, and may occur in 1 in 10,000 individuals (6). Many primary immunodeficiencies are hereditary and congenital, and first appear in infants and children. Primary immunodeficiencies are classified into four main groups (7) relating to the lymphocytes (B-ceUs, T-ceUs, or both), phagocytes, or the complement cascade (8). Primary deficiency diseases result from B-ceU defects in 50% of cases, from T-ceU defects in ca 10%, and from combined B- and T-ceU defects in ca 20%. Phagocytic disorders account for 18% and complement defects occur in 2% of all cases. 

Biotechnology is being appHed in the dairy industry. A significant and controversial development is the technique of producing transgenic animals, ie, animals in which hereditary deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) has been augmented by DNA from another source, using recombinant DNA (rDNA) techniques. 

Transferrin is essential for movement of iron and without it, as in genetic absence of transferrin, iron overload occurs in tissues. This hereditary atransferrinemia is coupled with iron-deficiency anemia. The iron overload in hereditary or acquired hemochromatosis results in fully saturated transferrin and is treated by phlebotomy (10). 

Pseudohypoparathyroidism is characterized by end-organ resistance to parathyroid hormone (98,108). This disease takes various forms, including Albright s hereditary osteodystrophy, which has unusual physical features and a generalized resistance to G-protein-linked hormones that function through cAMP as a second messenger. This defect is associated with a deficiency in the levels of the a-subunit of (109). Because this defect may be generalized, such patients also have olfactory dysfunction (110). 

Deriva.tives, The most important derivatives of 1,2,3,4-benzenetetrol are the ubiquiaones, eg, coenzyme Q, which are dimethoxytoluquiaones with polyisoprenoid side chains (61). They occur ia plants and animals. Mice with hereditary muscular dystrophy have a deficiency of coenzyme Q ia their heart and hind leg muscles. Therapeutic adrninistration of coenzyme Q /7339-63-5] produces physical improvement and a significantly prolonged lifespan (212). Coenzyme Q also has been used to treat deafness when adrninistered either orally or parenteraHy (213). 

Congenital deficiency of prothrombin is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion and is the rarest of all the hereditary coagulation disorders. Congenital dysprothrombinemia has also been recognized. 

Hereditary deficiency of Factor V is a rare autosomal recessive disorder. Combined deficiencies of Factors V and VIII have been identified in several families. 

Hypertension is one of the two principal risk factors of many cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and CHF. Individuals are considered hypertensive if their systoHc arterial blood pressure is over 140 mm Hg (18.7 Pa) or their diastoHc arterial blood pressure is over 90 mm Hg (12 Pa). Over 60 million people, or one-third of the adult population in the United States are estimated to be hypertensive (163). About 90% of these patients are classified as primary or essential hypertensive because the etiology of their hypertension is unknown. It is generally agreed that there is a very strong genetic or hereditary component to this disease. 

A rare hereditary condition known as galactosemia involves defects in galac-tose-l-P uridylyltransferase that render the enzyme inactive. Toxic levels of... 

Erb-. inheritance, hereditary, genetic, erbarmen, v.t. pity, have mercy, erbauen, v.t. build, construct edify. 

Factor Xlla is a serine protease that activates FXI to FXIa (Fig. 5). This system is not of physiologic relevance since patients with hereditary deficiencies of factor XII, prekallikrein, and high-molecular weight kininogen do not present with bleeding symptoms. 

Mntations in Hnman Kv-Genes Associated with Hereditary Channelopathies... 

Mutations in human Kv-channel genes have been detected that are associated with hereditary diseases ranging from heart arrythmia (long QT-syndrome) and deafness to epilepsy and ataxia (see Table 2). Typically, many Kv-channel related channelopathies are correlated with a mutant phenotype that is episodic in nature and appears as a dominant hereditary trait. 

Fatal hereditary disorder that typically presents in the neonatal period. Clinical features include an array of hepatic, renal and neurological dysfunctions. Patients with Zellweger syndrome rarely survive the first year of life. The disease is caused by mutations in the Pex proteins leading to an defective import of peroxisomal matrix proteins and consequently to a loss of most peroxisomal metabolic pathways. 

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