In a study performed on Swedish twins, researchers found the estimated heritability rate for Alzheimer's disease to be .74. They also found that the heritability rate for dementia to be .43, which is generally one of the beginning signs of Alzheimer's disease.
A heritability rate of .74 is very high, meaning that an individual has a very large chance of passing this disease on to their offspring.
Inbreeding would have a significant effect on Alzheimer's disease. Since it does have a high heritability rate, inbreeding would cause substantial changes within a population. This could cause the prevalence of Alzheimer's to become much higher than the current rate right now.
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1 comment:
Nice answers! I am glad you were able to find that paper discussing the twin studies.
The final blog entry will simply involve logging in your group's progress on the project before your presentation.
Well done!
Dr. Walker
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