Help at Work II

[Sajeev]

That interesting Matthew, I was talking to an optican i met on a course about Keratoconus, he was telling me about (and i think i remember reading it) that the fin's (of finland) had strong family KC in their community due to a population shift in their history (I did not quite catch everything he was saying unfortunataly).

I don't know but may be even, if your the type to be all "thumbs and fingers" when rubbing your eyes and have a weak cornea naturally due to genes may be a bad combination to be in. On the other hand something as innocent as eye rubbing seems too "touch and go", then KC is known to be a disoder where collegan "drifts" in the cornea not that that there is less collegan.

When it comes to genes there are those with "sleeping genes" or carriers as they are commonly called. May be its got to be with two genes from a mother and father ...and god for-bid if this gene is spreading!!

[Barney]

I'm the typical mongrel Sajeev but nothing very exotic. Scots mother, English father and white. More interesting extended family with uncle (by marriage) from Karachi and sister-in-law from Delhi.

[GarethB]

If you look at the genetic profile of what are typically considerd native white Brits then 90% of that population will have DNA from Asia, Russia, Affrica, Middle East.

Of all the Nations of the world, Britain is the most 'mongrel' nation of the world yet at times I feel we are the most racist!

[Sajeev]

This study covers more... I think it goes to show more about the things we was talking about

Indirizzo: Pearson, AR Leicester Royal Infirm, Eye Adm Unit, Dept Ophthalmol, Leicester LE1 5WW, Leics, England Leicester Royal Infirm Leicester Leics England LE1 5WW ngland


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Abstract
Purpose Keratoconus affects all races, yet very little information exists as to the relative frequency in patients of different ethnic origin. We aimed to establish the incidence and severity of keratoconus in Asian and white patients. Methods The hospital records of the ophthalmology department of a large Midlands hospital with a catchment population of approximately 900 000 (87% white, 11% Asian, 2% other) were examined retrospectively for the 10 year period from 1989 to 1998. Results For the age group 10-44 years the prevalence of keratoconus in Asians and whites was 229 and 57 per 100 000 respectively, a relative prevalence of 4 to 1. The incidence of keratoconus in the same age group was 19.6 and 4.5 per 100 DOD per year respectively, a relative incidence of 4.4 to 1. Asians were significantly younger at presentation compared with whites (mean 22.3 +/- 6.5 vs 26.5 +/- 8.5 years, p < 0.0001). A first corneal graft was carried out on 14% of the Asian and 15% of the white patients. Of those having grafts, Asians were significantly younger than white patients at thetime of diagnosis (mean 19.1 +/- 4.8 vs 25.7 +/- 7.3 years, p = 0.005) andat operation (mean 21.4 +/- 5.0 vs 28.7 +/- 7.7 years, p = 0.004). The interval from diagnosis to operation, though shorter for Asians, was not significantly different (mean 1.8 +/- 1.4 vs 2.5 +/- 1.7 years, p = 0.2). Conclusion The results show previously unrecognised racial differences in the hospital presentation of keratoconus in the UK. Compared with white patients, Asians have a fourfold increase in incidence, are younger at presentation and require corneal grafting at an earlier age.

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CIB Centro Inter-Bibliotecario, Università di Bologna, Catalogo delle riviste ed altri periodici
Documento generato il 14/10/06 alle ore 00:03:43

[James Colclough]

Just to enter gently into the ring.


I once had lots of hair now thinning. Beautiful blonde curls to the age of 5. Now a typical irish/celtic brown of sorts.

But eyes definitely blue (both of them).

I was told KC happened beacuse I am atopic was premature and had eczema and dryish skin.

I know of no other relative with the condition. Howzat.

[Sajeev]

James,

The study to me does not show one or the other is a definate, nothing is showing that, its say's it effects all races, but for some people it's more.

[Alison Fisher]

I'm at the LRI on Monday. After reading that abstract it's going to be very hard not to sit there 'counting heads'.

[Andrew MacLean]

This string took an interesting turn somewhere. I am afraid that I have lost the thread I was following.

Still, it is good to know that we can still pick up a ball and run with it!

Andrew

[Matthew_]

Going back to the British DNA coming from the Middle East / Asia. Does anyone know if that is in support of the 'Cradle of Mankind' theory that we all come from the same origin, very possibly the Euphrates valley?

[Andrew MacLean]

Matthew

At one time I was interested to find the routes by which our human ancestors travelled to every part of the world and colonized every sort of habitat and environment.

One way in which this used to be tried was to trace the distribution of blood types in different populations. I took a different approach. My interest was to see if there was a distribution of language types around the world that would suggest a pattern of migration.

This also seemed destined to fail because nobody would stay still long enough to be counted. Immediately a human population became established it started interacting with other human populations so that the lines of linguistic influence became very complicated.

People in Duddingston village (now part of Edinburgh) had a way of expressing the unity of the human family. They would say simply, "We're all Jock Tamson's bairns".

Interstingly 'bairn' was not originally a Scottish word at all. It is Scandanavian (barn) and means child.