According to an article in the Thursday. June 11, The Wall Street Journal, "Heredity plays a strong role in many health problems, ranging from Alzheimer's disease to macular degeneration and immune-system disorders like Crohn's disease. Though scientists have discovered genetic markers tied to many illnesses -- and tests have been developed to determine which patients have such markers -- these currently account for only a small portion of the risk for some diseases. That's the case with maladies such as stroke, most types of epilepsy and schizophrenia." The article continues, "Many doctors say that keeping track of your family history can be a better way to gauge your risks than getting genetic tests. Family records might turn up correlations that tests can't yet fully explain." "'For most common diseases, it's more informative to work out your family history' than to get a genetic profile, says David B. Goldstein, a professor of genetics at Duke University. Among these are Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, he says." For the complete article, "The Life-Saving Secrets in Your Family Tree", including links to sites that will evaluate your propensity for cancer and/or heart disease based on providing family history information, please go to: http://tinyurl.com/ntccrj H/T: "Nu? What's New?", The E-zine of Jewish Genealogy From Avotaynu.com I hope this information is useful or, at least, interesting. Regards, Walter Greenspan Great Falls, MT & Jericho, NY </HTML>