Preface
About
the Center for Acadiana Genetics
and Hereditary Health Care
About
the Editors of Genetics and
Louisiana Families
About
the Editorial Review Board of Genetics
and Louisiana Families
Disclaimer
Privacy
Policy
Copyright
and Usage Information
How
to Cite Genetics and Louisiana
Families
Acknowledgements
About
the Photos
Where
to Send Corrections and Suggestions
Genetics
and Louisiana Families is
a collection of educational information
about genetics, especially those
genetic issues that are important
to the people of Louisiana. Genetics
and Louisiana Families is
written and designed to be useful
to the families of individuals affected
by genetic disease, as well as to
their healthcare providers. By serving
both families and providers, the
authors of Genetics and Louisiana
Families seek to create
the common ground crucial to
understanding the often complex
genetic and social issues surrounding
the health of individuals, communities,
and cultures.
With Genetics and Louisiana Families, we have gathered the geneticists, researchers, educators, and counselors who are the most knowledgeable about genetics and Louisiana peoples. Most of the contributors to Genetics and Louisiana Families are Louisiana residents and practitioners, and others have either trained or have conducted research here among the families of Louisiana. While we focus on Louisiana and its peoples, we also recognize the remarkable genetic similarity of peoples around the world and from all cultures. For this reason, Genetics and Louisiana Families can serve as a useful resource of genetic information for all.
In Genetics and Louisiana Families, you will find the following features:
- About Genetic Diseases. This section is a collection of brief and easy-to-understand chapters on the genetic diseases and health concerns most important to the peoples and families of Louisiana. Each of these educational chapters is complete with links to find further information, as well as with contact information from the author.
- Genetics and History. Here we have collected interesting and informative articles on the powerful connection between genetics and human history. Some of the authors of these articles have served as keynote speakers at our Genetics of the Acadian People public forums.
- Family Stories. Because the roots of inherited disease are planted at birth, the trials and tribulations of affected individuals and their families are life-long. Recognizing the importance of sharing life stories among individuals with similar health problems, we have invited several of our colleagues and patients to share their experiences with you. Their contributions to Genetics and Louisiana Families in this section are stories of extraordinary courage and selflessness.
- Glossary. Just like any aspects of medicine, the communication of genetics and hereditary healthcare is helped by the use and understanding of precise and sometimes technical terms. Here, in a useful and easy-to-understand list, we collect a series of general definitions important to understanding genetics and genetic diseases. We have focused on those definitions that will help you to understand the chapters, articles, and stories in Genetics and Louisiana Families.
- About Genetics in Louisiana. Although Genetics and Louisiana Families was created at the beginning of the 21st century, the foundations of genetic studies in Louisiana were laid in the early 1950's. In this section, we allow you to explore those beginnings and experience the breadth of growth since then. Of special importance are explanations of state and regional services for genetic diseases, as well as contact information for genetic clinics around the state.
We encourage you to fully explore the Genetics and Louisiana Families website. Each of the chapters, articles, and stories are easily printable through your Internet browser, and you may keep printed copies either for your own information or to share with other families. Most importantly, we invite you to tell us about the usefulness of Genetics and Louisiana Families and to tell us what other types of information would be useful to you in future editions of the website. Because we adhere to a strict policy that protects your privacy as a concerned Louisiana citizen (see our Privacy Policy below), you should feel free to send us your comments and suggestions at any of the "Contact Us" icons on the website.
Genetics and Louisiana Families is a production of the Center for Acadiana Genetics and Hereditary Health Care.
About the Center for Acadiana Genetics and Hereditary Health Care
The
Center for Acadiana Genetics and
Hereditary Health Care (CAGHHC)
was established in 1999 to address
the specific genetic needs of the
people of Acadiana. Funding for
the CAGHHC derives from a Rural
Health Outreach Grant from the Health
Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA). These funds are being applied
to the establishment and expansion
of clinical and educational programs
across the fifteen-parish area of
Acadiana, which extends roughly
from west of Baton Rouge to the
Texas state line and from the Gulf
of Mexico north to Avoyelles Parish.
The CAGHHC is a cooperative of hereditary healthcare workers from medical, academic, and service institutions around the state. Under the direction of Dr. Bronya Keats, the Center is headquartered at LSU Health Sciences Center as an outreach component of the Molecular and Human Genetics Center of Excellence.
The concept to establish the CAGHHC was inaugurated by U.S. Congressman Billy Tauzin, who represents one of the largest Acadian constituencies in the state. With the support of the late Dr. Merv Trail, Chancellor of LSU Health Sciences Center, and Governor Mike Foster, Tauzin and his colleagues in the Louisiana Congressional delegation were united in their support to establish the CAGHHC. Together with Tauzin, Senators John Breaux and Mary Landrieu and Congressmen William Jefferson, David Vitter, Richard Baker, Chris John, Jim McCrery, and John Cooksey signed a letter endorsing establishment of the Center. Solid backing from the Louisiana Congressional delegation helped pave the way for Congressional hearings before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education in March of 1998, 1999 and 2000.
During these hearings, Tauzin explained that "the establishment of the Center meets the congressional objectives…of building the nation's health system by delivering services to the Americans who need them most-particularly those who are vulnerable and have special health conditions.
"The work being done by the Center for Acadiana Genetics not only benefits my rural district constituency, it helps all those young people who suffer because of hereditary health problems by providing America's medical and scientific research communities with the opportunity to study an important spectrum of genetic diseases in the unique multi-generational setting available in Louisiana."
Dr.
John P. Doucet
Dr.
Bronya J.B. Keats
About the Editorial Review Board
John Doucet, Ph.D., is a molecular geneticist at Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, Louisiana.
Brian Jakes is Chief Executive Officer of the Louisiana Area Health Education Centers.
Bronya Keats, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Acadiana Genetics and Hereditary Health Care and Chair of the Department of Genetics at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans.
Judy LaBorde is Administrative Coordinator for the Center for Acadiana Genetics and Hereditary Health Care.
Yves Lacassie, M.D., is Chief of the Genetics Section in the Department of Pediatrics at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans.
Charles Myers, M.S.W., is Director of the Louisiana Genetic Diseases Program in the Office of Public Health.
Alan Robson, M.D., is Medical Director of Children's Hospital in New Orleans.
Jess Thoene, M.D., is Director of the Genetics Program at the Tulane University Medical Center.
Genetics and Louisiana Families was created and is maintained for educational purposes only.
The goal of Genetics and Louisiana Families is to provide users with information to better understand their health and their genetic diagnosis, as well as the health and diagnoses of family members. It is not the intention of Genetics and Louisiana Families to provide specific medical advice. The information provided by Genetics and Louisiana Families should not be used as a substitute for seeking professional healthcare. If you have or suspect you may have a medical condition, you should consult your primary healthcare physician for further information and advice.
Genetics
and Louisiana Families cannot
provide specific information to
individuals about their condition
or about treatments for their condition.
The maintainers of the Genetics
and Louisiana Families website
will not engage in providing specific
medical advice or professional services.
Specific medical advice and professional
services must be obtained from a
professional, licensed healthcare
worker in a medical setting.
All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in Genetics and Louisiana Families. Genetics and Louisiana Families and its maintainers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information contained on these pages. Genetics and Louisiana Families and its maintainers cannot be held responsible for any action made on the basis of information on these pages.
Genetics and Louisiana Families may provide links to other Internet sites for the convenience of users. Genetics and Louisiana Families is not responsible for the availability or content of these external sites, nor does Genetics and Louisiana Families endorse, warrant or guarantee the products, services or information described or offered at these other Internet sites. Further, users cannot assume that these external sites will abide by the same Privacy Policy established by Genetics and Louisiana Families.
Privacy Policy: The LSUHSC Web sites Privacy Policy
Thank you for visiting Genetics and Louisiana Families, part of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center website. Your privacy is very important to us. Simply stated, our policy is to collect no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you affirmatively choose to make such information available to us.
When you visit our website, our web server automatically recognizes only the Internet domain and IP address from which you accessed our website. This information does not result in the identification of your personal e-mail address or other personal information.
In addition, we gather information regarding the volume and timing of access to our website by collecting information on the date, time and website pages accessed by visitors to the website. We do this so we can improve the content of our website and this information is not shared with other organizations. Again, only aggregate information is collected and individual visitors' personal information is not identified.
If you choose to share personal information with us - by sending us a message, or filling out an electronic form with personal information - we will use the information only for the purposes you authorized or in support of university sponsored programs - we will not disclose the information to other third parties or government agencies, unless required to do so by state or federal law or in support of university sponsored programs.
Copyright and Usage Information
Unless specifically noted, material contained on the Genetics and Louisiana Families site is freely available to the public. However, in any subsequent use of this work, we request that Genetics and Louisiana Families be given appropriate acknowledgement.
Genetics and Louisiana
Families may also contain
material that is copyright protected.
For such material, the submitting
authors or other copyright holders
retain rights for reproduction or
redistribution. All persons reproducing
or redistributing such information
are expected to adhere to the terms
and constraints invoked by the copyright
holder. Such protected material,
however, may be used under the terms
of "fair use" as defined
in the copyright laws, which generally
permit use for noncommercial educational
purposes, such as teaching, research,
criticism, and news reporting.
Permission may be granted for other
Internet sites to add a link to
Genetics and Louisiana Families
or otherwise use material from it.
Such permission is granted in writing
by the Editor and is contingent
upon (i) preservation of the completeness
and intactness of material from
Genetics and Louisiana Families
and (ii) full and proper acknowledgement
of Genetics and Louisiana
Families.
How to Cite Genetics and Louisiana Families
Genetics and Louisiana Families contains many reviews of genetics topics that may be suitable as references supporting other works. The following are examples of suggested formats for citing specific chapters in Genetics and Louisiana Families. Consider the chapter, "The Genetics of Cancer," by Dr. Jay Hunt:
American Psychological Association (APA) Style
Hunt, J. (2002) The genetics of cancer. In J. Doucet and B. Keats (Eds.), Genetics and Louisiana Families. [On-line.] Available: http://www.lsuhsc.edu/no/centers/genetics/LouisianaFamilies.
Council of Biological Editors (CBE) Style
Hunt, J. The genetics
of cancer. In: Doucet, J. and Keats,
B, eds. Genetics and Louisiana
Families. 2002. [On-line.] Available:
http://www.lsuhsc.edu/no/centers/genetics/LouisianaFamilies.
The
Editors and the Editorial Review
Board of Genetics and Louisiana
Families hereby acknowledge
individuals and groups without whom
the success and usefulness of this
web site would not be possible:
Dr. Carl Brasseaux, of the Center for Acadian Studies at the University of Louisiana - Lafayette, for directing us to vintage photographs of historic Acadiana and its peoples
The German-Acadian Coast Historical and Genealogical Society and the St. James Historical Society for directing us to vintage photographs of historic Acadiana and its peoples
Nicholls State University for service and management of electronic communication between the Editors and contributors
The students of Genetics and Scientific Writing classes at Nicholls State University for their editorial assistance and suggestions
The archival photos used on this web page were made available by the German-Acadian Coast Historical and Genealogical Society, by the St. James Historical Society, and by Dr. Carl Brasseaux of the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. These photos vividly capture the times and the spirit of the people of Louisiana, and we are deeply grateful for the privilege of using them.
The archival photos in Genetics and Louisiana Families are used to honor the ancestors of southern Louisiana--the way they worked, the way they shared life's joys, the way they cared for their families. Genetics and Louisiana Families neither implies nor assumes that any person appearing in these photos is a carrier of or is affected by a genetic disorder. Further, Genetics and Louisiana Families neither implies nor assumes that any descendant of persons appearing in these photos is a carrier of or is affected by a genetic disorder.
Where to Send Corrections and Suggestions
Any corrections to, omissions from, additions to, or comments about Genetics and Louisiana Families can be sent by e-mail to the Editors.
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