The fact that life styles and personal interests, aggregate within families suggests that shared environment in addition to shared bioligical factors could play a role in determining the phenotypic similarity of idividuals living in the same household. It is a major concern of cardiovascular epidemiologists to know how much of the familial aggregation of blood pressure is attributable to shared genes and/or shared family environment. Genetic and environmental influences on blood pressure was examined in a sample representative of the adult population of Shiraz, Fars province, south of Iran. The studied population was the 107 pairs of mother and dauther. Analysis of the data suggest that the genetic heritabilities were estimated to be 0.58,0.30, 0.60 for systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure, respectively.

Background: There are many well-established factors that influence the risk of stroke including blood pressure, diabetes, low socioeconomic status and smoking, however, the shared genetic resource in members of a family effect on stroke predisposition. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have demonstrated evidence of a shared genetic source in stroke risk. This review considered the influence of family history as one of the main risk factors in stroke according to the literature. Methods: Literature review was obtained by searching for the key words "stroke", "family history" and "stroke gene" in PubMed. An overview has been made on the topics: relevance of stroke family history, family history assessment tools and specific candidate genes for stroke. Results: Family history of stroke is an important risk factor for the development of cerebrovascular diseases in addition to stroke subtypes in relatives who have reached the questionnaire and pedigree. While variation in a small number of loci showed Mendelian inheritance of stroke phenotypes, the genetic variations in several stroke risk loci are shared with multiple related vascular traits. Conclusion: This study highlighted the importance of family history in stroke phenotypes and current related genetics information. Increasing awareness of the importance of family history in stroke has the advantage of preventing exposure to stroke with health care.

In this study, HERITABILITY was estimated in black Karakul sheep by restricted maximum likelihood procedure from data collected in Sarakhs Sheep Breeding Station (Korasan province). Model I of DF REML software was fitted. HERITABILITY of pelt score and birth, weaning, 6, 9 and 12 month weights were 0.19 (±0.05), 0.50 (±0.50), 0.53 (±0.07), 0.42(±0.09), 0.28(±0.08) and 0.36 (±0.09) respectively. Age of dam, sex of lamb, birth type (single and twin born) and year were fixed effects in the fitted animal model. HERITABILITY in this research was high. Therefore, individual selection will be effective based on weaning and 12 month weights.

In order to determine phenotypic diversity, 40 Rosa damascena accessions were evaluated in a completely randomized block design with 3 replications at the experimental field of Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran. Several traits including flower weight, flower diameter, peduncle length, number of petals, number of stamens, leaf area, leaf dry weight and thorns intensity were recorded and analyzed for two years (2005-2006). Correlation coefficients showed that flower yield correlated positively with number of petals and negatively with peduncle length, leaf area, leaf dry weight and thorn intensity. Because of high HERITABILITY obtained for flower weight, number of petals, number of stamens and thorn intensity, selection based on these characters is recommended. Cluster and principal components analyses showed no relationship between genetic divergence and geographical origins, indicating germplasm exchange between different areas of Iran.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess suicidal ideation based on gender, age, marital status and HERITABILITY coefficient estimate in a sample of 11 to 35 years-old monozygotic and dizygot twins.Method: One hundred and sixteen twins (MZ=66, DZ=50, age, 11-35) were invited to complete the Suicide Ideation Scale (SIS) in the anniversary of Laleh and Ladan.Results: Analysis of variance showed that gender, age and marital status together accounted for 80% of the total variation of suicidal ideation in twins. There were significantly higher rates of suicidal ideation between women, adolescents, and singles in comparison with men, young people, and married people, respectively. The HERITABILITY coefficient in adolescent and young twins was 0.49.Conclusion: The findings suggest that women, adolescents and single people, respectively, compared to men, young people and married people are at higher risk of suicidal ideation. Regarding HERITABILITY of suicidal ideation, supervising of significant others to people with suicide ideation must be considered in mental health policy making in the field of primary and secondary prevention.