title: Practical genetics.
abstract: Despite the many advances in genetics in the past two decades, and the resulting great difficulty in achieving a broad knowledge of the field, there are several ways in which a family physician can employ a few basic concepts to achieve better understanding of his patients' problems. These include not only disorders inherited in a simple Mendelian fashion, many of which are rather rare, but also other more common diseases to which the genetic contribution may be less obvious. A little time spent in taking a family history may greatly facilitate diagnosis and treatment.
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Macdiarmid