Heritability

of is the fact that there is a genetic component to smoking initiation. According to a study published in Behavior Genetics there is strong evidence that genetics plays a large factor in smoking initiation. According to this study, “The overall heritability in the VA30,000 data was estimated to be 71% in males and 65% in females” (Maes et al. 805). They accounted for other factors, such as the environment, but still concluded that genetic factors were significant. Consequently, parents have a…

Introduction In vertebrates, reproduction is primarily controlled by the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis. The gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons in the hypothalamus are key regulators of the hypothalamic neuroendocrine system mainly though the synthesis of GnRH (Moenter et al., 2003). The decapeptide GnRH is released from the hypothalamus in a pulsatile manner, and the amplitude and frequency of these pulses change throughout the estrous cycle (McCartney et al., 2002; Moenter et al.…