Dubai, 17th of January 2016: The Centre for Arab Genomic Studies (CAGS), a center of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences, has published a new booklet entitled "Multifactorial Disorders", aimed at informing the general public about common diseases with a genetic component.  The publication of this booklet comes in conjunction with the 6th Pan Arab Human Genetics Conference, which focuses on multifactorial disorders, and will be organized in Dubai by CAGS from 21st to 23rd of January, 2016.

 

Abdullah bin Souqat, a member of the Award’s Board of Trustees and Executive Director of the Award, said that the topic of the new booklet is in line with the main theme of the conference, in which 114 scientific studies from 35 countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan, Britain, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Russia, Finland, India, Australia, and United States of America will be presented.

 

“CAGS aims at spreading awareness about multifactorial disorders not only among the participants in the conference but also among lay people who are the main focus of fighting these diseases”, he said.

“We have distributed copies of the new booklet to a number of health institutions and NGOs within the UAE, and I am optimistic that it will attract many patients and their families, in light of the environment in the UAE which encourages reading to be a civilized sustainable social behavior for the current and future generations”, Abdullah bin Souqat added.

“The booklet reviews a number of multifactorial disorders which are common in the Arab countries and represent a significant burden on individuals, families and communities, namely, Asthma, Autism, Coronary Artery Disease, Diabetes and Osteoarthritis”, he said.

By reviewing each disease in regards of its nature, symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and management, the booklet explains the relationship between these diseases and both heredity, which means the family history of the disease, and environmental factors which are related to life style, that influence it.

The booklet explains the new technologies used to detect mutations in genes that make a person susceptible to a particular condition, and then the necessity of avoiding the exposure to the environmental risk factors which trigger the condition.  For example, those who have a genetic predisposition to the coronary artery disease should be keen to eat healthy food, to exercise and to avoid smoking.

It should be noted that the new booklet is a part of the “Genetics Made Easy” series of publications, which is a simplified scientific encyclopedia by the CAGS in Arabic and English for non-specialists.  During the last 6 years, CAGS has issued three booklets within the encyclopedia on “Blood Disorders”, “Cancers”, and “Neonatal Screening”.

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