Head-and-neck cancer patients suffer from a broad range of psychosocial problems that become exacerbated with time. The deterioration in quality of life may reflect 'patient burnout' which could be decreased by acquiring adequate coping skills.

Each person expresses a potentially unique subset of ∼400 different olfactory receptor subtypes. Given that the receptors we express partially determine the odors we smell, it follows that each person may have a unique nose; to capture this, we devised a sensitive test of olfactory perception we termed the "olfactory fingerprint." Olfactory fingerprints relied on matrices of perceived odorant similarity derived from descriptors applied to the odorants. We initially fingerprinted 89 individuals using 28 odors and 54 descriptors. We found that each person had a unique olfactory fingerprint (P < 10 −10 ), which was odor specific but descriptor independent. We could identify individuals from this pool using randomly selected sets of 7 odors and 11 descriptors alone. Extrapolating from this data, we determined that using 34 odors and 35 descriptors we could individually identify each of the 7 billion people on earth. Olfactory perception, however, fluctuates over time, calling into question our proposed perceptual readout of presumably stable genetic makeup. To test whether fingerprints remain informative despite this temporal fluctuation, building on the linkage between olfactory receptors and HLA, we hypothesized that olfactory perception may relate to HLA. We obtained olfactory fingerprints and HLA typing for 130 individuals, and found that olfactory fingerprint matching using only four odorants was significantly related to HLA matching (P < 10 −4 ), such that olfactory fingerprints can save 32% of HLA tests in a population screen (P < 10 −6 ). In conclusion, a precise measure of olfactory perception reveals meaningful nonolfactory genetic information.olfactory perception | HLA | MHC | olfactory genetics | autoimmunity H umans have superb olfactory discrimination (1, 2), likely reflecting the combined output of ∼400 different subtypes of olfactory receptors (3). Specific olfactory receptors are likely responsible for specific aspects of olfactory perception (4-7). Because any two individuals differ by ∼30% of their olfactory receptor subtype genome (8), this renders a potentially unique nose for each person (4, 9). If we could capture this uniqueness with a perceptual test, a sort of perceptual olfactory fingerprint, this should then be informative on the underlying individual olfactory receptor subtype genome. The notion of a psychophysical test informing on underlying genes is of course well known from vision, where color blindness charts inform us about genes coding for different opsins in the retina (10). In olfaction, specific anosmias can also point to alterations in a specific gene (4,11,12). Unlike in color vision or specific anosmias, the olfactory fingerprints we propose will likely not inform on a specific gene, but they may link overall perception to overall genetic makeup.Moreover, because the olfactory receptor genome is linked to various other genetic loci, this perceptual test may inform on genetic makeup beyond olfaction alone. For example, the olfactory receptor subtype genome is linked to MHC ge...

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The purpose of this study was to characterize the parental environment of families of gifted children in Israel by comparing it to that of families of average children. A questionnaire providing descriptive information was completed by 79 families whose children were not defined as gifted and who had not been admitted to the Young Persons' Institute for the Promotion of Art and Science (YPIPAS) and by 64 families whose children were defined as gifted and had been admitted to YPIPAS. The questionnaire included the following variables: socioeconomic status, environmental stimuli, atmosphere in the home, parents' academic achievements, diversity of parents' interests, parents' personality traits, cognitive interaction between parents and children, affective interaction between parents and children, and parents' attitudes toward their children's intelligence. Results showed significant differences between the groups for environmental stimuli, parents' academic achievements, cognitive interaction, parents' attitudes toward their children's intelligence, and parents' personality traits (assertiveness, self-confidence, and liberalism). THIS STUDY was undertaken by the Young Persons' Institute for the Promotion of Art and Science (YPIPAS), which has been operating for 20 years; the primary goal of YPIPAS is to tap and develop the potential of the gifted child (Landau, 1990). Attention is paid to promoting intelligence as well as other aspects of the child's personality on the assumption that a framework affording an atmosphere of freedom and security will enable such children to make better use of their talents and develop to their full potential.This research was made possible by the donation of Fundaqion Frederico, with the kind intervention of Mr. Alfred Lehmann, New York.

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