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Previous Volume 347:1200-1202 October 10, 2002 Number 15 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The -thalassemias are among the most common autosomal recessive disorders. They have a remarkably high frequency in the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and East Asia. The -thalassemias are not uncommon among persons of African descent,¹ and the migration of populations has carried them to Northern Europe, North and South America, and Australia.

In the -thalassemias there is reduced (⁺) or no (⁰) production of the -globin chains of hemoglobin, which normally consist of two -globin and two -globin chains (_{2 2}). In homozygotes, a shortage of chains results in an excess of chains, which . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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