Prevalence of factor V Leiden and G6PD 1311 silent mutations in Dalmatian population.

Background: Factor V Leiden has been described as a common genetic risk factor for venous thromboembolism. The geographic distribution of this abnormality varies greatly, being high in Europe and almost absent in Asia and Africa. Particularly high prevalence is observed in some Mediterranean countries, which suggests the Mediterranean origin of this mutation.

Prevalence of the 550delA mutation in calpainopathy (LGMD 2A) in Croatia.

Mutations in the calpain 3 (CAPN3) gene are responsible for limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) type 2A. We report five causal mutations: 550delA, DeltaFWSAL, R541W, Y357X and R49H found on 45/50 of alleles studied in 25 unrelated families from Croatia. The 550delA mutation was present on 76% of CAPN3 chromosomes that led us to screen general population for this mutation; 532 random blood samples from three different regions were analyzed using allele-specific PCR.