Ied) from 19 families using PCR followed by capillary electrophoresis. Further fine Title Loaded From File Mapping of the 9q34 linkage peak (131527468 – 135831155 bp) was performed with 22 microsatellites from 130457260 to 136035489 bp (Table 2). PCR assays were performed in 5 ml volumes containing 20 ng of DNA with standard reagent concentrations and temperature profiles. Fluorescently labeled PCR products were run on an ABI 377 sequencer. Allele calling was performed using Genotyper 2.0 (Applied Biosystems). MERLIN was used for multipoint NPL analysis as described above. Allele frequencies were estimated from all individuals, nonaffected individuals were assigned affection status unknown, and Mendelian inconsistent genotypes were removed prior to analysis. Linkage analysis was done using two configurations: 0; the unconfirmed affected individuals were analyzed as unknown, and 2; they were analyzed as affected. The genome-wide significance of NPLall scores for configuration 0 was estimated by simulating data 1000 times with MERLIN and extracting the highest NPLall score from each simulation. Minimum NPLall score for significant linkage was 2.49, p = 0.05. For fine mapping of 9q34, linkage analysis was done using four configurations: 0; unconfirmed affected individuals were analyzed as unknown, and 2; they were analyzed as affected. In configurations 0_186 and 2_186, analysis was identical except that allele 186 was called for marker D9S65.Materials and Methods Ethics StatementThis study was approved by the Ethical Review Board of Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Tampere, Finland. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants. All clinical investigations have been conducted according to the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki.Title Loaded From File patients and FamiliesWe recruited individuals with recurrent erysipelas infections for which preventive monthly intramuscular benzathine penicillin injections are reimbursed in Finland. We contacted all 960 individuals reimbursed for benzathine penicillin through the National Health Insurance Institution in the year 2000. Of these, 50 (483) gave consent to participate and 25 had a first-degree relative with a history of erysipelas. We then collected blood samples from 204 recurrent erysipelas patients and 124 relatives from 52 pedigrees with two or more family members suffering from erysipelas. The diagnosis of erysipelas was verified from hospital records for all patients except for six who self-reported to have had erysipelas but no hospital records were available for verification. An acute erysipelas cohort of 90 patients with acute erysipelas and 90 population controls matched for age and sex was also recruited. An infectious disease specialist recruited the patients from Tampere University Hospital and Hatanpaa City Hospital, �� Tampere, Finland when they were hospitalized for erysipelas. The cohort is described in detail elsewhere [5].Follow-up Genomic Screening with Higher-density ArrayWe selected 15 affected patients and 15 unaffected controls for additional genomic screening with the Affymetrix GeneChip Human Mapping 250KSty Array to search for possible allele or haplotype associations assuming a strong genetic effect. Twelve patients were from the families 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14, 22, 32, 37, and 38, and their genetically independent family members served as controls. Three patients and three controls were from the acute cohort. Genotypes were called with BRLMM using Affymetrix default paramete.Ied) from 19 families using PCR followed by capillary electrophoresis. Further fine mapping of the 9q34 linkage peak (131527468 – 135831155 bp) was performed with 22 microsatellites from 130457260 to 136035489 bp (Table 2). PCR assays were performed in 5 ml volumes containing 20 ng of DNA with standard reagent concentrations and temperature profiles. Fluorescently labeled PCR products were run on an ABI 377 sequencer. Allele calling was performed using Genotyper 2.0 (Applied Biosystems). MERLIN was used for multipoint NPL analysis as described above. Allele frequencies were estimated from all individuals, nonaffected individuals were assigned affection status unknown, and Mendelian inconsistent genotypes were removed prior to analysis. Linkage analysis was done using two configurations: 0; the unconfirmed affected individuals were analyzed as unknown, and 2; they were analyzed as affected. The genome-wide significance of NPLall scores for configuration 0 was estimated by simulating data 1000 times with MERLIN and extracting the highest NPLall score from each simulation. Minimum NPLall score for significant linkage was 2.49, p = 0.05. For fine mapping of 9q34, linkage analysis was done using four configurations: 0; unconfirmed affected individuals were analyzed as unknown, and 2; they were analyzed as affected. In configurations 0_186 and 2_186, analysis was identical except that allele 186 was called for marker D9S65.Materials and Methods Ethics StatementThis study was approved by the Ethical Review Board of Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Tampere, Finland. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants. All clinical investigations have been conducted according to the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki.Patients and FamiliesWe recruited individuals with recurrent erysipelas infections for which preventive monthly intramuscular benzathine penicillin injections are reimbursed in Finland. We contacted all 960 individuals reimbursed for benzathine penicillin through the National Health Insurance Institution in the year 2000. Of these, 50 (483) gave consent to participate and 25 had a first-degree relative with a history of erysipelas. We then collected blood samples from 204 recurrent erysipelas patients and 124 relatives from 52 pedigrees with two or more family members suffering from erysipelas. The diagnosis of erysipelas was verified from hospital records for all patients except for six who self-reported to have had erysipelas but no hospital records were available for verification. An acute erysipelas cohort of 90 patients with acute erysipelas and 90 population controls matched for age and sex was also recruited. An infectious disease specialist recruited the patients from Tampere University Hospital and Hatanpaa City Hospital, �� Tampere, Finland when they were hospitalized for erysipelas. The cohort is described in detail elsewhere [5].Follow-up Genomic Screening with Higher-density ArrayWe selected 15 affected patients and 15 unaffected controls for additional genomic screening with the Affymetrix GeneChip Human Mapping 250KSty Array to search for possible allele or haplotype associations assuming a strong genetic effect. Twelve patients were from the families 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14, 22, 32, 37, and 38, and their genetically independent family members served as controls. Three patients and three controls were from the acute cohort. Genotypes were called with BRLMM using Affymetrix default paramete.
