The major objective of our studies in the last decade was a systematic analysis of maternal diseases during pregnancy to reveal their possible adverse effects on birth outcomes. The two most important factors of infant mortality were parti- larly analyzed: structural birth defects, known as congenital abnormalities (CAs) and preterm birth (PB). In general the objectives of scienti c studies might be either to test a new hypothesis or to con rm or confront previously published results. However, less frequently the authors/scientists have personal motivations determined by their professional activities. The authors of this book are practicing physicians and genetic epidemiologist who are mainly interested in the following three practical questions: 1. The possible adverse effects of pharmaceutical products. The possible t- atogenic potential of about 170 drugs has been evaluated very thoroughly using the data set of the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities (HCCSCA) in the last 50 years. These drugs were used to treat maternal diseases and the ndings of our population-based case-control studies will be cited in this book and are shown in the Appendix at the end of the book. However, our long experiences showed two problems in the drug teratology. In general the evaluation of clinical doses of these drugs is a particularly dif- cult challenge due to the modi cation effects of confounders. This problem motivated one of the authors to establish a new model of disaster epidemiology.

I am pleased to respond to the wish of the Editors, Drs A. Czeizel, H. G. Benk mann and H. W. Goedde and write the Foreword to this book "Genetics ofthe Hun garian population." This book represents the result of a fruitful international scientif ic cooperation, an endeavour that has been forged and sustained in the midst of a number of difficulties. It bears ample testimony to the fact that the pursuit of science transcends national boundaries and barriers and to what can be achieved through international cooperation. It has now become possible, among other things, to present a more meaningful characterization of the different ethnic groups than had been hitherto possible, thanks to the major advances in the study of human biology through the application of a wide variety of concepts and techniques. Several new disciplines, in particular, ecogenetics, pharmacogenetics and molecular biology have come into being and are flourishing. At the risk of stating the obvious, it is perhaps worth mentioning that the trends and place of migration and urbanization that we are witnessing today are such, that, before long, differences between different human gene pools may be substantially diminished, if not entirely obliterated. This book, therefore, is timely: it provides valuable information on who the Hungarians are, where they come from and where they are heading, in short, their past, present and future, in addition to presenting a broad perspective of some aspects of current research in biomedical sciences in Hungary."

The major objective of our studies in the last decade was a systematic analysis of maternal diseases during pregnancy to reveal their possible adverse effects on birth outcomes. The two most important factors of infant mortality were parti- larly analyzed: structural birth defects, known as congenital abnormalities (CAs) and preterm birth (PB). In general the objectives of scienti c studies might be either to test a new hypothesis or to con rm or confront previously published results. However, less frequently the authors/scientists have personal motivations determined by their professional activities. The authors of this book are practicing physicians and genetic epidemiologist who are mainly interested in the following three practical questions: 1. The possible adverse effects of pharmaceutical products. The possible t- atogenic potential of about 170 drugs has been evaluated very thoroughly using the data set of the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities (HCCSCA) in the last 50 years. These drugs were used to treat maternal diseases and the ndings of our population-based case-control studies will be cited in this book and are shown in the Appendix at the end of the book. However, our long experiences showed two problems in the drug teratology. In general the evaluation of clinical doses of these drugs is a particularly dif- cult challenge due to the modi cation effects of confounders. This problem motivated one of the authors to establish a new model of disaster epidemiology.