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DESPAIR: Design of Linkage Studies Based on Affected Pairs of Relatives

DESPAIR is a program to help in designing linkage studies, originally based on affected pairs of relatives of a particular type, for searching the whole autosomal genome. The latest version has been extended in various ways, in particular to allow for discordant pairs and both types of pairs using the mean test. The program can be used to determine the optimal two-stage study design -- i.e., how many pairs of relatives should be studied, how many equally spaced markers should be used initially, and what criterion should be used to specify the markers around which further searching should be done. Alternatively, for specified power and significance level, the program will calculate either the number of relative pairs required for a given number of first-stage markers, or the number of markers required for a given number of pairs. Further information can be obtained by clicking on the documentation link.

To begin please click on the Create Design link above.