association scan could identify common alleles explaining as little as 1% of the variation. Simultaneous genetic analysis of multiple traits in a single cohort will necessarily involve a substantial amount of multiple testing, but careful evaluation of false discovery rates [51] (for example, by comparing the number of LOD scores exceeding a particular threshold with that expected under the null), should help interpret the results of our gene-mapping analyses. Because the range of human variation largely extends across human populations [52], our results should be relevant to genetic studies not just in Sardinia, but also in other populations.
