tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post2236504090663003843..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: Major Cultural ChangeAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-45296977961078479002021-09-22T23:51:09.471-04:002021-09-22T23:51:09.471-04:00"The Dead Past' by Isaac Asimov; and it w..."The Dead Past' by Isaac Asimov; and it was time-viewing not time travel,SJBChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03730062017267927696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-4911836277752503492021-08-14T03:23:37.817-04:002021-08-14T03:23:37.817-04:00It’s also possible that genetic testing came along...It’s also possible that genetic testing came along too late to matter. <br /><br />I learned I was my (bio)mom’s second child by her second husband, whom she divorced to remarry her first husband (father of her children one and three). My (bio)brothers want nothing to do with me and everyone else involved is long dead. My adoptive parents died 25 years ago; my biological mother, a few months before I learned this. My biological father was of low character who disappeared sixty years ago. <br /><br />It’s no longer possible to learn how the adoption took place, as everyone involved had residences separated by hundreds of miles.ErisGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09383064735664269791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-28939152250321897772021-08-07T13:57:36.679-04:002021-08-07T13:57:36.679-04:00If the testing could be made rapid enough, this co...If the testing could be made rapid enough, this could be an ID.<br />Stealing someone's hair or fingernail clippings could regain some of its old nefarious meaning.jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-45433965142921110762021-08-04T19:05:29.047-04:002021-08-04T19:05:29.047-04:00Doug, you hit the right points. Many characteristi...Doug, you hit the right points. Many characteristics result from multiple small genetic effects - height, g-factor, propensity for impulsive behavior, but others result from rare large-effect genes. This is why full genome sequencing will be the norm in the future, rather than the targeted SNP-arrays now. We discussed epigenetics in a few sentences in passing last time, and I remain mildly but not entirely skeptical. Prenatal influences seem very likely, including on set of behaviors being enacted while another is discouraged. I can't go to the other extreme of hoping it will explain everything, however, because after a certain point it makes selection stop working - and I believe evolution does actually occur, and sometimes much more rapidly that people think even now. The earlier, the more likely believable is my current shorthand. And frankly, shorthand is usually all I do before moving on.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-73321933512909355432021-08-04T15:38:06.356-04:002021-08-04T15:38:06.356-04:00What we may be witnessing is (mostly) the failure ...What we may be witnessing is (mostly) the failure of genetics as a disease risk prediction tool. But please recognize as an environmental health researcher, I may be biased...<br /><br />My interest in personal genetic testing (I've had both 23andMe and Ancestry tests completed) has mostly been related to health conditions and phenotype. Overall, I thought the results were boring, and told me less than I could have guessed myself. In the near future, my guess is we should expect genetic disease testing to be about as helpful as a family health history. Diseases with reliable genetic biomarkers tend to be those with a high degree of penetrance (think BRCA1 for breast cancer, ApoE4 for Alzheimer's) or well-recognized heritable disorders (Mom's brother had CF, Dad's uncle died of a disease in childhood), all of which could be guessed from looking at health outcomes in relatives. Maybe genetic testing is useful in giving more definite answers to the things we already suspect. Of course, an exception is in the case of adoptions, or uncertain parentage. To some, there could also value in knowing your carrier status when considering having children.<br /><br />What was my experience with 23andMe? I was negative on all carrier status reports, and the only health report showing anything other than typical risk was due to double mutations in an HLA gene, which is associated with slight risk of Celiac disease. All of this comes as no surprise. There are histories of cancer on both sides of my family, and strokes on one side, but none of this was reflected in 23andMe or Promethease (there were also histories of smoking and other environmental factors in many of the cases). While not reported in 23andMe, the HLA mutations are linked to autoimmune diseases, including T1D, which a related family member has been diagnosed with. But being mostly Northern European would suggest I'm at increased risk of this mutation anyway. Interestingly, I was listed as "normal risk" for T2D. Both parents and grandparents on both sides were diagnosed with T2D, even though none were obese (or even more than slightly overweight). None of this information has changed how I should protect my own health.<br /><br />There is a place in medicine for genetic testing. The ability to identify cancers using DNA testing is critical for targeted treatments. Genetic differences in drug metabolism directly impact treatment efficacy. However, I'm beginning to suspect the greatest impact from regular genetic testing may not be the ability to define disease risk (even polygenetic risk scores often can only account for a relatively small amount of disease variance), but rather the greatest impact may be felt among families, and provide previously impossible insight into population mixing and ancestry.<br /><br />-Doug W.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10449528522130694974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-62961390813597223342021-08-03T19:18:52.362-04:002021-08-03T19:18:52.362-04:00I wonder what the error rate would be. Sample mix...I wonder what the error rate would be. Sample mixups, contamination, reporting glitches...jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-5759869296328825572021-08-03T18:13:49.263-04:002021-08-03T18:13:49.263-04:00Asimov, The Dead PastAsimov, The Dead Pastjameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.com