Next: Genetic profiles on Facebook?

November 4, 2008

Project seeks volunteers to make their DNA profiles public for researchers

People may be thinking about genetic testing again, after reading recent press reports about the Personal Genome Project.

Late last month, the first few volunteers saw some of their genetic information made public on the Internet.

This effort seeks 100,000 volunteers willing to have their DNA sequenced, databased, and stored online, along with identifying medical and personal information, in order to speed the development of medical genomics.

For a quick brush-up on the pros and cons of reading your own gene map, the search term
risks genetic testing
offers some balanced reflections.

In some cases, diagnosis by history and examination has already given way to genetic testing. For instance, it’s now time to think “genotype first” when you see a child with a developmental issue, said an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine a few weeks ago.

See what you can find by searching through the article categories with the search term “genetic testing”.

Evidence-based Articles

Scroll down first page of results for genetic testing to find a recent systematic review in JAMA about genetic testing for chronic adult diseases.

Practical Articles/News

This category holds a news article showing that an inconclusive genetic result can be as distressing as a positive one.

Patient Education

Scroll down here to find a Mayo Clinic blog for patients who may want to learn more about the topic on their own time.


From India, online: Toxic “cures”

September 9, 2008

High levels of toxic metals found in Internet-based Ayurvedic remedies

Among Ayurvedic herbal remedies available on the Internet from 37 manufacturers, 21% contained metals such as lead and arsenic at dangerously high levels, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Ayurvedic products from sources in the United States had generally lower levels than those from India, which contained toxic metals at 100 to 10,000 times acceptable levels. Products from American sources that claimed to follow Good Manufacturing Practices or to carry out toxic metal testing did not show lower levels of these metals.

There were similar results from Ayurvedic products bought in ethnic markets in Boston, according to a previous report from the same authors. Since then, several local health departments elsewhere have issued similar warnings.

Complementary Medicine

Learn more about ayurvedic medicine—from clinically authoritative sources—with a search in this article category.

Related searches

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How not to eat your way to diabetes

August 12, 2008

Calories—not sugar, carbs, or fat—cause type 2 diabetes in those at risk

What people eat controls what they weigh, and that (setting aside genes and exercise) seems to determine the risk of type 2 diabetes—not the types of macronutrients themselves. That’s the upshot of two new studies in the Archives of Internal Medicine, according to a review in the same issue.

It’s not the sugar in soft drinks or juices but the poundage they so easily add that predisposes to type 2 diabetes, according to a study of young African-American women in the July 28 issue of Archives.

It was probably weight loss per se, not the low-fat or high-fiber diet, that reduced glycemia among postmenopausal women in the other study.

Which is best for weight loss: low carbs, low fat, or the Mediterranean diet? Depends on the patient’s underlying risk profile. The latter may be best for people at risk of diabetes, according to another new report, this one in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Related searches

Mediterranean diet diabetes

obesity children juice

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Research/Reviews

How much exercise do patients need to maintain weight loss? Find more new reports in this article category.

Patient Education

Look in this category for trustworthy information for patients about physical activity and diabetes.


CVD Is a Harbinger of Kidney Disease

June 28, 2007

It’s well known that kidney disease is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Now an analysis involving data from nearly 14,000 patients shows for the first time that cardiovascular disease is an independent risk factor for kidney function decline. The authors pooled results from two longitudinal studies, tracking serum creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate in patients with baseline cardiovascular disease over more than nine years.

An accompanying editorial declared that primary care physicians should screen heart patients for kidney disease routinely. This has not been common practice, surveys show.

Refine your search with clinically useful categories:

Practice Guidelines
Find the latest expert guidance about detecting chronic kidney disease in patients with cardiovascular disorders.

Practical Articles and News
What are the practical implications of this news on the matter of ACE inhibitors and renal function?