TAG of the Week:
With new technology comes the high cost of using it. If you were a physician treating an HIV positive patient, would you use it and what are your reasons? What factors would hinder you from using the new technology? Dr. Barlow mentions that new physicians seem to be hesitant about using this new technology but in Taiwan (http://www.genomeweb.com/making-case-cost-effectiveness-pharmacogenetic-testing-taiwan) there seems to be a cost-effective reason to implement and incorporate pharmacogenomic testing for HIV patients. Can you suggest possible barriers in the US health care system or other factors that can be involved with the hesitance?
http://formularyjournal.modernmedicine.com/formulary/Pharmacoeconomics/Gene-testing-stakes-a-claim-in-the-health-benefits/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/679086
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Genes & Diet
TAG of the Week:
Using genetics to tailor your diet to prevent disease seems to be a good way to address lifestyle changes, for example for those who have a genetic predisposition to diabetes. Do you think that with new technology, people are now approaching health from a genetic perspective solely and not from an empirical or observational perspective? In other words, are we now becoming too reliant on genetics to dictate to us what we should eat on a daily basis? If our bodies need a multitude of nutritional supplements, wouldn't it seem obvious that maybe we should diversify our food? For many Americans, this can be difficult. What factors contribute to the lack of diversity of food in meals in the US? And how about in other countries? According to the causal mechanism model, several component causes work in combination to cause disease. In the article, Farooq Ahmed says, "Teasing out the relationship between food and disease is a tricky task, one that involves tens of thousands of people and encompasses hundreds of nutritional and genetic factors." How do you assess the strength of the role of genetics and nutrition on disease?
click on the news link:
http://www.nature.com/nature/
Using genetics to tailor your diet to prevent disease seems to be a good way to address lifestyle changes, for example for those who have a genetic predisposition to diabetes. Do you think that with new technology, people are now approaching health from a genetic perspective solely and not from an empirical or observational perspective? In other words, are we now becoming too reliant on genetics to dictate to us what we should eat on a daily basis? If our bodies need a multitude of nutritional supplements, wouldn't it seem obvious that maybe we should diversify our food? For many Americans, this can be difficult. What factors contribute to the lack of diversity of food in meals in the US? And how about in other countries? According to the causal mechanism model, several component causes work in combination to cause disease. In the article, Farooq Ahmed says, "Teasing out the relationship between food and disease is a tricky task, one that involves tens of thousands of people and encompasses hundreds of nutritional and genetic factors." How do you assess the strength of the role of genetics and nutrition on disease?
click on the news link:
http://www.nature.com/nature/
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Recreational Genomics
With genetic testing for disease risk and athletic ability available to consumers online, genetic testing can only tell so much about their inherited genes. Clearly not everyone develops characteristics they are at genetic risk for. So should be concerning ourselves with such tests? Do we concern ourselves with treating diseases and conditions we don't have now? We see that Dr. Kathiresan does not often recommend genetic testing to patients and can give clinical recommendations without these tests. When do we draw the line of benefiting from this technology and using it for unneeded purposes?
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