Thursday, September 25, 2008
Whole body CT scans are SO last year...
What do Rupert Murdoch, Ivanka Trump and Harvey Weinstein have in common?
All have recently attended a "spit party" according to the New York Times.
"What's that", you ask? Well, it seems that, in a natural progression from whole-body CT scans, folks are now gathering in festive huddles so they may spit into test tubes, then have their DNA tested to see if they are predisposed to develop various diseases and conditions.
Now that's my idea of a good time.
The company behind this idea, 23andMe, drastically lowered its price in September to an affordable $399, so the average Joe or Jane can have the chance to spit into a tube, drop it in the mail, and get their results back about a month later. ("23andme Democratizes Personal Genetics," the Web site declares proudly).
All kidding aside, I'm thinking this could have big implications for physicians if panicked patients start coming in with genetic profiles that show they are doomed for such and such disease-- or alternatively, that they have nothing to worry about, so why bother with those statins, that diet, that exercise plan?
Then again, perhaps if you find out early that you are predisposed to a condition, you can change your habits to help ward it off-- like Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who plans to donate much of his substantial wealth to medical research since he now knows he's prone to Parkinson's.
What do you think, readers? Is this development a positive or negative one for patients? For you?
Labels: genetics
posted by Jessica Berthold at
5:15 PM
ACP Internist hosted Grand Rounds on June 16, wrapping up the best of the medical blogosphere. Click here for the complete wrap-up.
Contact ACP Internist
Send comments to ACP Internist staff at acpinternist@acponline.org.
Previous Posts
- Are there any undecided voters out there?
- Saying no to generic doughnuts
- Americans taking fewer drugs
- Medical news of the obvious
- New CDC testing recommendations for Hep B
- A diabetes therapy from the future
- Your patients may not listen to you...
- Patient weight loss tool
- Acronym fatigue
- Medical News of the Obvious
Blog log
American Journal of Medicine
Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine publishes original clinical articles of interest to physicians in internal medicine and its subspecialities, both in academia and community-based practice.
Clinical Correlations
A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, ACP Member, associate program director at New York University Medical Center's internal medicine residency program. Faculty, residents and students contribute case studies, mystery quizzes, news, commentary and more.
db's Medical Rants
Robert M. Centor, FACP, contributes short essays contemplating medicine and the health care system.
Everything Health
EverythingHealth is designed to address the rapid changes in science, medicine, health and healing in the 21st Century.
Getting Better with Dr. Val
Getting Better is the continuation of Dr. Val Jones' previous blog at Revolution Health. It is devoted to helping people understand health issues from a balanced, scientifically sound perspective.
HealthHombre
A roundup of health policy news drawn from a database of hundreds of Web sites.
Interact MD
Michael Benjamin, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news of the day.
Kevin, MD
The alter ego of Kevin Pho, ACP Member, is the closest thing to royalty in the medical blog world.
LSUHSC-S Medical Library Evidence Alert
Major guidelines, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and/or major reviews by national and international organizations.
PLoS Blog
The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a blog.
White Coat Rants
One of the most popular anonymous blogs written by a doctor.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home