The Power of Sarcasm in Medical Education October 8, 2007
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Humor, Medical education, Medicine, Prevention.5 comments
I believe you can spread the word of the importance of prevention more efficiently if you use the power of sarcasm. It’s not enough to say “Don’t smoke!”, you know it well. Let’s try saying “Smoke and elevate your risk for cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary heart disease!”. That’s why I worked so much on my post, 10 Tips for How to Acquire a Disease.
So I’ve come across this interesting series of books at Omni Brain. Check out the site of KnockKnock:
The world’s worst maladies, conveniently organized by symptom (real or imagined), will ignite even the mildest hypochondriac’s fantasy life.
iGuard: Live Webcast Now October 4, 2007
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Personalized medicine, Prevention, Web 2.0.add a comment
The webcast of Patient-Driven Drug Safety Monitoring Program is going live now. It features Dr. Judith Jones and Dr. Hugo Stephenson who explain how simple it can now be for anyone to better assess the level of risks associated with the drugs they are taking or prescribing. It means the webcast is open to physicians and patients as well. You can ask questions from now via e-mail.
What is iGuard about?
iGuard is the fastest and easiest way for you to get personalized alerts and updates on the safety of your medicines. We facilitate the virtual flow of communication among patients, physicians, and researchers according to two guiding principles:
- With iGuard, patients can feel safer because they will be sent the drug safety information they need, when they need it.
- The more people that join iGuard, the faster we can help researchers identify safety problems – and communicate this information back to patients, caregivers, and their providers.
Through a quick online enrollment on the iGuard website (www.iguard.org), patients who regularly take medications can choose to receive patient-specific updates about the safety of the medications they are taking from an independent source. And participants in iGuard will receive these updates whenever new information is learned about their medicine, allowing them to make the most informed decisions about their healthcare.
Personalized Medicine: Major steps on the way September 20, 2007
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in DNA, Genetic testing, genetics, Genome, Health, Healthcare, Invention, Medicine, Personalized medicine, Prevention, science, Video.8 comments
You know well, I try to keep you up-do-date about all the improvements and discussions of personalized medicine/genetics. It’s not so easy as I expected as there are more and more articles written on this topic, but just a few of them have really interesting or useful information. This series of posts can turn out to be a blog carnival anyway…
- Rebecca Taylor at Mary Meets Dolly plans the same as me and has a great follow-up post on pharmacogenomics:
Medco’s Epstein said the next highly anticipated FDA action related to personalized medicine may concern the use of CYP2D6 testing in prescribing tamoxifen, which can help prevent a recurrence of breast cancer after initial treatment.
- A nice article at Gene Expression about the Venter genome and it’s ethical issues. We must agree with it, we still know nothing:
Finally, the “personalized medicine” portion of the paper is weak. This is largely due to the fact that not much is known about the genetics of medically-relevant traits, but the authors simply provide a list of alleles known to play a role in phenotypes, and Venter’s genotype at that position. There’s not much more that can be done at this point, but still, it’s not particularly of interest (unless you want confirmation that Venter indeed has blue eyes, as predicted by his OCA2 genotype).
Last time, I told you FDA had suggested that two genetic markers be used to determine the minimal starting dose of Coumadin. Well, here is the method:
- Verigene® Warfarin Metabolism Nucleic Acid Test (Medgadget):
One-third of patients receiving warfarin metabolize it quite differently than expected and experience a higher risk of bleeding. Research has shown that some of the unexpected response to warfarin depends on variants of two genes, CYP2C9 and VKORC1. The Nanosphere Verigene Warfarin Metabolism Nucleic Acid Test detects some variants of both genes.
The latest two to hook up are Celera and Merck. Celera will use its diagnostic expertise to try to find gene expression profiles that will make patients more likely to respond to Merck’s drug.
- HHS report depicts health IT as the foundation of next-generation health care: a great definition
“The potential is huge – for protecting health, for preventing and pre-empting disease and for personalizing treatment according to each person’s unique biology.”
The HHS report describes personalized health care as “a system in which doctors, pharmacists and other health care providers customize treatment and management plans for individuals. It will be founded upon vast amounts of information that will be readily accessible at clinics and hospital bedsides.”
- Decoding the future with genomics (Zoi-Sci): Juan Enriquez at TED Conference about our genetic code
Related posts:
VisualDxHealth: Visual health care tools and widgets September 18, 2007
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Cancer, Education, Health, Health 2.0, Healthcare, Medical Search, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Prevention, Web 2.0.add a comment
I’ve recently come across a site that features several medical widgets created mostly for patients. This is a method how to try to educate laypeople about their own health. VisualDxHealth:
is created by doctors and health care professionals. Many sites have information about diseases – We deliver medical pictures and self-care information about diseases so that you understand the disease and can make decisions.
What I liked is you can use widgets for your Google homepage, on your blog or you can just get the code to use them anywhere else.
- Disease body location search: Search for visual diseases by body location.
- Trusted health care search: health-care sites and information from trusted sources.
- ABCs of melanoma identification: definitions, animations, and self-care tips on each of the key identifiers of melanoma.
- Skin-cancer self-exam: monthly skin cancer self exam.
- Google subscribe links: Add VisualDxHealth pictures and content directly to your Google searches.
Please Donate: My dream is to have my genome sequenced! September 15, 2007
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in About me, DNA, Fun, Genome, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Personalized medicine, Prevention, science, Sciencefun, Web 2.0.12 comments
I know I’m not a Craig Venter, Misha Angrist or anybody else in the list of the 10 subjects of the Personal Genome Project (PGP) whose genomes will be sequenced and published, but as I plan to pledge my life to personalized genetics, I’d love to know more about my genetic destiny. So I’ve created this ChipIn widget to try to make my dream come true and of course, any donation would be welcome.
Click here to see the progress…
According to the PGP or Venter, the 1000$ genome is going to be reality somewhen in the next few years. I believe it’s not going to be so easy, that’s why some SNPs (Single nucleotide polymorphism) of mine would be enough to know about. I want to try to prevent some diseases I have elevated risk for (e.g. proper diet in case I have elevated risk for obesity or diabetes). And even I don’t say I would make my genome public, I would like to take part in constructing the future of personalized medicine like that.
If I can raise some money, but can’t have my genome sequenced due to technical reasons, I will donate the whole sum to Genetic Alliance. Anyway at least, I’ve tried it…
Creative medicine-related ads September 14, 2007
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Art, Fun, Health, Medicine, Photography, Prevention, Sciencefun.7 comments
Friday fun with medicine-related advertisements. I hope Vanessa will like these as well. Enjoy it!
The source of the images is Print Ads.
(Hat Tip: Napi Adag )
Personalized Medicine: being up-to-date August 24, 2007
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in genetics, Health, Health 2.0, Invention, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Personalized medicine, Prevention, science.6 comments
I’m in the middle of several projects now, so I just wanted to share a bunch of links with you about the recent improvements and news of personalized medicine. If you read these posts/articles/papers, you’re going to be totally up-to-date in this field.
- Personalized Medicine, Part 1: Coumadin (warfarin) and Part 2: Metabolic Activation of Codeine to Morphine: a must read.
…individual patients respond quite differently to the same dose of Coumadin. Two genetic markers have been identified… and the FDA has suggested that they be used to determine the minimal starting dose of Coumadin; patients with variations in these genetic markers may require a smaller dose of Coumadin than those with the normal, or “reference,” gene marker.
- Genetic Testing Cited for Blood Thinner (ABC News)
- Genomic Medicine Hits Mainstream Milestone (Wired Science)
Because it takes time to get test results, doctors typically have to decide the initial dose using older methods. Some testing labs say they can deliver results in one to three days.
- The FDA’s big personalized-medicine push (VentureBeat)
More generally, the implementation of pharmacogenomics in routine clinical practice presents significant challenges. This article presents specific clinical examples of such challenges and discusses how obstacles to implementation of pharmacogenomic testing can be addressed.
Follow Hsien, Steve, Blaine, Jason, Ogan and many other quality bloggers for more in the field of personalized medicine (of course, don’t miss Scienceroll either…).
Genetically Naked? August 2, 2007
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in About me, genetics, Genome, Health, Invention, Medicine, Personalized medicine, Prevention, science.14 comments
There has been a serious discussion about the personal genome (a person’s genetic code) in the last few weeks. The beginning of the 21st century is famous for the success of the Human Genome Project, but this time, the subject is your personal genome and it seems to be a complicated task as well.
The Goal of this project is to develop affordable “personal genome sequences” and a variety of user-friendly applications of such data.
So it will make it possible to have your genome (your personal genetic code) sequenced to know more about the future of your health. That’s why I’d like to pledge my life to personalized genetics. Recently, Esther Dyson, a famous venture capitalist, wrote about her decision to reveal all of her genetic data. What are the reasons? Erika Jonietz tells us.
Blaine Bettinger, the genetic genealogist created a list of the first ten “volunteers” of the Personal Genome Project. I say volunteers, but they probably are very happy to be involved in such an outstanding mission. Jason Bobe, my favourite blogger, would like to know our opinion: is there a real problem in the fact the first people sequenced are famous scientists from the field of genetics?
IMHO, it’s inevitable. To start such an enourmous project, you need big names. After the first sequenced and published personal genomes, we can get back to the army of unnamed samples. Of course, this is not so easy. The comment of Steven Murphy, the gene sherpa, has an important message:
There will soon be a personal genome option. Everyone will be able to have an economically priced copy. We need some guidance on its interpretation.
And now, we’re at the most important point. The techinal part of the whole project will be solved in years, I’m totally sure about it. But the interpretation must be perfect. We’ll have to know how we can tell the patients about their genetic data and their risks for specific diseases. The patient will have to know that they have a choice: personally, I wouldn’t like to know anything about my ApoE4 gene (a susceptibility gene for Alzheimer’s disease), and I wouldn’t like anybody to know anything about it. Sorry for the simple metaphor, but it’s like I don’t plan to take a walk naked as my body belongs to me and I don’t want people to see me without clothes. The situation is the same with my genome. This is my privacy…
In SNPedia, the wiki of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), you can find a list about what kind of SNPs James Watson has. For example, his DNA contains a SNP that may implicate a risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Would you like to make your genome public? Would you like people (e.g. your boss or your enemy) to know your risks for some kind of diseases? Just some further questions:
- Should there be a minimum age requirement for personal genome sequencing?
- With so much money sunk in as investments, is it ethical to hand over our genetic information for commercial use despite overwhelming lobbying pressure from the biotech industry?
- Should families own genetic information?
Sequencing the personal genome is crucial regarding the future of personalized genetics and research. We must support those guys. But my genome is my business…
In this post, I tried to give a clear overview of the Personal Genome Project and the recent discussions about it from the point of view of a medical student who plans to work on the field of personalized genetics. Your comments would be most welcome!
Related links:
- The Best Description of Personalized Medicine
- Helicos BioSciences towards personalized medicine
- Personalized Genetics/Genomics: Blogterview with Steven Murphy, MD
Update: Ken McClellan’s comment has a great message for all of us:
Studies like this are opening new branches of medicine, tracking down cousins, updating our understanding of evolution, and preparing us for what’s next. Every hero has a chink in his or her armor — or an Achilles heel. I’m hoping being up-front about it will help build a better world for the grandkids.
Genetic Testing: BlogMix and a funny video July 19, 2007
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in About me, Blogging, BlogMix, Fun, Gene, Genetic condition, Genetic screening, Genetic testing, genetics, Health, Health 2.0, Healthcare, Humor, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Personalized medicine, Prevention, science, Sciencefun, Video, Web 2.0.2 comments
I’ve been totally busy because of my summer practice at the department of pediatrics. I’ve seen many cases when genetic tests are needed (a strange haemophilia-related case, hereditary spherocytosis, etc.). I thought I should be your aggregator for today, so I tried to collect the most interesting posts on genetic testing, and I also present a new genetic blog. Then after reading all of these, don’t miss the funny video about a parody of a public service announcement on genetic testing.
Medicine 2.0 means that you can read valuable comments and opinions which are unlikely to be published in a scientific paper. Hsien-Hsien Lei greatly answers common questions about genetic testing.
Steven Murphy, the Gene Sherpa always informs us about new techniques and procedures that make it easier to diagnose (genetic) conditions and to predict risks for diseases. This time, in his article No More Skin Biopsies?, he says, it does demonstrate how ubiquitous genetic soon will be in the office.
Blaine Bettinger, our favourite genetic genealogist, describes the pros and cons of autosomal genetic testing. He says, no autosomal test, now or in the future, will ever be able to completely define a person or a person’s heritage. The solution could be the easy and fast whole genome sequencing. We hope it’s going to be reality soon.
After writing my Awesome Genetic Announcements post, Cicada from bioephemera.com asked me to express my opinion about how we can handle untreatable disorders (such as early-onset Alzheimers, or bipolar disorder) and whether one’s genetic risks could lead to being uninsured and unemployed.
- We don’t have to handle those. In a personalized genetic practice, an easy solution could be that the patient chooses from a list that what kind of diseases, conditions, genes they want to know about.
- For answering the second question, I just have to show you the winner of the post of the week award: Medical Ethics 2.0 from The Personal Genome. This post will really answer everything regarding medical ethics and insurance problems.
As I’ve promised, here is a new blog on the sky of the genetic blogosphere, Cancer Genetics. Ramūnas Janavičius, a clinical genetics resident doctor from Vilnius University, Lithuania, who is interested in human cancer genetics. He thinks that we help his work, but the truth is that he does a great service for us and the readers for writing about cancer genetics (an awesome topic!). Follow his blog in the future!
At last, let’s have some fun (actually it’s not as funny as you think):
Next time, I’m going to write about my conception on what a personalized genetic practice is like.
Related links:
Ruckus Nation: a challenge for children June 15, 2007
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Cancer, Health, Healthcare, Invention, Medicine, Nutrition, Prevention.add a comment
I’m so amazed by Hopelab‘s projects as they always try to find creative ways to raise awareness on health and to promote prevention. Hopelab is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of young people with chronic illness. You may remember my post on their previous project: Fighting cancer with video games.
Now, Piers Sutton, the communications coordinator at HopeLab, has an important announcement for you:
HopeLab is launching an initiative to address childhood obesity that we believe may be of interest to you and your members.
This fall, HopeLab is sponsoring an online competition called “Ruckus Nation” which challenges participants to imagine innovative products that will increase physical activity among kids ages 11 to 14. The competition is open to people of all ages; but students are especially encouraged to join in, as individuals or in teams.
Up to $300,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded for the best product ideas, including $2,500 to teachers or mentors who inspire winning entries. Students may have the opportunity to see their ideas come to life; the best ideas will be prototyped, tested, and broadly distributed free to young people.
Further reading:
