Why should you have your DNA analysed for predisposition to Alzheimer`s disease?

The appearance of disease is linked to interrelated influence of various genes; it is a well-known fact that carriers of the apoE4 gene have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Many loci, analyzed during the genome analysis, can contribute to susceptibility to this disease with a strong genetic component.

How is dementia prevented or treated?

Traditional medicine can currently treat only the symptoms; for the near future, however, effective medicines are on the horizon which will halt the disease progression or prevent it altogether. Thus, it is useful to be aware of the possibility of your increased susceptibility to this disease. This information can aid in early detection of the disease and a successful treatment in the near future.

Perform your personal genetic testing for Alzheimer`s disease!

There are many risk factors leading to the development of lung cancer, but cigarette smoking is an absolute number one. 90% of all lung cancers are associated with smoking. The risk increases with the number of packs smoked per day. A smoker who smokes one pack a day runs a 25-fold increase in risk for cancer development compared to a non-smoker. The cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 substances, among them substances that induce the development of cancer, the so called carcinogenic substances. Besides active smoking, passive smoking is also a risk factor. Passive smoking means that a person does not smoke himself/herself, but rather inhales the cigarette smoke of the smokers in his/her vicinity.

The risk factors further include some other toxic substances in the air that we breathe, such as for instances asbestos fibres. Asbestos is a material which had long been used for heating and sound insulation of houses. Those who got sick were mainly the workers in the asbestos industry. The remaining risk factors include the exposure to the radioactive radon gas (which can ooze out of the poor-quality construction material of some houses), other pulmonary diseases in the patient’s past medical history and the general environmental air pollution.

Why should you have your DNA analysed for predisposition to lung cancer?

By checking your genome we can discover variants of your genes which play key roles in protecting your lungs from cancer development.

More about genetic testing for lung cancer.

Lactose is the principal carbohydrate (sugar) found in milk and dairy products. In the intestine, a special protein called lactase breaks it down to smaller parts (glucose and galactose) that can be absorbed by the human body through the intestinal mucosa and used as a cellular fuel. If for some reason the quantity of the lactase enzyme in the intestinal mucosa is decreased, a disorder called lactose intolerance develops.

Due to the lack of lactase large quantities of undigested sugars pass through the small intestine to the colon where they are metabolized by the intestinal bacteria. Unabsorbed sugar is transformed by the bacteria into fats, gases and other bigger molecules. These bacterial metabolites cause the unpleasant symptoms of this disease.

The symptoms are very unspecific. Lactose intolerance can initially present as diarrhea with abdominal bloating and possibly cramping as well. In the case of a severe exacerbation, nausea and vomiting can be present as well. The signs of disease appear from 15 minutes to 2 hours after the last intake of milk or dairy products. The severity and appearance of symptoms depend also on the amount of lactose consumed.

The disease can be recognized by its characteristic signs and the patient history. Of course, only a thorough physical exam can lead to a precise diagnosis. This disease may pose some diagnostic difficulties if the symptoms appear after a longer symptom-free period that follows the ingestion of milk; in such cases, neither the patient himself nor his/her physician link the symptoms to the inability to metabolize milk. The diagnosis can be made by excluding all milk products from the patient’s diet. If after excluding all milk products the symptoms disappear, no further diagnostic procedure is necessary. In order to unequivocally confirm the diagnosis, the so called lactose tolerance test may be performed: the patient consumes 50g of lactose and the body’s reaction to it is studied.

Lactose intolerance forms

The incidence of lactose intolerance varies greatly among different ethnic groups. The disease affects about 15% of Caucasians in the USA and Europe. There are no differences between the sexes. In Japanese and Chinese populations, the disease affects about 80% of the people, while in certain South American peoples, especially the indigenous people, virtually all people are affected.

The disease can be subdivided into primary (genetic) and secondary form. Primary lactose intolerance appears most often in childhood. The enzyme amount at the time of birth suffices for the infant’s normal development; after the age of 2 or 3, however, the first signs of milk sugar malabsorption become evident.

Secondary lactose intolerance is characterized by a normal amount of digestive enzymes for lactose; however, the intestinal mucosa is injured due to the effects of other diseases and it prevents normal absorption and digestion of lactose. Diseases that are most often accompanied by the secondary lactose intolerance include the chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease; celiac disease, post-irradiation disorders as well as post-chemotherapy (cancer therapy) lactose intolerance.

Perform your genetic test for lactose intolerance!

GenePlanet examines genes for which a connection with breast cancer development was shown. By knowing your risk for breast cancer development you can take appropriate preventive measures. Familial predisposition is a chapter in itself among risk factors. The greater the number of family members affected by breast cancer, the higher the risk of developing breast cancer.

Due to its genetic background, it is very hard to prevent cancer development. However, risk factors can be diminished by certain methods, including taking hormonal pills which do not increase cancer risk. Due to the development of various techniques, the best treatment option is a surgery. In addition to surgery, there are other therapies such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and therapy with biological drugs.

More of Pros and Cons visit breastcancer.org

Act NOW! Take your personal genetic test for breast cancer !

With the flourishing of the genome reading technology, researchers have succeeded in linking numerous diseases to the genetic code. At GenePlanet we examine your genome and based on the results obtained and the know-how of our experts, we tell you how susceptible you are to certain diseases and characteristics. Thus, the test is suitable for:

• People with a family history of disease. With the GenePlanet analysis we can inform you of your risks. Tipically, a disease can only be prevented with an adequate lifestyle, provided that one is aware of one’s predisposition to a certain disease.
• People who regularly take medications. Often, pharmacological therapy is ineffective in some individuals because their genes encode a faster drug metabolism. Having such information often allows the therapy to be amended and the disease treated with a more suitable medication.
• Athletes who want to tailor their training to their genetic code. People have different physical make-ups. By knowing if we lean towards explosive modes or endurance, we can tailor our individual training and attain better results.
• Everyone who is curious enough and wants to know their advantages, risks, hidden talents and the origins of their ancestry.

Act NOW! Take your personal genetic test !

• One out of every 180 children is born with a chromosomal abnormality. The result of the most common abnormality is Down’s syndrome.

• Merely 2% of the human genome contains information for the formation of proteins. All the rest are the so called non-coding regions because it is still not known what their specific function is.

• The Italian regions of Toscana and Umbria are special. They are genetically different from the other Italian regions because of Etruscan genetic heritage in this area.

• According to some linguistic theory, the Basques originally hail from Russia, for their haplotype is the same as the haplotype found in inhabitants of some Russian regions.

• Genetic studies form a theory of three migrations of the Hans from the North to the South of China.

• In a representative group of 50 African monkeys, there are more gene variations than in the entire human race. This means that the entire human race is a descendant of a small group of people from the ancient past. The scientific terms for it is a “bottleneck”. It is probably the result of unfavourable weather conditions which made the majority of the people from the ancient past pass away. The entire human race developed from the small group of survivors. 71,000 years ago, the Toba volcano erupted, causing a six year long volcanic winter. The famine and low temperatures left only around 15,000 survivors. The eruption, however, also caused a change in the Earth’s climate; a 1,000 year long Ice age followed.

• The modern Maltese people genetically correspond to certain Lebanese which fact supports the theory that most Maltese people are the ancestors of the ancient Phoenicians.

source: Geneplanet

• The banana is a fruit which originated in Asia. During the period of one of the largest human migrations (between 1000 B.C. and 300 A.C.), it was brought to Africa.

• In the case of autosomal recessive diseases, the recessive gene, situated on an autosomal chromosome, is passed on in the family. Both gene copies (each one on its own chromosome in a chromosome pair) must be recessive in order for the expression of the gene to take place and the disease to develop. If one only has one copy of this gene, one is a carrier and is usually not even aware of it because the disease has not developed.

• Among the sex-linked genetic diseases, haemophilia is an interesting example. The gene for this disease is recessive and linked to the X chromosome. Women have two X chromosomes, while men have only one. In order for haemophilia to develop in women, the woman has to carry both X chromosomes with the diseased gene. If she only carries this gene in one X chromosome, she will not develop the disease but will be a carrier. All men with this recessive gene will fall ill, for they only have one X chromosome and will thus express the disease. This disease was well-understood in the Jewish population although genetics was not as well understood then as it is today. It was already known at that time which women are carriers of the disease and therefore their sons were exempt from circumcision.

• In addition to the DNA in the nucleus, human beings also have DNA in their mitochondria. This DNA is inherited only from the mother and is used to study female ancestry. Interestingly, however, in bees the mitochondrial DNA is inherited also from the father. There was one such exceptional case recorded in humans as well.

source: Geneplanet

• Genetic similarity. Human beings share 7% of genes with E. coli bacterium, 21% with worms, 90% with mice and 98% with chimpanzees.

• If one were to recite the ATCG sequence in one’s DNA which is 3 billion long and would utter at a rate of 100 ATCG sequences per minute without taking a break for sleeping, eating or drinking, one would speak for 57 long years.

• If all 46 chromosomes from one cell were combined and arranged lengthwise, the total length would be 1.8 meters. There are differences in the total number of cells in a human body; according to a general assessment, however, the number should be around 100,000 billion. If the entire DNA from all nuclei in the human body were to be arranged lengthwise, it would measure around 180,000 million km. For a better understanding, compare it to the distance from the Earth to the Sun which is 150 million km – the DNA length would thus be 1,000 times greater.

• 1000 cell nuclei could be squeezed into a period mark at the end of a sentence.

• A genetic study is being done on an African ethnic group Yoruba. They have an unusually high birth rate of twins.

source: Geneplanet