What about "Personalized Medicine"?
Reader Watchtower asked a question about how having genomic information may play a role in possible treatments for people. This is an area that I have tons of experience and knowledge about so you can imagine I wanted to go all out! For the sake of brevity and simplicity I will just use a few links and offer some commentary.
I was at a company when I first started working that was at the forefront of thinking about "personalized medicine". Today it even has it's own Wiki entry!:
Personalized MedicinePersonalized medicine is a medical model emphasizing the systematic use of information about an individual patient to select or optimize that patient's preventative and therapeutic care. Personalized medicine can broadly be defined as products and services that leverage the science of genomics and proteomics (directly or indirectly) and capitalize on the trends toward wellness and consumerism to enable tailored approaches to prevention and care.
This sounds complex but it is not too bad. Every person has a unique genome. While maybe 99.9% of it is just like anyone else's there may be differences (as small as single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNP's or as large as gene fusions or re-arrangements) which can be used to predict how various treatments may impact that person. This is especially true in the case of cancer cell genomics. Some treatments may target a certain pathway to kill the cancer, but if that patient's cancer can side step that pathway or has a mutation in that gene then the treatment may not work at all and would be a waste of both time an resources.
Pharmacogenetics is a large area of interest right now as companies are looking to find their target markets ever more tightly. Clinical trials will often screen a patient group for markers that have been shown to be important for a drug's activity. One can focus on patients that will see a benefit this way.
I think the question was more in a broad sense and in that way having the genomes of various types of people (Norther European, Asian, African, etc) can help the choosing of treatments. We are still a ways away from being able to sequence a person's genome quickly, but luckily most time just small sections need to be looked at to determine the best treatment options. This goes on right now, no waiting for the future! Looking ahead I think the focus will result in better treatment on a patient to patient basis and cut down on dead end treatments. Still, there is a long way to go. Hope this helps!
Writing Sample
I have often teased that I sort of work on a possible long short story (novella?) that has been in my head for some time. I do try and think about it from time to time, but it never seems to come out right. I wanted to put what I had written down for the prologue section on here and see if it grabs anyone. No title, that's in flux, but here is how it would be set up:
PrologueLet me know what you think!
Look, I never set out to make "the device".
I was a kid in second grade with a new set of colored pencils. One day I sat down and started drawing. This led to the first schematics of the machine I imagined. It all made sense at the time, very useful, and I even thought it was possible. I was in second grade!
Don't ask me if I had a vision. I was not visited by aliens. No God whispered in my ear. I was just doodling and something appeared from no where. If I had it to do over, I would have drawn a fucking rainbow or a pony.
But I didn't.
Good Joke
Caught this over at the Big Steel Keg cooking board. Men, do we need to enroll?:
CLASSES FOR MEN
Southwest Tech is offering a new 2 year associates degree: Becoming a Real Man. That's right, in just six mini-mesters, you, too, can be a real man as well as earn an associates degree in MA (Male Arts).
Please take a moment to look over the program outline.
FIRST YEAR
Autumn Schedule:
MEN 101 - Combating Stupidity
MEN 102 - You, Too, Can Do Housework
MEN 103 - PMS: Learn When to Keep Your Mouth Shut
MEN 104 - We Do Not Want Sleazy Under things for Christmas
Winter Schedule:
MEN 110 - Wonderful Laundry Techniques
MEN 111 - Understanding the Female Response to getting in at 2AM
MEN 112 - Pa renting: It Doesn't End with Conception
EAT 100 - Get a Life, Learn to Cook
EAT 101 - Get a Life, Learn to Cook II
ECON 001A - What's Hers is Hers
Spring Schedule:
MEN 120 - How NOT to Act Like a Buttface When You're Wrong
MEN 121 - Understanding Your Incompetence
MEN 122 - YOU, the Weaker Sex
MEN 123 - Reasons to Give Flowers
ECON 001C - What Was Yours is Hers
SECOND YEAR
Autumn Schedule:
SEX 101 - You CAN Fall Asleep without It
SEX 102 - Morning Dilemma: If It's Awake, Take a Shower
SEX 103 - How to Stay Awake After Sex
MEN 201 - How to Put the Toilet Seat Down
Elective (See Electives Below)
Winter Schedule:
MEN 210 - The Remote Control: Overcoming Your Dependency
MEN 211 - How to Not Act Younger than Your Children
MEN 212 - You, Too, Can Be a Designated Driver
MEN 213 - Honest, You Don't Look Like Tom Cruise
MEN 230A - Her Birthdays and Anniversaries Are Important
Spring Schedule:
MEN 220 - Omit! ting %&*! from Your Vocabulary (Pass/Fail Only)
MEN 221 - Fluffing the Blanket After Passing Gas Is Not Necessary
MEN 222 - Real Men Ask for Directions
MEN 223 - Thirty Minutes of Begging is NOT Considered Foreplay
MEN 230B - Her Birthdays and Anniversaries Are Important 2
Course Electives:
EAT 101 - Cooking with Tofu
EAT 102 - Utilization of Dining Utensils
EAT 103 - Burping and Belching Discreetly
MEN 231 - Mothers-in-law
MEN 232 - Appear to Be Listening
MEN 233 - Just Say "Yes, Dear"
ECON 001C - Cheaper to Keep Her
I pass many but not all of these!
Fascinating
Some nifty finds today.
Maybe a Native American went back to Iceland with the Vikings?:
Native Americans Visited Europe 1000 Years Ago
Very interesting and found via genomic sequencing!
Money tends to stay in certain geographic areas. Check out how closed up New England is with the cash!:
Very interesting.
Video Killed the Radio Star
Some items of possible interest.
Here is how all that genomic sequencing gets done in an easy to see sort of way:
There are newer ways that this is done as well, but this covers the basic idea. Here is a PCR reaction.
I think the film "The Fountain" could have been an all time great, but they missed the mark a little. Still, it is well worth a look and I can recommend it:
Just picked this classic up and will probably watch it tonight, "American Werewolf in London":
Awesome!
Rock Blogging
A few tunes to send you off for the weekend.
Gawains provided quite a list to choose from, so let's take a trip with KISS and "Room Service":
Never heard that one. My favorite KISS clip here.
Get your lighters up for Saigon Kick's ballad "Love is on the Way":
You know you like that one!
This maybe a repeat, but who cares! "Signs" by Tesla is a good tune:
I am past the no 1 year repeat zone with Soul Asylum and "Runaway Train":
'And everything seems cut and dry, day and night, earth and sky'
I like Garbage, not that kind, the band! Here is "The World is Not Enough":
Nice!
Two left. Two and out.
A little Pat Benatar goes a long way! Here is "All Fired Up":
Love that lady!
Last call! Get up, get up and get down, 911 is a joke in your town!
Close the show with a live clip of Metallica's "Ride the Lightning":
Have a good night.
