Posts Tagged "Dna Testing"

How To – Paternity DNA Testing

Ever wonder how a DNA paternity test is done? This short video shows how easy it is. Test conducted at DNA Diagnostics Center (DDC) – the worlds largest paternity testing laboratory.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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• people who have had prenatal paternity test from Ddc

How Accurate Are Dna Paternity Test Results

One question on many people’s minds when they look into paternity testing is how accurate the paternity test results are. No test can ever be 100% accurate but how accurate can you expect your paternity test results to be and what should you expect from a DNA testing lab?

There are two results involved in a paternity test, the first is called exclusion. Exclusive paternity test results exclude a man from being a father of a child. This means that in the paternity test the DNA of the father did not sufficiently correspond to the DNA of the child to consider him as a prospective father. In this case the result should be 100% accurate, if a man is excluded from being a child’s father there should be no way he could possibly be.

Inclusive paternity test results however are different, they refer to the likelihood that someone is the father of the child. Although no test can ever be 100% certain most paternity test results should prove at least 99%, preferably closer to 99.99% that a child is the father.

The accuracy of paternity test results depends on how many loci (or points) are tested on the DNA segments of the alleged father and child; the higher the number of loci, the greater the accuracy that can be obtained.

To get the best results from your paternity test you should choose a laboratory that tests at least 13-16 loci and that excludes fathers who show a difference in two or more DNA patterns on the loci (this is the AABB standard that is used in accredited DNA testing labs). For more info see http://www.geneticdnatestinghelp.org/paternity/prenatal-postnatal-paternity-test.html on prenatal postnatal genetic testing.

In conclusion, although paternity test results can never be 100% accurate you should look for at least 99% accuracy and preferably closer to 99.99%. Accuracy is obtained through testing a larger number of loci and good DNA testing labs usually test about 16.

Genetic DNA Testing for Breast Cancer

Genetic test which is also known as DNA-based test is the most powerful technique used to test for breast cancer detection. It involves the direct examination of DNA molecule itself.
By using a molecular diagnostic test to assess whether a breast tumor will respond to chemotherapy, doctor’s need to more precisely identify which patients can be adequately treated with hormonal therapy alone and which patients will truly benefit if chemotherapy is added to the treatment. With better individualized treatment, we can spare women the side effects of chemotherapy where it is unnecessary.

Breast cancer, like other cancers, develops when changes occur in genes in breast cells. In that sense, all breast cancer has a genetic element. But, “genetic” does not mean inherited. Only an estimated 5% to 10% of breast cancer cases result from an inherited genetic predisposition to the disease. In other words, more than 90% of all breast cancer cases result from factors that are not inherited and, in many cases, are unknown.

So far, researchers have found two genes linked with breast cancer-labeled BRCA1 and BRCA2-that everyone inherits in pairs: one from our mother and one from our father. When they function normally, they are supposed to stop the growth of cancerous cells in the breast. When both genes in a pair are damaged, they don’t work properly and cancer may develop. People who inherit a damaged BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene from one parent are at greater risk of developing breast cancer than people who inherit two normal genes.

Studies can estimate risk among large numbers of people who have an inherited mutation, but not the risk for an individual woman. Women with any BRCA mutation have about a 33% to 50% risk of developing cancer by age 50, and a 56% to 87% risk by age 70. Most of the research focuses on women with a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer (several female relatives on one side who have breast and/or ovarian cancer before age 40, cancer in both breasts, and/or cases of male breast cancer).

By being able to identify these genes through particular markers associated with the gene, doctors will know which individuals are more susceptible to cancer and therefore can follow the proper procedure. The earlier the doctor can diagnose the cancer, the more effective the treatment will be.
Scientists warn however that, although they have discovered one of the genes associated with breast cancer, there is still no cure available. They have successfully identified the gene, but presently there is no way to “repair” the gene.
The recent isolation of the gene BRCA-1 has prompted investigators to identify other genes that may contribute to breast cancer, ovarian cancer and the breast-ovarian cancer syndrome.

The Promise Of DNA Testing For The Masses

In October 2005, I.B.M announced that genetic information would not be used in hiring or to make decisions for health care benefits. The statement was made as DNA testing appeared likely to become an important business, with numerous start-up firms seeking to establish themselves in the consumer market. Indeed, I.B.M. itself is heavily involved in genetics information research, but when it comes to the potential of DNA testing, one word might describe the future: Google.

The founders of the search engine giant have met with Craig Venter, whose company and the competing U.S. National Institutes of Health discovered the 30,000 genes in the human genome in 2000, in essence, opening a new era of science that will impact a broad swath of enterprise. In Venter’s vision, “Genetic information is going to be the leading edge of information that is going to change the world.” The home might very well be at the center of such change.

What if you could go to your computer and search for information that relates to your individual genetic make-up. Combined with the results of home-based DNA testing, the information would allow you to determine the questions you should ask your doctor about nutritional and pharmacological interventions.

That day might not be far off. Companies with deep market penetration, such as Nestle and Kraft, are watching the start-up companies, and their entry would make DNA testing technology a widely accessible consumer item. Join readily available tests with Google’s always-on presence and what do you get? As Venter states in The Google Story, a book by Washington Post science writer David Vise and Mark Malseed: “People will be able to log onto a Google site using search capabilities and have the ability to understand things about themselves as they change in real time. What does it mean to have this variation in a gene?”

Ultimate system

This could be the ultimate health care system. The potential savings in health care costs from individual changes in lifestyle and diet are touted daily. Such changes applied across a population would have dramatic consequences. Currently, DNA testing is still in its technological infancy and much too expensive to be a practical tool for the masses, and ethical questions present a host of obstacles. However, the demand created by an educated populace is certain to solve these problems.

First of all, the evidence of gene-nutrient interactions in many diseases and disorders is well-documented and continues to mount. A 2004 study at the Karl-Franzes University Hospital in Graz, Austria, finds that a polymorphism, or genetic variation, is associated with milk intolerance, reduced milk calcium intake and reduced bone mass density at the hip and spine. DNA testing, the study concludes, may be used to detect individuals at risk for bone fractures and osteoporosis.

A study at the University of Michigan, entitled “Strategies for Prevention of Colorectal Cancer: Pharmaceutical and nutritional Interventions,” says that a change in diet or supplementation may be ideal for individuals at risk for colorectal cancer. In both studies, the key word is individual. Personal changes in diet and supplementation without knowledge of genetic make-up are a shotgun approach – mega dosing in the hope of hitting any target. Replace this hit-and-miss approach with a rational regime and the possibilities for health care are striking. One company that offers DNA testing says it reviews the customer’s variation in 19 genes that are involved in the body’s heart and bone health, detoxification and antioxidant capacity, insulin sensitivity and tissue repair. It combines the results with lifestyle information to recommend steps to improve health.

Obesity

Many people see DNA testing as a way to improve the well-being of large segments of the world inexpensively, compared with the social and economic costs of disease. Considering the world’s overburdened health care delivery system, DNA testing does look appealing as a way to intervene early in many diseases, cutting treatment costs. For example, an estimated 300 million people are obese. The costs in early death and related ailments are enormous. A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, finds that test subjects modified their behavior positively when they were categorized as having increased genetic susceptibility for obesity.

While nutrigenomics is still an infant science, with much to be learned about diseases caused by multiple genes, what has been learned points toward a revolution in health maintenance. The results of a study published in the November 17, 2005, issue of New Scientist offers evidence that, as the article’s headline says, “the food you eat may change your genes for life.” In the study, conducted at McGill University in Montreal, researchers injected L-methionine, a common amino acid, into the brains of rats. The result was a negative change in the rats’ behavior. Observing that a chemical called TSA can have the opposite effect, improving the behavior of rats, Moshe Szyf, one of the McGill researchers said, “Food has a dramatic effect, but it can go both ways.”

DNA testing has raised controversy in the U.K., where the preimplantation genetic diagnosis of embryos has been the focus of a government public opinion survey. In a report last autumn in BMJ, Suzi Leather, chairwoman of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, says the survey is an attempt to start to build a consensus on the issue. As is increasingly the case in medicine, the U.K. faces a situation in which technology has raced ahead of social values.

Scientific developments make it possible to test embryos for so-called low penetrance genes, or those in which not everyone who inherits the gene will develop the associated disease. These conditions include inherited breast cancer, inherited ovarian cancer and hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer. The question is whether it is appropriate to test for these conditions – which may or may not develop – so that the condition can no longer be passed on. Another facet of the U.K. survey seeks opinion on whether it is right to test for a gene if the associated disease does not occur until later in life or if the disease can be treated.

Accuracy

On the one hand it can be envisioned that with the continued advances in technology and an implementation of blanket embryo screening over the course of many generations, a society free of hereditary afflictions might be attained. But the ethical dilemma of destroying millions of embryos is an incorrigible obstacle, at least for now. And questions remain: about the accuracy of such tests, whether the tests are more reliable than other available predictive measures and the incomplete knowledge of the causal roles of genes versus the environment. As stated in a January 8, 2004, online article “Genetic Testing for Cardiovascular Disease Susceptibility” in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, “for a DNA test to be useful in clinical management of CVD, it is obviously critical that the tests must have additional predictive power over and above those accepted risk factors that can be easily measured, usually inexpensively, and with high reproducibility and replicability.”

As is always the case acceptance of an idea that challenges the entrenched way of doing things is slow in coming. The DNA tests now being offered may help perfect the technology and advance dialogue that helps answer the ethical questions.

When it comes to the use of DNA testing to improve health, such as tailoring diets to the predisposition for a disease, much that is unknown. The promise is that one day you may be able to eat your way to health, depending on your genetic code. But getting there means traveling a complex road with unknown twist and turns – and we definitely are not there yet. But are we moving in the right direction?

Copyright © Arnold Stockard

9 Uses of Dna Testing

Genetic analysis is gaining popularity quickly and a genetic testing resource as well as information is available widely on the internet, in magazines, as well as in libraries.

Advances in science are finding many uses in the field of health, forensics, and genealogy. While a few years ago genetic testing or DNA testing was limited to governmental and research institutions today any individual can approach a laboratory and get DNA tests done.

Information on DNA testing as well as access to laboratories is available on the internet and people can find resources that are most convenient for them.

DNA or genetic testing has many uses:

1. In archeology DNA tests help record genetic codes and sequences of life on earth many centuries ago. This creates a data base that can be used as a ready reference.

2. Genetic testing is used to determine the paternity of a child . This helps authorities solve legal problems and settle any tussles.

3. DNA testing can be used to create a family tree or genealogical chart. Through genetic data bases one can trace lost relatives or find ancestors. Since the Y chromosome tends to remain unchanged for generations people can use DNA testing to establish ancestral lines.

4. Prenatal genetic tests help doctors determine whether or not the unborn fetus will have certain incurable health problems.

5. DNA tests are also used to help solve murders and other crimes. Often elusive criminals leave a DNA imprint at the scene of crime and testing helps catch them. In recent years many unsolved mysteries have been solved due to new ways of analysis.

6. DNA testing finds great use in the health field as DNA sometimes is the cause of rare medical conditions or heritable diseases.

7. Genetic testing is used in healths checks like that of certain cancers the tests help determine the presence of viruses or cells that have mutated.

8. DNA tests are often used to reunite lost siblings or families. The genetics of a person leaves an indelible mark and this is used by police and authorities as well as individuals to confirm relationships.

9. DNA tests on new species or on material from outer space help scientists and researchers determine the origins of a species and where they stand with reference to known living forms.

As advancements in DNA research have occurred, DNA testing gets more and more advanced to include: genetic fingerprinting, pupil recognition, creation of records of pure breeds, and more. DNA tests are today affordable and cost between USD 100-400 a test. And the conveniences are numerous; a DNA test kit can be ordered through mail order or using the internet. Laboratories all over the world conduct the testing and send the report back by mail.

Information on genetic testing and is advantages and uses is available all over the internet and those who are keen on getting a test done can do so easily using the internet and safe payment gateways.