Genetic testing may not be the best way to study one's ancestry

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 month 3 weeks (www.nature.com)

In recent years, companies providing personal genetic exams have sprung up like mushrooms. For a fee and a cheek swab, they can will identify the client's countries of ancestry, even to specific regions.

However, Charmaine Royal of the the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences has serious reservations:

"The general limitation, I'd say, of all of these tests, is that they can't pinpoint with 100% accuracy who your ancestors may or may not be. Some people are concerned that the biogeographical ancestry test reifies the notion of race

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Genetic test announced for suicidal ideation in patients using antidepressant drugs

zibba submitted, created time 1 year 3 months (www.eurekalert.org)

NeuroMark Inc., announced the availability of a genetic test to identify people at risk of suicidal ideation, when prescribed an antidepressant drug. The Mark-C test is expected to help restore public confidence in antidepressant medication, and help to reduce a recently announced spike in suicide rates among US youth.

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Rapid test to screen blood approved by the FDA

davidd submitted, created time 1 year 3 months (www.news-medical.net)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given it's approval for the first rapid test to detect bacterial contamination in blood platelets prior to transfusion.

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Gene test : genetic basis of diabetes

captainclaw submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (business.scotsman.com)

Type 2 diabetes -- by far the most common form -- is closely linked to obesity and is on the rise around the world, fuelled by poor diet and sedentary lifestyles. By testing for the genetic fault, patients would be able to take action to reduce their risk through losing weight and exercising more.Last week, British researchers announced they had produced the first clear evidence for a gene common in the population that dictates why some people gain weight while others do not.
For Decode, however, diagnostics are secondary to its drive to develop medicines based on genetics.

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The Best Scout: tusk DNA

angelfish submitted, created time 1 year 9 months (www.newscientist.com)

Thanks to a DNA test that reveals the geographical origin of ivory.Developed using comparisons of elephant DNA from different regions, the test can theoretically pinpoint to between 500 and 1000 kilometres the origin of a particular sample. In its first use, the test showed that a huge cache of 532 tusks, seized in Singapore in 2002, came mainly from Zambia, not from multiple locations as originally suspected. Results showed that poaching was more widespread in Zambia than the country's government had admitted.

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Genetic Test Could Reveal a Cheating Heart

cappuccion submitted, created time 1 year 10 months (www.livescience.com)

A test for genetic compatibility might be the better way to go to see if your wife or girlfriend will cheat on you.A new study reveals that a cluster of genes could predict how sexually attracted a person is to a partner and how likely a woman is be faithful to her mate. Couples in which the individuals had dissimilar versions of so-called major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes had the greatest sexual compatibility. All you need is DNA...... Is it interesting? Why do not they use it to test the male part?

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