I was offered a drug compatibility genetic test through the Veterans Affairs hospital. The results were interesting. I had recently been prescribed statins for high cholesterol. I took the low dosage for a few weeks and experienced significant pain. I stopped and the pain went away. I started taking them again to see if it was just a coincidence and found the pain started again. When the results of the genetic test came back it said I could not take statins! That made me decide to pay for another test out of pocket to get a few more results.

I have never been drunk because my body will not let me drink more than a couple of drinks in an evening. I have occasionally had maybe three or four drinks over the course of six to eight hours, but that is extremely rare. Fewer than ten times in my life and I’m 63. The second DNA test came back saying I would not be susceptible to diseases related to alcohol because I could not drink very much; my body could not process alcohol well! Sometimes if you listen to what your body is trying to tell you, you’ll do well.

There were other things that were much more subjective and I didn’t understand, but it’s still a growing science.

Most of us would like to understand ourselves better and know what the future holds. That explains the interest in horoscopes, palm reading, tarot cards etc. Why do we wish to know about the future when our present seems pleasant enough? That’s because if we know of something bad that may happen, we could try and prevent it, right?
That is exactly the biggest benefit of Genetic Testing - knowing what your future holds and taking measures which may help us to prevent health conditions.
A genetic test can study our risk for developing disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and even chronic conditions like Diabetes, Obesity, Cardiovascular diseases and Stroke! So, before we fall prey to the disease, we are given an opportunity to understand our body’s genetic and metabolic makeup and make changes in our lifestyle – diet, exercise, quit smoking/alcohol to prevent or atleast delay these health conditions.
A genetic test can reveal that you have an elevated risk of becoming obese and your body metabolizes fats slowly. Till now, you may have enjoyed your burgers, pizzas and other fatty foods. Knowing you are heading for obesity, you can make smart diet choices like switching to low fat diets.
Another benefit of genetic testing is that it not only helps you but also your family. We share genes with our parents and siblings just as we share physical characteristics. So, if you carry genes that put you at risk for obesity, your sibling may have it too! He/She can get tested and make healthy lifestyle choices as well. You can also pass on these genetic risk factors to your children. You could introduce them to a healthy lifestyle right from the beginning. What better than a happy healthy family?

If you’re speaking of the consumer level DNA tests offered by ancestry, and 23andme, and others, it’s primarily for entertainment purposes. There are really three results you get that could be of interest:

1. The primary reason for these tests for many people is strictly entertainment. It’s the ethnicity estimate that purports to tell you where your ancestors came from. I say purports because they are not tremendously accurate, since there’s nothing inside your DNA that tells where you’re from (or your ethnicity for that matter). They compare your DNA to the DNA of a reference group that they know, from having done good old fashioned research, are from a given area. If your DNA is in sort of like their’s, maybe you’re from around there too. It is a complex algorithm and it’s getting better, but it can still be off by a bit. But again, entertainment value only.
2. DNA relative matching - This part is highly accurate. It’s where you find new or existing relatives based on DNA matching theirs in some very precise patterns. So they can tell you with over 99% certainty if a person is your 1st cousin, or a sibling, or parent, or any other relation back to about 4th cousin with great accuracy.
3. Medical results - This is likely the iffy part. By doing DNA comparison and looking for markers based on the experience of others, they purport (there’s that word again) to tell you if you have a tendency toward certain conditions, or certain characteristics. This part is not nearly accurate enough to rely on. It can provide a clue you can follow up on with your doctor. But it not enough by itself to make ANY medical decision. The tests your doctor can run are MUCH more accurate (and much more $$$$).

So, advantages? If you’re a genealogy hobbyist, this can really help identifying relatives and lead you to new historical discoveries. But you still have to do the work and build a tree and such. And it provides entertainment about where you might be from, or what characteristics might be inherited, but these results are not accurate enough to really rely on.

Disadvantages? For me, none. If you’re a conspiracy theorist, then there are whole books written about how insurance companies, or law enforcement, or unethical marketers, or any number of people who are “out to get you” can do so using DNA. But most of that is unfounded. They are NOT selling your DNA, insurance companies cannot get it, and law enforcement is not prowling through the databases.

Lets understand it with a recent example.

Swayam Prabha had a brief family history of cancer. Her mother died of ovarian cancer just few months post her marriage. Thus, doctors recommended her and her siblings to undergo test for oncogenes. Among them, only she was found to be carrying the BRCA1 gene that is reponsible for cancer and was initially suggested to remove her breasts and ovaries. But since she had just one mutation and the chances of her getting cancer were low, she was later advised not to undergo any such surgery.

However, it was important that her offsprings don't become carriers of such genes. To ensure this, her doctor, IVF specialist Dr. Firuza Parikh and her team of geneticists used pre-implantation genetic testing. Out of the 6 embryos they managed for Swayam, two embryos were not viable, two carried the mutation and the remaining two didn’t, which were then transferred into her womb.

On 20th July, '18, she successfully delivered twins who don't carry the mutation, thus ending the cancer cycle.

As per statistics, eight million children are born across the world every year with birth defects due to genetic reasons.

Genetic testing can prove to be a boon in such cases and help save numerous lives and smiles.

If you can identify a problem, and you can fix it, then the problem can be solved.

Genetic Testing is at the forefront of what will be the next “big thing”. Multiple reports and economic articles have already highlighted Biotech and Genetic Technology as the next amazing battle field of innovation.

Along with recent mentions of CRISPR and its ability to genetically edit the cas9 gene, it is a very exciting time for Genetics!

I work for a Diagnostics lab, Fulgent Genetics Leader in Next Generation Sequencing, we do this all day, every day.

Here’s an example of a genetic testing benefit:

MMACHC is a gene known to regulate the use of Vitamin B12 in the human body. (MMACHC gene)

With a deficiency of B12 regulation, a baby can have:

developmental delay, eye defects, neurological problems, and blood abnormalities.

Specifically known and characterized by the disease name “methylmalonic acidemia with homocystinuria” (link: Orphanet: Methylmalonic acidemia with homocystinuria)

So if you have a genetic mutation in MMACHC and it forces the gene to have a loss of function, then we have identified the problem.

Can we fix it? While this is not true of all genetic mutations, we can fix this.

Patients are treated with intramuscular injections of hydroxycobalamin, oral betaine, and folic acid. Good metabolic control and correction of hematologic problems can sometimes be achieved with this treatment but most patients continue to have signs of motor and language delay, intellectual deficit and abnormal ophthalmologic findings. Early diagnosis and treatment are important.

And by applying scientific discovery, scientific knowledge, and understanding genetic science, the problem can be solved.

Another huge benefit of Genetic Testing is that each and every lab, to be creditable, must be a good Genetic Citizen.

Genomics is a hugggggge problem. It requires multiple hospitals, research labs, universities, and clinical testing to slowly reverse engineer our understanding of God given Genetics.

Most labs ask patients to allow their clinical information and findings to be de-identified and used in publications that an help push the boundaries of genetic understanding and knowledge.

(Don't worry, there is a very rigorous process of making sure specific DNA information is never shared and only cohort analysis details are shared. As a former biometrics expert, it's important to recognize that DNA is a forensic medium.)

So while the example above is a gene we know, there are several genes within the human genome that are still unknown! (Wiki: Variant of uncertain significance - Wikipedia) or otherwise known as GUS (Gene of Unknown Significance).

When Genetic Testing is performed at labs like Fulgent Genetics, Leader in Next Generation Sequencing, that discovery is aggregated back into ClinVar, HGMD, and industry grade publications to further help and assist out human ability to understand our own DNA.

Coming from a private and secretive, closed scope industry, into this open ended industry has completely changed my understanding of enterprise systems.

Genetic Testing is an open ended industry where we have problems much bigger and more complicated than what any single company can handle.

It is vital that we do more, learn more, and become enhanced by our understanding of clinical health.

Finding people with genetic diseases earlier, so they can get therapy earlier, and be happier. At least one country out there has enshrined in it’s constitution the right to pursue happiness, which I argue is damn hard to do when people are penalised by an undiagnosed genetic disorder, that can so easily be found at birth, when doctors can be bothered looking!

Genetic testing played a huge part in my life as it helps to identify any change in the gene structure. I am highly determined to share my experience so that all the readers should know the benefits of genetic testing. My wife was pregnant for six months and I was highly tensed during this period as I wanted both the child and the mother to be in sound health. But my concern was on other things too. My family had a history of numerous medical conditions and I want my baby not to inherit it in any case.

I discussed my concerns with my regular doctor. He then replied that you should go for genetic testing. I was quite ignorant of this so he explained to me briefly that genetic testing is widely done to detect any change in the gene structure. These changes in chromosomal structures can bring unwanted abnormalities in the baby and since my family has a long history of medical conditions the probabilities are high. Going for genetic testing will not only identify them but will also help the doctors to find suitable cures at the earliest. So I inquired if they have any genetic facilities in their clinic.

He suggested me to go for Dr. Vinayak Das, who is highly renowned for genetic testing in Siliguri. I collected all the details through him and later booked an early appointment with Dr. Vinayak Das. We visited his clinic and told him all our concerns. Being a reputed doctor he listened and welcomed our decision to opt for genetic testing. He gave us a date for the procedure to begin. Finally, the day came, we visited his clinic. My wife was settled on a table where a sample of amniotic fluid was collected. After a few days, the reports came and our fetus did not have any signs of change in his DNA strands. We were relieved and thanked Dr. Vinayak Das to ease away all our worries.

I would definitely recommend Dr. Vinayak Das to everyone if they have doubts regarding the medical health of their baby.

As you all know Genes are transmitted or passed from parents to child, or you can say some part of DNA is transmitted. By that disease Diabetes, Obesity, Cardiovascular condition, Thyroid, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Cancer etc is also transferred through that genes.

Genetic tests are performed on a sample of blood, hair, skin, saliva. These all test are Lab test in which various parameter is checked and various unknown facts we can know about ourselves. There are many types of genetic testing according to the persons need we can perform these types of test.

Types of Genetic Testing :

1.Newborn screening

2.Diagnostic testing

3.Carrier testing

4.Prenatal testing

5.Preimplantation testing

6.Forensic testing

Well, all these testing we don't require all the time. The main reason we do a DNA test is to take preventive measures and early detection of disease & and to live a happy and healthy life.

The genetic test tells you how you can modify your life & what nutrition is best for you, and how you can achieve your fitness. Because everybody is made up of different genes and also reacts differently with different nutritions & exercise. That means every individual have a different way to reacts according to their needs. This is all we can find out from the DNA test. Which diet is better for us which nutritions is less in our body, & what should we intake to make our body functioning better.

The most important feature is to detect early that means the initial stage we can identify disease or if we have any family history that also can detect and prevention can be done accordingly.

When you decided to do a test make sure all your parameters should be covered in the DNA or genetic test.

A proper report is generated as it is once in a lifetime test, you only do once so this report is very much important to keep with you for better and future perspective as well.

I started doing genealogy research about 20 years before taking a DNA test through Ancestry. I was curious to see if the DNA turned up anything unexpected — and it did. It showed a heavy Scandinavian ancestry (my father’s background is Swedish), well over 50%, but very little Eastern European background (my mom’s background was Hungarian/Croatian/German/Austrian). But any DNA results are dependent on the database used by the testing company. Ancestry has since expanded its database and revised my results; the newest results are much more accurate. But I had done the research beforehand. If someone had only tested once five or more years ago, their results might not be accurate. Ancestry’s DNA test results do not provide any health background, but apparently 23andme’s tests do that, so think about what you are really looking for. Here’s what you will not get with a DNA test — you will get a general ancestry background, but you will not get a family tree. You will have to create that family tree yourself.

Personal genetic testing, aligned with Dr. Tonmoy Sharma's personalized medicine insights and Sovereign Health's holistic healthcare approach, offers numerous health advantages. It provides valuable genetic information for proactive condition management, improving longevity and well-being. Informed lifestyle choices based on genetic predispositions optimize diet, exercise, and reduce risks. Additionally, genetic testing guides effective medical treatments with fewer side effects. Dr. Tonmoy Sharma's expertise enhances the benefits of genetic testing for individual health optimization. Sovereign Health integrates genetic testing into comprehensive wellness programs, addressing physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Mindfulness regarding ethical and psychological impacts is crucial, and expert guidance from Dr. Tonmoy Sharma and institutions like Sovereign Health helps make well-informed decisions.

The value of genetic testing depends on the individual's specific circumstances and what they hope to gain from the testing. Here are some potential benefits and drawbacks of genetic testing:

Benefits:

• Identifying genetic mutations or predispositions that can help individuals take steps to prevent or manage certain health conditions
• Providing valuable information for family planning and reproductive decision-making
• Identifying genetic mutations that may help healthcare providers personalize medical treatments and medications for better outcomes
• Helping individuals better understand their ancestry and family history

Drawbacks:

• Some genetic mutations may not have a clear clinical significance or may be associated with a range of potential outcomes, making it difficult to predict how they may impact an individual's health
• Genetic testing can reveal unexpected or emotionally difficult information, such as a previously unknown risk of developing a serious health condition or a family secret
• The accuracy of some genetic tests can be limited or variable, depending on the specific test and the quality of the lab conducting the testing
• Genetic testing can be expensive, and insurance coverage may be limited or nonexistent for certain tests

It's important to carefully consider the potential benefits and drawbacks of genetic testing and to talk to a healthcare provider or genetic counselor to determine whether genetic testing is appropriate and what specific tests may be most relevant for an individual's situation.

Out of the many variables to consider here I would say the strongest is that it depends on the test subject.

Take the possible impact of mutating locusts, they might descend onto the world in their billions. Destroy our food chain and send the globe into famine. That’s a lot more “impact” than a test gone wrong on one person.

Say we are testing humans, there are a number of effects for that person.

A genetic mutation is heritable, so their future generations might carry the mutation. Also some genes have functions we don’t quite understand, so you might risk causing a loss in biological function. Similarly some genes or their products may regulate other genes (and their products) in unknown ways. This can be addressed with transcriptomics but still remains a possibility. You could alter other biological functions like taking out, or changing, the cog in a clock.

Also genetic testing might make people mad :/ Also you could create the hulk

A spot test program several years ago at a hospital in London determined that about 20% of the babies born there were not related to the man listed as father on the birth certificate. The results were kept confidential and the program terminated. Obviously, one brief test at an unidentified hospital cannot reveal widespread behaviors, but it certainly could have had profound results for the testees.

Various genetic testing programs are now available, and in many cases erasing longstanding doubts and linking children with parents they never knew they had. Expect serious legal, familial and emotional fallout as genetic testing becomes ubiquitous.

Medical genetic testing can look for specific genes and usually find if they are turned on or turned off. A gene that is turned on is active, that same gene turned off is not active. This only helps if you know exactly what the gene does. When researcher talk about “ knowing the entire genome” that means they know where to look for specific genes, not what every gene on every chromosome does. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. That’s a lot of genes and we only know what a couple of dozen of them do precisely.

Commercial genetic testing, where you send in a sample of saliva or cells on a cheek swab, send back reports that say things like — your ancestors were 27% from the south of France, 33% from Portugal, 5% Native North American , 20 % Central European , 7% Native South American, 2% Bantu, 2% Southeast Asian, and. 4% Scandinavian with an error rate of plus or minus 1%. What all that gibberish means is that your genes match ( poorly— 1% is a big error rate) those people they already have tested who are from those areas. If you get one of the more expensive ones, it may tell you something like you have a 40% risk of developing colon cancer and a2% risk of developing Type 1 diabetes. Again, they are comparing your sample to what they have found in people who have been tested by the same company.

Different companies not only use different kinds of tests, they use different groups to compare samples. They may even tell you they found 3 of your cousins who have a 75% likelihood of being your real cousins. If you know your family history and extended family people, this really shouldn’t surprise you a lot.The cases that make the newspaper where they “ solve” a cold case from DNA collected 20 years ago make headlines because they are so rare. Mostly, they tell you your sister is really your sister or you are at higher than normal risk for developing some disease that you already know someone in your family had.

When my son had one of these tests, the only surprise was that our ancestors that came to the Americas in the 1600’s were Portuguese, not Spanish. Probably. My daughter had a different company’s test that had a larger sample of Native Americans from Northern Mexico and the Southwest US. It told her she had nearly 10% Northern Mexico Native American ancestors. And some Portuguese and English and German. But we already knew that. The Native American ancestors did not even show up on my son’s results, probably because the company he used did not have many, if any, Northern Mexico Native American samples, but did have a large sample of Portuguese.

What you should take away from all this is, if your doctor orders a test for a specific gene, it will be accurate. All other tests, with perhaps 2 or 3 exceptions a year are for entertainment only, unless you were adopted and have no clue about you family’s medical history. It’s very unlikely you are related to Queen Elizabeth Ii closely enough to get a title or money, without already knowing it. And 1% of your genes from any particular group are as much up to a chance result as not.

The first thing I would ask you is what your goals are. People who do this have many reasons: to determine true paternity, to better understand their risks for some diseases, to satisfy a need to know the area of the world they are from, etc.

If you are looking for a definitive answer on where your ancestors are from, I'm afraid that I have seen no test that can offer this kind of information with a great degree of accuracy. However, these tests are becoming more and more accurate as more individuals participate and provide information on their backgrounds.

You may also be talking about genetic tests that also include some medical testing results, such as the offering that 23 and me used to make. Many individuals are very wary about getting this kind of work done because, quite frankly, it can be very concerning, and even scary particularly if the results are not read out by a genetic counselor or other medical professional. In my experience, The desire to take a genetic test with medical implications is a 50-50 proposition: 50% think it is a fantastic idea and the other 50% have no interest primarily because they feel the results could have a negative psychological impact on them.

Speaking as a medical anthropologist, depersonalized genetic information is becoming extremely important to the medical field in determining hereditary disease risk. If you do ever have the opportunity and desire to go forward with genetic testing and are asked if you would like to participate in a "bio bank" (where your results are anonymized and then banked with the results of many others), I hope you will consider doing this for the benefit of your family members and community.

Some questions to consider before participating in genetic testing:
-What do I want to get out of this testing and what questions should it answer?
-Do the test results provide a level of detail I expect?
-If it's possible that the testing will provide negative results, who will be providing you with this information?
-Will the readout include options for addressing the negative results?
-How will you deal with potentially negative results

This question is trickier than it first seems. First I have to ask: when you say “genetic testing", what type of testing are you referring to? Paternity testing? Forensics? Diagnostics? The type of testing can affect accuracy of results? With paternity, the results are produced by examing 2 separate DNA samples for commonly heritable sequences that match and indicate parental relation — butveven those are never 100% certain. In diagnostics, We only examine certain segments of DNA that Have been identified as mutation sites associated with the disorder in question; we cut the targeted segments away from the rest of the strand, Make a billion or so copies of them, And then check those copies for any trace of the mutation. End although the law of absolutes States dead nothing is absolute, This type of testing is pretty much 100% accurate as long as the integrity of the sample is maintained when handling. In relation to forensics, The accuracy of the sample can be affected by a number of factors related to The quality of the sample. Older DNA eventually begins to break down which makes translation more difficult and the accuracy less certain; It may also be contaminated with environmental matter or intentionally exposed to Materials with the gold of damaging the sample and Making analysis impossible.

Although it's insanely uncommon, There is also the potential for a sample to have been contributed by a chimera, In which case there would be multiple Genetic identities, so to speak, Present within a sample provided by a single donor. The mxit one distinct genetic identity in the DNA of their skin cells, for instance, And another entirely separate indistinct genetic identity that makes up version a of the respiratory tract. Their blood cells may read as when DNA sequence while the sequence returned fire hair sample is completely different. It can produce some freaky phenotypes, End completely throw off criminal investigations. Began you have a greater chance of being bitten by a shark while standing in line at a Circle K.

I guess the best way for me to put it would be like this: As scientists and researchers, On the we do Directly is collect the sample and prepare it for sequencing; This sequencing itself is done by equipment in computer programs that are infinitely faster and smarter than we are. Those computers and pieces of equipment Read your genetic sequence like a book and then produce A sort of written account of what they have read- they transcribe it exactly. What they eturn is a super long chain Of infinitely repeated in randomly shuffled arrangements of just 4 letters Representing the 4 nitrogenous bases, And the arrangement and rearrangement of those 4 letters produces the 20 basic amino acid that are the building blocks of all biological life on Earth. What the machines give us is just one Long random and constantly shifting Word Jumble of these 4 letters. We have other equipment and computer programs to break that jumble into the units we need to translate it into something that makes sense in terms of The fundamental units of human physiology, And we use those tools for a number of reasons, But mainly because doing it manually would take decades and because human involvement allows for human error. Genetic testing can produce Results that bring great joy, or a death sentence. To confuse one for the other due to the fact that We were distracted or overly tired or forgot our glasses at home Put the not just a tragedy but I need responsible exercise of our practice. In fact the results in genetic testing can only be given to a patient by a trained genetic counsellor,who is bound by regulatory and ethical Codes and standards of conduct/ practice; What of those restrictions is the restriction from notifying apariencia who's a minor child that they Carry the gene for a disease that will eventually kill them. All the counsellor is legally permitted to do is share that information with the child's parent, End it is then their responsibility in decision whether or not to inform the child. This is the law even in spite of the fact that some of these diseases-Huntington's, for example- Our best diagnosed before the patient reaches childbearing years and isn't able to get a diagnosis until after they have small children who they will then leave behind Due to a disease that progresses very rapidly strikes relatively young and is a horrible way to die.

I guess the moral of the story is that genetic testing is as close to 100% accurate as human beings can make it. It has to be. The potential consequences that could be seen as a result of errors are just too damn grave.

This is one of the central questions in the evolution of genomics. As the genome gets better and better udnerstood, the benefits of the knowledge of what is in the genome grow larger and larger. The cost of a genome is decreasing as well. Everyone is in a position to get some benefit from knowing what is in their genes— for example many of the most important drug metabolism genes are subject to wide variability (by a factor of more than 1000) between the fastest and the slowest metabolizers. These variations are widespread. The way this manifests is that people with abnormally fast metabolism might not get the benefit of a particular drug, or someone with abnormally slow metabolism might experience a dangerous build-up of the drug in their system. But up until now the way clinicians deal with most such situations is to use trial-and-error. Most of the time, such reactions can be caught before there is signifcant harm, and changes made to the treatment. But this doesn’t always work. A surprisingly large number of people die each year from such reactions to drugs. A pretty big majority of people will rely on medicines at some point in their lives. So, in that sense everyone is in a position to benefit.

But, the health systems are slow to meter out approval to spend money on new diagnostics. It is, perhaps, appropriate to consider “benefit” as meaning “net benefit including all factors including cost”. After all— money is needed for food and shelter, so it is appropriate to consider the relative benefits to the costs. At present, many health systems recognize the benefits of genetic testing to aid in the selection of treatment for cancer. This is becoming commonplace. In the diagnosis of rare genetic diseases, it is also being used to great benefit. Rare diseases are, by definition, rare— but in aggregate they affect a surprisingly large fraction of people (estimates vary, but roughly 1 in 10 people is a middle-of-the-road number). Not all of these people can be cured using the knowledge of what is causing their disease, but even just putting an end to the constant search for the cause is a kind of medical benefit.

But returning to the first point—the ways in which everyone can benefit— the thing that is preventing immediate adoption of genetic testing for drug metabolism (a part of pharmacogenomics), is twofold. First, the way health systems evaluate benefit is different from the way individuals do. Health systems focus more on the impact a test has on the future cost of care for a person, while a patient will focus more on the whether it will increase their lifespan or quality of life during that time. Put bluntly, health systems concentrate on helping people die cheaply, and patients concentrate on dying later.

But even using the cost-centric model, testing everyone for how they would be predicted to react to different medications would have a positive return-on-investment (meaning that payers would save more money in the long run than they would spend on the test). So, then why is this not happening?

For a long time, the sequencing technologies available to clinical geneticists were either quite expensive, or had difficulty resolving the specific genes that we need to read in order to understand what is happening. It turns out that the genes for drug metabolism have many, extremely similar, copies in the genome. For an analogy, if you have ever started to make changes in the wrong version of a word document, it can be very confusing to figure out which copy you are looking at. This has now changed, as technology has advanced to the point where the entire gene can be read in a single pass with extremely high accuracy. The cost has also come down to the point where all of the genes known to contribute can be examine for a sequencing cost of under $10. Of course, the cost to the system is much higher. It can be frustrating to see that $10 worth of sequencing is charged to the system at several hundred or even a thousand dollars, but alas even a box of Cheerios has this effect. The wheat in a box of Cereal costs about $0.09.

Of course, we could do much better if we put such testing into the standard panel of newborn screening tests, but even at today’s price, the payers would recover more than the cost of the test over time. The problem is that the payback period is still quite long. It would be 20–30 years before the payers would recover that cost. Many insurance companies today don’t plan on having customers in their care for that long.

But from a patient perspecting, the payback period is much shorter (the value of remaining alive is considerably higher than the financial cost of care for someone who is harmed by a drug). Things are starting to change— more and more doctors are taking advantage of this option, but it is still far from routine.

Genetic testing helps in identifying small changes in the genetic sequence and in turn provides us information about our genome and our body. Types of genetic tests has been expanding over the years. In the past, genetic tests mainly searched for abnormal chromosomes and mutations leading to rare, inherited disorders. Today, tests involve analyzing multiple genes, specific variations in those genes to determine information ranging from Nutrition and Fitness traits to the risk of developing lifestyle diseases such as Diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Genetic testing is benefiting us most in terms of accuracy and wide range of information being procured out of it. Test results help people get more understanding about their body and assist in making better decisions about managing their health. For example, a negative result for a particular disease can eliminate the need for unnecessary check-ups and screenings, while at the same time a positive result can direct a person towards more customized detection, monitoring, and prevention or treatment options. It also helps them get to know about genetic disorders flowing in the family and how to stay on top of it.

Advancement in technology has made Genetic Testing quite hassle free. It can be done even through a small amount of a saliva sample. The saliva sample is to be processed in the labs and then the results can be obtained doing Genotyping or Whole Genome Sequencing. Result can be then analysed based on the traits we are looking for.

In India it is still a new concept, focusing mainly on research works on diseases like cancer and other extreme ones. But with time, People are being more and more proactive towards their health care and that has driven the labs and hospital towards innovations. Healthcare industry has embraced some of the applications of genetic testing for diagnostic and disease prevention and thus solving many problems. There are about 20+ hospitals and labs doing research work on many extreme diseases.

Apart from that, there are a number of start-ups working on personal genomics, personalized medicine and other applications of Genetic Testing.

See, Genetic testing is a rapidly evolving science; however, there are many areas where academic conclusions don’t guide the lab tests and clinical outcomes. There’s a great need for a holistic approach that takes into account the gravity and diversity of all issues – clinical, ethical, socio, cultural, economic and even administrative – concerning the evolving science. Having said that, I feel there are a lot of potential. Numerous application of Genetic Testing can be used for welfare of mankind.

The pros are that you might feel better about something that you do not really understand at all, and the medical field will be a bit richer.

The cons are that you have no idea what this is about and you will be mostly wasting your money, considering there are no extenuating circumstances that are requiring you to know what this test will tell you.

First of all, you do have the BRCA 1 and the BRCA 2 gene. I can assure you of that. The question is whether it is mutated or normal. And if it is mutated, it would be assumed that it was when your relative passed it down to you.

So, you have a mutated BRCA gene… what now? If it was not mutated when you inherited it, is it mutated now?

If it is mutated, does that mean you are destined for breast cancer diagnosis? No, it just suggests that you have a five to seven percent higher risk that you may be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Would you be upset to learn that we all have battles with breast cancer, men and women both, several times in our lives. Understanding that breast cancer starts when a normal breast cell that is carrying every gene your body possesses, and it the one gene… maybe it is the BRCA gene???… that tells that breast cell that its life is up… it only lives for six months… and it is time for it to form a new breast cell, then die and let the lymphatic system carry the dead carcass away. All of that… standard process called “mitosis”.

Sometimes, that new gene that controls the timing of when a cell replicates (clones) itself and dies, may be morphed… screwed up during the replication process. Then the new breast cell ends up making new breast cells far earlier than it should, and it does not tell the first cell to die. Now we have a mass of cells accumulating in the breast. If they grow quickly enough, they are classed as “malignant”.

Since that certain gene in the breast cell can be persuaded to not replicate properly, it can happen anytime. Nothing we can really do about that.

Since we all have breast cancer forming in our breasts all throughout our lifetime, we can keep them from getting started growing in the breasts by maintaining good lymphatic flow through the breasts. That requires our not wearing a bra… any kind of bra. It is breast cancer or fashion. Which one do you choose?

Our lymphatic system flushes that new goofy breast cancer cell from the breasts when the breasts bounce and sway. That is why they are designed to move. They flush those dead cells and those goofy cells our of our breasts and destroys them. You never know this has happened.

We end up with breast cancer diagnoses when we find that mass getting larger in the breast. Why did it not get flushed out and destroyed when it was brand new? We must have shut off the lymphatic system in the breasts. We do that when we hold our breast still so they won’t move.

To make people in public that we do not know happy, we wear a bra to secure our breasts so they will not wiggle or bounce. That public stranger would be offended if your breasts actually did what breasts are designed to do. If breasts were meant to not move, we would have been born with a bone in our breast.

When we walk, we move our feet, our legs, our knees, our thighs, our pelvis, our trunk, our arms… everything… except our breasts, which are locked down under a bra making someone else happy.

If you take the test and it says your two genes are not mutated… will you still get breast cancer? Well, that gene can be mutated in your own body due to toxins and carcinogens in your breast tissue that influence that new breast cell every time one is formed. I

If you knew your BRCA 1 gene was mutated, you might panic and remove your breasts so that they cannot become cancerous. That would be like shooting a fly with a .357.

Your lifetime risk of breast cancer diagnosis is currently 1-in-8. Breast cancer due to inherited genes is between 5% and 7%. You remove your breasts and you still have the other 93% to 95% of being diagnosed with breast cancer that also is out there.

Regardless of what your genes test out, if you don’t wear that bra, your risk of breast cancer over your lifetime is 1-in-168. That seems a lot more sensible than paying a fortune for a test that still cannot tell you anything.

This is a test that is relatively new to us. Has the incidence rate of breast cancer gone down since people have been tested? No.

I recently took a DNA test from GenoPalate and was surprised by all the results I received. I honestly was just expecting simple report back on high level nutrient levels, but I also received micro and macronutrient information based on my result levels, personalized recipes so I can eat for my genes, PLUS information on how the foods I previously ate affected my stress levels. It's really interesting to see how everything is all connected! Bonus points for GenoPalate is they have packages starting at only $79 - 100% worth it for that price!

In genetic testing, "cures" aren't really an option. You are stuck with the genes you have. But knowing what you have can be very helpful. Sometimes, you can avoid the worst outcomes with appropriate treatment. Other times, well...you at least know what's coming.

For example, suppose you have a child that just doesn't look right. They have serious medical problems, but no diagnosis. If you can find their genetic defect, you can at least search the medical literature for others with the same condition. It's rarely good news, mind you. It's usually something like "two known cases, one died age 3, the other age 5, both of heart failure". But given this information, you can sometimes modify their treatment. Maybe the kid goes on the heart transplant list while they're still strong enough to survive the surgery. And on rare occasions, the scientists can figure out how to target the underlying biochemical problem. That is emphatically not the usual case, but it does happen.

The sorts of diseases you survive to adulthood with tend to be more treatable. If you've got a severe BRCA1 mutation, such that you have a high chance of dying of breast or ovarian cancer...you can live without breasts and ovaries, so you might opt to have them removed. Some diseases are even more treatable than that. I'm a carrier of hemochromatosis, an iron storage disorder. If untreated, the iron buildup can be fatal. The treatment is blood-letting (which depletes iron). So, it's mildly annoying if you know about it, and fatal if you don't. And it's easily diagnosed by a simple genetic test.

Some things aren't treatable. Not at all. But again, at least you'll know. Suppose you have a Huntington's mutation, such that you will be dead by age 45. That money you were saving for retirement? You're not going to need that. Go cash it out and check some stuff off your bucket list. That is the best that science can do for you right now.

There is also carrier screening, aimed at identifying couples at risk for having children with genetic diseases. And pre-implantation diagnosis, such that at-risk couples can have IVF with only healthy embryos chosen. We can argue about the ethics of doing that, but personally...I'm in favor of having as few toddlers dying awful deaths as possible. If those couples can have living children instead, that's just better, so let's do that.

Genetic testing can also guide medical treatment in other ways. For example, some medicines require different doses based on how quickly the patient metabolizes them, which is largely genetic. If there's a thin margin of safety, where the toxic dose is quite close to the medically useful dose, it can be useful to know in advance how much the patient should get. Warfarin (blood thinner) and certain chemo drugs are prime examples. For cancer treatment, it's also becoming quite common to sequence the tumors in order to pick the right targeted therapies.

Thanks for A2A.

From Wikipedia, Genome editing or DNA Editing or genome engineering, is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted, modified or replaced in the genome of a living organism.

Gene editing was not even a term few years back but now the technology is going towards its peak and fasten or make easy our life with more scientific research and experiments being done in various countries.

But as we all know every technology has its advantages ( i.e pros ) and disadvantages ( i.e cons).

So here are some pros and cons of Genome editing or DNA Editing or genome engineering.

Pros:

1.Cure to inherent diseases : Inherent diseases are those diseases which are transfer or pass through parental genes to their offspring. But due to advancement in technology of genetic engineering, scientists can prevent the flow of these diseases to the embryo.

As we know, genetic mutation is being held responsible for many diseases and syndromes; gene editing could play a crucial role in completely eradicating some diseases.

Getting rid of these diseases could be a huge milestone in the history of medical science.

2. Making lifespan Longer and healthier : If by the help of Gene or DNA editing many diseases gone, lives will be healthier and longer too since there would be lesser unfortunate deaths due to diseases like coronary heart diseases that run in the family.

Genetic engineering could make the human genes stronger and more efficient to fight off certain deficiencies that contribute to illness and low quality of life.

With healthier body, more safety from diseases and better defenses, gene editing can be a great advantage.

3. Making the future better: The future of a nation lies in the hands of its next generation. With genetic screening prior to birth, many children could be saved from the harsh realities of inborn diseases that continue to affect their life after birth. If it can be screened, it can also be cured at the earliest. This can also contribute towards making the future of the nation healthier and well developed.

Some diseases that hamper the development of a child can also be cured if genetic engineering is allowed to be made a part of medical practice in our nation.

Birth defects could be cured and perhaps one day no one will be born handicapped. Genetic engineering can be a real bliss if used in the correct way.

Cons:

1. Not meant to be flawless: No one in this creation is meant to be flawless. Even birds and plants are sometimes born with flaws. Humans are also not meant to get everything they want. Good looks, intelligence, money, free from diseases, no fear of facing the unpredictable – can together contribute towards unparalleled arrogance. Our world is already doomed under racism, differentiations, intolerance towards the other kind of people and defined rules for beauty and everything we judge people on. Can you even imagine what gene editing could do to make it even worse for those who wouldn’t be able to afford it? They will be like a third world citizen amid the other people.

2. Too early to know: It hasn’t been very long that gene editing has come into existence. The human body is the most complex kind of mechanism that could ever be. Science has yet to explain things that suddenly go wrong with a person who was all hale and hearty hours back and lie dead in a few blinks. If anything goes wrong, the consequence could be worse than it could ever be comprehended – because nothing as such would have been encountered as yet. The gene editing technology still needs more research and surety of what it could do and how safe would that be.

3. Playing God: If you aren’t an atheist, you would agree that everything in nature has a balance to it. The good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly, the healthy and the sick, life and death – are all part of the balance to keep and uphold the grounds of humanity. Illness and bad times have existed since forever. More solutions to smaller diseases are leading to the recognition of new ones that we never knew of. An effort at disturbing this balance could pay off badly at the end. Living longer, when the body has given up on its natural strength is a burden and not bliss.

4. Designer babies : Children are supposed to carry the physical and emotional traits of their parents. That’s how we like it and want it. Why are parents said to have unexplainable love and adoration for their own kids and not for the kids of other people? That is because they see their own tiny version in their kids. The eyes of the mother, the hair of the father, the complexion from the maternal side and a cute little dimple from the paternal is what makes the kid loved by one and all.

Designing your babies to look like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie might get the kids to thank you later in life but might loosen the bond that is supposed to be the significant part of the relationship.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.careerride.com/view/gene-editing-pros-and-cons-26896.aspx&ved=2ahUKEwjgoZ7PqZbgAhXJbSsKHdXSBFwQFjACegQIChAB&usg=AOvVaw0SCniL6BX3l8NHUN4sS-BQ&cshid=1548880674311

The physical risks associated with most genetic tests are very small, particularly for those tests that require only a blood sample or buccal smear (a method that samples cells from the inside surface of the cheek). The procedures used for prenatal testing carry a small but real risk of losing the pregnancy (miscarriage) because they require a sample of amniotic fluid or tissue from around the fetus.

Many of the risks associated with genetic testing involve the emotional, social, or financial consequences of the test results. People may feel angry, depressed, anxious, or guilty about their results. In some cases, genetic testing creates tension within a family because the results can reveal information about other family members in addition to the person who is tested. The possibility of genetic discrimination in employment or insurance is also a concern. (Refer to What is genetic discrimination? for additional information.)

Genetic testing can provide only limited information about an inherited condition. The test often can't determine if a person will show symptoms of a disorder, how severe the symptoms will be, or whether the disorder will progress over time. Another major limitation is the lack of treatment strategies for many genetic disorders once they are diagnosed.

A genetics professional can explain in detail the benefits, risks, and limitations of a particular test. It is important that any person who is considering genetic testing understand and weigh these factors before making a decision.

Cited from : What are the risks and limitations of genetic testing?: MedlinePlus Genetics.

Genetic testing is recommended when in search of a diagnosis. Establishing a diagnosis helps in the following ways:

1. Genetic testing on an affected individual would help determine
1. The cause of the disorder in that individual.
2. The prognosis of the disorder in that individual
3. The treatment and management options for that disorder, if any.
2. Genetic testing on the parents of an affected individual would help determine
1. The carrier status of the parents for the same disorder
2. The recurrence risk of the same disorder in their future offspring
3. The need for surveillance for minor conditions caused due to the carrier status (if any - example cardiac abnormalities in DMD carriers, premature ovarian failure in Fragile X carriers, anemia in beta thalassemia minors)
3. Genetic testing on the siblings of an affected individual would help determine
1. The carrier status of the siblings for that disorder
2. The necessity to perform carrier testing in their partner(s) for the same
3. The risk of recurrence of the same disorder in their offspring
4. Genetic testing in an ongoing pregnancy (prenatal diagnosis) is done when all of the above is done and we know what to look for. This would help determine
1. The status of the fetus - carrier, affected, non-carrier for the same disorder
2. Subsequent risk to their offspring for the same disorder

It is highly recommended that anyone with a family history of a genetic disorder or suspected of a genetic disorder, consults a Clinical Geneticist/ Genetic Counselor in order to get clarity on what genetic test should be done, on whom and when. Meeting a Clinical Geneticist/ Genetic Counselor would also help determine if you are at-risk for any other genetic disorders and they would then provide testing options for them, if necessary.

This question is overly broad. So I’ll focus on the primary outputs of a DNA test.

1. The primary direct result is the company compares your DNA raw file to the DNA of everyone else in their database. They’re looking for “matches”, areas of your DNA file that match areas of the DNA file of someone else. When they find a match, they calculate how much of your DNA matches the other person. If you match, that means you are related, and somewhere back in time you have a “common ancestor”, an person who’s descendants include both you and the other person. The more you match, the closer you’re related. So you match your parents about 50%, since you get half from each parent. First cousins, about 12.5%. Third cousins? about 0.73%. This is very accurate, since it’s all about the numbers. Your DNA raw file is 99.9% accurately YOU. This is also how paternity tests work. They take samples from mom, dad, and child, and see how it all lines up.
2. The feature most hyped by the testing companies is the “Ethnicity Estimate”. It’s the feature where you are shown different percentages of ethnicity and family origin (“I’m 15% Irish, woohoo!”). AncestryDNA says this on their site:
   “By comparing the DNA of the people in our database to the DNA of people of each region in our global reference panel, we determine the degree of similarity and create an estimate based on that analysis.”
   This is less accurate, because it’s just an estimate. There is nothing in your DNA that tells where your ancestors are from, or your ethnicity. So they estimate it (hence the name “ethnicity ESTIMATE”). This is a bit detailed, but it works like this:
1. They have identified certain accounts in their database of several million users that have known ancestry. By “known ancestry”, I mean they have paper documents (not DNA) going back at least 4 generations, mostly further. And these records show that these people still live in the same region that their ancestors lived in, so didn’t move around a lot over the centuries. These people with known stable locations for a long time are called the “reference accounts”.
2. They then compare your DNA with the accounts in the reference pool. This is not the same as the relative and cousin matching, it’s not a match. It’s a “sort of like” comparison. And they determine which accounts in the reference pool your DNA is most like. But how close? That’s where the inaccuracy comes in.
3. Using mathematical models and algorithms, using their reference group accounts and your DNA, they make an educated guess about the likilehood you are from the same place as the accounts you’re most like. It’s all probabilities and statistics. So they run all this, and they figure a percentage, and you have your estimate. A scientific guess, well thought out, but not totally DNA accurate (not 99.9% accurate). 23andme says their default accuracy is set at 50%. So say 50% to 80% probability your ancestors are from the area the ethnicity estimate says you are, and in the percentage they estimate.
3. And then there are the medical results. These results purport to tell you if you have a tendency toward some disease, condition, or characteristic. And again, like the ethnicity estimate, they compare your DNA to the DNA of others that they know have certain characteristics (they survey their population and ask a lot of questions to get this information). And again, for the most part it’s not “this gene means this”. It’s “overall, this DNA is similar to DNA of 10,000 people with blue eyes, and this person has an x% chance of having blue eyes”. There are certain genes that have been shown to be associated with disease, and this will likely get better over time. But for now, it’s just for entertainment purposes, mostly. If you get any result that concerns you, you should be checked out with your physician. They might have a much more detailed (and expensive) DNA test done, or they might test you for certain conditions. But again, a commercial DNA test does NOT tell you anything definite. It’s a guess based on probability, and that is based on comparing your DNA to a lot of other DNA samples. And DNA cannot tell you whether you will actually be affected by a condition or trait or disease you might be predisposed for. Remember, DNA was there when you were born. Your DNA can’t “see” if you have developed a condition. The result just means others with this genetic pattern have had this, so you might possibly be predisposed to this.

I am all for it .

I am hopeful that providers will be able to use this information to find cures for diseases like Alzheimer's or cancer (78 percent), as well as conditions like sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, or muscular dystrophy (60 percent).

Genetic testing is useful in many areas of medicine and can change the medical care you or your family member receives. For example, genetic testing can provide a diagnosis for a genetic condition such as Fragile X or information about your risk to develop cancer. There are many different kinds of genetic tests.

The obvious benefit of genetic testing is the chance to better understand your risk for a certain disease, such as cancer. Testing is not perfect, but it can often help you make decisions about your health.

You wanted to know how genetic tests change my mind about myself and does it really matter in any way. Well, it didn’t change my mind about myself because I already had built a long family tree and the DNA results didn’t change it. I really am more than half Irish in descent, with the rest being British and a bit of Germanic Europe, which I knew from family surnames and family history. Did it really matter in any way? Sure, for a lot of people.

Adoptees found their biological parents. People found out they were adopted or illegitimate. Spouses found out their mates had illegitimate children out there. People found out they had half-siblings they’d never heard of.

People who paid for the health test at 23andMe found out what genetic diseases they were prone to, and told their doctors. Now they know what to watch for/test for, just in case. It may save their lives, or at least prolong them—we all die eventually, after all.

It even made a small difference to me. My sixth great-grandfather was illegitimate. We knew it. His mother, Sarah Tyner, never married, and his name was John Harris Tyner. We even suspected her childless married neighbor, who left his estate to the children of Sarah Tyner, was the father. After all, the man’s name was John Harris. But DNA comparison of descendants of John Harris’s relatives with that of descendants of Sarah Tyner verified the relationship.

I did the test for entertainment, the way I had my horoscope done and had my palm read at last year’s county fair. But it was more factual than those, and worth the money. It’s getting cheaper every year. You might try it yourself, if you’ve done the work and started your own family tree to see if the results match.

None of the four autosomal tests available in the US will provide you an exact depiction of your ancestry; however, from my experience some will more correctly identify your known ancestry. The caveat is that these analyses are only good as their reference populations. Secondly, you may have an ancestor from a distinct population that will not register in your results as that person's DNA may not have been passed on to you (however, your siblings may have it) due to the randomness of genetic recombination.

I wrote a blog post on this two years ago and while three of the four companies have upgraded their reference populations, I still believe that 23andMe gives me more accurate results.

See my blog post on this at
http://linealarboretum.blogspot.com/2013/03/who-do-they-think-i-am-look-at-four.html

Since that time, 23andMe, Ancestry, FTDNA have upgraded to be more specific in their results. 23andMe still is more accurate, Ancestry has gotten more accurate, and while FTDNA has more categories, they are not always spot (with me) on with their analysis. Good luck.