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One In 100 Carry Mutation For Heart Disease
mmmscience brings us news of a new study, published in Nature Genetics by an international team of scientists, that tells a scary story: globally, 1% of the population carry a gene mutation that is almost guaranteed to lead to some form of heart problems. On the Indian subcontinent, the prevalence is 4%. The mutation is a 25-letter deletion of DNA data on the heart protein gene MYBPC3, believed to have arisen in India 30,000 years ago. The researchers say that the mutation wasn't selected out of the population because its effects don't occur until after the childbearing years. The article mentions a prediction that "by 2010 India's population will suffer approximately 60% of the world's heart disease."
India cannot support hundreds of millions of elderly pensioners. Long-term this will probably be a competitive advantage over China.
Most of the population affected outside India are probably Indian or have a significant Indian ancestry. This doesn't change your numbers, but shows that the risk is actually much higher or lower depending on your social group.
Can you mod parent complete utter fucking douchebag?
It always amazes me how science-leaning people such as those on slashdot seem to think all disease should be made to go away. Anybody who has any sense of reality knows that our species is FAR BEYOND overpopulated. I find it sickening that those who claim to have logical minds think that unnatural population levels can "be made to work".
The fact is that we need BILLIONS of people to die if the planet and its inhabitants (all living species, not just human) are ever going to have a chance. Call me sadistic, but for the sake of every other species of life on this planet... I wish the rate of heart disease was 30-60%, not 1%.
the thing i hate about these nonsense genetic claims, is that there is a 100% probability you are going to die of something. so claiming 60% of people will die of heart disease (because heart failure and cancer are what take out most of our population) is like pronouncing you have discovered people grow old and die. what would be more accurate, but you will never see them do it, is to tell us who will die a PREMATURE death due to heart disease. the reason they won't do it is there is far more to what kills you than genetics and admitting as much might see grant money going else where.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
Let me give you two bits of advice, Sport:
1) If you are going into medicine for the money and are pre-med now, you are basically going to end up in the same situation that all those kids coming out of Harvard with MBAs expecting to make millions on Wall Street. Once you finish 4 years of med school, three of IM residency, and 2 of Cards fellowship, the well will have dried up significantly for specialists who don't do fee for service (which few people are for a cath and stent). Have you considered plastics?
2) If you insist on persisting with your career plans, take Spanish now. You're going to be amazed how being bilingual in a useful language in the US sells on your med school and residency application. Because while you are going to be making less money, you are going to have a lot more Spanish speaking patients when you get out. Maybe if you grow a sense of moral responsibility to your fellow men (which should be a pre-rec for med school but sadly isn't) you'll be glad you took my advice and can converse with your patients in their native language in a culturally competent way.
Or just go into plastics.
With over 6 billion 1% possibly looks like a natural population control mechanism.
Which part of "[The mutation's] effects don't occur until after the childbearing years." did you fail to grasp?
node-def: a tactical hacking sim. Now in open beta.
Good luck. Wishing you the best.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Don't worry about carrying a 1% gene. Carrying a BigMac bag is far more likely to lead to heart attacks than genetics.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Now that they've identified the problem, there's a reasonable chance that it can be treated. It might well require a weekly pill or some such, or even a shot, as RNA is too delicate to trust to the gut. But many such things are treatable already.
FTFA: Carriers could be identified at a young age by genetic screening and adopt a healthier lifestyle.
IMO, that is some pie in the sky thinking.
One of the top problems in the medical field is patient non-compliance.
It's hard enough for a doctor to get their patients to finish taking a regimen of antibiotics, much less change to a healthier lifestyle.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Wait until the US has some sort of universal health care, and immigration from India is outlawed as a "cost cutting measure".
... and that's when the C.H.U.D.'s came at me.
Bad management can fuck up any staff. Filipino nurses are regularly abused by management - false promises, unpaid work, unrealistic expectations. That stuff ultimately trickles down to the patients, no matter how dedicated the nurses may have started off as. A small group even went on strike over such treatment recently, made headlines because their agency tried real hard to blame them for the entire situation.
Honestly, even as a very specialized surgeon, if I wanted to make money, I could have done much better on Wall St. My brother who is an economist, has done quite well, and works much less than I.
The job has sooo many hassles, and stress that if you don't love what you're doing, then it's not worth it.
Seriously.
Honestly, I love my fucking job, and would still do it, even if I won the lottery. Just would work less than 50 hours a week, instead of 80.
..........FULL STOP.
Here's your loophole:
The Act prohibits group health plans and health insurers from denying coverage to a healthy individual or charging that person higher premiums based solely on a genetic predisposition to developing a disease in the future.
"we noticed you paid for a few more tests recently, and have been sick more often"
there go your rates, or "im sorry your coverage is denied"
WOW.. I haven't seen a loophole this big for abuse since the anti-circumvention clause of the DMCA
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
The researchers say that the mutation wasn't selected out of the population because its effects don't occur until after the childbearing years.
It's not that simple though. One's roll in the gene pool does not (indirectly) end when you lose fertility. The grandparents care for the children, and in doing so, their children's (related) DNA is encouraged. Also, unlike women, men don't have menopause, and are also affected by heart disease etc and a man's DNA is just as genetically useful at 60 as it was at 25.
I'd question that researcher's conclusion..
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
"The researchers say that the mutation wasn't selected out of the population because its effects don't occur until after the childbearing years"
That doesn't make sense. Surviving beyond childbearing years would have a large impact on your offspring's reproductive capacity.
Unless perhaps the effect of the gene kicks in just as you're getting old enough to require support rather than give it. In which case, the gene might even be selected *for*.
Posting as AC because 1. no account 2. cold-hearted analysis.
And how about this one:
My mom needs a hearing aid. When she recently had to get a new one, this is what the hearing aid vendor told her. The MSRP is $12k (each!). If you have insurance, they bill them at $8k each. But, if you don't have insurance, they'll give you a "discount" and sell them to you directly at $3k each. They probably still make money on them at $3k, but they get to bilk an extra $5k out of the insurance company if they can... Since they never actually charge the "MSRP," I can only surmise that it's that high because they have to "discount" it for the insurance companies by a certain percent.