TheWellnessLiving Health Tips

To Test or Not to Test? The Role of Attitudes, Knowledge, and Religious Involvement Among U.S. Adults on Intent-to-Obtain Adult Genetic Testing. Health Educ Behav. 2011 Apr 11; Authors: Botoseneanu A, Alexander JA, Banaszak-Holl J Genetic testing can advance cancer prevention if current screening behaviors improve. Increased prevalence of high-risk genotypes within specific religious groups, use of religious venues for recruiting to genetic screening, and ethical-religious considerations argue for exploring the role of religiosity in forming genetic testing decisions. This study uses the theory of reasoned action and structural equation modeling to test the effects of religious involvement, attitudes, knowledge, and previous experience on intent-to-obtain genetic testing within a representative sample of 1,824 U.S. adults. A majority of respondents indicate willingness to test, especially for curable disorders. Attitudes, knowledge, and previous experience have significant direct effects, and religious involvement has an indirect effect, through its negative effect on attitudes, on intent-to-test. High religious involvement is associated with more negative attitudes toward genetic testing. The findings underscore the need to refine genetic testing outreach efforts to account for multiple influences on consumer intent-to-test. PMID: 21482703 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]  

The sense and nonsense of direct-to-consumer genetic testing for cardiovascular disease. Neth Heart J. 2011 Feb;19(2):85-88 Authors: Janssens AC, Wilde AA, van Langen IM Expectations are high that increasing knowledge of the genetic basis of cardiovascular disease will eventually lead to personalised medicine-to preventive and therapeutic interventions that are targeted to at-risk individuals on the basis of their genetic profiles. Most cardiovascular diseases are caused by a complex interplay of many genetic variants interacting with many non-genetic risk factors such as diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption. Since several years, genetic susceptibility testing for cardiovascular diseases is being offered via the internet directly to consumers. We discuss five reasons why these tests are not useful, namely: (1) the predictive ability is still limited; (2) the risk models used by the companies are based on assumptions that have not been verified; (3) the predicted risks keep changing when new variants are discovered and added to the test; (4) the tests do not consider non-genetic factors in the prediction of cardiovascular disease risk; and (5) the test results will not change recommendations of preventive interventions. Predictive genetic testing for multifactorial forms of cardiovascular disease clearly lacks benefits for the public. Prevention of disease should therefore remain focused on family history and on non-genetic risk factors as diet and physical activity that can have the strongest impact on disease risk, regardless of genetic susceptibility. PMID: 21461037 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Self Diagnosis of Lynch Syndrome Using Direct to Consumer Genetic Testing: A Case Study. Summary of a paper published in the Journal of Genetic Counseling last week by ME Roberts, DL Riegert-Johnson and BC Thomas: We are reporting what we believe to be the first published case of patient initiated direct to consumer (DTC) genetic testing to test for the presence of a known familial mutation. Our client in this case is from a known MSH2 family; both his/her parent and associated grandparent have previously tested positive for the known familial MSH2 mutation. Using 23andme's "family inheritance genome-wide comparison" option we were able to determine that our client most likely inherited the known familial MSH2 mutation without pursuing single site genetic testing. Our client pursued DTC genetic testing instead of single site genetic testing due to the fear of genetic discrimination. This case shows that patients are still fearful of genetic discrimination, despite the passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), and that DTC genetic testing may be useful despite the overall negative feeling towards this type of testing in the genetic counseling community.

Eating healthy and exercising are the most important habits to keep your heart in shape – Your heart health is in direct connection with the food you eat. Diversification of healthy eating following the tips below:

• Choose from the vast range of food products that are based on wheat germ.
• Choose different fruits and vegetables .
• Choose a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
• Choose natural juices and nutritional biscuits to quench your need for sweet.
• If you consume alcoholic beverages, should do it moderately.
• Struggling to achieve an appropriate body weight by height and age you have.
• Do not let one day pass without doing exercise.

If you have problems with high cholesterol or if you’re prone to hypertension is advisable to consult a nutritionist. Prepare a nutritional diet, with a reasonable calorie level. Thus, you will eat healthy, preventing cardiovascular diseases which are prone. Nutritionist will follow your progress, encouraging you to not give up.

Get rid of salt! – You can prevent and control blood pressure, giving up at all salt and sodium-based compounds. Here are some tips on how to gradual eliminate the salt:

Use foods with a small amount of sodium or unsalted like vegetables and cereals.
Cooking “spicy” and not “salty”! Use spicy seasonings, herbs ( dill, parsley, celery, thyme, basil, oregano ), lemon, wine and vinegar. Be creative!

Opt for fresh lean meats and, giving up the canned smoked meat.
Unsubscribe processed meat ( like ham and ribs ) salt foods ( such as olives and pickles ) and spices such as mustard, ketch-up and barbecue sauce. Limit yourself to variants lower in sodium soy sauce. To eliminate the amount of sodium, rinse thoroughly with water the canned food. Salt substitutes are rich in potassium, which can hurt people facing health problems. Before replacing salt, ask the advice from a specialist.

Sleep disorders affect most people at some point of their lives, but in many cases it may become chronic and constitute a severe, debilitating condition that jeopardizes every aspect of the life of the sufferer. Generally specialists classify sleep disorders among these five types: insomnia, sleep apnea, snoring, restless legs syndrome (RLS)/periodic limb movements in sleep (PLMS) and narcolepsy, each of which have specific characteristics. By far the most commons type of sleep disorder is insomnia, although not everyone manages to find the way around and get better without the aid of psychoactive pills.

Insomnia (also know as a chronic inability to get high quality sleep) is the most frequent types of sleep disorders, and most people will experience it at some point. Insomnia can be triggered by many factors, most frequently stress, a change in time zones, changes in sleep patterns and inappropriate or insufficient bedtime habits. If the causal factors are identified, insomnia can be easily treated in most situations. By aiming to improve sleep habits, learn and perform relaxation techniques routinely many insomniacs see important improvements. Sometimes a deeper approach is needed and trying cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can be of great help.

There are also natural supplements that can help improve the sleep patterns significantly by working out the levels of serotonin in the brain. 5HTP, the active component of NightCalm is proven to boost the serotonin levels and this leads to a notable improvement in sleep after a few days.