At times a biomedical, pharma, or a medical company has one very strong drug or product that enables the company to research and develop other new drugs while their primary drug is bringing in the necessary revenues. But when your big drug starts to see a significant decline in expected sales, no matter how good your pipeline is, it begins to negatively impact other parts of the business. This issue is compounded if operating and R&D expenses increase at the same time. These are the issues facing our Zacks Bear of the Day, Seattle Genetics (SGEN - Free Report) .

SGEN, a Zacks Ranked #5 (Strong Sell), is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative antibody-based therapies for the treatment of cancer. Seattle Genetics is leading the field in developing antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a technology designed to harness the targeting ability of antibodies to deliver cell-killing agents directly to cancer cells. The company's lead product, ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) is an ADC that, in collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, is commercially available for two indications in more than 45 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Japan and members of the European Union. Additionally, ADCETRIS is being evaluated broadly in more than 30 ongoing clinical trials.

Recent Earnings Data

On February 9th, SGEN announced earnings where they missed both the Zacks consensus earnings and revenue estimates. During the announcement management stated that their primary drug ADCETRISs annual sales would only show 9% annual sales growth in FY 17, half of what was achieved in 2016, and well below the previously expected 30% annual sales growth. Further, it was learned that one of their other key growth drivers CTCL will not get in the product label until 2018. This news caused analysts to cut their estimates through FY 2018.

Managements Take

According to Clay Siegall, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Our accomplishments in 2016 were substantial, highlighted by strong progress with our ADCETRIS phase 3 trials: ALCANZA, ECHELON-1 and ECHELON-2. This progress positions us to potentially achieve a series of regulatory and commercial milestones in 2017 and 2018. Also during 2016 we initiated the phase 3 CASCADE clinical trial of vadastuximab talirine (SGN-CD33A; 33A) and reported phase 1 data from enfortumab vedotin (ASG-22ME) that we believe support advancement of this program into registrational trials. As we evolve into a global, multi-product oncology company, we are focused on continuing to deliver on our goals of advancing our pipeline and establishing ADCs as a key component of the future of cancer care.

Price and Earnings Consensus Graph

As you can see below, due to reduced sales guidance, we get a kind of odd graph; the stock price is up, but analysts expectations have decreased significantly.

Seattle Genetics, Inc. Price and Consensus | Seattle Genetics, Inc. Quote

Declining Estimates

Due to the reduced sales guidance, and increased operating and R&D expenses estimates for Q1 17, Q2 17, FY 17, and FY 18 have all see negative revisions over the past 30 days; Q1 17 fell from -$0.27 to -$0.42, Q2 17 dropped from -$0.27 to -$0.45, FY 17 slipped from -$0.89 to -$1.55, and FY 17 plummeted from -$0.18 to -$1.27.

Bottom Line

While the company has a nice pipeline of drugs, the big decline in revenues from their main drug ADCETRIS, and increase in overall expenses has us on the sidelines with this stock until FY 2018 when CTCL gets its product label.

If you are inclined to invest in the Biomedical and Genetic sector, you would be best served by looking into Cellectis S.A. (CLLS - Free Report) , and or Momenta Pharma (MNTA - Free Report) , both of which currently carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2017

In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest tickers for the entirety of 2017?

Who wouldn't? These 10 are painstakingly hand-picked from 4,400 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. They are our primary picks to buy and hold. Be among the very first to see them >>

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Bear of the Day: Seattle Genetics (SGEN) - Zacks.com

Artists Wendy DesChene and Jeff Schmuki run Plantbot Genetics, a parody of a biotech corporation that develops combinations of robots and plants. Their mission: Spark a discussion about the environment.

The Plantbot duo delivered a presentation recently at First City Art Center in downtown Pensacola.

The talk was part of STEAM2017, a five-week program of lectures, workshops and talks with artists and scientists sponsored by the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of West Florida. STEAM2017 explores how art adds to the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math to examine issues related to the environment.

We use silly singing and dancing plants to call attention to serious issues, Schmuki said. Humor is a way to engage people and get them to listen to your message.

Schmuki and DesChene talked to the crowd of more than 100 people for about an hour. Topics ranged from planting native wildflowers and avoiding the use of chemical pesticides to helping counteract the declining bee population.

Its about being aware of whats happening in your own backyard, DesChene said.

She encouraged attendees to think of themselves as powerful.

When it comes to environmental issues, people often get overwhelmed and think of the problems as too big, DesChene said. Thats not true. Just think of the example of the water bottle.

DesChene explained that during her lifetime, she has seen people go from not drinking bottled water at all during the 1970s to seeing it become ubiquitous during the 1980s.

By the 1990s we were asking ourselves what we were going to do with all the plastic bottles. And now, today, we see that there are opportunities to recycle plastic bottles all over the place. So we have solved that problem over the course of 30 years.

DesChene said the evolution of how we think of reusing water bottles illustrates that people can make a difference in the environment.

We change as a society; we arent stuck with our bad habits, she said. As long as people are aware of the problems and talking about them, we have a chance to make a difference.

Talking about the environment is the point of any Plantbot exhibit, which DesChene and Schmuki stage all over the country in their portable trailer. People who attend their talks can walk through the trailer and ask questions.

We are all about starting a conversation, Schmuki said.

When they are not presiding over a Plantbot exhibit out of their trailer, Schumki teaches ceramics at Georgia Southern University, and DesChene teaches painting and drawing at Auburn University.

I like how they merge science and art to get peoples attention, said Madi Heinze, a junior majoring in studio art at UWF who attended the talk at First City Arts Center.

Others who attended the talk commented about the usefulness of the information disseminated during the Plantbot presentation.

Im getting into gardening, and I want to do it in an environmentally friendly way, said Cooper Dalrymple, a student at Pensacola State College. Its important to keep your eye out for information, thats why I came to the presentation. It was interesting to hear about organic pesticides. I am growing rosemary, thyme, basil and cilantro and tomatoes in my little backyard garden, so I can use definitely use the tips I heard about tonight. I think its important to help out the environment in any way that you can.

This article is part of a collaboration between WUWF and the UWF Center for Research and Economic Opportunity.

The rest is here:
Plantbot Genetics Talk, Exhibit Start Conversations About Green Issues - WUWF

Genushas acquired the intellectual property rights ofIrish pig genetics specialist Hermitagein a bid to expand its presence in Europe.

As part of the deal, Genus,which breeds and sells genetically superior pigs and cows and offerssperm and artificial insemination servicesto livestock producers around the world, has bought Hermitage's genetics technology and access to itsoperations in Russia, the US and several European countries.

Karim Bitar, chief executive of Genus, said the rationale behind the deal was to strengthen Genus's presence in the European pig genetics business, where it currently has an 11pc share of the market, and to leverage Hermitage's extensivesupply chain and distributionoperations.

"Hermitage will increase our market share by three percentage points," he said. "The acquisition will allow us to combine all of our genetic rights and IP with theirs. They are a formidable operator."

The news came as Genus reported an 18pc rise in sales to 222.1m in the six months to the end of December. The surge in revenues was largely thanks to exchange rate movements. Excluding the effects of currency, sales actually grew by 3pc.

See the original post:
Genus acquires Irish pig genetics company as it eyes European expansion - Telegraph.co.uk

Posted February 23, 2017 16:00:47

Access to superior commercial genetic stock for the first time is boosting morale of New South Wales oyster farmers.

Major disease outbreaks over the past decade have contributed to a steady decline in oyster production and the number of farmers.

Veteran oyster grower Tony Troup said access to new superior stock would finally modernise the industry.

Mr Troup produces about 20,000 dozen Sydney Rock oysters and young oyster spat at his lease at Camden Haven, near Laurieton on the mid north coast of New South Wales.

He said access to new superior stock would finally modernise the industry.

"The breeding program will hopefully bring the oyster industry up into the 21st century," he said.

"We have been relying on basically wild stock for the duration of our industry which is now 150 years old.

"I'm hoping the breeding program will really lift our production and reduce our cost rates."

The young oyster spat used in his hatchery was developed through years of research by the Department of Primary Industries.

It is more resistant to deadly diseases like QX and winter mortality, which have hit the industry hard.

Scientist Michael Dove said a move away from mass breeding using wild oyster stock and to a family breeding program had allowed research to be fast-tracked by years.

"It can shave years off before we actually get the data and with QX we can get that data one year earlier.

"For condition, we can get that data one year earlier than if we bred through the normal part of the season," Mr Dove said.

Select Oyster Company, a company run by NSW Farmers, is now managing the breeding program and distribution of its hatchery stock.

Operations manager Emma Wilkie said it was their job to get the new genetics onto farms.

"The selective breeding program is decades old and the amount of research that has gone into it is phenomenal," she said.

"It is a very sophisticated breeding program and on par with salmon, wheat, cattle and now it is commercial so we are getting the genetics onto the farm."

Despite better stock, there are still perennial challenges with naturally occurring bacteria that can build up in oyster populations.

Biologist Chantal Gionet is a shell fish consultant from the east coast of Canada and has been working with growers to control vibrio.

"Vibrio is an issue for anyone in the world in a hatchery because vibro is natural in the wild.

"When you bring them (oysters) into a closed environment, it's warmer, it will bloom in your tanks. it just promotes growth," Ms Gionet said.

Tony Troup from Camden Haven said Ms Gionet's work on controlling vibrio had made a fantastic difference.

I start the run with something like 100 million oysters and hopefully go to set with 10 to 20 per cent of those.

"They would have been all dead in the first week if she wasn't here," he said.

Tony Troup remains hopeful the industry does have a future.

"If we can get this breeding program really up and going, we will be onto something and the industry will really start to grow."

"I must be an optimist, I've been in the industry now 30 years and I keep thinking it is about to get better, and it still hasn't quite got better yet!"

Topics: fishing-aquaculture, research, marine-biology, laurieton-2443

Go here to read the rest:
Oyster growers hopeful new genetics boost quality - ABC Online

Chronic pain can be disabling.

In the recent Global Burden of Disease study, four of the top ten causes of disability worldwide were chronic pain conditions. Chronic pain is defined as pain that lasts beyond normal healing time usually three months and is one of the most common global causes of incapacity. It rarely occurs by itself, however, and is one of the most common conditions to present itself alongside other chronic conditions, such as diabetes and COPD. This increases the overall burden of disability, and the impact of each chronic condition.

The exact reason why some people suffer from several chronic diseases and others dont, is not well understood. However, we have discovered that genetics could partially explain this.

Two of the most common disorders which occur alongside chronic pain are depression and angina. There is already evidence of shared socio-demographic risk factors for all of these conditions, particularly older age and social deprivation, as well as lifestyle factors. However these do not explain all of the shared risk.

In order to investigate a risk within families and a genetic explanation for chronic disease, we examined two major groups, for the co-occurrence of chronic pain, depression and heart disease in individuals and their siblings.

Data from Generation Scotland included 24,000 individuals, recruited in family groups, with data on multiple chronic illnesses, socio-demographic and psychological factors, and blood from which DNA was genetically analysed. When the data was collected, 18% of participants reported chronic pain, 13% had a history of major depressive disorder and 10% had angina.

We looked at the existence of two or three of these conditions in individuals and we found that people with depression were two and a half times more likely to experience chronic pain; while people with both depression and heart disease were nine times more likely to experience chronic pain. It is clear that the existence of one condition increases the chance of an individual having another, or both of the other conditions.

A familial risk was confirmed when we looked at siblings of people affected by these conditions. A sibling of someone with heart disease was twice as likely to have chronic pain, and siblings of those with depression were twice as likely to suffer from heart disease. This suggests that genetics plays a part in these chronic diseases, in addition to known social and demographic factors.

The magnitude of a shared genetic explanation for these chronic conditions was examined by looking at sets of twins. TwinsUK has data on 12,000 identical and non-identical twins from across the UK, of 16-98 years of age. In a sample of 2,902 of these, 20% suffered with chronic pain, 22% had depression and 35% reported a cardiovascular disease.

We compared the rates of occurrence of a condition, and of co-occurrence with another, between identical and non-identical twins. In identical twins, it was consistently more likely that both individuals would be affected, by any of the conditions, than non-identical twins, which further confirms that there is significant genetic contribution. When we examined the co-occurrence of chronic widespread pain and heart disease in our twins we found that the model that best explained the co-occurrence was a combination of both genetic and non-shared environmental factors.

Although there are numerous causes of chronic pain, there are similarities in the socio-demographic factors explaining their development. Recent research shows that there are also similar biological factors present in the development of different types of chronic pain.

For the sufferer, it is the pain itself, rather than the cause, that produces the most distress and disability most chronic pain sufferers had it for more than five years at more than one site. The most common chronic pain, back pain, accounted for 146m years lived with disability in 2013, three times the level of depression.

Overall, 19% of adults in Europe, and 6% in the UK, were found to have significant chronic pain that was intense, severely disabling and limiting. This is similar to the prevalence of conditions such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

As well as the issue that chronic pain represents for individuals, its management places an important burden on healthcare services and it impacts on families, society and the economy. Therefore, the finding that a genetic mechanism could help to explain the co-occurence of these conditions is significant to allow further research. The exact genes involved in the occurence and co-occurrence of chronic pain need to be identified, so that we may switch them off at an early stage and try to develop new treatments.

Of course, it will always be important to understand and address the socio-demographic causes of disability and co-occurrence of conditions especially with regards to factors we could change, such as deprivation. However, our research also suggests a new model of chronic disease, based on genetics and biological factors.

Genes are important in determining the risk, both of chronic disease itself, and of co-occurrence of other disabilities. Only a deeper understanding of these factors will allow the development of new preventive and targeted treatments.

See the article here:
How genetics can uncover links in chronic pain and other conditions - The Conversation UK

DES MOINES Rob Long believes spending money on good genetics should not stop because of a lower fed cattle market.

Long, who farms near Creston, sold the top-selling bull at this years. His Simmental bull brought $15,000 to top the breed sale.

With the economy the way it is, its not the time to keep the status quo, Long says. I think we need to focus on the best attributes and buy those bulls that are going to bring value to your operation.

The Southwest Iowa producer says there was a good deal of interest in the bull ahead of the expo.

There was some uniqueness in his pedigree, and that attracted some people, Long says. It showed us that people were still willing to spend money on quality genetics. I think were seeing that this year with this bull.

Commercial producers know spending money on quality genetics will pay off over the long haul, says Kevin Mohrfeld. The West Point producer had the top-selling Angus bull at the expo, bringing $12,000.

Most of our customers are commercial produces, and they are really interested in performance, he says. With prices down, they really want those good genetics.

He says his bull attracted a fair amount of interest from potential buyers ahead of the sale.

They really liked his performance, his overall balance and how his EPDs (expected progeny differences) looked, Mohrfeld says. Weve had the second highest selling bull a couple of times. It was nice to be at the top of the sale this year.

Listed here are complete sale results from this years expo Feb. 12-19.

Angus

The top-selling bull, consigned by Kevin Mohrfeld of West Point, sold for $12,000 to David Deal of Danvers, Ill.

The top-selling female, consigned by Ron Buch of Luzerne, sold for $7,500 to Lyle Olson of Red Oak.

A total of 61 bulls sold for an average price of $4,273. A total of 35 females sold for an average price of $3,325. One embryo lot sold for $3,000.

Charolais

The top-selling bulls, consigned by North Grove Charolais of Grove City, Minn., and Shepherd Charolais of Stuart, sold for $5,500 to Kurt Neff of Blackfoot, Idaho, and Brad Kresak of Milligan, Neb., respectively.

The top-selling female, consigned by North Grove Charolais of Grove City, Minn., sold for $7,500 to Lance Van Roekel of Larchwood.

A total of 43 bulls sold for an average price of $2,990. A total of 36 females sold for an average price of $2,797. Nine embryo lots sold for an average price of $492.

Gelbvieh

The top-selling bull, consigned by Blackhawk Cattle Co./Lazy JV Ranch of Oregon, Ill., sold for $8,400 to Bar Arrow Cattle Co. of Phillipsburg, Kan.

The top-selling female, consigned by Kirkwood Community College of Cedar Rapids, sold for $4,500 to Adelyn Sienknecht of Gladbrook.

A total of 13 bulls sold for an average price of $3,762. A total of 26 females sold for an average price of $2,602.

Hereford

The top-selling bull, consigned by Lorenzen Farms of Chrisman, Ill., sold for $10,200 to Donn Jibben of Fort Worth, Texas.

The top-selling female, consigned by Wiese & Sons of Manning, sold for $7,000 to Express Ranches of Yukon, Okla.

A total of 41 bulls sold for an average price of $3,655. A total of 31 females sold for an average price of $3,347.

Limousin

The top-selling bull, consigned by Deb Vorthmann of Silver City, sold for $5,600 to Vorthmann Limousin of Treynor.

The top-selling female, consigned by Boesch Farms of Indianola, sold for $2,950 to Shelby Skinner of Bolivar, Mo.

A total of 24 bulls sold for an average price of $3,396. A total of nine females sold for an average price of $2,289.

Lowline

The top-selling bull, sold by Swanquist Spring Brook Farm of Lagro, Ind., sold for $1,300 to Randy Larson of Sumner.

The top-selling female, consigned by Reinken Cattle Co. of Boone, sold for $4,400 to Ray Gaskill of Boone.

A total of 16 females sold for an average price of $2,266. One steer sold for a price of $850. Nine semen lots sold for an average price of $228.

Maine-Anjou

The top-selling bull, consigned by Braun Show Cattle of Northwood, sold for $4,100 to Mark Roges of Douds.

The top-selling female, consigned by Jordan Crall of Albia, sold for $4,900 to Jodi Opperman of Manning.

A total of nine bulls sold for an average price of $2,256. A total of 16 females sold for an average price of $1,928.

Miniature Hereford

The top-selling bull, consigned by Smith Mini Herefords of Fairfield, sold for $3,000 to Karly Biddle of Walcott.

The top-selling female, consigned by Allison Gooden of Bloomfield, sold for $5,000 to C & B Farms LLC of Mineral Point, Wis.

A total of four bulls sold for an average price of $2,350. A total of eight females sold for an average price of $4,100. A total of five steers sold for an average price of $830. One flush lot sold for $2,800. Three semen lots sold for an average price of $380.

Red Angus

The top-selling bull, consigned by Ulrich Red Angus of Good Thunder, Minn., sold for $5,800 to Dave Runner of Gilman.

The top-selling female, consigned by Finch Cattle of Kelley, sold for $4,300 to Alex Wilson of Ogden.

A total of 22 bulls sold for an average price of $3,282. A total of 25 females sold for an average price of $2,862.

Three embryo lots sold for an average price of $2,234.

One flush lot sold for $5,000.

Salers

The top-selling bull, consigned by T-Bone Cattle Co. of Osceola, sold for $4,200 to Bill Edwards of Wayland.

The top-selling female, consigned by Barnes Farms of Lamoni, sold for $5,500 to McIvers Happy Acres Farm of Farwell, Minn.

A total of 10 bulls sold for an average price of $2,770. A total of nine females sold for an average price of $2,766.

Shorthorn

The top-selling bull, consigned by Nate Studer Family of Creston, sold for $10,000 to Glenrothes Farm George D. Brown of Beaverton, Ontario.

The top-selling female, consigned by Ryan & Steve Laughlin of Imogene, sold for $5,500 to Kaden Wilson of Creston.

A total of 14 bulls sold for an average price of $4,429. A total of 32 females sold for an average price of $2,527. Five embryo lots sold for an average price of $518. Four semen lots sold for an average price of $201.

Simmental

The top-selling bull, consigned by Rob Long of Creston, sold for $15,000 to Loonan Stock Farm of Corning.

The top-selling female, consigned by GSJG Matt Greiman Family of Goodell, sold for $8,500 to Brittain Cattle of Earlham.

A total of 83 bulls sold for an average price of $3,553. A total of 47 females sold for an average price of $2,878. Fifteen embryo lots sold for an average price of $405. One pregnancy lot sold for $4,200.

Read the original:
Producers seek top genetics at Iowa sale event - Iowa Farmer Today

Northern Trust uses blockchain for private equity record-keeping

NEW YORK, Feb 22 Northern Trust Corp has deployed a new blockchain-based system built with International Business Machines Corp to record information on transactions involving private equity funds, in one of the first commercial deployments of the nascent technology.

Read more here:
BRIEF-DE Shaw reports 5 pct passive stake in Myriad Genetics - Reuters

Its been well-documented that, on average, retail investors are dumb money. For example, on average, the stocks they buy go on to underperform and the stocks they sell go on to outperform. Investors, sadly, even manage to underperform the very mutual funds in which they invest.

Research from the field of behavioral finance has provided explanations for these poor results. In short, theyre the product of a long list of investment biases exhibited by individual investors. Among these biases are: Investors lack portfolio diversification due to overconfidence and a preference for investing in familiar securities (a home-country bias); they tend to trade too much (overconfidence again); they are reluctant to realize their losses (it is too painful to admit mistakes); they extrapolate recent superior returns into the future (the hot-hands fallacy); and they have a preference for skewness and lottery-type investments (which is explained by prospect theory).

While studies have shown that individual investors, on average, exhibit investment biases, little research has been devoted to uncovering their origins and the differences in them across investors. This, in turn, raises two questions: Are investors genetically endowed with certain predispositions that manifest themselves as investment biases? Or, do investors exhibit biases as a result of parenting or individual-specific experiences or events?

Investment Biases And Genetics

Henrik Cronqvist and Stephan Siegel contribute to the literature on investment biases with their study, The Genetics of Investment Biases, which appeared in the August 2014 issue of the Journal of Financial Economics.

To answer these questions, they used a unique data set, the worlds largest twin registry, the Swedish Twin Registry, and then matched it with detailed data on twins investment behaviors. This enabled them to decompose differences across individuals into genetic versus environmental components.

The decomposition was based on an intuitive insight: Identical twins share 100% of their genes, while the average proportion of shared genes is only 50% for fraternal twins. If identical twins exhibit more similarity with respect to these investment biases than do fraternal twins, then there is evidence that these behaviors are influenced, at least in part, by genetic factors.

The authors database included more than 15,000 sets of twins. Following is a summary of their findings:

Read this article:
Swedroe: Investing Habits Affected By Genetics - ETF.com

Personalized medicine, which involves tailoring health care to each persons unique genetic makeup, has the potential to transform how we diagnose, prevent and treat disease. After all, no two people are alike. Mapping a persons unique susceptibility to disease and targeting the right treatment has deservedly been welcomed as a new power to heal.

The human genome, a complete set of human DNA, was identified and mapped a decade ago. But genomic science remains in its infancy. According to Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, It is fair to say that the Human Genome Project has not yet directly affected the health care of most individuals.

Its not that there havent been tremendous breakthroughs. Its just that the gap between science and its ability to benefit most patients remains wide. This is mainly because we dont yet fully understand the complex pathways involved in common chronic diseases.

I am part of a research team that has taken on the ambitious goal of narrowing this gap. New technologies are allowing us to probe DNA, RNA, proteins and gut bacteria in a way that will change our understanding of health and disease. Our hope is to discover novel biological markers that can be used to diagnose and treat common chronic conditions, including Alzheimers disease, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

But when it comes to preventing the leading causes of death which include chronic diseases, genomics and precision medicine may not do as much as we hope.

Chronic diseases are only partially heritable. This means that the genes you inherit from your parents arent entirely responsible for your risk of getting most chronic diseases.

The estimated heritability of heart disease is about 50 percent. Its 64 percent for Type 2 diabetes mellitus, and 58 percent for Alzheimers disease. Our environment and lifestyle choice are also major factors; they can change or influence how the information coded in our genes is translated.

Chronic diseases are also complex. Rather than being controlled by a few genes that are easy to find, they are weakly influenced by hundreds if not thousands of genes, the majority of which still elude scientists. Unlocking the infinite combinations in which these genes interact with each other and with the environment is a daunting task that will take decades, if ever, to achieve.

While unraveling the genomic complexity of chronic disease is important, it shouldnt detract from existing simple solutions. Many of our deadliest chronic diseases are preventable. For instance, among U.S. adults, more than 90 percent of Type 2 diabetes, 80 percent of coronary arterial disease, 70 percent of stroke and 70 percent of colon cancer are potentially avoidable.

Smoking, weight gain, lack of exercise, poor diet and alcohol consumption are all risk factors for these conditions. Based on their profound impact on gene expression, or how instructions within a gene are manifested, addressing these factors will likely remain fundamental in preventing these illnesses.

A major premise behind personalized medicine is that empowering patients and doctors with more knowledge will lead to better decision-making. With some major advances, this has indeed been the case. For instance, variants in genes that control an enzyme that metabolizes drugs can identify individuals who metabolize some drugs too rapidly (not giving them a chance to work), or too slowly (leading to toxicity). This can lead to changes in medication dosing.

When applied to prevention, however, identifying our susceptibility at an earlier stage has not aided in avoiding chronic diseases. Research challenges the assumption that we will use genetic markers to change our behavior. More knowledge may nudge intent, but that doesnt translate to motivating changes to our lifestyle.

A recent review found that even when people knew their personal genetic risk of disease, they were no more likely to quit smoking, change their diet or exercise. Expectations that communicating DNA-based risk estimates changes behavior is not supported by existing evidence, the authors conclude.

Increased knowledge may even have the unintended consequence of shifting the focus to personal responsibility while detracting from our joint responsibility for improving public health. Reducing the prevalence of chronic diseases will require changing the political, social and economic environment within which we make choices as well as individual effort.

Perhaps the most awaited hope of the genomic era is that we will be able to develop targeted treatments based on detailed molecular profiling. The implication is that we will be able to subdivide disease into new classifications. Rather than viewing Type 2 diabetes as one disease, for example, we may discover many unique subtypes of diabetes.

This already is happening with some cancers. Patients with melanoma, leukemia or metastatic lung, breast or brain cancers can, in some cases, be offered a molecular diagnosis to tailor their treatment and improve their chance of survival.

We have been able to make progress in cancer therapy and drug safety and efficacy because specific gene mutations control a persons response to these treatments. But for complex, chronic diseases, relatively few personalized targeted treatments exist.

Customizing treatments based on our uniqueness will be a breakthrough, but it also poses a challenge: Without the ability to test targeted treatments on large populations, it will make it infinitely harder to discover and predict their response.

The very reason we group people with the same signs and symptoms into diagnoses is to help predict the average response to treatment. There may be a time when we have one-person trials that custom tailor treatment. However, the anticipation is that the timeline to getting to such trials will be long, the failure rate high and the cost exorbitant.

Research that takes genetic risk of diabetes into account has found greater benefit in targeting prevention efforts to all people with obesity rather than targeting efforts based on genetic risk.

We also have to consider decades of research on chronic diseases that suggest there are inherent limitations to preventing the global prevalence of these diseases with genomic solutions. For most of us, personalized medicine will likely complement rather than replace one-size-fits-all medicine.

Where does that leave us? Despite the inherent limitations to the ability of genomic medicine to transform health care, medicine in the future should unquestionably aspire to be personal. Genomics and molecular biosciences will need to be used holistically in the context of a persons health, beliefs and attitudes to fulfill their power to greatly enhance medicine.

Original post:
Soon, Medication Will be Custom Tailored to Your Specific Genetics - Futurism

A new international study finds that around 35-40 percent of a childs BMI (Body Mass Index) how fat or thin they are is inherited from their parents.

Investigators say that for the most obese children, the proportion rises to 55-60 percent, thus more than half of their tendency towards obesity is determined by genetics and family environment.

University of Sussex researchers used data on the heights and weights of 100,000 children and their parents across the world, including the U.K., U.S., China, Indonesia, Spain, and Mexico.

Investigators found that the intergenerational transmission of BMI is approximately constant at around 0.2 per parent; i.e., each childs BMI is, on average, 20 percent due to the mother and 20 percent due to the father.

The pattern of results, said lead author Professor Peter Dolton of the University of Sussex, is remarkably consistent across all countries, irrespective of their stage of economic development, degree of industrialization, or type of economy.

Professor Dolton says, Our evidence comes from trawling data from across the world with very diverse patterns of nutrition and obesity, from one of the most obese populations USA to two of the least obese countries in the world, China and Indonesia.

This gives an important and rare insight into how obesity is transmitted across generations in both developed and developing countries.We found that the process of intergenerational transmission is the same across all the different countries.

The findings are published in the journal Economics and Human Biology.

Interestingly, the effect of parents BMI on their childrens BMI depends on what the BMI of the child is. Researchers discovered that consistently, across all populations studied, the parental effect was lowest for the thinnest children and highest for the most obese children.

For the thinnest child their BMI is 10 percent due to their mother and 10 percent due to their father. For the fattest child this transmission is closer to 30 percent due to each parent.

Said Dolton, This shows that the children of obese parents are much more likely to be obese themselves when they grow up the parental effect is more than double for the most obese children what it is for the thinnest children.

These findings have far-reaching consequences for the health of the worlds children. They should make us rethink the extent to which obesity is the result of family factors, and our genetic inheritance, rather than decisions made by us as individuals.

Source: University of Sussex

APA Reference Nauert PhD, R. (2017). Genetics + Family Environment Impact Childhood Obesity. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 22, 2017, from https://psychcentral.com/news/2017/02/21/genetics-family-environment-impact-childhood-obesity/116702.html

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Genetics + Family Environment Impact Childhood Obesity - PsychCentral.com