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Dr. Richard A. Huntoon

Newburgh Chiropractor

 

More Testing is Coming:  Will it become the norm in an effort to generate revenue for "Health Centers?"

Blood test predicts Alzheimer's disease

By Elizabeth Cohen, Senior Medical Correspondent

(CNN) -- In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have developed a blood test for Alzheimer's disease that predicts with astonishing accuracy whether a healthy person will develop the disease.

Though much work still needs to be done, it is hoped the test will someday be available in doctors' offices, since the only methods for predicting Alzheimer's right now, such as PET scans and spinal taps, are expensive, impractical, often unreliable and sometimes risky.

"This is a potential game-changer," said Dr. Howard Federoff, senior author of the report and a neurologist at Georgetown University Medical Center. "My level of enthusiasm is very high."

The study was published in Nature Medicine.

'We were surprised'

In the beginning, the researchers knew they wanted to find a blood test to detect Alzheimer's but didn't know what specifically to look for. Should they examine patients' DNA? Their RNA? Or should they look for the byproducts of DNA and RNA, such as fats and proteins?

They decided to start with fats, since it was the easiest and least expensive. They drew blood from hundreds of healthy people over age 70 living near Rochester, New York, and Irvine, California. Five years later, 28 of the seniors had developed Alzheimer's disease or the mild cognitive problems that usually precede it.

Scouring more than 100 fats, or lipids, for what might set this group apart, they found that these 28 seniors had low levels of 10 particular lipids, compared with healthy seniors.

To confirm their findings, the researchers then looked at the blood of 54 other patients who had Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment. This group also had low levels of the lipids.

Overall, the blood test predicted who would get Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment with over 90% accuracy.

"We were surprised," said Mark Mapstone, a neuropsychologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center and lead author of the study. "But it turns out that it appears we were looking in the right place."

The 'holy grail'

The beauty of this test, Mapstone says, is that it caught Alzheimer's before the patient even had symptoms, suggesting that the disease process begins long before people's memories start failing. He says that perhaps the lipid levels started decreasing at the same time as brain cells started dying.

He and his team plan to try out this test in people in their 40s and 50s. If that works, he says, that would be the "holy grail," because then researchers could try experimental drugs and treatments in a group that's almost sure to get the disease. That would speed research along immensely.

Plus, people could get a heads up that they were probably destined to get Alzheimer's. Although some people might not want to know that they're destined for a horrible disease, others might be grateful for the warning.

Federoff said he would want to know whether he was on his way to getting the disease, even though there's nothing he could do about it. He might want to take a family trip he'd been thinking about or might want to appoint a successor at work.

"I would make sure that things that are important to me get done," he said.

But, Federoff added, others might not want to know they were about to get a devastating disease they were powerless to stop.

"I think it's a very personal decision," Federoff said. "It would have to be thought through on multiple dimensions. Patients and their families would have to be counseled."

Next steps

Other research teams are looking at other possible tests for Alzheimer's. The need for a screening test of some kind for Alzheimer's has never been greater: A report released last week says the disease claims the lives of perhaps a half a million Americans, making it nearly as deadly as heart disease and cancer.

If any of these tests work out -- and that's still an if -- it would take years to make it to doctors' offices, since the test would need to be validated by other labs and with larger groups of people. The test developed by the Georgetown and Rochester researchers, for example, was used mainly in white people, and it might not work as well with other groups.

Heather Snyder, a spokeswoman for the Alzheimer's Association, said the study was well done but much work is still needed.

"It's an interesting paper. It's an intriguing study. But it is very preliminary," she said.

DNA blood tests could transform prenatal screening

Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press March 3, 2014

A DNA test of a pregnant woman’s blood is more accurate than current methods of screening for Down syndrome and other common disorders, new research finds.

If other studies bear this out, it could transform prenatal care by giving a more reliable, non-invasive way to detect these problems very early in pregnancy.

That would let couples decide sooner whether to have an abortion or to prepare for a major medical problem. It also might cut down on the 200,000 more invasive tests like amniocentesis done each year in the United States to diagnose or rule out problems with a fetus.

“It offers women a safe and accurate alternative” for screening, said the study leader, Dr. Diana Bianchi, of Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

Screening for sale

Several companies already sell these DNA blood tests, which can be done when the fetus is only 9 to 10 weeks old, a couple weeks sooner than current methods. They screen for disorders caused by extra or missing chromosomes, such as Down syndrome, which occurs in about one of every 700 pregnancies.

Current methods are imprecise. Ultrasounds and blood tests can hint at a problem but don’t directly test for one. The next step is diagnostic testing – amniocentesis, like a needle biopsy to collect fetal cells, or chorionic villus sampling, which takes a snip of the placenta. Both bring a small risk of miscarriage.

The DNA tests aim to improve screening and lower the number of women referred for these more invasive tests. Using a sample of the mom’s blood, they sequence the alphabet of bits of DNA shed from the placenta and map them to various chromosomes. The numbers are compared to what’s normal at that stage of pregnancy.

Groups like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say these DNA tests can be an option for higher-risk pregnancies – moms 35 and older, those with an abnormal ultrasound or blood test, or with a prior pregnancy involving abnormal chromosomes – but their accuracy in general isn’t known.

The new study, published by the New England Journal of Medicine, is the first to look at their use in a general U.S. population. Nearly 2,000 women had standard prenatal screening plus a fetal DNA test from Illumina Inc., a California company that sponsored the study.

Both methods detected eight chromosome abnormalities, including five of Down syndrome.

But the false alarm rate for Down syndrome with DNA testing was just a fraction of that for standard screening – 0.3 percent versus 3.6 percent. DNA tests also gave fewer false alarms for Edwards and Patau syndromes, less common chromosome abnormalities.

That means far fewer women would be advised to get diagnostic tests to rule out a problem. Jennifer Fontaine’s standard prenatal screening suggested her fetus might have Edwards syndrome, which causes massive abnormalities that can lead to stillbirth or death.

“It was devastating, absolutely heartbreaking to think this is what I might be going through,” said Fontaine, who lives in Groveland, Mass. A doctor proposed a DNA test, which suggested her fetus was fine, and she now has a healthy 2-month-old daughter, Morgan.

“I wanted to exhaust my options” before risking an amniocentesis. “If something had happened during the procedure, it would have just killed me.”

Research needed

Several independent experts called the new research a good first step, but not enough to warrant using the DNA tests now in the general population.

“It’s encouraging,” but doctors will want to wait for other and larger studies underway now of various fetal DNA tests, said Dr. Nancy Rose, a University of Utah professor who heads the genetics committee of the College of Obstetricians.

Dr. Susan Klugman, director of reproductive genetics at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center, noted that one-third of the women in this study had the DNA testing in their third trimester of pregnancy and said doctors will want to see more evidence of how well DNA testing does in the earliest months.

“And the cost is huge,” Klugman said.

Four companies sell the tests for $1,200 to $2,700, said Bianchi, the study leader, who has consulted for Illumina.

Blood tests used for screening now cost $300 to $400, and an ultrasound costs $200 to $300.

Insurance coverage varies, depending on whether women are at higher risk for having a fetus with chromosome abnormalities, she said.

 


Dr. Huntoon has a single mission:

To support as many people as possible in their quest for health and enable them to improve and maintain their health to the highest level possible, while educating them about the benefits of Chiropractic, Natural Healthcare and Holistic Living, so they in turn can teach others to support us having a healthy community.

Your Choice

Health concerns are a major source of lost happiness and lost joy in all of our lives. Finding a solution that is agreeable and enables you to get back to your life is important. Please appreciate that you always have the more invasive surgery and prescription medication available to you as a last resort. What many Traditional Medical Doctors may not share is, many times, once you begin that journey into medication and/or surgery, it alters your original body from the one that you were born with. Unfortunately, at that time, more conservative and natural treatments may no longer be viable. I encourage you to consider that before making any decisions about treatment for your health. As always I am here to help. 
 
Your Choice:
 
  • Continue doing the same thing and nothing changes or it may get worse

OR

  • Try something different and get a different result that makes you happier and healthier.
 
The Choice is Yours
 
Please call Dr. Huntoon at 845-561-BACK (2225) to discuss your options or click on our E-Visit to do it via e-mail. 
 
Thank You for your consideration.

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