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BIO015 - Intro To Genes Unit 6: Predictive Medicine - OPEN University

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Open University

SK195_6
4 Hours 

Level
Introductory

Course Home (Click Here)

Course Description

In this unit you will learn how advances in genetics could change the way in which diseases are diagnosed and managed. The advent of predictive medicine, based on more detailed DNA profiling of individual genotypes using technologies like gene chips, rather than screening for one gene at a time, may shift the relationship between doctor and patient. People will be seeking advice on how to manage their susceptibilities or genetic risks, rather than looking for treatment for an already existing disorder.

Learning Outcomes

After studying this unit you should understand:

  • some of the ways in which genetic knowledge could affect medical practice, in particular in relation to predictive medicine
  • how populations are screened for conditions such as phenylketonuria and whether screening could be used for carriers of recessive genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis
  • how gene chips may be used to screen for large numbers of genes at once, making it possible to predict the likelihood of developing certain diseases and how people may react to such predictions
  • the implications for the health services


 

Introduction

  • Introduction Resource
  • In this unit you will learn how advances in genetics could change the way in which diseases are diagnosed and managed. The advent of predictive medicine, based on more detailed DNA profiling of individual...

 

Genetics and health care

  • What is the future of health care? Resource
  • When someone in the UK visits their GP for a flu jab, to confirm a pregnancy, or to report an unexpected pain, they know that behind him or her stands a vast system for diagnosis, treatment or prevention...
  • 1 Predictive medicine? Resource
  • Some experts now suggest that new knowledge of human genetics is likely to transform medical practice. They propose three main possibilities:
  • 2 Population screening for genetic disease: the precedents Resource
  • Knowing about particular genes, or their effects, also permits screening – the search in a population for persons with certain genotypes that are associated with a particular disease. Thus the test may...
  • 3 Scaling up Resource
  • They may look at dozens of alleles, and involve thousands of people, but existing screening programmes have been concerned with individual genes. But the technologies now being developed will soon permit...
  • 4 Current UK provision Resource
  • One way of describing the organizational shift that the advent of predictive medicine would demand is to suggest that genetics would become a general, rather than a specialist service. But it is much easier...
  • Summary Resource
  • When we read about genetics and the future of medicine, we should also think about genetics and the future of health services that have to deliver medical care. The advent of predictive medicine, based...

 

References and Acknowledgements

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Copyright 2007, by the Contributing Authors. Cite/attribute Resource. administrator. (2010, January 30). Intro To Genes Unit 6: Predictive Medicine - OPEN University. Retrieved March 12, 2010, from Free University Courses OCW Courses OpenCourseWare Freeversity Foundation Web site: http://freeversity.org/science-and-mathematics/biology/predictive-medicine-open-university. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons License