Ashley Timmreck
Dr. Sherrin Frances
English 212
23 July 2016
Personalized Medicine: Classifying Data for use in the Clinical Setting In the past 10 years, the area of genetics has undergone a huge transformation, and many discoveries regarding our DNA, genome, and other aspects of our development have been made. The developments of new technologies, which can sequence our entire genetic sequence in very short periods of time, have caused a major influx of data to the medical field. Researchers are now beginning to think about how all of this data should be organized in order to make it possible to implement discoveries from each genome sequencing into the clinical setting. Looking at the different aspects of hierarchies and rhizomal networks, …show more content…
Personalized medicine, for those who do not know, is using a person’s genome sequence (sometimes their exome, or a single gene) to make decisions regarding their health and lifestyle. Moalem shares with us a story about a man who was told to eat more fruit by his doctor to improve his lifestyle, and he almost died. He shares with us that “Jeff” had a rare genetic condition called HFI, or hereditary fructose intolerance, that didn’t allow his body to break down fructose, which is the natural sugar in fruits (Moalem 3). In this scenario, “Jeff”, who was eating lots of protein and “unhealthy” foods at his work as a chef, actually was harmed by eating the “healthier” foods the doctor had originally suggested. Personalized medicine works to ensure that this doesn’t happen, as many deaths in the US are caused by preventable medical …show more content…
Lima tells us about two different ways to organize: in hierarchies and in rhizome networks. In a hierarchy, there is a main trunk, with branches splitting off from one another, getting narrower, and more specialized the further up the tree and branches you go. In a rhizomal network, however, it is easier to see connections between different aspects of the information. Data doesn’t necessarily have to fit in specific categories, and one item can lead to many others, instead of being stuck on one branch (Lima). Before the concept of personalized medicine was imagined, data classification in the medical field was mostly based on a hierarchy, with doctors treating everyone at the same basic standard, looking at symptoms, body type, and age to determine a diagnosis. While this was mostly effective, sometimes, as we saw with Jeff earlier with his disorder, sometimes an apple a day won’t keep the doctor way. Basic medical diagnosis on the “average” is no longer good
Dr. Sherrin Frances
English 212
23 July 2016
Personalized Medicine: Classifying Data for use in the Clinical Setting In the past 10 years, the area of genetics has undergone a huge transformation, and many discoveries regarding our DNA, genome, and other aspects of our development have been made. The developments of new technologies, which can sequence our entire genetic sequence in very short periods of time, have caused a major influx of data to the medical field. Researchers are now beginning to think about how all of this data should be organized in order to make it possible to implement discoveries from each genome sequencing into the clinical setting. Looking at the different aspects of hierarchies and rhizomal networks, …show more content…
Personalized medicine, for those who do not know, is using a person’s genome sequence (sometimes their exome, or a single gene) to make decisions regarding their health and lifestyle. Moalem shares with us a story about a man who was told to eat more fruit by his doctor to improve his lifestyle, and he almost died. He shares with us that “Jeff” had a rare genetic condition called HFI, or hereditary fructose intolerance, that didn’t allow his body to break down fructose, which is the natural sugar in fruits (Moalem 3). In this scenario, “Jeff”, who was eating lots of protein and “unhealthy” foods at his work as a chef, actually was harmed by eating the “healthier” foods the doctor had originally suggested. Personalized medicine works to ensure that this doesn’t happen, as many deaths in the US are caused by preventable medical …show more content…
Lima tells us about two different ways to organize: in hierarchies and in rhizome networks. In a hierarchy, there is a main trunk, with branches splitting off from one another, getting narrower, and more specialized the further up the tree and branches you go. In a rhizomal network, however, it is easier to see connections between different aspects of the information. Data doesn’t necessarily have to fit in specific categories, and one item can lead to many others, instead of being stuck on one branch (Lima). Before the concept of personalized medicine was imagined, data classification in the medical field was mostly based on a hierarchy, with doctors treating everyone at the same basic standard, looking at symptoms, body type, and age to determine a diagnosis. While this was mostly effective, sometimes, as we saw with Jeff earlier with his disorder, sometimes an apple a day won’t keep the doctor way. Basic medical diagnosis on the “average” is no longer good