{"id":235,"date":"2012-11-12T16:44:02","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T16:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genotopia.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=235"},"modified":"2012-11-12T23:58:08","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T23:58:08","slug":"life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/235\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"Life imitates satire&#8211;and scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two recent items, one funny, one thoughtful:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Over at <a href=\"http:\/\/cognoscenti.wbur.org\" target=\"_blank\">Cognoscenti<\/a>, a blog sponsored by WBUR in Boston, Darshak Sanghavi writes about the <a href=\"http:\/\/cognoscenti.wbur.org\/2012\/11\/12\/meta-analysis-medicine-darshak-sanghavi\" target=\"_blank\">problems with meta-analysis of clinical trials<\/a>. I agree with the basic principle that meta-analyses need to be handled with more care than they probably are, but I smiled when I reached the end:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">The researchers found the meta-analyses would have led doctors to adopt useless treatments one-third of the time, and to reject helpful therapies another one-third of the time. After this debacle, why would anyone take the findings of meta-analyses very seriously?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">Unfortunately, people do. In only the past month, various meta-analyses have been published in all manner of medical journals, arguing the magnesium can\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nutraingredients-usa.com\/Research\/Magnesium-may-reduce-colon-cancer-risk-Meta-analysis\">cut colon cancer rates<\/a>, new drugs\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theheart.org\/article\/1460611.do\">stop clots<\/a>\u00a0in heart rhythm problems, cholesterol drugs\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.healio.com\/gastroenterology\/oncology\/news\/online\/%7B305830CB-5782-416C-8C73-C8D98CDE9DFB%7D\/Statin-use-may-protect-against-esophageal-cancer\">reduce cancer<\/a>, and my recent favorite, that a gene called Pol-9\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/231\/republican-gene-identified\/\">turns people into Republicans<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">Pol-9, of course, was invented here at Genotopia, where truth lies. Sanghavi apparently didn&#8217;t get the pun of the specific allele involved being called Bol-X (&#8220;bollocks&#8221;). <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kUSqdrqTSQ0\" target=\"_blank\">Never mind the meta-analysis: here&#8217;s the satire<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">We live for such moments.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Second, over at<a href=\"http:\/\/thednaexchange.com\" target=\"_blank\"> The DNA Exchange<\/a>, the genetic counselor Bob Resta has written another trenchant reflection on the profession he loves, titled provocatively,<a href=\"http:\/\/thednaexchange.com\/2012\/11\/11\/resistance-is-futile-a-new-paradigm-for-genetic-counseling\/\" target=\"_blank\"> &#8220;Resistance is futile: a new paradigm for genetic counseling?&#8221;<\/a>. Genetic counseling began as a way to help patients cope with genetic disease (as well as determine paternity and racial membership). Is the rapidly dropping cost of genetic testing leading to a situation in which everyone is a patient? Is this a good thing?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">As I write in<em><a title=\"Read the Preface\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/the-science-of-human-perfection\/\" target=\"_blank\"> The Science of Human Perfection<\/a><\/em>, elite biomedicine is indeed leading directly to such a situation. The Dean of Education at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine said recently that a principal goal of genetic medicine was to identify &#8220;latent disease,&#8221; and treat it before it starts. When I asked him who, under that scenario, was a patient, he smiled broadly and said, &#8220;We are all patients now.&#8221; I find this not a little creepy, and so does Bob.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">Full disclosure: Bob&#8217;s piece concludes with a nice plug of my book and Alexandra Stern&#8217;s new history of genetic counseling, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Telling-Genes-Genetic-Counseling-America\/dp\/1421406675\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1352738078&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=telling+genes\" target=\"_blank\">Telling Genes<\/a><\/em> (which I plan to review here soon). Aside from whatever nepotism is called when it&#8217;s between colleagues, Bob&#8217;s piece is important reading.<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE: Here&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/nursingclio.org\/2012\/11\/12\/what-does-responsibility-have-to-do-with-reproduction\/\" target=\"_blank\">another article on eugenics and genetic counseling<\/a>, just out today, from blogger Adam Turner.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two recent items, one funny, one thoughtful: Over at Cognoscenti, a blog sponsored by WBUR in Boston, Darshak Sanghavi writes about the problems with meta-analysis of clinical trials. I agree with the basic principle that meta-analyses need to be handled with more care than they probably are, but I smiled when I reached the end: &#8230; <a title=\"Life imitates satire&#8211;and scholarship\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/235\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Life imitates satire&#8211;and scholarship\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Life imitates satire-and scholarship - Genotopia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/235\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life imitates satire--and scholarship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two recent items, one funny, one thoughtful: Over at Cognoscenti, a blog sponsored by WBUR in Boston, Darshak Sanghavi writes about the problems with meta-analysis of clinical trials. I agree with the basic principle that meta-analyses need to be handled with more care than they probably are, but I smiled when I reached the end: ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/235\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Genotopia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-12T16:44:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-12T23:58:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathaniel Comfort\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathaniel Comfort\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/235\\\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/235\\\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nathaniel Comfort\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41\"},\"headline\":\"Life imitates satire&#8211;and scholarship\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-12T16:44:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-12T23:58:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/235\\\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":414,\"commentCount\":1,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/235\\\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2012\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/235\\\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/235\\\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\\\/\",\"name\":\"Life imitates satire-and scholarship - Genotopia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-12T16:44:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-12T23:58:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/235\\\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/235\\\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/235\\\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Life imitates satire&#8211;and scholarship\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/\",\"name\":\"Genotopia\",\"description\":\"Here Lies Truth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1678c350e13f229dfc3ce10d37d5ef41\",\"name\":\"Nathaniel Comfort\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/92625f3c761b7e3f723c76a73bc4328259839fbe8530a221b68040b9b4483a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nathaniel Comfort\"},\"description\":\"Nathaniel Comfort is a professor in the Department of the History of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University. From 1997 to 2002, he was on the history faculty at The George Washington University, where he also served as Deputy Director of the Center for History of Recent Science. The Center\u2019s director and founder was Horace Freeland Judson (The Eighth Day of Creation), who, along with John McPhee and Monty Python, Comfort considers among his biggest writing influences. Comfort\u2019s books include The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine (Yale, 2012), The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock\u2019s Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control (Harvard, 2001), and the edited volume, The Panda\u2019s Black Box: Opening Up the Intelligent Design Debate (Johns Hopkins, 2007). In addition to scholarly articles, he has written for Natural History, the New York Times Book Review, National Public Radio, Nature, Science, New Scientist, The Believer, and other publications. Should he expire tomorrow, he would be survived, in decreasing size order, by a son, a wife, a daughter, a dog, a cat, another cat, and still another cat.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/genotopia.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/genotopia\\\/author\\\/genotopia\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Life imitates satire-and scholarship - Genotopia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/235\/life-imitates-satire-and-scholarship\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Life imitates satire--and scholarship","og_description":"Two recent items, one funny, one thoughtful: Over at Cognoscenti, a blog sponsored by WBUR in Boston, Darshak Sanghavi writes about the problems with meta-analysis of clinical trials. 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From 1997 to 2002, he was on the history faculty at The George Washington University, where he also served as Deputy Director of the Center for History of Recent Science. The Center\u2019s director and founder was Horace Freeland Judson (The Eighth Day of Creation), who, along with John McPhee and Monty Python, Comfort considers among his biggest writing influences. Comfort\u2019s books include The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine (Yale, 2012), The Tangled Field: Barbara McClintock\u2019s Search for the Patterns of Genetic Control (Harvard, 2001), and the edited volume, The Panda\u2019s Black Box: Opening Up the Intelligent Design Debate (Johns Hopkins, 2007). In addition to scholarly articles, he has written for Natural History, the New York Times Book Review, National Public Radio, Nature, Science, New Scientist, The Believer, and other publications. Should he expire tomorrow, he would be survived, in decreasing size order, by a son, a wife, a daughter, a dog, a cat, another cat, and still another cat.","sameAs":["http:\/\/genotopia.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/author\/genotopia\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtNP1-3N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/genotopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}