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Biotech Science

Pattern Recognition Software Enables MS Blood Test 52

Posted by timothy from the not-that-other-ms dept.
ProteomicsWizard writes "Using proteomic spectral pattern recognition software, scientists have described a way to diagnose Multiple Sclerosis from a blood sample. The technology is applicable to other diseases including various cancers. With the technology available for identifying uncureable diseases before they manifest themselves, would you want to know?"
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Pattern Recognition Software Enables MS Blood Test More

Pattern Recognition Software Enables MS Blood Test

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  • It goes without saying that early diagnosis and treatment will give you the best chances by far for the longest and healthiest survival.

  • Microsoft Blood Test (Score:5, Funny)

    by Paul Slocum ( 598127 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @02:29PM (#12068439) Homepage Journal
    My first thought when I read the title. Guess that's a sign of too much Slashdot.
    • Me too. I was thinking microsoft bloodtest XP 2005 premium edition, bloodtest Office 2005, bloodtest streets and maps 2005.

    • Clippy (Score:2, Funny)

      by Rufus88 ( 748752 )
      "It looks like you're trying to perform an AIDS test. Would you like me to contact all your sexual partners for the past 5 years?"

      • Re:Clippy (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        "Would you like me to contact all your sexual partners for the past 5 years?"

        Oh, I see you don't have any. *giggle*. Nevermind.
        HA HA HA *ROTFL* HA HA HA HA...... Sorry.
    • to determine whether you're genetically predisposed to use Windows? I haven't had the test, but I'm pretty sure that I'm not.
    • I've got PSP on the brain, so I was thinking Memory Stick. :)
    • It needs a fairly powerful computer, like IBM's 'deep blue', that finds out if you've got anything deadly (or other things, like MS) by running a simple screening test, it's known as the MS [Deep] Blue Screen[ing] of Death :-p

      yeah that was tough...

      -2A

  • Ignorance is Bliss? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Elledan ( 582730 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @02:36PM (#12068511) Homepage
    "With the technology available for identifying uncureable diseases before they manifest themselves, would you want to know?"

    When a cure or treatment is available: usually yes.

    If no cure or treatment is available things become a bit less clear, but what if by the time the illness manifests itself, a cure is available, but it's only effective prior to the first symptoms?

    Sometimes ignorance kills.
    • what if by the time the illness manifests itself, a cure is available, but it's only effective prior to the first symptoms?
      Sounds like a really good reason for people at risk of getting MS to enroll in studies to determine exactly that.

  • Yes, but... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Schezar ( 249629 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @02:37PM (#12068522) Homepage Journal
    I would definitly want to know. That way, I could either get the best help as early as possible in order to extend my enjoyable life or, were the time left found to be short, quit my job and go on a bender.

    But...

    I would want strict legislation preventing corporations/insurance providers/employers from getting the results of said tests. You can't tell me with a straight face they wouldn't use such information in hiring/coverage decisions.
    • Of course they would. Insurance is the art of handicapping, just like horse racing or any other form of betting. They are betting that you won't get seriously ill, and you are betting that you will.

      The insurance company must make sure to always have the odds in their favor, to act otherwise is counter to what an insurance company is.

      I'm not sure why people get the misconception that insurance companies are something they aren't. You are simply placing a bet, and the odds are for the house.

    • I would definitly want to know....

      But...

      I would want strict legislation preventing corporations/insurance providers/employers from getting the results of said tests.

      Insurance is based on risk; when you buy insurance you are essentially placing a bet that you will have a claim and the insurance company is betting against you that you won't. The oddsmakers are the actuaries.

      If you could find out with high certainty that you would or would not get a particular disease, you would only buy insurance for


      • If you could find out with high certainty that you would or would not get a particular disease, you would only buy insurance for those risks which apply to you

        Extremely doubtfull that any majority of people would take this approach. You assume people buy insurance only as a purely rational, non-emotional financial decision, and not for something more intangible like "peace of mind". I think the majority of people will still get the same insurance even if they know they're at low risk for heart disease
    • a) corporations should be able to choose not to hire someone who's gonna die half way through their work, leaving them having to re-hire, re-train, etc etc.

      b) insurance companies don't need the information. You sign something saying "I don't have any blah-blah" - if anything happens to you, and it turns out that you do have blah-blah, then your insurance in void... all of it... even if 'blah-blah' is cancer and you've just been hit by a car, you illegally signed a document, therefore, there is no contract.

      • corporations should be able to choose not to hire someone who's gonna die half way through their work, leaving them having to re-hire, re-train, etc etc.

        anything happens to you, and it turns out that you do have blah-blah, then your insurance in void

        I can see your point, but all that means is that society will have to either implement national health care or legislate that insurance companies can't ask the question at all.

        In addition, a high probability for a fatal disease would have to be conside

        • wow... (Score:1)

          by x2A ( 858210 )
          ...you guys really are scared! People going on a killing spree cuz they're going to die anyway? Maybe not being bought up in a gun culture is responsible for me not having even thought along those lines, not to mention the difference in terrorism perception and the spread of fear.

          People who go round gunning people down, I doubt they really need an excuse, especially one like "damn, I'm wheelchair bound and have very little energy cuz I have MS, think I'm gonna kill lotsa people".

          I'd really look into the w

          • Actually, I'm not scared at all. Unfortunatly, humanitarian arguments only go so far these days. So perhaps diverting some of that massive stream of cash being wasted on airport endoscopes and such to a useful purpose by pointing out the anti-terrorism aspects is in order.

            However, in general civil unrest and violence is a natural consequence of disenfranchising a significant portion of the population. Further in any group of 1 million people in such a situation, at least one of them is likely to have soci

            • Your government and your media are your terrorists, they're the one's deliberately spreading the terror, and the american public lap it up. I don't understand what you mean about diverting money, diverting it to where? I agree it needs diverting, what's the proportion of money spend on the so called anti-terrorism compared to say, anti-drink-driving? If you compare how many each has killed in America over the past 5 years, the money becomes a joke.

              When atoms get too big, they divide. When cells grow past a

              • I mean diverting the anti-terrorism money to healthcare and a functional social safety net. That would do a great deal more for people's well being. The majority of the funds being spent on anti-terrorism are in reality just going towards expensive security theater so polititians can claim they are 'doing something' about 'the problem'.

                I agree fully that the media and government here are the terrorists (we even have a color coded scale to tell us how terrified we 'should' be!). I have given up watching te

  • MSBloodTest (Score:1, Redundant)

    by MarkGriz ( 520778 )
    So that's what they're calling it now.

    I guess "Next Generation Secure Computing Base" was too much of a mouthful.
    • "Please enter your product code, which is stored within your DNA. To do this, please place your finger into your CD/DVD drive, and JAM IT REALLY HARD!"

      If anyone wants the .torrent for my DNA string, jus' lemme know, works for 2000, XP Pro/Corp, and 2003 Advanced Server.

      -2A

  • Hell YES! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by HotButteredHampster ( 614950 ) <.s.biickert. .at. .shaw.ca.> on Monday March 28, 2005 @02:56PM (#12068747) Homepage
    I would feel so stupid if I had the opportunity to know what would kill me and not taken it and the opportunity to take steps to rectify it. Yes, MS is incurable, but "incurable" is only a measure of our current knowledge and ability, not an absolute. Also, some things such as cancer are measures of risk factors, and can be avoided by behaviour modification.

    "Incurable" has a way of changing pretty quickly. Imagine, if you will, the amount of money which would be pumped into MS research if a sitting President found himself (or herself) on the road to developing it?

    Knowledge is power.

    HBH
    • Some kinds of cancer may be avoidable by living in a bubble, but you can bet your ass that whatever prevents one kind can promote another. Any cell can become a malignant, and in many cancers, there's a strong genetic component. In other words, you picked the wrong parents, and no amount of behavior modification will prevent you from getting it, short of offing yourself before it happens. That said, the sooner you know, the better your chances are of removing the abnormal tissue or starting chemo and pro

  • It's only 50 people, folks... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by wherrera ( 235520 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @03:08PM (#12068888) Journal
    This is a good prelminary result, but we know from experience with other blood tests for disease states that these tests have to be verified with many different types of healthy and sick groups of people before the test can be considered a good one. For example, is this really just a test for active myelin breakdown? There are urine tests for that already, and they have their problems with sensitivity and specificity.

    That said, it would be nice to have a cheap, reliable blood test for MS (multiple sclerosis not Micro$oft) ;-).

  • Sure that's not Microsoft? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by justanyone ( 308934 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @03:14PM (#12068964) Homepage Journal

    Remember:
    * MS == Microsoft
    * MS == Multiple Sclerosis
    * MS == Mississippi

    All 3 of these require more education spending to combat evil.

  • life insurance? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by klossner ( 733867 )
    If you learn you have this problem, then you can no longer check "no health problems" when applying for life insurance. Otherwise it's fraud -- if the insurer discovers it, they might not pay when you die.
    • "If you learn you have this problem, then you can no longer check "no health problems" when applying for life insurance. Otherwise it's fraud -- if the insurer discovers it, they might not pay when you die."

      Life insurance? MS needs treatment ASAP. Life Insurance is not foremost on one's mind when they find out they've got it.

      I know. My girlfriend has it. Frankly, proving she has it so she can get on disability has been a real bitch. We'd love to have this test: a.) right now and b.) recognized by co
      • The importance of insurance surely depends on where you live. If you live in the civilized world, then no it's not important. But, if you live in the corporate world, no insurance = no treatment.

        -2A
      • You may already have heard about this, but I want to pass it along. Some people say it is bunk, and to be honest, I don't know of any formal medical testing which has been done to support it one way or the other, so research it yourself if you haven't already, and you and your girlfriend make the decision. Personally, if it was me who was diagnosed with MS, I would give it a shot if I thought it was the case.

        I know of a person, a neighbor kid in school who lived a few houses down - his mother had MS - real

  • Complexity and Supercomputers (Score:3, Funny)

    by CaptainRon ( 128195 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @05:27PM (#12070637) Journal
    The BANF site describes the technology as using "a complex mathematical processes and supercomputers to ensure the highest level of accuracy and quality control." Do any in the /. community believe that a complex mathematical process and supercomputers actually ensure quality control?

  • 'Scuse me while I puke.

    Dammit, is there no sense of trying to do a public service without charging an arm and a leg just to be able to read that maybe, 10 years down the road after they and the FDA have seen to it that all the money they can milk out of the test proof has been spent, there maybe might be a test for it thats quick, simple and no more invasive than me checking my sugar?

    I have no argument with paying for the product, and/or test materials, ever. The people who do the research really should
    • To charge me 40 dollars + tax just to read the paper once, is IMO just plain greedier than Boss Hog ever thought on being.

      no one's charging you anything. Just because the online version from the publisher's website costs, doesn't mean that you can't get access to the article for free. Just go to any decent college library and read it off the shelf. You can even spend 5 cents per page and take a copy home with you for less than a dollar. journals have to finance their publication somehow, and selling s
      • My comment stands. The so-called press release is nothing more than advertising to me. Yes, potentially important data to those who are or may be so afflicted.

        As advertising is a gamble on the future sales achievable by the product, I'll be damned if I'll pay to read what is nothing but advertizing and future conjecture.

        And now I see that I'm not logged in, WTCF?

        --
        Cheers, Gene
        "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
        soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
        -Ed Howdershelt

  • Knowing can be good (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mutterc ( 828335 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @10:04PM (#12072865)
    "What to Expect When You're Expecting" has some info on this kind of dilemma; they are addressing the question of "why bother with these tests for birth defects, if abortion is not an option?"

    They give several reasons; the one that sticks out in my mind is that a positive test can tell you to start making the (emotional, financial, etc.) preparations for raising a "special needs" child.

  • When I first read the headline of this article on the RSS feed, I was thinking that Microsoft had gotten into the blood market. :)
  • Protein biomarker analysis is still very much in its infancy, and while the results to date have been promising, the sample sizes have been small and the data quality frequently problematic.

    For example, early protein biomarker datasets for ovarian cancer detection were a catalog of artefacts, and even today many analyses are run on datasets that have not had proper feature detection done on them. This results in the discovery of "patterns" that involve structures that are clearly non-physical (for example

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