Comments for The Genetic Genealogist http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com Adding DNA to the Genealogist's Toolbox Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:48:08 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on Is Genetic Genealogy A Scam? by Kate http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2007/04/25/is-genetic-genealogy-a-scam/comment-page-1/#comment-5793 Kate Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:48:08 +0000 http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2007/04/25/is-genetic-genealogy-a-scam/#comment-5793 DNA Tribes is a scam! I carried out the test - on my mothers side I can go back about 400 years in England to small villages and on my fathers side it is the same other than one ancestor who came from Finland to England in the 1920s and who I know little about. My top results for native population indicated that I am was either from Karamuja Uganda (I don't even know what that is), Southern Tunisia (I wonder why not North?) and Maghrebi. My global population match results where Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (before doing the test I stupidly thought Rio would not have one population seeing as it is one of the most multi-ethnic cities in the world), Toscana, Italy and Costa Rica. While I would like to believe that my Ugandan ancestors migrated to Toscana 1000 years ago and then moved to Brazil before settling in Belton, Norfolk 400 years ago as rural farmers it is probably not the case. DNA Tribes is a scam! I carried out the test – on my mothers side I can go back about 400 years in England to small villages and on my fathers side it is the same other than one ancestor who came from Finland to England in the 1920s and who I know little about.

My top results for native population indicated that I am was either from Karamuja Uganda (I don’t even know what that is), Southern Tunisia (I wonder why not North?) and Maghrebi. My global population match results where Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (before doing the test I stupidly thought Rio would not have one population seeing as it is one of the most multi-ethnic cities in the world), Toscana, Italy and Costa Rica.

While I would like to believe that my Ugandan ancestors migrated to Toscana 1000 years ago and then moved to Brazil before settling in Belton, Norfolk 400 years ago as rural farmers it is probably not the case.

]]> Comment on DNA Testing of New York’s New Governor David Paterson by Helen http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2008/03/14/dna-testing-of-new-yorks-new-governor-david-paterson/comment-page-1/#comment-5778 Helen Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:21:49 +0000 http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2008/03/14/dna-testing-of-new-yorks-new-governor-david-paterson/#comment-5778 To KB: How do you know that he has no Jewish Ancestors? To KB: How do you know that he has no Jewish Ancestors?

]]> Comment on DNA Testing of New York’s New Governor David Paterson by Helen http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2008/03/14/dna-testing-of-new-yorks-new-governor-david-paterson/comment-page-1/#comment-5777 Helen Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:18:24 +0000 http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2008/03/14/dna-testing-of-new-yorks-new-governor-david-paterson/#comment-5777 If the U.S. Government apologized for slavery, wouldn't that mean that some of the apologists were apologizing to themselves? If the U.S. Government apologized for slavery, wouldn’t that mean that some of the apologists were apologizing to themselves?

]]> Comment on Using mtDNA to Suggest Kinship – A Case Example Involving Lucille Ball by charlie http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2009/07/13/using-mtdna-to-suggest-kinship-a-case-example-involving-lucille-ball/comment-page-1/#comment-5776 charlie Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:24:14 +0000 http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/?p=953#comment-5776 Heres my question. This so called lost daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz was born in 1947. Lucile Ball divorced Desi in 1960 and married Gary Morton in 1961. in 1961 the daughter would have been 14 years old. Now I know that i remember things well from when i was 14 and so does everyone else. How is it that she cannot positively say it was actually Lucy because at the time Lucille Ball was on television a lot so everyone knew who she was and the daughter was 14 i think thats old enough for someone to remember seeing Lucille Ball when they were 14. instead of saying some woman named mrs morton why couldn't she just say it WAS Lucille? Heres my question. This so called lost daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz was born in 1947. Lucile Ball divorced Desi in 1960 and married Gary Morton in 1961. in 1961 the daughter would have been 14 years old. Now I know that i remember things well from when i was 14 and so does everyone else. How is it that she cannot positively say it was actually Lucy because at the time Lucille Ball was on television a lot so everyone knew who she was and the daughter was 14 i think thats old enough for someone to remember seeing Lucille Ball when they were 14. instead of saying some woman named mrs morton why couldn’t she just say it WAS Lucille?

]]> Comment on Sequencing the Genome of Sitting Bull and Other Famous People by Blaine Bettinger http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2010/08/22/sequencing-the-genome-of-sitting-bull-and-other-famous-people/comment-page-1/#comment-5736 Blaine Bettinger Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:04:12 +0000 http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/?p=1364#comment-5736 Howard - that really is terrible. From what I've read over the past few days, Sitting Bull's remains have a long history of being disturbed. Hopefully they are under better protection now. Howard – that really is terrible. From what I’ve read over the past few days, Sitting Bull’s remains have a long history of being disturbed. Hopefully they are under better protection now.

]]> Comment on Sequencing the Genome of Sitting Bull and Other Famous People by Howard Wolinsky http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2010/08/22/sequencing-the-genome-of-sitting-bull-and-other-famous-people/comment-page-1/#comment-5735 Howard Wolinsky Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:44:41 +0000 http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/?p=1364#comment-5735 Good thing they preserved Sitting Bull's hair sample. The location of his remains may be in doubt. I visited the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation back in the 1970s. A local took us to Sitting Bull's gravesite. We (my wife and I) were stunned to hear that stealing Sitting Bull's bones was a local sport involving service clubs from either side of the North/South Dakota border. Good thing they preserved Sitting Bull’s hair sample.
The location of his remains may be in doubt.
I visited the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation back in the 1970s. A local took us to Sitting Bull’s gravesite. We (my wife and I) were stunned to hear that stealing Sitting Bull’s bones was a local sport involving service clubs from either side of the North/South Dakota border.

]]> Comment on Exploring New Scientific Research With My Genotype In Hand by Keith Grimaldi http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2010/08/21/exploring-new-scientific-research-with-my-genotype-in-hand/comment-page-1/#comment-5734 Keith Grimaldi Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:44:29 +0000 http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/?p=1354#comment-5734 And here is another that I just found today, hot off the presses: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20729761 There is mounting evidence that it may be useful to learn the genotype status of children. The "L" seems to be protected from stressful events, as far as developing certain symptoms are concerned, while "S" need to be protected from them. It's not clear though that here we have a "good" and a "bad" version. Phew I'm not SS in not necessarily the right thing to say. The L allele is associated for some reason with longer term problems like heart disease, and maybe also the depression of an L person is deeper than an S (don't have refs to hand, can dig them out). Is the S advantage that is reacts quickly to stressful events with certain symptoms, and can reverse the progression to serious problems more easily? Does the L person apparently cope better with stress or is he/she holding it in and building up deeper problems for later? The whole area is very interesting - the field has similar problems with complex common diseases in the sense that defining phenotypes is not so easy - "heart disease" or "type 2 diabetes" are not single phenotypes, nor is depression. So we look for intermediate phenotypes like cholesterol, inflammation, etc, markers, in the hope that modifying them will prevent the disease. Psychiatry looks at anxiety, sleep disturbance, etc, and the results are more consistent than when looking at depression. Of course being psychiatry a new name was needed . endophenotype (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endophenotype) And here is another that I just found today, hot off the presses:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20729761

There is mounting evidence that it may be useful to learn the genotype status of children. The “L” seems to be protected from stressful events, as far as developing certain symptoms are concerned, while “S” need to be protected from them.

It’s not clear though that here we have a “good” and a “bad” version. Phew I’m not SS in not necessarily the right thing to say. The L allele is associated for some reason with longer term problems like heart disease, and maybe also the depression of an L person is deeper than an S (don’t have refs to hand, can dig them out).

Is the S advantage that is reacts quickly to stressful events with certain symptoms, and can reverse the progression to serious problems more easily? Does the L person apparently cope better with stress or is he/she holding it in and building up deeper problems for later?

The whole area is very interesting – the field has similar problems with complex common diseases in the sense that defining phenotypes is not so easy – “heart disease” or “type 2 diabetes” are not single phenotypes, nor is depression. So we look for intermediate phenotypes like cholesterol, inflammation, etc, markers, in the hope that modifying them will prevent the disease. Psychiatry looks at anxiety, sleep disturbance, etc, and the results are more consistent than when looking at depression. Of course being psychiatry a new name was needed . endophenotype (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endophenotype)

]]> Comment on Sequencing the Genome of Sitting Bull and Other Famous People by Blaine Bettinger http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2010/08/22/sequencing-the-genome-of-sitting-bull-and-other-famous-people/comment-page-1/#comment-5730 Blaine Bettinger Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:49:41 +0000 http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/?p=1364#comment-5730 American Biotechnologist raises yet another interesting question at http://www.americanbiotechnologist.com/blog/sequencing-sitting-bull/: is sequencing Sitting Bull's genome (presumably) using public funding a waste of money? Would it be better spent sequencing the genome of someone with a rare genetic disorder, for example? The author also wonders whether glitzy genome projects will raise awareness in the public, eventually leading to increased support and funding. American Biotechnologist raises yet another interesting question at http://www.americanbiotechnologist.com/blog/sequencing-sitting-bull/: is sequencing Sitting Bull’s genome (presumably) using public funding a waste of money? Would it be better spent sequencing the genome of someone with a rare genetic disorder, for example? The author also wonders whether glitzy genome projects will raise awareness in the public, eventually leading to increased support and funding.

]]> Comment on Sequencing the Genome of Sitting Bull and Other Famous People by abadidea http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2010/08/22/sequencing-the-genome-of-sitting-bull-and-other-famous-people/comment-page-1/#comment-5722 abadidea Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:54:15 +0000 http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/?p=1364#comment-5722 IMHO he died recently enough (120 years ago) that consulting with his family is ethically important. There is also the issue that respect for the dead varies substantially between cultures and you can't just write that off. Personally I wouldn't hesitate to provide permission to sequence any of my ancestors. My grandmother tells me I'm a Scottish princess; I'd love proof... not that it'd be useful for anything. IMHO he died recently enough (120 years ago) that consulting with his family is ethically important. There is also the issue that respect for the dead varies substantially between cultures and you can’t just write that off. Personally I wouldn’t hesitate to provide permission to sequence any of my ancestors. My grandmother tells me I’m a Scottish princess; I’d love proof… not that it’d be useful for anything.

]]> Comment on Sequencing the Genome of Sitting Bull and Other Famous People by Daily Data Dump – Monday | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2010/08/22/sequencing-the-genome-of-sitting-bull-and-other-famous-people/comment-page-1/#comment-5714 Daily Data Dump – Monday | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:07:12 +0000 http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/?p=1364#comment-5714 [...] Sequencing the Genome of Sitting Bull and Other Famous People. Serpentor is on the way! [...] [...] Sequencing the Genome of Sitting Bull and Other Famous People. Serpentor is on the way! [...]

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