TYHealth2015PersonalizedMedicine

A | To Your Health! The Scarsdale Inquirer | Friday, October 9, 2015
Move in Before November 30, 2013 and
For more information or to schedule a tour, please call:
Doron Kathein at 914-761-8100 x 7151
dkathein@esplanadewhiteplains.com
H $500 Welcome to Your New Home Discount
HH Move in Before December 31, 2015 and
We Will Reduce Your Monthly Rent by $500 on 1BR Apt
HHH (1BR Prices Start st $3,800 & Studios at $2,400)
Offer applies to White Plains location only.
*Discount of $500 applies on 1br apartments only. $500 discount offer on studio
apartments. Offer applicable to new residents & require one year lease agreement.
**Limited time offer; offer subject to change.
***Price reflects discounts of $500/1br & $500/studio
Doron Kathein at 914-761-8100 x 7151 cell: 914-327-6725
With exciting new plan choices, new
lower rates on many of our popular
plans and a brand new hearing aid
benefit, MVP’s Medicare Advantage
plans are looking better than ever for 2016.
MVP is bringing
more to Medicare
Learn how
you can get a
hearing aid
for as little as
$699!
The annual election period for MVP Health Care Medicare Advantage health plans
is Oct. 15–Dec. 7, 2015.
MVP Health Plan, Inc. is an HMO-POS/PPO/MSA organization with a Medicare con-
tract. Enrollment in MVP Health Plan depends on contract renewal. This information
is not a complete description of benefits. Contact the plan for more information.
Limitations, copayments, and restrictions may apply. Benefits, premiums and/or
copayments/coinsurance may change on January 1 of each year. You must continue
to pay your Medicare Part B premium. Medicare evaluates plans based on a 5-star
rating system. Star Ratings are calculated each year and may change from one year
to the next.
Y0051_2801 Accepted 09/2015
Call 1-888-713-5536
Monday–Friday, 8 am to 8 pm ET
From October 1–February 14, call seven days
a week, 8 am–8 pm or TTY: 1-800-662-1220
Visit MVPcanhelp.com
Did you know almost 1 out of 3
people in America will develop shin-
gles in their lifetime? A whopping 1
million Americans experience the
condition each year, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention. Understanding the early signs
and symptoms can help you protect
yourself and loved ones and may en-
able you to enroll in a clinical trial of a
new drug therapy designed to treat the
pain associated with shingles.
“Shingles, also known as herpes
zoster, can effect anyone who has re-
covered from chickenpox at any age,
but as you get older you are more like-
ly to get the disease,” said dermatolo-
gist and virologist Stephen K. Tyring,
M.D., Ph.D. “In fact, the majority of
shingles cases occur in people age 50
years or older.”
Dr. Tyring said the first sign of shin-
gles is often pain, burning or tingling
on the torso or face. This can occur
one to five days before the physical
signs of shingles — typically a rash and
blisters — appear. This can make early
diagnosis difficult.
“Shingles is challenging to identify
in its early stage because the pain ap-
pears to not be associated with a par-
ticular disease,” Tyring said. “Making
patients aware of the early symptoms
is important because if shingles pro-
gresses without treatment the pain
may increase and the rash and blister-
ing will become more pronounced.”
Tyring urges everyone to be aware
of the early signs of shingles and the
importance of seeking treatment im-
mediately. People tend to try to “wait
it out” and visit the doctor only when
the symptoms and pain become se-
vere. Visiting a doctor promptly within
72 hours of the first blister can help
ensure you get the professional advice
necessary to overcome the illness.
The rising incidence of shingles
highlights the need for better therapies
to help patients, particularly those at
increased risk, such as seniors or those
with a compromised immune system.
A new clinical trial is seeking partic-
ipants to test a promising drug therapy
that is designed to treat the pain asso-
ciated with shingles, known as post-
herpetic neuralgia or PHN. PHN can
last for several months or even years
after the rash goes away and it occurs
in about 20 percent of people who get
shingles.
If you or a loved one is diagnosed
with shingles, you may be able to par-
ticipate in this important clinical trial.
Here are some of the criteria patients
must meet in order to participate in the
study:
Be 50 years of age or older, are able
to receive your first dose of study med-
ication within 72 hours (three days) of
a possible shingles rash appearing and
have not received the shingles vaccine.
“Shingles is on the rise and more
potent drugs are needed,” Tyring said.
“This clinical trial will help the medical
community learn more about how to
best treat this disease so everyone can
stay as healthy as possible.”
Learn more by visiting: https://www.
clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT024129
17?term=nct02412917&rank=1.
— BPT
Knowing early signs of shingles
may save years of pain
By JENNIFER LEAVITT
M
edical science has increased
the average lifespan, im-
proved our quality of life
and, in conjunction with
technology, has even made it
possible to better manage our own health.
Doctors are not magicians though, at least
not yet. (Researchers are working on it.)
Often an ailment disappears before we
even get to the doctor or there is no appro-
priate diagnostic test for what ails us. Some-
times our symptoms are just too mysteri-
ous or vague to pinpoint. And other times
ambiguous treatment guidelines mean that
we have to play the trial and error game,
hoping that something will agree with our
personal biochemistry. And soon.
Even when diagnosis and medical care
are quick and straightforward, treatment
protocols are usually pretty similar whether
it’s great aunt Zelda, us or the newspaper
boy who is ill. Most treatment is based on
standards of care and statistical outcomes
and up until now that has made perfect
sense. But modern medicine is on the cusp
of a dramatic new age.
The age of ‘omics’
The “omics” suffix refers to a study of
molecules within a specific set of cells.
There are many such fields of study, in-
cluding lipidomics (concerned with all
lipids in the human body), proteomics (fo-
cused on proteins) and the omics that are
literally paving the way to truly personal-
ized medicine — genomics (exploring our
genes) and microbiomics (investigating the
microbal world within us. With the help of
epigenetics, these latter two omics are lead-
ing to advances in biomedicine that scien-
tists, doctors and patients could only dream
about a decade ago.
The handbook of you
Thousands of genes are woven into our
DNA. Each one of those genes is a biologi-
cal blueprint, filled with very specific in-
structions for the body that houses it. Slight
variations in those instructions can make
the difference between red hair or blonde,
freckles or olive skin, disease or health. The
entire collection of our own genes is known
as our personal genome, while the study of
the overarching human genome is known
as genomics. Headed by the National In-
stitute of Health, the Human Genome
Project, at www.genome.gov/10001772,
identified 20,000 human genes, and has
been referred to as “one of the great feats of
exploration in history.” This data has given
the world significant insight into the physi-
ological human condition, including both
the many similarities we all share, as well as
the profound differences that make us each
unique well beyond our most obvious traits.
Not your mother’s mail order
It isn’t only scientists or physicians who
can access this kind of data anymore.
Regular Joes and Janes can have their en-
tire genomes mapped for a mere $99 from
services like 23andme.com, a non-prescrip-
tion genealogical and genomic service. Af-
ter sending in a swab of DNA, customers
receive their raw genetic data and can run
it through free, nonprofit sites such as Pro-
methease for interpretation. (Since New
York does not allow these tests without a
prescription, residents will have to relocate
to New Jersey or Connecticut on the days
they order, take and mail back DNA tests.)
With genetic data in hand, your aver-
age citizen may find out that one of their
genes makes cilantro taste like soap to them
or that their bodies will be more recep-
tive to a low-fat vs. a low-carb diet. One
woman learned that although wine raises
HDL levels for most people, it wouldn’t
work for her. She also discovered that she
has a number of longevity genes. Other
data reveals which medications a person
will probably respond to, and which they
won’t, as well as pharmaceuticals they are
overly sensitive to.
During a chronic or acute illness, this
kind of information will soon be helping
doctors everywhere skip ineffective treat-
ments, getting right to those that are most
likely to work for the specific individual.
Remember though, that we can inherit
conflicting genes, such as one that makes
us less likely to get a certain disease, and
one that does the opposite. Then, too, not
all instructions get read or followed and so
it is in our microworld as it is in the world at
large. Genes and their genetic instructions
can be ignored, they can be turned on and
off by our physical environment, by love or
trauma, by our diets, and by the enormous
influences of our personal microbiomes.
The micro world inside you
Think of our microbiomes as our second
personal genomes, only much bigger. It
turns out that the 37 trillion cells that make
up a human body are vastly outnumbered
by some 100 trillion plus single-celled bac-
teria that live on and in all of us. These bugs,
collectively our microbiome, are not para-
sites or dangerous intruders. Instead, we
enjoy a symbiotic and absolutely necessary
relationship with them. Representing over
1,000 different species, the “good guys”
(friendly bacteria and other helpful mi-
crobes) usually outnumber the “bad guys”
(damaging bacteria and other microbes) by
4 to 1. They help us ward off pathogens,
retrieve nutrients from food, metabolize fat
and many other physiological functions.
What’s more, our microbiomes are as indi-
vidual as a fingerprint. Each one of our 100
million organisms bring their unique DNA
and genome to the mix to interact with our
genes.
Origins of an organ
Researchers have determined that a per-
son’s microbiome, if it were gathered all
together and compacted into one space,
would weigh about as much as the human
brain does. Some have even suggested that
the microbiome be recognized as a human
organ. Your microbiome is well established
early in life, but it is also dynamic in na-
ture. Poor dietary habits, stress and anti-
biotics can eradicate those friendly bac-
teria, while eating plenty of fiber-rich and
fermented foods can help them grow and
prosper. There are countless other ways to
influence our own health, some of which
are being explored through the science
of epigenetics. Very similar to the Human
Genome Project, NIH has a Human Mi-
crobiome Project — https://commonfund.
nih.gov/hmp/overview — which relies on
public biological samples to study and un-
derstand the incredible microscopic worlds
within us.
Microscopic Manipulation
In epigenetics, scientists and doctors take
action based on the information garnered
from a person’s individual genome and
microbiome. In literal terms, epigenetics
means “above genetics” and references
those modifications to DNA that turn genes
on or off, so to speak, basically determining
how cells read and respond to the instruc-
tions contained within them. Each of our
cells may all contain the same DNA, but
they express themselves differently from
one another.
In the future, when doctors have a full
snapshot of a patient’s genetic and microbal
makeup, they will have an incredible depth
and breadth of insider information, much
like secret codes and passwords that they
can use to fine-tune human health, our
health, in completely personalized and dra-
matically more effective ways.
Although mainstream clinical applica-
tions are 10 to15 years away, the nation’s
top medical schools are already exploring
and testing them. The general public can
register with clinical trials or get involved
with genomic and metabolomic research
projects and data banks, becoming part
of scientific history while getting an inside
look at their own biochemistry and micro-
biology. Now that’s personal.
IT’S PERSONAL: Medicine will soon be all about you

TYHealth2015PersonalizedMedicine

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