<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-18272 size-medium" title="DNA Poster" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-232x300.jpg" alt="" width="232" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-232x300.jpg 232w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-768x994.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-791x1024.jpg 791w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-680x880.jpg 680w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-911x1180.jpg 911w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster.jpg 1275w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px" />With participation by 23andMe and the three other major companies involved in DNA testing for ancestry, as well as talks from some of the most respected names in the field, it’s no wonder organizers are predicting the June 6th “Family History and DNA” conference in Burbank will sell out.
The event, planned in conjunction with the annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, will feature Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., Spencer Wells, and 23andMe’s own Joanna Mountain to name just a few.
Gates, the author of “Faces of America,” will give the luncheon address. The Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, Gates is also the director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research. He is known for both his literary and cultural criticism, but more recently has gained popular notice through his shows on PBS that focus on ancestry and genetics.
<a id="docs-internal-guid-6bc9beae-b41b-3dcd-f9c4-6e544487efad" href="http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/Jamboree/2013/Schedule.htm">The line-up</a> for the day will also have representatives from all four of the major consumer genetics companies involved in genetic genealogy –   <a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry/">23andMe</a>, Ancestry.com, FamilyTree DNA, and the<a href="https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/"> Genographic Project</a>.
“This is the first genetic genealogy conference ever to bring together speakers from all of the major DNA testing companies that offer services to the genealogy community,” said<a href="http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/"> CeCe Moore</a>, the conference coordinator and co-chair.
CeCe has close working relationships with all the four major testing companies including 23andMe. She is also the Southern California Regional Coordinator for the International Society for Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG). The ISOGG and the Southern California Genealogical Society teamed up to make this inaugural event a reality.
The conference is scheduled for the day before the three-day Genealogy Jamboree, which goes from Friday the 7th through Sunday the 9th.
The Family History and DNA conference is already 85 percent sold out, said CeCe. Beyond the great lineup of speakers, the conference comes just as the use of DNA to learn more about ancestry is becoming more and more a part of the zeitgeist, she said.
“My experience leads me to believe that we are on the brink of widespread interest in and acceptance of personal genomics,” said CeCe.
Some of that interest is because of the work of Prof. Gates and his popular television show<a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/"> Finding Your Roots</a>, Dr. Wells’ Genographic Project, and the many stories coming out of 23andMe about people <a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/2/">who made surprising discoveries</a> about their family history using genetic testing.
All of that has helped open “the public&#8217;s eyes to what can be discovered from DNA testing,” CeCe said. “With the information age upon us, it is simply astounding what we can learn about ourselves and our family history.&#8221;
If you’re interested in going sign up now, tickets are going fast.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

A Day For Family History And DNA

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-8490" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/mammogramblog.jpg" width="300" height="199">
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/my-medical-choice.html?ref=health">Angelina Jolie’s revelation</a> in the New York Times today that she had a double mastectomy after learning about her genetic risk for breast cancer focused attention on the difficult dilemma faced by many women in similar circumstances.
Jolie said she decided to write about her case to help other women.
&#8220;I chose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know they have strong options,&#8221; she wrote.
The revelation has also prompted some of our customers to ask about what 23andMe reports concerning breast cancer.
First 23andMe’s test is not diagnostic. Our report on BRCA1 and BRCA2 looks at only three mutations in those two genes associated with breast cancer.
Finally, we inform customers that the absence of the mutations does not rule out the possibility that they may carry another cancer-causing variation in one of those genes.

Talking About Breast Cancer Risk

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18173 size-full" title="Anxiety Treatments" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Anxiety-Treatments.jpg" alt="" width="1632" height="1071" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Anxiety-Treatments.jpg 1632w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Anxiety-Treatments-300x197.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Anxiety-Treatments-768x504.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Anxiety-Treatments-1024x672.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Anxiety-Treatments-880x578.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Anxiety-Treatments-1180x774.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1632px) 100vw, 1632px" /> For the live-updated, fully-labelled, interactive version of this graphic, <a href="http://curetogether.com/anxiety/ig/treatment-effectiveness-vs-popularity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">click here</a>.
By Alexandra Carmichael, Co-Founder of CureTogether
Anxiety is the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 18 percent of the U.S. population. According to a new study by CureTogether, the most effective treatments for anxiety reported by patients themselves  include exercise, yoga and and being with animals.  CureTogether is a free resource owned by 23andMe that allows people to share information about their health and treatments.
People in the study said they found that lifestyle changes like exercising, spending time outdoors, and inspiring music were effective treatments, as were the drugs Xanax and Ativan. Conversely those in the study said some drugs like Amitriptyline, Paxil, and Wellbutrin were among the least effective. These are all treatments suggested and reported by patients, so some redundancy in the terms used is to be expected. In addition, the term “treatment” in this study refers to anything patients describe using to help them feel better whether it is an officially prescribed medical treatment or not.

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
Most Effective Rated Treatments for People with Anxiety 
1. Exercise 
2. Yoga 
3. Xanax 
4. Spend time with animals 
5. Spend time outdoors 
6. Cognitive Behavior Therapy 
7. Meditation 
8. Ativan 
9. Clonazepam 
10. Inspiring music
</div>
Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only about one-third of those suffering receive treatment, according to Anxiety and Depression Disorders of America. In addition, anxiety disorders cost the U.S. more than $42 billion a year, so CureTogether asked people suffering from anxiety to rate the effectiveness of different treatments in an effort to help raise awareness. CureTogether’s study compiled responses from 10,980 people with anxiety, who rated the effectiveness of 95 different treatments.
Where did this data come from? This is the result of a four-year CureTogether study on <a href="http://curetogether.com/anxiety/symptoms/">Anxiety</a>, in which people living with the condition shared information about their symptoms and what treatments worked best for them. We’d like to thank those who participated. And just as they shared their experience with treatments, we’re freely and openly sharing the results of the anxiety study.
This is part of a regular series of CureTogether <a href="http://curetogether.com/blog/category/research-findings/">research findings</a>. CureTogether’s research findings are different than <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/factoids/">those made by 23andMe</a>, which look at genetic associations with illness, traits and drug response. But as we continue our work with the CureTogether community, 23andMe hopes to incorporate more of this kind of self-reported information into our own research. CureTogether present its findings just as they are – patient-reported data – to stimulate discussion and generate new insights for further research.
 Please tweet, blog, or pass this along to anyone who can benefit or is interested in anxiety. Thank you!

Alexandra Carmichael

What Patients Say Works for Anxiety

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-18189" title="DVelasco" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DVelasco.jpg" alt="" width="628" height="418" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DVelasco.jpg 628w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DVelasco-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 628px) 100vw, 628px" />
On her 105th birthday, Dominguita Velasco danced so long that her worried family asked her to sit down.
When she turned 111, she had a party with friends and family and blew out the blaze of candles on her cake.
Never far from her daughter, grandson and great grandchildren and always involved in her Oakland neighborhood, Dominguita says the secret to her long life has been to “stay happy.”
Her great granddaughter thinks it might be something else as well.
“I don’t know but I think it’s genetic,” said Erika LaTour. “Her mother lived to 102.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-18191 size-full" title="Tita_with_hat,velvetCap,FlapperDress,1929" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Tita_with_hatvelvetCapFlapperDress1929.jpg" alt="" width="213" height="350" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Tita_with_hatvelvetCapFlapperDress1929.jpg 213w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Tita_with_hatvelvetCapFlapperDress1929-183x300.jpg 183w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px" />
A long-time customer of 23andMe, Erika recently signed up her great-grandmother for the service.
The two wanted to delve into the genetics of both Dominguita’s interesting ancestry – she’s from Mexico and has a mix of Native American, Southern European, Sephardic, and a little Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry  – and the traits that may have contributed to her long and healthy life.
“She’s really just had some issues with high blood pressure but doesn’t really take any medication,” Erika said.
Although Dominguita has had some issues with her heart, her hearing, and glaucoma, she’s never felt burdened by them. Or, as she says, “I don’t have any pain.”
On Mother’s Day – May 12th—Dominguita will turn 112, making her the 28th oldest “validated living supercentenarian” in the world, according to Gerontology Research Group. 23andMe would like to wish her a happy birthday, and you can sign a card for her here or simply post your wishes on Twitter or 23andMe&#8217;s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/23andMe">Facebook</a> page.
<h2 dir="ltr">Supercentarian</h2>
A “supercentenarian” is anyone who lives to be more than 110. Of the more than a quarter of a million people genotyped by 23andMe, about 100 are over the century mark, but none are as supercentenarian as Dominguita.
While average life expectancy continues to rise, the reasons why some people live long and healthy lives—even working into their 90s and beyond—and others don’t are still not known. There are some intriguing possibilities.
One genetic link to longevity that appears to be pretty strong is the APOE gene, better known for its association with Alzheimer’s disease. In particular, while people with Alzheimer’s are more likely to have a version of the APOE gene known as e4, long-lived individuals are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23286790">less likely</a> to have the e4 version. Similarly, the e2 version of the APOE gene is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23040522">associated</a> with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s and higher odds of being long-lived.
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Institute for Aging Research are focused on Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry and a few genetic variants in two genes – CEPT and APOC3 – that protect against certain conditions. A different variant in APOC3 among Amish people is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19074352">associated</a> with lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol. Meanwhile, another study identified variants in the FOXO3a gene that may protect against certain cancers and heart disease in people of Japanese ancestry. National Geographic recently included a graphic illustrating the studies.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-18193 size-medium" title="Tita and Erika 2012 holding hands" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Tita-and-Erika-2012-holding-hands-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Tita-and-Erika-2012-holding-hands-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Tita-and-Erika-2012-holding-hands.jpg 628w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<h2 dir="ltr">The Secret to a Long Life</h2>
However intriguing all of this is, no one has yet found the secret to a long life. Some of it is clearly genetic, but lifestyle and diet almost certainly play a significant role. On the Greek<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0"> Island of Ikaria</a>, a wonderful mix of diet, genes, and a relaxed and straightforward daily life seems to be particularly conducive to a long life.
And in Dominguita’s case, she may have benefited from all of those things. Her philosophy of staying happy, her genes, and her active life may all have helped her live a long life. A fixture in the local lore of Oakland, California, where she has lived since the early 1920s. Dominguita has by no means escaped hardship. She lost her husband and a daughter to tuberculosis and scraped and saved to raise her surviving daughter. She also had to work hard to keep her family restaurant afloat. But she did it all while remaining active in her community and surrounding herself with family.
Happy Birthday Dominguita, your life inspires us all.

A Birthday Wish For A Supercentenarian

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18161 size-full" title="Grunge Map of Europe" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1736" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-1024x695.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-300x203.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-768x521.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-880x597.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/euro-map-1180x800.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />The story of H is really the story of people in modern Europe.
H refers to a maternal lineage – also known as a maternal haplogroup – that originated long ago in the Near East but expanded into Europe with the recession of the last Ice Age. H –with its dozens of subgroups – is the most prevalent haplogroup in Europe today, but it wasn’t always that way.
Recently a team of scientists used DNA extracted from human skeletal remains dating from around 500 years ago to nearly 6,000 years ago to reconstruct what they say is the first detailed genetic history of modern Europe. Modern humans were in Europe as far back as 35,000 years ago, overlapping with Neanderthals who’d arrived first. But in looking at the DNA, specifically the DNA that defines maternal lineages, scientists found that H was very rare in those early hunter-gatherers.
So how did H become so common in Europe?
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
What about you?
23andMe can tell you where you fall on that maternal family tree with details on more than<a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry/deep/"> 750 different maternal haplogroups</a>.
Check out what branch of the human family tree your maternal line falls.
</div>
The scientists, who wrote about their findings in a<a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n4/full/ncomms2656.html"> paper published in the journal Nature Communications</a>, theorize that the dramatic shift in haplogroups mirrors different waves of migrations into Europe and the stark change from a hunter-gatherer culture to one dominated by agriculture. The DNA evidence supports this theory, they say, and is bolstered by the archeological evidence. It wasn’t just a movement of ideas and technology that transformed prehistoric Europe, but the movement of people.
“This is the first high-resolution genetic record of these lineages through time, and it is fascinating that we can directly observe both human DNA evolving in ‘real-time’, and the dramatic population changes that have taken place in Europe,” said Dr Wolfgang Haak of the University of Adelaide’s Australian Center for Ancient DNA, a co-author of the study.
The mitochondrial DNA used in this study tells not only stories of human prehistory, but also personal ancestry stories.  Everyone can trace his or her maternal ancestry using DNA testing. Your maternal lineage, defined by a type of DNA called mitochondrial DNA, is passed down to you only from your mother, who got it from her mother and so on all the way back in time to “mitochondrial Eve.”
This little piece of DNA is almost totally unchanged through the generations, linking us back through time to our ancient ancestors. The very slow rate at which it changes allows scientists to pinpoint in time major changes in human history such as our migration out of Africa and the patterns of people moving across the planet.
Each time there is a change in that DNA – a mutation – it creates a new “branch” of the maternal family tree – which traces back generations from one mother to the next. By using information from archeology, history and even what we know about changes in climate, we are gaining a better and better understanding of human history.

Mother Europe

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18126" title="Figure 1" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints.jpg" alt="" width="2049" height="1242" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints.jpg 2049w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints-300x182.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints-768x466.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints-1024x621.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints-880x533.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hand-prints-1180x715.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2049px) 100vw, 2049px" />by Anne Pinckard
“’You have been asking me questions and taking my blood for years, but I do not know anything about what you have found.’”
These words, spoken by a subject in an ongoing, 7-year prospective study of HIV-treatment in Uganda, prompted the researchers to take action–they decided to stage a wedding.
The researchers had been tracking 540 patients in Mbarara, a rural area in southwestern Uganda. To date, they hadn’t shared their findings, as is the practice among similar studies in which results are not shared until after the randomized, clinical trials are completed or terminated.
But on hearing the complaint, the researchers reassessed their decision. They put together a meeting to explain their findings, using as their model a traditional Ugandan wedding, complete with dancing and feasting. The details of the study and the effort to share results with research participants was published recently in <a href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001397">PLOS Medicine</a>.
The success of the effort–in which researchers returned sometimes complicated results on serious conditions to research participants–may bolster other efforts to create more cooperative and open lines of communication between researchers and participants in the future. 23andMe’s own research not only returns data to customers, but it also allows customers to participate in research while they explore their own genetic information.
We’ve <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/?s=fear">written</a> several times about what happens when people are given access to their genetic information. Like the Uganda study, these cases demonstrate over and over again that when people are better informed, they don’t react negatively. Rather, people react intelligently. They seek out the support they need to make decisions that are right for them. But they can only do so if they are given the right tools. And that means being treated with respect, being informed, and being allowed to take control of their own health.
It’s not a stretch to say that, in the Uganda study, everyone won as a result of sharing results with the subjects. The participants reported feeling respected. In turn, the researchers gained new insight into how to communicate with their participants and identified new venues for investigation. And in the end, it sounds like everyone had a whole lot of fun.
The challenges the researchers faced were daunting, and included the need to translate the results into the local language, Runyankole, which lacked the terminology necessary to explain some of the science. Furthermore, the translators had to use terms and concepts that could not be misinterpreted yet were easy enough for those with limited education to understand. Some of the participants couldn’t read so researchers had to present the results orally.
In order to create a comfortable and familiar setting, the researchers decided to present the event like a local wedding. Privacy was a potential issue. By attending the event, each person would be “coming out” as HIV positive. But as one participant put it in the article, “’Well, they are living with this disease too, and so what can they think about me?’” All told, 466 out of 540 in the original study cohort attended.
At the “wedding”, a Uganda physician who ran a locally known clinic and was familiar to the participants introduced the presenters. Research assistants recorded and translated into English any questions that arose during each segment. These were passed onto the researchers to answer, and the responses were translated back into Runyankole.
The meeting included two breaks for entertainment–as is the custom in traditional celebrations. Research assistants, joined by many of the attendees, performed a local Bakiga dance. A group of participants accompanied by a researcher on the trumpet performed the drums and sang about HIV prevention and youth, and the history of the study. At the end, everyone feasted on a traditional buffet lunch.
The guests said the event made them feel as if they were participants, rather than research subjects, and several thanked the lead investigator “‘for honoring us today.’”
It’s clear the researchers were touched, too. Attendees made paper banners with colorful handprints to commemorate the occasion, and those banners now hang in the researchers’ offices in Boston. The event also helped researchers identify new venues of investigation, and uncovered nuances of Runyankole-English language translation that could lead to miscommunication. The event also created a formal mechanism for participants to share concerns and questions with the entire science team. Finally, the lines of communication gave researchers issues to investigate in the future, including support needed to continue HIV treatment, income generation, and food security issues.
Anne Pinckard cut her teeth writing for newspapers. Now based in Berkeley, California she specializes in writing about biology, but covers just about anything from quantum physics to archaeology.

Anne Pinckard

People Powered Research

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-18144" title="neanderthal" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/neanderthal.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="270" />
By Amick Boone
They once numbered 300 strong, but the Oregon Cavemen, members of a Grants Pass booster club formed in 1922 whose members claim to be “direct descendants of the Neanderthal,” are fading fast.
Club members worry that as their numbers dwindle, soon there won’t be anyone around to protect their totem — a 17-foot fiberglass caveman statue that has long been a sort of guardian of the town, known as the gateway to the Oregon Caves National Monument.
The Oregon Caveman story appeared recently in an <a href="https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324010704578419171802521946.html?mod=ITP_AHED">article in the Wall Street Journal</a>, which detailed how the group fought tooth-and-nail to keep their animal-skin-wearing, club-wielding caveman standing tall on one of the main streets of Grants Pass.
The group’s original bylaws made claims regarding their Neanderthal lineage, but back then there was no way to know for sure.   These days, we have access to genetic testing that could help the Cavemen find out how much Neanderthal DNA they have, but it might not necessarily mean what they think. And the club might be as exclusive as they once believed.
Most non-African people do have Neanderthal DNA, on average about 2.5 percent, but some outliers have even more. However — sorry, Oregon Cavemen — Neanderthal DNA may not predispose you to an animal-print fashion sense or a taste for primitive weaponry.   In fact, what it means to have a higher percentage of Neanderthal DNA — whether it gives you a thicker forehead or makes you hairier, for instance — isn’t known.
Homo neandertalensis — thick-boned humans who thrived for hundreds of thousands of years in Europe and parts of Asia — died out about 30,000 years ago, while we modern humans (Homo sapiens) survived. Apart from some theories of how Neanderthals contribute to modern humans, including that they gave us some sort of <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/2011/110809/full/476136a.html">“hybrid vigor”</a> — according to Peter Parham, a geneticist at Stanford University School of Medicine — why we flourished and Neanderthals died out is an evolutionary mystery <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/find-your-inner-neanderthal/">we’ve yet to unravel</a>.
While the fate of the caveman statue in Grants Pass has very little to do with Neanderthals, it does give us a chance to revisit the topic of our ancient human cousins. Far from being dumb and unable to communicate, scientists have learned that Neanderthals used relatively complicated tools, created adornments, and likely had a spoken language.
Clearly our understanding of Neanderthals has evolved from the cartoonish caveman depictions of the past as we learn more about not just our shared DNA but also as more Neanderthal artifacts are uncovered.
As University of Wisconsin anthropologist John Hawks noted in <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/decoding-neanderthals.html">a recent NOVA special on PBS</a>: “Neanderthals have the mother of all image problems.”
For more on Neanderthals check out these posts:
&#8211; <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/more-fun-with-neanderthals/">More Fun with Neanderthals</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/ancestry-2/find-your-inner-neanderthal/"> Find Your Inner Neanderthal</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/news/new-evidence-suggests-interbreeding-between-humans-and-neanderthals/"> New Evidence Suggests Humans and Neanderthal Interbreeding</a>
<div style="padding: 10px; margin-top: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; font-size: 12px; border: 1px solid #ccc;">
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-14049" title="neanderthal icon" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/neanderthal-icon-96x150.jpg" alt="" width="50" height="77" />
Got Neanderthal DNA?
23andMe customers can <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/labs/neanderthal/">find their inner Neanderthal</a> or at least how much Neanderthal DNA they have. Not yet a customer? <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store">Visit our store</a>!
</div>

Amick Boone

Oregon Cavemen May Have Neanderthals All Wrong

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-18103 size-medium" title="ADHD Graphic" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-300x184.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="184" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-300x184.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-768x471.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-1024x628.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-880x540.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic-1180x724.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ADHD-Graphic.jpg 1509w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
By Alexandra Carmichael, Co-Founder of CureTogether
Although Attention-Defincit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has only been recognized as a disease in the last 20 years, patients already are well-versed in what treatments work for them, accoring to a new study by CureTogether, a free resource owned by 23andMe that allows people to share information about their health and treatments.
People in the study said they found that lifestyle changes like exercising, meditation, and limiting external stimuli were effective treatments, as were the drugs Adderall and Ritalin. Conversely some drugs like Strattera, Wellbutrin, and Abilify were among the least effective, according to the study. These are all treatments suggested and reported by patients, so some redundancy in the terms used is to be expected. In addition, the term “treatment” in this study refers to anything patients describe using to help them feel better whether it is an officially prescribed medical treatment or not.
More than five million Americans have been diagnosed with ADHD, and often appears to run in families. Finding treatments that work well can be a challenge, so CureTogether asked people suffering from ADHD to rate the effectiveness of different treatments.

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
Most Effective Rated Treatments for People with ADHD
1. Adderall xr 
2. Adderall 
3. Exercise 
4. Dexedrine 
5. Vyvanse 
6. Limit external stimuli 
7. Coaching 
8. Rock climbing 
9. Ritalin 
10. Learn organizational skills
</div>
CureTogether’s study compiled responses from 852 people with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, who rated the effectiveness of 28 different treatments.
Where did this data come from? This is the result of a four-year CureTogether study on <a href="http://curetogether.com/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder/symptoms/">Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder</a>, in which people living with the condition shared information about their symptoms and what treatments worked best for them. We’d like to thank those who participated. And just as they shared their experience with treatments, we’re freely and openly sharing the results of the ADHD study.
This is part of a regular series of CureTogether <a href="http://curetogether.com/blog/category/research-findings/">research findings</a>. CureTogether’s research findings are different than <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/factoids/">those made by 23andMe</a>, which look at genetic associations with illness, traits and drug response. But as we continue our work with the CureTogether community, 23andMe hopes to incorporate more of this kind of self-reported information into our own research. CureTogether present its findings just as they are – patient-reported data – to stimulate discussion and generate new insights for further research.
Please tweet, blog, or pass this along to anyone who can benefit or is interested in ADHD. Thank you!

What Patients Say Works for ADHD

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-17048" title="Abstract DNA" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall.jpeg" alt="" width="406" height="296" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall.jpeg 406w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall-300x219.jpeg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 406px) 100vw, 406px" />
This month marks the tenth anniversary of one of the greatest scientific achievements of our time when in 2003 researchers decoded the last of the three billion letters that make up the human genome.
Dr. Eric Green, director of the<a href="https://www.genome.gov/"> National Human Genome Project,</a> spoke with reporters a week ago saying that the milestone might not be breaking news, but it does warrant a few moments of reflection.
Green noted the  breadth of technical, scientific and medical advances made in the last ten years.
For Green, those advances have set the stage for what will become the age of genomic breakthroughs. We’ve already made great strides that have changed people’s lives in both big and small ways, he said.
&#8220;By improving our understanding of basic genome biology, the genomic underpinnings of disease and genomic medicine, the field gets ever closer to its ultimate goal &#8211; improving human health through genomics research,&#8221; he said.
Pointing to cancer, as an example, Green said genetics has transformed how it is diagnosed and treated. The astounding drop in the cost of sequencing has opened the way for doctors to easily use genetic information when treating patients. In the case of breast cancer, doctors now regularly sequence tumors and if they find that the tumor is positive for a genetic signature known as “HER-2” they know that their patient will benefit from the drug Herceptin. And in the case of prescription drugs, the FDA now recommends the use of genetic testing in prescribing more than 100 medications, to help ensure that the right amount of the right drug is prescribed to the right patient.
Some of the most dramatic breakthroughs in genetic science have been in the treatment of rare diseases. While rare diseases are individually rare, when you add up all the people who suffer from a rare disease it amounts to about one in ten, or about 30 million people in the United States. Doctors now know the genetic underpinnings of almost 5,000 rare diseases, more than twice as many as a decade ago.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18056 size-full" title="hgp_measures" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures.jpg" alt="" width="1667" height="2274" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures.jpg 1667w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-220x300.jpg 220w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-768x1048.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-751x1024.jpg 751w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-645x880.jpg 645w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-865x1180.jpg 865w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1667px) 100vw, 1667px" />
And the science has had tremendous impact on many lives. Consider the case of Nic Volker, a 4 year-old Wisconsin boy suffering from a mysterious life-threatening disease that had required multiple painful surgeries. His story,<a href="http://www.jsonline.com/dna"> written about eloquently</a> by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher, had a happy ending after doctors worked tirelessly to identify the genetic mutation causing the problem. Knowing the mutation allowed them to come up with a possible treatment – a risky but ultimately successful bone marrow transplant.
While saying that &#8220;we have a long way to go to deliver on the promise of genomic medicine,&#8221; Green said the progress thus far has been &#8220;amazing.&#8221;

Latest Posts — Page 138