Human civilizations have been built on the foundations of ancestral knowledge, societal wisdom, and cohesive existence. It is no wonder then that a majority of our customs and beliefs are remnants of the ethos of early AD society. At the same time, not just the customs, but the shared genetic material was carried forward as well. We indeed share a lot of hereditary traits, albeit a mishmash of different genealogies, that got filtered through the numerous invasions by delusional rulers that came rushing for India's wealth, ultimately the Mughal rule, and then of course, the British colonization. No wonder then that all talk of 'having a pure genealogy' might be hard to back up if one had the family tree sorted out to the early centuries. But that is none of my concern. Recent trysts with an advanced genetic diseases class I am taking as a part of my coursework, has made more inquisitive about a basic feature that the Indian healthcare system and the society in general seems to lack- Who exactly came before us, and more importantly, what led to their ultimate demise?
The flip side to having a longer life is that we end up overbearing our immune system. As the life expectancy shot up, from periods of endemic flu where a lucky individual would go on to live longer than 50 (don't believe those stories about people living more than 100 years being a norm- not true), to where the average national rate is close to 64.8 years according to the World bank report of 2009, an individual is becoming more and more susceptible to diseases which would have made Sushruta cringe in agony, for there is nothing anyone can do if a part of your genome goes amiss and leaves you vulnerable to the perils of, for example, Alzheimer's disease. The stark reality is that we are slowly moving from the era of 'treatable disease' to an era of 'manageable disease'. Sounds depressing? I hear about it for 3 hours every week.
Which brings me to a pertinent question-How many of us are aware of our genealogy, or what our ancestors contracted and died off eventually? The question becomes very important, because with advances in genetics and sequencing technology, genetically predisposed individuals can be more easily identified and therefore put on management programs at earlier stages of the advancement of the ailment, thereby prolonging and improving the quality of life. I agree that with only 64 years of our existence as a sovereign state, the management of a national database or formulation of a national policy would take time. But that should be on top of the health ministry's agenda, along with other prevention measures. More importantly, make an effort and try to form a family tree yourself. Ask around from family members if a distant relative's family is a carrier for a disease, for the chances are that even that could perturb your genetic balance one way or the other. You would be surprised to learn that a disease like type 2 diabetes which would not be linked to heredity 50 years ago, has now been shown to be a heritable disease on the brute evidence of advanced sequencing technology and data mining from affected individual's families.
Knowing what our ancestors did for a living, or whether they were part of a king's court, might be interesting, but knowing what they contracted in their lifetime might actually be life-saving.
PS: A classic from Ozzy and his troops. Watch the illusion, or the drummer. They are both incredible!
The flip side to having a longer life is that we end up overbearing our immune system. As the life expectancy shot up, from periods of endemic flu where a lucky individual would go on to live longer than 50 (don't believe those stories about people living more than 100 years being a norm- not true), to where the average national rate is close to 64.8 years according to the World bank report of 2009, an individual is becoming more and more susceptible to diseases which would have made Sushruta cringe in agony, for there is nothing anyone can do if a part of your genome goes amiss and leaves you vulnerable to the perils of, for example, Alzheimer's disease. The stark reality is that we are slowly moving from the era of 'treatable disease' to an era of 'manageable disease'. Sounds depressing? I hear about it for 3 hours every week.
Which brings me to a pertinent question-How many of us are aware of our genealogy, or what our ancestors contracted and died off eventually? The question becomes very important, because with advances in genetics and sequencing technology, genetically predisposed individuals can be more easily identified and therefore put on management programs at earlier stages of the advancement of the ailment, thereby prolonging and improving the quality of life. I agree that with only 64 years of our existence as a sovereign state, the management of a national database or formulation of a national policy would take time. But that should be on top of the health ministry's agenda, along with other prevention measures. More importantly, make an effort and try to form a family tree yourself. Ask around from family members if a distant relative's family is a carrier for a disease, for the chances are that even that could perturb your genetic balance one way or the other. You would be surprised to learn that a disease like type 2 diabetes which would not be linked to heredity 50 years ago, has now been shown to be a heritable disease on the brute evidence of advanced sequencing technology and data mining from affected individual's families.
Knowing what our ancestors did for a living, or whether they were part of a king's court, might be interesting, but knowing what they contracted in their lifetime might actually be life-saving.
PS: A classic from Ozzy and his troops. Watch the illusion, or the drummer. They are both incredible!
No comments:
Post a Comment