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Study Tracks Clinical Decision Support Impacts on BRCA1/2 Testing in Primary Care Setting

With a randomized clinical trial that included dozens of clinicians and nearly 190 patients, investigators at Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, and elsewhere looked at genetic counseling and BRCA1/2 genetic test uptake in asymptomatic women between the ages of 21 and 75 years old in response to standard education approaches or in a setting that included clinician and patient decision support tools. While patients participating in the study had relevant family histories, the team explains, they did not have a personal history of breast or ovarian cancer or prior BRCA1/2 testing or related genetic counseling. "[W]e did not observe increased genetic counseling uptake with the [decision support] intervention, but we did find statistically significant increases in genetic testing knowledge and decreased breast cancer worry and perceived risk," the authors report, adding that the "main advantage for these high-risk women is the ability to opt for screening and preventive services to decrease their cancer risk."

The Scan

ChatGPT Does As Well As Humans Answering Genetics Questions, Study Finds

Researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics had ChatGPT answer genetics-related questions, finding it was about 68 percent accurate, but sometimes gave different answers to the same question.

Sequencing Analysis Examines Gene Regulatory Networks of Honeybee Soldier, Forager Brains

Researchers in Nature Ecology & Evolution find gene regulatory network differences between soldiers and foragers, suggesting bees can take on either role.

Analysis of Ashkenazi Jewish Cohort Uncovers New Genetic Loci Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

The study in Alzheimer's & Dementia highlighted known genes, but also novel ones with biological ties to Alzheimer's disease.

Tara Pacific Expedition Project Team Finds High Diversity Within Coral Reef Microbiome

In papers appearing in Nature Communications and elsewhere, the team reports on findings from the two-year excursion examining coral reefs.