GENOMICS & RACIAL-ETHNIC DIVERSITY

GENOMICS & RACIAL-ETHNIC DIVERSITY

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Genetic research & development (R&D) has gone a very long way since the time of theorizations of the same in the 19^th century. Genetics applied to human health had benefited immensely from genomics, albeit the samples utilized for the studies were largely of European (White) descent.

Conclusions generated from largely fixed samples raise questions regarding the overall generalizability of the findings. This is where the wisdom of Weber and hermeneutics comes in: treat human subjects as unique, special cases of studies, science isn’t about generalizations but about idiographic peculiarities of communities or ethnicities studied.

Today, the issue of racial and ethnic differences in genomics is a reverberating one. Experts are beginning to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel regarding the matter, and are breaking down conventional positivist practices in R & D towards more idiographic-bent research. Hopefully genomics will catch up with the other sciences, notably cultural sciences, in showing the ramifications of ethnic-racial factors behind certain ailments.

Below is a relevant report from scientific circles about genomics.

[Philippines, 06 September 2011]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/opinions/genomics-must-reflect-racial-and-ethnic-diversity-1.html

Genomics must reflect racial and ethnic diversity

20 July 2011 | EN | ES

People with Native South American ancestry have a protein variant associated with type 2 diabetes — but genomics research overlooks ethnic groups

Geneticists must develop methods, resources and incentives for including a broader range of populations in medical genomics research to ensure that those most in need are not the last to benefit, say Carlos D. Bustamante, Esteban González Burchard and Francisco M. De La Vega.

Genome-wide association studies have dramatically improved our understanding of chronic diseases, yet 96 per cent of the people studied are of European descent. This trend is set to continue in future research, say the authors.

Early research suggests that results based on one population may not always apply to another — versions of a gene associated with a disease may occur with different frequency in different ethnic groups, for example, or may be missing entirely. So genome studies run the risk of excluding racial and ethnic minorities from the benefits that may result from such research, argue the authors.

But diversifying the study populations would reduce the likelihood of finding a statistical link between a genetic factor and a disease — making researchers reluctant to do it.

Empowering scientists in the developing world to conduct home-grown genomics research is one way of making sure that diverse populations are included, say the authors. Collaboration between countries will be key to funding and technology transfer, which will help boost genomics studies globally. This should involve providing local expertise, resources and insight into the population's history.

New statistical methods will also help to tease apart the contribution of genetic, socio-cultural and environmental factors to chronic and infectious diseases. Peer reviewers and granting bodies also need "to stress the importance of racial and ethnic diversity in medical genetic studies".

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UNFURLING BIGGEST PHILIPPINE FLAG: SIGNIFYING GLOBAL LEADERSHIP DESTINY

Erle Frayne Argonza

Good morning!

As I was moving back to home-base, done with my gym exercise, my eyes caught the news bit in the newsstands about the biggest Philippine flag recently unfurled in Baguio City. So huge was the flag, it weighed over 3 tons.

Whoever may have conceived the idea (a lady), she was acting magnanimously on the behest of her own Guide from Above. The choice of creating and unfurling a big flag, on the occasion of Philippine Independence day, can be perceived as a token of patriotism and love for fellow Filipinos.

On a deeper level, however, the unfurling of a flag so huge goes beyond simple tokenism. There’s more to the flag beyond people coming together and building bridges of Love for peace and world healing, which indeed had been delivered by the flag team at the moment of unfurling. It also goes beyond the hospitality of the Baguio people that was rightly exhibited too at that moment of unfurling.

For one, the size signifies the growth and galvanization of the Filipino identity and weltanschauung that took over 300 years to build. Building that weltanschauung began when the secularization movement was launched during the Spanish Era, and then moved on to the nationalist movement of Rizal’s time, and onwards to the Filipino Renaissance of the 1990s (pre-centennial through post-centennial jubilee). The Renaissance still goes on and may be the next phase of weltanschauung formation that would take probably two (2) centuries to ferment.

The Philippine nation used to be circumscribed within the confines of the archipelago, the same island group that was created by Westphalian-type treaties among world powers. Today, the nation has gone beyond the archipelago’s borders, as Filipinos have been spread across the globe, nearly 100 million strong.

That huge flag signified the strength of the weltanschauung formation galvanizing as identity, psyche, collective taste and temper that now inhere among the equally large population of 100 million. A globalized people and nation must be signified with dignity and honor by an emblem as huge as the world: a 3+ tonner flag. Hugeness means strength, power, potency, global extent. It means there is not any place in the world that we can’t dip our hands into and be part of their reshaping. It means global imprint, global impact.

The year of unfurling is very auspicious: 110th year after the independence declaration. 110 contains the numbers 11 and 10, 11 X 10 equals 110. 11 signifies conquest and leadership in certain domains of planetary life. 10 means 9 + 1, the number of completion that starts with zero (1 is leadership, 9 is martial abilities). Somehow, the Cosmic Hierarchs are heralding to the world, via this huge flag, on this 110th year of Filipinas, that from hereon a new phase of history begins: the phase of global leadership in certain aspects of life.

By the fact that Filipinos were spread across the globe, a feat that can be attributed largely to the Divine Hierarchy in pursuit of a greater Plan (which we 3-dimensional mortals are blind about), already is one cause for wonderment. Hidden Divine Hands are working on these islands, and so the message of the Hierarchy to the Dark Forces who want to destroy our people is for them to ‘make no mistake’, the Divine Plan holds and will hold through. No Dark Force can ever wreck the destiny of the Filipinos, a destiny that has global effects in the future eras to come.

Not even the destruction today of the archipelago through WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and the mass termination of 90 million inhabitants can ever kill Divine Plan. That huge quake that struck China recently, using a Tesla Earthquake Machine or TEM, was already a forewarning by the Dark Forces (Luciferans) of their resolve for destruction and global domination. But they will fail, they can never make Filipinos submit to their dictates, the future Filipino as a distinct sub-race or ‘species race’ will come, no Luciferan abomination can deter or deviate it from happening.

My kudos goes to the team that did this flag project. But most specially, I salute the Cosmic Hierarchy who actually gave the go signal for this event to take place on this year, 2008, the 110th anniversary of our independence.

[Writ 13 June 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]