[HN Gopher] People in a genetic database have segments of DNA in...
___________________________________________________________________
People in a genetic database have segments of DNA in common
unexpectedly often
Author : bookofjoe
Score : 50 points
Date : 2023-08-22 22:58 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
| NoZebra120vClip wrote:
| As was my father, and my father's father, and his father's father
| before him. My people come from the Land of Those Who Enroll in
| Genetic Studies. Our motto is "Doing Nations A Solid". Our flag
| has 23 stars. Do not call us "inbred"; we are simply family-
| friendly. Every February 3 (or 2 March if we are European) we
| gather for a family reunion where we spend 23 hours enrolling in
| every possible genetic study, and then the parents retire to
| their rooms where they joyously exchange genetic data with each
| other. (A lot of us are born around November 3!)
| Obscurity4340 wrote:
| Family2
| [deleted]
| alexfromapex wrote:
| A great example of self-selection bias
| lo_zamoyski wrote:
| It may be the gene that controls for credulity, as those with the
| gene for paranoia are unlikely to cede their genetic information
| to some shady company.
| astrange wrote:
| There is more or less nothing useful someone can do with your
| genetic information, and there's no way you can prevent anyone
| from having it, since you leave it everywhere you go.
| kevinwuhoo wrote:
| This study was done using data from the UK Biobank [1] which is
| registered as a non-profit. Participants were also volunteers
| only.
|
| [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Biobank
| beaker52 wrote:
| It's quite a fun thought experiment to think about how you
| might avoid this bias.
|
| Send Blackhawk helicopters to collect samples by force? Was
| there bias in the selection technique? What about the people
| genetically predisposed to avoid the Blackhawk helicopters?
| We'd need multiple collection methods, and still need to
| retain an unbiased distribution. You can continue until you
| get to "we should set up global search patterns so that no
| human can escape our dystopian DNA collection". And even then
| you're still biased by population effects owing to the
| probability that there is a genetic population who have been
| predisposed to suppress their own genetic population at this
| point in time.
|
| Gosh, it sounds like a fever dream.
| [deleted]
| bookofjoe wrote:
| >Studying the genetics of participation using footprints left on
| the ascertained genotypes
|
| https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-023-01439-2
| JoeAltmaier wrote:
| Did they control for culture? No? Then we explain this
| coincidence with "Children do as their parents did"
|
| Similarly, we can claim genetic basis for wanting an education,
| investing in the stock market, choosing a Chevy over a Ford,
| going to Gramma Ethyl's at Christmas.
| consilient wrote:
| It's right there in the article.
|
| > The analysis done by Kong and his student relies on the key
| idea that a genetic sequence that occurs more frequently in
| participants than in nonparticipants will also occur more
| frequently in the genetic regions that are shared by two
| related participants.
|
| > Put differently, a bit of DNA that is common in the
| population will show up frequently in the study. But it will
| still only have a 50/50 chance of showing up in the child of
| someone who carried a copy. If a bit of DNA makes people more
| likely to enroll in genetic studies, it will be more common
| both in the overall data and among closely related family
| members.
|
| > So they checked the genetic sequences shared between first-
| degree relatives--either parents and children or siblings (but
| not twins)--in the UK Biobank.
| vagab0nd wrote:
| Yes. All surveys are biased towards people who are willing to
| take the survey.
|
| In the most extreme case, if your survey only has one question,
| "are you willing to take this survey?" you would get 100% "yes".
| science4sail wrote:
| Would it be possible to remove that survey bias using coercion?
| For example, we could hire a gang to break into a supermarket
| and hold everyone there as hostages until they fill out a
| consumer preferences and brand visibility survey.
| dalmo3 wrote:
| Yes, that's how they do the GDP survey.
| kfichter wrote:
| Not if I force someone to unwillingly take your survey!
| beaker52 wrote:
| but then what if I force them to unwillingly punch you in the
| face and shout "NO!"?
|
| I'm sure we can factor all this into the p-value somehow.
| lmkg wrote:
| More likely around 96%. Don't neglect the Lizardman Constant.
| rootw0rm wrote:
| give it to enough people and there will likely be that one
| person who just wants to see the world burn...their answer will
| be something like "hotdog juice"
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2023-08-23 23:01 UTC)