Ancestry DNA test

[littlebillie]

Has anyone tried this, I hear it's quite interesting

Genetic immunity to hiv? Really?

Yes, it's thought to be a hangover of a gene that confers immunity to something that's been around much longer, maybe plague. A double dose is pretty rare. She's going to see if anyone's interested in using her in medical research, but the Masters is taking priority right now.

That's absolutely fascinating, thanks for the information, hope it contributes to safer future for everyone.

longwayoff A couple of people have already been cured by giving them a stem cell transplant from a donor with that immunity so hopefully a vaccine is possible and on the cards

Thank you lellochip, that's very encouraging. I lost a couple of friends to it in the early days and it was awful for them. Very glad that an actual cure is being developed along with a vaccine.

Any cure for HIV will unfortunately be years off, due to the latent HIV in resting CD4 cells in many parts of the body - which can still be hanging around 60 years later!

At the moment when these cells “wake up” as they are needed, medication suppresses any virus from multiplying. Finding all these infected cells in their dormant state and either waking them up so the virus in them can be killed is one strategy (kick and kill). Another is to try to stop any infected cell from waking up at all (block and lock). There are many different approaches being tested which is great.

With the stem cell transplant, 3 men have possibly been cured so far (more than 30 who tried the same approach weren’t unfortunately). The primary reason for doing this wasn’t for HIV but for cancer that they all had which would have killed them otherwise. It is an incredibly invasive and expensive procedure which basically wipes out someone’s immune system and not suitable just for clearing of HIV in large numbers.

Some people have a mutation to the co-receptor CCR5. Think of it like a door on the surface of a CD4 cell (white blood cell) and the virus enters through it to infect and multiply. When there is a mutated form of this door the virus can’t get in and do any damage. I think that if a vaccine can be made to confer a genetic immunity like this to everyone this would be brilliant.

Interestingly, a small percentage of people living with HIV are able, like PMG’s son, to suppress the virus without meds. They’re known as Elite Controllers, or Long Term Non Progressors. It could be because of this mutated gene, or something else.

So much is being learnt all the time - it’s quite exciting from a personal perspective. For those of us living with HIV, next steps are long lasting injectibles.

ThatLibraryMiss, I’d be interested in any detail of what double dose immunity your DD has?

HIVpos, she has two copies of CCR5-delta 32. There's an article about it here.

There was some rumour in my family that my Grandfather wasn't my dads real Dad. As everyone it could affect was dead I did the test.

It told me I was 30% Irish and pin pointed me to an almost exact area of Ireland. Interestingly, my very unusual maiden name was frighteningly common in that area. This proved pretty much conclusively that my Grandfather really was my Grandfather.

I uploaded data to Genome Link and thats given me some utterly fascinating data on traits. Even telling me I'm pretty bad at Maths and don't like to eat much bread. Fascinating stuff.

I did it and my dark Irish looks can now be explained by the fact I am only 2% Scandinavian - I am NOT a descendant of the Spanish Armada.

DNA history services have already been debunked. Please don't waste money.

JQBased 'debunked' how?

@WeaselsRising I'm very interested in health screening more than ancestry. Which programme did you upload your results into? I didn't know that was possible.

Bruffin

if you are still around can you explain the Spanish settlement in Wales please?

It's rumoured my great grandad was Jewish, I'd love to find out if it's true, so hopefully the test would tell me?

Hi Romany queen can I pitch in here?
I think what was meant is that in pre Celtic times there was a people group in wales descended from immigrants from the Iberian peninsula, they had come across when there was still a land bridge. They were short and dark, a lot like welsh people today, like me!
Lots of legends about this group, pre Iron Age, possibly hunter gatherers, legends of a short dark people who lived in mountains, afraid of iron, possible basis of fairy legends.
No way of knowing this, but it may be a strong genetic thread.
I may be speaking a load of rubbish however!

Bloomedagain it's called Promethease

I found the identity of my great great great baby daddy after 150 years thanks to ancestry dna! I think it’s amazing!

Great great great grandmother*

Aw, that's interesting.
My ancestors travelled Wales and Shropshire, some being born there but their ancestors were Spanish Romany, entering Wales in about 1750. They lived in the mountains and my early census records are interesting reading.

My issues were my Father was a very dark man, almost Egyptian looking. My Grandparents were not.

After I got the results down to the area of Ireland I suspected, research led me to something called 'the black Irish' who's description could have been written for my Dad.

I've been playing around with Promethease lately and it's given me a profile which I assume is ancient DNA (I don't entirely understand it) but seems to point to Bronze Age and Neolithic DNA. Weirdly however there is a little American Indian thrown in there which I'm totally baffled by.

Thank you @WeaselsRising that looks fascinating

Just done this to find an indication of whether my absent father is really my father after he refused to do a paternal DNA test after throwing at me that he might not be.

Unfortunately it seems to show without a shadow of a doubt that I must be his (or one of his brothers perhaps!) That was a major disappointment along with the knowledge that I'm very boringly 52% Irish and 48% English when I'd hoped to have some extra % of exotic blood!

DH is going to do his next which should be much more interesting for the DC as he's from a country with a history of being invaded and has the looks of a country his own country has a cultural hatred of. There might well be uproar within his family .

Over the years in Wales I’ve heard references to the ‘Black Pats’. It’s a term usually used to describe people who are short and from ‘up the valleys’.

@Clawdy a dna test may well give you this info as there are tests which can identify markers for ashkenazi Jewish ancestry.
The Ancestry ethnicity results should be taken with a pinch of salt really...

The Ancestry ethnicity results should be taken with a pinch of salt really...

Why is that?

What areas are "up the valleys' does it mean going up from the valleys?
Trying to get as much info as I can for our road trip
It's very interesting, I'm very dark, extremely curly hair and 4ft 10.
My Welsh family names were Ingram, Price, Taylor.