My observation about running advice that's out there on line, is that it all seems to be written as if everyone is around 30 to 45 years old. So I have to reinterpret it for myself at 68. For anyone 50 and up who wants to start exercising I'd urge them to get a phys. exam. from a PCP first.
Great fun reading about a study that i was a part of. I have given UK Biobank access to my body & soul for about 30yrs. And they get my brain when I am dead too.
Sorry for the delayed reply as I don't use or check my Substack for messages much.
They are not allowed to give personalised feedback as a part of the intial contract but they will give feedback from studies that organisations do using our data. If a finding is life threatening then they will sometimes contact us from memory. So presumably if for example the abdo MRI shows that our aortic aneurysm is leaking/about to pop then they will give us the heads up.
From Gemini -
AI Overview The UK Biobank does not provide personalized health feedback to volunteers because its primary purpose is research, not clinical screening. They operate on a strict "no feedback" policy for individual results (like genetic or biomarker tests) to prevent unnecessary anxiety, false alarms, and potential strain on the NHS from invasive follow-up tests.
The "no feedback" approach is grounded in several key operational and ethical principles:Not a Health Check:
Volunteers join the study with the clear understanding that assessments are not diagnostic health checks. Results generated in a research setting often do not meet the strict regulatory standards required for clinical diagnosis.
Risk of Unnecessary Harm: Giving individual test results can lead to unwarranted alarm. It may also result in unnecessary, invasive clinical investigations and procedures that carry their own health risks.
Absence of Support: Providing complex or potentially serious medical information requires clinical counseling and support. Because the Biobank is a large-scale data-gathering project, it lacks the infrastructure and clinical setting to offer this essential context to volunteers.
Insurance and Lifestyle Repercussions: Receiving specific, unverified medical or genetic risk predictions can negatively impact a participant's ability to obtain or alter insurance status.
Their bid on my brain seemed better then the worms'. I am retired nurse & invest in medicine & biotechnology so that is why I was happy to get involved. It is a great project especially with those who they've full lifetime access & beyond access.
I assume a lot of people refrain from donating their brain because of religious reasons. Even if they claim not be religious, most might have the deep rooted belief that there is something after their death.
Apologies for the delay in replying. My take (risking heresy perhaps being a Roman Catholic) is that if there is an afterlife where I might want/need it, then my good deed for humanity (my brain will add huge depth/completeness to the rest of my data) will earn me a replacement in some form. Perhaps via a mind meld, Spock/Star Trek style + an AI enabled replacement that will effectively be like a bionic version, so an upgrade potentially. My body + brain would be roasted or probably more likely dissolved in an alkaline hydrolysis machine anyway (more eco-friendly apparently). But hopefully my soul (which is the important bit) will have moved on by then.
My observation about running advice that's out there on line, is that it all seems to be written as if everyone is around 30 to 45 years old. So I have to reinterpret it for myself at 68. For anyone 50 and up who wants to start exercising I'd urge them to get a phys. exam. from a PCP first.
Brady, thoughts on the higher risk groups being on medications ? Would that have anything to do with moderate to vigorous findings ? Thanks mate. Dean
Good question! And I honestly don’t have a good answer or speculation…but we do know there’s an exercise x medication intervention for lots of drugs.
Great fun reading about a study that i was a part of. I have given UK Biobank access to my body & soul for about 30yrs. And they get my brain when I am dead too.
Wow, fascinating! Curious if they give you any data (if available) while you’re alive? Anything useful you could learn?
Sorry for the delayed reply as I don't use or check my Substack for messages much.
They are not allowed to give personalised feedback as a part of the intial contract but they will give feedback from studies that organisations do using our data. If a finding is life threatening then they will sometimes contact us from memory. So presumably if for example the abdo MRI shows that our aortic aneurysm is leaking/about to pop then they will give us the heads up.
From Gemini -
AI Overview The UK Biobank does not provide personalized health feedback to volunteers because its primary purpose is research, not clinical screening. They operate on a strict "no feedback" policy for individual results (like genetic or biomarker tests) to prevent unnecessary anxiety, false alarms, and potential strain on the NHS from invasive follow-up tests.
The "no feedback" approach is grounded in several key operational and ethical principles:Not a Health Check:
Volunteers join the study with the clear understanding that assessments are not diagnostic health checks. Results generated in a research setting often do not meet the strict regulatory standards required for clinical diagnosis.
Risk of Unnecessary Harm: Giving individual test results can lead to unwarranted alarm. It may also result in unnecessary, invasive clinical investigations and procedures that carry their own health risks.
Absence of Support: Providing complex or potentially serious medical information requires clinical counseling and support. Because the Biobank is a large-scale data-gathering project, it lacks the infrastructure and clinical setting to offer this essential context to volunteers.
Insurance and Lifestyle Repercussions: Receiving specific, unverified medical or genetic risk predictions can negatively impact a participant's ability to obtain or alter insurance status.
Wow, that’s a lot you do and will do for research.
Their bid on my brain seemed better then the worms'. I am retired nurse & invest in medicine & biotechnology so that is why I was happy to get involved. It is a great project especially with those who they've full lifetime access & beyond access.
I assume a lot of people refrain from donating their brain because of religious reasons. Even if they claim not be religious, most might have the deep rooted belief that there is something after their death.
Apologies for the delay in replying. My take (risking heresy perhaps being a Roman Catholic) is that if there is an afterlife where I might want/need it, then my good deed for humanity (my brain will add huge depth/completeness to the rest of my data) will earn me a replacement in some form. Perhaps via a mind meld, Spock/Star Trek style + an AI enabled replacement that will effectively be like a bionic version, so an upgrade potentially. My body + brain would be roasted or probably more likely dissolved in an alkaline hydrolysis machine anyway (more eco-friendly apparently). But hopefully my soul (which is the important bit) will have moved on by then.