Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

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circular
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Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

Post by circular »

Okay, so I'd hoped to be further along by now, but rather than wait for perfection I'm going ahead and putting this out there 'as is' while I keep plugging away as time allows. At least you get the idea where it's heading. Thanks to our Board this spreadsheet is now housed in apoe.info's Google Drive.

Important privacy message! When you click the link, if you have a Google account the spreadsheet will show who you are and that you're present to other people viewing the page. If you don't want this information showing, please use 'incognito', 'Private', and 'InPrivate' modes in Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer, respectively. (In Chrome and Firefox, for convenience you can right-click on the link and open it directly in the private browsing window.)

The document is currently set to 'anyone with the link can view'. I wasn't sure whether to make it findable by 'strangers' searching the internet. On the one hand it could attract fellow apoe4 people; on the other hand it might attract troublemakers into our forum? My vote I think is to keep it 'anyone with the link can view' rather than 'public on the web'.

Please tell me how you think this can be better! For example:
  • Different labs organize different groups of tests under their own category name. I’ve tried to make some general sense of how they can be grouped, but let me know if you think I should move something to a different section.

    Are there any tests that should be on this sheet that aren’t?

    Should the doctors' targets section be first (when there are fewer entries there so far), or move that section to after the lab ranges???

    Should the doctors’ targets and lab ranges and direct-to-consumer lab prices be in separate tabs?

    I added a proxy column. Can anyone think of some more proxies that can go in it? Otherwise I'll transfer the limited data there another way and delete that column.

    Are there any additional useful links to add under the Disclaimers & Other Information tab?
Don't hesitate to post errors in this thread too.

Here you go!
ApoE 3/4 > Thanks in advance for any responses made to my posts.
circular
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Re: Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

Post by circular »

After I started this biomarker spreadsheet project some time back I rather suddenly became an AD caretaker and my life has been derailed ever since, so unfortunately I haven't made a lot of progress for about the last year and a half. There are, however, a few changes to note and ways you can help if you think this spreadsheet is useful:

1)

A couple months ago I added Dr. Bredesen's desired lab ranges (from his book The End of Alzheimer's). If you're familiar with his target ranges and happen to notice something that's not right, or that he's changed, please let me know so these figures can be as current as possible.

2)

Today I moved the columns showing various direct-to-consumer (DTC) labs' prices for biomarkers to their own spreadsheet and added a few more prices (see Lab Prices Outside Insurance tab). This is really just a beginning. As more and more outlets, both labs and third-party purveyors, offer these biomarker tests directly to consumers, it could be increasingly helpful to have a price comparison handy. In addition new partnerships may form that make the tests more affordable. For example, Sonora Quest is the name of Quest Diagnostic labs in Arizona and the outcome of a joint venture between QD and Banner Health. The prices for the growing list of DTC tests available at Sonora Quest, at least the six I checked this morning, are well below those offered through other DTC providers. Those living in adjacent states who can travel to a Sonora Quest lab may be able to take advantage of these offers.

How you can help with the biomarker prices sheet:
  • - For now these are all US-based offerings. If you know of an online DTC supplier in another country you'd like to see included please let me know.

    - There's still a long way to go populating many of the fields. Since it's quite time consuming to look up all the tests someone might be interested in at all the DTC outlets, if you are shopping around and wouldn't mind noting the prices at these venues and posting them here, I'll add them to the spreadsheet :)

    - Likewise, if you're ordering something that already has the prices included on the spreadsheet, then if you could check that they are current and post any changes here it would be really helpful.
In this way we should be able to crowd-source and crowd-check the data over time.
ApoE 3/4 > Thanks in advance for any responses made to my posts.
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Julie G
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Re: Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

Post by Julie G »

WOW!!! :D What an amazing resource, Circ. I can see that you've been hard at work. My only suggestion is that it needs to be featured more prominently. Is it available via the wiki? If so, I can't find it... Let's consider adding it to Table of Contents so it will be easier to access. On behalf of the community- thank you. Keep up the great work! Deep bow. xo
circular
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Re: Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

Post by circular »

Thanks, I’ve been beginning to wonder if anyone thinks the BM spreadsheet is useful. Anyone else chime in what you think, ‘cause if Julie and I are the only ones who think it may help, that’s not enough to warrant the time involved. Has anyone found it useful or expect to in the future? Too bad the forum doesn’t have a poll feature ;)

In the meantime, yes, add to the wiki and I’ll keep it on my current projects list...
ApoE 3/4 > Thanks in advance for any responses made to my posts.
Starfish77
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Re: Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

Post by Starfish77 »

Circ, thank you so much. We can certainly make good use of this. What a wonderful tool. I'm glad it got pointed out.
I had missed it.
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ru442
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Re: Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

Post by ru442 »

I am trying to make time to check it out, but at first glance this would be a wonderful tool to point folks at when they have these questions. Answers a lot of the questions we get.
Male 4/4 56 yrs., "Live, Laugh, Love"
circular
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Re: Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

Post by circular »

Appreciate the feedback :). As long as it’s potentially useful to some :)
ApoE 3/4 > Thanks in advance for any responses made to my posts.
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Re: Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

Post by Bettylacy »

Hi circ. Is there a spread sheet with all recommended labs for dr Bs program.?Tell me more and how to access?[/quote]
Hi Betty, just saw this as I’ve been traveling and up to my ears in family caretaking issues. If you search the forum for spreadsheet you should find the link. I think you can narrow that search by topic title too. On my phone ...

Edit: here ya go! viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2455&hilit=spreadsheet[/quote

Circ: Sorry to hear about your sudden call to be an AD caregiver. So many of us are balancing our own health needs with caring for loved ones with AD. Very challenging!

Thanks for spreadsheet forwarding link. For some reason I am unable to access the spread sheet. What pops up for me when I click on the link is info about the link ie disclaimers and links below that but none take me to the spread sheet.

Would appreciate some direction to the spread sheet. I'm specifically interested in Bredesen's spreadsheet. Theresa says its on FB. So I'll check in there too.
Happy New Year everyone!
APOe 3/4; If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far go together. African proverb. :D
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Julie G
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Re: Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

Post by Julie G »

Thanks for spreadsheet forwarding link. For some reason I am unable to access the spread sheet. What pops up for me when I click on the link is info about the link ie disclaimers and links below that but none take me to the spread sheet.
Waves, Betty! When you're on the spreadsheet, you'll notice various tabs in a bottom toolbar where you can access various data. Our wiki has a Bredesen article with some biomarker goals, but I'm not sure how updated it is. Theresa recently posted the detailed Bredesen spreadsheet from a Facebook post somewhere on the site. Anyone know where?
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Re: Biomarker Information Spreadsheet

Post by Bettylacy »

Waves Back Julie. Thanks for the info about the tabs. I completely missed that. It would be nice to have Dr. B's program a little more condensed like the preventing Cognitive Decline check list.
APOe 3/4; If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far go together. African proverb. :D
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