HELP! URGENT! Are non-difinitive risk prediction diagnostics disadvantaged?

[deleted-347765]

My goal is to develop an early detection noninvasive diagnostic for coronary cardiovascular disease. However, there is no definitive test for cardiac diseases because unlike cancers and many infectious diseases where the presence of certain proteins determine the presence of the disease, for CHD there is no specific biomarkers. The best I can get is a pretty accurate holistic risk assessment assay, but it can't "DIAGNOSE" patients! It might be useful to commercialize, but is it disadvantaged as a science fair project?

Thank you so much!!
-Jill

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

You have selected an excellent, but very challenging idea for a science project. . It would be great if more people could be diagnosed before they have a heart attack or stroke, as this would save lives and prevent disability.

To develop a specific idea for your project, you should do more background reading on the topic and try to find a novel idea that might help diagnose cardiovascular disease earlier. It sounds like you have already done some reading on the subject and are starting to think of ways to approach the problem would save lives and prevent disability.

The best science fair projects that I have seen are ones that focus in on one small detail of a larger problem. I have not investigated this topic myself, so you will need to do the reading. Find out everything that is currently being done to diagnose CVD and see if you can think of a way to improve one of the methods, or perhaps combine current testing with other test methods that are available.

Since this is a science fair project, you won’t be able to work directly with patients or do any experiments on humans. You will need to do at least one experiment with measurable results.

Please do post again with additional information you discover and perhaps I can suggest a specific experiment for you to do or provide advice that will help you continue your investigation.

Donna Hardy

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

Here’s some additional ideas to help you identify a specific project on the vast topic of heart disease. I found a couple of recent research reports on heart disease and both should give you an idea for a specific investigation.

First is a recent report about how the sugar industry supported research to blame fat and divert attention away from sugar many years ago.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 122356.htm

A project on this topic might be a behavior project with a questionnaire about your subject’s knowledge of the relationship of sugar to heart disease. Or, you might investigate how much tax would be required to keep people from buying sugar. Or, perhaps you could analyze how much hidden sugar is present in your school’s lunch offerings, or your favorite restaurant or fast food outlet. Or, maybe you could do an experiment with fruit flies on diets with different levels of sugar.

Next is a summary of recent research on pears with a report about how the fiber in pears binds with bile acids to reduce cholesterol. I like this website because all reports are documented with references from the scientific literature, which you need for a science project. Look at the paragraph under “decreased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.”

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... ce&dbid=28

A science project on this topic might include doing an assay of bile acid binding. It looks like you could find a method in the bibliography . Perhaps you could compare the bile-acid binding capacity of different varieties of pears, or perhaps compare apples and pears.

The two suggestions above are just examples about how to find an experiment to do on your topic. I encourage you to do your own research and find possible ideas on your own based on current research trends.

Please let me know what ideas you find and if you have any questions.

Donna