Nov 2025 - Health, AI Content Experince and New PSE Test

Preparing for Cooler Season Living:

In a northern climate means preparing for another season, You know the drill winterize the home,  putting away all the summer patio stuff, packing up the the summer clothes and pulling out the fall and winter gear. Try on the clothing and make sure it fits, donate what doesn't and make a list of new items needed to make the cooler months enjoyable while outside. It's a lot of work if your not use to that type of thing but if you are use to it then it's more of a family tradition and enjoy some of it finding out that I "forgot I had that!" type of moments.

Health Updates:

October 8th 2025 - I had an MRI of my T-Spine and here is the initial report:

"Thoracic spine alignment is satisfactory. No compression fractures are seen; however, there are large Schmorl’s nodes at the superior and inferior endplates of T6, T9, and T11. Bone marrow signal is heterogeneous with several vertebra demonstrating heterogeneously increased T2 signal, consistent with known bony metastatic disease. Disc spaces are relatively well preserved.
Cord signal is normal with no evidence of myelopathy, cord atrophy, or extrinsic compression of the cord. The spinal canal is widely patent with no central canal stenosis. The neuroforamina are patent bilaterally."

Okay: Not much of a detailed report in my opinion (especially when we paid for the MRI out of pocket).  Seems like the spinal fluid and nerves are okay. But some of this report doesn't line up with my recent CT scans. WTF ?!

I had a meeting with a neurosurgeon and asked about the discrepancies. He told me that to rely on a CT scan to show hard masses like bone and that the MRI scan is for soft tissue. The neurosurgeon scheduled another CT scan of the T-Spine to see if there have been any changes since my last one. That is scheduled for December he also reiterated not to lift anything even lightly heavy.  

I was not satisfied with the MRI report so I reached out to the clinic and they told me for another $400.00 (this is on top of $1150.00 for the MRI) we can have a radiologist produce a more detailed report. Ugh! Okay, sure do it. I need an accurate diagnosis in order to know the best plan of therapy/procedures I should be considering. 

I was told it would take 5 days for the report. I am still waiting for the report since October 20th. It's now November 14th - again - WTF.

My AI Learning Experience:

As I mentioned in my last post AI is important for understanding health information and helping with other areas such as research and content creation. Well, I have been perusing a leadership certification in Google Gemini AI and using the many tools available for research, content creation and deep learning.  
 
I had Google's NotebookLM digest my blog and create a summary video of my content. Click on this link to view it: Rick's Prostate Cancer Experience
 
What do you think? 
 

Research:

New Prostate Testing Methodology: Epigenetic (PSE) Test

Beyond Your DNA: 5 Surprising Truths About the New Wave of Epigenetic Testing
The Software That Runs Your DNA
For decades, we’ve understood our DNA to be our biological "hard drive"—a fixed, inherited code that lays out the blueprint for who we are. It’s the unchangeable text printed in the book of our life, dictating everything from eye color to our predisposition for certain diseases. But what if there was a dynamic layer of information on top of that code, like software telling the hard drive which programs to run and when?
This is the central concept of epigenetics. As one Johns Hopkins report describes it, if our DNA is the hardware, epigenetics is the "software package" that controls it. These epigenetic marks are chemical switches on our DNA that don't change the code itself, but instead tell our genes whether to turn on or off. Crucially, this "software" isn't fixed; it’s constantly being updated by our lifestyle and environment—our diet, stress levels, exercise habits, and exposure to toxins all leave their mark.
Now, a new wave of powerful tests can read this epigenetic software. Some are being used in clinics to revolutionize how doctors detect deadly diseases like prostate cancer. At the same time, a booming direct-to-consumer market allows anyone to buy a test online, take a saliva sample at home, and get a report on their "biological age." This explosion in accessibility creates a fundamental tension: while clinically-validated tests are changing how we fight disease, a booming, unregulated consumer market is raising complex questions about scientific validity, privacy, and what it means to truly own our health data. Here are five surprising truths you need to know about this new era.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The Standard Prostate Cancer Test Is Flawed. A New One Is a Game-Changer.
The Old Way: Weighing the Book
The traditional screening tool for prostate cancer is the Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) blood test. As urologist Dr. Garrett Pohlman notes, it serves a purpose: “I often discuss how the PSA is still a good initial check engine light for men in their prostate but it's not a perfect test.” The core problem is its lack of specificity. A helpful analogy describes the PSA test as only being able to "weigh the book"—the prostate—without being able to open it and read the words. It can tell you if the prostate is heavier or larger than normal, but it can’t tell you why. The cause could be cancer, but it could also be a benign condition like prostate enlargement, infection, or inflammation.
This lack of specificity leads to a high rate of false positives. Based on the PSA test alone, an estimated 3 out of 4 men (75%) who are referred for an invasive prostate biopsy after an elevated PSA result will not be found to have cancer.
"I often discuss how the PSA is still a good initial check engine light for men in their prostate but it's not a perfect test."
—Dr. Garrett Pohlman, on the "Prostate Health Podcast"
The New Way: Reading the Sticky Notes
A groundbreaking alternative, the EpiSwitch Prostate Specific Epigenetic (PSE) test, offers a far more precise approach. Instead of just weighing the book, this epigenetic test looks inside for cancer's specific "sticky notes"—unique patterns of what scientists call circulating chromosome conformation signatures (CCSs) found in the blood. These signatures reveal how DNA is folded and organized, which can indicate the presence of cancer.
The PSE test combines a patient's PSA value with an analysis of five of these epigenetic biomarkers. This combined approach allows it to predict a patient's risk of having prostate cancer with 94% accuracy. It delivers a straightforward binary result—either "low likelihood" or "high likelihood"—giving clinicians and patients a much clearer basis for making decisions. And unlike other advanced biomarkers, the test is robust; it requires no special blood handling and isn't confounded by recent BPH procedures or common medications. By accurately identifying men at low risk, predictive models based on the test's real-world performance indicate that it could help avoid up to 79.1% of unnecessary, invasive, and stressful biopsies.
2. You Can Now Buy a "Biological Age" Test to Take at Home
Beyond the clinic, a rapidly growing number of companies are selling "biological age" or "epigenetic age" tests directly to consumers (DTC). The process is simple: you order a kit online, provide a saliva sample or a finger-prick blood spot at home, and mail it back to a lab for analysis.
Companies like TruDiagnostic and epiAge claim their tests can reveal a wealth of personalized information. They report on your biological age—how old your body is at a cellular level—compared to your chronological age. They also claim to measure the pace at which you are aging and provide "actionable insights" into how your lifestyle choices are affecting your long-term health. This trend isn't just online. It's part of a broader shift in consumer health, where a growing interest in longevity science is fueling a market that stepped in as the direct-to-consumer genetic testing market declined over privacy concerns. Local wellness centers, like N.H.F. Clinics in Ontario, are also offering these tests to create tailored recommendations for nutrition, stress management, and detoxification strategies.
3. "Clinical-Grade" and "Clinically-Proven" Are Two Very Different Things
In the DTC wellness market, language is everything. Companies frequently use the term "clinical-grade"—a powerful marketing phrase that suggests hospital-level rigor but intentionally sidesteps a much higher bar: whether the test is "clinically-proven" to have any meaningful impact on your health.
In this context, "clinical-grade" refers to the technical standards of the laboratory. For example, the company behind the epiAge test highlights that it uses advanced Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) instead of older microarray technology and performs every test in triplicate. This approach ensures high technical accuracy, meaning the lab’s measurement of the DNA methylation pattern is reliable and reproducible.
"Clinically-proven," on the other hand, means there is strong scientific evidence showing that a test can accurately predict health outcomes and provide a tangible benefit to patient care, a standard required for regulatory approval from bodies like the FDA or Health Canada. While the lab methods used by some DTC companies may be rigorous, the broad wellness claims made by most biological age tests—such as their ability to help you "foresee and prevent diseases"—have not been validated for medical use. Consumers should be aware of this critical distinction.
4. Your Lifestyle Leaves Fingerprints on Your Genes—And These Tests Can Read Them
Because epigenetic marks are directly influenced by our environment and behavior, these tests can reveal highly sensitive information about our lifestyle choices. Our daily habits leave distinct fingerprints on our DNA, and this technology is now advanced enough to read them, creating what some scientists call a "biosocial archive" of a person's life.
For example, specific epigenetic patterns are known to be linked to a person's Body Mass Index (BMI) and level of alcohol consumption. Tobacco smoking creates even more detailed patterns, leaving behind extensive, though reversible, changes in DNA methylation that form a "smoke exposure history." The TruAge test, for instance, specifically claims it can analyze a person's lifetime exposure to tobacco smoke from a blood sample. But if a simple test can create a detailed history of your health-related behaviors, it also creates a valuable dataset for third parties—a reality our current laws may not be prepared for.
5. A Legal Loophole Could Lead to "Epigenetic Discrimination"
The most critical issue facing Canadians in this new landscape is a major regulatory blind spot. In 2017, Canada enacted the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act (GNDA). Its purpose is clear: to prohibit anyone, such as an insurance company or employer, from forcing a person to undergo a genetic test or disclose its results as a condition of a contract. This law was designed to ensure people could explore their genetics without fearing the results would be used against them.
However, a critical loophole exists. The GNDA defines a "genetic test" as one that "analyzes DNA, RNA or chromosomes." This definition, focused on the underlying genetic sequence, creates a critical loophole. Epigenetic tests do not analyze the sequence itself; they analyze the chemical modifications on top of the DNA. Experts warn this ambiguity creates a serious risk of "epigenetic discrimination."
An insurance company, for example, is barred from demanding your DNA sequence. But because of this loophole, it could potentially demand to see your "biological age" or the results of an epigenetic test showing your lifetime smoking history. This dynamic health data, which is highly predictive of lifespan and disease risk, could be used to deny coverage or raise premiums, completely bypassing the spirit of the GNDA.
"...in its current form, Canada's Genetic Non-Discrimination Act (S.C. 2017, c. 3) may not apply to the (mis)use of individual epigenetic or microbiomic information by third parties."
—"Protecting privacy in the postgenomic era," a report from the Centre of Genomics and Policy, McGill University
This regulatory gap leaves Canadians vulnerable to having their most personal health and lifestyle data used against them in ways they likely do not realize.
 
 
Online Resources: