Thalassemia is basically a name for similar groups of inherited blood diseases that involve missing or abnormal genes regarding the protein in hemoglobin which is the red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body. I will discuss the different types of Thalassemia, how Thalassemia is diagnosed, and the treatments available. I will also discuss the complications and side effects of the treatments, the disease’s causes and effects, and how it is more dominant in some parts of the world than others. Thalassemia is a blood disorder which means the body makes fewer healthy red blood cells and less hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein that carries oxygen throughout the body and having less hemoglobin leads to anemia. Alpha globin and beta globin are the proteins that create Hemoglobin. A defect in the gene that helps control production of alpha or beta goblin leads to Thalassemia. Fewer blood cells leads to anemia, which is the common culprit in Thalassemia.
The most common forms of the differing Thalassemias are Alpha-Thalassemia and Beta-Thalassemia. Thalassemia is also commonly known by Cooley's anemia and Mediterranean anemia. Alpha Thalassemia is when genes related to the alpha globin protein are altered or missing, which is known as gene mutation. Alpha Thalassemia is primarily dominant in people from Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and China. Alpha Thalassemia has 5 subtypes while Beta Thalassemia has 3 main subtypes. Beta Thalassemia exists when defected genes alter production of the beta globin protein. Beta Thalassemia is prominent in people from the Mediterranean region, Italy, Middle East, Greece, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Southern China. However, Alpha and Beta Thalassemia both have a major and minor form of...
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... Tennis Champion Pete Sampras and Former professional soccer and European Football player Zinedine Zidane both know to have minor Thalassemia.
In conclusion, we can say Thalassemia is a hereditary disease, not a virally transmitted infection. Family history has lot to do with gene mutations. Everyone is all born with 4 genes, two from each parent. The type of genes inherited determines the severity of the disease. Likewise, the treatments depend on the strength of the diseases. Although not easily curable, the disease is treatable. More research is being done for cures and scientists are advancing in discovering safe options to limit Thalassemia during pregnancy. Some parts of the world are more prone to these diseases. Overall, Thalassemia is a disease caused by abnormalities in hemoglobin, but it is simply another challenge science will learn to overcome.
Racism, a plague in our society that has infected our society, and still does today, has been rooted by the premise of Darwinian evolution. Racism existed long before Charles Darwin made his mark in history; however, in the book One Race One Blood, the authors explain how there is a very close relationship between the theory of evolution and what we know today as racism. The authors intent of this book is to realize the effects of a specific ideas that has shaped racism. Mr. Ken Ham describes ideas as being seeds, “…they might seem small; they might seem insignificant; they might even go unnoticed by all expect those who hold them in the moment…” (7). Charles Darwin’s idea (or seeds) of his evolutionary has taken root and made its way into public schools, the government, and even our churches. Although, racism did not originate with Darwin, Ken Ham claims that, “he did more than any other person to popularize it” (22). His evolutionary ideas have fueled racism and this is what racists use to justify their hatred toward those who are different from them (8).
The mindset of every living organism is to survive and reproduce. As such, it may be surprising to hear that diseases actually plays a crucial role in the survival of our predecessors. In the book Survival of the Sickest, Dr. Sharon Moalem discusses the role these hereditary disorders played in keeping our very ancestors alive. Three examples mentioned in the reading selection include hemochromatosis, diabetes, as well as favism. All the diseases I mentioned had a specific aspect, to which I found particularly appealing. In the case of hemochromatosis, I found it intriguing how the author used his own life to draw a connection between the two traits. Dr. Sharon Moalem lost his grandfather to hemochromatosis and later was diagnosed with the
· genetics: occasionally the disease has a tendency to run in certain families (inherited or genetic predisposition), but this is not common.
Anemia is a disease that is commonly seen in veterinary medicine. This disease can be described as having low amounts of red blood cells and a reduced amount of hemoglobin in the circulating blood, which reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. It develops from loss, destruction or lack of production of red blood cells. Anemia is usually a secondary disease caused by another disease or medical condition. There are three different types of anemia; regenerative, non-regenerative and relative.
Each year athlete’s ability to perform seems to increase by leaps and bounds. Some reasons for this can be attributed to better training methods, better conditioning techniques, and better over all health of the athlete. While most situations involve one or more of the previously scenarios, some athletes always seem to take it to a step further. They engage in a process called blood doping. This procedure does increase physical performance and athletic ability, but potentially may do more harm than good.
Thalassemia has been categorized into two forms, which are: Alpha-thalassemia, Beta-thalassemia. Thalassemia is a syndrome that is classified according to a defect in either the Alpha or Beta globulin chains. Symptoms of thalassemia include: fatigue, weakness, jaundice, facial bone deformities, slow growth, abdominal swelling, and dark urine. Thalassemia is most commonly seen in Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean Region and Indiana. However, thalassemia does not have a specific ethnic group and can appear in any ethnicity as well as in any geographic location (Bain, 2006).
Sickle cell anemia is a hereditary disorder that mostly affects people of African ancestry, but also occurs in other ethnic groups, including people who are of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern descent. More than 70,000 Americans have sickle cell anemia. And about 2 million Americans - and one in 12 African Americans - have sickle cell trait (this means they carry one gene for the disease, but do not have the disease itself).
From generation to generation diabetes has continued to claim lives on my mothers side of the family. From recent memory my great grandmother, aunt, and three cousins have had diabetes. Once a trait like diabetes enters your family it is passed down through genetics but it is also not guaranteed that all your family members will get it. You may be asking yourself what exactly diabetes is, what it does to your body and is their a cure? This disease affects us in many ways than one, as I will introduce to you.
Thalassemia also known as Cooley’s anemia (Catlin 2003) was originally described by Thomas Cooley in 1925 (Starr 2012). The name Thalassemia came from the Greek name for sea (thalassa). This was due to the fact that for many years, those who had been most affected lived in the vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea (Starr 2012). Beta thalassemia occurs most frequently in people from Mediterranean countries, North Africa, the Middle East, India, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder that is inherited from parents. The absence or reduction in the production of hemoglobin is the cause of thalassemia. Hemoglobin is in the red blood cells, it is a protein that carries oxygen to cells throughout the body (Catlin 2011)). Thalassemia is characterized by quantitative defects in the synthesis of either the alpha hemoglobin for Alpha Thalassemia or the beta hemoglobin for Beta Thalassemia (Starr, 2012). It is not widely known how many people are affected by Thalassemia but the US populatio...
Sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease of red blood cells. Normally red blood cells contain a protein called hemoglobin A, which carries oxygen to all the organs in the body. With sickle cell anemia, however, the body makes a different kind of protein, called hemoglobin S.
Sickle cell anemia is the most common in hemoglobin mutation diseases due to mutation to beta-blobin gene. The substitution of valine for glutamate at position 6 of the beta chains paces a nonpolar residue on the outside of hemoglobin S. the oxygen affinity and allosteric properties of hemoglubin are virtually unaffected by this changes. However, this alternation markedly reduces the solubility of the deoxygenated but not the oxygenated form of hemoglobin. Thus, sicking occurs when there is a high concentration of the deoxygenated form of hemoglobin.
Sickle Cell is a disease that affects many people in the world today. It is the number one genetic disorder in the United States. Sickle Cell is deficient hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is what functions in providing oxygen to the cells in the body. The sickle shape comes from the atypical hemoglobin s molecules. Hemoglobin molecules are composed of two different parts called the alpha and beta. The beta subunit of the hemoglobin molecule has a mutation in gene, on chromosome 11 which produces the change in the red blood cell shape causing them to die and not reproduce accurately. The change in shape causes the red blood cells to get stuck in the blood vessels and block the effectiveness of oxygen transport causing pain and organ damage to the body. This disease does not have a cure and some common treatments are used to help patients live with the disease. Some treatment options are antibiotics (penicillin) to prevent infections, blood transfusions, folic acid that help produces new blood cells. These are just some of the current treatments for Sickle Cell.
For almost all types of Albinism both parents or mates must carry an albinism gene in order for their child to have albinism. Because the body has two sets of genes, a person may have normal pigmentation but carry the albinism gene. If a person has one normal gene and one albinism gene that is still enough to pass the disease on to their children. Even if both parents have the albinism gene it does not mean they have the sickness. The baby will have a one out of four chance of getting the disease. This is inherited by autosomal recessive inheritance.
This type of inheritance is called autosomal recessive inheritance. If a parent has a child with albinism, it means the parent must carry the albinism gene. Until recently, unless a person has albinism or has a child with albinism, there was no way of knowing whether he or she carries the gene for albinism. Recently, a test has been developed to identify carriers of the gene for ty-negative albinism and for other types in which the tyrosinase enzyme does not function. The test uses a sample of blood to identify the gene for the tryrosinase enzyme by its DNA code. A similar test can identify type-negative or similar albinism in unborn babies, by aminiocentesis.
There are two main types of thalassemia. The first one is Alpha thalassemia. This occurs when a gene or genes related to the alpha globin protein are missing or mutated. It happens mostly in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, China, and in those of African descent. If one gene is missing or damaged: Your red blood cells might be smaller than normal. You will have no symptoms and you will not need treatment. If two genes are missing or damaged, you will have very mild anemia that will typically not need treatment. This is called alpha thalassemia minor or alpha thalassemia trait. If three genes are missing: You will have mild to moderately severe anemia. This is called hemoglobin H disease. If it is severe, you may need blood transfusions.