The Pituitary Gland and Dwarfism
The Pituitary Gland is situated at the base of the brain and it produces hormones which control growth. Too large an amount of these hormones causes giantism, a condition where facial features, hands, etc. become abnormally large.
Too little causes dwarfism, where the overall stature of a person is very small.
Dwarfism is the condition of being undersized, or less than 127 cm (50 in) in height. Some dwarfs have been less than 64 cm (24 in) in height when fully grown. The word midget is usually applied to dwarfs. Another growth disorder disease is Cretinism which is a result of a disease of the thyroid gland it is the cause of most dwarfism in Europe, Canada, and the United States.
Other causes of dwarfism are Down's syndrome, a congenital condition with symptoms similar to those of cretinism, achondroplasia, a disease characterized by short extremities resulting from absorption of cartilaginous tissue during the fetal stage, spinal tuberculosis, and deficiency of the secretions of the pituitary gland or of the ovary.
Causes of pituitary dwarfism may vary. Abnormally short height in childhood may be due to the pituitary gland not functioning correctly, resulting in underproduction of growth hormone. This may result from a tumor in the pituitary gland, absence of the pituitary gland, or trauma.
Growth retardation may become evident in infancy and persists throughout childhood. Normal puberty may or may not occur depending on the degree of pituitary insufficiency that is present, which is the inability of the pituitary to produce adequate hormone levels other than growth hormone.
Physical defects of the face and skull may also be associated with abnormalities of the pituitary gland. A small percentage of infants with cleft lip and cleft palate may have decreased growth hormone levels.
No ideal treatment has been developed yet for pituitary dwarfism.
Replacement therapy with growth hormone is indicated for children who have documented growth hormone deficiency. If the deficiency is an isolated growth hormone deficiency only growth hormone is given. If the deficiency is not isolated other hormone replacement preparations will be required.
There are a few complications of pituitary dwarfism.
Comedian Kevin Hart doesn’t have a large height as other film stars. His height is 5 Feet and 4 Inches (1.63 m). He weighs 64 kg. His chest, biceps, and waist size are 44 inches, 15 inches and 35 inches
ACHONDROPLASIA is known as being undersized, or less than 50in. in height. Having short limbs, a normal sized trunk, large head with a depressed nasal bridge and small face. This is a result of a disease in the thyroid gland. It can also be caused by Down syndrome or absorption, a cartilaginous tissue during the fetal stage. Hypochondroplasia, a mild form of dwarfism. Spinal tuberculosis and the deficiency of the pituitary gland secretions. Treatment with thyroxin or thyroid extract early in childhood results in normal growth and development. Somatrophin, also known as the human growth hormone is secreted by the anterior pituitary. Respiratory problems start to occur in infants. Symptoms of problems include snoring and sleeping with neck in a hyperextended condition. The limbs have rhizometic shortening. The legs are straight in infantry but when a child. He begins walking they develop a knock-knee position. When the child continues to walk legs begin to have a bowed-leg look. Occasionally, these curvatures are fixed. As the child continues to walk the kyphosis disappears and the back assumes a lordotic posture. If a delay in child’s walking occurs, the spine should be monitored closely for signs of gibbous formation. In infancy, hypercephalus can occur. Infants head circumference should be monitored close . Monthly checks of head circumference must be monitored. Radiologic studies are indicated if head circumference raises to disproportionately, or if symptoms of hydrocephalus. Child’s pediatrician should have a copy of head circumference curves for children with achondroplasia. Radiologic procedures for dwarfism include head ultrasound, C-T scan, or MRI of the head. If intervention is necessary, a ventriculoperitoneal shunt is placed relieving the pressure. Infants should also be monitored for foramen magnum compression. It is the opening at the base of the skull in which the brain stem and cervical spinal cord exit. When you have achondroplasia the foramen magnum is compressing the brain stem and spinal cord. Symptoms of narrowing include apnea the cessation of breathing and cervical myleopathy. C-T scans and MRI scans are done to examine the size of the infectious foramen magnum. A neurosurgical procedure called a foramen magnum decompression is executed to alarge foramen and alleviate further symptoms. Adolescents are at risk of getting lumbosacral spinal stenosis. The lumber spinal cord or nerve roots become compressed producing nerosurgical symptoms. Initial symptoms including weakness, tingling, and pain of the legs. Pain usually alleviated by assuming a squatting position.
Throughout this semester, I have gained a abundance of information on genetics that I never knew, but reading the book "Mendel 's Dwarf" did make it a little bit more difficult for me to understand genetics. After looking back at my notes I remembered early in the semester our professor discussing the condition that Dr. Benedict Lambert suffers from which is Achondroplasia(dwarfism). Achondroplasia is condition of short limbs, usually in arms and legs, the torso and head size is majority of the time normal. Simon Mawer describe Dr. Lambert body as "His body is not normal, his is not normal, his limbs are not normal. He possesses a massive forehead and blunt, puglike features. His nose is stove in at the bridge, his mouth and jaw protrude. His
giant on earth I hold him to be..." (1.140). If he is half a giant and
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) is an inherited condition that affects hormone production in the adrenal gland. The individual lacks enzymes to make cortisol, and hormones are instead are shifted away to make other hormones, specifically androgens. This results in the deficiency of cortisol and the abundance of testosterone.
When Moose was very young, he was always teased because he was the shortest in his class, but years later in Alcatraz, his appearance was scary to some people. He was 5 foot 11 and a half inches even though he was only twelve. Throughout his whole life, Moose loved baseball, no surprise that in his old school, Moose was leading a winning
Achondroplasia is a genetic disorder in which there is a growth hormone deficiency, or there is a genetic mutation in either the father’s sperm or mother’s egg. (mayo clinic, March 20,2014.) Achondroplasia was the first discovered in ancient Egyptian records. People with achondroplasia were considered people with supernatural powers. Many people call dwarfs midgets but to them, it is very disrespectful because midget literally means little person. Some acceptable names that you can use that will not offend them would be little people, LP, person with short stature, or dwarf. Even though dwarfs feel as if they do not have disabilities, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will protect the rights of dwarfs. (who discovered it? March 28, 2014.)
The thyroid is one of the most essential glands in the body. It is located in the endocrine system, and sits right in the neck just above where the collar bones meet. The thyroid gland functions to produce hormones that control how every cell in the body utilizes energy, also known as a process called metabolism. When a person's thyroid abnormally produces an excessive amount of thyroid hormones, this is a condition referred to as hyperthyroidism. The causes of hyperthyroidism are known to include: eating too much food with iodine, graves disease, inflammation due to viral infections, tumors of the testes and ovaries, taking a large amount of thyroid hormone, receiving medical imaging tests consisting of contrast dye iodine, and growth of thyroid or pituitary gland (Board "Hyperthyroidism"). With an overactive thyroid, the body tends to speed up its functions. Symptoms vary from, fast heartbeats, rapid weight loss, abnormal sweating, nervousness, and mood changes. Hyperthyroidism is normally diagnosed through a series of lab tests. If not properly taken care of, condition may worsen leading to bone and heart problems in the long run. As far as treatment is concerned, options may vary from person to person depending on age and the level of activity of the thyroid. Treatments include antithyroid medicines, radioactive iodine ablation, and the last resort, surgery. Though all treatment plans work, radioactive iodine ablation is a permanent and more reliable remedy for an overactive thyroid. Radioactive iodine ablation is in fact the most commonly used cure for people with hyperthyroidism problems in the US today. “The treatment has been around since 1942 and has been extensively used since the 1950's” ("Radioactive Iodine Treatment o...
The thyroid gland is part of the endocrine system, and it is controlled by the pituitary which is known as the “master gland” of the endocrine system. The pituitary controls the thyroid by producing Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) which stimulates the production of thyroid hormones. . The thyroid gland secretes two main hormones: Thyroxine (T4) and Tri-Iodothyronine (T3). These hormones increase metabolic rate, heat production, oxygen consumption, appetite, growth hormone secretion, alertness and quicker reflexes. The thyroid gland is located in the anterior portion of the neck, beneath the Adam’s apple. It is divided in two lobes on either side of the windpipe: right lobe and left lobe. These lobes create what looks like a butterfly shape. The gland is essential to the contribution of maintaining the homeostasis of the body. It plays a role in monitoring the body’s expenditure of energy and running the body’s metabolism.
Use the caliper to and pull it on the nose and the back of the skull.Then take that measurement and write it down on the table as the height
NIH, National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2015). Cyclothymic Disorder, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Web. 22 July 2015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002517
Mary has reached her body height at 5’2”. Although, when she was younger she had to take growth hormones because she was not growing when the rest of her peers were. She was a very late developer and did not start puberty until she was 17.
Endocrinology can be defined as the study of the structure and function of the endocrine system (Tortora & Grabowski 1996). The endocrine system is composed cells, known as endocrine cells, which are distributed around the body and produce the chemical messengers known as hormones. Following secretion by endocrine cells, hormones travel in the blood where they affect tissues outside of their tissue of origin - and are therefore a form of cellular communication. In multicellular organisms, such as humans, cellular communication is essential for a number of body processes and the maintenance of homeostasis (Campbell, N.A. et al. 2015). In this essay, I am going to outline some of a number of body
Genetics is a scientific discipline that deals with how individuals inherit their physical and behavioral attributes. Generally, genetics is a branch of biology that deals with the science of heredity, genes, and differences in living organisms. It’s the process with which a child inherits traits from his/her parents and the molecular organization and function of genes. The question of what determines the development of a child has been an issue that has attracted considerable concerns and debates across educators, biologists, and psychologists. This issue has attracted huge concerns because it’s impossible to explain each and every factor that eventually determines who a child becomes. Notably, the development of a child involves a mix of various influences such as parenting, genetics, individual experiences, family relationships, friends, and school. One of the most important influences on a child’s development and growth is genetics, which primarily is the process of traits inheritance from parents to offspring.
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