...Sickle cell anemia is the most prevalent genetic disorder in the United States, which falls under the broad term of sickle cell disease. This term is frequently used to describe a group of chronic hemolytic anemias (Falvo and Holland, 2014; National Human Genome Research Institute, 2016). Chronic hemolytic anemias, or SCA is an inherited disorder characterized by abnormal hemoglobin caused by a recessive allele that changes its structure (Falvo and Holland, 2014). An individual can inherit two sickle cell genes (one from each parent) or a sickle cell gene in combination with another abnormal gene that causes this change within their red blood cells. A normal hemoglobin molecule is biconcave shaped which allows red blood cells to flow easily...
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...What is a genetic disorder? What are the symptoms of a genetic disorder? What is the proper treatment needed for a genetic disorder? These are common questions that are asked when discussing a disorder. A genetic disorder is a disease that is inherited and caused by the change in the mutation, in a person’s DNA sequence. Genetic disorders are inherited from one or both of your parents. Genetic Test is designed to test the blood and other tissues to determine a genetic disorder. The most common symptoms of a genetic disorder are unusual birthmarks, increasing or decreasing sweating, and loose or stiff joints. There are three categories of genetic disorders. Single gene disorder is when a mutation affects only one gene. The Chromosomal disorder...
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...There are many blood disorders that affect the lives of many people. Some are genetic while others are the consequences of disease and poor diet. There are three different blood disorders that stem from theses causes: sickle cell anemia, thrombocytopenia, and iron deficiency anemia. Each of these blood disorders are diagnosed, treated, and have different prevention methods. Sickle cell anemia causes normal round red blood cells to become crescent shaped. Normal red blood cells can easily move throughout the body’s blood vessels and supply the body with the adequate amount of oxygen enriched blood. But crescent or sickle shaped red blood cells often get stuck in the blood vessels blocking the vessels and causing the stop of oxygen from getting to the bodies organs, tissue, muscle, and bones. Sickle cell anemia is caused by an inherited genetic trait by both of the parents of the affected child. If the child only inherits the sickle cell gene from one parent then the child is said to have the trait but not the disease. However, the child that has only the trait is considered a carrier of the disease and can pass the gene to his or her children. Most people are diagnosed with sickle cell anemia when they are born by having a simple blood test that most hospitals require at birth. Antibiotics are the first course of treatment and it is given to children between the ages of two months to five years of age. Parents are also encouraged to have their children’s routine childhood immunizations...
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...Ashley McHugh Ms. Greve Biology I Academic (2)-1 11 January 2016 Sickle Cell Disease: A Chronic Cruelty Sickle cell disease is a collection of inherited blood cell disorders in which the hemoglobin in red blood cells mutates into a dangerous crescent shape. This crescent shape is “not flexible and can stick to vessel walls, causing a blockage that slows or stops the flow of blood.” Sickle cell disease is the most common genetic disorder in the United States, but it primarily affects African Americans. Victims suffer from lifelong complications wherein the worst of the pain lies in sporadic episodes. Sickle cell disease is an incurable hereditary condition which produces abnormally shaped red blood cells that trigger periods of severe pain;...
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...Phenylketonuria, Tay-Sach’s, and sickle cell anemia are all genetic disorders that affect many body systems; most cannot be cured. These genetic disorders can cause severe health problems that make it difficult to live a normal life. Health professionals can help treat or manage some of the symptoms to make them less severe. These disorders are caused by cell mutations and they cause severe damage to people’s body systems. Phenylketonuria is an inherited genetic disease caused by a mutation in the PAH gene. PKU causes increased levels of phenylalanine in the blood. Phenylalanine, obtained through diet, is a building block of amino acids. Left untreated, the levels of phenylalanine can build up and cause mild to severe health problems. Classic PKU is the name of the most severe form of the disease. Infants begin to show symptoms of classic PKU when they are a few months old. Children with classic PKU will develop permanent intellectual disabilities if left untreated. The most common symptoms are seizures, behavioral issues and developmental delay. Affected individuals might have a musty or mouse-like odor, lighter hair and skin than family members, and eczema. Although there is no cure for PKU, there are...
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...Blood Disorders Edith Kent HCA/240 5/26/13 Dr. David Rodvein Blood Disorders Iron deficiency anemia Lily is suffering from iron deficiency anemia and more than likely developed this blood disorder from the lack of iron in the food and beverages she consumes in her diet commonly can be described as dietary deficiency of iron. Description Iron deficiency anemia occurs when the body does not have enough iron. Iron is needed to produce hemoglobin which is a part of your red blood cells. The hemoglobin helps carry oxygen throughout your body. Without enough iron in your body it will not be able to produce enough red blood cells therefore can create a lack of oxygen in your body. Symptoms Lily’s symptoms complains of being tired all the time she is also pale and is a picky eater. She is experiencing two of the symptoms that are associated with a severe case of anemia. Other symptoms that are associated with anemia are shortness of breath, headaches, irritability, dizziness, and difficulty concentrating. Lily also is a picky eater so more than likely will exhibit behavioral problems while her mother and doctor are trying to change her diet intake. Causes Not consuming enough foods that are high in iron that an adolescent or pregnant women need to produce enough iron in their body is one of the causes associated with this disorder other causes may include women who bleed heavily during their menstruation, heavy bleeding inside your body that are caused from...
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...Blood Disorders May 1, 2011 HCA/240 Bethany Dowse There are many types of blood disorders. Some are caused by genetics, others are caused by the person who has the disorder, and others can be caused by environmental factors. The blood disorders that are genetic people have no control over. Most of the blood disorders that we can cause ourselves are caused by how we eat, and this we can control. This is why it is important to know about blood disorders, what kind is being experienced, and how to prevent the blood disorders that we can control. Amy, a four-year-old Caucasian female, has been pale and is complaining of fatigue all the time. She is also a picky eater. Her mother is a single-mother that has a small budget to feed a large family and Amy will only eat pasta, bread, hot dogs, and artificial fruit punch to drink (Course Syllabus HCA/240, 2011). Amy has had a physical by her physician and appears to be well, but her mother still wants to have blood work done and the doctor suspects iron-deficiency anemia. Iron is used in the body to produce hemoglobin (transports oxygen throughout the body) and without enough iron the body cannot produce sufficient amounts of hemoglobin in red blood cells (WebMD, 2010). To test for iron-deficiency anemia a blood sample is taken and sent to a laboratory to be examined; other specific tests that may be done to check iron levels in the body include a hematocrit, serum ferritin, serum iron, and total iron binding capacity (TIBC) (HealthCentral...
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...Sickle Cell Disease is an illness that affects people all across the globe. This paper will give a description of the sickness through the discussion of the causes, symptoms, and possible cures. Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a "group of inherited red blood cell disorders."(1) These disorders can have various afflictions, such as pain, damage and a low blood count--Sickle Cell Anemia. Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States. Approximately 80,000 Americans have the disease. In the United States, sickle cell disease is most prevalent among African Americans. About one in 12 African Americans and about one in 100 Hispanic Americans carry the sickle cell trait, which means they are carriers of the disease. Sickle cell disease is caused by a mutation in the hemoglobin-Beta gene found on chromosome 11. Hemoglobin transports oxygen from the lungs to other parts of the body. Red blood cells with normal hemoglobin (hemoglobin-A) are smooth and round and glide through blood vessels. In people with sickle cell disease, abnormal hemoglobin molecules - hemoglobin S - stick to one another and form long, rod-like structures. These structures cause red blood cells to become stiff, assuming a sickle shape. Their shape causes these red blood cells to pile up, causing blockages and damaging vital organs and tissue. Sickle cells are destroyed rapidly in the bodies of people with the disease, causing anemia. This anemia is what gives the disease...
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...Blood Disorders 7/24/11 HCA/240 Many different people suffer from different types of blood disorders. A Blood disorder affects red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma. In scenario 1, Amy suffers from the disorder called anemia. Amy has low iron which causes her to be tired. Anemia that is due to low iron levels are called iron deficiency anemia. Iron is the main component of hemoglobin; anemia is caused when your red blood count and hemoglobin is less or lowers than a normal red blood cell count. Amy has some of the anemia symptoms that this disorder has which are tired, fatigue easily, appear pale, short of breath, and feeling as if your heart is racing. I have low iron as well which makes me tired and lazy. Low iron makes you feel like you have no oxygen pumping in your body which makes you feel out of breath and tired. Amy can eat food that will help give her iron like food with protein red meats, fish, raisins, soybean, and broccoli. There are many other supplements that she can imply to help control the low iron levels. Low iron levels can be caused from genetics, and medications. Some time it can be caused by hormonal changes which can cause the iron levels to be in a low count. Changing Amy’s diet can really help her iron levels, like including the supplements I included in the paper early in her diet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Anemia is diagnosed based on your family history and a physical exam. ...
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...Critical reflection In last four months, I have learned a lot of new information. I have come to believe taking genetics course is very crucial for a nurse. We discussed a lot of interesting genetic cases in classroom which improved my knowledge about the basic concepts of genetics, about role of the environment in genetic diseases, and about various risk factors associated with genetic diseases. By taking this course I now identify how to construct a family pedigree that can be used to take detailed family history in a clinical setting. I have learnt that family history not only holds important information about an individual’s past but can so be used to predict the future health of patients. Information from family history can be used as a diagnostic tool and help guide decisions about genetic and screening tests for the patient and family members at risk. An accurate family history will be important to establish a pattern of transmission. The genetic course has also made me think about my own family history. I do know that my grand father died of colon cancer and my other grand father died of type 1 diabetes. I know that this type of common diseases can run in families, because of this I was a little concerned about the fact that my parents and siblings including myself could be affected by it. However, taking this course helped me to conduct genetic risk assessments for our family based one the lessons I learnt from the course. This has enabled me to have a better understanding...
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...Sickle cell anemia primarily affects people with African, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Indian ancestry (Learn genetics, 2010; NHLBI, n.d.; Vorvick et al., 2010). Sickle cell anemia occurs when a person inherits two sickle cell gene, one from each parent, that cause the red blood cells to change and become crescent shaped. The underlying problem involves hemoglobin, a component of the red blood cells. Hemoglobin is a protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs (Nabili, 2008, para. 1). In sickle cell anemia, the hemoglobin is flawed. As a result, the cells become sickle shaped and can’t travel as easily through blood vessels. Sickle cell anemia is an illness which has one primary cause, but a variety of symptoms and treatments. Like most illnesses, sickle cell anemia has one primary cause. In order for sickle cell anemia to occur, a sickle cell gene must be inherited from both the mother and the father, so that the child has two sickle cell genes (Shiel, 2006, para. 3). The sickle cell gene causes the body to make abnormal hemoglobin. As mentioned above, hemoglobin is a protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs (Nabili, 2008, para. 1). A person with normal red blood cell will have hemoglobin A, however a person with sickle cell disease will have hemoglobin S (Sickle...
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...Genetics is the study and the variation of inherited characteristics that make up a life. Every child inherits genes from both of their biological parents. Some of these traits may be physical; hair, eye color or skin colors, etc. The wonderful thing about genetics is the technology that has been made for it and how advanced it is to now do what ever it takes to fix the unborn. Each gene has its own piece of genetic information and DNA in the cell make up the human. Heredity genes is a biological process where a parent passes certain genes onto their children or offspring's which all falls under the study of genetics. Genes are rested inside the chromosomes in the human body. Some of these genes that are passed on can cause human genetic disorder. Human Genetic Disorder is an illness which is caused by chromosomes or genes abnormalities. Some disorders like the sickle cell trait disease are in part of genetic disorders. Other diseases like cancer are also caused by genetic disorders, but can also be caused by environmental factors. Most disorders are very rare and they affect only one person in a million. There are some types of recessive gene disorders which have an...
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...Abstract: Sickle cell anemia is an important world health problem that involves the genetic of our body where an an approximate of about 300,000 infants are born per year in the world, thereby posing it as an important factor for parenthood where it can easily be avoided. Acute, chronic, and acute-on-chronic complications contribute to end-organ damage and adversely affect the quality of life. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed2017) This article describes this disease it's vaso-occlusive crisis that occur in these patients with its treatment modalities and preventive measures. INTRODUTION Sickle cell anemia is a type of hemolytic anemia involving heamoglobinopathies of the human blood leading to a presence of a mutated form of hemoglobin with a sickle...
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...March 24, 2013 Blood Disorders The evaluation of all three cases has brought me to a final conclusion on diagnosis, causes, treatment, and prevention. The first case I would like to start with is, Spencer. Spencer describes his symptoms as over several week he as noticed more bruising over the body, and tiny marks around the eyes. The disorder Spencer has is called “Thrombocytopenia”. Human Disease states in Chapter Seven that, “when a small number of circulating platetes results from a condition that impairs production”. It also very common, in being one of the biggest reasons someone may be hospitalized in relation to a blood disorder. This disorder is caused due to another condition that interferes with production of palettes. Examples are autoimmune disease, destruction of bone marrow, and malignant diseases. The symptoms he has would lead to doctors performing a blood test, which would then lead to testing the bone marrow in regards to the impairing of platelets. Treating this disorder is done by treating the issue that is causing the reduction of palettes. So once Spencer’s doctor have treated the underlying problem, then the next step is preventing the disease from occurring again .Spencer should get plenty of rest until his platelets counts have increased. The next case is Davon. Davon is a 5 year old African American who is new to the area and his mother has the trait for sickle cell, and would like to have Davon tested. Sickle Cell is a genetic disease that is more...
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...Blood Disorders HCA/240 Blood Disorders Blood is a vital substance of the body and is needed by the body to live, and when it is not carrying out its part it can cause disorders. Blood disorders can affect one’s health in many different ways, and it can also have a big impact on everyday life. There are many ways to help prevent blood disorders with the knowledge of the different symptoms, lifestyle factors, and knowing family history. Each person described in the scenarios has a different blood disorder caused by different factors. This paper will explain the blood disorders, identify the cause, and discuss methods for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Scenario One Amy, the four year old Caucasian girl is suffering from a blood disorder called iron deficiency anemia. This occurs when the body is not getting enough iron through the patient’s everyday diet. In Amy’s case her poor diet and her mother’s lack of financial stability is causing her to have this blood disorder. The iron helps the body to produce hemoglobin which is a part of red blood cells. Hemoglobin carries oxygen throughout the body and without enough hemoglobin the body will start to lack oxygen. Diagnosis for this blood disorder can be as simple as making a doctor’s appointment with a family physician. “Your doctor will do a physical exam and ask you questions about your medical history and your symptoms. Your doctor will take some of your blood to run...
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