Essay On Progeria

They usually have cloudy corneas and possibly blue sclera, which is when the white portion of the eyeball is blue. Most children infected with this disorder are bald by the time they are four years old and usually don’t grow any taller than three feet. They also typically weigh between 30 to 35 pounds. Not only does the appearance age, but also the organs experience the accelerated rate of aging. The spleen is usually enlarged. A child with Progeria will never reach puberty. Children with Progeria usually don’t die by “old age.” Instead, they usually die at the average age of 13 from a cardiovascular disease, arteriosclerosis of some other disease that usually affects the very old.

In conclusion, progeria is a deadly genetic disease characterised by premature aging. Caused by a chance occurrence in the egg or sperm, families have no warning until symptoms manifest around the age of two. Though there is treatment for the disease, there is no cure. Donating your time or money to help progeria patients is a worthy cause. Hopefully, in the future a cure will be found and progeria will not affect children around the

Progeria, also known as Hutchinson Gilford Progeria Syndrome, and Progeria syndrome, is an extremely rare genetic disease wherein symptoms resembling aspects of aging are manifested at a very early age. The Progeria come from the Greek words “pro” meaning “before” and “gēras” meaning “old age”. The disorder has a very low incident rate, occurring in an estimated 1 per 8 million live births. Those born with Progeria typically live to their mid teens and early twenties. It is a genetic condition that occurs as a new mutation, and is rarely inherited. Although the term Progeria applies strictly to all diseases characterized by premature aging symptoms, and is often used as

Some ways to detect Progeria are genetic tests of the patient’s blood and clinical exams. Furthermore, the major signs begin developing when the child is around eighteen to twenty-four months old and he will experience accelerated aging even though he was born looking normal. One major symptom is hair loss. Patients are born with hair texture and color, but around six months to two years, the hair begins to fall out. Then, from two to three years, they are usually bald, but might have some thin, light hair. Loss of eyelashes and eyebrows are also experienced. Along with hair loss, these children grow slowly resulting in a shrunken physique and minimal weight gain. For males, their approximate height and weight are 40 inches and 25 pounds; but females are about 32 inches and 20 pounds. In When Good Things Happen to Bad People, doctors have stated these kids will "grow to be very short," and "would never grow much beyond three feet."( Kusher 1-2) Moreover, there are distinctive physical traits in the face and body. "By the second year of life, there is also under development (hypoplasia) of the facial bones and the lower jaw." ("Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria") Also, "the face appears disproportionately small in comparison to the head, and bones of the front and the sides of the skull (cranium) are unusually prominent." ("Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria") Some other characteristics observed in the face are a thin

Lamin A helps sustain the normal structure of a cell’s nucleus, which contains our genetic information. In Progeria, this protein takes on an abnormal toxic form called “Progerin”. Many cells in the body make this progerin protein in small amounts, including normal healthy individuals. It’s thought that some characteristics of normal aging can be the result of this gradual buildup of progerin over a person’s lifetime. Progerin can’t be properly processed by the cell and will build up inside the cell’s nucleus, eventually causing the cell to become deformed or collapse (Figure 2).

beginning with growth failure during the first year of life. Progeria is a rare condition but has come into

Lonafarnib, a type of farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI) originally developed to treat cancer, has proven effective for Progeria. Every child showing improvement in one or more of four ways: gaining additional weight, better hearing, improved bone structure and/or, most importantly, increased flexibility of blood vessels. Results of the study, which was funded and coordinated by The Progeria Research Foundation, were published September 24, 2012 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(no author, first treatment

Introduction: The interviewer is visiting Sam Berns at home in Foxboro, Massachusetts. At first, Sam is described as different from other children his age because of the way he looks. You can see veins on his bare head because it is see-through, his nose is large, and his mouth is smaller than it should be. Regardless of this, the child is funny, smart, and confident. Sam has a condition called progeria. Progeria causes early and fast aging and causes children to look like elderly people before they are even teenagers.

validation of the diagnosis” (Stiefel, I., Shields, A. K., Swain, M. A., & Innes, W. R., Asperger’s

Progeria is a fatal genetic condition characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging children. There are different types of Progeria but the classic type is Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome. Progeria means “prematurely old.” The scientific name for the genetic mutation is Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome, but is known as Progeria or HGPS. HGPS is caused by a mutation of the LMNA gene. The LMNA gene produces the Lamin A protein, which holds the nucleus together, Researchers say that Lamin A protein makes the nucleus unstable which leads to aging in Progeria. The symptoms of Progeria in the skin are wrinkles or dryness. Some common symptoms of Progeria are hair loss, delayed tooth development, enlarged head, high-pitched voice, loss of muscle,

This lamin acid is called progerin. Progerin produces a poorly structured nuclear lamin that does not allow for molecules to enter and leave the nucleus properly. This can makes a build up of progerin inside the nucleus that causes the nucleus to malfunction and die prematurely (LMNA, 2013). This is what causes the childhood onset of extreme aging that is seen in progeria patients. The quickened pace of cell mortality causes physical changes in the patient that is seen in the

Hutchinson Gilford Progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a very rare and destructive genetic disorder. It is progressive, causing children to age rapidly beginning 2 years after birth. Children with Progeria usually appear normal at birth, however by 1 year the signs and symptoms of Progeria begin. Symptoms of Progeria include short stature, bulging eyes, micrognathia, disproportion of head to body, alopecia, beaked nose, pathologic bone fractures, hearing loss, photophobia and hypertension. (Alves and others 2014) Progeria’s occurrence is 1 in 4 million to 1 in 8 million live births and males are more frequently affected than females. The average life expectancy for a child with Progeria is about 13. (King 2013) However some with the disease die younger and some live to be 20 years or older. Death in Progeria is primarily caused by heart attacks and atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a disease in which the arteries become hardened. (Bhimji 2011)

Hutchinson Gilford Progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a very rare and destructive genetic disorder. It is progressive, causing children to age rapidly beginning 2 years after birth. Children with Progeria usually appear normal at birth, however by 1 year the signs and symptoms of Progeria begin. Symptoms of Progeria include short stature, bulging eyes, small jaw, disproportion of head to body, alopecia, beaked nose, pathologic bone fractures, hearing loss, photophobia and hypertension. (Alves and others 2014) Progeria’s occurrence is 1 in 4 million to 1 in 8 million live births and males are more frequently affected than females. The average life expectancy for a child with Progeria is about 13. (King 2013) However some with the disease die younger and some live to be 20 years or older. Death in Progeria is primarily caused by heart attacks and atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a disease in which the arteries become hardened. (Bhimji 2011)

Hutchinson- Gilford Progeria Syndrome is reported about 1 in 8 million newborns (Parker 16). Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome equally affects both sexes and races of children and gives them an appearance of rapid aging (Nordqvist 1). The symptoms of this disease show around eighteen to twenty-four months of

Progeria comes from the Greek word progeros meaning 'prematurely old' (Gordon 66). Progeria also known as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, is an extremely rare and fatal genetic disorder that assists in accelerated aging. Symptoms of old age start manifesting in new born babies affected with this condition. These children age around six times faster than normal human beings, therefore resulting in an incomplete shortened life. The average age of death for progeria patients is thirteen, but in reality their body functions as if they were eighty (Gilford). The condition was discovered independently by two scientists, Jonathan Hutchinson in 1886 and Hastings Gilford in 1897(Online). The other name for progeria, Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome (HGPS), honors these two. These two men brought the mysterious disease to light for further investigation.