Twin studies have been used to distinguish between genetic and environmental factors for many disorders in the general population including ectodermal dysplasia, Ellis-van Creveld, and anencephaly. This review focuses on genetic disorders affecting monozygotic, dizygotic, and conjoined twins to gain a better understanding of them. Many studies focus on twins because they have a nearly identical genome, which eliminates environmental factors. In case studies, the concordance rates in monozygotic twins have supported that certain disorders were caused by genetics and not the environment. The discordant values in twins will also be evaluated briefly. Twinning studies have also shown linkages between specific disorders and the genes …show more content…
Researchers have found that with certain genetic disorders that were known beforehand could be prevented in some cases. Knowing the specific disorder allows scientists to take immediate action in preventing future cases of individuals having the same disorder.
Currently, research as attempted to find the possible cause of twinning, which may allow individuals the ability to have twins at will. If the cause of twinning was discovered than women may have the ability to decide if they want to have twins One of the earliest accounts of conjoined twins include the Thai brothers, Chang and Eng Bunker. These two individuals are famous for traveling with the P.T. Barnum circus and were known by many as the Siamese twins. From these two individuals came the coining of the term Siamese. In this present paper, various genetic disorders in monozygotic, dizygotic, and conjoined twins will be carefully evaluated and reviewed in order to gain a better insight on the complexity of twinning. In order to clearly understand the formation of twins, the foundational knowledge of twinning must be analyzed. Beginning with the three common types of twins, including monozygotic (identical), dizygotic (fraternal), and conjoined (Siamese). Monozygotic twins occur from the division of one fertilized zygote (source*). Dizygotic twins occur from the fertilization of two different zygotes by two separate sperm (source*). Conjoined twins occur from the incomplete
I would usually read books like this, but I would like to mention how interesting it was while reading. One of Us has valuable information and stories of conjoined twins, not only in the United States but all around the world. I found it interesting how the author uses medical term and quantitative data to identify the different types of twin and how many are there. I did not know there were so many different types of conjoined twin, and where they are attached or infused. Alice Dreger purpose of this book is analyzing case studies both past and present, along with questions and assumptions about anatomy and normality, and transforms our understanding of how we are all intricately and inextricably joined. She also explored the separation surgery on conjoined twins. Providing historical and contemporary evidence that most adults conjoined twins do not desire to be separated, and that many operations are carried out on children too young, by individualizing them at all cost which may result in a tragic event.
Conjoined twins are a rare phenomenon. In the even that a set should appear where one twin is dependant upon the other, I believe that they should be separated, at minimum, to save the life of one. At the same time, I believe that every set of conjoined twins is its own special case. In this study, I will present the background information on conjoined twinning, give a few case studies, and give the pros and cons of conjoined twin separation. I will end with my own views on the subject.
Table 3-1 examines the correlations between selected characteristics for the identical twins separated at birth and the twins raised together. When compared to each other, they both have very similar brain wave activity, blood pressure and heart rate in the physiological characteristics. The Raven intelligence test was very similar, but the WAIS IQ displayed a bit of difference when compared to the other comparisons made. Personality wise, they typically had similar personalities at the same rate as twins raised together. Psychological interests were off a little bit, but still very similar. The twins that were separated at birth had less similar psychological interests compared to the twins
The biography Identical Strangers by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein is about twins that got separated at birth, and now are finding out there is another person in the world with their exact DNA. They were part of a study on separated twins. It was to see in nature versus nurture which one has more of an impact. (31-32) Identical twins were easiest to study because of their identical DNA. Scientists working on the study placed both girls in a family in which are very similar; therefore, they both have a brother that is a couple years older than them. They find out about the other twin, and Paula is having their
Parallel to this, the focus on genetics is Particularly convicted in twin studies, which establish a comparison between monozygotic twins that are identical and dizygotic twins, which are opposingly non-identical. This distinction can be identified in Torgersens study, which compared MZ and same sex DZ twins where one proband had an anxiety disorder, and it was discovered that such disorders were 5x more frequent in MZ twin pairs, who mutually shared identical genetics.
Monozygotic twins: Monozygotic twins are also known as identical twins. These twins start their life as one egg which is fertilized by one sperm and latter splits into two eggs much earlier in the gestational period. These are very rare and have no link to heredity. But studies reveal that only one of four conceptions of twins is identical. Therefore, it seems likely that any differences between twins will have to be caused by environment rather than by genetics.
Twins, share a bond that no parent, child or sibling relationship can ever compare. There are two main types of twins, and these include: monozygotic (identical) twins and dizygotic (fraternal) twins, and they are compared by their emotional, behavioural, and cognitive similarities. (Robert Plomin, 1997). According to Social Issues Referencing, 2007, whereas Identical twins are formed from a single (mono) zygote and are genetic “carbon copies”, fraternal twins develop from two (di) separate zygotes, as a result of two eggs being fertilized by two sperms independently. (Social Issues Referencing, 2007, para. 8)
Throughout history, across all cultures, people have been fascinated with twins. In addition to interest in the close emotional ties and biological similarities that twins may share, reports of special twin languages and twin extrasensory perception (ESP) help people to explore ideas of what it means to be human. How similar or different are they to each other? How important are genes and environment for development? Because identical twins share all of their genes, it is the environment—rather than genetics—that accounts for any differences between them.
Firstly a biological approach was studied by Holland (1988) on genetic concordance between identical twins and non-identical twins. Holland was trying to discover the connection between anorexia and genetics through twins. Holland's study consisted of taking pairs of Monozygotic (identical) and Dizygotic (non-identical) with one of the twins suffering from anorexia;
One type of conjoined twin that differs from most is the parasitic twin, in which one twin is fully developed, but the other is significantly smaller and underdeveloped. Many times, the undeveloped portion is stillborn and must be surgically removed for the wellness of the healthier twin. If the less formed twin does survive, it depends entirely on the larger twin to survive. This abnormality is possible when one embryo overtakes the uterus, forcing the other embryo to stop developing completely, or develop slower. Therefore when the twins are born, there will be an asymmetrical pair. The place where these twins unite varies each case. Sometimes the twins will connect just
Separating the twins is the only treatment to fix an issue like this. There are cases where the twins can only live if they stay conjoined but there can also be a case where if they do not get the surgery both twins can die but if the twins do get the surgery to separate them only one will live. Usually if conjoined twins get this surgery, the surgery will be done in the first 12 months of their life. After the surgery some of the twins may need more surgery to fix other problems they may
Most people think of twins as being exactly alike in every aspect. Sure, some twins have a lot in common, but not Krista and Rachel. Krista and Rachel are my best friends. They are monozygotic twins. Monozygotic twins are formed when one fertilized zygote (egg) splits into two, creating two embryos (Gurevich). Since they share the same DNA, they should have a lot in common; however, they are polar opposites with only a few similarities. Their appearances are different, their personalities are different, and their interests are different. They may be “identical” twins but, sometimes it is hard to remember that they are even related.
This report explains, the research article entitled Conjoined twins – twenty years' experience at a reference center in Brazil, which may be accessed for free, full text, at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3611880/.
There are two types of twins. One type of twins, called identical twins, is exact clones of each other. They share the same DNA and were made from a single split egg. More research as been done regarding these types of twins as they are the more remarkable kind. Since they are a genetic match, nature plays the
Biological factors such as genetics and biochemical imbalances are highly known as the principal causes to the alterations of the brain chemistry, which could result on the mood becoming unstable. Specialists aim to the genes as principal predisposition to develop the condition, even though there cannot be a detailed genetic analysis and prediction of inheritance, since so many different genes play a part on the implication of this condition. A specific study conducted on twins have confirmed that in fraternal twins (who share approximately 50% of the same genes), if one of the twins develops depression, the other will also be diagnosed with the condition about 20% of the time. In identical twins (sharing the 100% of the genes), however, the rate of concordant diagnoses of depression rises to 76%.