Muscular Dystrophy And Its Effects On The Body

Autosomal recessive inheritance is the third type known to cause muscular dystrophy, whereas both parents are carriers of the defective gene. For this reason the offspring have a 25% chance of being affected with both malformed genes, resulting in them being affected. The chance increases with cousin marriages.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy was first discovered by Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne in the 1860’s, but due to lack of medical knowledge little was known until the 1980’s. It was in 1986 that researchers that were supported by the MDA, muscular dystrophy association, identified the particular X-chromosome that leads to DMD, Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Dystrophin is the protein that is associated with the gene and was named in 1987.The DMD gene is the second largest gene to date, and it produces dystrophin.(Genome, 2013) Lack of the protein Dystrophin in the muscle cells causes them to weaken and become fragile. (MDA, 2015). DMD is an inherited disorder, but there are rare cases where it can spontaneously appear in a child with no previous family history due to a random mutation in moms X-chromosome. DMD is a gender specific disease that only appears in males.

According to the " Muscle Diseases" by Patrick F.Chinnery in the Goldman's Cecil Medicine, 24th Ed 2012, "Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy affects about 1 in 3500 males. About one third of the cases arises from a de novo mutation without a family history."

Listener Relevance: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), is more common than people think and chances are sooner or later you will know of or see somebody affected by this disease.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (also referred to as DMD) is a type of muscular dystrophy that weakens the muscles that we need to support our body, body weight, to stand, and to move around. It also can cause you to have scoliosis. Some of the main causes for DMD are genetic disorders, mutations, and DMD has to be passed down throughout everyone in that family for generations. The symptoms you can have if you have DMD are weak muscles, lack of strength, and difficulty walking. DMD is a negative mutation because it affects your muscles horribly bad that you can get a disability of walking and even moving. You need to tell your doctor immediately if you experience any symptoms. If you don't tell your doctor, you may find yourself in a very difficult situation where you can't get up or can't get something you need. When you do talk to your doctor, you will have an advantage of getting the help you need.

muscular dystrophy has many forms and therefore symptoms can vary between the variations. Overall symptoms include the weakening of skeletal muscles and the defect and death muscle tissues. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common and affects young boys such as Eddie.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy has the potential to be inherited from previous generations (National Human Genome Research Institute, 2013). The disease is sex-linked and inherited on the X chromosome in a recessive fashion. Males who only have one X and one Y chromosome are most commonly affected

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a sex-linked disease, which is inherited in a recessive fashion (National Human Genome Research Institute, 2013). Over thirty similar genetic disorders exist (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015). All types of muscular dystrophy are considered to be a rare disorder (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015). Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is most common in children and causes muscle weakness and wasting, which commonly begins in the lower limbs (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015; National Human Genome Research Institute, 2013). The disease itself is caused by changes to the DMD gene, which is responsible for providing instructions regarding the creation of the dystrophin protein in one’s muscles (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015). This protein is responsible for protecting muscles from damage, and without it the cells of a person’s muscles deteriorate and symptoms of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy are exhibited (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015). The disease results from changes in the DMD gene, or other genetic changes in a child (Duchenne Foundation Australia, 2015).

Each strain of muscular dystrophy is created by a genetic mutation distinct to that type. Duchenne’s has an absence of dystrophin, a protein that aids in keeping muscle cells together. Most of the mutations in the genes are inherited; some happen randomly in the mother’s egg (oocyte) or the developing embryo. Also, the mutations are able to be passed to the next generations.

Muscular Dystrophy is a genetic disease in which muscle fibers are usually susceptible to damage and cause muscle wasting and weakness. There are bundles of fibers that make up muscles; proteins are involved in these muscles and help to keep the muscle working properly. If

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disease that weakens one’s muscles. DMD is inherited through an X linked pattern due to the gene carrying the DMD mutation is on the X chromosome. The male population are affected by DMD almost exclusive. There is a one in two chance that a male offspring will have DMD if their mother is a carrier of the mutated gene. Every boy inherits an X chromosome from their mother and a Y from their father. If a boy inherits the mutated gene, then they will definitely have the disease because they don’t have a second gene to make up for the faulty one. Female with DMD are very rare in comparison to their counterpart. Girls inherits two X chromosomes, one from each parent. When a girl inherits

Muscular dystrophy (MD) is a genetic disorder caused by incorrect or missing genetic information that leads to the gradual weakening of the muscle cells. Various causes lead to weak and deteriorating muscles depending on the type of muscular dystrophy the patient was affected by. However, there are many causes for muscular dystrophy due to the fact that there are thirty forms of muscular dystrophy, which are categorized under several categories. All are ultimately caused by autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant, sex-linked, and random mutations in very rare cases.

Prior to the 1980s, there was minimum knowledge relating to the causes of muscular dystrophy. However, in 1986, researchers discovered a gene, soon to be named dystrophin, on the X chromosome. The gene, when mutated, reacted by causing Duchenne muscular dystrophies. During 1987, the protein in relation to the gene discovered a year early was officially classified and named dystrophin. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) develops due to the mutated gene failure to supply active dystrophin. This minimum amount of dystrophin affects the body by developing muscle damage and continued weakness from early life.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is one of many types of muscular dystrophy disorders, which affect the muscle fibers. It is the most aggressive form of muscular dystrophy. The muscle fibers gradually become weaker and incapacitate the affected individual. “DMD is a recessive, fatal, X-linked disorder occurring at a frequency of about 1 in 3,500 new-born males (NCBI, 2014).” Males are more susceptible to inherit this disorder because DMD is passed on through the X chromosome. Women can be carriers of the disorder without any adverse affects. The female carrier has a 50% chance of passing on this trait to an offspring. It is extremely rare that a female will have DMD. Symptoms of this disorder include muscle weakness that starts at the legs and progresses at a fast rate though out the body. The rapid progression of muscular dystrophy means that the inflicted individual will eventually be confined to a wheelchair in their life time. “Wheelchair dependency had a median age of 10 years (OMIM, 2013).” Other symptoms include degraded motor skills as well as learning disabilities. As muscle mass diminishes the individual suffers from heart and lung complications eventually leading to the persons’ death. “Death occurred at a median age of 17 years (OMIM, 2013).” The X-linked inherited disease is cased by a mutation in the DNA segment of the X chromosome in the DMD (P11532) gene. This

One such disease that this paper will be focusing on is known a Muscular dystrophy more specifically a severer case of this disorder known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). It is in the group of disorders characterized by a pathological swelling of skeletal muscles caused by the mutation in the DMD gene, located on the X chromosome. It is the most prevalent form of this disease, occurring early in life and affecting nearly one million boys worldwide (Panno, page 11).