What is genetic counseling? What is a genetic counselor? Those questions and more are some things I remember thinking about in my sophomore year chemistry class. I was so intrigued, yet I had no idea what any of it meant. At the time, I had no idea how common they were, and just how much genetics advanced every day while I was clueless.
Our genes are what make us who we are. Humans share 99.5% of our DNA with each other. That means that every piece of DNA that makes us different is only .5% of our total DNA. A nucleus is a large organelle of a cell that holds almost all of the cell’s DNA (Tortora, Grabowski). In the nucleus of every human cell, DNA is tightly packaged into a structure called a chromosome (U.S. National Library of Medicine).
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Genetic counselors focus and specialize in one area, and those areas include prenatal and preconception, pediatric, cancer, cardiovascular, neurology, as well as any other of the part of the body that can be affected by cancer and disease. Counselors that specialize in prenatal and preconception help women who are pregnant or looking to become pregnant, become educated on the risks their child will face of having certain diseases, and make a decision on whether or not to move forward with a pregnancy, and consider other options of having a child. Pediatric counselors work with families and their children to assess the chances children have of having certain diseases and treatment to help prevent and lessen those diseases. Counselors in cancer look at the genetics of cancer patients, and those family member, are trying to determine the next steps that need to be taken, and also help those patients and family through the difficult time. Cardiovascular counselors focus on patients that have diseases involving the heart or circulatory system. And counselors that specialize in neurology help patients with diseases of the brain and nervous system (National Society of Genetic Counselors). Those are just a small sample of all the specializations of genetic counseling. Just as any other field in medicine, it is more efficient for professionals to become experts in individual areas than to have a general knowledge of every …show more content…
By definition, genetics is a term that refers to the study of genes and the role genes play inheritance: the way traits and conditions are passed down from parent to offspring. Genetics help families and medical professionals understand why diseases, like sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis, are inherited and what to do about these diseases. (National Human Genome Research Institute). These diseases are caused by mistakes in DNA, or mutations. Genetic counselors use different tests to find these mistake, diagnose disease, and help patients treat and cope with their
The medical advances being made feasible by genetic testing are very exciting. It is possible for people with predispositions for genetic defects to know in advance if they will have a healthy child or not. If they find out there is a problem they can choose to terminate the pregnancy or they can prepare in advance for their child's special needs. There is even new technology called Ex Utero genetic testing. This test is performed on eggs fertilized through in vitro fertilization before they are even put in the mother's uterus. Understanding genes in the developing human will help doctors understand the nature of genetic diseases and may lead to countless other medical breakthroughs. Though it is probably a long way off doctors may one day be able to manipulate genes. If this is possible some genetic problems may be cured.
DNA is the genetic material that makes up the characteristics of all living organisms. While all human DNA is very similar in nature, there is just enough differences in
As you can see genetic testing is very important and can affect a child's and parents lives for the better and the worst. Children all over the world have serious genetic diseases that affect their life on a daily. Some of these diseases are Achondroplasia, Down syndrome, and Turner's syndrome. Many believe genetic testing is a good way to test for these genetic conditions before the child is even born, but others think that it can harm the baby very badly and even cause a miscarriage, so they choose not to do this kind of testing. Knowing about the most serious genetic diseases is very important for expecting parents to be informed as well as being
Each human being has something called DNA. DNA is described as genetics and an extremely long macromolecule that is the main component of chromosomes and is the material that transfers genetic characteristics in all life forms. DNA constructs of two nucleotide strands coiled around each other in a ladder like arrangement with the sidepieces composed of alternating phosphate and deoxyribose units and the rungs composed of the purine and pyrimidine bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Each chromosome consist of one continuous thread-like molecule of DNA coiled tightly around proteins and contains a portion of the 6,400,000,000 basepairs that make up your DNA.
In order to review their inherited genetic risks and help them understand and provide counseling according to their specific needs the genetic counselor should know the Trosacks ' have already established that their unborn child has Tay Sachs disease and based on those needs they should be provided with appropriate guidance and counseling as they progress through their pregnancy. The discussion should include what causes genetic disorders, and what that means to the Trosack couple specifically, including dominant, recessive and x-linked disorders. However, recessive disorders should be fully discussed in this case. Another topic to include in the discussion are what genes and chromosomes are, and the relation to Tay Sachs disease.
While studying eugenics, genetics plays a detrimental role in determining heredity. Genetics is the study and behavior of genes ("Genetics"). These genes are encoded pieces of information that comes from both parents, these genes are found on any of the 23 pairs chromosomes; these chromosomes that contain genes form the human genome. 22 chromosomes all contain the same genes although slight variations of alleles, alleles are alternate forms of genes, and the 23rd chromosome contains the information for the zygote's gender.
The benefit of genetic science for individuals is that it can determine if the person has a possible genetic disorder and give them
When used in healthcare, genetic testing can show the genetic cause of a disease, confirm a suspected diagnosis of an illness, predict future illnesses, and predict responses to
Genetics is the study of heredity genes, and traits. Like how our parents' traits and genes are passed down to us. Chromosomes are the huge chunk of genes that wrapped around the proteins. Humans are supposed to have the total of 46 chromosomes. Females have XX chromosomes and males have XY chromosomes. Chromosomes are passed down to offspring, as well as, genes. Also, Genes are strands of DNA; they are like the instructions manuals for our body. Genes are the one that code for the traits. Dominant and recessive traits are the two types of traits are that passed down to the offspring. Usually the offspring show the dominant traits since this trait is a lot stronger than recessive traits. There is a less chance that the offspring will show the recessive traits. Since the recessive traits can only appear if the dominant traits are absent.
Genetic Counselling is used to provide support advice and information about genetic conditions. This could include learning about the health condition that runs in the family and how it is inherited and who can be affected by it. An
Genetic counseling is the job path I want to take when I am older. This profession has a tough price to pay, especially when talking to patients, because sometimes the truth is hard to hear. This challenge is a daily task for genetic counselors, but the job also has great pay, credibility, and work conditions. If I were to go into this field, it will not only be suitable, it will be enjoyable. Becoming a genetic counselor requires a lot of prep in college and tertiary levels of education, but this career is worthy because of the credibility and enjoyment of the field.
3. Genetic-Screening-Counseling-Intervention-Therapy helps to detect and prevent diseases such as HIV, tuber-culosis, and syphilis. When the screening locates a person with a genetic disorder appropriate actions can be taken to ensure they receives medical care and treatment. Genetic screening and counseling enables people to better understand and treat diseases and disabilities they may have. Genetic counseling looks at the genetic diseases passed down through the family and helps potential parents determine any diseases their offspring might face. Genetic-Screening-Counseling-Intervention-Therapy can also warn individuals if they are carriers of certain genes which may produce disorders in their children. Giving individuals knowledge of
And it can help determine why these diseases occur or help find cures for the people that already have them. According to NYLN Youth Leaders Blog there has been test with genetic engineering “where there was a little boy who was born genetically engineered and they took the cells from his umbilical cord and transplanted them into his sister, who had Fanconi's Anemia, which is a disease that affects the bone marrow causing a decrease in all types of blood cells, and by using those cells they were able to save that little girl's life”. And by testing and learning more about genetics, scientist can find out ways to cure people and save their lives.
There are a wide range of jobs in the field of Genetics. Genetics is important because it gives scientists information on the gene’s of the body, heredity, genetic variation, and how each of these things play a part in the function of a living organism. One job in the field of Genetics is a Genetic Counselor. Genetic Counselors work with people who have an inherited risk of acquiring or also carrying certain genetic disorders. They evaluate the family tree to find where the illness stemmed from, who else in the family has had it and the likelihood that they will suffer from it as well. They help patients gain an understanding of the disorder before it occurs so, they will know how to take care of it in the future. Ordering genetic tests in an accurate way to search for illnesses present in a person’s family.
Every living thing is the product of the genes that were passed down from ancestors. Genes make up everything we are. One gets their traits from their parents. Most people live full lives with relatively good health. However, some people inherit mutated genes or faulty genes. This could lead to genetic disorders that could be life threatening. Even today, many genetic disorders still remain incurable, leaving many people without hope. Genetic therapy could be their answer. It is through this research that the cure for genetic disorders can be found. Though some people believe it is unethical or immoral to alter genes, current therapeutics have not been able to save the lives of the patients with these diseases. Genetic therapy