What is gene therapy?
It is known as an experimental technique which makes use of genes in order to help treat or prevent diseases. This is done when a doctor is able to insert a modified gene into a patient instead of having to make use of drugs and surgery. Several approaches to gene therapy have been tested such as:
• Replacing a mutated gene that causes illness or disease with a healthy copy.
• Taking a gene that functions improperly and making it inactive.
• Introducing a new gene into the body to fight disease.
Somatic gene therapy:
Only somatic cells (body cells) are targeted. If the modified DNA is confined only to body cells then the genome that has been altered only effects the individual treated and not the offspring.
Germline therapy: this is when an altered gene is inserted into the gametes and stays there permanently, therefore altering the genes inherited by the future generations. This is however prohibited in many countries due to ethical concerns.
What is Cystic Fibrosis?
Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that causes the human body to produce a thick, sticky like mucus that ends up blocking and clogging the lungs. It leads to an infection and blocks the pancreas. This then stops digestive enzymes from reaching the small intestine where they have to digest food.
It is known that the average person that has Cystic Fibrosis has a life span between 25-30 years of age.
A mutation of a single gene known as the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane
Gene therapy: Is a treatment method that involves the manipulation of an individual's genetic makeup. A form of therapy that attempts to fix the defective gene which is causing the disease.
Nearly 1 in every 30 Americans are a carrier of the recessive gene that leads to CF (About Cystic Fibrosis, n.d.). Although CF is a life-threatening condition, through the advancement of treatments and care, there has been a steady increase in life expectancy and improvement in the quality of life. The current mean age of survival is now 40. Although that does not seem very high, sixty years ago, a child diagnosed with CF did not survive childhood (About Cystic Fibrosis, n.d.). CF is a complex disease, where the types and severity of symptoms can differ widely from person to person. Symptoms may include fatigue, salty-tasting skin, persistent cough with phlegm, wheezing and shortness of breath, lung infections, and poor growth and weight loss (Cystic Fibrosis Symptoms, Causes & Risk Factors, 2018). Many different factors, such as the age of diagnosis, can affect an individual's health and the course of the
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited autosomal recessive disorder that affects the lungs and digestive system most often. In the United States some 30,000 children and adults have CF. There are approximately 1,000 new cases of cystic fibrosis diagnosed each year in the US with 70% of patients diagnosed with CF by the age of two, 40% of patients with CF are 18 or older. In the 1950's most children with CF did not survive to attend elementary school, but in 2006 the median age of survival was 37 years (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 2007).
Every day, people die from Cystic Fibrosis. That is why Cystic Fibrosis is known as the most deadly inherited disease. There is no real cure of CF but, right now there are many ways to ease your symptoms and help you manage the condition. “Every day, people with CF complete a combination of the following therapies Airway clearance, Inhaled medicines, Pancreatic enzyme supplement and sometime oxygen therapy depending on how severe your condition is”(McLoud). Since there is so many new advancements in treatment, people who have CF now live twice as long as they did 30 years ago.
Improvements with treatments and screenings, those affected with cystic fibrosis now live well into their 20s and 30s, and some are living to their 40s and 50s.
When people hear about the Code of Hammurabi they tend to think of an Eye for an Eye. This is the same with the Beatitude and the Ten Commandments, except they think of Moses and Christianity. What people don’t realize is that these three objects/laws are really close to each other. They do have their differences. This will explain the differences and similarities of all three.
Most of the people diagnosed with CF are usually in the age of 2. The predicted age most people with CF is at age 40. 97-98% of men with CF can not have children because of congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens. Most of the people with CF, there parents had to be carriers and they gave their children the disease. For example if 2 carriers had a baby the chances of the baby having CF is, ¼ will not have CF, ½ will be a carrier, ¼ will not be carriers or infected. Symptoms of CF vary with each person. Some usually the symptoms are coughing, lung infections, inability to gain weight and, fatty stools. Lung infections are when the bronchial tube gets inflated. It is really rare to get CF it can either last 1 year or it can be for life. If you would want to know if you have it, it requires a medical
Today, there is no cure for Cystic Fibrosis, but if the disease is found in an individual early enough, the patient can be recovered. About 85 to 90% of patients will have problems absorbing nutrients from their intestines. And because enzymes are lost when diagnosed, enzyme supplements are required to prevent bad nutrition and malnutrition. There are two main body parts that can be cared for the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis: The lungs and the chest. Lung problems can also be treated, but not cured. Antibiotics and other drugs may loosen the thick mucus in the lungs, but if it fails, a transplant lung may help to extend life. But about four hundred people die each year while waiting for a lung transplant. Also Chest physical therapy is a technique done by vigorous claps on the back and chest to loosen the thick mucus from the lungs. The average lifespan of an individual with CF is about thirty years.
I have been dealing with cystic fibrosis my entire life because my fourteen year old brother was diagnosed with it when he was born. He was in
Cystic fibrosis is a rare life threatening disease, that as of now has no cure. But with help from extensive research that is being conducted, there is soon to be a cure in the future for this disease. The disease attacks the digestive system and slowly over time shuts down the lungs.
In the United States there are close to thirty - thousand people and seventy thousand people worldwide living with Cystic Fibrosis today, with the majority of them being over the age of eighteen. CF has over eighteen-thousand mutations, but most of the tests can’t always pick up on them, only the more common mutations of CF. By the age of two, over seventy-five percent of kids containing CF are diagnosed, making over one-thousand new cases of Cystic Fibrosis diagnosed every year. Cystic Fibrosis is caused when both the parents of the child have the CF genes which is why it is a recessive genetic disorder. Thus making it something that isn’t
Political Propaganda Propaganda is used everywhere from political ads to a McDonald’s hamburger commercial. They often use different types of propaganda such as bandwagon, testimonial, transfer, glittering generalities and name-calling. Presidents and leaders use propaganda in campaigns, advertisements, and many more. You may have seen ads on television for Obama or Donald Trump because they were trying to get you to vote for them, but some of the things they say may not be true. After reading the satirical fairy tale, Animal Farm by George Orwell, animals like Napoleon and Squealer use propaganda to gain or preserve their power, just like leaders and presidents in the human world, but sometimes leaders often use propaganda poorly for their
Cystic Fibrosis is a disorder where the exocrine glands secrete abnormally thick mucus, leading to obstruction of the pancreas and chronic infections of the lungs, which usually cause death in childhood or early adulthood. Some mildly affected patients may survive longer. Doctors can diagnose the disease by testing the patients perspiration because people with Cystic Fibrosis have high amounts of salt in their perspiration. Those with respiratory infections are treated with antibiotics, with aerosols that relieve constriction of the airways and liquefy the thick mucus, and by physical therapy to help patients cough up the obstructing secretions. Patients with pancreatic insufficiency can take pancreatic enzymes with meals.
PP Global is the international division of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), one of the world’s leading sexual and reproductive health organizations. For over 40 years PP Global has worked globally with local partners to extend access and reduce barriers to sexual and reproductive health services. Through PP Global, this experience has been leveraged to improve the health and rights of women and families around the world, with emphasis on those who are most vulnerable and underserved.
In short, gene therapy is a method in which DNA Is used to fix a genetic problem. These problems can include missing or genes that don’t work. The right genes are delivered to the cell via harmless viruses for their provirus properties. The viruses then insert the good copy of the gene into the patients DNA where the cells machinery reads the information like a manual and makes RNA proteins so when it divides, ideally, the problem will be fixed. There are two types f gene therapy: Germline (targets egg/sperm cells; stops disease in its tracks) and somatic (targets somatic cells; after the disease is active).The methods for gene therapy that are being tested include: