Phenylketonuria Essay

our physical health and appearance... And yet, we all know that life experiences do change us, ” Joan. D Vinge. The very same subject is explored in Daniel Keyes novel, Flowers for Algernon. Charlie Gordon, a 32 years old man who suffers from phenylketonuria and has an IQ of 68, undergoes a surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence. After the surgery not only does the protagonist, Charlie, have a higher IQ, but he also poses a difficult task of coping up and sustaining from a variety

50% of Aspartame is made of Phenylalanine, an amino acid found in the brain. Products that contain Aspartame will have the warning, “PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE”.1 This is a warning to people with Phenylketonuria (PKU), which is a genetic disorder that prevents them from being able to metabolize Phenylalanine so the amino acid will then build up to harmful levels. The chemical, Phenylalanine, causes brain damage and dysfunction in humans who have the

The heart cannot help but break for the suffering of children who are marked by the cruelty of congenital diseases. One such disease is tetralogy of tallot which as a congenital ailment occurs at birth and involves four different kinds of cardial defects (Mayo Clinic, 2015). The incidents of tetralogy of fallot is actually quite rare with only five out of every 10,000 developing it at birth (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2011). It is still important to be familiar with. One reason

and Eric, who were both in sports”. Thus, heredity could be changed or influenced by the circumstances the individual endures. Nevertheless, heredity is very complex and frequently misunderstood even in major cases. For instance, in the 1950’s phenylketonuria or PKU was described as a form of intellectual

Autism is a neurobiological disorder that causes discrepancies or differences in the way information is processed (Essential Guide to Finally Understanding Autism). The process of obtaining information affects an individual with autisms ability to do many things. For example, someone with this particular disorder may have more trouble understanding and using language to interact and communicate with people. He or she may also experience difficulty understanding and relating to people, events, and

Biology, or heritability, seems to affect intelligence by about 75 percent. While experience, learning, and environment seems to amount to about 25 percent of intelligence. Though in adulthood heritability can account for more than 80 percent of intelligence. Unfortunately, it is hard to fully determine the full effect of heritability because it is a statistic of a group as a whole and not an individual. If a person had more time dedicated to their experience, learning, and an environment of greater

The 1960’s birthed a new perspective in the area of patient care. There was recorded advancement in the role and autonomy of nurses in that decade. Dr. Gregory Godwin Pincus is lauded for his contribution to the invention of the first oral contraceptive approved by the Food and Drugs Administration in 1960 (The Sanger Papers, 2012). The issue of birth control was a sensitive issue and he faced a lot of setbacks including losing his professorship at Harvard. Margaret Sanger who was a major activist

Autism was discovered in 1943 by Leo Kanner. He observed a group of children that did not seem emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by social-interaction, difficulties, communication challenges and tendency to engage in repetitive behaviors (Autism speaks 2015). ASD can range in mild challenges to more severe symptoms, and affect every child differently. Some mild cases of ASD will involve head banging, repetitive behaviors, rocking and hand

The introduction of vaccines has been a great advancement in the world of medicine. This ground- breaking discovery has a tremendous effect on health care by putting an end to diseases that might otherwise be untreatable. Diseases such as typhoid, whooping cough, and polio which threaten many countries worldwide are now preventable after the discovery of the vaccine. Although the development of vaccines has led to the prevention of deadly illnesses, there has been may controversy based on whether

Its no accident that off-spring resemble their parents. Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA, located within each cell nucleus is a special chemical, that determines our genetic inheritance in a very orderly way. Under the microscope DNA looks like a mass of tangled threads which consist of tiny subunits called genes. Genes carry instructions, sometimes called the blueprint of life, for various characters like hair color, height, eye color. Our genes are received from both mother and father, half from each