Newborn genetic screening is an effort to discover adverse genetic conditions in infants, according to the Genetics Department at the University of Utah. The existence of this program enables doctors to get ahead of the diseases by planning early...
Colorectal cancer occurs in children when growth and reproduction of abnormal cells form in the lining of their colon or rectum. The abnormal cells are the cancer cells and they rapidly multiply and invade normal tissue. They may spread to other...
The decision to start a family often involves a number of considerations for both parents. Will you move to a larger apartment or to a detached, single-family house with a yard? Will one parent stay home with the child? In addition to these common...
Breast cancer is a tumor that develops from any of the cell types within the breast. There are several types of breast cancer that differ in their originating cell type, invasiveness and aggressiveness. Breast-cancer screening is a preventive...
Diabetes Insipidus (DI) is a failure of the kidneys to conserve water along with the production of copious amounts of dilute (insipid) urine, leading to dehydration and a persistent cycle of thirst, water drinking and frequent urination. This is...
Imagine a time when the health of your child was a complete mystery until the day of delivery. Amniocentesis was first developed in the late 1950s as a way of determining the sex of a child but was not used until the 1970s for the diagnosis of...
While there is no true way to prevent hemochromatosis, a step that you can take to dramatically reduce the risk of developing excess iron in the blood is receiving a genetic screening. Hemochromatosis is an inherited disease, although it is...
Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the thyroid gland produces less thyroid hormone than the body needs. In some cases, a baby is born without a thyroid gland. Hypothyroidism may be present at birth or may develop later. Some cases are mild and...
Hospitals across the U.S. use newborn screening to check babies for serious or life-threatening birth defects and other health problems. While all states and territories check for a range of basic conditions, there is no single nationwide testing...
All states in the U.S. offer newborn screening, which involves testing a small sample of a newborn's blood obtained for various genetic conditions. The number of conditions tested for varies from state to state, but new developments in testing...
MRSA, which is also known as methicillin-resistant Staph aureus, is a type of bacteria that is resistant to many different antibiotics, including methicillin. This bacteria can be particularly dangerous if it gets into a wound or some other soft...
Hemiplegic migraines are an extreme type of migraine with auras. Paralysis on one side of the body, termed hemiplegia, mimics stroke symptoms. Common symptoms include coma, impaired mobility, vision or speech, and paralysis. Familial, or FHM, and...
Breast milk contains lactose, a sugar found in all types of milk and milk-based formula. The enzyme lactase, produced in the small intestine, digests the lactose in milk. Infants with lactose intolerance do not produce this enzyme or produce a...
The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for regulating the donation of various human cells and tissues, including sperm. Title 21 in the Code of Federal Regulations, part 1271, subpart C, specifically defines who is legally permitted to...
The breasts are hormonally-regulated tissues that undergo a series of growth and development cycles throughout life. Breast cancer, the uncontrolled proliferation of cells within the breast, is a progressive and devastating disease that can be...
Tay-Sachs Disease (TSD) is a genetic degenerative disease that affects the nervous system. It mostly affects Ashkenazi Jews of East European descent; however, in rare occasions, it affects those other than the Ashkenazi Jews. TSD happens in...
Growth and development of a woman's breasts is a process that begins before birth and culminates in pregnancy and lactation. Growth of tissues within the breast are tightly regulated by a number of factors within the body, including circulating...
Genetic diseases are caused by defects in genes, segments of DNA that govern specific characteristics in a person. Common genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis or Huntington's disease aren't always inherited, but may occur as a spontaneous...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of 2008, approximately one in every 10 American adults reports that they suffer with depression. One of the current theories concerning the reason for depression suggests that people...
Human development is a carefully choreographed process that relies on the movement, behavior and development of millions of cells. Central to proper development are thousands of genes that control cell behavior and guide organ and tissue...
Poor fetal growth, also called intrauterine growth restriction or IUGR, is diagnosed when a baby in the womb is too small for its gestational age. According to the March of Dimes, about 10 percent of fetuses suffer from poor fetal growth and this...
Heart disease, an umbrella term for a number of diseases that affect the heart, is the leading cause of death in the United States. Heart disease develops when the heart is no longer able to efficiently pump blood throughout the body to oxygenate...
Phenylketonuria affects one in 10,000 to 15,000 newborns in the U.S. according to the Genetics Home Reference, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The condition results from a mutated gene passed on from both of the child's...
Gluten, the name for a group of proteins found in wheat, barley and rye, is one of the eight most common food allergies in the United States, according to the American Celiac Disease Alliance. Three separate gluten-related disorders display...
Each cell within the human body contains thousands of genes, which collectively make up the genome. Specific sequences of chemicals called nucleotide bases link together to form long stretches of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, called chromosomes....
People with celiac disease have adverse reactions to the proteins that are found in wheat, barley and rye, collectively called "gluten." However, not everyone with the genetic predisposition for this autoimmune condition gets it. Still, blood...
Breast cancer often develops within the glandular tissue of the breast, leading to the development of a tumor that can eventually spread throughout the body and prove fatal. Through years of cancer research, doctors and researchers have worked to...
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the immune cells of the body attack and destroy the cells in the pancreas that secrete insulin. Hereditary factors, diet and viral infection contribute to the risk of developing type 1 diabetes....
Phenylketonuria, or PKU, is an inherited disorder in the metabolism of protein, causing a person to have difficulty breaking down the specific amino acid, phenylalanine, or phe. If this disorder is left unidentified and untreated, the Phe will...
Cystic fibrosis is a hereditary disease that causes severe lung damage and nutritional deficiencies. Cystic fibrosis affects the cells that produce mucus, sweat, saliva and digestive juices. Learn about the different causes, symptoms, and...
