Genetic Disorders- Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)
Description of disorder, symptoms and chance of survival
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder that causes 1 out of 3500 males’ voluntary muscles that control their body’s movement to progressively weaken and waste due to a lack of dystrophin. Dystrophyn is an important muscle protein which is produced in a gene in the X chromosome. Hence, it is a sex linked disorder that affects only boys. The boy, if he inherits the disorder, looses muscle throughout his life. Symptoms include; tightening of muscles, difficulty in walking/running and calves may be large and firm. If inherited, the boy will not survive as the condition will make him become disabled due to his voluntary muscles progressively weakening and wasting.
Example of pedigree diagram for inheritance of disorder and how diagram provides clues as to how the condition is inherited
The previous diagram shows that DMD is due to a recessive, sex (X) linked gene inherited by the grandmother because if the grandparents (1 and 2) reproduce their alleles must look like the diagram below and 25% of their children should have the condition. It is inherited by the grandmother because if it was inherited by the grandfather the punnet square would not have a male with DMD.
When the grandparents reproduced the condition could not be inherited by the male (1) because due to the previous punnet square, the female (2) is the carrier while the male only passes the XY gene over to his female children …..
…which, if 3 and 4 reproduce they have a 25% chance
of having a boy with DMD as show to the right.
In the pedigree diagram I have analysed each person who has children with the disorder to determine that their mother is the carrier (as it is a sex [X carried] linked disorder) hence I have determine each person’s genotype below:
1. XY 4. 7. XX 10. 13. XY
2. 5. XY 8. XX 11. 14. XX
3. XY 6. 9. 12. XY
Explanation of how predictions of the condition occurring in future generations can be made using a diagram (Punnet Square) including explanation of Alleles
All humans inherit sex chromosomes from their parents which determine their sex. Males have XY chromosomes in their gametes while females have XX chromosomes in their gametes.
The condition, DMD , occurs in the X chromosome on a mutated gene that produces dystrophin. It is not on the Y chromosome because it does not produce dystrophin.
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, also known as DMD, is the most common form of muscular dystrophy. Muscular dystrophy is a condition that is inherited, and it is when muscles slowly become more and more weak and wasted. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a form of muscular dystrophy that is very rapid and is most commonly found in boys. In muscle, there is a protein named dystrophin. Dystrophin is encoded by the DMD gene. When boys have Duchenne muscular dystrophy, they do not produce enough dystrophin in their muscles. This causes weakness in their muscles. Parents can tell if their child has duchenne muscular dystrophy by looking for various symptoms.
Sex-linked disorders only affect males and are passed down through female carriers. A boy inherits the disorder when he receives an X chromosome with a mutated dystrophin gene (the genetic cause) from his mother. The dystrophin gene is the largest gene found in nature and was identified through a positional cloning approach. It's a highly complex gene, a large rod-like cytoskeletal protein which is found at the inner surface of muscle fibers. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics (2011) reveals an estimated 747,408 sex offenders were registered in the United States as of 2010. This number shows an increase of over seven thousand from the previous year. According to Vivian-Bryne (2004), therapeutic treatment for sex offenders is one approach to address the issue of sexual offense and reduce numbers. Although the idea of therapeutic treatment for sex offenders can raise skepticism, a myriad of therapeutic treatment models are available (Polizzi, MacKenzie & Hickman, 1999). This paper will establish the important complexities surrounding therapeutic treatment of sex offenders, including treatment effectiveness, challenges of treatment schemas, and recidivism. Peer reviewed articles regarding therapeutic treatment for sex offenders will be reviewed and the validity of these sources will be discussed.
This chapter will begin with a short explanation of what Muscular Dystrophy is and a general information paragraph over each type of the major muscular dystrophies today.
“Dystrophy,” originally coming from the Greek “dys,” which means “difficult” or “faulty, and “trophe,” meaning “nourishment” holds the interpretation “poor nutrition.” Today we know poor nutrition is not the cause of Muscular Dystrophy (“Myotonic Dystrophy”). Muscular Dystrophy is a genetic disorder that affects between 500-600 newborns each year in the US (Statistics on Muscular Dystrophy). In general, this disorder weakens your skeletal muscles, and eventually they degenerate. Muscular Dystrophy also has several specific types within the disorder, such as: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Becker Muscular Dystrophy, and Myotonic Dystrophy. Each one has their own specific characteristics.
There is much debate as to whether a sex offender should be released into the public, this debate stems from the idea that a sex offender cannot be treated and that they are a danger to the public as they are ‘purely evil’ (Burke, 2005), however there is much evidence that sex offenders can be treated and re-introduced into society as a productive member. Sex offender is a general term used to refer to any person who has been convicted of crimes involving sex, from rape and molestation to exhibitionism and pornography distribution. There are many theories which try to explain why people are sexual offenders, these theories along with treatments for sex offenders will be looked at to help explain why people sexually offend and to help evaluate whether sex offenders should be released.
The sex offender’s registry plays on parent’s emotional instincts to protect their children instead of really protect them. It gives parents a false sense of protection. The regis...
Sex offender legislation has been encouraged and written to protect the community and the people at large against recidivism and or to help with the reintegration of those released from prison. Nevertheless, a big question has occurred as to if the tough laws created help the community especially to prevent recidivism or make the situation even worse than it already is. Sex offenders are categorized into three levels for example in the case of the state of Massachusetts; in level one the person is not considered dangerous, and chances of him repeating a sexual offense are low thus his details are not made available to the public (Robbers, 2009). In level two chances of reoccurrence are average thus public have access to this level offenders through local police departments in level three risk of reoffense is high, and a substantial public safety interest is served to protect the public from such individuals.
Sex offenders have trouble reintegrating into society and are often harassed by those who become aware of their status. The sex offender management tool restricts where the offender can live and sets boundaries of how close they can be to children. Research has shown most of these restrictions are viewed as more of a stress to the offender and it is not clear how the public is ensured.
There are many different strategies available to community corrections officials to best supervise individual sex offenders with different needs in the community. Each offender is an individual and requires personalized types of supervision as well as different treatments. Electronic monitoring has allowed for community corrections officials to monitor sex offenders in the community with personalized supervision plans. Near-real time monitoring of high risk offenders has been made available with active GPS while lower risk offenders are supervised with passive GPS. Different treatment programs are also a strategic tool to help access and treat each offender. The term sex offender is a broad term that encompasses many different sex crimes. Every sex offender requires treatment but some to a more extreme than others. Surgical, pharmaceutical, and psychological treatments are all available to offenders to help with their reintegration process back into the community. There have also been state and federal mandates that notifies communities of released offenders and that require sex offenders to register in a national database. The combination of the offenders information and the notifying of the surrounding community helps take some of the monitoring work off of the community corrections officers. When a community is notified that a sex offender is living in their neighborhood then most people tend to keep an eye out. With the help of more advanced monitoring tools, individual treatment programs, and statutory mandates community corrections officials have many different strategies for monitoring sex offenders in the community
However, there is not enough research to prove that community notification prevents reoffending. Registers can only deter and trace already convicted sex offenders. However, research on reoffending patterns of sex offenders suggest that most sex offenders have not previously been convicted and released, so registration cannot protect the community from the majority of sex offenders. A Department of Justice study in the United States suggested that sex-offenders have a recidivism rate of 3-5% within the first three years after release. A New Zealand Department of Corrections study in 2008 revealed that over a 15-year period, 73% of sex offenders had not been charged or convicted for further sexual offending. International studies suggest that sex offender recidivate less than drug, property and burglary offenders. Ideas perpetuated in the media argue that sex offenders are different, they cannot be cured and they have high recidivism rates, however these conclusions are based on sensationalised media reporting on high profile attacks. One of the main purposes of a sex offender register is to reduce recidivism, however these studies and more show that sex offender recidivism is not as high a rate as it is perceived to
DMD also known as muscular dystrophy is muscular disease that occurs on young boys around age four to six. Muscular dystrophy is genetically transmitted disease carried from parent to offspring. This disease progressively damages or disturbs skeletal and cardiac muscle functions starting on the lower limbs. Obviously by damaging the muscle, the lower limbs and other muscles affected become very weak. This is ultimately caused by the lack dystrophin, a protein the body produces.
Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes(Oakes 99). This presents a
As a recessive sex-linked disorder, hemophilia is more likely to occur in males than in females. This is explained by females having two X chromosomes, while males have only one, so the defective gene is guaranteed to manifest in any male who carries it. As a result of females having two X chromosomes in their genetic makeup and hemophilia being rare, the chance of a female having two defective copies of the gene is very remote. Females are almost exclusively asymptomatic carriers of the disorder, meaning that they display no symptoms of hemophilia, but have the ability to carry the disease to their offspring. A mother whom is an asymptomatic carrier of hemophilia has a 50% chance of passing the faulty X chromosome to her daughter, and an affected father will always pass down the defective gene to his daughters (a son cannot inherit the defective gene from his father). The pattern of inheritance of hemophilia can be described as a criss-cross type, which is also seen in color blindness (another genetic disorder).
Communication is something we all humans use. Communication “is the sharing of information between individuals by using speech”. People have ways of communicating some have their weaknesses in conversations and others have their strengths. When I communicate with others I feel that some things I say I do not verbalize right. I have two strengths and three weaknesses in my communicating. My three weakens in my communication are, check nonverbal feedback, to make people wrong and recognize that people understand information in different ways and my two strengths in my communication are being flexible, and take responsibility for the communication.