More handpicked essays just for you.
Reflection about sickle cell anemia
Sickle cell anemia anatomy and physiology
Introduction to sickle cell anemia
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Sickle-cell anemia is an illness in which the shape of red blood cells is altered to a sickle-like shape (Peachley, n.d.). It is basically the sickling of erythrocytes. The protein molecule, hemoglobin, is the reason for this altered shape. Hemoglobin is found on red blood cells and it is used to provide oxygen to tissues (Peachley, n.d.). In sickle-cell anemia the altered shape of the red blood cells prevent them from passing through blood vessels and this will result in an inadequate amount of oxygen being delivered to tissues in the body (Peachley, n.d.). Sickle cell anemia was discovered because of gel electrophoresis, which is a method that evaluates the charges of the hemoglobin. Gel electrophoresis, the inheritance pattern, and hemoglobin …show more content…
Sickle cell anemia is something, which must be inherited, and this means that your family can only pass it onto you in the basis of genes, which are located on chromosomes (How does sickle cell cause disease, 2002). Genes are apart of the DNA molecule that codes for specific proteins (How does sickle cell cause disease, 2002). In relation to sickle cell anemia, these genes control the production of the beta globin subunit of hemoglobin (How does sickle cell cause disease, 2002). With regards to the heredity of this illness, chromosomes are a key factor (How does sickle cell cause disease, 2002). There are twenty-two pairs of human chromosomes, which are identical, with one of each of these twenty-two pairs coming from the mother, whereas the other are inherited from the father (How does sickle cell cause disease, 2002). The alteration of a gene on one of these chromosomes is called a mutation, and this is the reason why sickle cell disease is inherited (How does sickle cell cause disease, 2002). Specifically, sickle cell anemia is caused by a point mutation. A point mutation is when a single nucleotide is changed within the DNA (Sickle cell anemia and genetics, 2000). A visual representation of this is represented in figure 2. With regards to this illness, the one nucleotide, which is changed, is called glutamic acid (Sickle cell anemia and genetics, 2000). Glutamic acid is changed into …show more content…
This illness results in decreased oxygen levels for the individuals who have it. The inheritance of sickle cell anemia is a key factor in its survival, with only those homozygous for this mutation being unfortunate enough to get it. In terms of how sickle cell impacts individuals, hemoglobin is the molecule, which plays the largest role, as its function is greatly hindered. Fortunately, there are some methods in development in order to get rid of this illness once and for
Under hypoxic conditions, the abnormal hemoglobin start to change shape. They become sickled, stiff, and have greater difficulty moving though the blood vessels. As a result they begin to stick together and eventually block the tissues from receiving nutrients and oxygen. This causes the tissue to become infarcted and leads to pain. In a hypoxic states the cells are forced to make energy also known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) without oxygen. This is called anaerobic glycolysis and results in the production of lactic acid as a byproduct (citation). The presence of lactic acid lowers the pH of the environment, the cells must recycle lactic acid back into the cells, and ATP production is significantly slowed. The cells
1. Sickle Cell Disease is life-threatening and has a risk of of causing depression. In this study I examine the experiences that Sickle Cell patients go through specifically at emergency healthcare facilities to find out if there are any negative stigmatizations surrounding this disease. There may be judgments that are made about these patients from healthcare professionals when they seek drugs for their pain relief that may cause the stigmatization to occur. I will also investigate why individuals that have Sickle Cell Disease experience longer waiting times at emergency healthcare facilities and the lack of control they may have over their care regime.
What is Sickle cell disease? Sickle cell affects a disease; that disease is called which affects the hemoglobin when the red blood cells that send oxygen through the body are killed off and weakened. Sickle cells can be found in every 1 and 1000 African Americans, it is affecting about 70,000 to 80,000 Americans in the United States. Sickle cell is a death threatening disease, and the severity of symptoms can vary from person to person (Sickle cell disease (SCD), 2015). Some people have light conditions, but others can have severe conditions, which, mean they could be hospitalized. Characteristics of this disease are caused by a minimum of low blood cells, which is called anemia.
Blood serves as the body transport system; blood carries oxygen to the lungs and cells throughout the body. It takes carbon dioxide or toxins from out the body. The components of the blood fight off different diseases by recognizing engulfing microorganisms and molecules from overseas that doctors found in the blood. The other components support the transports through the kidneys, hormones in the body, and the digestive system to help pass the nutrients through the body.
Having an inherited disease like sickle cell anemia takes a life-long of treatments and preventions of complications that comes with being diagnosed with sickle cell anemia. Many people have lived a long time while dealing with the disease because of the on-going care being provided to keep patients as healthy as possible. Knowing that both male and female have the sickle cell trait can prevent having a child with the sickle cell disease. From the help of the parents, doctors and medicine, sickle cell patients don’t have to deal with the pressure of living with a life threatening disease.
Sickle-cell anemia is a genetic disorder that makes your body produce red blood cells that are abnormal in shape. This disease is also widely known as hemoglobin SS disease. Unlike normal red blood cells, sickle cells are rigid and tenacious. Due to their shape and rigidness, they can block blood flow. In turn, this could cause organ damage to the body. Sickle cells are also fragile and die very easily due to the fact sickle cells have a lifespan of twenty days instead of the normal one hundred and twenty days for normal red blood cells.This causes the body to have a lower blood cell count, hence the name anemia in sickle cell anemia.
Sickle cell anemia is a blood disorder that affects hemoglobin (pronounced: hee-muh-glow-bin), a protein found in red blood cells that helps carry oxygen throughout the body.
Sickle cell was first discovered by Dr. Ernest irons that was a hospital intern who look over a patients cell which seem to be different he called them “sickle cell shaped”. Sickle cell is know as a negro inherited diseases which is incorrect not only African Americans have this diseases. Many other races are effect by this diseases and regions all over the world such as India, Mediterranean countries, South American. In this case sickle disease work kind of like vaccination for malaria another diseases, this is the most common inherited disease in American. Anyone who has sickle trait and have a baby with someone who has the trait also can bring a baby into the world the world with SCD.
Sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease of red blood cells. Normally red blood cells contain a protein called hemoglobin A, which carries oxygen to all the organs in the body. With sickle cell anemia, however, the body makes a different kind of protein, called hemoglobin S.
A patient with sickle cell has inherited the condition from both parents, and it all starts in the hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is “an iron-containing protein in red blood cells that reversibly binds to oxygen” (Reece, Urry, Cain, Wasserman, Minorsky, & Jackson, 2011). Obviously, hemoglobin is an important substance for oxygen to be transported in red blood cells. However, a patient with sickle cell has irregular hemoglobin cause by inherited genes. This “oxygen delivery” system cannot function properly because a gene
Unfortunately this disease is passed down from the parent to the child genetically. “If both parents have sickle cell trait (each have one normal hemoglobin gene and one sickle cell gene), the child has a 50% chance of inheriting sickle cell trait (one normal gene, one sickle cell gene), 25% chance of inheriting sickle cell disease (two sickle cell genes), and 25% chance of not inheriting either the trait or the disease (two normal genes) (Harvey)”.
Sickle Cell is a disease that affects many people in the world today. It is the number one genetic disorder in the United States. Sickle Cell is deficient hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is what functions in providing oxygen to the cells in the body. The sickle shape comes from the atypical hemoglobin s molecules. Hemoglobin molecules are composed of two different parts called the alpha and beta. The beta subunit of the hemoglobin molecule has a mutation in gene, on chromosome 11 which produces the change in the red blood cell shape causing them to die and not reproduce accurately. The change in shape causes the red blood cells to get stuck in the blood vessels and block the effectiveness of oxygen transport causing pain and organ damage to the body. This disease does not have a cure and some common treatments are used to help patients live with the disease. Some treatment options are antibiotics (penicillin) to prevent infections, blood transfusions, folic acid that help produces new blood cells. These are just some of the current treatments for Sickle Cell.
Sickle cell anemia is the most common in hemoglobin mutation diseases due to mutation to beta-blobin gene. The substitution of valine for glutamate at position 6 of the beta chains paces a nonpolar residue on the outside of hemoglobin S. the oxygen affinity and allosteric properties of hemoglubin are virtually unaffected by this changes. However, this alternation markedly reduces the solubility of the deoxygenated but not the oxygenated form of hemoglobin. Thus, sicking occurs when there is a high concentration of the deoxygenated form of hemoglobin.
This causes the cells to take on an unusual “S” shape, therefore being named sickle-cell. The individual that expresses the disease must inherit two abnormal copies of the gene for haemoglobin from each parent, whereas carriers contain only one abnormal copy and do not show any symptoms. The defective gene is affected by a single base mutation of the β-globin gene, which replaces glutamic acid with valine at the sixth base. This then creates the alternative protein haemoglobin S, while the normal result would be haemoglobin A. Focusing on the amino acid sequence itself, the event that unfolds is switching from a normal GAG codon to a GTG, and subsequently, alternative transcription by a GUG codon. Since the cells assume a peculiar sickle-like appearance and are characterised by considerable loss of elasticity, this causes difficulties in their movement through blood vessels, where they often get stuck due to their modified cellular characteristic. This blocks regular blood flow, terminally causing hypoxia (lack of adequate oxygen supply) in the affected individual due to vessel obstruction and inevitable ischemia (lack of blood flow). Furthermore, this mutation does not only negatively affect the individual but also inevitably raises the chance of passing along the
The concept of the fundamental causes of disease entails the notion that a relationship exists between death and disease to resource accessibility. This access to resources like information, adequate health care, nutrition, and etc. enables individuals to avoid diseases. Lack of accessibility to these resources, as a result of one’s own socioeconomic status, power, ethnicity, gender, etc, is what increases the risk for multiple diseases and their negative consequences. According to Link and Phelan, fundamental causes of disease can only be eradicated through direct intervention of the social conditions that give rise to them, and not through the intervention of the “individually based-mechanisms,” that link them to that particular disease. An example of this approach could be the establishment of more social equality to allow the prevention of diseases through multiple mechanisms compared to the intervention of an individually based mechanism, like the adoption of vaccination policies to reduce Polio.