Research Paper On Down Syndrome

Down Syndrome Genetics is the study of heredity and how the traits from the parents are passed on to their offspring. There are so many human genetic disorders which are caused by problems within the gene. "A gene is the basic unit of heredity" (Tocci 25). A genetic disorder can be caused by a mutation possibly damaging the gene and affecting a single nucleotide. Down Syndrome is one out of the many genetic disorders worldwide. Around 250,000 families have a child with Down Syndrome in America (Tocci). Each year in the United States around 5,500 babies are born with Down Syndrome, and millions of people have Down Syndrome worldwide. Down Syndrome is a genetic disease where the chromosome 21 has an extra copy causing many problems making it

Some of the children were more severe and their capability levels varied (Hine; Down Syndrome). Their main similarity was their physical features. Most of them had a flat broad face, round cheeks, brown straight hair,slanted eyes, a wrinkled forehead, a small nose, large lips and tongue, abnormally shaped ears, a yellowish skin, slightly overweight, and had a smaller head and hands (Tocci). Many of the features can be noticed at a young age in children with Down Syndrome. "Because Dr. Down was the first to record the features in these children, the syndrome bears his name. Down Syndrome is an abnormal condition marked by some degree of mental retardation and certain distinct physical features" (Tocci 11). Many people with Down Syndrome have a lower muscle tone making the muscles more relaxed and hard to control. Someone with an IQ below 70 is said to have mental retardation. The lower a persons IQ is, the more mentally deficient the person. Having a IQ between 55 and 69 is mild, 40 through 54 is medium, and 25 through 39 is severe. The IQ of children with Down Syndrome is usually between 40 and 69, but some go a lot lower (Tocci). Children with this disease were treated badly for a long time because of their mental deficiency. They were said to be unable to learn, placed in institutions, separated from the rest of society, and unloved. Now many anti -

Some special diets can help improve conditions for people with Down Syndrome. Since most people with Down syndrome have an extra chromosome 21 scientists spend a lot of time working with this chromosome. (Hine; Down Syndrome) The scientists are working on how an extra copy of chromosome 21 can cause so many changes in features (Panno; gene disorders and gene therapy). This project is the Human Genome Project, which was started in1990. This project is very difficult because humans contain around 80,000 genes and a gene is made of a chemical compound called DNA. "A genome is all the DNA in the cell of an organism (Tocci). Thus scientists involved in The Human Genome Project are trying to unravel the basic structure of all the DNA in human chromosomes" (Tocci 113) This takes a very long time but new technologies are continuing to speed up the process. In doing this, scientists hope to figure out how to cure Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome is a genetic disease where there are changes in features and an extra copy on the 21st chromosome causing various levels of trouble functioning properly