'Advances In Kids' Early Aging Disease?

For years now, genetic testing has been one of the many standard medical practices used by doctors and researchers that identifies irregular mutations and/or defective genes that are susceptible to causing harmful disorders. Medical diagnostics, such as genetic testing and genetic sequencing, pinpoint abnormalities and help researchers identify if these disorders are hereditary. “One of a Kind” and “Advances in Kids’ Early Aging Disease” are two well-written articles that examine rare genetic disorders and the stories behind these disorders. Seth Mnookin, author of “One of a Kind,” tells the story about the search for answers for a little boy, Bertrand Might, who at the time was the only known patient suffering from an uncommon genetic disorder.

Her article, “Advances in Kids’ Early Aging Disease,” is more of an informative article that educates the readers about the genetic disorder itself, rather than telling the personal story of Devin Scullion. Devin, who was born two months premature, was shortly diagnosed after birth with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, also known as progeria. Throughout her article, Young rarely refers back to Devin and his family. Devin is just another example of a child who suffers from progeria and, instead of providing personal stories and the emotional appeal behind his condition, Young provides more general facts about the disorder. For example, Young states that, “Children with the disease have a genetic mutation that causes them to produce the protein progerin, which blocks normal cell function” (Young). In this example, Young refers to children in general who suffer from progeria, not particularly Devin. Even though progeria generally affects children in similar ways, each child experiences different side effects and copes with the disease in a different way. In her writing, Young rarely refers back to Devin’s conditions. When contrasting both Mnookin and Young’s article, Young lacks the use of personal stories and emotional appeal in her writing, creating a more difficult connection between the readers and the text. By adding those two elements in his writing, Mnookin is successfully able

Young uses an informative tone to provide straight facts that pertains to the genetic disorder in general. While Mnookin wrote in more of an informative, yet sympathetic tone, Young maintains an informative tone throughout her entire article by providing general statistics about progeria. For example, she states that, “progeria affects approximately one in every 4 million to 8 million infants” (Young). Young provides very informative facts and explains that children with progeria are inclined to develop difficulties with bone density and rigidity. Throughout her writing, Young keeps a very formal, informative tone which differs from the informative, yet sympathetic tone Mnookin used in his article. Young also states, “In general, the weight gain seen among patients was small, but still measureable” (Young). In this quote, Young mentions other harmful effects that the disease poses on young children, such as the inability to gain proper weight. Even though she maintains an informative tone, Young lacks a sympathetic tone and rarely refers back to Devin and his family. In contrast to “One of a Kind,” Mnookin’s use of an informative, yet sympathetic tone which allows the readers to make more connections with the