Toolbox Project-Birth Defects

Introduction to Birth Defects:

It is absolutely, quite clear that when talking about birth defects, they are very common on a day to day basis. Not only is this common, but what most majority of us don't know about it is this: there are two type of congenital defects. The first one is a result of genetic abnormalities, which can be hereditary. The second one results in conditions in which the average baby gets from his or her mother (infectious diseases). Usually when dealing with this type of defect, it is usually checked out through the doctors while the mother is pregnant with her child as to if her baby has the defect or not. Whether we say either a birth defect or a congenital one, it's normally formed in the first month of life.

Source: Birth defect http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_defect

Explanation of Birth Defects:

There are two different kinds of defects: genetic and chromosome. In order to know what's the difference between the two, let's look into it a little deeper for further details.

First, there's the lethal or damaging genes.

A few (if not some) can easily end up in horrible results for the baby (depending on what version or versions of the gene it is). Almost always when dealing with any kind of condition, dwarfism is one example of it. Another type is what is called achondroplasia (when the average child's bones don't grow right). Pituitary malfunction is where the pituitary gland that supplies growth hormones, don't operate right like they should. There are most disorders due to mutations of gene alleles, in which will result in either the development to go the wrong way or have lacked the simplest of biochemical deficiency to go missing. But just in case when this happens, the situation just might be curable nine times out of ten. For instance, a disease called phenylketonuria was the result of retardation mentally. Getting children not only treated, but following a healthy, yet strict diet was the end result of a cure after the doctors finally found what will really relieve this condition.

Now, here are the chromosome defects.

A genetic defect resulting in errors in chromosome duplicating while the cell division is in session is called meiosis. This can result in the development to go totally opposite by cells dividing and duplicating themselves as if they were real gametes, and they are done constantly. Even chromosomes are copied around this time as well. Down syndrome is one of the most common, yet well-known chromosomal disorder in which a child instead has two copies of the 21st chromosome, it ends up having three.

According to the Slone Epidemiology Center, there were over 51,000 women interviewed concerning the birth defects study. That was a lot of women just to say it was the largest interview ever. Interviews on the women who dealt with birth defects were based on the following: medical history, previous pregnancies, nutrition, occupation, behaviors based on their health, smoking, and medication use and vaccine questions based on how they were received within that time frame before giving birth after the nine months of pregnancy was over with. In addition, the interviews were also based on two key factors: newborns' health and the safety risk factors concerning a widespread of environmental exposures in Philadelphia, Nashville, San Diego, states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Southern New Hampshire and sections of the New York State.

Sources: Pregnancy Health Interview Study (Birth Defects Study) Slone Epidemiology Center. http://www.bu.edu/sone/research/studies/phis/

Birth defect-Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_defect

Teaching Activity or Resource:

YouTube: Most Severe Cases of Birth Defects

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f88iHnPmBCc

YouTube: Chromosomal disorders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V49g3Vj9RS8

I chose to pick this topic based on birth defects due to the fact that not only I wanted to find out what was behind this disorder, but I also used to have a church member who belonged to our church had a birth defect on her toe. Most people would either know or have an idea concerning what birth defects are about when coming in contact with someone who has this problem. I strongly believe that if others will take the time by doing their homework on this topic, people will understand in detail concerning what is one, especially when it's illustrated to them. I picked this way of illustrating what birth defects are really about because sometimes most majority of people when teaching on a subject, it's hard to really get a picture of what it is in their minds. I strongly believe that if it's shown better than it is told, we'll better understand what certain things mean and not wonder so much about what needs to be cleared up.