Down+Syndrome-Austin+B

Down Syndrome **Description: ** Down Syndrome causes many problems. It causes mental retardation. It will also create several errors in your digestive tract. You will not be able to eat gluten. You’re hearing will be impaired if you have this syndrome. You’ll have dental problems such as crooked teeth. It is not a curable disease, for it is inherited.

**Inheritance: ** Everybody without a disease, syndrome, or disorder have two chromosome 21’s. Yet, people with Down Syndrome have an extra chromosome 21. Each person has forty-six chromosome’s total. You get 23 from your mother and 23 from your father. Before an offspring with Down Syndrome is born, the chromosome splits. There is a mutation where you get a third copy of chromosome 21. That’s how you have inherited Down Syndrome.

**Symptoms: ** This syndrome comes with a lot of symptoms. When you are a child, you grow slower then the rest of your peers would be. You will also have small ears. When you are a newborn, you will most likely have a heart defect that can be cured at a very young age. You’ll have hypothyroidism (Hypothyroidism is when your thyroid doesn’t create enough hormones and your energy count will turn low). If you have Down Syndrome you won’t be able to eat gluten because of Celiac Disease. As I stated earlier, it will create problems in your digestive tract such as Hirschsprung’s Disease which blocks up your large intestine. You also will have Intestinal Atresias (which is when your intestines can’t do their job correctly).

**Daily Life: **  media type="custom" key="9496378"

**Diagnosis: ** This syndrome can be diagnosed by having screenings to see if there will be any abnormalities, or differences.

**Treatment: ** Down Syndrome can’t be treated completely. We //can// control the symptoms that come with this syndrome, though. You can have surgery to try to minimalize the showing of Down Syndrome. You also, can take medications to try to control the symptoms. To emotionally help you, you should go to counseling or support groups. Down Syndrome is a terrible thing to have, but going to these groups will help you cope with whatever you’re feeling. You should also go to check-ups or screenings. This is to make sure that nothing new is happening to your body.

**Research: ** There are scientists looking to help to find to control more symptoms, and there are programs benefiting them. One of them is the Emory Down Syndrome Project which is learning about the cause of Down Syndrome. The Down Syndrome Data and Biological Sample Repository is also looking for research about Down Syndrome.

**Additional Facts: ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">If you are pregnant, and are afraid that your child might get Down Syndrome, you can have it checked before the baby is born. The technology you can use is called the Triple Screen or the Alpha-Fetoprotein Plus. This is very new and accurate technology. Also, ninety percent of the time that someone has Down Syndrome the extra chromosome 21 comes from the mother of the child.

**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Trisomal: ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">This syndrome can only be inherited if a mutation occurs when chromosome 21 is trying to split. Somehow, a third copy of that chromosome appears. That is why one of the other names for Down Syndrome is Trisomy 21, for a third (tri) copy of chromosome 21 (21). Scientists are still trying to find exactly //how// it mutates but they have not found a complete, straight answer.

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