End of Semester

I will honestly say I do not like my performance in this class. Senoritis hit me hard, and I let it take over my life. I have so many late assignments that I need to spend time on to turn in. Oh, my life.

This class was so much fun! The labs that we did were very interesting and thought provoking. The topics we covered under the blanket of developmental biology were wider than I had imagined! And the people in the class just made it so much more fun! I absolutely love going to this class every day.

This difference I've had with this class is that it doesn't really cover topics I've touched before. With every other class, I was able to have a great amount of background knowledge to make the learning a lot easier. But with this class, that wasn't the case. I was actually learning from scratch, which made it harder for me. I had to learn the best way to study for the class. Even though I still don't know as much as my classmates and that I feel like I'm behind, I'm happy for this experience. It's preparing me for the same experience I have throughout medical school.

I am so grateful for Dr. V. She has been very understanding and flexible with me. It's so awesome to have a professor that understands that so much happens outside of being a student. She is deeply appreciated!

Overall, I am grateful for this experience this class have given me.

Floppy Baby Syndrome

What an odd name, right? It is also known as Floppy Infant Syndrome. Take a wild guess at why it is called that.. When the baby is born, it looks and feels like it is a ragdoll. You can see that in the picture below.

The condition that the baby has is hypotonia, decreased muscle tone. As the baby grows, it will have delayed motor development, bad motor control, and possible weakness. There is a myriad of causes for this condition. If something goes wrong at any part of the development of the nervous system in utero, then may develop. There may be central disorders or peripheral disorders that cause this. Some are listed below for each:

Central Disorders: intracranial hemorrhage, metabolic errors, genetics, or even chromosomal abnormalities

Peripheral Disorders: anterior horn abnormalities, meuromuscular junctions, muscle, or even a peripheral nerve

Unfortunately, there is no treatment or cure for this syndrome.


http://pediatrics.uchicago.edu/chiefs/DBP/documents/reading%20pdf/Hypotonia.Peredo.pdf

The Brain

Use the photo above in reference to the definitions given below.

Pons - This is a part of the brainstem. It is located between the midbrain and medulla oblongata. The pons develop from the metencephalon. Some of its functions include the sense such as taste and hearing, and touch. It also functions in equilibrium, mastication, lacrimation, and salivary secretions.

Medulla Oblongata - This is the lower part of the brainstem that is located underneath the pons. The medulla developed from the myelencephalon. Some of its functions include roles in the autonomous nervous system: reflexes, pressure receptors, chemoreceptors, and regulation of the heart.

Midbrain - This is the upper part of the brainstem. It develops from the mesencephalon. It produces dopamine in the substantia nigra. It also plays a role in the motor system.

Cerebellum - This organ is located on the dorsal side of the brainstem. It sits posterior to the cerebrum. It develops from the embryonic metencephalon, just like the pons. The cerebellum functions in happiness, motor learning, and motor control.

Cerebrum - This is the major part of the brain. It develops from the telecephalon. This is a huge part of the brain. It's many subsections would have numerous functions. But in general, the cerefrum functions in motor functions, processing senses, smelling, speech and communication, memory, and learning.

Trisomy 18

There is a beautiful couple in my church that had a baby. They had a little baby girl named Arielle. Unfortunately, little Arielle was born with a genetic disorder: trisomy 18.

Trisomy 18 is also known as Edward's syndrome. This condition is where there is an extra 18th chromosome. For some reason, this syndrome is found mostly in females than males.

There are a host of issues that come along with that extra chromosome:

• heart defects
• mental disability
• growth and developmental issues
• breathing and feeding problems
• joint contractures
• cleft lip/palate
• spaced eyes
• and many other problems

Half of the children that are born with this syndrome die within the first week. The oldest one has lived was to age 10. I can say that baby Arielle lived for 5 months and 1 week. She beat a lot of odds. She ministered to hundreds around her. While she never lived a full life, she will have an eternity when Jesus returns.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome occurs when a pregnant woman drinks while pregnant. Alcohol is a teratogen. Some women know they are pregnant when then do it while others do not. Those that do not know may engage in drinking during the critical early parts of the pregnancy. And since the mom's blood supplies nutrients and such, the alcohol crosses the placenta to the baby.

The problems it causes in the baby are growth stunting, CNS damage, and distinct facial features. The picture above shows examples of the facial features it causes. The damage to the CNS can be structural, functional, or neurological.

For a child to be diagnosed with the disease, the baby's height or weight would have to be terribly low, they must have the facial deformities characteristic of fetal alcohol syndrome, and have structural or functional CNS problems.

Dextrocardia

Dextrocardia is a condition where the heart is located on the right side instead of the left side. Below is an image of the condition. Not just the heart itself, but also the associated blood vessels.

What is interesting is that is a genetic disorder. It is autosomal recessive. Oddly enough, it can also be X-linked. Those that have it are actually normal phenotypically. Most don't find out about their condition until later in life or they have other pressing medical issues. This actually makes heart transplants very difficult. Doctors would have to use extra measures of taking a normal person's heart and associated vessels and tailoring it to the person with dextrocardia.

An Awesome Lady with Cool Research

On Monday, Dr. Oluwatoyosi Muse visited for our Departmental meeting. She presented on her research. The title was "Sequence Selective Recognition of Biologically Relevant RNA by Cationic". It was an incredibly interesting presentation and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

But what was interesting is that for part of her experiment, she used HEK, which are human embryonic kidney cells. I should have asked why she used those cells. Maybe because they were able to highly replicate, or the destination for what she was testing was in there. Either way, it was cool that she has able to retrieve human embryonic kidney cells and test them.