Strabismus

Strabismus commonly known as crossed eye is a condition i decided to do more research on because , there is a boy in my church that was born with strabismus, he had it up to the age of 4 and when I went home for thanksgiving break his eyes were corrected. I found that strabismus is a condition when the muscles in the eye does not receive information correctly. I also found that there are two types of strabismus, accommodative esotrpia and intermittent exotropia. Accommodative esotropia occurs because of uncorrected hyperopia while intermittent extropia develop because the eyes can not coordinate together. Treatment  for strabismus includes prism lenses, vision therapy and eye muscle therapy. The boy in my church wore glasses until he was about 4 years, then had surgery.

http://www.aoa.org/x4700.xml 

Chapter 10

Ephrins ligands- Juxtacrine factors, binding between an ephrin on one cell and the eph receptor on an adjacent cell results in signals sent to each of the two cells
 
contact inhibition-the mechanism for directional cell movement wherein cells are prohibited from moving backwards due to interactions with the cell membrane of the other migrating cells.

dermal bone- bones that forms in the dermis of the skin such as most of the bones of the skull and face.

cranial Placodes-epidermal thickenings that form neurons and sensory epithelia.

Enamel knot-the signaling center for tooth development, a group of cells induced in the equithelium by the neural crest-derived mesenchyme that secretes paracrine factors that pattern the cusp of the tooth

Pathway secretion- axons travel along a route that leads them to a particular region of the embryo.

Target secretion- axons, once they reach the correct area, recognize and bind to a set of cells with which they may form stable connections

Address secretion- initial patterns are refined such that each axon binds to a small subset of its possible targets.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Microspikes-microfilament containing pointed filopodia of the growth cone that elongate and contact to allow axonal migration.

Astrotactin- adhesion protein that helps the neuron maintain adhesion to glial cell.

Dendrites- fine branching extensions of the neuron that are used to pick up electric impulses from other cells

Preplate- formed from the first cortical neurons to be generated and migrate out of the germinal zone

Neural retina- cells of the inner layer that proliferate rapidly and generate a variety of glia, ganglion cells, interneurons and light sensitive photoreceptor neurons.

Cyclopia- a single eye in the center of the face usually below the nose. The result of a mutated Shh gene.

Encounter

I recently started working at Takoma Academy as an after school tutor. While tutoring one young lady in biology. She told me that she saw her teacher's baby dance. I knew that her teacher was pregnant so I asked how, she then went on to explain that her teacher put earphones on her stomach and when she did that the baby started moving. This reminded me of what we were talking about in class, where scientist have figured out that babies hear sounds in womb.  

12th grade A&P class trip

Today in class we learned about teratomas after looking at the slides I realized that I have seen these before. In the twelfth grade for my honors A and P class we took a trip to the Bodies Exhibit museum in Brooklyn New York. One of the displays showed an ovary where there were teeth and hair growing, another exhibit that I remember seeing is was a foot with toe nails growing in the body. This trip intrigued me; although I already knew I wanted to be a doctor it showed me there was a lot to learn and it would be something I enjoy learning.  

Figure 1: teeth and hair from a mature cystic teratoma of the ovary. Called a dermoid cyst.

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome

While watching an episode of the new series Emily Owens M.D. I found the case she was working on very interesting as it pertains to developmental biology. In this particular case a woman was the surrogate mother to twins, one of the twins had Hypoplastic left heart syndrome and had to be operated on in vitro. At this point I decided to do farther research on this syndrome. I found that this occurs during development when the left side of the heart does not form correctly. studies done found that one cause of this syndrome could be genetic however it is unknown the true causes. This provides a challenge for it to be treated. Twenty percent of effect children die within the first month of life. In the article I found there was no mention of in vitro surgery but a series of surgeries done soon after birth. Some of the surgeries includes the Norwood Procedure done within the first two weeks of birth, Bi-directional Genn Shunt Procedure done 4 to 6 months of age and Fontan Procedure done 18 months to 3 years.  
In the TV series both babies were going to be were going to be in good health, however in reality children that suffer from hypoplastic left heart syndrome are never cured.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/heartdefects/HLHS.html
http://www.news-medical.net/news/2007/10/11/31066.aspx?page=2

Chicks

I recently downloaded an app on my Ipod called "WeirdButTrue" made by National Geography, while shuffling through the facts I came across one that said Chicks can breathe through their shells. I was very excited because this topic was covered in lab.