Health - Writing

Prenatal testing

In the course of a generation, the information available to families regarding the health and future of their unborn children has been transformed. In the era of our parents and grandparents, even the number of babies to be born was a mystery. Following delivery of the first baby, careful checking for the appearance of another head or foot was routine. The arrival of the second twin made for a crowded bassinet in the back seat of the car on the way home, as well as hasty modifications to the cot, sleeping arrangements and siblings’ expectations

By Writing|2022-03-01T13:02:27+11:00December 13th, 2021|Health, Science & Technology|Comments Off

Balancing the curriculum: teaching gratitude, hope and resilience

Today's youth face many challenges, including pressures from school, peer groups, parents, marketing, and incessant ‘digital connectedness’ promoted by social media. Current research shows that many Australian adolescents suffer from sleep deprivation, drug and alcohol abuse, insecurity, poor diets, insufficient exercise and family upheaval

By Writing|2021-12-30T14:12:29+11:00December 13th, 2021|Arts, Culture & Society, Health|Comments Off

Common medical conditions in which genes play a role

Genes influence every aspect of a person’s health, from the ability to resist infection with a pathogen, to how medication is metabolised, to mental health and behaviour. Diseases have historically been defined by what a clinician sees, rather than the root cause of the pathology. In rare diseases, we know that genetic defects affecting different components of the same biological pathway can produce very similar clinical problems. However, understanding the factors contributing to common disorders is considerably more complex

By Writing|2022-01-27T13:06:38+11:00December 13th, 2021|Health, Science & Technology|Comments Off

Common genetic conditions

There are many different ways that faults in the genetic code can occur. Alterations to the genetic code can arise at any level and can affect gene expression leading to human disease. Before reading this chapter, readers might want to remind themselves of some of the terminology that is used to describe the genes and how they are assembled, by looking back at the introductory chapter, Chapter 1. There are many ways in which the genetic code, from the level of the chromosome (the bundles of genes in our cells), right down to a single nucleotide (the individual building blocks that make up our genes), can be disrupted

By Writing|2022-02-25T15:08:44+11:00September 1st, 2021|Health, Science & Technology|Comments Off