Dear Mr. Kantor,
I am doing a
multi genre project in my English 4 honors class and my topic is genetics. We
go to the library and search for articles on our topic. I came across your
article about the genetic connection. I noticed that the main topic in your
article is about MS, which means multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis is a
chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system. I learned that Huntington's disease is a
genetic neurological disorder and is inherited if you posses one gene that
tells your body to develop this disorder. Then there are other diseases in
which you have to have a gene form each parent in order for a disease to attack.
An example of autosomal recessive disorder is the Sickle Cell Anemia disease. A
person needs to have two sets of genes for Sickle Cell disease to attack the
body. In a confusing way I learned a lot from your article about the genetic
connection. One interesting thing that I learned from your article is about the
twins. Even though they have the same genetic makeup, their environmental
exposure is not the same. So one twin may be heavier, making the heavier twin higher
risk of developing a medical condition related to weight. I have never looked
at twin conditions like that before. I guess it should have been obvious,
considering i have a set of identical twins in my family, 3 sets actually. But
the set of twins I am talking about seem identically alike, but one weighs
about 15 pounds more. Now I know that it is just the environmental exposure
that makes one heavier, not their genetics.
It sounds
like you haven't fully mastered the knowledge about MS yet from what I read in
your article. Does MS develop under certain environmental conditions or is it
genetics, or is it both? The descendants of a person with MS have an
approximately 2% chance of inheriting MS, but the risk of having a heart attack
in the American population is 10%. So
this means that a child of a person that has been diagnosed with MS is more
likely to have a heart attack than develop MS. Sir, if you happen to dig into
the studies of MS deeper, please post another article. I would like to know if
MS is inherited or just environmental.
Sincerely,
BCHS student
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