Genetic Health information Critical thinking questions Assignment - 1

Genetic Health information Critical thinking questions - Assignment Example 4). The genetic code found in our DNA, has many potential insights for individual resistances and susceptibilities to diseases. The HGP is quite distinct from other biomedical research because it has been defined by a series of very quantifiable and concrete goals. For example, it has been used to construct physical and genetic maps. These maps have been used as vital research tools and have proved to be invaluable in determining more than 100 genes involved in diseases such as achondroplasia, breast cancer, colon cancer, and Huntington disease. HGP has simplified the human genetic code as well as animals and plants in a four-letter alphabet. These chemical constituents of each DNA molecule are A (adenine), C (cytosine), G (guanine) and T (thymine). The project has been able to explain that there are 23 pairs of chromosomes in each human cell, and each contains millions of these nucleotides. Through the project, it has been proved that there are 3 billion nucleotides. Studies on these chromosomes have been used clinically to explain to expectant mothers if they are going to give birth to a baby boy or girl. HGP has led to improved techniques of genetic screening for various diseases before birth. A genetic library has been created. This library contains genetic information of relatively homogeneous regions in human DNA. Therefore, individuals do not have considerable variability at this locus. If it is found out that a genetic disease is produced from a specific allele or mutation being present, screening can be done to identify who the individuals are. It is now possible to determine the chances that a child might inherit genetic disorders associated with parents by analyzing the parental gamete DNA. This has allowed genetic disorders to be corrected before birth. Research is also being carried on rapid selection and insertion of DNA into human individuals; these may soon lead to reproduction

Homeless Veterans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Homeless Veterans - Essay Example To save the veteran homelessness, everybody has to join hands. Being in the army is no easy job, and everybody of us knows the implications of such a dangerous profession. Dealing with stressful situations on the battle field and experiencing one of the worst kinds of human slaughter, the thought of war brings with it grisly images for the veterans even when they have returned home. Almost every one of the army men faces extreme depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) once their numbness begins to lift. For some war veterans it has even taken a decade before the effects of the war have emerged plunging them into complete darkness. This is helped by little or no support from the government which even though has made independent organizations such as the U.S. Department of the Veteran Affairs (VA) but no real improvements can be observed on ground. This fact is further supported by the figures given by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that on a single n ight in the United States at least 62,619 war veterans are homeless and living on streets or in shelters (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans). Another 1.4 million veterans are suspected on the verge of homelessness due to various reasons. Is that how we return our services to people who had once served us? If the issue of fixing homelessness for war veterans is not treated as a grave emergency, things can be safely assumed as getting out of control. Though the VA argues on successfully providing shelter, medication and other services to the war veterans, which is even true to some extent, but the number of veterans still homeless indicates huge loopholes. Once the US troops in Afghanistan start returning home, will they as well be welcomed by similar homelessness? Taken the fact that the VA could not get the 62,619 war veterans off the road, little hope can we have for the 63,000 troops. The matter to address veteran homelessness is also barred by political circumstances. Some of the confidential Pentagon reports have suggested that the United States has no intention of evacuating all of its troops from Afghanistan as soon as 2014; it intends to stay much longer. However, even if we expect a fourth section of soldiers from our army, they easily exceed the number that is already homeless. Thus solutions covering a much wider ground are needed to not just home the existing war veterans but any of the future ones as well. To reduce veteran homelessness an array of measures will have to be taken. An organization or two supported by another few cannot alone fight the consequences of such a grave matter. Veterans do not just need shelter but immense psychological and physical support, taken their horrendous experiences at the battlefield. Most of these men have faced extremely unpleasant situations – after all a war has nothing pleasant to it – and as a result they are at a very high risk of developing psychological disorders. Though people argue that families should be responsible for the health of the veterans once they return, they fail to recognize the fact that many of these ex-soldiers have severed ties with their families after the long time-period spent abroad. We have clear evidences of wives leaving their veteran husbands for other guys since their husbands could not provide for them. As veterans find it difficult to acquire jobs after their services in the army,