Antibiotics are given before and after the procedure to avoid fetal infection. Amniocentesis is useful in diagnosing many genetic disorders before the baby is born. In families with genetic diseases or for a mother with previously born child affected by some genetic condition, the test is useful to confirm or to assess the risk of recurrence. Triple test is a test where markers in the blood are tested for Down syndrome, trisomy 18 and trisomy 13. This test does not confirm the diagnosis of these syndromes but tells us about the
Genetic or linkage mapping helps in the identification of inherited diseases. It diagnoses an embryo from deformities and disabilities which includes heart defect, and muscular dystrophy. It is also helpful for therapeutic reasons and other vision and hearing problems. For example, a member of a family who already has a genetic disease may want to ensure that his child avoids that suffering. According to Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) targets severe childhood diseases, such as Tay-Sachs, sickle cell anemia, and colon cancer.
A key attribute of medical model is the development of companion diagnostics, which measure levels of proteins, genes or specific mutations are used to provide a specific therapy for an individual's condition by stratifying disease status, selecting the proper medication and tailoring dosages to that patient's specific needs. Additionally, such methods can be used to assess a patient's risk factor for a number of conditions and tailor individual preventative treatments. Stratified medicine has been used for the current approach. Examples of successful personalized treatments exist in the field of oncology.
The type of sperm (X or Y) that fertilizes an egg can be chosen, which is used to determine the sex and genes of the baby. The embryos can be screened for genetic diseases, and only selected embryos are implanted back into the mother’s womb. This technique is called Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis or PGD. (Bionet par. 2) Michael Lemonick, a writer for Time, shows in his article “Designer Babies” that these techniques allow doctors and parents to reduce the chance that a child will be born with a genetic disorder.
It could give someone the ability to survive a diseases or disorders that they may otherwise pass away from. Parents may also be able to ensure that certain genes are passed on to their offspring, or once sterile individuals will be able to have their own biological offspring. Kahn questions if these methods are really worth that of human life and its dignity. “human life – should never be thought of only as means, but always as an end. (Alex Kahn, 1997, 2005, p93).
The screening of the human genome is not an exception. On the one hand, there is a number of favourable possibilities available for patients who follow particular treatments. Some tests, for example, allow them to gauge their body's tolerance for certain drugs. In this way, doctors can prescribe different treatments for different patients, depending on their genetic profile. Apart from this, newer tests can help people from cancer prone families know whether they have inhereted the disease and how they will respond to various treatments.
Researches have created computer models that are able to simulate human biology and the progression of developing diseases. Also it accurately predicts how the human body will react to the new drugs, unlike animal testing. Lastly, researching with human volunteers is a way to replace animal testing. “ ‘Microdosing’ is a method that provides vital information on the safety of an experimental drug and how it is metabolized in humans prior to large-scale human trials” (www.peta.org). Volunteers who have agreed to be a part of the test are given an extremely small drug dose and are monitored by highly advanced imaging techniques to observe how the drug behaves in the body.
If more parents have their children vaccinated, then more children in the community will be protected against catching an illness. This lowers the chance of an outbreak of the disease. If children are vaccinated, it reduces the risk of pregnant women passing the virus on to their fetus or newborn. A child can be denied attendance at schools or child care facilities if the child is not vaccinated as per the government guideline. Some diseases that can otherwise be prevented by vaccination can result in prolonged disabilities
It is also used for diagnostic testing to find the well-functioning of the organs and to image the skeleton and heart muscle in particular, but also for internal organs such as brain, thyroid, lungs (for perfusion and ventilation), liver, kidney (for structure), bone marrow, etc. for infection and specialized medical studies (radiochemistry.org). According to the 21st century Science and technology magazine, "research is ongoing into the radioisotopes in treating AIDS and other diseases" by using the same medical practice as other procedure used for physicians today. In most cases, the nuclear image from the radioisotopes to help physicians to make a correct diagnosis of the patient's illness
With the world’s advanced medical technology, parents can now ask their doctors to detect genetic disease and abnormalities during a pregnancy. For parents who go through in vitro fertilization, the doctor could check each and every embryo for defects and choose the healthiest ones to be selected for a full term pregnancy. To some, this may seem like a good idea because you could prevent having children with any life threatening syndromes or illnesses. To others, this means a very thin line between terminating pregnancies because of a defect, or because it has the wrong hair color or eye color traits that you