Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis: State of the Art
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is used to analyze embryos genetically before their transfer into the uterus and offers couples at risk the chance to have an unaffected child, without facing termination of pregnancy. Embryos are obtained by in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and are biopsied mostly on day 3; blastocyst biopsy is mentioned as a possible alternative; the genetic analysis is performed on one or two blastomeres, by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for cytogenetic diagnosis, or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for moleculardiagnosis (Basille, et al., 2009). PGD requires a close collaboration between obstetricians, fertility specialists, IVF laboratory and human geneticists. It needs intensive effort, expensive techniques and is demanding for the patients, but it offers tremendous opportunity for couples whose previous child has exhibited genetic abnormalities.
Children as Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donors
This article isn't directly related to PGD but, based on the last article, it seemed relevant to find information on the ethical implications that are relevant to using PGD to generate umbilical cords for older siblings. Children often serve as hematopoietic stem cell donors, most commonly for their siblings. HLA-matched biological siblings are generally preferred as donors because of reduced risks of transplant-related complications as compared with unrelated donors (Committee on Bioethics, 2010)....
Whereas bone marrow transplant and peripheral blood might be controversial, the umbilical cords are relatively less of an ethical challenge. PGD could actually ensure that the umbilical cord meets the HLA properties of their siblings and could serve as a viable option for a variety of diseases. In 1990, Abe and Mary Ayala became the first successful publicized case in which a family sought to conceive a child (Marissa) to save another child (Anissa) and there have been later cases where PGD contributed to the HLA matching.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis at 20 years
PGD has evolved into not simply an earlier extension of traditional prenatal genetic diagnosis, but a modality offering novel indications. PGD can be applied for any Mendelian disorder whose location is known, using linkage analysis even when the causative mutation is not known. More than 200 different conditions have been tested, with high accuracy and safety (Johnson, 2010). The advancements in the field have and the new capabilities that are available have made many call for a new approach to the ethical considerations that are now feasible.
SAVIOR SIBLINGS, PARENTING AND THE MORAL VALORIZATION OF CHILDREN
The reason…
Works Cited
Basille, C., Frydman, R., Abdelwahab, E., Laetitia, H., Renato, F., Gerard, T., . . . Achour, N. (2009). Preimplantation genetic diagnosis: State of the art. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 9-13.
Committee on Bioethics. (2010). Children as Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donors. Pediatrics, VOLUME 125 / ISSUE 2.
Johnson, J. (2010). Preimplantation genetic diagnosis at 20 years. Prenatal Diagnosis, 682-695.
Renwick, P., & Ogilvie, C. (2007). Preimplantation genetic diagnosis for monogenic diseases: overview and emerging issues. Expert Rev. Mol. Diagn., 33-44.
Savior Siblings: The Ethical Debate At a hospital, one of the most fulfilling tasks carried out daily is that of helping mothers usher in newborns into the world. Proud parents of beautiful healthy babies cannot contain their joy as they take their bundles of joy home ready to embark on a journey full of endless moments of happiness. However, some parents' joys are short lived when their children develop life threatening
Chokshi, Carter, Gupta, and Allen (1995) report that during the critical states of emergency, ongoing intermittently until 1989, a low-level police official could detain any individual without a hearing by for up to six months. "Thousands of individuals died in custody, frequently after gruesome acts of torture" Those who were tried were sentenced to death, banished, or imprisoned for life" (Chokshi, Carter, Gupta, & Allen, ¶ 6). The enactment
Christian Biotechnology: Not a Contradiction in Terms Presented with the idea of "Bioethics" most people in the scientific community today immediately get the impression of repressive, Luddite forces wishing to stifle research and advancement in the name of morality and God. Unfortunately, this stereotype too often holds true. If one looks over the many independent sites on the Internet regarding bioethics, reads popular magazines and publications, or browses library shelves for
Uncle Tom's Cabin - Fiction as a Catalyst for Fact The Origins of a Living Document Stage Night North and South Polarized: Critics Respond The Abolitionist Debates The Tom Caricature The Greatest Impact The Origins of a Living Document In her own words, Harriet Beecher Stowe was compelled to pen Uncle Tom's Cabin "....because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt
Siegel's 1956 film version of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers uses a number of realistic techniques like undistorted camera angles, and shots of mundane activities and locations to establish the rationality and logic of the daytime world of small-town California. As the movie begins to shift into the nightmarish world of the alien invasion, the shots become increasingly distorted, dark and gloomy, showing the slip into the subconscious,
goal of early Americans was to expand out West. Early settlers believed the West housed new opportunities, gold, land, and most of all freedom. However with the expansion came controversy. Native Americans, the people that lived in America before European settlement, were pushed and forced out of their homelands. Little by little Native Americans endured not only racism and ridicule, but also involuntary migrations to new and less fertile