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Huntington’s Disease An overview of the main symptoms’ of Huntington’s disease is the lost of control of both mental and muscle function. Resulting in the patient making sudden uncontrolled movement and getting lost in one own thought. The early Symptoms that are experienced by Huntington Disease patients are mood swings, which consists of the patient being extremely angry then in seconds change and become happy. Other symptoms are depression, irritability or trouble driving, learning new things, remembering a fact, or making a decision. As Huntington’s disease processes the patient have a hard time concentrating and achieving intellectual tasks an example is the patient has difficulty feeding themselves and swallowing. Huntington’s Disease is very different to other genetic disease because the symptoms don’t come till very late in life (usually from 30-50 years of age), unlike other genetic diseases that you experience the symptoms as soon as the patient is born. Experts have estimated that one in every 10,000 person in the United States has Huntington’s disease. The is not specific races that get this disease more all people from different races are at possible risk of having Huntington’s Disease. Huntington’s Disease is a Dominant Alleles Disease, which is pasted on from parent to child. It does not skip generations. Your grandfather had it but none of your parents had it there is no chance that you will get it. If you of your parents had there is a 50% chance that you will get it. Huntington’s caused by a defect in a gene on chromosome number 4. The chromosome is responsible for producing a protein called Huntington. When there is a defect the body creates a abnormal protein which messes with the function of nerve cells by slowly harming them. There is no way to indentify the disease before the birth however the disease can be identify once the child is born. Since this is a disease that chows up pretty late in life you can be test once born. There are three main things that doctors do to test for Huntington’s. The first is taking the family history to make a pedigree (Figure One). Then the doctor will take a genetic test, which consists of the use of a blood sample. The test looks at the DNA and chromosome 4 for Huntington’s. This test is called the Huntington’s disease Genetic Testing). The other test that can be done is an Imaging Test (CT-Scan) or and (MRI) (Figure Two, however this test can not diagnose Huntington’s itself. That the moment there us no cure for Huntington’s disease. There also is no way to slow down the progress. However there are some medications to control the symptom to help patient control their movements’ problems. There are side effects to this medication like restlessness hyper excitability or fatigue. There are some drugs like Haloperidol that help with hallucinations and violent outburst. Sometimes these drugs can worsen the situation. Usually patients have to take anti-depressants to help control anxiety. There are many different experiments going on around the world to find a cure for Huntington’s. There are seven main kinds of research being done in molecular genetics, the HD gene and its product, cell death in HD, Animal Models of HD, Fetal Tissue Research and Clinical Studies. An example of a Clinical Trail that is in progress is by The National Association of Health where they are creating a design drug that is helping with the Huntington’s symptoms without side effects.

       Bibliography - "Huntington's Disease." //Neurology Channel//. 2010. Health Communizes, Web. 27 Jan 2010. <- [] >. - "National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke." //Huntington's Disease Information Page//. 2009. National Institute of Health, Web. 27 Jan 2010. <http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/huntington/huntington.htm>. - <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; letter-spacing: 1.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Schoenstadt, Arthur. "Treatment for Huntington's Disease." //Nervous System//. 2009. Clinaero, Web. 27 Jan 2010. <http://nervous-system.emedtv.com/huntington's-disease/treatment-for-huntington's-disease.html>.