31 for 21 Day #8

Source: www.jeromelejeune.org

Dr. Jérôme Lejeune was born in 1926 in Montrouge, near Paris. He studied medicine and became a researcher at the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris in 1952. Dr. Lejeune was also the founder of the first specialized clinic for Trisomy 21 patients at Necker Children’s Hospital in Paris.

The laboratory notebook begun by Dr. Lejeune on July 10, 1957 indicates that on May 22, 1958, he succeeded in showing, for the first time, the presence of 47 chromosomes in a child with Down syndrome. This was only two years after Tjio and Levan had proven that the human species has 46 chromosomes. In July 1958, Dr. Jérôme Lejeune was studying chromosomes linked to Down syndrome; he discovered the existence of an additional chromosome on the 21st pair. This was only two years after Tjio and Levan had proven that the human species has 46 chromosomes. With this remarkable and ground-breaking discovery, he renamed the condition trisomy 21 to accurately describe the genetic abnormality.

The discovery opened up an enormous field of investigation for modern genetics and laid the foundation for a new discipline: cytogenetics. Until then, the laws of human heredity had been unable to explain Trisomy 21 and other anomalies in hereditary material. Jérôme Lejeune was now driven by a single ambition: to find a treatment that would bring relief to his patients as quickly as possible.

31 for 21 Day #7

Peace, Love, and Down Syndrome
 

MONROE, La., Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- This campaign includes sharing stories from families who have been touched by a child or adult with Down Syndrome, providing NUBY No-Spill cups to over 2,000 children with Down Syndrome, and educating others about Down Syndrome with facts from www.ndss.org. NUBY is launching this program with Lennon, a sweet, 2-year-old girl from Monroe, Louisiana. Lennon is one of our latest faces featured by NUBY and will be used on marketing material this upcoming year.  

In addition, NUBY invites everyone to visit their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/nubyusa, to see this campaign launch, learn more about Down Syndrome, Lennon, and also share their stories. Peace, Love & Down Syndrome is part of NUBY's commitment to corporate and social responsibility.

"I am excited to be working with my team on such a meaningful campaign: Peace, Love & Down Syndrome. I believe this program will be just as rewarding for our fans as it will be for me." - Eddie Hakim, CEO. 

About Company:
Founded in 1972, Luv n' care Ltd. - which produces and sells under the NUBY brand - is one of the leading baby and toddler product innovators in the world. NUBY's mission is to create fun, safe products that aid in the development of children while making parents' lives easier. Thanks to its unique designs and patents, NUBY products are well-known not only throughout the United States, but also in over one hundred and fifty (150) countries worldwide. As inventors of the patented no-spill cup, NUBY is the #1 cup brand in the world and holds countless other patents in its full infant feeding and teething lines. With over a hundred global industry awards, NUBY has decades of experience and will continue to better the lives of parents and children worldwide. For more information, please visit www.nuby.com.

SOURCE Luv n' care Ltd.

PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1pb4u),

31 for 21 Day #6

31 for 21 Day #5

A Drug for Down Syndrome

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/magazine/a-fathers-search-for-a-drug-for-down-syndrome.html?_r=1

 

Can you solve this algebra problem? 8x²-7=505

 

A sixteen year old girl with DS named Tyche Costa can.
 

In 2006, using mice with the equivalent of Down syndrome, Costa published one of the first studies ever to show that a drug could normalize the growth and survival of new brain cells in the hippocampus, a structure deep within the brain that is essential for memory and spatial navigation. In people with Down syndrome, the slower pace of neuron growth in the hippocampus is suspected to play a key role in cognitive deficits. Follow-up studies by other researchers reached conflicting results as to whether the drug Costa had tested, the antidepressant Prozac, could produce practical gains on learning tests to match its ability to boost brain-cell growth. Undeterred, Costa moved on to another treatment strategy. In 2007 he published a study that showed that giving mice with Down syndrome the Alzheimer’s drug memantine could improve their memory.

Now Costa has taken the next step: he is completing the first randomized clinical trial ever to take a drug that worked in mice with Down and apply it to humans with the disease, a milestone in the history of Down-syndrome research.

Click on Source Link to read more.
         

31 for 21 Day #4

E:60 - Perfect
Source: ESPN
There was a time when Heath White chased perfection. E:60's Tom Rinaldi tells the story of a how the birth of a girl with Down Syndrome led to the re-birth of a man who thought he had everything, until he discovered the joy of pushing Paisley.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8450488

31 for 21 Day #3

In order to help address the disparity in asset allocation by the National Institute of Health, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation conducted a poll to determine Americans support for funding for Down syndrome. The link to the entire article is provided below. To highlight the need for advocacy in this area, I have included the funding statistics out of the article in this post. The amounts listed below are the amounts that were spent per individual with the condition in 2010 by NIH.

NIH research funding for Down syndrome in fiscal year 2010 equaled $50 per each American living with the genetic condition. In contrast, NIH research funding for other conditions per each American with such conditions equaled:
$137 for Autism
$573 for Fragile X, a genetic condition that leads to developmental disabilities
$2,867 for Cystic Fibrosis
$322 for Multiple Sclerosis
http://www.globaldownsyndrome.org/?page_id=2164

31 for 21 Day #2

Fact or Fiction?  Many People with Down syndrome are Left-Handed
Source:   http://downsyndromenewmama.blogspot.com
Being left-handed means that the right hemisphere of the brain is dominant. The right side of the brain controls music, art, creativity, perception, and emotions. It is what we would call the holistic thinking mode. Left-handed people are more likely to be visual thinkers.

Right-handers have left-brain dominance which controls the areas of speech, language, writing, logic, mathematics, and science. It is thought of as the linear thinking mode.

In most cases being left-handed is a matter of heredity... it must be passed down to you by your parents genes, however there is some evidence to show that people with neurological differences tend to be left-handed. People with Down syndrome would fit into that category.

An uncanny amount of people with Down syndrome are either lefties or ambidextrous. While 13% of the general population is left-handed, our (non-scientific) poll showed that 41% of people with DS are left-handed and 10% are ambidextrous.