‘Countdown to Life: The Extraordinary Making of You.’
During the germinal stage, process of cell division – mitosis occurs. The divided cells will then undergo specialization and form different body parts and organs. In this stage, if there is any abnormal changes or error happens in the chromosomes or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), it will cause serious and permanent damage to the fetus. Melanie Gaydos is an international model, who is born with a genetic disorder called Ectodermal Dysplasia. Ectodermal Dysplasia is a genetic disorder in which the skin and associated structures (the hair, nails, teeth, and sweat glands) develop abnormally. Melanie has no body hair except for three long hair that sprout from the top of her head and her skin is very sensitive. Consequently, people treated her differently as she looks different compared to others. For Melanie’s case, her TP63 gene which is also known as tumor protein p63 was not properly formed during mitosis. TP63 gene plays a crucial role in forming the ectodermal structures such as the skin, hair, teeth and nail. Failure to form TP63 gene causes Melanie unable to produce enough ectodermal layers like teeth, hair and skin cells. Nevertheless, Melanie never blamed on her physical condition, she keeps striving for her life and becomes an inspirational role model in the fashion industry.
Nell, a seven years old girl from Brecon Beacons, Wales, has an abnormal physical development when she was in her mother’s womb. She has almost the same height as her elder brother, Seth who is two years older than her. Nell’s head and shoulders above her contemporaries. Instead of inheriting only one copy of her father’s gene, she has inherited two copies, which cause her to have an extra set of body instructions telling her to grow. Overproducing of growth hormone (IGF-2) accelerates her growth and increases the risk of getting cancer as her cells divide faster than they should. It is great to know Nell is now seven years old, and the risk of getting cancer is a bit lower because her growth rate is now leveled up. Nell able to complete with the children who are two years older than her because of her height’s advantage and she wins a Commonwealth Gold in the events.
In episode 2 of ‘Countdown to Life: The Extraordinary Making of You.’, there is a unique situation going on in a village in Barahona Province, Dominican Republic. In this village, there are occurrence where the body of the fetus did not respond to the testosterone and resulted in 1 in 90 of male in this village are born with no penis. Johnny, who was once Felicita and raised as a girl but he has no interest in playing with girls or girls’ toys since young. He used to look like a girl because his body has not produced the testosterone needed for the growth of male genital. He was identified as girl because he was born without a penis and furthermore, his mother gave birth at home and no one could testify his real gender.
During the 8th week of pregnancy, every fetus has a set of gonads and a tubercle. If the fetus is male, the Y-chromosome will turn the gonads into testicles which leads to the production of dihydrotestosterone, which later turns the tubercle into a penis. For female, the gonads will become the ovaries and the tubercle will turn into the clitoris. For the people in the village who has the same condition as Johnny, they are lack of an enzyme that is used to form the dihydrotestosterone. But they are able to change later in life. Carla, show signs of puberty as a male when she is near the age of puberty where male gets another rise of testosterone. This gives the terms ‘Guevedoce’ for males like Johnny and Carla which literally means ‘penis at 12’.
In second part of this episode, a baby boy named Oliver is born with cleft lip. At 4th week of pregnancy, the pharyngeal arches are developed into the ear, jaw and throat which at last will emerge into a human face. The final form will be shown on the 8th week. However if there is anything that disturbed the changes, the process will not be completed. Since Oliver’s condition is not genetic, it is said that his cleft lip came from random genetic mutation. His family later let him to proceed with surgery when he is 3 month-old, to fix his cleft lip and Dr Felicity Mehendale has successfully completed the surgery.
The third part of the episode which talks about lefty which is only consists of 10% of the world population. It is usually passed down through genetics. Tom Stalker, a lefty boxer was used as an example in this episode. The proportions of left-handers has not changed since 10000 years ago. For the armies that fought in hand combat a long time ago, left-handers like Tom Stalker may have the advantage and has a higher chance of survival which leads to continuation of generation for the lefties.
The fourth part of the second episode talks about albinism. Our skin pigment is not formed until the 13th week, and we are transparent until then. After that, melanocytes spread and release pigment called melanin. For dark-skinned people, they have more melanin which protects them from excessive UV rays and prevent skin cancer. Light-skinned people has different living condition where they have less sunlight in their countries, therefore they have less melanin to absorb the sunlight and Vitamin D. For albinos, most of their melanocytes are unable to form melanin. They are exposed to harmful sunlight and have no barriers that protect them from skin Disease. Nassoro Kasim, is an albino and he has to face the Sun as he worked out in the sun. While the condition is not unfamiliar for people in Tanzania, Nassoro still faces discrimination.
The next part of the episode talks about our immune system which differs from everyone. After birth (14 weeks later), we are exposed to a lot of germs and specialized cells; the immune system will take an action to destroy the bad cells. Joanne, a Leukemia patient, has to wait for a bone marrow donor to increase her chance of recovery. She was diagnosed on her daughter’s birthday and since has tried to find a compatible donor. It is difficult because our immune system is developed in our womb. HLA systems varied so much that it is challenging to find the perfect match.
On week 15, there is a big change in the brain as the male fetus is flooded with testosterone. Laird Hamilton, a big wave surfer is a risk taker when it comes to extreme activities. He seems to seek for more thrill as a man. He also stated that nurturing from his mother played a part in his achievement of big-wave surfing.
In this episode, it mentioned that sometimes our gender and genitals do not match. Mattie, is a girl that lives in a boy’s body. The narrator of the show said that he believed one of the biological theory that somehow explained the behavior is that although the testosterone is surged throughout her body, it did not reach the key parts of her brain and contributed to why Mattie feels female. Her parents are worried about her as their culture is not very open about the matter and her mother hopes the doctors would block the testosterone in her body and let her do cross-hormone.
Next, the episode talks about sudden deaths of people in the Faroes Island which is an enclosed small place. Majken, a female suddenly had cardiac arrest when she was about to sleep then the doctor on-call, Jan, with provided related information from Majken’s sister saved her life. Jan found out that Majken has a rare disease which is the carnitine transporter disease (CTD). Jan saved her life by injecting carnitine which improves her situation. The government decided to do mass screening that showed the people of Faroes Island who has the CTD is 100 times more than the outside world. This shows the importance of diversity in preventing new random mutation coming up from an enclosed community.
Reference
The First 8 Weeks – Countdown to Life: The Extraordinary Making of You. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ihavenotv.com/the-first-8-weeks-countdown-to-life-the-extraordinary-making-of-you
Against the Odds – Countdown to Life: The Extraordinary Making of You. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ihavenotv.com/against-the-odds-countdown-to-life-the-extraordinary-making-of-you
The Final Push – Countdown to Life: The Extraordinary Making of You. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ihavenotv.com/the-final-push-countdown-to-life-the-extraordinary-making-of-you
KMF1043 Human Development Psychology Group 3 