WHAT IS HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE?
Huntington's Disease is a genetically inherited disease (which means it's passed down from parent to child). It causes a degeneration of neurons, which are nerve cells in the brain. It causes uncontrolled movements, a loss of intellectual facilities (cognition), and emotional disturbances. It slowly reduces your ability to walk, talk, think, and reason. Some may have trouble feeding themselves or swallowing. Children of a parent with Huntington's Disease have a 50% chance of developing the disease themselves. To pass on the disease, however, one actually has to contract it. Everyone who carries the gene will develop Huntington's. This means that even though your parents may have had the disease, if you do not, you can't pass it down to your children. There are very rare cases, however, where some people develop the disease, and no family history of it can be found. Around 1-3% of people with Huntington's are this case. Huntington's affects all races and genders, although it is found that it is more common among European descent. Those who have the disease may not know immediately. It usually develops between the ages of 30-50, although in some cases it has been known to appear as early as 2 years of age. The earlier you contract the disease, the faster it progresses.
SYMPTOMS
DIAGNOSIS
TREATMENT
PROGNOSIS
RESEARCH
THE "HUNTINGTON" GENE
DEFINITIONS
CITED
LINKS
The Huntington's Disease Society Of America
Science Daily HD Article
More About the HTT Gene
Mayo Clinic
Huntington Society Of Canada
Comments (12)
rryoung@... said
at 8:37 am on Oct 29, 2009
Color??? Pictures??? Add some pizazz...this is a boring page that is not appealing to readers.
rryoung@... said
at 8:38 am on Oct 29, 2009
LinkS...you only have one link. Are you going to add more? I would suggest it...or add another subheading/heading under your table of contents that links to a new page with links on it.
rryoung@... said
at 8:42 am on Oct 29, 2009
Footnotes are not present on any pages. CITATIONS ARE REQUIRED for ALL info and pictures.
Chelsea Johnson said
at 9:16 am on Nov 4, 2009
Your pages have a lot of depth, which was helpful in understanding your disease. I would have stuck with one color throughout the wiki, but other than that, you guys did a great job with presenting your disease! Woo!
Bradley Vivace said
at 9:18 am on Nov 4, 2009
The pages describe the disease very well, but ithink the pink font is hard to read.
Mariah Jones said
at 10:57 pm on Nov 4, 2009
Everything is understandable. I like how you included what if scenerios like what to do when you see a doctor. I thought the color was a bit distracting thought, it gave me a headahce reading it. :( other than that i liked everything else.
Alex Burgan said
at 11:20 pm on Nov 4, 2009
Besides the rather bold pink font, the page was put together very well and managed to convey a lot of information about the disease.
Kiran Bassi said
at 8:58 am on Nov 5, 2009
The information you put on here was very useful. I am now more aware of what Huntington's Disease is.
Leigh Anderson said
at 9:16 am on Nov 5, 2009
You guys went very in depth into the explination of the disease. The gene description and picture were a nice touch.
Cara Maher said
at 9:39 am on Nov 5, 2009
It is odd to know that most people don't know they have this disoreder until late in life. It would frightening to find out you had this disorder after you had children.
Aaron Nehamkin said
at 9:45 am on Nov 5, 2009
It's interesting that scientists are putting fetal tissue in animals to understand the disease better.
Alex Gregory said
at 9:54 am on Nov 5, 2009
I like the genes page. I didn't think that someone could inherit Huntington's Disease even if their parents didn't have the HTT gene. I also learned that the gene can get bigger as it gets passed on through generations.
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