MODULE 5                                                                            Addiction

 

Is there a gene identified with drug/ or alcohol addiction?

 

Objective: Students will investigate the gene/s involved in the data available at Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) via the computers in the school library.

 

Introduction: The use of the Human Genome Project and DNA databases to investigate the genes and “the location of many more genes involved in human disease are being

identified” (Smith & Emmeluth, 2002). The disease of alcohol addiction is a chronic disease involving many socioeconomic and physical factors that seriously impact a person’s ability to function at work, home and in the community.

 

Alcoholism in the past was not recognized as a disease process but the identification of the gene for susceptibility to alcoholism addiction has lead to new research into medical treatments of medicine to attempt to curtail the urge for addiction. Your exploration in the OMIM will allow you to learn more about a clinical disease, how that disease may be transmitted from parent to offspring and early detection of genetic predisposition to disease.

 

Step 1: Access the internet

            Link to the NCBI website http://www.ncbi.com

Step 2: Select “Genes and Diseases” in the left side of NCBI website.

Step 3: Scan the different genes associated with human diseases.

Step 4: Click onto NCBI map viewer and then type in Search “alcoholism”

          

Assignment: Answer all the following

 

  1. On what chromosome is the gene for susceptibility to alcoholism ?
  2. What other diseases are flanked near gene for alcoholism ?
  3. Can you make any inferences of the gene identified for alcohol addiction and

other diseases?

 

Step 5:  Print out NCBI map viewer Homo Sapiens Chromosome 4

Step 6: Access Pub Med option on NCBI website

                         search of recent medicine being used for treatment of alcoholism.

 

 If a person is aware of the family history of susceptibility to alcoholism,

      is it the disease preventable?

  1. Do healthcare workers properly counsel parents about the risks and

limitations of genetic counseling?

  1. Is genetic predisposition always a predictor of human behavior?

Assignment: Group of (4) students discuss your findings and prepare a slide show defend a position “Does a person’s genes predict behavior ?

 

 

Answer Key: OMIM Module 5       

 

                                      

  1. Chromosome 4 Homo Sapiens

 

  1. Migraines/ w or w/ aura MA and Abetalipoteinemia  MTP

 

  1. Other diseases on Chromosome 4 that are related to mental health

wellness (bipolar manic depression). There are clusters of chromosomes

on the human genome that are involved in the intolerance/ sensitivity to alcohol in Asian and or Mongolian ethnicities also found in NCBI so this can be another source or research addiction of alcohol and comparison of alcohol intolerance

to deter people who may have familial history of parents of alcoholics.

 

  1. There are many factors or theory in addiction behaviors as a risk of

becoming an alcoholic based on role modeling and on family/personal history

of taking first drink of alcohol before the age of 13. Again if the risk factors

are abundant then we can say risk for becoming an alcoholic or other

addictive behaviors.

 

  1. Healthcare workers through the training in medical , nursing and or allied

health programs should have specific courses on genetic counseling. Social workers can perform a family tree of diseases known to client. If genetic testing is done the family/ client needs to know the risks and benefits of reviewing the family history predisposing them to congenital birth defects. And then to go onto further prenatal testing i.e. amniocentesis for cystic fibrosis or other reliable known testing to better prepare for the delivery of a neonate with severe congenital

defects Polycystic Kidneys or Hurler Syndrome on Chromosome 4 not compatible to life or needing immediate or in utero surgical intervention to prevent spina bifida.

 

  1. Human behavior in it of itself is a complicated set of behaviors genetically

and environmentally. The prenatal process of the embryo to fetus to neonate

is genetically initiated at fertilization. However the environment inside the

uterus, the foods and or medicines or drugs or alcohol ingested by the mother have a serious impact on non differentiated cells that are laying the foundation for nervous system cells and other systems in the body. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is

entirely preventable for mental deficits and physical dysmorphic features that is irreversible. In summary genetic information can give the healthcare provider

a history of possible diseases as in cystic fibrosis and family history of diabetes.

It is a fallacy to believe the human genome project is a finite predictor of human

behavior. It will lead to more research and questions to investigate evidenced

based practice of medicine to fully understand human behavior.