Topic Question (from Prof. Lovas)
How does an understanding of mental illness or gay sexual orientation illuminate the stories of Adam Haslett? (Any given paper should choose one of the two focal points.) 

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Hi fellow Haslett researchers!
I thought I'd take this time to explain why I have a bunch of weird stuff (which doesn't seem to fit) in my research below:

• This is my page and I want it there.  ;-p
• There is a lot of research that shows there is a strong relationship between Mental Illness, Alzheimer's Disease, Downs Syndrome, and Thyroid Dysfuntion.  They all have to do with the 21st Chromosome, and onl recently has research supported that there are links between these.

This relationship between the illnesses is something I've done a ton of research on.  I have Mental Illness, Alzheimer's, and Thyroid problems running rampantly throughout my family, so I have a personal interest.  I hope the information I share with y'all is something that you will take an interest in as well.

Excerpts from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH):
(http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/bipolar.cfm)

What Causes Bipolar Disorder?
     Scientists are learning about the possible causes of bipolar disorder through several kinds of studies. Most scientists now agree that there is no single cause for bipolar disorder—rather, many factors act together to produce the illness.
     Because bipolar disorder tends to run in families, researchers have been searching for specific genes—the microscopic "building blocks" of DNA inside all cells that influence how the body and mind work and grow—passed down through generations that may increase a person's chance of developing the illness. But genes are not the whole story. Studies of identical twins, who share all the same genes, indicate that both genes and other factors play a role in bipolar disorder. If bipolar disorder were caused entirely by genes, then the identical twin of someone with the illness would always develop the illness, and research has shown that this is not the case. But if one twin has bipolar disorder, the other twin is more likely to develop the illness than is another sibling.
     In addition, findings from gene research suggest that bipolar disorder, like other mental illnesses, does not occur because of a single gene.  It appears likely that many different genes act together, and in combination with other factors of the person or the person's environment, to cause bipolar disorder. Finding these genes, each of which contributes only a small amount toward the vulnerability to bipolar disorder, has been extremely difficult. But scientists expect that the advanced research tools now being used will lead to these discoveries and to new and better treatments for bipolar disorder.
     Brain-imaging studies are helping scientists learn what goes wrong in the brain to produce bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. New brain-imaging techniques allow researchers to take pictures of the living brain at work, to examine its structure and activity, without the need for surgery or other invasive procedures. These techniques include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). There is evidence from imaging studies that the brains of people with bipolar disorder may differ from the brains of healthy individuals. As the differences are more clearly identified and defined through research, scientists will gain a better understanding of the underlying causes of the illness, and eventually may be able to predict which types of treatment will work most effectively.

Thyroid Function
      People with bipolar disorder often have abnormal thyroid gland function. Because too much or too little thyroid hormone alone can lead to mood and energy changes, it is important that thyroid levels are carefully monitored by a physician.
      People with rapid cycling tend to have co-occurring thyroid problems and may need to take thyroid pills in addition to their medications for bipolar disorder. Also, lithium treatment may cause low thyroid levels in some people, resulting in the need for thyroid supplementation.

May 2000

BETHESDA, Md. - Scientists in Japan and Germany will report in an upcoming issue of Nature that they have unraveled the genetic code of human chromosome 21, already known to be involved with Down syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, Usher syndrome and Lou Gehrig?s disease.

It is the second human chromosome whose DNA has been fully deciphered by the Human Genome Project (HGP), the international consortium of scientists dedicated to spelling out, or sequencing, the 3 billion chemical letters of human DNA. These scientists are providing that data immediately at no cost and without restrictions to all scientists in industry and academia. Chromosome 22 was the first human chromosome to be sequenced. An international collaboration of HGP scientists reported on that milestone in the Dec. 2, 1999 issue of Nature.

The DNA sequences of both chromosomes are ?finished.? The sequence data is highly accurate - since each area of the chromosome has been ?read? about nine times. The only gaps in the sequence are areas of the chromosome that cannot be deciphered or ?read? with current technology. The scientists have identified the location and size of each of the gaps.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), applauded the scientists who sequenced chromosome 21, for their achievement.

?Knowing the DNA script of chromosome 21, scientists are better equipped to answer the many questions about the origins of Down syndrome, Alzheimer's disease and other disorders,? said Dr. Collins. People who are born with Down syndrome, characterized by varying degrees of mental retardation, heart defects and immune system deficiencies, have an extra copy of chromosome 21. Most people have two copies of each chromosome. People with Down syndrome have three copies of this chromosome.

?Why does having three copies of chromosome 21 cause Down syndrome? And why are some people with Down syndrome minimally affected, while others are more severely retarded?

?By looking at the organization of the genes on chromosome 21 and how they and their protein products function, scientists can find clues about Down syndrome as well as other disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, certain cancers and manic depressive illness, which have also been linked to this chromosome,? he added.

Each human gene is made up of a series of chemical building blocks represented by letters, A (adenine), T (thymine), G (guanine) and C (cytosine). The number and order of these letters, also called bases, determine the genetic contribution to what we are, how we look and the diseases to which we may be predisposed.

With the complete sequence of chromosome 21 available, scientists can better understand where genes are located on the chromosome, how they are expressed, how changes that give rise to disease-causing mutations occur, and how chromosomes are duplicated and inherited.

With the complete DNA sequence of multiple chromosomes in hand, scientists can study structural similarities between and among chromosomes, as well as shared sequences.

In deciphering chromosome 21, scientists used the strategy that has been developed and widely tested by the Human Genome Project. This strategy involves sequencing overlapping cloned segments of DNA from known locations on the chromosome. Because they know the areas of the chromosomes that are represented in the overlapping clones, the scientists can accurately take the sequence of thousands of A, T, C and Gs that was ?read? from each clone, lay out the data according to locations of the individual clones on the chromosomes and in that way reconstruct the sequence of the entire chromosome.

The Human Genome Project will compile a finished, ?stand the test of time? version of the DNA sequence of all 23 pairs of human chromosomes by 2003 or sooner. A ?working draft? version of the sequence already is 85 percent complete. That data is 99.9 percent accurate based on reading each area of the chromosome four to five times.