Susan is a 25 year old top notch executive in a small Midwestern insurance compa
ID: 93787 • Letter: S
Question
Susan is a 25 year old top notch executive in a small Midwestern insurance company. She recently applied to a much larger national insurance firm whose home office is in Milwaukee Wisconsin. The location is ideal since she can commute to work and her husband can keep his current job. They have no children but plan to have some in the near future. The benefits for the new firm are much better than in her current job as is the salary and prestige. She has had a first interview that went very well. The new firm does require each new employee undergo a medical exam which includes drug and genetic testing. This is the hitch for Susan since her mother was recently diagnosed with Huntington's Disease. 1. List all possible genotypes for Susan's mother. 2. Based on each of the possible genotypes you listed for Susan's mother, what are the chances Susan will inherit Huntington's Disease? List the probability of Susan inheriting Huntington's for each possible genotype for Susan's mother. 3. What is the prognosis for Susan's mother? 4. If you were Susan would you want to know if you were going to develop Huntington's? Why would you want to know or not want to know? 5. If you were Susan would you want your husband to know you were going to develop Huntington's? Why or Why not? Should her husband know? Why or why not? 6. Can the insurance company refuse to hire her based on the health exam results? 7 Why would the benefit's administrator (usually in the human resources or HR department) want to know this information? 8. What potential impact would hiring Susan have on the other employees of the new firm?Explanation / Answer
An autosomal dominant inherited neurodegenerative form of disease is termed as Huntington's disease. The disease has effects of the involuntary movement causing behavior disorder.
1) The possible genotypes for Huntington are CAG triplet mutation in which repeat number in exon 1 of huntingtin (HTT) gene is seen. The genotype for Huntington is HH as it is autosomal dominant. Even Hh genotype can cause the disease.
2) Based on the genotypes found in Susan's mother the probability of Susan developing the disease is 50% for HH genotype and 25% for Hh genotype if her father has normal genotype(hh).
3) The Huntington's disease runs it course within 10 to 30 years. If the symptoms are seen earlier than the disease will progress faster. So after the first symptom arises it hardly takes any time for the disease to develop. And after 25-30 years the patient dies of it.
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