The Miracles of Birth
In recent news, a baby with two faces was born in Saini Sapura, India exposing the public to a rare condition known as craniofacial duplication. Unlike other babies, baby Lali has two noses, two pairs of lips, and two pairs of eyes---only her ears are in the normal amount. Although she was delievered like any other baby, her extremely rare congenital disorder has caused a sensation beyond her rural birthplace miles east of New Delhi.
Also known as diposopus, the condition is associated with the SHH (Sonic Hedgehog homolog)protein, which governs the expression of facial features as well as brain development during embryonic development. In craniofacial duplication, excessive amounts of SHH protein leads to wider facial features, making way for the duplication of structures like eyes, mouths, and noses in mirror formation, as represented in baby Lali. In contrast, if SHH protein is lacking, the opposite condition of cyclopia is developed.
Because SHH is also a vital player in healthy brain developmemnt, craniofacial duplication is a feat of survival to those victim to this condition, who may well also suffer from internal organ abnormalities. Fortunately, the previous survival story of a two-faced cat named Frank and Louie gives hope to baby Lali's potential to survive. Incredibly, because of the condition, baby Lali as been worshipped as the reincarnation of an Hindu goddess, although the director of Saifi hospital insists she is just a normal baby: "She drinks milk from her two mouths and opens and shuts all the four eyes at one time"
Posted by: Helen Thi
posted by PWH @ 11:59 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
I've heard about this a lot in the news in the past week. It's a really amazing story. Did you come across an average life expectancy for a human born with this disorder? Also, have they done any x-rays or exams to see whether this particular baby has two trachea or one? Great post.
Posted by: Christine McConville
I have never heard about this disorder. It is very interesting. Do you know why it happens in some parts of the world more then others?
Posted By Julie Hachey
An incredible story. It's interesting that doctors haven't looked deeper into this. Has religion been a factor in how much research is being done on the baby? It would be very interesting to see how her optic nerves are connected to her brain. If she has four eyes, there may be four separate nerves running into her brain - something incredibly uncommon.
Posted By: Nate Pitcher
I almost hope that this baby is allowed to live a normal life once it is determined that she is not at any great risk. Maybe she should embrace being considered the reincarnation of a Goddess - this way, the tabloids will be keeping track of her, not scientists who just want to keep poking and prodding her.
Helen, this was a great post - can you just post a link to where you found the article about this girl? I would love to read it.
Posted by: Sarah Kaz
This story is quite fascinating. I live in a town nearby the cat with a similar condition, and when I heard about that I found it unbelievable. It seems that a lot more research and tests need to be done on this baby to find out more, but it does pose the question whether the child has other organs in pairs in the body. It sounds as though the baby seems to be relatively healthy otherwise, but more needs to be done in order to see what the child's quality of life is and what other problems could arise.
Posted by: Meaghan Elliot
This is an interesting issue. I would like to know more about it. I've always wondered how this happens. Is it from some sort of mutaion like chromosomal duplication, gene deplication where a certain protein in the sequence is coded for two times like you said about the SHH protein, why is it coded in excess, or are there risks that could increase the chance of this conditions happening?
Or is this condition like a failure to separate during zygote formation by male and female gamete.
Posted by: Mustapher Lubega
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