Uhmmm!....Something happened on this day, right?

Francisco "Pancho" Villa surrendered to Mexican authorities and drowned his sorrows in a bottle of cognac. in 1920

Our Social Media Generation

         
      I do not know if it still applies to the present day secondary school system but back then after the Junior Common Entrance Examinations you were given an extra long vacation. Mine was in 2005 and I remember spending it reading. I read every single book in our personal library at home from my fathers big Medical books that had words in them like "thromboxanes" and "vasoconstrictors" to books by african authors like Ama Ata Aidoo, Mongo Beti, Florence Nwapa and others. I became a regular face at the Stella Obasanjo Library and my parents encouraged my voracious reading habit by buying me books on whatever new topic had caught my fancy from black slavery to my obsession with amassing encyclopedia's.

       I remember the year I read 173 books, I had been in a competition with my younger brother to see how many books we got to read that year sadly he won that contest. Well that was then, now I feed myself off the unintellectual content that is the make up of most of the blogs out there. A habit that is just as unhealthy as eating junk food, you know that it's consequence is damaging but you still indulge in it.

        Our generation in 2016 would rather watch"keeping up with the kardashians" as opposed to watching a documentary on the evolving trends in technology or the new discoveries in stem cell research. We read "linda Ikeji" as opposed to Peter. H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler's "Abundance".
         When we have the occasional guilt trip about not reading enough, we read books with obsqure titles like "How to become rich like Dangote overnight". We are a generation highly invested in consumerism, selfie obsessed and grossly superficial.We have become a generation whose parameters for success and excellence are all centered around  materialism.

         I wonder what values and legacies our generation will be giving to our posterity if we are a generation that do not know who Bennet Omalu and Olaudiah Equiano were or what they stood for and if we do not know that while we were chatting  on Facebook  a Nigerian had invented one of the first chip multi processors in the world with support for Thread Level Speculation(TLS).

         We are the generation that would rather use an emoticon, a meme or gif to pass an important message across or better yet we would rather abbreviate words when writing because it's more convenient. So that we may get on with the busy schedules in our lives, schedules like becoming an Instagram celebrity.

The Six Genotypes

   When we took Biology  back then in secondary school, we were taught not so extensively about the human genotype and we were told that there were three types of genotpes the AA, AS and SS. This however is an erroneous information that needs to be corrected as there are actually six major genotypes in humans. They are the AA, AS, AC, SS, CC, and SC.
The genotype is the genetic makeup of an indiviual in reference to a trait or multiple traits. they are the collection of genes passed from parents to the children. To understand the human genotype it is relevant to understand what haemoglobin(Hb) genotype is. Blood is a liquid tissue made up of a fliud called plasma, the plasma contains several blood cells suspended in it mainly the red blood cells, white blood cells and the platelets.The haemoglobin(Hb) is contained within the red blood cell and its what gives the blood its red colour and the capacity to carry oxygen.
The genes dictate the total make up of human beings, it dictates eye colour, skin colour, haemoglobin type and other human characteristics. The haemoglobin genotype dictates the type of haemoglobin our blood cells contain. In essence the type of haemoglobin genotype we bear depends on what we inherit from our parents.
The AA genotype(Hb AA) is the healthy genotype, the AA person has two normal genes. however it out of all six genotypes is the most prone to malaria. According to an assesment carried out at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, results showed that children with genotype AA(92%) were more susceptible to the malaria parasite than AS(5.1%) and SS(2.6%)
Previously conducted research has shown that malaria parasites have a high rate of oxygen consumption and ingest large amounts of haemoglobin during the peripheral blood stage of replication this makes the AA blood more conducive and malaria parasite thrives better in it.
The AS genotype(Hb AS) has one normal and one abnormal gene thus they are considered sickle cell trait or carriers. The AS(Hb AS) genotype are usually strong and can survive mosquitoe attack generally.
The AC(Hb AC) genotype is found at the highest frequencies in West Africa. People with the AC genotype have red blood cells that have haemoglobin A, the normal gene and haemoglobin C an abnormal gene. People with this genotype rarely have malaria as the genotype has been associated with protection against malaria. People with this genotype do not have the sickle cell or haemoglobin C disease but can pass off the trait to their offsprings.
People with the SC genotype(Hb SC) are susceptible to health complications that come from the haemoglobin C disease.This health complications include mild to moderate enlargement of the spleen, Anemia, occasional jaundice may occur and some persons with this disease may develop gall stones that require treatment.Sickle cell crisis in people with SC is usually not as severe as those wit SS.
The individual with the SS genotype(Hb SS) is said to have the sickle cell disease and is usually referred to as a sickler. A sickler is anyone that has the Hb S, C or any other abnormal genotype from both parents. Such a person usually falls sick every now and then and this sickness is called a crisis. The crisis are a range of health complications including swelling of hands and feet in children, fever, aches and pain, nausea, vomiting, jaundice, insomia, delayed menstration, necrosis of any area that is impaired amongst others.
The CC genotype(Hb CC) is a very rare genotype. the Individual with this genotype is a carrier of the haemoglobin C from both parents. Most people with the Hb CC genotype do not have outward symptoms but when they do occur, the symptoms are Chlolelitithasis(gall stones that require treatment), Splenomegaly(big spleen), Angliod streaks(poor vision), Aplastic crisis( episodes of severe anemia).Folic acid supplements are required to help the body with red blood cell production and improve symptoms of anemia. Unlike the Hb SS genotype, people with Hb CC have a normal life expectancy.
It is important that an individual knows his/her genotype as early possible, this way the quality of life can be improved and well managed. Avoid going to quack laboratories for genotype tests, definitely the lab technicians will assume AA, AS, or SS since the symptoms of the other three geneotypes are similar to these popular genotypes. Note that only people with the AA genotype can marry people with the AC, AS, SC , SS, or CC genotypes without medical complications arising with their offsprings.