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Baby born with two faces

 
 
Reyn
 
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 03:22 pm
So, I wonder if polution is playing any part as to why birth defects like this one are occurring? Bhopal?

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Indian baby born with two faces 'doing well' one month after birth

By DEBRA KILLALEA
Last updated at 07:58 09 April 2008

An Indian baby born with two faces is doing well one month after her birth, doctors have said.

Lali was born with two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes - but only two ears.

And while she may seem like an oddity to some, her proud parents think she is simply a God reincarnated.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/03_02/baby5MOS1503_468x342.jpg

The baby girl was born in the rural Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, 50km north east of New Delhi.

Her parents, Vinod and Susham Singh from a village called Saini, said their little girl was "a gift from God".

Excited villagers claim she is the reincarnation of the Indian God Ganesha and celebrated her arrival with clapping, cheering and offerings of gifts and money.

Lali was born with a rare condition called craniofacial duplication, where a single head has two faces.

Doctors who delivered the baby said she appeared to be in good health, and is leading a normal life with no breathing difficulties.

They were initially uncertain whether the baby would have normal functions but say so far she is "doing well" and eating from both of her two mouths.

She also opens and shuts all four eyes at the same time.
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littlek
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 05:14 pm
But, what is the mass in the middle?
0 Replies
 
Chai
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 05:32 pm
littlek wrote:
But, what is the mass in the middle?



Seems like a extreme example of conjoined twins, with only the faces having succeeded in (partially) separating.

The cheek and jaw bones continued to grow (might still be growing), acting as if there were 2 separate heads. Also the cubby cheeks of a baby.

Like when continents collide and mountain ranges rise up, the growing bones had to go somewhere, and fortunately went outward rather than inward.

I'm not a pediatrition, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.



It would seem there are two craniums, so 2 separate brains, or 2 brains that are connected in the middle. I think the latter, since they blink their eyes at the same time, they must be sharing part of a brain.


My question is....Is this one person or two?

I think 2, if they are two largely separate brains.
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Reyn
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 05:55 pm
Thank you, Chai, for the excellent explanation as to what's probably what here. Sounds very feasible.

But...... did you notice how she just casually injected this little sentence into the middle of her post?

Methinks we need further explanation. I eagerly am awaiting same.....

Chai wrote:
I'm not a pediatrition, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
0 Replies
 
Mame
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 05:56 pm
I think it's from a commercial.
0 Replies
 
boomerang
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 05:57 pm
From wiki:

Quote:
Although classically considered conjoined twinning (which it resembles), this anomaly is not normally due to the fusion or incomplete separation of two embryos. It is the result of a protein called sonic hedgehog homolog (SHH). (The unlikely-sounding name of this protein was inspired by the Sonic the Hedgehog videogame character[3] and is part of an idiosyncratic naming tradition in molecular biology research that some have criticized as frivolous.[4][5])

The SHH protein and its corresponding gene have been found to play an important role in signaling craniofacial patterning during embryonic development. Among other things, the SHH protein governs the width of facial features. In excess it leads to widening of facial features and to duplication of facial structures.[6] The greater the widening, the more of the structures are duplicated, often in a mirror image form. This has been demonstrated in the laboratory by introducing pellets of the SHH protein into chicken embryos, resulting in chickens with duplicate beaks. Insufficient amounts of that protein lead to opposite conditions such as cyclopia where facial features are insufficiently developed.[7]

Healthy brain development is also dependent on the signaling function of the SHH protein.[8] During embryonic development, the SHH protein directs embryonic cells to organize in specific areas that later become specialized neural tissues, thus controlling the size and shape of brain structures.


So, not conjoined twins.

This story makes me think it would be best to have different looking Gods.
0 Replies
 
Reyn
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 05:58 pm
Mame wrote:
I think it's from a commercial.

Hmm, one obviously that I haven't seen. Laughing

Elaborations?
0 Replies
 
Mame
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 05:59 pm
Cute kid, though. I'll have to google that later, Reyn. I have to go make dinner.
0 Replies
 
Reyn
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 06:02 pm
Okay, now to the question that I posted at the top of the first post.

Is something like Bhopal responsible for this, or is it a "natural" occurrence?
0 Replies
 
Chai
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 07:03 pm
Thanks boom, very interesting.



Reyn....

holiday inn meltdown
0 Replies
 
Reyn
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 09:17 pm
Chai wrote:

Chai, saw it, and get IT now! Laughing
0 Replies
 
martybarker
 
  1  
Reply Thu 24 Jul, 2008 10:07 pm
I'm curious too as to what else is going on there. I wonder if there are two esophagus' or if the two mouths meet at a shared esophagus. I guess the baby must have only one stomach but which mouth gets fed?
0 Replies
 
 

 
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