Family History Day

Most of us will be spending time with family this Thanksgiving. And while Aunt Edna’s goiter may not be an ideal topic for dinnertime conversation, it could be a great ice breaker that leads into a longer discussion about your family’s health history.

Since 2004, the U.S. Surgeon General has declared Thanksgiving Day as National Family History Day. The idea is not necessarily to trace all the connections your family has to ancient royalty, but rather to take a family health history.

Information about your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles could help you and your health care provider anticipate, prevent or treat potential health risks. 

The surgeon general’s office provides a questionnaire that can be either filled out online or downloaded and printed that helps families identify health issues.

Visit www.hhs.gov/familyhistory to start on your family’s health history this Thanksgiving.

Genetic research

While taking a family health history can be helpful in identifying the prevalence of, say, heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer, it’s not necessarily going to help pinpoint rare genetic abnormalities. But a new scanner at Shodair Children’s Hospital will help doctors and researchers there take a close look at pieces of a person’s chromosomes that could help them discover why that person has a particular developmental delay or other medical problem, such as congenital heart disease.

The technology, called DNA microarray analysis, is used to at look regions of DNA of the chromosomes. Those regions are then studied to see if there are missing or repeated strands of DNA.

According to Shodair lab director Dr. Tom Dennis, a sample is taken by a simple blood draw. The regions of DNA, which can consist of up to 2.7 million pieces of DNA, is placed on a silicon chip and placed into a laser scanner. The scanner detects duplication and deletions in the DNA.

 According to Dr. John Johnson, medical director of Shodair’s genetics department, the technology is a hybridization of older technologies that were developed to look at chromosomes and sections of DNA.

By identifying missing or repeated regions of DNA, doctors can more easily diagnose a developmental problem. Often times, the specific affected regions are indicative of a particular type of syndrome.

According to Amy Crunk, a genetic counselor at Shodair, one way of understanding microarray technology is to think of an encyclopedia set. By looking at a person’s chromosomes, you can identify missing “books” in the set. With DNA microarray, you can see if there are missing “pages.”

Once a diagnosis is made, a family will have a better idea of what to expect for the future of the affected child and also identify what types of therapies might be available.

“It’s a relief to parents to have a definitive diagnosis,” Johnson said.

DNA microarray is not a new technology, but it is new to Montana, according to Shodair’s community relations director, Anastasia Burton. The cost of the equipment was $200,000 — over half of which was funded through grants. The rest was funded through Montana Children’s Foundation, the fundraising arm of Shodair.

Separated parents

If simply getting along with family poses a challenge over the holidays, a local mediator is offering a free hour of mediation to separated parents who can’t agree on what to do with their children this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“People who don’t care for one another can raise children successfully,” said Linda Gryczan, of MediationWorks.

She offers the following words of wisdom:

• Agree on a schedule well in advance.

• If there is a conflict, it is very important to keep it away from the children.

• A peaceful holiday is more important than lots of presents.

• Plan what you will do when the children are with the other parent. Reach out to family and friends. Volunteer. Enjoy religious traditions.

• Remember the only perfect families are on TV.

“The biggest thing is to not fight around the children,” Gryczan said. “Any disagreements should not be around the children. It tears them in pieces and it forces them to take sides. All children should have permission to love both parents.”

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call MediationWorks at 431-3635 or visit www.mediationworks.tv.