Question

1. Using your understanding of prenatal development, please explain what happens in the process of fertilization with conjoined twins. In your answer, please thoroughly mention and explain what happens to the egg and the sperm from conception to birth, as well as prenatal hazards and negative effects on the developing embryo.

2. In the preoperational stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory, children experience a limitation to thinking in which they have an inability to see the world through anyone else’s except their own. Identify this term and give a real life example of a child displaying this limitation.

Answer 1

1.The egg and the sperm fuse normally in the fallopian tube to produce zygote. In a weeks time, the zygote will reach the uterus to settle in the wall of the uterus. Once the embryo embeds itself int he wall of the uterus, the female is said to be pregnant. Till the embryo is intact as a single unit it is normal. During the early stage of development, some times embryo wil split in to two producing identical twins.

Twins are formed when a zygote divides completely in to two cells and each cell formed will develop in to a new individual. Such twins are called identical twins. Some times the separation of the early embryo in to two does not occur completely. It divides only partially in to two. So where the embryo does not split in to two , at that region the twins are attached. Such twins born are conjoint twins. So, although two fetuses developed from one zygote, they remain attached physically at some point. Normal splitting of zygote to form identical twins occurs before the 12th day of conception. It is understood that the embryos that split on 13th to 15th day of concenption will fail to split completely in to two separate fetuses.

Pregnancy with conjoint twins increases the risk of serious complications during pregnancy. The birth of the child is also difficult and requires surgical intervention. Like in the case of the twins, conjoint twins also are delivered prematurely. One or both babies may die immediately after birth. Even if they are alive, they may face serious health issues based ont he region of the body that is attached. Some time they may be sharing a single organ for both the individuals. Because fo all this they will suffer from sever health issues later int he life of the conjoint twins.