Question

1. Describe ethical considerations associated with the beginnings of biological development.
2. Summarize the course of prenatal development.
3. Discuss the types of development in infancy.

What was your favorite objective(s) from week 1 and why? Please provide specific examples.

Answer 1

Ethical Considerations ;

An accumulation of values and principles that address questions of what is good or bad in human affairs. Ethics searches for reasons for acting or refraining from acting; for approving or not approving conduct; for believing or denying something about virtuous or vicious conduct or good or evil rules. Ethical considerations can be addressed at individual and at societal levels. The way that individuals are affected by the conduct of others merits ethical consideration.The effects on a person of being informed that his father died of Huntington’s disease can be personally and profoundly harmful. The risk of harm to that person becomes an essential ethical consideration in deciding what information to disclose and how to disclose it. That risk will need to be balanced against the ethical interests in respecting the autonomy of the person affected, and their choice about whether to know or not. Revealing genetic information has important ethical implications for individuals as family members. They are vulnerable to the effects of the information on their self-perception and disclosure of information on familial relationships and sense of privacy.The way that a society governs the disclosure of such information and the extent to which its laws or other regulatory frameworks control what can be disclosed, express the way that a society balances personal risks and interests against other family, community or societal risks and interests.

Ethics brings together and integrates relevant interests, individual, familial, community and societal.There are four main principles of ethics: autonomy, beneficence, justice, and non-maleficence. Each patient has the right to make their own decisions based on their own beliefs and values.discussion of ethics in science – in administration of science, in doing science, in communicating science, and in applying science – has become important and finds a place of honour in many leading scientific journals.

Prenatal development ;

Prenatal development is highly influenced by the inheritance, expression, and regulation of genes.

This lifespan development is organized into different stages based on age. Prenatal development is the process that occurs during the 40 weeks prior to the birth of a child, and is heavily influenced by genetics.

Development happens quickly during the prenatal period, which is the time between conception and birth. This period is generally divided into three stages: The first two weeks after conception are known as the germinal stage, the third through the eighth week is known as the embryonic period, and the time from the ninth week until birth is known as the fetal period.Prenatal development is also organized into trimesters: the first trimester ends with the end of the embryonic stage, the second trimester ends at week 20, and the third trimester ends at birth.

Before birth, a fetus has of course had limited opportunity to be shaped by its environment, beyond factors such as the mother’s diet, substance use, and anxiety level. For this reason, genetics play a particularly important role in prenatal development.

Germinal stage ; The germinal stage is the stage of development that occurs from conception until 2 weeks (implantation).During the germinal stage, the cells necessary for the placenta, umbilical cord, and amniotic fluid will differentiate to form the embryo. The mass of cells has yet to attach itself to the lining of the uterus; once this attachment occurs, the next stage begins.

Embyonic Stage ; The embryonic stage lasts from implantation (2 weeks) until week 8 of pregnancy.Upon implantation, this multi-cellular organism is called an embryo. Now blood vessels grow, forming the placenta. The placenta is a structure connected to the uterus that provides nourishment and oxygen from the woman’s body to the developing embryo through the umbilical cord.During the first week of the embryonic period, the embryonic disk separates into three layers: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. The ectoderm is the layer that will become the nervous system and outer skin layers; the mesoderm will become the circulatory system, skeleton, muscles, reproductive system, and inner layer of skin; and the endoderm will become the respiratory system and part of the digestive system, as well as the urinary tract.The first part of the embryo to develop is the neural tube, which will become the spinal cord and brain. As the nervous system starts to develop, the tiny heart starts to pump blood, and other parts of the body—such as the digestive tract and backbone—begin to emerge. In the second half of this period, growth is very rapid. The eyes, ears, nose, and jaw develop; the heart develops chambers; and the intestines grow.

Fetal stage ; The remainder of prenatal development occurs during the fetal stage, which lasts from week 9 until birth (usually between 38 and 40 weeks). When the organism is about nine weeks old, the embryo is called a fetus.At this stage, the fetus is about the size of a kidney bean and begins to take on the recognizable form of a human being.Fingers and toes are fully developed, and fingerprints are visible. By the time the fetus reaches the sixth month of development (24 weeks), it weighs up to 1.4 pounds. Hearing has developed, so the fetus can respond to sounds. The internal organs, including the lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines, have formed enough that a fetus born prematurely at this point has a chance to survive outside of the womb.Throughout the fetal stage the brain continues to grow and develop, nearly doubling in size from weeks 16 to 28. Brain growth during this period allows the fetus to develop new behaviors.Around 36 weeks, the fetus is almost ready for birth. It weighs about 6 pounds and is about 18.5 inches long, and by week 37 all of the fetus’s organ systems are developed enough that it could survive outside the uterus without many of the risks associated with premature birth. The fetus continues to gain weight and grow in length until approximately 40 weeks. By then, the fetus has very little room to move around and birth becomes imminent.Around 36 weeks, the fetus is almost ready for birth. It weighs about 6 pounds and is about 18.5 inches long, and by week 37 all of the fetus’s organ systems are developed enough that it could survive outside the uterus without many of the risks associated with premature birth. The fetus continues to gain weight and grow in length until approximately 40 weeks. By then, the fetus has very little room to move around and birth becomes imminent.

Prenatal development is the process that occurs during the 40 weeks prior to the birth of a child. During each prenatal stage, environmental factors affect the development of the fetus. The developing fetus is completely dependent on the mother for life, and it is important that the mother receives prenatal care, which is medical care during pregnancy that monitors the health of both the mother and the fetus. According to the National Institutes of Health ([NIH], 2013), routine prenatal care can reduce the risk of complications to the mother and fetus during pregnancy.

Infant development ;

Infant development is most often divided into the following areas:

• Cognitive
• Language
• Physical, such as fine motor skills (holding a spoon, pincer grasp) and gross motor skills (head control, sitting, and walking)
• Social

In the first year, babies learn to focus their vision, reach out, explore, and learn about the things that are around them. Cognitive, or brain development means the learning process of memory, language, thinking, and reasoning. Learning language is more than making sounds (“babble”), or saying “ma-ma” and “da-da”. Listening, understanding, and knowing the names of people and things are all a part of language development. During this stage, babies also are developing bonds of love and trust with their parents and others as part of social and emotional development. The way parents cuddle, hold, and play with their baby will set the basis for how they will interact with them and others.They grow emotionally, learning how to read and respond to the emotions of others and how to regulate their own feelings. Babies also grow socially, learning how to interact with others and follow social rules.