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Anatomy of a Newborn Baby's Skull The skull may seem to be one large bone, but it's made of several major bones that are connected together. The major bones that compose the skull include: 2 frontal bones 2 parietal bones 1 occipital bone These bony plates cover the brain, and

Skin Pigment Disorders What are skin pigment disorders? Skin color is determined by a pigment (melanin) made by specialized cells in the skin (melanocytes). The amount and type of melanin determines a person's skin color. What is the function of melanin? Melanin's role is to

Methods of Surgery What are the different methods of surgery? Surgery doesn't always mean large cuts (incisions) and long healing times, as in the past. Depending on the type of surgery, several methods may be used. People with the same diagnosis won't always be advised to have

Birthmarks What are birthmarks? Birthmarks are areas of discolored or raised skin that are seen at birth or within a few weeks of birth. They may be made of malformed pigment cells or blood vessels. Medical experts don’t know what causes birthmarks. But most of them are not

Uniparental Disomy: Prader-Willi Syndrome and Angelman Syndrome What is uniparental disomy? Chromosome pairs affect how our body works. Normally, a baby gets one copy of each chromosome pair from each birth parent. In rare cases, two copies come from the same parent. This is

The Thyroid Gland Anatomy of the thyroid gland The thyroid gland is found in the front of the neck. It sits below the voice box (larynx) and on top of the trachea (windpipe). It has a butterfly-like shape. The small, 2-inch gland consists of 2 lobes, 1 on each side of the

Cystic Fibrosis and the Digestive System How does cystic fibrosis affect the digestive system? Children with cystic fibrosis (CF) have a protein in their cells that doesn't work right. The protein is called CFTR (the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator). CFTR controls the

Diet to Help Prevent Heart Disease Eating a healthy diet can help prevent a number of problems, such as high cholesterol and heart disease. But knowing exactly what a healthy diet looks like can be a challenge. The USDA and the U.S. Department of Health teamed up to create an

The Cardiologist A cardiologist is a doctor who has had extra training to treat problems of the heart and blood vessels. A cardiologist has at least 10 years of medical training. It includes: 4 years of medical school. 3 years of training in internal medicine. 3 or more years in