A 6 page research paper that discusses Graves' disease, which is an autoimmune disorder of the thyroid. The writer gives background on Graves' and then presents a hypothetical research proposal that suggests investigating if there is a connection between the development of Graves disease and consuming food additives. Bibliography lists 9 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_khgraves.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
severity of weakness goes beyond what is "normal," even for older individuals, as these symptoms can have clinical significance (Hurley and Gharib, 1995). These symptoms could be a sign
of a thyroid disorder, such as Graves disease. Thyroid disease comes in two basic varieties: hypothroidism, which makes the individual feel lethargic, and hyperthyroidism or Graves disease, which results in
feeling undue anxiety or nervousness (Coughlin, 2001). Both revolve around the functioning of a "brownish-red butterfly shaped organ" that weight roughly 1 ounce but can cause devastating problems to the
suffer when it malfunctions (Coughlin, 2001, p. 3). Thyroid hormones are crucial for normal development of the central nervous system and normal growth in children (Coughln, 2001). Furthermore, thyroid hormones
regular numerous key body biochemical processes (Coughlin, 2001). Small but crucial, the vital thyroid becomes a target of the bodys immune system when an individual develops Graves disease. Robert Graves
was the first to associate "goiter, palpitations and exophthalmos" with a specific disorder, which he did in 1835 (Weetmen, 2000). Graves disease is an autoimmune disorder, which can be
characterized by the over stimulation and production of the thyroid-stimulating IgG immunoglobulins (TSI) (McKenna, 2001). Considering this, it is not surprising that Graves disease has in common with a
variety of immunologic features that are similar to autoimmune hypotheroidism, such as "high serum concentrations of antibodies against thyroglobulin" (Weetmen, 2000, p. 1236). To put this in simpler terms, Graves
disease occurs when the bodys immune system mistakenly begins to attack the thyroid glad, which causes the thyroid to overproduce the hormone thyroxine. When there is too much of
this hormone in the blood stream, the basic metabolism rate is increased from between 60 to 100 percent (Graves disease, 2005). This can lead to a number of health