Theme – Teratothanasia – Blastopathy – Part 3

The blastula (from Greek βλαστός (blastos), meaning “sprout”) is the earliest stage of development of a prospective embryo – the formation of the “cele” (gastrulation) is a critical step during which the original purely maternal mRNA is degraded and replaced by a newly synthesized embryonal RNA (para-phrases from Wikipedia”)

Blastopathies (conjoined twins – sacral teratomas – cranio-rachis-schises, anencephaly (and other cephalad neural tube defects , and perhaps microcephaly) are more prevalent in Chornobyl radiation polluted regions than in the other areas of the Rivne province. These blastopathies are prevalent in females and their population-based rates are among the highest in Europe (Ref. European J. Med. Genet., W. Wertelecki et al., 2016).