**Transcript**
Hey Dr. McNamara here at McLaughlin Care, and I'm coming up to you guys with a Wellness Wednesday, and I wanted to give you guys an update on the fundraising for the Illinois spina bifida association, so I can run the Chicago marathon and I wanted to update you guys.
So the ultimate goal we want to get is $2,500 where we're at right now is $1,025. The minimum we need is for me to run the marathon 1750 that's guaranteeing that I'm running 26 miles for the Illinois Spina Bifida association. So this is the minimum we got to get to. And then eventually, since we're awesome and you guys are such awesome patients and care about helping others, we want to eventually get to that 2,500 as our ultimate goal.
So we can raise as much money as possible for the Illinois spina bifida association. Excellent. Excellent job guys. Thank you so much. We're already almost halfway there to the total goal and we're over halfway for the minimal goal. So we're doing an awesome job. Just wanted to update you guys and say big thanks cause you guys are doing a great job.
I also want to talk about what this research is actually going to go towards. So where is this money going towards? And it's looking at certain things like genetic predispositions that may lead to the development of spina bifida as well as lifestyle factors and environmental factors that may also contribute to the development of this disorder that affects many individuals.
One thing that is very well known that I do want to talk about, and it's something we actually do test here in our office. This is this genetic marker. Notice MTHFR. Now it looks like a bad word from a distance, but what it actually stands for Methyl-tetrahydrofolate reductase. And that's a specific enzyme that is responsible for reducing a folate and folic acid into its active form. So it can actually be used in the body to reduce inflammation as well as a number of genetic processes for like DNA formation. So I just wanted to bring up this study and what the study looked at was the association between maternal and fetal MTHFR. Two different polymorphisms, the 6, 7, 7, as well as the and risk of neural tube defects. And what they found is that the 866 genetic defect doesn't really have as much of an effect on neural tube defects.
But the one that we test a big important one, that 6, 7, 7, it's a big marker in terms of cardiovascular. Also shows that if you have this polymorphism, that you are more likely to have a child with a neural tube defect. So it is really important to make sure you do get this genetic testing. If you are susceptible because that's going to determine which type of prenatal vitamins you're going to take, whether you're going to be taking a methylated fully versus a regular full eight in terms of supplementation.
We also want to look at when just talking about fully in general, our B12 levels. That's something we always look. When we do labs here, because we want to make sure that we are not deficient in B12 because if we're supplementing with folate, that might mask that deficiency. So we just want to make sure all those levels are doing good and you can take the proper vitamins that have the healthiest child possible.
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