Introduction

Hello everyone, welcome to our new blog!!

This blog was created as part of our Medical Biochemistry module project and we have chosen Pompe disease as our subject of interest. So before we dive into the details lets first do a little self introduction to kick start this journey! :D My name is Mei Ying and my project partner is Rose. What can you expect from the both us the next few weeks you say? Well the title of the blog says it all! Every week the both of us will update the blog by posting some interesting facts or details about Pompe disease. Don't worry if you know nothing about the disease at all because that's what this blog is all about, to understand the disease ;) so if you follow us diligently for the next couple of weeks we will keep you on track on what's goin' on :)

Alrighty, now that the self-introduction part is done we shall satisfy the needs of the knowledge-hungry viewers ;).  So what exactly is pompe disease? Pompe disease is a type of glycogen storage disease. Glycogen is a type of complex carbohydrate and it serve as a store of sugar in our body. After you eat a meal for example, the digested food is converted to glucose which enters your bloodstream. When the level of glucose is high in your blood, your body will convert glucose to glycogen and glycogen will be stored in your cells. Usually, the glycogen will be broken down back to glucose for use later but for people suffering from Pompe disease, the break down doesn't happen and glycogen accumulates in the cells. This can cause damage and affect the functions of the organs!

Pompe disease is an inherited disease so it can be passed down generations, but fear not as this disease is also quite rare (with 1 in 40, 000 births in the US).

There are 3 type of this disease : the classic infantile-onset Pompe disease , the non-classic infantile-onset Pompe disease and the late onset Pompe disease.

Both the classic and non-classic infantile-onset disease affects infants while the late-onset disease affects people in their late childhood, adolescents or even adulthood. The infantlile-onset diseases are often fatal but for the late-onset disease the survival rate is higher. More details about each type will be mentioned in a later post, so stay tuned to find out !

That is all for now, we hope that you have gained more insights on the disease and we once again welcome you on board this journey with us! Adieu~

Mei Ying :)