Father's genetic quest pays off

摘要

Hugh Rienhoff says that his nine-year-old daughter, Bea, is "a fire cracker", "a tomboy" and "a very sassy, impudent girl". But in a forthcoming research paper, he uses rather different terms, describing her hypertelorism (wide spacing between the eyes) and bifid uvula (a cleft in the tissue that hangs from the back of the palate). Both are probably features of a genetic syndrome that Rienhoff has obsessed over since soon after Beas birth in 2003. Unable to put on much muscle mass, Bea wears braces on her skinny legs to steady her on her curled feet. She is otherwise healthy, but Rienhoff has long worried that his daughters condition might come with serious heart problems.