Saturday, March 24, 2012

Diabetes Mellitus in Children and Adolescents with Genetic Syndromes

Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes ; : -DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1306330

Schmidt, F.; Kapellen, T. M.; Wiegand, S.; Herbst, A.; Wolf, J.; Fröhlich-Reiterer, E. E.; Rabl, W.; Rohrer, T.; Holl, R. W.; for the DPV-Wiss Study Group and the BMBF Competence Network Diabetes.

Keywords: Turner syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, Friedreich ataxia, Alström syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome, Pediatric diabetology.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Interferon gamma upregulates frataxin and corrects the functional deficits in a Friedreich ataxia model

Hum. Mol. Genet. (2012) doi: 10.1093/hmg/dds110 First published online: March 23, 2012

Barbara Tomassini1, Gaetano Arcuri1, Silvia Fortuni1, Chiranjeevi Sandi2, Vahid
Ezzatizadeh2, Carlo Casali3, Ivano Condò1, Florence Malisan1, Sahar Al-Mahdawi2,
Mark Pook2 and Roberto Testi1

1 Laboratory of Immunology and Signal Transduction, University of Rome “Tor
Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
2 Division of Biosciences, School of Health Sciences and Social Care, Brunel University,
Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK
3 Department of Neurology, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Polo Pontino, 04100
Latina, Italy

Importantly,in vivo treatment with IFN increases frataxin expression in DRG neurons, prevents their pathological changes and ameliorates the sensorimotor performance in FRDA mice. These results disclose new roles for IFN in cellular metabolism and have direct implications for the treatment of FRDA.


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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Mitochondrial quality control: a matter of life and death for neurons

The EMBO Journal (2012) 31, 1336 - 1349, doi:10.1038/emboj.2012.38

Elena I Rugarli 1,2 and Thomas Langer 2,3,4
1 Institute for Zoology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
2 Center for Molecular Medicine (CMMC) and Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
3 Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
4 Max-Planck-Institute for Biology of Aging, Cologne, Germany

Keywords: mitochondria, mitochondrial fusion, mitophagy, mitochondrial proteases, neurodegeneration

Monogenic Mitochondrial Disorders

N Engl J Med 2012; 366:1132-1141March 22, 2012

Werner J.H. Koopman, Ph.D., Peter H.G.M. Willems, Ph.D., and Jan A.M. Smeitink, Ph.D.
From the Department of Biochemistry, Nijmegen Center for Molecular Life Sciences (W.J.H.K., P.H.G.M.W.), and the Department of Pediatrics, Nijmegen Center for Mitochondrial Disorders (J.A.M.S.) — both at Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Review Article

The many faces of insulin-like peptide signalling in the brain

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 13, 225-239 (April 2012) | doi:10.1038/nrn3209

Ana M. Fernandez & Ignacio Torres-Alemán

Keywords: insulin-like peptides (ILPs), insulin, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and IGF2, brain, regulate energy homeostasis.

Comment: The IGF-1 has been proposed as a possible FA treatment by several researchers, it have even performed a clinical trial proof of concept, the results has been inconclusive because of its short duration and small number of participants

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

High Resolution Melting: improvements in the genetic diagnosis of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in a Portuguese cohort

BMC Medical Genetics 2012, 13:17 doi:10.1186/1471-2350-13-17
Susana Santos, Vanda Marques, Marina Pires, Leonor Silveira, Helena Oliveira
Vasco Lanca, Dulce Brito, Hugo Madeira, Esteves J Fonseca, Antonio Freitas,
Isabel M Carreira, Isabel M Gaspar, Carolino Monteiro, Alexandra R Fernandes.

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Keywords: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Gene-based diagnosis, High Resolution Melting, Sarcomere proteins, CSRP3 gen, FXN gene.

Background: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a complex myocardial disorder with a recognized genetic heterogeneity. The elevated number of genes and mutations involved in HCM limits a gene-based diagnosis that should be considered of most importance for basic research and clinical medicine.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Repligen Initiates Phase 1 Clinical Trial of RG2833 in Patients with Friedreich's Ataxia

WALTHAM, MA - March 15, 2012 - Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) announced today that it has enrolled its first patient in a Phase 1 clinical trial of RG2833 in adult patients with Friedreich's ataxia (FA). read more .....

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for Huntington's disease: the experience of three European centres

European Journal of Human Genetics (2012) 20, 368–375; doi:10.1038/ejhg.2011.202.

Maartje C Van Rij, Marjan De Rademaeker, Céline Moutou, Jos CFM Dreesen, Martine De Rycke, Inge Liebaers, Joep PM Geraedts, Christine EM De Die-Smulders and Stéphane Viville.

Keywords: preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD); Huntington's disease (HD); HTT gene; exclusion testing; delivery rates; prenatal diagnosis

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Inheritance patterns of the huntington (autosomal dominant) differ from the friedreich's ataxia ​​(autosomal recessive), but sometimes the future parents know that are carriers before the pregnancy, then, this techniques could be useful. (Important note: this is only scientific information, perhaps some people may have ethical objections with these practices)

Do we always prioritize balance when walking? Towards an integrated model of task prioritization

Mov. Disord.. doi: 10.1002/mds.24963

Yogev- Seligmann, G., Hausdorff, J. M. and Giladi, N. (2012), .

Keywords: dual task, postural control, prioritization executive function, motor and cognitive capabilities,  gait, fall risk, neurological diseases.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Expression of axonal protein degradation machinery in sympathetic neurons is regulated by nerve growth factor

J. Neurosci. Res.. (2012) doi: 10.1002/jnr.23041

Frampton, J. P., Guo, C. and Pierchala, B. A.

Keywords: proteasome, lysosome, NGF, transport, autophagy.

In Friedreich's ataxia research currently there is a work line about the frataxin's degradation by the proteasome , the idea is seeking to delay the degradation of frataxin, and therefore lengthen the shelf life.

References:


Preventing the ubiquitin/proteasome-dependent degradation of frataxin, the protein defective in Friedreich’s Ataxia

New project: Identification of the E3 ligase that ubiquitinates frataxin