Thursday, August 1, 2013

Mitochondrial Ferritin in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Mitochondrial Ferritin in Neurodegenerative Diseases. Hongkuan Yang, Mingchun Yang, Hongpeng Guan, Ziyi Liu, Shiguang Zhao, Shigeko Takeuchi, Daijiro Yanagisawa, Ikuo Tooyama. Neuroscience Research, Available online 31 July 2013. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neures.2013.07.005

Keywords: Mitochondrial ferritin (FtMt), testis and the brain, neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's disease, restless legs syndrome, Parkinson's disease, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Friedreich's ataxia, frataxin, neuroprotective role.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Routine Clinical Testing Underestimates Proprioceptive Deficits in Friedreich's Ataxia.

Routine Clinical Testing Underestimates Proprioceptive Deficits in Friedreich's Ataxia. Borchers S, Synofzik M, Kiely E, Himmelbach M., Cerebellum. 2013 Jul 27. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12311-013-0508-5

Keyword: Friedreich's ataxia (FA), degeneration of dorsal root ganglia neurons, proprioceptive deficits, monitoring of disease progression, drug trials, clinical tests for joint position sense (JPS), vibration sense (VS), spatial position sense (SPS).

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Iron metabolism in the CNS: implications for neurodegenerative diseases

Iron metabolism in the CNS: implications for neurodegenerative diseases. Tracey A. Rouault; Nature Reviews Neuroscience 14, 551–564 (2013) doi:10.1038/nrn3453

Keywords: Abnormal accumulation of brain iron, neurodegenerative diseases.

The role of the N-terminal tail for the oligomerization, folding and stability of human frataxin

The role of the N-terminal tail for the oligomerization, folding and stability of human frataxin. Santiago Faraj, Leandro Venturutti, Ernesto A. Roman, Cristina B. Marino-Buslje, Astor Mignone, Silvio C.E. Tosatto, José M. Delfino, Javier Santos; FEBS Open Bio, Available online 24 July 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fob.2013.07.004

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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Molecular and Functional Alterations in a Mouse Cardiac Model of Friedreich Ataxia Activation of the Integrated Stress Response, eIF2α Phosphorylation, and the Induction of Downstream Targets

Molecular and Functional Alterations in a Mouse Cardiac Model of Friedreich Ataxia : Activation of the Integrated Stress Response, eIF2α Phosphorylation, and the Induction of Downstream Targets. Michael Li-Hsuan Huang, Sutharshani Sivagurunathan, Samantha Ting, Patric J. Jansson, Christopher J.D. Austin, Matthew Kelly, Christopher Semsarian, Daohai Zhang, Des R. Richardson. The American Journal of Pathology, Available online 22 July 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2013.05.032

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Stem Cells for the FA: The Court says no to the rejection of judges in Florence.

Metodo Stamina: il Tribunale dice no alla ricusazione dei giudici di Firenze. La Nazione, Firenze, Firenze, 22 luglio 2013

Stem Cells for the FA: The Court says no to the rejection of judges in Florence.


It was rejected the application for disqualification of judges filed by the parents of a 12 years old girl who suffer from a Friedreich Ataxia, the Florence court authority deny to access at "compassionate use" with the method of stem cells.

Questa volta però il lieto fine ancora non c'è, in quanto è stata respinta la richiesta di ricusazione dei giudici presentata dai genitori di una ragazzina di 12 anni affetta da una malattia degenerativa - Atassia di Friedreich - alla quale il tribunale di Firenze ha negato l'autorizzazione ad accedere alle cure compassionevoli con metodo Stamina.

Ocular-Motor Profile and Effects of Memantine in a Familial Form of Adult Cerebellar Ataxia with Slow Saccades and Square Wave Saccadic Intrusions

Ocular-Motor Profile and Effects of Memantine in a Familial Form of Adult Cerebellar Ataxia with Slow Saccades and Square Wave Saccadic Intrusions. Rosini F, Federighi P, Pretegiani E, Piu P, Leigh RJ, Alessandro Serra, Antonio Federico, Alessandra Rufa (2013). PLoS ONE 8(7): e69522. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069522

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Thus, our report suggests that memantine may have some general suppressive effect on saccadic intrusions, including both SWI and MSO, thereby restoring the capacity of reading and visual attention in these and in other recessive forms of ataxia, including Friedreich’s, in which saccadic intrusions are prominent.