Ataxia News and Research

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Ataxia is a neurological sign and symptom that consists of gross lack of coordination of muscle movements. Ataxia is a non-specific clinical manifestation implying disfunction of the parts of the nervous system that coordinate movement, such as the cerebellum.

Study Reveals Structure of Two Nucleic Acid-Degrading Enzymes

When nucleic acids like DNA or RNA build up in a cell's cytoplasm, it sets off an alarm call for the immune system.

3 Apr 2024

Traffic Jam in the Brain: Study Uncovers Cellular Cause of Rare Neurological Disease

Researchers from McGill University, led by Professor Alanna Watt of the Department of Biology, have identified previously unknown changes in brain cells affected by a neurological disease.

22 Jan 2024

Scientists Develop Tiny Human Cerebellums to Decipher Disease and Design Therapies

In a first for USC Stem Cell scientists, the laboratory of Giorgia Quadrato, an assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, has pioneered a novel human brain organoid model that generates all the major cell types of the cerebellum, a hindbrain region predominantly made up of two cell types necessary for movement, cognition, and emotion: granule cells and Purkinje neurons.

5 Jan 2024

The Pathogenic Mechanism Underpinning MEPAN Syndrome

New research published in Nature Metabolism discovered the pathogenic mechanism driving mitochondrial enoyl reductase protein-associated neurodegeneration (MEPAN) syndrome, a rare pediatric neurodegenerative disease.

1 Sep 2023

Scientists Discover How Brain's "Population Clock" Guides Behavior

From Aristotle's musings on the nature of time to Einstein's theory of relativity, humanity has long pondered: how do we perceive and understand time? The theory of relativity posits that time can stretch and contract, a phenomenon known as time dilation. Just as the cosmos warps time, our neural circuits can stretch and compress our subjective experience of time. As Einstein famously quipped, "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute".

14 Jul 2023

Rescue Treatment Found From Plant Extracts for People With Ataxia

A University of California, Irvine-led team of researchers have discovered that extracts from plants used by the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations peoples in their traditional botanical medicine practices are able to rescue the function of ion channel proteins carrying mutations that cause human Episodic Ataxia.

22 Jun 2023

How the Natural Process of DNA Repair Fails to Cause Disease

We often come to an understanding of what causes a disease. We know, for example, that cancers are caused by mutations at critical locations in the genome, resulting in loss of control of cell growth.

11 May 2023

Research Deepens Our Understanding of Circadian Rhythm Regulation

New research from a multidisciplinary team helps to illuminate the mechanisms behind circadian rhythms, offering new hope for dealing with jet lag, insomnia and other sleep disorders.

27 Apr 2023

Next-Generation Sequencing Provides New Insights into Mutations of Mitochondrial DNA

A high-throughput single-cell single-mitochondrial genome sequencing technology known as iMiGseq has provided new insights into mutations of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and offers a platform for assessing mtDNA editing strategies and genetic diagnosis of embryos prior to their implantation.

17 Apr 2023

Researchers Explain How a Single Mutation Causes Ataxia

Worldwide, only a handful of patients are known to suffer from episodic ataxia type 6, a neurological disease that causes transient loss of muscle control.

4 Apr 2023

Iron-sulfur cofactors are moved with the help of glutathione, experts reveal

The creation and movement of an essential class of molecules in human cells are now better understood according to a recent study.

8 Sep 2022

ATM kinase inhibitor combines with target therapies to wipe out cancer cells

While cancer therapies that target specific genes or disease pathways might prolong life span, they can also result in highly resistant tumors when tiny reservoirs of cancer cells survive therapy, develop, and spread.

1 Apr 2022

Gene mutation influences autism development, study finds

A research team discovered that interruption of a circadian clock gene may be implicated in the formation of autism spectrum disorder.

25 Mar 2022

Novel DNA test helps diagnose neurological and neuromuscular genetic diseases

The Garvan Institute of Medical Research came up with a new DNA test that helps determine a range of hard-to-diagnose neurological diseases faster.

7 Mar 2022

Study analyzes walking movements to detect nervous system disorders

Scientists from Rutgers University linked the genetic disorders Fragile X and SHANK3 deletion syndrome to walking patterns.

From Rutgers University 26 Oct 2021

Mutations in GEMIN5 protein can cause rare genetic disorders in children

Researchers have discovered a genetic cause of an unusual neurological disorder characterized by developmental delay, known as ataxia.

From University of Pittsburgh 10 May 2021

“Expansion Hunter” approach can detect DNA errors

Researchers from Radboud University Medical Center have successfully detected hidden genetic defects by using an existing technique on existing datasets. The team demonstrated that the “Expansion Hunter” approach can detect DNA errors that cause repeat expansion diseases, like ataxia—a movement disorder.

16 Apr 2021

Cryogenic electron microscopy reveals shape of glutamate transporters involved in neurological diseases

An international research team has uncovered the shape of the glutamate transporter and helps explain how the human brain cells interact with each other.

18 Feb 2021

Researchers identify new therapeutic target for spinocerebellar ataxia

Scientists have created an animal model that simulates cerebellar neurodegeneration and motor dysfunction.

25 Sep 2020

Gene therapy overcomes cardiac effects in mouse model of Freidreich’s ataxia

Gene therapy was successfully used to overcome the cardiac effects of Freidreich’s ataxia (FA) in a mouse model of the disease, as reported in the peer-reviewed journal Human Gene Therapy. Click here to read the full-text article free online through October 18, 2020.

21 Sep 2020