Huntington’s Disease

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. It deteriorates a person’s physical and mental abilities usually during their prime working years and has no cure.

 

Cluster Number:
Wiki Number: W096
Diagnosis: Huntington’s Disease
US Patients:
World Patients:
Sex Ratio:
Age Onset: 30-50 years; The patient ultimately dies from the disease.
Brain Area: striatum (center)is affected first; then effects move out to damage other areas; caudate nucleus & putamen-brain center.
Symptoms: unsteady walking & lack of coordination. “chorea” = jerky, uncontrollable movements; saccadic (darting) eye movements
Progression: unable to talk; loss of decision-making and memory=lead to dementia; suicidal thoughts
Causes: gene from a parent, but 10% are new mutation; the mutant damages brain cells; genes do not skip generations.
Medications:
Therapies: stem-cells to replace lost neurons; Huntington’s is too complex to explain fairly here. It is both awful and fatal in the end.

Youtube Video:

Huntington’s Disease Treatment

Youtube Video: Living with Juvenile Huntington’s Disease

Amazon or Library Book: 2019 Huntington’s Disease

Click the book to link or order from Amazon.

Support Group: hdsa.org; huntingtonassoc.com

(Huntington’s Disease Society of America)

Contact your local Social Security office for possible Disability Benefits through their Disability Determination Services,

Section 12.02.

4 CURRENT ARTICLES
FROM PUBMED

The world-wide medical research
reports chosen for each diagnosis 

Clicking each title opens the
PubMed article’s summary-abstract.

  • Neuroimaging and plasma evidence of early white matter loss in Parkinson's disease with poor outcomes
    by Angeliki Zarkali on May 8, 2024

    Parkinson's disease is a common and debilitating neurodegenerative disorder, with over half of patients progressing to postural instability, dementia or death within 10 years of diagnosis. However, the onset and rate of progression to poor outcomes is highly variable, underpinned by heterogeneity in underlying pathological processes. Quantitative and sensitive measures predicting poor outcomes will be critical for targeted treatment, but most studies to date have been limited to a single...

  • Defining the phylogenetics and resistome of the major Clostridioides difficile ribotypes circulating in Australia
    by Keeley O'Grady on May 8, 2024

    Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) remains a significant public health threat globally. New interventions to treat CDI rely on an understanding of the evolution and epidemiology of circulating strains. Here we provide longitudinal genomic data on strain diversity, transmission dynamics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of C. difficile ribotypes (RTs) 014/020 (n=169), 002 (n=77) and 056 (n=36), the three most prominent C. difficile strains causing CDI in Australia. Genome scrutiny showed...

  • Transcriptomic Profiles Associated with Experimental Placebo Effects in Chronic Pain
    by Luana Colloca on May 7, 2024

    Gene expression networks associated with placebo effects are understudied; in this study, we identified transcriptomic profiles associated with placebo responsivity. Participants suffering from chronic pain underwent a verbal suggestion and conditioning paradigm with individually tailored thermal painful stimulations to elicit conditioned placebo effects. Participants reported pain intensity on a visual analog scale (VAS) anchored from zero = no pain to 100 = maximum imaginable pain. RNA was...

  • Brugada syndrome: a review and the role of epicardial ablation in management
    by Osama Jema Abuzuagaia on May 7, 2024

    CONCLUSION: This review emphasizes the significance of current evidence and ongoing research in shaping the role of epicardial ablation as a curative strategy in BrS management, highlighting its potential benefits and the necessity for further investigation.