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STUDY: U.S. Researchers Identify New Neurological Disorder in Older Men CHICAGO (AFP) -- U.S. researchers said Tuesday they have identified a new neurological disorder that afflicts men aged 50 and is related to a genetic defect that causes mental retardation in children. Patients usually experience tremors, and balance problems and in some cases memory loss, and the motor skills and cognitive symptoms typically get worse with age, according to a study in the *****Journal of the American Medical Association*****. "The disorder appears later in life in men who are generally healthy throughout childhood and early-to-mid-adulthood and have normal to above-average intelligence," said Randi Hagerman, medical director of the UC Davis MIND Institute. The condition can be diagnosed with a simple blood test, but because many of the symptoms are similar or identical to those that afflict people with Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's or senility, many of the men appear to have been misdiagnosed. In one or two cases, the misdiagnosis has resulted in patients undergoing unnecessary surgical procedures, such as the implantation of shunts to relieve cerebral spinal fluid pressure, according to the University of California, Davis researchers. The authors of the study only stumbled on the problem when they began looking for a connection between children with fragile X syndrome (the most common inherited cause of mental retardation) and their grandfathers. The germ for the study was planted by mothers of many of the fragile X children who were worried about their own fathers who were falling down, becoming forgetful and experiencing other neurological problems. Hagerman and her husband, Paul Hagerman, a professor of biological chemistry at UC Davis School of Medicine, examined 192 individuals from 89 families where at least one family member had fragile X syndrome. They found that 30 percent of men who carry a genetic mutation of the gene that codes for fragile X syndrome go on to develop the condition which they called FTXAS. With nearly one in 800 men in the general population carrying the mutated form of the fragile X gene, the researchers estimate that one in 3,000 men are at high risk for the condition, early signs of which include difficulty writing, using eating utensils, pouring water and walking. The identification of the condition should enable physicians and researchers to better tailor treatments and clinical trials to the needs of this group of men, Paul Hagerman said. SOURCE: Tehran Times http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=4/29/2004&Cat=7&Num=11 * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn