Muscular dystrophy: The worm turns to genetic disease

Muscular dystrophy: The worm turns to genetic disease

A new animal model for studying muscular dystrophy, a mutant form of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, brings the power of worm genetics to bear on the search for a cure for this disease; work on this worm has already led to the identification of a novel component that can suppress the mutant phenotype.

Genetic-epidemiological studies in progressive muscular dystrophy.

A genetic and epidemiological study is especially important in those hereditary diseases for which no effective treatment is known, since then genetic counselling is the only means of prevention. The progressive muscular dystrophies are typical conditions of this sort. Knowledge of the type of hereditary transmission for a given form of muscular dystrophy is the basis for correct genetic progno...

Genetic counselling in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Clinical data are presented from a survey of 41 families with dominantly inherited facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) in which over 500 family members were examined, including 168 affected subjects. New mutation could account for six isolated cases. Results suggest that 33% of heterozygotes over 40 years are mildly affected and a majority develop significant lower limb weakness; 19% ...

The worm turns on Helicobacter pylori.

How the Worm Turns, in Molecular Detail

Any behavior is, at its most elemental level, a coordinated series of muscle contractions. Those contractions are triggered by motor neurons, whose firing is controlled by other neurons, both excitatory and inhibitory, the whole chain set in motion by a stimulus. While the outlines of such a simple behavioral circuit have been understood for decades, the details— in particular, which neurotrans...