Publications by authors named "Alex Rajput"

Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. The main clinical features are bradykinesia, rigidity, and resting tremor. Other neurodegenerative disorders such as progressive supranuclear palsy and multiple system atrophy share some of these clinical manifestations.

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Fatty acids play many critical roles in brain function but have not been investigated in essential tremor (ET), a frequent movement disorder suspected to involve cerebellar dysfunction. Here, we report a postmortem comparative analysis of fatty acid profiles by gas chromatography in the cerebellar cortex from ET patients (n = 15), Parkinson's disease (PD) patients (n = 15) and Controls (n = 17). Phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylinositol (PI)/ phosphatidylserine (PS) were separated by thin-layer chromatography and analyzed separately.

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Article Synopsis
  • Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a rare neurodegenerative disease linked to abnormal tau protein accumulation, and previous studies were limited in exploring rare genetic variants due to the use of genotype arrays.* -
  • In this study, whole genome sequencing (WGS) on a large cohort allowed researchers to confirm known genetic loci related to PSP and discover new associations, particularly highlighting a different role for the APOE ε2 allele compared to Alzheimer's disease.* -
  • The findings expand knowledge of PSP's genetic underpinnings and identify potential targets for future research into the disease's mechanisms and treatments.*
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Background: Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with multifactorial causes, among which genetic risk factors play a part. The RAB GTPases are regulators and substrates of LRRK2, and variants in the LRRK2 gene are important risk factors for Parkinson's disease. We aimed to explore genetic variability in RAB GTPases within cases of familial Parkinson's disease.

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Importance: The chromosome 17q21.31 region, containing a 900 Kb inversion that defines H1 and H2 haplotypes, represents the strongest genetic risk locus in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). In addition to H1 and H2, various structural forms of 17q21.

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Introduction: Neurological conditions account from more than half of Canadians requiring chronic care. Both physical activity and the development of a self-management skillset are critical components supporting individuals with chronic health conditions. "NeuroSask: Active and Connected" is a virtual chronic disease management program offering twice weekly neuro-physiotherapist directed "active" exercise sessions, followed by weekly knowledge-exchange "connect" sessions with invited guest experts.

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Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Mendelian forms have revealed multiple genes, with a notable emphasis on membrane trafficking; RAB GTPases play an important role in PD as a subset are both regulators and substrates of LRRK2 protein kinase. To explore the role of RAB GTPases in PD, we undertook a comprehensive examination of their genetic variability in familial PD.

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Article Synopsis
  • Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a rare neurodegenerative disease linked to tau protein accumulation, and previous studies using genotype arrays overlooked important genetic variations like rare variants and structural changes.* -
  • This study utilized whole genome sequencing (WGS) involving 1,718 PSP patients and 2,944 controls, confirming known genetic markers and discovering new associations, including the unique role of the ε2 allele as a risk factor.* -
  • The findings from this research advance the understanding of PSP genetics, highlighting potential new targets for disease mechanisms and treatment strategies.*
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Objectives: The aim of the study is to report a case with heat intolerance, complex motor fluctuations, and parkinsonism.

Materials And Methods: A male with onset of heat intolerance at the age of 46 years developed left upper limb tremor at the age of 58 years. He was diagnosed with Parkinson disease at the age of 62 years and presented to Movement Disorders Clinic Saskatchewan at the age of 65 years.

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Biallelic mutations in PINK1/PRKN cause recessive Parkinson's disease. Given the established role of PINK1/Parkin in regulating mitochondrial dynamics, we explored mitochondrial DNA integrity and inflammation as disease modifiers in carriers of mutations in these genes. Mitochondrial DNA integrity was investigated in a large collection of biallelic (n = 84) and monoallelic (n = 170) carriers of PINK1/PRKN mutations, idiopathic Parkinson's disease patients (n = 67) and controls (n = 90).

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  • Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) is a rare neurodegenerative disease characterized by abnormal protein aggregation and leads to motor and autonomic dysfunction.
  • Previous genetic studies didn’t find variants linked to MSA, prompting researchers to focus on autopsy-confirmed cases rather than merely clinical diagnoses.
  • The study identified significant genetic markers associated with MSA (located on chromosomes 3, 4, and 8), particularly highlighting the potential role of the ZIC4 gene in neuron vulnerability, especially in patients with different MSA types.
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Objectives: To identify the clinical characteristics of the subgroup of benign progressive supranuclear palsy with particularly long disease duration; to define neuropathological determinants underlying variability in disease duration in progressive supranuclear palsy.

Methods: Clinical and pathological features were compared among 186 autopsy-confirmed cases with progressive supranuclear palsy with ≥10 years and shorter survival times.

Results: The 45 cases (24.

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Essential tremor (ET) is the most common neurological cause of tremor affecting adult humans affecting about 6% of those over age 65 years. In the United States, dementia has a prevalence of 15% in those age 68 and older. Overlap of the two conditions is therefore not surprising.

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Importance: Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders, affecting 5% of the general population older than 65 years. Common variants are thought to contribute toward susceptibility to ET, but no variants have been robustly identified.

Objective: To identify common genetic factors associated with risk of ET.

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Article Synopsis
  • Resting limb tremor (RLT) is common in people with Parkinson's disease, but there's not much known about resting head tremor (RHT), especially with brain studies confirming it.
  • A 70-year-old man experienced hand tremors and voice changes, and later developed RHT that made it hard for him to sleep; he was studied over six years with multiple check-ups and videos.
  • After taking medication, his RHT got better, but his hand tremor worsened, and a final brain exam showed he had a unique type of Parkinson's disease with two different types of tremor showing separate brain problems.
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Introduction: Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders. Despite its high prevalence and heritability, its genetic etiology remains elusive with only a few susceptibility genes identified and poorly replicated. Our aim was to find novel candidate genes involved in ET predisposition through whole exome sequencing.

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Background: The Movement Disorder Society diagnostic criteria for progressive supranuclear palsy introduced the diagnostic certainty level "suggestive of progressive supranuclear palsy" for clinical conditions with subtle signs, suggestive of the disease. This category aims at the early identification of patients, in whom the diagnosis may be confirmed as the disease evolves.

Objective: To assess the diagnostic performance of the defined clinical conditions suggestive of progressive supranuclear palsy in an autopsy-confirmed cohort.

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Introduction: The genetic factors and molecular mechanisms predisposing to essential tremor (ET) remains largely unknown.

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify pathways and genes relevant to ET by integrating multiomics approaches.

Methods: Case-control RNA sequencing of 2 cerebellar regions was done for 64 samples.

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Background: The Movement Disorder Society criteria for progressive supranuclear palsy introduced the category "probable 4-repeat (4R)-tauopathy" for joint clinical diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration.

Objectives: To validate the accuracy of these clinical criteria for "probable 4R-tauopathy" to predict underlying 4R-tauopathy pathology.

Methods: Diagnostic accuracy for 4R-tauopathies according to the established criteria was estimated retrospectively in autopsy-confirmed patients with progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration (grouped as 4R-tauopathies), and Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (grouped as non-4R-tauopathies).

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Mitochondrial protein (MP) assemblies undergo alterations during neurogenesis, a complex process vital in brain homeostasis and disease. Yet which MP assemblies remodel during differentiation remains unclear. Here, using mass spectrometry-based co-fractionation profiles and phosphoproteomics, we generated mitochondrial interaction maps of human pluripotent embryonal carcinoma stem cells and differentiated neuronal-like cells, which presented as two discrete cell populations by single-cell RNA sequencing.

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Background: Essential tremor and Parkinson's syndrome are two common movement disorders that may co-occur in some individuals. There is no diagnostic neuropathology for essential tremor, but in PD and other Parkinson's syndrome variants, the neuropathology is well known. The spectrum of Parkinson's syndrome variants associated with essential tremor, their clinical features, and course have not been determined in autopsy-confirmed cases.

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