Publications by authors named "Danielle J Leighton"

Motor neuron disease is a rapidly progressing neurological condition. People with life-limiting conditions generally prefer to die at home and avoid hospital admissions, with Specialist Palliative Care Team involvement often pivotal. Our aim was to investigate the role of advance care planning, Specialist Palliative Care Team input and other relevant variables on place of death and unscheduled hospital admissions in a Scottish population of people with motor neuron disease.

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Many genes have been linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), including never in mitosis A (NIMA)-related kinase 1 (NEK1), a serine/threonine kinase that plays a key role in several cellular functions, such as DNA damage response and cell cycle regulation. Whole-exome sequencing studies have shown that NEK1 mutations are associated with an increased risk for ALS, where a significant enrichment of NEK1 loss-of-function (LOF) variants were found in individuals with ALS compared to controls. In particular, the p.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study analyzed data from the CARE-MND database and the Scottish Regenerative Neurology Tissue Bank to explore the genetic factors and traits associated with motor neuron disease (MND) in a cohort of affected individuals.
  • - Among 339 participants, 13% had identifiable genetic variants linked to MND, with 8.8% having a known C9orf72 repeat expansion, which was linked to poorer cognitive scores.
  • - The findings highlight the importance of early genetic testing for cognitive impairment in MND patients, particularly in Scotland, where certain genetic variants are more prevalent, potentially influencing future treatment strategies.
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Background: We investigated the phenotypes and genotypes of a cohort of 'long-surviving' individuals with motor neuron disease (MND) to identify potential targets for prognostication.

Methods: Patients were recruited via the Clinical Audit Research and Evaluation for MND (CARE-MND) platform, which hosts the Scottish MND Register. Long survival was defined as > 8 years from diagnosis.

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Objective: In this population-based study, we aimed to determine whether neuropsychiatric history, medication or family history of neuropsychiatric disorders predicted cognitive and/or behavioural impairment in motor neuron disease (MND).

Methods: People with MND (pwMND) on the Scottish Clinical, Audit, Research and Evaluation of MND (CARE-MND) register, diagnosed from January 2015 to January 2018, with cognitive and/or behavioural data measured using the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen were included. Data were extracted on patient neuropsychiatric, medication and family history of neuropsychiatric disorders.

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Objectives: Scotland benefits from an integrated national healthcare team for motor neurone disease (MND) and a tradition of rich clinical data capture using the Scottish MND Register (launched in 1989; one of the first national registers). The Scottish register was re-launched in 2015 as Clinical Audit Research and Evaluation of MND (CARE-MND), an electronic platform for prospective, population-based research. We aimed to determine if incidence of MND is changing over time.

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Genetic understanding of motor neuron disease (MND) has evolved greatly in the past 10 years, including the recent identification of association between MND and variants in TBK1 and NEK1. Our aim was to determine the frequency of pathogenic variants in known MND genes and to assess whether variants in TBK1 and NEK1 contribute to the burden of MND in the Scottish population. SOD1, TARDBP, OPTN, TBK1, and NEK1 were sequenced in 441 cases and 400 controls.

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