Human frataxin, the Friedreich ataxia deficient protein, interacts with mitochondrial respiratory chain.

Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is a rare, inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by an expanded GAA repeat in the first intron of the FXN gene, leading to transcriptional silencing and reduced expression of frataxin. Frataxin participates in the mitochondrial assembly of FeS clusters, redox cofactors of the respiratory complexes I, II and III. To date it is still unclear how frataxin deficiency culminates in the decrease of bioenergetics efficiency in FRDA patients' cells.

Endoscopic treatment of brain abscesses.

Background: Stereotactic aspiration with external drainage has become widely accepted as the standard treatment for intracerebral abscesses. Although neuroendoscopic technique has only been occasionally adopted for this pathology, it introduces some advantages because it presents visual awareness that the pus has been removed.

Methods: Four patients with cerebral abscess and one with a subdural empyema were operated using a neuroendoscopic technique in our Department between 1996 and 2003.

Acute brain swelling during removal of supratentorial cystic lesion caused by contralateral extradural hematoma: case report.

Background: Protrusion of the cortex through a bone flap in the course of surgery is a very serious event and, if it persists, the procedure must be suspended, the cause sought, and the problem resolved.

Case Description: We report the case of a 13-year-old boy whose brain underwent sudden swelling during removal of a supratentorial cystic lesion. The operation was suspended at once and an emergency CT scan was performed.