Publications by authors named "F H van der Westhuizen"

Leigh syndrome is a severe progressive mitochondrial disorder mainly affecting children under the age of 5 years. It is caused by pathogenic variants in any one of more than 75 known genes in the nuclear or mitochondrial genomes. A 19-week-old male infant presented with lactic acidosis and encephalopathy following a 2-week history of irritability, neuroregression and poor weight gain.

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Article Synopsis
  • Achieving a proper diagnosis for Indigenous individuals with rare genetic diseases is essential for fair healthcare access.
  • The International Rare Disease Research Consortium has created a global Task Force aimed at addressing the challenges in diagnosing these rare diseases among Indigenous populations.
  • The initiative focuses on finding solutions to improve health equity for Indigenous communities dealing with these illnesses.
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Background: Multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD) is an autosomal recessive disorder resulting from pathogenic variants in three distinct genes, with most of the variants occurring in the electron transfer flavoprotein-ubiquinone oxidoreductase gene (ETFDH). Recent evidence of potential founder variants for MADD in the South African (SA) population, initiated this extensive investigation. As part of the International Centre for Genomic Medicine in Neuromuscular Diseases study, we recruited a cohort of patients diagnosed with MADD from academic medical centres across SA over a three-year period.

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Sarcopenia remains one of the major pathological features of type 2 diabetes (T2D), especially in older individuals. This condition describes gradual loss of muscle mass, strength, and function that reduces the overall vitality and fitness, leading to increased hospitalizations and even fatalities to those affected. Preclinical evidence indicates that dysregulated mitochondrial dynamics, together with impaired activity of the NADPH oxidase system, are the major sources of oxidative stress that drive skeletal muscle damage in T2D.

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