Publications by authors named "Gemma Marinella"

Article Synopsis
  • Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is an X-linked neuromuscular disorder caused by mutations in the DMD gene, impacting dystrophin production in muscle tissues, which is important for patient care and treatment development.
  • A study of 943 BMD patients revealed the median age at diagnosis was 7.5 years, with significant findings including that about 13.5% lost mobility by an estimated age of 69, while 30% experienced cardiac issues.
  • Different types of DMD mutations correlated with variations in disease progression, particularly affecting loss of ambulation and heart functionality, highlighting the importance of precise genetic characterization for managing BMD.
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Sleep disorders have been poorly described in congenital (CDM) and childhood (ChDM) myotonic dystrophy despite being highly burdensome. The aims of this study were to explore sleep disorders in a cohort of Italian CDM and ChDM and to assess their association with motor and respiratory function and disease-specific cognitive and behavioral assessments. This was an observational multicenter study.

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Article Synopsis
  • Patients with AP-4 deficiency have developmental delays and seizures that start early in life, along with other issues like trouble with speech and movement.
  • The study looked at how these seizures happen and how patients respond to treatment, finding various types of seizures and some unique brain wave patterns.
  • Overall, while epilepsy can develop at different ages, many patients had a good outlook, and they didn’t seem to be resistant to medications.
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We aim to develop a deep learning-based algorithm for automated segmentation of thigh muscles and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) from T1-weighted muscle MRIs from patients affected by muscular dystrophies (MDs). From March 2019 to February 2022, adult and pediatric patients affected by MDs were enrolled from Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana, Pisa, Italy (Institution 1) and the IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, Calambrone-Pisa, Italy (Institution 2), respectively. All patients underwent a bilateral thighs MRI including an axial T1 weighted in- and out-of-phase (dual-echo).

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Article Synopsis
  • Mutations in the KLHL40 gene often lead to severe nemaline myopathy, but some milder cases have been reported; this study reviews existing literature and follows an Italian patient with a rare homozygous mutation over 12 years.* -
  • The systematic review included 65 patients, revealing that the most common mutations were (c.1516A>C) and (c.1582G>A), with a high mortality rate of 60% within the first four years of life and a similar presentation across cases.* -
  • The study suggests that the clinical consistency of KLHL40-related myopathy could facilitate the development of new gene therapies, with muscle MRI identified as a valuable tool for tracking disease progression.*
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Article Synopsis
  • Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is a genetic muscle disorder caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene, resulting in varying degrees of disability among patients.
  • A study followed 28 adult BMD patients for up to 24 months, assessing their clinical progression through various tests, including the North Star Ambulatory Assessment and muscle MRI.
  • The findings revealed significant variability in disease severity, particularly in patients with specific genetic deletions, underscoring the challenge of creating a standardized treatment approach and the importance of identifying predictive markers for patient care.
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Background: Congenital myopathies are a group of clinically, genetically, and histologically heterogeneous diseases caused by mutations in a large group of genes. One of these is , which is recognized as the cause of Dihydropyridine Receptor Congenital Myopathy.

Methods: To better characterize the phenotypic spectrum of myopathy, we conducted a systematic review of cases in the literature through three electronic databases following the PRISMA guidelines.

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Objective: To define the prevalence of variants in collagen VI genes through a next-generation sequencing (NGS) approach in undiagnosed patients with suspected neuromuscular disease and to propose a diagnostic flowchart to assess the real pathogenicity of those variants.

Methods: In the past five years, we have collected clinical and molecular information on 512 patients with neuromuscular symptoms referred to our center. To pinpoint variants in COLVI genes and corroborate their real pathogenicity, we sketched a multistep flowchart, taking into consideration the bioinformatic weight of the gene variants, their correlation with clinical manifestations and possible effects on protein stability and expression.

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Nuclear Factor I B (NFIB) haploinsufficiency has recently been identified as a cause of intellectual disability (ID) and macrocephaly. Here we report on two new individuals carrying a microdeletion in the chromosomal region 9p23-p22.3 containing NFIB.

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The main consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic has been to increase the distance between patients and their doctors and to limit the opportunities to compare experiences and clinical cases in the medical community. Based on this, we adopted a strategy to create networks with the ambition to break down these distances and to unify the process of care and management. Here we report the results and perspectives of our efforts and studies.

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Perrault syndrome (PRLTS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterised by ovarian failure in females and sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in both genders. In the present paper we describe a child affected by PRLTS3, due to CLPP homozygous mutations, presenting auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) with bilateral progressive SNHL. This is the first case reported in the literature of an ANSD in PRLTS3.

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On 11 March 2020, a national lockdown was imposed by the Italian government to contain the spread of COVID19 disease. This is an observational longitudinal study conducted at Fondazione Stella Maris (FSM), Italy to investigate lockdown-related emotional and behavioural changes in paediatric neuropsychiatric population. Families having children (1.

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