Novel intragenic deletion within the FXN gene in a patient with typical phenotype of Friedreich ataxia: may be more prevalent than we think?

Background: Friedreich ataxia is the most common inherited ataxia in Europe and is mainly caused by biallelic pathogenic expansions of the GAA trinucleotide repeat in intron 1 of the FXN gene that lead to a decrease in frataxin protein levels. Rarely, affected individuals carry either a large intragenic deletion or whole-gene deletion of FXN on one allele and a full-penetrance expanded GAA repeat on the other allele.

Case Presentation: We report here a patient that presented the typical clinical features of FRDA and genetic analysis of FXN intron 1 led to the assumption that the patient carried the common biallelic expansion.

Improving Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Molecular Diagnosis: A Referral Center Experience.

Background: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a rare vascular disease inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. Disease-causing variants in endoglin () and activin A receptor type II-like 1 () genes are detected in more than 90% of the patients undergoing molecular testing. The identification of variants of unknown significance is often seen as a challenge in clinical practice that makes family screening and genetic counseling difficult.

Blood test dynamics in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: Potential utility of D-dimer for pulmonary embolism diagnosis.

Background: A higher incidence of thrombotic events, mainly pulmonary embolism (PE), has been reported in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The main objective was to assess clinical and laboratory differences in hospitalized COVID-19 patients according to occurrence of PE.

Methods: This retrospective study included all consecutive patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who underwent a computed tomography (CT) angiography for PE clinical suspicion.

Expression of somatostatin receptors in human melanoma cell lines: effect of two different somatostatin analogues, octreotide and SOM230, on cell proliferation.

Somatostatin analogues (SAs) are potential anticancer agents. This study was designed to investigate the expression of somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) in melanoma cells and the effect of two SAs on cell proliferation and viability. Eighteen primary and metastatic human cutaneous melanoma cell lines were treated with octreotide and SOM230.

DcR1 expression in endometrial carcinomas.

The tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a member of the TNF family, which mediates apoptosis by the extrinsic pathway. Up-regulation of decoy receptors, DcR1 and DcR2, may result in diminished binding of TRAIL to their functional receptors. DcR1 expression was assessed in normal endometrial tissue (NE) and endometrial carcinoma (EC) samples by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).