Publications by authors named "Wai Y Yau"

Article Synopsis
  • Mitochondrial donation is now legally allowed in Australia to help prevent the passing of mitochondrial diseases from mothers to their children as part of a clinical trial.
  • A systematic literature review analyzed five cohort studies and 19 case reports on how mitochondrial disease affects pregnancy.
  • While many women with mitochondrial disease experience no negative health effects during pregnancy, there is a risk of serious complications, leading to proposed guidelines for preconception counseling and antenatal care.
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  • GGC repeat expansions are linked to various progressive neurological disorders, specifically neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID), prompting a study on their prevalence and clinical features in Koreans.
  • The research involved two cohorts: one from Seoul National University Hospital where patients with specific MRI signs underwent genetic testing, and another from the Korea Biobank that analyzed whole-genome data from nearly 4,000 individuals for repeat counts.
  • Findings revealed that 17.8% of the SNUH cohort had NIID, and the Korea Biobank analysis identified potential NIID patients, highlighting the relationship between repeat count variations and disease symptoms in a Korean population.
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Neurodevelopmental disorders with early-onset parkinsonism have diverse genetic aetiologies and can mimic Parkinson's disease. We report the clinical evaluation and neuroimaging studies of a woman with intellectual disability and levodopa-responsive akinetic rigid parkinsonism. Whole-genome sequencing of family trio identified a de novo missense variant in PPP2R5D in the proband.

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While biallelic POLR3A loss-of-function variants are traditionally linked to hypomyelinating leukodystrophy, patients with a specific splice variant c.1909+22G>A manifest as adolescent-onset spastic ataxia without overt leukodystrophy. In this study, we reported eight new cases, POLR3A-related disorder with c.

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Cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy and vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS) typically presents in middle life with a combination of neuropathy, ataxia and vestibular disease, with patients reporting progressive imbalance, oscillopsia, sensory disturbance and a dry cough. Examination identifies a sensory neuropathy or neuronopathy and bilaterally impaired vestibulo-ocular reflex. The underlying genetic basis is of biallelic AAGGG expansions in the second intron of replication factor complex subunit 1 (RFC1).

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Cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy and vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS) is a progressive late-onset, neurological disease. Recently, a pentanucleotide expansion in intron 2 of RFC1 was identified as the genetic cause of CANVAS. We screened an Asian-Pacific cohort for CANVAS and identified a novel RFC1 repeat expansion motif, (ACAGG)exp, in three affected individuals.

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Background: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of the GGC-repeat expansion in NOTCH2NLC in whites presenting with movement disorders.

Methods: We searched for the GGC-repeat expansion in NOTCH2NLC using repeat-primed polymerase chain reaction in 203 patients with essential tremor, 825 patients with PD, 194 patients with spinocerebellar ataxia, 207 patients with "possible" or "probable" MSA, and 336 patients with pathologically confirmed MSA. We also screened 30,008 patients enrolled in the 100,000 Genomes Project for the same mutation using ExpansionHunter, followed by repeat-primed polymerase chain reaction.

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Cerebellar ataxia with neuropathy and bilateral vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS) is a recently recognized neurodegenerative disease with onset in mid- to late adulthood. The genetic basis for a large proportion of Caucasian patients was recently shown to be the biallelic expansion of a pentanucleotide (AAGGG)n repeat in RFC1. Here, we describe the first instance of CANVAS genetic testing in New Zealand Māori and Cook Island Māori individuals.

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Article Synopsis
  • Ataxia is a condition that makes people feel unbalanced and dizzy, leading to falls, and is a major reason for disability related to the nervous system.
  • Researchers found a specific genetic change in a gene called RFC1 that causes a type of ataxia known as CANVAS, which affects movement and balance, especially in older people.
  • In a study of 100 people with this genetic change, symptoms often started around age 60, with many experiencing a cough and balance problems, and over time, some needed walking aids or wheelchairs.
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In the version of this article initially published, the name of author Wai Yan Yau was misspelled. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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Late-onset ataxia is common, often idiopathic, and can result from cerebellar, proprioceptive, or vestibular impairment; when in combination, it is also termed cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy, vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS). We used non-parametric linkage analysis and genome sequencing to identify a biallelic intronic AAGGG repeat expansion in the replication factor C subunit 1 (RFC1) gene as the cause of familial CANVAS and a frequent cause of late-onset ataxia, particularly if sensory neuronopathy and bilateral vestibular areflexia coexist. The expansion, which occurs in the poly(A) tail of an AluSx3 element and differs in both size and nucleotide sequence from the reference (AAAAG) allele, does not affect RFC1 expression in patient peripheral and brain tissue, suggesting no overt loss of function.

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Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is a heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative ataxic disorders with autosomal dominant inheritance. We aim to provide an update on the recent clinical and scientific progresses in SCA where numerous novel genes have been identified with next-generation sequencing techniques. The main disease mechanisms of these SCAs include toxic RNA gain-of-function, mitochondrial dysfunction, channelopathies, autophagy and transcription dysregulation.

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The inherited cerebellar ataxias comprise of a genetic heterogeneous group of disorders. Pathogenic expansions of cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) encoding polyglutamine tracts account for the largest proportion of autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxias, while GAA expansion in the first introns of frataxin gene is the commonest cause of autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxias. Currently, there is no available treatment to alter the disease trajectory, with devastating consequences for affected individuals.

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Background: Benign multiple sclerosis (BMS) is a controversial term that has been used for MS patients with minimal disability decades after disease onset. Herein, we evaluated disease status after 20 years in a Western Australian cohort defined as BMS based on an Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score ≤ 3.0 at 10 years from onset.

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