Publications by authors named "Zech M"

It is generally accepted that a weakening of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation caused the Younger Dryas cooling. Although the role of seasonality was emphasized previously, this aspect is rarely considered yet, and it remains elusive how this impacted hydroclimate during winters and summers across Central Europe. Here, we coupled biomarker-based δO and δH from Bergsee in southern Germany to reconstruct deuterium excess as a proxy for evaporation history from the Bølling-Allerød to the Preboreal.

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Importance: Single gene variants can cause cerebral palsy (CP) phenotypes, yet the impact of genetic diagnosis on CP clinical management has not been systematically evaluated.

Objective: To evaluate how frequently genetic testing results would prompt changes in care for individuals with CP and the clinical utility of precision medicine therapies.

Data Sources: Published pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in OMIM genes identified with exome sequencing in clinical (n = 1345) or research (n = 496) cohorts of CP were analyzed.

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Article Synopsis
  • The release of Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD) v4 significantly increases sample size, impacting the interpretation of genetic variants, particularly in dystonia.
  • A comparison of variants linked to common forms of isolated dystonia showed that most (77.7%) remained absent in the new version; however, some well-known pathogenic variants were newly recorded in v4.
  • Despite finding more dystonia-related alleles in gnomAD v4, the authors stress that the presence of these variants in population data doesn't automatically mean they aren't pathogenic.
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Advances in genetic technologies and disease modeling have greatly accelerated the pace of introducing and validating molecular-genetic contributors to disease. In dystonia, there is a growing convergence across multiple distinct forms of the disease onto core biological processes. Here, we discuss two of these, the endosome-autophagosome-lysosome pathway and the integrated stress response, to highlight recent advances in the field.

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  • Parkinson's disease (PD) affects a small percentage of patients with a monogenic form linked to mutations in the alpha-synuclein (aSyn) gene, specifically missense variants that can cause familial PD.
  • A case study highlighted a patient with a novel heterozygous aSyn mutation (G14R) showing complex neurodegenerative symptoms and neuropathological findings typical of frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
  • Research on the G14R mutation indicated structural changes in aSyn, leading to increased inclusion formation and altered fibrillar morphologies, suggesting mechanisms for the observed disease characteristics.
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Globally, siltation of water reservoirs is a major risk and cost to the provision of fresh water. Therefore, managing reservoir sedimentation is a significant task for water management agencies. In Kenya, the Ruiru water reservoir, one of four water reservoirs supplying Nairobi with drinking water has experienced a significant loss of volume since construction in 1949.

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Plasma membrane calcium ATPases (PMCAs) encoded by ATP2B genes have been implicated in Mendelian diseases with ataxia, dystonia, and intellectual disability. Work to date has shown that ATP2B2 (encoding PMCA2) is required for synaptic function and Purkinje-cell integrity in the cerebellum. A recent case series has linked ATP2B2 to a novel entity, characterized by neurodevelopmental and movement phenotypes, in only seven individuals.

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  • * A case study of a 24-year-old patient revealed they had a significant tremor disorder, including various types of tremors and additional symptoms like muscle stiffness and coordination issues, alongside some developmental delays and epilepsy.
  • * This case underscores the importance of recognizing movement disorders in KBG syndrome, suggesting that genetic testing for pathogenic variants should be considered when diagnosing tremor-related conditions.
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  • - This study examines the link between rare variants in the cullin-3 ubiquitin ligase (CUL3) gene and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), gathering data from multiple centers to explore genetic mutations and their clinical impacts.
  • - Researchers identified 37 individuals with CUL3 variants, most of which result in loss-of-function (LoF), leading to intellectual disabilities and possibly autistic traits; specific mechanisms affecting protein stability were also investigated.
  • - The findings enhance the understanding of NDDs associated with CUL3 mutations, suggesting that LoF variants are the main cause, which could help inform future diagnostics and treatment strategies.
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  • A large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted with over 6000 participants to investigate genetic risk factors for isolated dystonia, aiming to improve upon earlier studies that found no significant genetic links.
  • The study included 4303 dystonia patients and 2362 healthy controls, analyzing various factors like age of onset and affected body areas, but ultimately failed to identify any common genetic variants associated with dystonia.
  • The findings suggest that isolated dystonia may not be influenced by common genetic variations, highlighting the need for more extensive studies like whole-genome sequencing to uncover potential genetic contributions.
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Members of the leucine rich repeat (LRR) and PDZ domain (LAP) protein family are essential for animal development and histogenesis. Densin-180, encoded by LRRC7, is the only LAP protein selectively expressed in neurons. Densin-180 is a postsynaptic scaffold at glutamatergic synapses, linking cytoskeletal elements with signalling proteins such as the α-subunit of Ca/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II.

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Dissecting biological pathways highlighted by Mendelian gene discovery has provided critical insights into the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) and neurodegeneration. This approach ultimately catalyzes the identification of potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Here, we identify as a new gene implicated in PD and childhood neurodegeneration.

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Microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) are widely expressed in the central nervous system, and have established roles in cell proliferation, myelination, neurite formation, axon specification, outgrowth, dendrite, and synapse formation. We report eleven individuals from seven families harboring predicted pathogenic biallelic, de novo, and heterozygous variants in the NAV3 gene, which encodes the microtubule positive tip protein neuron navigator 3 (NAV3). All affected individuals have intellectual disability (ID), microcephaly, skeletal deformities, ocular anomalies, and behavioral issues.

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Background: Spinocerebellar ataxia 21 (SCA21) is a rare neurological disorder caused by heterozygous variants in . A growing, yet still limited number of reports suggested that hyperkinetic movements should be considered a defining component of the disease.

Case Series: We describe two newly identified families harboring the recurrent pathogenic p.

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