Parkinsonism is a clinical syndrome characterized by tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and postural instability. These are the four motor symptoms found in Parkinson's disease (PD), after which it is named, dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), and many other conditions. This set of symptoms occurs in a wide range of conditions and may have many causes, including neurodegenerative conditions, drugs, toxins, metabolic diseases, and neurological conditions other than PD.
Joubert syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder that affects the cerebellum, an area of the brain that controls balance and coordination.
Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include mutations, poor nourishment, poor circulation, loss of hormonal support, loss of nerve supply to the target organ, excessive amount of apoptosis of cells, and disuse or lack of exercise or disease intrinsic to the tissue itself. In medical practice, hormonal and nerve inputs that maintain an organ or body part are said to have trophic effects. A diminished muscular trophic condition is designated as atrophy. Atrophy is reduction in size of cell, organ or tissue, after attaining its normal mature growth. In contrast, hypoplasia is the reduction in size of a cell, organ, or tissue that has not attained normal maturity.
A basal body is a protein structure found at the base of a eukaryotic undulipodium. The basal body was named by Theodor Wilhelm Engelmann in 1880 It is formed from a centriole and several additional protein structures, and is, essentially, a modified centriole. The basal body serves as a nucleation site for the growth of the axoneme microtubules. Centrioles, from which basal bodies are derived, act as anchoring sites for proteins that in turn anchor microtubules, and are known as the microtubule organizing center (MTOC). These microtubules provide structure and facilitate movement of vesicles and organelles within many eukaryotic cells.
Nephronophthisis is a genetic disorder of the kidneys which affects children. It is classified as a medullary cystic kidney disease. The disorder is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion and, although rare, is the most common genetic cause of childhood kidney failure. It is a form of ciliopathy. Its incidence has been estimated to be 0.9 cases per million people in the United States, and 1 in 50,000 births in Canada.
Senior–Løken syndrome is a congenital eye disorder, first characterized in 1961. It is a rare, ciliopathic, autosomal recessive disorder characterized by juvenile nephronophthis and progressive eye disease.
Nephrocystin-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NPHP1 gene.
The Abelson helper integration site 1 (AHI1) is a protein coding gene that is known for the critical role it plays in brain development. Proper cerebellar and cortical development in the human brain depends heavily on AHI1. The AHI1 gene is prominently expressed in the embryonic hindbrain and forebrain. AHI1 specifically encodes the Jouberin protein and mutations in the expression of the gene is known to cause specific forms of Joubert syndrome. Joubert syndrome is autosomal recessive and is characterized by the brain malformations and mental retardation that AHI1 mutations have the potential to induce. AHI1 has also been associated with schizophrenia and autism due to the role it plays in brain development. An AHI1 heterozygous knockout mouse model was studied by Bernard Lerer and his group at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem to elucidate the correlation between alterations in AHI1 expression and the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders. The core temperatures and corticosterone secretions of the heterozygous knockout mice after exposure to environmental and visceral stress exhibited extreme repression of autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responses. The knockout mice demonstrated an increased resilience to different types of stress and these results lead to a correlation between emotional regulation and neuropsychiatric disorders.
Centrosomal protein of 290 kDa is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CEP290 gene. CEP290 is located on the Q arm of chromosome 12.
Inversin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the INVS gene.
Meckelin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TMEM67 gene.
A ciliopathy is any genetic disorder that affects the cellular cilia or the cilia anchoring structures, the basal bodies, or ciliary function. Primary cilia are important in guiding the process of development, so abnormal ciliary function while an embryo is developing can lead to a set of malformations that can occur regardless of the particular genetic problem. The similarity of the clinical features of these developmental disorders means that they form a recognizable cluster of syndromes, loosely attributed to abnormal ciliary function and hence called ciliopathies. Regardless of the actual genetic cause, it is clustering of a set of characteristic physiological features which define whether a syndrome is a ciliopathy.
Smith–Fineman–Myers syndrome (SFMS1) is a congenital disorder that causes birth defects. This syndrome was named after Richard D. Smith, Robert M. Fineman and Gart G. Myers who discovered it around 1980.
Juvenile nephronophthisis is the juvenile form of nephronophthisis that causes end stage kidney disease around the age of 13; infantile nephronophthisis and adolescent nephronophthisis cause ESKD around the ages of 1 and 19, respectively.
Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia describes a heterogeneous group of rare genetic disorders with an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern and a clinical phenotype involving cerebellar ataxia.
COACH syndrome, also known as Joubert syndrome with hepatic defect, is a rare autosomal recessive genetic disease. The name is an acronym of the defining signs: cerebellar vermis aplasia, oligophrenia, congenital ataxia, coloboma and hepatic fibrosis. The condition is associated with moderate intellectual disability. It falls under the category of a Joubart Syndrome-related disorder (JSRD).
Juberg-Hayward syndrome is a rare genetic syndrome characterised by cleft lip and cleft palate, microcephaly, ptosis, short stature, hypoplasia or aplasia of thumbs, dislocation of radial head and fusion of humerus and radius. The abnormalities in the arm lead to restriction of movement in the elbow.