Word: ataxia
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...kind of intellectual acumen that went into her quick sayings,” added Sollors, who also teaches in the department of African and African American studies. “She was just a powerhouse.” Johnson passed away on Thursday in her home from cerebellar ataxia, according to her brother Bruce Pollack-Johnson. She was 61. Eight years ago, the acclaimed literary critic and translator had been diagnosed with the rare degenerative condition with effects similar to multiple sclerosis that made it difficult for her to speak and walk. But Johnson—who taught at Harvard...
...Hagerman asked some 100 fragile X family members if an older male relative was having problems with balance, tremors or dementia. About a third of the audience members shot their hands into the air. Within a few years, a newly recognized genetic disorder called FXTAS (fragile X--associated tremor, ataxia syndrome) was part of the literature, though the illness is still often mistaken for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Lou Gehrig's disease...
...McGregor's fascination with this topic led him to set up a research project entitled Choreography and Cognition with a team of five neuroscientists; the project was backed by a fellowship at the Department of Experimental Psychology at Cambridge University. The first product of this research was AtaXia (2004), named after the disabling physical condition. Partly inspired by a real ataxia sufferer, the piece examined the frailty of the brain-body connection. By forcing breakdowns of coordination in his dancers, McGregor hoped to gain an insight into the relationship between their physical and cognitive functions. To this end he submitted...
...After spending $60,000 and turning up nothing, the Marguses took their sons to see Dr. Jean Aicardi, a world-famous French neurologist who happened to be visiting Miami Children's Hospital. "In the first five minutes, he saw our kids and said, 'It looks an awful lot like ataxia-telangiectasia,' which we couldn't even pronounce. 'I assume you've tested for this?' All it takes is a $20 blood test. The local doctors just looked at their feet." The Marguses recognized the name (it's pronounced ay-tack-see-uh teh-lan-jick-tay-sha), but all they...
...genetic revolution. Do people want to know about genetic defects that can't be corrected yet? Vicki Balogh of Trenton, Michigan, is facing such a moment of truth right now, as she awaits the results of a test that will tell her whether she carries the gene for ataxia. The degenerative disease killed her mother at 52 and has already started to destroy the nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord of three of Vicki's brothers. "I'm 35, and that's young enough to make a career change," says Balogh, a manager at Ameritech. "I've always...