{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.035944700460829496, 'fraction_numerical': 0.008755760368663594, 'mean_word_length': 5.256484149855908, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
News in brief

A study conducted by scientists at the National University of Ireland (Galway, Ireland), reports a discovery that could have a great impact on the understanding and treatment of Huntington’s disease. The research is published in a recent issue of PLoS Biology. Huntington’s disease, previously known as Huntington’s chorea, is a hereditary CNS disorder. According to Bupa UK, although Huntington’s disease can begin at any age, it normally develops in individuals between 30 and 50 years of age. Bupa UK state that: “Symptoms, which differ from person to person, get gradually worse, sometimes over a period of up to 20 years.” The Family Caregiver Alliance (National Center on Caregiving) based in San Francisco (CA, USA) state that: “Nationwide, an estimated 30,000 people have Huntington’s disease,” and “approximately 200,000 Americans are at risk of inheriting the disease from an affected parent.” Symptoms of Huntington’s disease can vary, and include short-term memory lapses, mood changes, and a low level of uncontrollable muscular movements in the early stages, to involuntary movements, depression, and difficulties in speech and swallowing in the later stages of the disease. At present, Huntington’s disease is in curable, and available therapeutic options for the condition are developed only for the management of symptoms. Robert Lahue (National University of Ireland) describes Huntington’s disease as “a particularly cruel disease, as it is passed from parent to child, often with increased severity or earlier onset.” He goes on to say: “With modern genetic testing, people can now establish whether they received the mutant gene from their parent, but then they live a waiting game for the onset of symptoms, which usually appear around the age of 40.” The authors of the study explain that expansions of DNA trinucleotide repeats are the cause of many neurodegenerative diseases, of which Huntington’s disease is one. Researchers set out to “identify novel factors that promote expansions,” and found that CTG–CAG repeat expansions are promoted by certain histone deacetylase complexes (HDACs), both in budding yeast and human cells.