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A team has conducted a trial on the efficacy and safety of L-arginine in treating spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6). Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting the cerebellum, a part of the brain responsible for coordinating movement. Many hereditary SCAs are classified as polyglutamine diseases, a group of disorders caused by proteins with abnormal long polyglutamine (polyQ) tracts. Professor Osamu Onodera and Professor Yoshitaka Nagai identified L-arginine, an amino acid, as a promising compound that inhibits polyQ protein aggregation. In animal models of polyglutamine disease, L-arginine has shown therapeutic potential. Since L-arginine is already an approved medication, our...

The headlines are in. Trump is the “anti-Democratic” candidate because he refuses to rule out challenging the results of an election that has yet to take place. Such a course of action is “beyond the pale.” It’s a threat to democracy. And it is utterly and thoroughly unacceptable.Except when Democrats do it.It was the day after the election. While the Democratic Party faithful waited in the rain in Nashville, William Daley strode out and announced, “Our campaign continues.” Al Gore had called George W. Bush to withdraw his concession. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?" a baffled Bush...

Abraham Lincoln's appearance and historical documents that note his especially clumsy gait have long caused researchers to puzzle over whether he may have had a genetic disorder called Marfan syndrome. Now, members of the beloved president's family tree are wondering if Lincoln had a different, incurable hereditary disease called ataxia that affects the coordination it takes to walk, write, speak and swallow. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered a gene mutation in 11 generations of relatives who descended from Lincoln's grandparents. There's a 25 percent chance that Lincoln also inherited the gene, said Laura Ranum, a genetics professor...