{"id":119572,"date":"2026-08-17T13:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T08:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=119572"},"modified":"2026-08-17T13:30:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T08:00:45","slug":"friedreich-ataxia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/friedreich-ataxia\/","title":{"rendered":"Friedreich ataxia"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Friedreich ataxia Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A new study from researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center found that Friedreich\u2019s ataxia is caused when a gene called FXN becomes mutated.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Friedreich ataxia<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>rare, inherited disorder<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that causes <\/span><b>progressive damage to the nervous system.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The damage <\/span><b>affects your spinal cord and the nerves that control muscle movement<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in your arms and legs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Friedreich ataxia Cause<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is caused when a <\/span><b>gene called FXN becomes mutated<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><b> FXN gene codes for a protein called frataxin<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><b>Frataxin <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is <\/span><b>essential for <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/mitochondrial-protein-import\/\" target=\"_blank\">mitochondria<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which are our cells\u2019 powerhouses.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The chemical ATP, which is the cell\u2019s energy currency, is made mostly in the mitochondria.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nerve, spinal cord, brain, and heart muscle cells use a lot of energy.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When their <\/span><b>frataxin levels<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> become <\/span><b>abnormally low,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the <\/span><b>mitochondria produce ATP less effectively <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and also <\/span><b>accumulate toxic by-products.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This <\/span><b>renders the cell dysfunctional,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> leading to the symptoms of FA.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Individuals who inherit two defective copies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the FXN gene, one from each parent, will <\/span><b>develop the disease<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A person who inherits only one abnormal copy of the gene is called a carrier.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Most of the affected individuals<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> come from <\/span><b>consanguineous marriages. T<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hat is, marriages between relatives, such as uncles and nieces, or between cousins.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Friedreich ataxia Symptoms<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Symptoms usually begin between the <\/span><b>ages of 5 and 15.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>main symptom<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is <\/span><b>ataxia<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which means <\/span><b>trouble coordinating movements.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Specific symptoms include:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Difficulty walking<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Muscle weakness<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speech problems<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Involuntary eye movements<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scoliosis (curving of the spine to one side)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heart palpitations, from the heart disease, which can happen along with Friedreich ataxia<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People with Friedreich ataxia usually <\/span><b>need a wheelchair 15 to 20 years after symptoms first appear.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In <\/span><b>severe cases, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">people become <\/span><b>incapacitated<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Friedreich ataxia <\/b><b>Treatment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is currently <\/span><b>no cure <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for FA.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Treatment focuses on easing symptoms and maintaining comfort and function for as long as possible.\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News: <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/ccidist-ws\/th\/th_delhi\/issues\/199713\/OPS\/GJDGDF44B.1+G4EGDF6SB.1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friedreich ataxia is a rare, inherited disorder that causes progressive damage to the nervous system. Read more about Friedreich ataxia, Cause, Symptoms, Treatment, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":119497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9586],"class_list":["post-119572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-friedreich-ataxia","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119572"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119591,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119572\/revisions\/119591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}