Huntington Society of Canada Research Chair advances innovative approaches to future treatment - Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry

It’s not fashion week unless there’s a smidge of nudity, and the stars at Saint Laurent’s spring/summer 2027 show most definitely understood the assignment. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Zoe Saldaña, and more proved that the female anatomy is a chic accessory with sheer looks that took us right back to the “free the nipple” era of the 2010s.

Loss-of-interruption variants in the CAG repeat of the huntingtin (HTT) gene can accelerate Huntington’s disease (HD) onset and progression. Medium spiny neurons (MSNs), which are gradually lost in HD, undergo selective somatic CAG expansion, but it is still unclear how this expansion relates to MSN pathology. In a study published in Neuron, Chris Kay, PhD, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and colleagues assessed somatic HTT CAG expansion in peripheral blood, postmortem brain tissue, and isolated MSNs from patients with HD, both with and without the CAG-CCG loss-of-interruption (LOI) modifier variant. Results showed that, while MSNs with large (111–150 CAG) and very large (>150 CAG) somatic expansions were rare early in HD, these larger expansions accumulated as disease duration increased. The CAG-CCG LOI modifier was linked with about a five-fold increase in the proportion of MSNs with large and very large expansions. Patients with the modifier also had fewer caudate MSNs, suggesting the modifier accelerates MSN loss alongside increased somatic CAG expansion. The modifier was also linked with reduced small somatic expansions in the blood.

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The 20th annual Cape to Cabot road race is taking place tomorrow. The grueling 20 km trek sees participants running from one historic landmark to another: From Cape Spear to Cabot Tower on top of Signal Hill. The race starts at 8 a.m., and because of that there are a few related road closures in St. John’s. Between 7:45 and 11a.m. there will be numerous road closures along the route. A full list can be found online at VOCM dot com. Expect traffic impacts from 7:45 a.m. to 11 a.m. on routes including Blackhead Road, Southside Road, Water Street, Harbour Drive, Duckworth Street, Temperance Street and Signal Hill Road.

On Monday, Albertans vote on whether to stay in Canada or hold another binding referendum on quitting Canada. If the vote goes as polls suggest, a majority of Albertans will mark an X to stay in Confederation, and Premier Danielle Smith has said if that’s so, she expects everyone to accept it and move on. Leaders of the independence movement contest that. And political watchers are divided about whether separation — previously a fringe sentiment — will now be a prominent, permanent feature of Alberta’s political landscape, as in Quebec. Julian Castro-Rea, a political-science professor at the University of Alberta who studies the separation debates in Quebec and Alberta, believes as long as Alberta feels alienated from the Canadian capital — feeling that Ottawa benefits from Alberta’s resource economy without giving back — the movement will have fuel. “Even if the referendum is lost, the westernization will still be around, because it’s kind of a way which, traditionally, Albertans have related to the rest of Canada,” says Castro-Rea, who believes western alienation may remain indefinitely. Story continues below advertisement