Tourette's

syndrome
Intro:
Gilles de la Tourette first in the 1885 has concluded that the nine
cases that he has been monitoring may be associated with one and
other. This has also been emphasized by an article he has published a
year before where he has initially settled on the idea. Yet the final
person to write up a full sum of what was said was Jean-Martin-
Charcot, Tourette's mentor and long-term teacher. In respect to him,
Dr Charcot has named the syndrome after Tourette as he was the
one to put interest and finding into this disorder. The first person to
be diagnosed with Tourette's was not published specifically. All that
can be tracked down are information of nine patients coming from:
Maine, Malaysia, Siberia and several cases from Paris. All patients
were examined at the Salpêtrière and Tourette have worked and
made their break-through findings.
How inherited/ predominance: Extensive research has proved that
Tourette's syndrome is inherited through a dominant gene, the
chance is approximately 50% for inheriting the syndrome after the
parents for offspring. Males and typically young boys are three to
four times more likely to show symptoms or to have the actual
syndrome compared to their female siblings with the same gene.
Research has still not been finished regarding the treatments,
preventions and triggers events. Yet it has been found out that
smoking during pregnancy, pregnancy complications, low birthrate
and lastly if any infections occur usually linked to viruses.
It has not been found that any ethnicity has the ability not to inherit
and develop Tourette's syndrome. Yet, non-Hispanic white children
have a two times higher chance of developing the syndrome
compared to black and Hispanic children.
Also from the age demographics, children in the age span of 12 to 17
have a double probability to develop Tourette's syndrome compared
to children from 6 to 11. This may also be linked to the fact that
many children have the dominant gene, yet they develop it later in
their life. In addition, 86% of all children that develop Tourette's
syndrome suffer from other chronic or mental illness; for example,
25% depression and 35% autism spectrum disorder.

Interesting facts:
In the early days of findings of Tourettes syndrome, it has been
expected that a person will inherit such disorder if their parents have
disponed of immoral behavior by previous generations.
In the 18th century Marquise de Dampierre, has boosted the
research involuntarily. To make a long story short, this noblewoman
had a very vulgar and obscene behavior than that was expected from
a noblewoman and a wealthy aristocrat. This has been linked to
chorea, yet as she was part of the nine patients at the Salpêtrière
hospital. IF an aristocrat was not to have such disorder, then we
should have expected the findings to be made a lot later.
Symptoms: Includes repetitive movements and unwanted sounds
named short for tics. Diagnosed patient may repeatedly blink eyes,
shrug their shoulders and blurt unusual sounds or sometimes
offensive words. Other movements may be of a complex character
meaning that they involve more muscle groups, for example, sudden
bending or twisting and smelling or tasting things. Medications to
lessen and stop or lessen severe tics: Haldol or Xenazine yet both
have side effects such as weight gain or development of
depression. Antidepressants and ADHD medication. These are
mostly stimulants to increase attention of the person, rather
some may exacerbate the tics which is heavily unwanted.

Therapies: Deep Brain stimulation (DBS) - this therapy includes

a surgery that implants an electric battery into your brain that
will send electrical signals to send electrical signals to targeted
areas. Other therapies include Behavior therapy or
psychotherapy.

To the pedigree chart: Tourette’s syndrome is autosomal dominant,

as based on the pedigree chart we know that, only one copy of the
allele is needed, usually both genders should receive them equally,
also, a parent with the mutated gene has a 50% chance of passing
down the gene to their children.
Sources:
https://tourette.org/resource/125-years-tourette-syndrome-
discovery-early-history-future-disorder/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8660160/#:~:text=In%201885%2C
%20Gilles%20de%20la,earlier%20descriptions%20of%20this
%20disorder.
https://www.webmd.com/brain/tourettes-syndrome#3
http://www.scielo.br/j/rbp/a/pVbXbqkSH9Vf5gM8t5sK3Gj/?lang=en
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32164973/
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/tourette/riskfactors.html#:~:text=Gen
etic%20studies%20have%20indicated%20that,to%20display
%20symptoms%20of%20TS.
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/tourette/data.html#:~:text=People
%20from%20all%20racial%20and,6%20%E2%80%93%2011%20years
%20of%20age.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tourette-
syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20350465
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tourette-
syndrome/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20350470#:~:text=Fluphenazine
%2C%20haloperidol%20(Haldol)%2C,Botulinum%20(Botox)
%20injections.
https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/genetics-
dictionary/def/autosomal-dominant-inheritance
https://www.nature.com/articles/4001877.pdf?origin=ppub
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-biology/hs-
classical-genetics/hs-pedigrees/a/hs-pedigrees-review
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-
diseases/tourettesdisorder#:~:text=Most%20cases%20of
%20Tourette%20disorder,needed%20to%20have%20the
%20condition.