Unsuccessful physostigmine therapy in Reye syndrome.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to W B Dobyns.
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Fifty-eight patients with Wilson's disease are reviewed, of whom 25 symptomatic patients experienced liver disease first and 28, brain disease. Ten of these patients presented with liver disease alone, 19 with brain disease alone, and 24 with evidence of both liver and brain disease. The remaining five were discovered as asymptomatic siblings of known patients. Three of the patients with hepatic presentation and one with neurologic presentation later experienced the other type of symptomatology, bringing the total number of patients with mixed disease to 28. Of the 44 patients with brain disease, 12 presented primarily with extrapyramidal findings, 6 with cerebellar findings, and 17 with both; pseudobulbar findings were noted in 9 patients, all of whom had other symptoms of severe nervous system disease. In addition to these presentations, in an appreciable number of patients the first symptoms were of a mental or emotional disorder. Disease of other organ systems, such as the joints and kidneys, also occurred but infrequently. Where adequate family information was available, 13 of 65 siblings (20%) were known to have had or were suspected of having had Wilson's disease. This is consistent with the autosomal-recessive pattern of inheritance.
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Eleven children with acute inflammatory polyneuropathy were treated with a short course of intensive plasmapheresis. The 5 males and 6 females ranged in aged from 19 months to 16 years (mean: 7.8 years). The interval from disease onset to the initiation of plasmapheresis therapy was less than 7 days in 5 patients and less than 2 weeks in the others. At the time of the first plasmapheresis, 3 patients were on respirators (Grade 5 on the Guillain-Barré syndrome scale 0-6); 7 were bedridden (Grade 4); and 1 required assisted ambulation (Grade 3). One week after the last plasmapheresis, all but 1 patient had improved by 1 or more grades on the Guillain-Barré syndrome scale. At subsequent examination 6 months later, all patients were ambulatory and 9 of 11 had no significant neurologic findings. Electrophysiologic studies performed shortly before treatment initiation revealed predominant demyelinating neuropathy in 9 and axonal changes in 2. During the 76 plasmapheresis procedures, no severe complications were encountered. Although the number of patients treated is small, the clinical response observed would indicate plasmapheresis to be a safe and effective therapy in children with acute inflammatory polyneuropathy.
Benign hereditary chorea is an uncommon inherited form of childhood chorea that can be mistaken for much more serious disorders, such as Huntington disease. The clinical manifestations of this condition are reviewed, emphasizing the differential diagnosis, treatment modalities, and evaluation of childhood chorea.
PURPOSE: Recent revision of the lissencephaly critical region on chromosome 17p13.3 and confirmation of LIS1 as the causative gene for classical lissencephaly has allowed the development and application of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probes corresponding directly to this gene. METHOD: We have analyzed patients with isolated lissencephaly sequence (ILS) by FISH with probes at D17S379, an anonymous locus distal to LIS1, and with LIS1 specific probes. RESULTS: In 110 patients with ILS, a deletion at D17S379 was detected in 23.6%. Of those patients without a deletion, 32 were available for further study with LIS1 probes. Deletions were found in eight additional individuals. CONCLUSION: The overall deletion mutation rate detectable by FISH with LIS1 probes is approximately 40%. This rate is significantly higher than the deletion rate observed at D17S379. This indicates that FISH studies using probes specific to LIS1 should be undertaken as the initial diagnostic assay for the evaluation of patients with ILS, and the high frequency of deletions raises the possibility of "hotspots" for chromosome breakage in this region.
Lissencephaly is a rare malformation of the human brain manifest by a smooth cerebral surface. It is usually associated with other brain anomalies. The computed tomographic appearance in nine patients with lissencephaly, representing several separate types and syndromes, is reported. Common manifestations include a smooth cerebral surface and absent opercula that may lend a figure-eight appearance to the brain and smooth subsurface lines that represent abnormal cortical layers or an abnormal white-gray interface.