Cytogenetic Studies of Rwandan Pediatric Patients Presenting with Global Developmental Delay, Intellectual Disability and/or Multiple Congenital Anomalies

Global developmental delay (GDD) is defined as a significant delay in two or more developmental domains: gross or fine motor, speech/language, cognitive, social/personal and activities of daily living. Many of these children will go on to be diagnosed with intellectual disability (ID), which is most commonly defined as having an IQ <75 in addition to impairment in adaptive functioning. Cytogenetic studies have been performed in 664 Rwandan pediatric patients presenting GDD/ID and/or multiple congenital abnormalities (MCA). Karyotype analysis was performed in all patients and revealed 260 chromosomal abnormalities. The most frequent chromosomal abnormality was Down syndrome and then Edward syndrome and Patau syndrome. Other identified chromosomal abnormalities included 47,XX,+del(9)(q11), 46,XY,del(13)(q34) and 46,XX,der(22)t(10;22)(p10;p10)mat. In conclusion, our results highlight the high frequency of cytogenetically detectable abnormalities in this series, with implications for the burden on the healthcare. This study demonstrates the importance of cytogenetic analysis in patients with GDD/ID and MCA.

Rhabdomyolysis with Acute Renal Failure and Deep Vein Thrombosis Induced by Antipsychotic Drugs: A Case Report

Atypical antipsychotics, the first line therapy for schizophrenia, have already been reported as causing rhabdomyolysis or isolated elevation in serum creatine kinase (SCK). This case report dealing with rhabdomyolysis in a 25-year-old man treated with antipsychotics is particularly unusual, due to the extremely high elevation in SCK and the ensuing acute renal failure. He was treated with loxapine 400 mg/day and risperidone 4 mg/day for 4 days and then loxapine was replaced by levomepromazine 300 mg/day. A series of laboratory examinations showed: SCK 43 650 UI/L, creatinine 392 µmol/L. An acute renal failure (acute tubular necrosis) after iatrogenic rhabdomyolysis was diagnosed, requiring hemodialysis. Furthermore, the patient also developed a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) attributed to his antipsychotic treatment. This case underlines the importance of taking rhabdomyolysis and DVT risk factors into account in patients treated with antipsychotics. Indeed, in this case we note that rhabdomyolysis was probably promoted by the interruption and the reintroduction of the treatment more than by possible dehydration, because no other risk factor could be identified.

AtZFP1, encoding Arabidopsis thaliana C2H2 zinc-finger protein 1, is expressed downstream of photomorphogenic activation

C2H2 zinc-finger proteins play important roles in plant development including floral organogenesis, leaf initiation, lateral shoot initiation, gametogenesis and seed development. The gene for one such protein from Arabidopsis, AtZFP1 (Arabidopsis thaliana zinc-finger protein 1), is expressed at high levels in the shoot apex, including the apical meristem, developing leaves and the developing vascular system. In light-grown seedlings, AtZFP1 expression is induced about three days after germination, before the expansion of the true leaves. Dark-grown plants, in which photomorphogenesis is repressed, have no detectable AtZFP1 expression in the shoot apex. Under conditions which induce or mimic photomorphogenic development including growth in the light, shifting dark-grown plants to continuous light or growth on cytokinin in the dark, high levels of AtZFP1 expression are detected. Furthermore, AtZFP1 expression does not depend on active photosynthesis as shown by analysis of plants grown on the carotenoid biosynthetic inhibitor norflurazon. These results are discussed in relation to a possible role for AtZFP1 in shoot development, downstream of photomorphogenic activation.