0000000000007638

AUTHOR

Bertram F. Pontz

Clinical and ultrastructural findings in three patients with geleophysic dysplasia

Geleophysic dysplasia, a rare disorder with autosomal-recessive inheritance, is characterized by short stature with a “happy-looking” facial appearance. Nonskeletal findings, particularly in an advanced stage, include hepatosplenomegaly and valvular cardiopathy. Based on the clinical picture and the detection of lysosome-like inclusions in hepatocytes, the underlying cause of the condition is considered to be a storage defect in the metabolism of glycoproteins. The clinical course, with progressive worsening of the condition favors this hypothesis. We report on 3 further cases, in which light and electron microscopic studies of iliac crest biopsies and cultured skin fibroblasts provided add…

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Familial insulin resistant diabetes associated with acanthosis nigricans, polycystic ovaries, hypogonadism, pigmentary retinopathy, labyrinthine deafness, and mental retardation.

Two sibs, whose parents are first cousins, had diabetes mellitus with hyperinsulinism, insensitive insulin receptors, and acanthosis nigricans. Both patients had pigmentary retinopathy, secondary cataracts, labyrinthine deafness, mental retardation, and cerebral atrophy. They were disproportionately short with relatively broad hands and feet and slightly coarse face. The young woman had secondary amenorrhea and polycystic ovaries and the boy gynecomastia and hypergonadotrophic hypogonadism. This appears to be the second family with a new autosomal recessive disorder differing from Alstrom syndrome by the presence of mental retardation and absence of renal insufficiency. Impaired insulin rec…

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Osteogenesis imperfecta and hyperplastic callus formation: light- and electron-microscopic findings.

In rare cases of osteogenesis imperfecta, an "overshoot" growth of new bone may occur, which, clinically gives the impression of a tumour. This condition is known as hyperplastic callus formation. Morphology showed an excessive mixed desmal-chondral osteoneogenesis. Atypical collagen fibrils in non-callus tissue represent an indicator for this callus formation in individual patients.

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