Search results for "Genetic testing."
showing 10 items of 182 documents
Is it wrong to deliberately conceive or give birth to a child with mental retardation?
2002
This paper discusses the issues of deciding to have a child with mental retardation, and of terminating a pregnancy when the future child is known to have the same disability. I discuss these problems by criticizing a utilitarian argument, namely, that one should act in a way that results in less suffering and less limited opportunity in the world. My argument is that future parents ought to assume a strong responsibility towards the well-being of their prospective children when they decide to reproduce. The moral point in cases in which our acts affect the well-being of future children should be expressed strictly in terms of parents' culpability. Future children thus do not have current m…
Complexity of the Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathies
2015
Early-onset hereditary motor and sensory neuropathies are rare diseases representing a broad clinical and genetic spectrum. Without a notable familial history, the clinical diagnosis is complicated because acquired causes of peripheral neuropathy, such as inflammatory neuropathies, neuropathies with toxic causes, and nutritional deficiencies, must be considered. We examined the clinical, electrophysiological, and pathologic manifestations of a boy with an initial diagnosis of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. The progression of the disease despite treatment led to a suspicion of hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy. Genetic testing revealed the presence of the MPZ p.D90…
Clinical features and follow-up in patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome
2014
Objective To investigate the clinical manifestations at diagnosis and during follow-up in patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome to better define the natural history of the disease. Study design A retrospective and prospective multicenter study was conducted with 228 patients in the context of the Italian Network for Primary Immunodeficiencies. Clinical diagnosis was confirmed by cytogenetic or molecular analysis. Results The cohort consisted of 112 males and 116 females; median age at diagnosis was 4 months (range 0 to 36 years 10 months). The diagnosis was made before 2 years of age in 71% of patients, predominantly related to the presence of heart anomalies and neonatal hypocalcemia. In…
A methodological strategy for PAH genotyping in populations with a marked molecular heterogeneity of hyperphenylalaninemia.
2001
Abstract The elucidation of the molecular basis of hyperphenylalaninemia in various world populations (PKU Consortium Database: http://www.mcgill.ca/pahdb/) has revealed a remarkable molecular heterogeneity at the locus encoding for phenylalanine hydroxylase. As a consequence, genotyping of HPA patients has prompted the establishment of an impressive number of mutation detection protocols. In spite of the large variety of methods proposed so far, no comprehensive strategy has been yet developed for the detection of PAH gene mutations. Therefore, new approaches, combining the advantages of individual methods are required, especially in populations with a high number of PAH gene mutations. In…
Genomic and metabolomic profile associated to microalbuminuria.
2013
To identify factors related with the risk to develop microalbuminuria using combined genomic and metabolomic values from a general population study. One thousand five hundred and two subjects, Caucasian, more than 18 years, representative of the general population, were included. Blood pressure measurement and albumin/creatinine ratio were measured in a urine sample. Using SNPlex, 1251 SNPs potentially associated to urinary albumin excretion (UAE) were analyzed. Serum metabolomic profile was assessed by 1H NMR spectra using a Brucker Advance DRX 600 spectrometer. From the total population, 1217 (mean age 54 ± 19, 50.6% men, ACR>30 mg/g in 81 subjects) with high genotyping call rate were ana…
Evaluation of the performance of Dutch Lipid Clinic Network score in an Italian FH population: The LIPIGEN study
2018
Abstract Background and aims Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited disorder characterized by high levels of blood cholesterol from birth and premature coronary heart disease. Thus, the identification of FH patients is crucial to prevent or delay the onset of cardiovascular events, and the availability of a tool helping with the diagnosis in the setting of general medicine is essential to improve FH patient identification. Methods This study evaluated the performance of the Dutch Lipid Clinic Network (DLCN) score in FH patients enrolled in the LIPIGEN study, an Italian integrated network aimed at improving the identification of patients with genetic dyslipidaemias, including FH.…
Novel deletion of the E3A ubiquitin protein ligase gene detected by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification in a patient with Angelman syndr…
2010
Angelman syndrome (AS) is a severe neurobehavioural disorder caused by failure of expression of the maternal copy of the imprinted domain located on 15q11-q13. There are different mechanisms leading to AS: maternal microdeletion, uniparental disomy, defects in a putative imprinting centre, mutations of the E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (UBE3A) gene. However, some of suspected cases of AS are still scored negative to all the latter mutations. Recently, it has been shown that a proportion of negative cases bear large deletions overlapping one or more exons of the UBE3A gene. These deletions are difficult to detect by conventional gene-scanning methods due to the masking effect by the non-delete…
Polymorphism in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ? gene influences the risk for Alzheimer?s disease
2003
The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPAR-alpha) is a member of the steroid hormone super family of ligand-inducible transcription factors, involved in glucose and lipid metabolism. We screened for polymorphisms in the PPAR-alpha gene and detected two known polymorphisms located in exon 5 and intron 7. These polymorphisms were investigated for their possible association with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and for their effect in carriers of an insulin gene (INS) polymorphism. The PPAR-alpha C --G polymorphism in exon 5 (L162V) was associated with AD, in that the V-allele was more frequent in AD patients than in healthy subjects. Further data analysis revealed that carriers of an …
The parkin gene is not a major susceptibility locus for typical late-onset Parkinson's disease
2001
We investigated the parkin gene in 118 patients with typical Parkinson's disease (PD), i. e. in patients who had an onset of PD after the age of 45 years. The study group included 95 subjects with sporadic PD and 23 subjects from 18 families with autosomal recessive PD. No pathogenetic mutations in the parkin gene were detected either in familial or in sporadic patients. Our findings indicate that the parkin gene is not involved in the pathogenesis of classic late-onset PD.
Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome 2 with cerebellar abnormality and neural tube defect
2019
Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RSTS) is a rare dominant disorder with intellectual disability, postnatal growth deficiency, and multiple congenital anomalies. Approximately 50-70% of the patients have a mutation in the CREBBP gene (RSTS1) and 5-10% display an EP300 gene mutation (RSTS2). Craniospinal abnormalities such as microcranium, scoliosis, and lordosis are frequent findings in RSTS1, but malformations of the brain or spinal cord are seen only occasionally. Here, we report on a 3-year-old boy with facial abnormalities of RSTS, broad thumbs and halluces, developmental delay, autistic features, cerebellar underdevelopment, and a neural tube defect. Molecular diagnostic of the CREBBP and EP3…