Prenatal diagnosis of X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy in 20 pedigrees / 中华围产医学杂志

Objective:To summarize the characteristics of genetic variation and prenatal diagnosis in pedigrees with X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) and elucidate the value of prenatal diagnosis in preventing the birth of children with X-ALD.Methods:Twenty pedigrees, clinically diagnosed with X-ALD in Peking University First Hospital from November 2012 and March 2019, were included in this retrospective study. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and amniotic fluid or chorionic villi samples of probands and their families for detecting variants in ATP-binding cassette subfamily D member 1 ( ABCD1) gene using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-Sanger sequencing. Linkage analysis was also performed on five microsatellite markers near ABCD1 gene to exclude maternal contamination. Characteristics of ABCD1 gene variants and prenatal diagnosis of X-ALD pedigrees were summarized by descriptive statistics. Results:Twenty ABCD1 gene variants were identified in the 20 pedigrees. The variants in three probands that were not detected by next-generation sequencing were identified by PCR-Sanger sequencing. Among the mothers of the 20 probands, 17 carried ABCD1 variants and three did not. We performed 24 prenatal diagnoses on 20 pregnancies (24 fetuses) and identified eight fetuses with variants who were finally terminated. The 16 cases without variants were born alive. The validation results obtained after termination or delivery were consistent with those performed prenatally. Conclusions:No hotspot variants in ABCD1 gene are detected in these X-ALD patients and most variants are maternally inherited. PCR-Sanger sequencing is an effective method for detecting ABCD1 variants. Prenatal diagnosis for mothers who had a body with X-ALD could prevent another one from birth.

Mitochondrial complex Ⅰ deficiency due to NDUFAF5 gene mutations: report of 2 cases and literature review / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

Objective:To analyze the clinical features and genotypes of mitochondrial complex Ⅰ deficiency due to NDUFAF5 gene mutations.Methods:Clinical data of 2 cases with mitochondrial complex Ⅰ deficiency due to NDUFAF5 gene mutations admitted in the Department of Pediatrics, Peking University First Hospital from February 2015 to July 2018 were retrospectively reviewed and followed up.Reported cases of mitochondrial complex Ⅰ deficiency due to NDUFAF5 gene mutations were searched in online databases, including the PubMed, Wanfang, Chinese Journal Full-Text Database and VIP database from January 1975 to February 2020 with " NDUFAF5" as the key word.Through literature review, clinical features and genotypes of mitochondrial complex Ⅰ deficiency due to NDUFAF5 gene mutations were summarized.Results:Case 1 showed mentor and mental regression after infection at the age of 1 year and 4 months.The condition of case 1 remained stable at the age of 5 year and 6 months at the last follow-up.Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed multiple lesions in the white matter of the frontal and parieto-occipital lobes, basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum, brain stem and corpus callosum.Case 2 showed rapidly bilateral visual impairment at the age of 7 years and 4 months.The patient′s vision moderately recovered at the age of 8 years and 8 months.Brain MRI showed midbrain, periaqueductal gray, medulla oblongata and putamen lesions.Spinal MRI showed continuous lesions in the cervical cord 1-4.Genetic test showed NDUFAF5 gene c. 764C>T (p.Ala255Val) and c. 508C>T (p.Arg170Trp), homozygous c. 836T>G (p.Met279Arg) mutations in case 1 and case 2 respectively.Through online searching, 6 reports involving 14 cases were retrieved.The most common clinical phenotype was Leigh syndrome.Two cases had disease onset during the neonatal period, and their disease progressed rapidly and died within 1 year old.Eleven cases had onset during the infantile period, and 72.7% (8/11 cases) of them had a normal development.The common initial symptoms were mental or motor regression, feeding difficulty and dystonia.Seventy-two point seven percent (8/11 cases) had acute/subacute onset after infection, showing paroxysmal deterioration, and died in infancy or childhood.One patient developed dystonia in childhood and visual impairment in adulthood.Conclusions:The onset age ranged from neonatal period to childhood in patients with NDUFAF5 gene mutations, and their clinical phenotypes vary a lot.The main clinical phenotype is Leigh syndrome.Disease onset during the infantile period is frequent, and mostly presents paroxysmal deterioration after infection, while disease onset in childhood is rare.

Clinical phenotype and mutation characteristics of germline PIGA gene mutations / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

Objective:To analyze the clinical phenotype and genetic characteristics of children with germline PIGA gene mutations. Methods:The clinical presentations, blood biochemistry, electroencephalogram (EEG), brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and genetic test results of 10 children diagnosed at the Department of Pediatrics of Peking University First Hospital between January 2014 and June 2020 were analyzed.Results:All these 10 children were male, with seizures and severe developmental delay.Five out of eight cases showed hypotonia.Four out of nine cases had facial deformity or multiple organ abnormalities.The onset age of seizures ranged from one month and 28 days to 10 months, with an average age of 4.8 months.There were various types of seizures, and all patients showed focal seizures.The seizures of 6 patients in these 10 cases could be induced by fever disease.Diffuse slow waves mixed focal or multifocal discharges of interictal EEG in 9 cases with PIGA-deficient.Brain MRI showed enlarged subarachnoid space in 44.4% (4/9 cases) of patients.Slight elevated serum alkaline phosphatase could be seen in 2 cases.Genetic analysis confirmed that a total of 8 different mutation sites were found, 7 of which were unreported.In this group, 4 cases were diagnosed with multiple congenital anomalies -hypotonia -seizures syndrome 2 (MCAHS2), 5 cases were diagnosed with developmental delay and epilepsy without deformity, and one case was not classified, respectively. Conclusions:Focal seizure was common in these patients with PIGA mutations, and often induced by fever disease.Interictal EEG was characterized by diffuse slow waves mixed focal or multifocal discharges.Enlarged subarachnoid space was the most common brain MRI abnormality in these patients.The phenotype of patients only partially conformed to typical MCAHS2 manifestations, and most of them had no deformity.

Deep brain stimulation for treatment of pediatric dystonia / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

Objective:To summarize the therapeutic effect of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for dystonia.Methods:Detailed clinical information and peripheral blood of children with dystonia at Peking University First Hospital from April 2017 to July 2020 were collected.The motor scores of Burke-Fahn-Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale were recorded of the dystonia before and after the treatment of DBS.Whole-exome sequencing was performed on children with dystonia.Then the effect of DBS was evaluated.Results:A total of 32 cases of patients with dystonia treated with DBS were enrolled, including 16 males and 16 females.Twelve cases were treated with globus pallidus internus DBS, and 20 cases were treated with subthalamic nucleus DBS.Twenty cases (62.5%) with pathogenic gene mutations were detected.Pathogenic variants in PANK2 (9 cases), KMT2B(3 cases), GNAO1 (2 cases), GCDH (2 cases), PINK1(1 case), NDUFAF6(1 case), DYT27(1 case) and ADCY5(1 case) were found.The follow-up period was 1 month to 3 years and 8 months.Only 1 case had local infection due to improper home care.The postoperative improvement was 5.66%-95.92%. Conclusions:All patients have a certain degree of relief after DBS without obvious adverse reactions.DBS is an effective treatment for pediatric dystonia.

Surgical treatment of deep brain stimulation for pediatric hereditary dystonia / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

In the past 30 years, with the advancement of functional neurosurgery, neuroelectrophysiology and neuroimaging, deep brain stimulation (DBS), as a new tool for the treatment of dyskinesia, has been considered to have underwent the fastest development in this field.Many patients with dyskinesias have significantly improved their main clinical symptoms after treatment with DBS, some of the improvement are even dramatic.Due to its minimally invasive characteristics, reversibility and adjustability, DBS therapy has been increasingly used in the treatment of dystonia in children.Hereditary dystonia is the most common type of dyskinesia in children, and there is no effective treatment yet.Recently, some dyskinesia at home and abroad centers have carried out DBS treatment for pediatric hereditary dystonia and achieved some encouraging results.Now, the effect of DBS in the treatment of hereditary dystonia in children and the main process of DBS treatment were mainly discussed, and shared the experience based on the clinical practices of Multidisciplinary Collaborative Diagnosis and Treatment Center for Children′s Motor Disorders, Peking University First Hospital.

Clinical analysis of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders in childhood / 中华儿科杂志

Objective@#To explore clinical features and the effect of treatment of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) in childhood.@*Methods@#Children who were hospitalized in Department of Pediatrics, Peking University First Hospital from January 2013 to June 2018 and meeting diagnostic criteria of NMOSD proposed by the International Panel for NMOSD Diagnosis in 2015 were summarized and followed up. The basic information, symptoms of each attack, locations and patterns of new lesions, features of cerebrospinal fluid, serologic markers, treatments and outcomes in these patients were analyzed. Thirty-three children were included in the study, with 13 males and 20 females. The median age of onset was 6.83 (4.25, 8.75) years. Compared aquaporin-4 immunoglobulin G (AQP4-IgG) associated NMOSD with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein immunoglobulin G (MOG-IgG) associated NMOSD. Mann-Whitney U test was used for continuous variables and Fisher test for categorical variables in comparison between AQP4-IgG and MOG-IgG associated NMOSD. Wilcoxon test was used for annualized relapse rate (ARR) before and after adding disease-modifying drugs.@*Results@#Optic neuritis (39% (13/33) in initial attacks and 49% (62/127) in total attacks) and myelitis (36% (12/33) in initial attacks and 26% (33/127) in total attacks) were the top two symptoms in both the initial attacks and all 127 attacks during follow-up. There was 42% (37/89) of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in acute phase showing new lesions in supratentorial white matter, with 43% (16/37) showing acute disseminated encepha lomyelitis (ADEM)-like or leukodystrophy-like patterns. AQP4-IgG was detected in 30% (10/33) patients, and MOG-IgG was detected in 55% (11/20) patients, with no combined positive case. In 20 patients treated with rituximab, two were treated after the initial attack. In the other 18 patients, the median annualized relapse rate decreased from 1.86 (1.52, 2.60) before treatment to 0.28 (0, 1.13) during treatment (Z=-3.376, P=0.001). Compared with AQP4-IgG associated NMOSD (10 cases), fever of unknown origin (8/40 vs. 0/33, P=0.007) was more common, area postrema syndrome (0/40 vs. 4/33, P=0.038) was fewer, cell count of cerebrospinal fluid (49.0 (17.5, 115.0) ×106/L vs. 5.5 (3.0, 15.8)×106/L, Z=-3.526, P=0.000) was higher in MOG-IgG associated NMOSD (11 cases).@*Conclusions@#In childhood-onset NMOSD, optic neuritis and myelitis were top two symptoms. Childhood-onset NMOSD has high proportion of positive MOG-IgG. Lesions in supratentorial white matter are common. Rituximab could significantly decrease ARR of NMOSD in childhood. However, more studies should be conducted to explore the optimal treatment strategy in different antibody associated NMOSD.

Clinical and genetic features of five patients with Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To delineate the clinical and genetic characteristics of patients with Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome (AHDS).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Genetic testing was carried out by next generation sequencing on 117 patients featuring intellectual disability and developmental delay. Clinical information including clinical manifestation, brain magnetic resonance imaging(MRI）, thyroid hormone levels, and electrocardiogram was collected for those with SLC16A2 mutations.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Five male patients with SLC16A2 gene mutations were identified, including 2 affected brothers and 3 sporadic cases. The ages of the patients ranged from 8 months to 8 years. All patients presented with severe intellectual disability and developmental delay including poor head control, inability to sit independently, no speech, and poor response to external stimuli. All patients presented with hypotonia, dystonia, and positive pyramidal signs. Three patients had sinus tachycardia. All patients had abnormal thyroid hormone levels with elevated free triiodothyronine (FT), decreased free tetraiodothyronine(FT), and normal thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). Brain MRI on 3 patients showed delayed myelination. Among the 3 sporadic patients, 2 carried de novo mutations including c.61G to T(p.E21X) and c.695_699delATGGT(p.N232SfsX7), respectively, 1 carried a c.42delC(p.W15GfsX69)mutation, which was inherited from his heterozygous mother. A nonsense mutation (c.916C to T, p.Q306X) was discovered in the two brothers, for which their mother was heterozygous.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>AHDS is characterized by severe psychomotor developmental delay as well as congenital hypotonia, dystonia and positive pyramidal signs. Affected males may present with distinctive thyroid hormone abnormalities including increased FT and low FT accompanied by normal TSH. Delayed meylination of white matter is common. It is an X-linked mental retardation caused by SLC16A2 gene mutations.</p>

Genetic and clinical analysis of children with early-onset epilepsy encephalopathy caused by KCNT1 gene mutation / 中华儿科杂志

Objective@#To study the mutational characteristics of KCNT1 and its clinical features in children with early-onset epileptic encephalopathy.@*Methods@#Retrospective analysis of clinical data of 175 children with early onset epilepsy from the Department of Pediatrics at Peking University First Hospital from January 2012 to December 2017. Gene-based analysis was performed on children with targeted capture second-generation sequencing and the source of mutations was verified by PCR-Sanger. The clinical features of children with KCNT1 mutation were summarized.@*Results@#In 175 infants with early-onset epileptic encephalopathy, 6 children were found to have KCNT1 mutations, all of which were new mutations with an overall mutation rate of 3.4% (6/175). All the mutations were missense mutations. The age of onset was from 2 days to 32 days. Five children were diagnosed with epilepsy of infancy with migrating focal seizure, one case was diagnosed with epilepsy, focal seizures, focal seizures with generalization. A total of 6 children were treated with multi-antiepileptic drugs. The disease in 4 patients were partially controlled, while in 2 patients, the disease was not significantly alleviated. One patient died of "severe pneumonia" at one year and 4 months of age. Then, four cases were treated with quinidine. The seizure frequency had no change in 3 cases, the frequency decreased and then relapsed in 1 case. The case once ketogenic diet and failed. Ketogenic diet treatment was applied to 5 cases, no significant effect was achieved. All the 6 patients had severe developmental delay. They could not sit alone, follow the light and objects and had no language.@*Conclusions@#The mutation of KCNT1 gene is mainly de novo. The onset of the disease was early, and mostly occurs in neonate and early infancy. The main seizure type was epilepsy of infancy with migrating focal seizure. Patients usually had severe psychomotor developmental delay. Antiepileptic drugs are ineffective. The efficacy of quinidine was not significant. Though, it still need studies on a large sample.

Sialidosis: a case report / 临床儿科杂志

Objective To explore the clinical features and pathogenic genes of sialidosis. Methods The clinical data and genetic test results of a family with sialidosis were retrospectively analysed. Results The proband was a 13-year-old girl who presented with limb pain at age 7, followed by progressive vision loss and convulsive seizure. In addition, she also had the sign of ataxia. Fundus examination showed optic atrophy in her eyes. Visual evoked potential showed that the latency of binocular P100 was significantly prolonged. The elder brother of the proband showed similar manifestation. PCR was used to amplify the exons and exon-intron boundaries of the NEU1 gene, and DNA direct sequencing was used to detect the mutation in this gene. It was found that both proband and her brother carried two known pathogenic heterozygous mutations in the NEU1 gene, c.239C>T (p.P80L) and c.544A>G (p.P80L) respectively from both their mother and father of normal phenotype. Conclusion The causative mutation of the NEU1 gene in the family of sialidosis has been defined.

A case report of childhood Farber′s disease and literature review / 中华儿科杂志

Objective@#To explore the clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and the prognosis of Farber disease by case report and literature review.@*Method@#The clinical information of a case with farber′s disease diagnosed in October 2015 at Peking University First Hospital was collected and analyzed, including clinical manifestation, electrophysiology, magnetic resonance imaging, pathology, treatments and prognosis.ASAH1 gene mutational analysis was conducted in the patient and her parents.By using "Farber′s disease, ASAH1" as keywords, literature was searched from Pubmed, CHKD and HGMD database from January 1951 to January 2016.@*Result@#The girl, 2 years 2 months old, was sent to our hospital in October 2015, with complains of "joint swelling for 17 months, development regress of intelligence and movement for 11 months, intermittent seizures for 2 months" .The clinical manifestation of the patient was characterized by painful and deformed joints, subcutaneous nodules, progressive hoarseness, and the progressive neurological system deterioration.Joints swelling and deformity behave as the first symptoms.A series of electroencephalogram showed slow background and spike wave.Visual evoked potential was significantly abnormal.Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed hypomyelination and progressive diffuse brain atrophy.Histology of subcutaneous nodule showed proliferation of the connective tissue with hyalinization, cholesterol crystal like changes, and a large number of foamy cell infiltration.Compound heterozygous mutations of ASAH1 gene, c. 304_305 ins A (p.T102Nfs14) and c. 314T>C (p.L105p), were found in the patient, and the former is inherited from her mother, the latter from her father.Antiepileptic treatment and other symptomatic treatments were delivered to the patient, but the effectiveness was poor.One reference from China hownet and 35 references from Pubmed have reported a total of 26 cases.Twenty out of 26 patients (77%) had the onset under 1 year of age.By region, there were 12 patients (12/26, 46%) from India, and the others around world.Among these 12 indian patients, 10 lack of complete clinical data.Among the rest 16 patients, 4 patients′ parents were consanguineous; 8 patients with the main clinical manifestation of painful and deformed joints, subcutaneous nodules, and hoarse cry; 4 patients with hepatic failure and impaired spleen; 5 patients with rapid neurological deterioration; 1 patient with bone destruction; 7 patients under liver and skin biopsies, pathologically showing a large number of foam cells and "Farber bodies" . There are 33 genetic mutations, and 45% (15/33) mutations are concentrated in ASAH1 exon 6-10.@*Conclusion@#Farber disease is a rare autosomal recessive disease caused by deficiency of lysosomal acid ceramidase.Histopathology of granulomatous tissue plays an important role in the early diagnosis.

Effectiveness and safety of rituximab for children with autoimmune diseases of the nervous system / 中华儿科杂志

Objective@#To assess the effectiveness and safety of rituximab in Chinese children with autoimmune diseases of the nervous system.@*Method@#An ambispective cohort study enrolled patients with refractory and(or) relapse autoimmune diseases of nervous system from June 2010 to June 2016 in Peking University First Hospital.These patients failed to respond to steroids and(or)intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) were treated with rituximab and seen for follow-up visits once every 3 months.The effectiveness was assessed by modified Rankin scale (mRs) and the annualized relapse rate.B cell was repeatedly counted after the treatment.Side effects attributed to rituximab were recorded.Paired rank test and chi-square test were used to compare the mRs score and the recurrence rate (time/year) before and after the treatment.@*Result@#A total of 38 patients (15 males and 23 females) with mean age of (6±4) years were treated with rituximab.Among those patients, 4 cases were in multiple sclerosis, 5 in neuromyelitis optica, 6 in opsoclonus myoclonus syndrome, 9 in myasthenia gravis, and 14 in autoimmune encephalitis and other nervous system autoimmune diseases.The course of the disease before rituximab treatment was from two months to 7.25 years, with the average of (21±19) months.The patients had been followed up for 2-52 months. The mRs score and recurrence rate of 38 patients before receiving rituximab was 3 points (3, 4) and 2.56 (1.80, 4.75) times per year, respectively, while patients after receiving rituximab were mRs score of 0 (0, 2) and had a recurrence rate of 0 (0, 0.17) per year.There was statistical difference before and after treatment (Z=-4.51 and -4.71, P<0.01). Rituximab had a definite benefit in 23 patients, probable benefit in 2 patients, possible benefit in 3 patients, no benefit in one patient, and the disease worsened in 2 patients.Therefore the total effective rate was 74%, except for 6 undetermined cases because of the short follow-up time, and one patient withdrew from the study due to allergic reaction.During the follow-up, only one patient with severe allergy gave up the rituximab treatment. And only one patient was found severe infection with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.@*Conclusion@#Rituximab is an effective and safe treatment strategy for patients with refractory and relapse autoimmune diseases of CNS, especially in neuromyelitis optica and myasthenia gravis.The adverse events including infection and allergy during infusion are not common.

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis with demyelinated lesions in 3 children and literature review / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To summarize the clinical and prognostic features of anti - N - methyl - D - aspartate receptor (NMDAR)encephalitis with demyelinated lesions and discuss the possible pathogenesis. Methods The clini-cal and imaging features of 3 pediatric patients diagnosed as anti - NMDAR encephalitis with demyelinated lesions were analyzed. The published papers were browsed by using " anti - NMDA receptor encephalitis" and " demyelinating"as key words into CNKI,Wanfang and PubMed database from starting point to May,2017. Results In 3 cases,anti -NMDAR encephalitis occurred simultaneously with demyelinated episodes in 2 cases,successively in the other case. One case had AQP4 - IgG positive. Two cases had recurrent course,and 1 case had a single course and poor prognosis. A to-tal of 15 articles reported 41 cases,including 16 (39. 02％)pediatric cases. In these pediatric cases,anti - NMDAR encephalitis occurred in 7 cases (43. 75％)successively and demyelinated episodes occurred in 9 cases (56. 25％) simultaneously. AQP4 antibody and MOG antibody in serum and/ or cerebrospinal fluid were detected in all cases,with either of two antibodies positive in 9 cases (56. 25％). Conclusion Anti - NMDAR encephalitis might occur simulta-neously or successively with demyelinated episodes. Compared with typical patients with anti - NMDAR encephalitis, patients with demyelinated lesions are more likely to relapse and have worse outcomes. Anti - NMDAR encephalitis and demyelinated lesions are both based on similar immune dysfunction or demyelinated lesions are also induced by anti -NMDAR antibodies,which is the probable pathogenesis.

Correction: Advance in research on MRCP2 duplication syndrome. Zhonghua Yi Xue Yi Chuan Xue Za Zhi, 2015, 32(3): 426-429 / 中华医学遗传学杂志

The English Title for the above article, as appeared in our June 2015 issue, should be corrected as "Advance in research on MECP2 duplication syndrome".

Electroencephalographic features of anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis in children / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate electroencephalographic (EEG) characteristics of anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis in children.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Clinical data of 28 children diagnosed as anti-NMDAR encephalitis were retrospectively analyzed for EEG characteristics in different periods and severity of disease and outcome.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Among the 28 patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis, 15 were males and 13 were females. Their age at disease onset ranged from 1 year 3 months to 12 years 4 months. Patients were divided into mild group (5 cases) and severe group (23 cases). In the different stage of the disease, occipital background activity of the EEG was preserved in more than half of patients. Accompanied by the evolution of disease course, the occipital background activity and slow waves gradually recovered to normal. In the peak phase of disease, occipital background activity in the awake state was preserved in 4/5 patients of the mild group and 9/17 patients of the severe group. Alpha and theta band rhythms in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep existed in 77% (17/22) patients. EEG monitoring showed delta brushes in 2 cases, and the delta brushes were mixed with background fast waves in one case; 71% (20/28) patients had epileptiform discharges in EEG during the course, and among them, 6 patients had secondary epilepsy.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The background activity in the awake state and abnormal diffuse slow waves of EEG were evolved and gradually recovered during the course of the disease. Regardless milder or severe illness condition, occipital background activity was still preserved during different stages in most patients. Alpha and theta rhythms in NREM sleep might represent a relatively overt EEG characteristic. The presence of delta brush in EEG was rare, and sometimes they were difficult to be distinguished from fast wave activities caused by drugs. The presence of epileptiform discharges in EEG suggested the possibility of secondary epilepsy.</p>

ATP1A3 gene mutations in patients with alternating hemiplegia of childhood / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the ATP1A3 mutations in patients with alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC) and recognize its value in diagnosing atypical cases.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Data of all AHC patients seen at Peking University First Hospital from August 2005 to November 2014 were prospectively collected. Clinical information of the AHC patients and their family members were collected and analyzed. Genomic DNAs were extracted from their peripheral blood. Mutations in ATP1A3 were screened by Sanger sequencing after PCR.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>A total of 78 AHC patients were recruited, including 50 males and 28 females. Only three patients had family history of AHC. The first family case had affected mother with AHC; the second family case was the older one of a monozygotic male twins with AHC but their parents were normal; the third family case had a sister with AHC but their parents were normal. The age of onset ranged from six hours to eight years and six months (median: 4 months). According to the Aicardi's clinical diagnostic criteria, 72 patients were considered as typical AHC cases and the other six patients were considered as atypical AHC cases for their age of onset was older than 18 months. Twenty-seven different missense ATP1A3 mutations were detected in 71 (91.0%, 71/78) patients with AHC, including 66 typical and 5 atypical cases. 11 novel ATP1A3 mutations were first reported. ATP1A3 mutations were identified in the three AHC cases with family history. Parental analysis verified that the ATP1A3 mutation of 63 patients (95.5%, 63/66) were de novo origin except lack of five unavailable maternal or paternal genomic DNA. Mutation D801N was found in 20 cases (28.2%), and E815K in 12 cases (16.9%). In the six atypical AHC patients, ATP1A3 mutations were detected in five of them.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>ATP1A3 was the major causative gene of AHC, and mutations were identified as de novo mostly. ATP1A3 mutations in AHC had mutational hotspot, and the most common mutations were D801N and E815K. ATP1A3 mutation screening is helpful for the genetic and definite diagnosis of the atypical AHC cases.</p>

Myoclonus epilepsy with ragged-red fibers:a case report and literature review / 北京大学学报(医学版)

SUMMARY To demonstrate the clinical manifestation, diagnosis and treatment of myoclonus epilepsy with ragged-red-fibers ( MERRF) , a case of MERRF was presented with review of the literature. A 4-year-7-month-old girl was diagnosed with MERRF. She had tremor, fatigue and developmental delay for more than 2 years. Laboratory tests showed that the serum and urine lactic acid and pyruvic acid increased significantly. Electroencephalogram showed diffuse and focal spike slow wave and slow wave in right central and parietal regions. Electromyogram showed neurological damage. Gene mutational analysis showed mtDNA 8344 A>G mutation. The mutational rate was 78%. Mitochondrial disease MERRF syndrome was diagnosed. Cocktails therapy with vitamins B1, B6, B12, L-carnitine, and coenzyme Q10 was administra-ted to the patient. MERRF is a rare disease. The diagnosis can be made by gene mutational analysis. Cocktail therapy may slow down the deterioration of the disease. Gene therapy is still experimental.

3-Hydroxy-isobutyryl-CoA hydrolase deficiency in a child with Leigh-like syndrome and literature review / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical features and genetic characteristics of patients with 3-hydroxy-isobutyryl-CoA hydrolase (HIBCH) gene mutations.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The clinical data of a patient with novel HIBCH mutations were collected, the related literature was searched from China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, National Center for Biotechnology Information and PubMed (up to December 2014) by using search terms" HIBCH", "3-hydroxy-isobutyryl-CoA hydrolase" or "beta-Hydroxyisobutyryl CoA Deacylase Deficiency". The clinical features, neuroimage and treatment of the patients with HIBCH gene mutations were studied.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The patient was a girl who was born at term after an uneventful pregnancy to non-consanguineous healthy parents, she was hospitalized at 5 years and 5 months of age because of development delay for 5 years and 5 months and abnormal posture on the left of body for more than 10 days. The family history was unremarkable. Her psychomotor development was significantly delayed. Three times brain MRI between 2. 5 years and 5 years of age revealed bilateral symmetrical lesions in basal ganglia. At the age of 5 years and 5 months, she presented with acute encephalopathy and severe extrapyramidal symptoms preceded by fever. At that time, her brain MRI revealed aggravated lesions in bilateral basal ganglia, new lesions in the midbrain cerebral peduncle and pons, and cerebellar atrophy. The results of biochemical tests were normal. A novel compound heterozygous mutation of HIBCH gene, c. 1027C > G, p. H343D and c. 79-1G > T, splicing, were found in the parent. Further study showed that c. 1027 C > G mutation was inherited from her father and c. 79-1 G > T from her mother. Her symptoms were mitigated after "cocktail" therapy and symptomatic treatment. Repeated brain MRI revealed that the lesion in basal ganglia got better, the lesions in brain stem disappeared. Literature relevant to HIBCH published all around the world was reviewed, no Chinese cases with HIBCH gene mutations had been reported, 6 foreign cases with HIBCH gene mutations were reported. Among them, 5 patients were diagnosed as Leigh-like syndrome, with progressive neurodegenerative course, and symmetrical basal ganglia lesions on brain MRI. Another case was reported in 1982, with developmental delay and various physical malformations without data on his brain MRI. HIBCH gene mutational analysis showed that 4 cases had homozygous mutations, which were c. 950G > A (p. G317E) in two brothers, c. 219 _220insTTGAATAG (p. K73fsX86) and c. 1128_1129insT (p. K377X) respectively. Three of them died before 3 years old. Two cases had compound heterozygous mutations: c. 365A > G (p. Y122C) and IVS2-3C > G (p. R27fsX50); c. 517 + 1G > A and c. 410C > T (p. A137V). They were alive at the time of the report.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Patients with HIBCH gene mutation mainly presented as Leigh-like syndrome both in clinical manifestation and in neuroimage. HIBCH gene mutational analysis should be performed on children with Leigh-like syndrome, if the mutations of known genes of Leigh syndrome were negative.</p>

Advance in research on MECP2 corrected duplication syndrome / 中华医学遗传学杂志

Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 gene (MECP2; OMIM 300005) is located at chromosome Xq28. Mutations of the gene including point mutation, duplication and deletion can lead to severe neurodevelopmental disorders. The disease caused by duplication of the entire MECP2 gene, named as MECP2 duplication syndrome, is mostly seen in males. The clinical manifestation of this syndrome include mental retardation, hypotonia, poor speech development, recurrent infection, progressive spasticity, epilepsy, autism or autistic features with or without midface hypoplasia. Most patients have inherited the duplication from their unaffected mothers, with only a few cases having de novo mutation. Females with duplicated MECP2 gene are typically asymptomatic because of a skewed X chromosome inactivation (XCI) pattern. Proposed mechanisms of this genomic rearrangement include fork stalling and template switching (FoSTeS) and microhomology mediated break-induced replication (MMBIR). Since no effective treatment is available for this disease, proper genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis for the high risk families are crucial.

Efficacy of methylprednisolone therapy for electrical status epilepticus during sleep in children / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the therapeutic effect of methylprednisolone for electrical status epilepticus during sleep (ESES) in children.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The clinical and EEG data of 82 epilepsy patients with ESES, which included benign childhood epilepsy with centro temporal spikes (BECT) variants, epilepsy with continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep (CSWS) , Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS) collected from department of pediatrics, Peking University First Hospital were analyzed from July 2007 to September 2012. During ESES period, all patients received methylprednisolone treatment for three courses, which included methylprednisolone intravenous infusion for three days, followed by oral prednisone for four days every time. After three courses, prednisone [1-2 mg/(kg × d)] were taken by all patients for 6 months. The ESES phenomenon and seizures were observed before and after treatment. The efficacy of corticosteroid on ESES suppression, seizure control of three epilepsy syndrome were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Thirty-nine cases were male and 43 cases were female. The epilepsy syndromes included 49 patients diagnosed as benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spike (BECT) variants, 27 patients diagnosed as epilepsy with continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep (CSWS), and 6 patients diagnosed as LKS. Age of onset ranged from 1 year and 4 months to 11 years. The age of ESES newly monitored was from 2 years to 10 years and 8 months. The total effective rate of corticosteroid was 83% (68/82) for ESES, BECT variants was 82% (40/49), CSWS was 81% (22/27), LKS was 100% (6/6). There was no statistically significant difference in effective rates between the front two (χ² = 0.09, P > 0.05). The seizures were improved in the first month after methylprednisolone treatment in 3 epilepsy syndromes. The recurrence rate of BECT variants was 47% (23/49) , CSWS was 59% (16/27) , LKS was 50% (3/6) after 1 year follow up. There was no association between disease parameters, including age at seizure onset, duration of ESES and the treatment effect of ESES examined by Kruskal-Wallis method (χ² = 3.585, 0.932, P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Methylprednisolone was effective for improving ESES and seizures in 3 epilepsy syndromes combined with ESES. There was no significant correlation between age at seizure onset, duration of ESES and treatment effect of ESES.</p>

Study on concordance of ictal and interictal epileptiform activity in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the relationship between the ictal onset zone and dominant interictal epileptiform foci in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) patients.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Clinical data of 20 patients with TSC which had epileptic seizures during Video-EEG monitoring was assessed. Consistency and dominance of focal interictal epileptiform activity and the ictal onset zone were identified. Concordance between interictal and ictal findings was analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Of the 20 patients, 7 were female, and 13 were male. The age of epilepsy onset was from 15 d to 6 years. The Video-EEG monitoring age was from 6 months to 11 years. Family history was found in three cases. Abnormality in neuroimaging existed in 17 of 18 patients who were examined. Interictal EEG showed hypsarrhythmia in 3 patients, multifocal epileptiform activity with a dominant focus in 12 patients, both focal and generalized discharges in 2 patients, and only focal discharges in 3 patients. The seizures types during EEG monitoring included epileptic spasms, partial seizure, atypical absence, and generalized or focal myoclonic seizure. The most common seizure type was partial seizure and then epileptic spasms. EEG in 4 patients with epileptic spasms showed ictal generalized discharges and interictal hypsarrhythmia or generalized discharges. Clinical manifestation of epileptic spasms was asymmetric in 3 patients. Lateralization and location of interictal and ictal discharges were consistent in 2 of the 3 patients, while only lateralization consistency in 1 of the 3 patients. Partial seizures as the only seizure type were monitored in 13 patients. Of the 13 patients, lateralization and location of interictal and ictal discharges were inconsistent in 2 patients (15%), consistent in 8 patients (62%), lateralization or location consistent in 2 patients (15%). One case could not be analyzed because of uncertainty of lateralization and location of seizure onset.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>In the majority of patients with TSC, multifocal interictal epileptiform activity is present, in which a most dominance of focal epileptiform activity could be found. For some epileptic seizures or the majority of partial seizures, the ictal onset zone is concordant with the dominance of focal interictal epileptiform foci. The concordance might have positioning reference significance for preoperative evaluation of epilepsy surgery.</p>