[Myotonic dystrophy in children; how can you recognise the symptoms in a child and in family members?]. / Myotone dystrofie op de kinderleeftijd.

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 is an autosomal dominant disease, which affects multiple organ systems. Clinical symptoms in young children are non-specific, and include learning disabilities, behavioural problems and fatigue. Myotonic dystrophy type 1 is characterised by the phenomenon "anticipation": the occurrence of increasing severity of disease and lower age of onset in successive generations. Early diagnosis and treatment of early-onset symptoms in the patient and in family members is essential. Genetic counselling of all family members regarding hereditary risks is important. This article provides insight into the diagnosis of myotonic dystrophy in childhood.

Development of a PVS2 droplet vitrification method for potato cryopreservation.

BACKGROUND: CIP maintains the largest in vitro clonal potato collection in the world, comprising 4,013 landraces and 3,353 improved accessions. The in vitro technology is more efficient and secure than conservation in the field, allowing in vitro plantlets to be stored for approximately 2 years without sub-culture. This method however is not ideal for the long-term germplasm conservation because it is labor consuming, costly, and carries risks of losing accessions due to human error, such as contamination and mislabeling during sub-culturing. OBJECTIVE: To improve the potato cryopreservation procedure based on the droplet PVS2 vitrification. METHODS: The improved method is as follows: excision of 1.8-2.5 mm apical shoot tips from 3 weeks old cultures; 15 min exposure to a loading solution and 50 min to PVS2 (at 0 degree C); ultra-rapid cooling on aluminum foil strips (0.5 x 2 cm) in LN; rewarming (20 min) in 1.2 M sucrose MS liquid medium; post-cryo culture in the dark on potato meristem medium with progressively decreased sucrose levels (daily transfers from 0.3, to 0.2, to 0.1 M and maintained on 0.07 M). This method was compared with those previously applied by IPK (Germany) and CIP potato genebanks. RESULTS: Survival and recovery were higher using the PVS2 droplet method. Cultivars from several species, one frost tolerant (Solanum juzecpzukii, cv. Pinaza) and two drought tolerant (S. tuberosum subsp andigena, cv Ccompis, and Solanum spp, cv Desiree) responded similarly. CONCLUSIONS: The improved method is recommended for the long term conservation of diverse potato germplasm.

Shoot-tip cryopreservation by droplet vitrification of Byrsonima intermedia A. Juss.: a woody tropical and medicinal plant species from Brazilian cerrado.

Cryopreservation of plant species is poorly investigated in Brazil. The aim of this study was to cryopreserve Byrsonima intermedia shoot apical meristems through droplet vitrification. A culture medium for shoot-tips growth was established using the Woody Plant Medium supplemented with 2.22 uM 6-benzylaminopurine. Excised shoot-tips were subjected to pre-culture and/or post-culture treatments on Murashige and Skoog medium with 0.3 M sucrose for 24 h prior dehydration on PVS2 at 0°C for 15, 30 or 45 minutes prior to plunging in liquid nitrogen. The effect of 15 days of shoot pre-growth on a high osmotic medium (0.3 M sucrose or 0.21 M sorbitol + 0.09 M sucrose) prior to meristem excision and cryopreservation was also investigated. Pre-culturing shoot-tips on 0.3 M sucrose for 24 h prior to cryopreservation increased the regrowth level after thawing to 90%. Shoot-tips excised from shoots pre-grown on MS + 0.21 M sorbitol + 0.09 M sucrose for 15 days presented a satisfactory regrowth level (67%).

Cryopreservation of Galanthus elwesii Hook. apical meristems by droplet vitrification.

The aim of this study was to develop an efficient cryopreservation protocol for the geophyte giant snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii Hook.) that guarantees a high rate of survival and plant regeneration after cryopreservation. The excised apical meristems were obtained from cultures of in vitro grown bulb scales. Using a vitrification procedure and optimizing the duration of the exposure to the loading solution (LS), meristem post-rewarm survival rates higher than 90 percent were achieved. Also regrowth percentages were very high, ranging from 87 to 91 percent. After optimizing the time of exposure to the plant vitrification solution (PVS2), the survival rate was between 83 and 97 percent. During post-rewarm regeneration, good growth recovery was as high as 76 percent; however, hyperhydration and callusing were also observed. The results demonstrate that cryopreservation of Galanthus elwesii germplasm seems to be feasible.

Cryopreservation of apple in vitro axillary buds using droplet-vitrification.

In vitro axillary buds of two apple cultivars, Pinova and Jonagold, were successfully cryopreserved by droplet-vitrification. In vitro axillary buds of cv. Pinova were subjected to PVS2 for 15, 30, 45, 60, 80 or 100 min, while Jonagold buds were treated with PVS2 for 15, 30, 45 or 60 min. In addition, the effect of age of in vitro mother-plants on recovery after cryopreservation was evaluated. Recovery was performed on medium with various combinations of BA, IBA and GA3. Regrowth percentages for cv. Pinova increased in line with increasing PVS2 exposure durations, from 15 to 60 min. Cv. Jonagold showed a similar trend with an increase in regrowth from 30 to 60 min PVS2 exposure. Improved regrowth was observed when axillary buds were excised from aged mother-plants in comparison to those excised from plantlets that were regularly subcultured. The highest shoot regrowth was obtained when applying a 60 min PVS2 treatment to axillary buds excised from non-preconditioned 4-month old in vitro shoots and performing regrowth on recovery medium containing 4.50 microM BA and 0.50 microM IBA. This optimal protocol was also successfully applied to apple rootstocks M26 and Jork 9.

Challenges and solutions for the identification of membrane proteins in non-model plants.

The workhorse for proteomics in non-model plants is classical two-dimensional electrophoresis, a combination of iso-electric focusing and SDS-PAGE. However, membrane proteins with multiple membrane spanning domains are hardly detected on classical 2-DE gels because of their low abundance and poor solubility in aqueous media. In the current review, solutions that have been proposed to handle these two problems in non-model plants are discussed. An overview of alternative techniques developed for membrane proteomics is provided together with a comparison of their strong and weak points. Subsequently, strengths and weaknesses of the different techniques and methods to evaluate the identification of membrane proteins are discussed. Finally, an overview of recent plant membrane proteome studies is provided with the used separation technique and the number of identified membrane proteins listed.

A workflow for peptide-based proteomics in a poorly sequenced plant: a case study on the plasma membrane proteome of banana.

Membrane proteins are an interesting class of proteins because of their functional importance. Unfortunately their analysis is hampered by low abundance and poor solubility in aqueous media. Since shotgun methods are high-throughput and partly overcome these problems, they are preferred for membrane proteomics. However, their application in non-model plants demands special precautions to prevent false positive identification of proteins. In the current paper, a workflow for membrane proteomics in banana, a poorly sequenced plant, is proposed. The main steps of this workflow are (i) optimization of the peptide separation, (ii) performing de novo sequencing to allow a sequence homology search and (iii) visualization of identified peptide-protein associations using Cytoscape to remove redundancy and wrongly assigned peptides, based on species-specific information. By applying this workflow, integral plasma membrane proteins from banana leaves were successfully identified.

Cryopreservation of Fraxinus excelsior L. embryogenic callus by one-step freezing and slow cooling techniques.

An efficient cryopreservation protocol for the safe storage of Fraxinus excelsior L. embryogenic callus cultures is reported. The cryopreservation methods tested included one-step freezing by means of (i) encapsulation-vitrification; or (ii) encapsulation-dehydration; and (iii) slow cooling using the Nalgene Freezing container, Mr Frosty, which produces a temperature decrease of about 1 masculineC min-1 when placed in a -70 degree C freezer. None of the one-step freezing techniques was effective for cryopreservation of encapsulated callus masses, irrespective of the cryoprotective treatment applied, i.e., treatment with the PVS2 vitrification solution or physical dehydration with silica gel before direct immersion in liquid nitrogen. On the contrary, when a slow cooling protocol was applied to embryogenic callus which had been pretreated for 60 min with a 210 g per liter (0.61 M) sucrose-7.5 percent DMSO cryoprotective solution, up to about 1.3 g per Petri dish of proliferating callus was observed 42 days after recovery from liquid nitrogen, and cultures were able to produce somatic embryos 8 weeks after transfer to semi-solid medium. TTC staining of callus cultures provided a fast evaluation of culture viability.

Cryopreservation of olive embryogenic cultures.

The aim of this work was to optimize a protocol for the cryopreservation of embryogenic cultures of olive (Olea europaea L.). Exposure time to loading solution and PVS2 significantly influenced the regrowth rate of both organized and non-organized tissues. Organized tissues were more sensitive to prolonged treatments with vitrification solutions compared to non-organized tissues. Three cryopreservation protocols were compared using non-organized tissues: the "classical" vitrification protocol, an ultra-fast freezing method using droplet vitrification on aluminium foil strips and a "classical" slow freezing method (1 degree C per min). The best results were obtained using the droplet vitrification method after a 60 min dehydration period with PVS2. Under these conditions, all cryopreserved cultures showed renewed embryogenesis six weeks after thawing. A long-term (7-8 weeks) sucrose preculture had a significant effect on the initial response of the cultures, allowing particularly to protect cells against the toxic effects of the vitrification solution.

Proposal for the prevention of osteoporosis in paediatric patients with classical galactosaemia.

Decreased bone mass in early childhood is an increasingly recognized problem in classical galactosaemia as in many other chronic diseases. Peak bone mass is reached in late adolescence; thus, increasing peak bone mass in childhood can prevent osteoporosis. Regular bone mass measurements and preventive treatment should begin in childhood. In the absence of evidence-based guidelines for identification and treatment of decreased bone mass in children, we provide a proposal based on our experience and the available literature. Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) should be used for bone mass assessment. Because cooperation is required, measurements can usually be performed from the age of 4 years. Interpretation of bone mass measurements is crucial for the diagnosis of osteopenia or osteoporosis. In children and adolescents, total body bone mineral content (BMC) as well as lean tissue mass (LTM) should be measured. Comparison of BMC corrected for LTM of the patient with the BMC corrected for LTM of healthy controls allows correction for the confounding effect of bone size. DXA should be repeated every two years in case of normal BMC, as this is the time window in which abnormalities become measurable. If BMC is between 0 and -1 SD, lifestyle factors such as physical activity, intake of calcium and vitamins K and D and oestrogen supplementation (in girls) should be optimized. If BMC is below -1 SD, we advise to start with supplementation of calcium, vitamin K(1) and vitamin D(3). DXA should be repeated yearly in case of BMC below 0 SD in order to identify deteriorations and improvements early.

Immunogold silver staining associated with epi-fluorescence for cucumber mosaic virus localisation on semi-thin sections of banana tissues.

The immunogold-silver staining (IGSS) technique in combination with epi-fluorescence detection was used to localise cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) particles within banana infected tissues. For this purpose, tissue samples (2 mm3) were excised from CMV-infected and highly proliferating meristem cultures of Williams BSJ banana (ITC. 0570, AAA, Cavendish subgroup). These samples were immediately fixed in a 2% paraformaldehyde/0.25% glutaraldehyde mixture, dehydrated in ethanol, and finally embedded in L.R. White resin. Semi-thin sections were cut, mounted on clean treated glass slides and immunostained for CMV particles using gold-labelled secondary antibodies and silver enhancement. Sections were counterstained with basic fuchsin and examined using laser scanning confocal microscopy. Negative controls included immuno-stained samples excised from non-virus infected material as well as infected material on which primary or secondary antibodies were not applied. Images of autofluorescence (in red) and of epi-reflectance of silver-enhanced immunogold particles (in green) were recorded separately and merged, allowing the specific localisation of CMV particles at the cellular level on semi-thin sections of aldehyde-fixed banana tissues. The main advantage of this analytical approach compared to previously published protocols is that it combines a fast staining procedure, stable preparation, a high resolution, and a narrow plane of focus with the flexibility in generation, processing and analysis of images offered by laser scanning confocal microscopy. Finally, the presence of numerous CMV particles within banana meristems constitutes a clear explanation of the very low CMV elimination efficiency when using meristem-tip culture alone.

High-throughput determination of malondialdehyde in plant tissues.

Malondialdehyde (MDA) is a widely used marker of oxidative lipid injury whose concentration varies in response to biotic and abiotic stress. Commonly, MDA is quantified as a strong light-absorbing and fluorescing adduct following reaction with thiobarbituric acid (TBA). However, plant tissues in particular contain many compounds that potentially interfere with this reaction and whose concentrations also vary according to the tissue type and stress conditions. As part of our studies into the stress responses of plant tissues, we were interested in developing a rapid, accurate, and robust protocol for MDA analysis using reverse-phased HPLC to avoid these problems with reaction specificity. We demonstrate that a partitioning step into n-butanol during sample preparation is essential and that gradient HPLC analysis is necessary to prevent sample carryover between injections. Furthermore, the starting composition of the mobile phase must be sufficiently hydrophobic to allow direct injection of the n-butanol extracts without peak splitting, tailing, and other artifacts. To minimize analysis times, we used a short, so-called "Rocket" HPLC column and high flow rates. The optimized HPLC separation has a turnaround time of 2.5 min per sample. Butanolic extracts of MDA(TBA)(2) were stable for at least 48 h, and recoveries were linear between 0.38 and 7.5 pmol MDA added. Importantly, this procedure proved to be compatible with existing extraction procedures for l-ascorbate and glutathione analysis in different plant species, allowing multiple "stress metabolite" analyses to be carried out on a single tissue extract.

Body composition in children with galactosaemia.

Body composition in classical galactosaemia has not been studied. Patients with classical galactosaemia, an inherited disorder of galactose metabolism caused by deficiency of galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT, EC 2.7.7.10), might be at risk for an abnormal body composition because of intrinsic factors related to galactosaemia and/or diet-related factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the body composition of children with classical galactosaemia. The studied population was a previously reported group of classical galactosaemia patients (13 male and 27 female, ages 3-17 years) with decreased height, weight, weight-for-height and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) Z-scores. Body composition data were obtained by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). In order to correct for height, fat mass (FM) and lean tissue mass (LTM) were divided by squared height. Mid-parental target height Z-scores were assessed and compared to actual height Z-scores. Linear and multiple regression analysis were done to investigate the relationship between body composition and IGF-I, dietary intake and growth data. We found decreased height Z-scores when compared to mid-parental target height Z-scores. Mean scores for FM and LTM (both adjusted for height) were decreased. LTM (adjusted for height) and height Z-score were correlated with IGF-I Z-score. FM (adjusted for height) was correlated with soy intake. No correlation was found between soy intake and IGF-I Z-score. In this limited group of patients, height is decreased and body composition is abnormal. The decreased levels of IGF-I and/or soy nutrition might play a role in these findings.

Bone metabolism in galactosemia.

Classical galactosemia is an autosomal recessively inherited disorder of galactose metabolism. Treatment consists of life-long dietary restriction of galactose. Despite treatment, long-term complications occur such as a decreased bone mineral density (BMD). A decreased BMD might be the result of either dietary deficiencies secondary to the galactose-restricted diet or unknown intrinsic factors. In this study, 40 children with classical galactosemia (13 males and 27 females, aged 3-17 years) on dietary treatment were included to gain insight in the bone metabolism of galactosemics. We found weight and height Z scores significantly decreased in galactosemics. Mean areal BMD Z scores of lumbar spine and of femoral neck as measured by Dual energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) were -0.6 (P < 0.001) and -0.3 (P = 0.066), respectively. Mean volumetric BMD of the femoral neck was significant lower in galactosemics (P < 0.001). The recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for calcium, magnesium, zinc, vitamin D, and protein were met in all patients. Mean serum levels of calcium, phosphate, magnesium, zinc, 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D (1,25OHD), parathormone (PTH), 17-beta estradiol, bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), and under-carboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC) were normal. Serum levels of IGF-1 Z score, carboxylated osteocalcin (cOC), N-terminal telopeptide (NTX), and C-terminal telopeptide (CTX) were significantly lower in galactosemics than in control subjects. The different bone markers were strongly correlated. The low levels of IGF-1 Z score, formation marker cOC, and resorption markers NTX and CTX suggest a decreased bone metabolism in galactosemics.