Report of a Triploid Fetus Identified in a Pregnancy with Oligohydramnios.

This report describes a pregnancy with a triploid fetus identified from a scan for anomalies at 18 weeks and confirmed by amniocentesis. A 29-year-old, primigravida woman was referred to our clinic for genetic counseling at 18 weeks of gestation because of a mild oligohydramnios due to amniotic fluid index (AFI) less than the fifth percentile in her 18th week. The woman underwent amniocentesis, which revealed a karyotype of 69,XXX. There was no consanguinity in this family. In postmortem evaluation, we encountered a hydrocephalic fetus with an aberrant skull shape, including dysplastic calvaria with large posterior fontanel, marked intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) in addition to syndactyly of third and fourth fingers, exophthalmia, cleft palate, low set malformed ears, micrognathia and club foot. Early prenatal diagnosis of this syndrome would provide women an opportunity to terminate a pregnancy earlier, which can prevent the risks associated with late induced abortion or obstetric complications. The results of this study also provides useful information for prenatal genetic counseling.

Valproic acid may exerts its cytotoxic effect through rassf1a expression induction in acute myeloid leukemia.

In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), despite the acceptance of standard intensive chemotherapy as an optimal induction regimen for all age groups, in the elderly patients, the best treatment should meet the challenge of multiple factors like age, comorbidities, and cytogenetics, making them ineligible for standard induction chemotherapy. Using the current low-intensity therapies like decitabine, azacitidine, and low-dose cytarabine as a single arm, outcomes for these patients remain poor. As a histone deacetylase inhibitor valproic acid (VPA) exhibit anticancer activity by triggering apoptosis, the mechanism of which is not yet completely clarified. To explore the possible connection between VPA treatment and the Hippo pathway as an apoptosis stimulating route, we also explore the expression of major components of this pathway and for the first time we postulate a relationship between VPA treatment and cell death induction through RASSF1A expression induction. Furthermore, we demonstrate that autophagy inhibition by chloroquine (CQ) significantly augmented the cytotoxic effect of VPA on AML cells, especially in those with unfavorable and normal karyotype. Regarding that VPA and CQ are well-tolerated drugs and our presumptive results of usefulness of VPA + CQ in three cytogenetic risk groups of AML, this combinatorial therapy could represent an attractive treatment option for older AML patients unfit for intensive therapy.