Cranial neural crest cells on the move: their roles in craniofacial development.

The craniofacial region is assembled through the active migration of cells and the rearrangement and sculpting of facial prominences and pharyngeal arches, which consequently make it particularly susceptible to a large number of birth defects. Genetic, molecular, and cellular processes must be temporally and spatially regulated to culminate in the three-dimension structures of the face. The starting constituent for the majority of skeletal and connective tissues in the face is a pluripotent population of cells, the cranial neural crest cells (NCCs). In this review we discuss the newest scientific findings in the development of the craniofacial complex as related to NCCs. Furthermore, we present recent findings on NCC diseases called neurocristopathies and, in doing so, provide clinicians with new tools for understanding a growing number of craniofacial genetic disorders.

A novel glucokinase gene mutation and its effect on glycemic/C-peptide fluctuations in a patient with maturity-onset diabetes of the young type 2.

Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) is a group of disorders accounting for 2-5% of diabetes; MODY2 is caused by inactivating GCK mutations. We report a case of MODY2 caused by a novel GCK mutation and demonstrate differential glycemic/C-peptide responses to treatment with insulin, no medication, and an oral sulfonylurea.