Familial male pseudohermaphroditism

Familial male pseudohermaphroditism (MPH) due to 17, 20-desmolase deficiency is rare. Here we present two siblings with MPH possibly due to 17, 20-desmolase deficiency. The first patient presented with unambiguous female external genitalia and hypergonadotrophic hypogonadism. Chromosomal analysis revealed 46 XY. Ultrasound evaluation of pelvis revealed gonads in the inguinal canal, and no uterus. These findings were confirmed on laparotomy. Histology revealed the gonads to be testes. The second patient had ambiguous genitalia (perineoscrotal hypospadias, bifid scrotum with palpable gonads) with a 46 XY chromosomal pattern. Both patients had high plasma 17-hydroxy progestrone (17 OHP), low normal dehydro epiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) and low plasma testosterone. Plasma testosterone and DHEAS showed no response to ACTH or HCG. These features are compatible with the diagnosis of 17, 20-desmolase deficiency.     

Lack of evidence for increased tolerance of rat spinal cord with decreasing fraction doses below 2 Gy

The radiation tolerance of the spinal cord, both in man and in rats, has been shown to depend strongly on the size of the dose per fraction. With fraction doses down to about 2 Gy, the spinal cord tolerance can be predicted by a modified Ellis formula: D approximately N0.43. More recently alternative isoeffect formulas were based on the linear-quadratic (LQ) model of cell survival where the effect of dose fractionation is characterized by the ratio alpha/beta which varies from tissue to tissue. For the spinal cord, as well as for other late responding tissues, the ratio alpha/beta is small, in contrast to most acutely responding tissues. Both the Ellis-type formula, and to a lesser extent the LQ-model, predict a continuously increasing tolerance dose with decreasing fraction size. From the LQ model, the concept of "flexure dose" has been derived, which proposes the limit of effective fractionation to be about 0.1 alpha/beta. At this dose per fraction no significant further gain in tolerance would be detected. From previous experiments on the rat cervical spinal cord with doses per fraction down to about 2 Gy, the ratio alpha/beta was determined to be 1.7 Gy, and the LQ-model would predict a rise in tolerance with a reduction in fraction size to far below 2 Gy. Based on these predictions clinical studies have been initiated assuming a significantly increased tolerance by reduction of fraction size to about 1 Gy. However, in the present experiments no evidence was found for such an increase in tolerance with fraction sizes below 2 Gy.     

多种酰基辅酶A脱氢酶缺乏症患儿ETFDH基因新突变研究

本文报道了1例多种酰基辅酶A脱氢酶缺乏症患儿串联质谱筛查结果及ETFDH基因突变特点。该患儿串联质谱筛查结果显示C14：1升高,C8升高,同时还有C6、C10、C12均升高。对患儿及其父母行外显子测序,结果发现患儿ETFDH基因存在双杂合突变,分别是c.992A > T和c.1450T > C,前者遗传于母亲,后者遗传于父亲。c.1450T > C在HGMD数据库中显示为致病性突变。Polyphen-2、Provean等软件均预测c.992A > T这个新突变可能致病,突变的氨基酸在不同物种间高度保守。该研究拓展了ETFDH基因突变谱,为多种酰基辅酶A脱氢酶缺乏症患儿病因诊断及其家系的遗传咨询和产前诊断提供了分子依据。