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Dystonia is a hyperkinetic movement disorder characterized by sustained or intermittent muscle contractions. Emerging data describe high prevalences of non-motor symptoms, including psychiatric co-morbidity, as part of the phenotype of dystonia. Basal ganglia serotonin and serotonin-dopamine interactions gain attention, as imbalances are known to be involved in extrapyramidal movement and psychiat
Background Isolated (sub)acute chorea in young patients is a relatively rare movement disorder with a broad differential diagnosis, including drug-induced, post-infectious, auto-immunological and vascular aetiologies. Case presentation We describe an adolescent girl with Down's syndrome presenting with chorea due to oral contraceptive usage. After discontinuation of the oral contraceptive it took
Background: Many inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) may present as sudden infant death (SID). Nowadays, increasing numbers of patients with IEMs are identified pre-symptomatically by population neonatal bloodspot screening (NBS) programmes. However, some patients escape early detection because their symptoms and signs start before NBS test results become available, they even die even before the sa
Aim: To investigate the interobserver agreement on phenotypic early-onset ataxia (EOA) assessment and to explore whether the Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) could provide a supportive marker. Method: Seven movement disorder specialists provided independent phenotypic assessments of potentially ataxic motor behaviour in 40 patients (mean age 15y [range 5-34]; data derived from Univ
Genetic revelations in 2014 are testing traditional classification systems for movement disorders, and our approach to clinical diagnostics. Mutations in dystonia-associated genes lead to a spectrum of disorders with different phenotypes, underscoring the need for stringent clinical phenotyping of patients with movement disorders, as well as next-generation sequencing approaches.
Background In clinical practice, myoclonus in childhood-onset neurogenetic disorders frequently remains unrecognized, because it is often overshadowed by other neurological features. Since treatment can lead to significant functional improvement, accurate phenotyping is essential. To demonstrate the importance of early identification and treatment, we report on four patients with various childhood
The mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) are lysosomal storage disorders that result from defects in the catabolism of glycosaminoglycans. Impaired muscle, bone, and connective tissue are typical clinical features of MPS due to disruption of the extracellular matrix. Markers of MPS disease pathology are needed to determine disease severity and monitor effects of existing and emerging new treatments on dise
Myoclonus is a hyperkinetic movement disorder characterized by brief, involuntary muscular jerks. Recognition of myoclonus and determination of the underlying aetiology remains challenging given that both acquired and genetically determined disorders have varied manifestations. The diagnostic work-up in myoclonus is often time-consuming and costly, and a definitive diagnosis is reached in only a m
The N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) coagonists glycine, d-serine and l-proline play crucial roles in NMDAR-dependent neurotransmission and are associated with a range of neuropsychiatric disorders. We conducted the first genome-wide association study of concentrations of these coagonists and their enantiomers in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of human subjects from the general populati
Introduction: Dystonia is a movement disorder involving sustained or intermittent muscle contractions resulting in abnormal movements and postures. Identification of disease causing genes has allowed examination of genetically homogenous groups. Unlike the motor symptoms, non-motor characteristics are less clearly defined, despite their impact on a patient's quality of life. This review aims to ex
This paper presents a systematic approach for 3-dimensional (3d) scene modeling based on Time-of-Flight (TOF) technology. Firstly the panoramic point cloud of scene model is built. To achieve that, point cloud data captured in different visual angles are transformed and registered into a panoramic 3d coordinate system. Based on the matching characteristics of feature points in various point clouds
Mucopolysaccharidosis type I-Hurler syndrome (MPS-IH) is a lysosomal storage disease characterized by multisystem morbidity and death in early childhood. Although hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) has been performed in these patients for more than 30 years, large studies on the long-term outcome of patients with MPS-IH after HCT are lacking. The goal of this international study was to ident
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) will soon be used for clinically heterogeneous, inherited disorders and the increasing number of disease-causing genes reported. Diagnostic laboratories therefore need to decide which NGS methods they are going to invest in and how to implement them. We discuss here the challenges and opportunities of using targeted resequencing (TRS) panels for diagnosing monogene
BACKGROUND: Inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) form an important cause of movement disorders in children. The impact of metabolic diseases and concordant movement disorders upon children's health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and its physical and psychosocial domains of functioning has never been investigated. We therefore conducted a case study on the HRQOL and development of adaptive functionin
The serine synthesis pathway comprises three steps, and genetic defects are known in each of these: 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase deficiency, phosphoserine aminotransferase deficiency and 3-phosphoserine phosphatase deficiency. The former has been reported in 24 patients. The majority of these patients have a severe infantile phenotype consisting of congenital microcephaly, intractable seizures
Aim: The aim of the study was to determine whether paediatric ataxia speech subscores are reliably applicable for international early-onset ataxia (EOA) databases. If so, we reasoned that ataxia speech subscores should be associated with ataxia scores and involve high interobserver agreement, including those for internationally applicable Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) syllable r
IMPORTANCE: The impact of betaine treatment on outcome in patients with severe methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) deficiency is presently unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of betaine treatment on development and survival in patients with severe MTHFR deficiency. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases between January 1960 and December 2012. STUDY SELECTION: Studi
Mevalonate kinase deficiency (MKD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder causing 1 of 2 phenotypes, hyperimmunoglobulin D syndrome and mevalonic aciduria, presenting with recurrent fever episodes, often starting in infancy, and sometimes evoked by stress or vaccinations. This autoinflammatory disease is caused by mutations encoding the mevalonate kinase (MVK) gene and is classified in the group o
