The dup(3q) syndrome: report of eight cases and review of the literature.

Clinical and cytogenetic examinations were performed on eight unrelated infants with duplication of part of the long arm of chromosome 3. A review of published cases shows a clinical syndrome characterized by statomotoric retardation, shortened life span, and a multiple congenital anomalies (MCA) syndrome of abnormal head configuration, hypertrichosis, hypertelorism, ocular anomalies, anteverted nostrils, long philtrum, maxillary prognathia, down-turned corners of the mouth, highly arched or cleft plate, micrognathia, malformed auricles, short, webbed neck, clinodactyly, simian crease, talipes, and congenital heart disease. The dup(3q) syndrome is a clinically easily recognizable entity.

Interleukin-1 in combination with oncostatin M up-regulates multiple genes in chondrocytes: implications for cartilage destruction and repair.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the genes up-regulated by interleukin-1 (IL-1) in combination with oncostatin M (OSM) in chondrocytes that may be involved in mechanisms of cartilage repair and degradation. METHODS: Gene microarray and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) experiments were performed using RNA from SW1353 chondrocytes and primary human articular chondrocytes. Sections prepared from murine joints, injected with adenovirus vectors overexpressing IL-1 and/or OSM, were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for selected proteins. RESULTS: The combination of IL-1 and OSM markedly up-regulated the expression of various genes, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), cytokines, chemokines, extracellular matrix components, and genes involved in signal transduction. Real-time PCR confirmed a synergistic induction of several MMPs, activin A, pentraxin 3 (PTX-3), and IL-8. The in vivo findings further indicated that stimulation with IL-1 plus OSM induced protein expression of activin A, PTX-3, and KC (the murine homolog of IL-8), as compared with the changes induced by individual cytokine treatment and unstimulated controls. CONCLUSION: The results confirm that the potent proinflammatory cytokine combination of IL-1 plus OSM synergistically and coordinately up-regulates many genes and several MMPs. Moreover, chondrocytes exhibit a potential repair response following this procatabolic stimulus such that the repair mechanisms are ultimately overwhelmed by degradative processes in the cartilage. This gene-profiling study provides insight into the complex processes that mediate joint disease in the inflammatory arthritides through the coordinated expression of multiple genes.

[Acute relapsing pancreatitis due to duodenal duplication (author's transl)]. / Akut-rezidivierende Pankreatitis als folge einer Duodenalduplikatur.

After recurring episodes of abdominal pain acute pancreatitis was diagnosed in a 5 year old girl. Two years later a duodenal duplication was recognized as the reason for relapsing pancreatitis. After resection of the duplication no further relapse occurred.

Regulation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase by glutamine and ATP as possible control mechanisms of renal gluconeogenesis.

In different metabolic states renal phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEP-CK) activities are closely correlated with in vitro glucogenic rates, suggesting a limitation of the glucogenic capacity of kidney by this enzyme. Stimulation of renal gluconeogenesis from pyruvate, lactate, and succinate by lysine and glutamine was therefore associated with a regulatory attack of these amino acids at the level of PEP-carboxykinase. This postulate was confirmed by the failure of lysine to stimulate glucose synthesis from fructose. Experimental support for an interference of glutamine and PEP-carboxykinase was obtained by a study on the inactivation of this enzyme in kidney cortex homogenates: A rapid inactivation of enzyme activity within 40-50 min could be slowed down by glutamine. In addition the inactivation was counteracted by ATP. At suboptimal concentrations of the trinucleotide its effect was potentiated by c-AMP and c-GMP. Studies on the effect of ATP on PEP-carboxykinase in kidney cortex homogenates from rats in different metabolic states revealed: In homogenates from carbohydrate fed animals extreme low activities of PEP-CK were not altered by ATP, whereas elevated enzyme activities after a protein rich diet could be further raised by a factor of 2 or 3 by ATP. GTP and ITP could substitute for ATP. An extension of these studies on hepatic enzymes showed a similar inactivation of tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) and a protective effect of ATP. The data obtained from these experiments favour an interconversion of PEP-carboxykinase and tyrosine aminotransferase into different forms as possible mechanism for their regulation.