Failure of ossification of the occipital bone in mandibuloacral dysplasia type B.

Mandibuloacral dysplasia with type B lipodystrophy is a rare autosomal recessive disease characterized by atrophic skin, lipodystrophy, and skeletal features. It is caused by mutations in ZMPSTE24, a gene encoding a zinc metalloproteinase involved in the post-translational modification of lamin. Nine distinct pathogenic variants have been identified in 11 patients from nine unrelated families with this disorder. We report a 12-year-old boy with mandibuloacral dysplasia with type B lipodystrophy and a novel homozygous c.1196A>G; p.(Tyr399Cys) mutation in ZMPSTE24. The patient had typical dermatological and skeletal features of mandibuloacral dysplasia with type B lipodystrophy, sparse hair, short stature, mild microcephaly, facial dysmorphism, and a striking failure of ossification of the interparietal region of the occipital bone, up to the position where transverse occipital suture can be observed. Newly recognized signs for mandibuloacral dysplasia with type B lipodystrophy were gaze palsy and ptosis. Delayed closure of cranial sutures and Wormian bones have been described in three patients, but an ossification failure strictly limited to the occipital bone, as seen in the present patient, appears to be unique for mandibuloacral dysplasia with type B lipodystrophy. This observation illustrates that ZMPSTE24 could play a specific role in membranous ossification in the interparietal part of the squama (Inca bone) but not in the intracartilaginous ossification of the supraoccipital. This failure of ossification in the squama appears to be a useful feature for the radiological diagnosis of mandibuloacral dysplasia with type B lipodystrophy. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Comparison of three enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for serologic diagnosis of contagious agalactia in sheep.

Serologic diagnosis of ovine contagious agalactia (Mycoplasma agalactiae) with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) developed by Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments (AFSSA) may produce a few false-positive (FP) and false-negative (FN) results. When the prevalence of disease is low, these erroneous results may generate problems for eradication schemes. To prevent this, 2 commercial ELISAs were compared with the AFSSA ELISA. Flocks of known status were selected and classified into 4 categories: true positive (TP), FP, true negative (TN), and FN; 20 sheep per flock were submitted for blood sampling. A flock was considered positive when at least 1 out of 20 sera was positive or 2 sera were doubtful. In the flock, the diagnostic sensitivity of the 3 kits was very good (100%), and the diagnostic specificity showed an improvement from 46% (AFSSA test) to 88% and 92% (commercial tests). Considering individual animals, very few positive ewes were detected within TN or FP flocks; the proportion of positive ewes varied greatly from one kit to another (48% to 82%) within TP flocks. The kinetics of antibody response in sheep experimentally infected with various field strains of M. agalactiae were quite similar with all 3 ELISAs. The agreement between the 3 tests, assessed using the kappa value, varied from moderate to good (respective values of 0.56, 0.61, and 0.86). The 2 commercial ELISAs showed better performances, probably because of a superior analytical sensitivity, and are a good alternative for the serodiagnosis of contagious agalactia in sheep.