Sporadic Epstein syndrome with macrothrombocytopenia, sensorineural hearing loss and renal failure.

We report here a sporadic case of Epstein syndrome, one of the MYH9 disorders. A Japanese boy was first noted to have thrombocytopenia at 3 years of age. Blood smear showed giant platelets but no Döhle-like bodies in the neutrophils. He had no family history of thrombocytopenia, hearing loss, and/or renal failure. Thrombocytopenia took a chronic course and platelet count fluctuated in the range 18 000-46 000/µL, not responding to i.v. immunoglobulin or prednisolone treatment. The patient had episodes of gross nasal bleeding at 7 and 18 years of age. Mild hearing loss was suspected at 6, and proteinuria was first noted at 14 years of age. At the development of renal failure at 24 years of age, he was identified to have de novo R702H MYH9 mutation. This case illustrates the importance of suspecting MYH9 disorder even in cases of chronic macrothrombocytopenia without family history.

Corrigendum to "Gitelman Syndrome in a School Boy Who Presented with Generalized Convulsion and Had a R642H/R642W Mutation in the SLC12A3 Gene".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2014/279389.].

Gitelman Syndrome in a School Boy Who Presented with Generalized Convulsion and Had a R642H/R642W Mutation in the SLC12A3 Gene.

An 8-year-old Japanese boy presented with a generalized convulsion. He had hypokalemia (serum K 2.4 mEq/L), hypomagnesemia, and metabolic alkalosis (BE 5.7 mmol/L). In addition, his plasma renin activity was elevated. He was tentatively diagnosed with epilepsy on the basis of the electroencephalogram findings and was treated by potassium L-aspartate and carbamazepine to control the hypokalemia and seizure, respectively. However, a year later, the patient continued to have similar abnormal laboratory data. A presumptive diagnosis of Gitelman syndrome (GS) was then made and the patient's peripheral blood mononuclear cells were subjected to sequence analysis of the SLC12A3 gene, which encodes a thiazide-sensitive sodium-chloride cotransporter. The patient was found to have compound heterozygous mutations, namely, R642H inherited from his father and R642W inherited from his mother. Thus, if a patient shows persistent hypokalemia and metabolic alkalosis, GS must be considered, even if the patient exhibits atypical clinical symptoms.

Ni- or Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of alkyl fluorides with Grignard reagents.

n-Octyl fluoride underwent a cross-coupling reaction with n-propylmagnesium bromide in the presence of 1,3-butadiene using NiCl2 as a catalyst at room temperature to give undecane in moderate yields. This alkyl-alkyl cross-coupling proceeded more efficiently when CuCl2 was employed instead of NiCl2. Addition of 1,3-butadiene dramatically improved the yields of the coupling products from primary alkyl Grignard reagents in both Ni- and Cu-catalyzed reactions. Alkyl fluorides efficiently reacted with tertiary alkyl and phenyl Grignard reagents using CuCl2 in the absence of 1,3-butadiene to afford the coupling products in high yields. The competitive reaction of a mixture of alkyl halides (R-X; X = F, Cl, Br) with nC5H11MgBr showed that the reactivities of the halides increase in the order R-Cl < R-F < R-Br. In contrast, in the Cu-catalyzed reaction with PhMgBr, the reactivities increase in the order R-Cl < R-Br < R-F.

Nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of grignard reagents with alkyl halides and tosylates: remarkable effect of 1,3-butadienes.

A new method for the cross-coupling reaction of Grignard reagents with alkyl chlorides, bromides, and tosylates has been developed by the use of a nickel catalyst in the presence of a diene as an additive. This reaction proceeds efficiently at 0-25 degrees C in THF using primary and secondary alkyl and aryl Grignard reagents. Nickel complexes bearing no phosphine ligands, such as NiCl2, Ni(acac)2, and Ni(COD)2, afford the coupling products in good yields, whereas NiCl2(PPh3)2 and NiCl2(dppp) were less effective. 1,3-Butadiene shows the highest activity as an additive for the present coupling reaction. A plausible reaction pathway was proposed.