Melanotic neuroectodermal tumor of infancy: A rare pediatric head and neck lesion.

Melanotic neuroectodermal tumors of infancy are rare tumors arising from the neural crest and typically present during the first 12 months of life. The majority involve the facial bones, although melanotic neuroectodermal tumors of infancy of the skull and extremities have been observed with less frequency, as in the present case. This entity may initially be presented to the dermatologist as a scalp mass and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of infants with rapidly growing head and neck lesions.

Ecology of the aging human brain.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer disease, cerebral vascular brain injury, and isocortical Lewy body disease (LBD) are the major contributors to dementia in community- and population-based studies. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of clinically silent forms of these diseases in cognitively normal (CN) adults. DESIGN: Autopsy study. SETTING: Community- and population based. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1672 brain autopsies from the Adult Changes in Thought study, Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, Nun Study, and Oregon Brain Aging Study, of which 424 met the criteria for CN. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Of these, 336 cases had a comprehensive neuropathologic examination of neuritic plaque density, Braak stage for neurofibrillary tangles, LB distribution, and number of cerebral microinfarcts. RESULTS: Forty-seven percent of CN cases had moderate or frequent neuritic plaque density; of these, 6% also had Braak stage V or VI for neurofibrillary tangles. Fifteen percent of CN cases had medullary LBD; 8% also had nigral and 4% isocortical LBD. The presence of any cerebral microinfarcts was identified in 33% and of high-level cerebral microinfarcts in 10% of CN individuals. Overall, the burden of lesions in each individual and their comorbidity varied widely within each study but were similar across studies. CONCLUSIONS: These data show an individually varying complex convergence of subclinical diseases in the brain of older CN adults. Appreciating this ecology should help guide future biomarker and neuroimaging studies and clinical trials that focus on community- and population-based cohorts.

Neurologic phenotype of Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia and neurodevelopmental expression of SMARCAL1.

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (OMIM 242900) is an uncommon autosomal-recessive multisystem disease caused by mutations in SMARCAL1 (swi/snf-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like 1), a gene encoding a putative chromatin remodeling protein. Neurologic manifestations identified to date relate to enhanced atherosclerosis and cerebrovascular disease. Based on a clinical survey, we determined that half of Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia patients have a small head circumference, and 15% have social, language, motor, or cognitive abnormalities. Postmortem examination of 2 Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia patients showed low brain weights and subtle brain histologic abnormalities suggestive of perturbed neuron-glial migration such as heterotopia, irregular cortical thickness, incomplete gyral formation, and poor definition of cortical layers. We found that SMARCAL1 is highly expressed in the developing and adult mouse and human brain, including neural precursors and neuronal lineage cells. These observations suggest that SMARCAL1 deficiency may influence brain development and function in addition to its previously recognized effect on cerebral circulation.

Necrotizing leukoencephalopathy following CHOP chemotherapy.

Toxic leukoencephalopathy syndromes are rare disorders of cerebral injury characterized by changes in the white matter and accompanying neurologic dysfunction. They have been reported in association with a variety of clinical etiologies, most commonly including severe hypertension, cranial irradiation, and environmental toxins. However, they have also been described in conjunction with immunosuppressive and chemotherapeutic agents. There has been one case of fatal leukoencephalopathy reported following CHOP chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. We report a second case of fatal necrotizing leukoencephalopathy following the administration of CHOP chemotherapy.