Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023380 (lethargy)
 5,697 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Infant botulism is a unique neuromuscular disease affecting infants less than six months old. It is the result of intraintestinal toxin production by C. botulinum (toxi-infection). Characteristic symptoms include constipation, lethargy, and decreased feeding. Physical examination often reveals generalized hypotonia with cranial nerve impairment. Recovery is dependent on supportive care in an intensive care setting. The relationship of this disease to the sudden infant death syndrome requires further study.
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PMID:Infant botulism. 37 78

A five-year-old girl presented with profound growth failure, lethargy, vomiting and acidosis. A diagnosis of Munchausen syndrome by proxy was made after the demonstration of egg albumin, diphenhydramine and phenothiazine metabolites in her urine. Growth improved dramatically, but a subsequent child in the family died of sudden infant death syndrome.
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PMID:Albuminuric growth failure. A case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. 160 6

Clostridium botulinum can colonize and produce botulinal toxin in the human infant intestine, which the toxin then permeates to cause generalized flaccid paralysis, and occasionally, sudden death. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that toxins produced by other intestinal clostridia, e.g., C. difficile, might also cause systemic illness and sometimes death in infants (J Pediatr 100:568, 1982). Because this hypothesis could not be evaluated clinically until the systemic manifestations of C. difficile toxins in primates were known, infant rhesus monkeys were given 6 to 11 micrograms/kg of the recently purified C. difficile toxins A or B, either intravenously or intraperitoneally. The animals showed no abnormalities for several hours, but then developed lethargy, hypotonia, hypothermia, and, shortly before death, sudden elevation of serum concentrations of potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus and of enzymes that derived mainly from skeletal muscle, heart and brain. Five of six animals died quietly 3.5 to 8.0 hours after onset of symptoms. Death appeared to result from cessation of breathing, after which the sinus tachycardia then deteriorated to a flat ECG. Necropsy findings were insufficient to explain the cause of death. It appears that in infant monkeys microgram amounts of C. difficile toxins A and B can produce a rapid quiet death, the cause of which is undetectable at necropsy, a situation pathologically reminiscent of crib death in human infants, although the possible clinical identity of these two conditions has yet to be established.
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PMID:Rapid death of infant rhesus monkeys injected with Clostridium difficile toxins A and B: physiologic and pathologic basis. 669 Jun 74

MCAD deficiency is recognized as the most common hereditary defect of hepatic fatty acid oxidation. Clinical signs are somnolence progressing to lethargy potentially leading to coma. Death is the outcome of the first attack in about 20% of cases, suggesting sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). A point mutation (adenine to guanine at position 985) in exon 11 of the MCAD gene represents 90% of alleles causing MCAD deficiency. The high prevalence of this mutation allows the estimation of the incidence of MCAD deficiency in the general population and in SIDS. The study was performed after PCR amplification from blood spots on filter paper in 1,432 randomly selected newborns (group I), in 225 SIDS (group II) and in 47 infants of SIDS family (group III). In group I, 10 newborns were found to have the G985 mutation in the heterozygous form. In group II, among 225 SIDS cases, the G985 MCAD mutation was found once in the heterozygote state. In group III, the mutation was not found. The estimated frequency of the mutation was 1/143 in the reference group and the incidence of MCAD deficiency was calculated as 1/67,000 in Normandy.
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PMID:[Screening of A985 to G mutation of medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) gene in Normandy. Evaluation of the role of MCAD deficiency in sudden infant death]. 859 Feb 28

Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency is the most common genetic defect of hepatic fatty acid oxidation. Clinical signs are somnolence and lethargy potentially leading to coma. Death occurs during the first attack in about 20% of cases, suggesting sudden infant death syndrome. A point mutation (adenine to guanine at position 985) in exon 11 of the medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase gene accounts for 90% of medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency-causing alleles. Such a high prevalence of a single mutation makes it possible to estimate the incidence of medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency in the general population and in sudden infant death syndrome. The study was performed by polymerase chain reaction amplification from blood spots on filter paper in 2000 randomly selected newborns (group I) and in 225 infants dead from sudden infant death syndrome (group II). Among 2000 newborns, 17 were found to be heterozygote for the G985 mutation. In group II, one child was found with a single copy of the G985 mutation. So, the estimated frequency of the G985 mutation in the general population was 1/118 and the incidence of medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency was calculated as around 1/45,000 in Normandy.
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PMID:The A985 to G mutation of the medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase gene and sudden infant death syndrome in Normandy. 864 38