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Query: UMLS:C0025362 (mental retardation)
 15,878 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The two children of an epileptic woman who underwent therapy with hydantoin during both pregnancies showed the characteristic findings of the fetal hydantoin syndrome: growth retardation, microcephaly, mental retardation, and a distinct hysmorphic pattern. Both exhibited a ridged metopic suture, hypertelorism, a short nose with a broad base, hypoplasia of the distal phalanges and nails of the toes, and inguinal hernias. In addition the 18-month-old girl exhibited epicanthal folds, strabismus, ptosis, and a small ventricular septal defect; she had been exposed in utero to 300 mg mesantoin daily. Her 6 1/2-year-old brother was more severely retarded, lacking speech and presenting with infantile autism. During pregnancy the mother had taken 400 mg mesantoin daily. About half of the offspring of epileptic women treated with hydantoin during pregnancy are mentally retarded, and 11% exhibit in addition the pattern of dysmorphic findings known as the fetal hydantoin syndrome. Hydantoin should therefore be strictly avoided in epileptic women of child-bearing age unless safe contraceptive measures are taken. In the event of pregnancy, therapeutic abortion should be considered if hydantoin therapy must be maintained.
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PMID:[Fetal hydantoin syndrome in siblings]. 10 83

In man, the period of maximum risk for the embryo and foetus is between the second and tenth week after conception. The most frequent and most severe malformation is microcephaly which in extreme cases is accompanied by mental retardation. The results of studies in experimental animals and man agree that it is impossible to demonstrate any increased risk of malformation with doses below 15 rads, and that the increase over the spontaneous incidence of malformation is slight at doses below 25 rads. A very small increase in the frequency of leukaemias and cancers has been observed after irradiation in utero for pelvimetry, which delivers a few rads; it can be estimated from these data that a dose of 2 rads induces at the most the risk of one case of cancer in 2,000 children. In practice, it is only exceptionally that an abortion is advised after a diagnostic radiological examination, since the doses in these circumstances are relatively low. A therapeutic termination of pregnancy should be advised when the dose is greater than 20 rads, but it is necessary to take into account other medico-social factors. Conversely, it is important to avoid any irradiation in women who could be pregnant and in particular avoid any irradiation of the true pelvis during the 10 days prior to menses and especially if there has been a delay in the start of menstruation. In pregnant women radiological examinations should only be made if they are of paramount importance for the mother, and all precautions taken to reduce the dose to the uterus in the absolute minimum.
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PMID:[The problems raised by the irradiation of pregnant women. Effects of ionizing radiations on the embryon and foetus (author's transl)]. 11 30

Chromosome imbalance (aneusomy) is the leading known cause of both spontaneous abortion and mental retardation in human beings. The primary abnormality is thought to result from quantitative changes of transcription products from the unbalanced genetic material. To document this point, I compared chromosome 21-specific transcription in skin fibroblasts from subjects with monosomy 21, disomy 21 (normal), and trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). Polyadenylylated RNA [poly(A)-RNA], which is enriched in messenger and messenger-precursor RNA sequences, was isolated from the above fibroblast lines. Radioactive DNA (cDNA) complementary to these RNAs was synthesized with reverse transcriptase (RNA-dependent DNA polymerase). These cDNAs were hybridized with (i) DNA from a cell line with a mouse genome plus human chromosome 21 and (ii) mouse DNA. Subtraction of the amount of hybridization in experiment ii from that in experiment i yielded a measure of human chromosome 21-specific RNA sequences. The results were consistent with gene dosage at the transcriptional level; for monosomy 21-derived cDNA, 0.6% (of the total cDNA) hybridized specifically to human chromosome 21; for disomy 21-derived cDNA, 2% hybridized; and for trisomy 21-derived cDNA, 3% hybridized. Thus, for DNA sequences on chromosome 21 in human skin fibroblasts, transcription depends on DNA dosage. Characterization of the chromosome 21-specific RNA sequences quantitated in these experiments could help to elucidate the mechanisms by which abnormal karyotypes result in abnormal phenotypes.
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PMID:Down syndrome: gene dosage at the transcriptional level in skin fibroblasts. 15 66

Parents of 751 children affected by cancer/leukemia, congenital heart disease, strawberry nevus or mental retardation have been investigated with respect to their reproductive history and their exposure to risk factors for spontaneous abortion. Differences between the four groups were established for the number of children in the sibship, the proportion of multigravidae and the spontaneous abortion rate among these women. The greatest differences were observed in the two groups of malformed children compared with the other two groups, being as marked in those with a severe malformation (heart defect) as in those with a benign one (strawberry nevus). Taking known risk factors for spontaneous abortion into account did not explain the observed differences. An etiological hypothesis is put forward which takes account of the high proportion of quantitative abnormalities of the karyotype associated with congenital heart disease and spontaneous abortion.
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PMID:Spontaneous abortions in sibship of children with congenital malformation or malignant disease. 26 88

Pericentric inversion of chromosome 9 is one of the most common structural balanced chromosomal aberrations. It is considered as a paraphysiological variant of a normal karyotype and it is possible to find it as occasional report in healthy subjects. In the last ten years different signals have appeared in literature, concerning carriers of pericentric inversion of chromosome 9, who showed different anomalies of the clinical condition. Today it is difficult, because of the rarity of the data to establish if a true correlation exists between phenotypical anomalies in the subjects studied and the pericentric inversion, or if they are only casual associations. We are trying to find possible correlations between the chromosomal rearrangements and eventual congenital defects. We describe 11 subjects with pericentric inversion of chromosome 9 examined for the presence of dysmorphic signs, mental retardation and repeated miscarriage.
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PMID:[Correlation of the clinical phenotype with a pericentric inversion of chromosome 9]. 138 73

Hunger and malnutrition in Africa have been on the increase since the 1960s. During the 1970s, it is estimated that 30 million people were directly affected by famine and malnutrition. About 5 million children died in 1984 alone. In Mozambique during the 1983-84 famine, about 100,000 people perished. In Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Liberia, and Angola armed conflicts compound the problem. Ethiopia alone had 9 million famine victims in 1983. The most common form of malnutrition in Africa is protein energy deficiency affecting over 100 million people, especially 30-50 million children under 5 years of age. Almost another 200 million are at risk. Iron deficiency, commonly called anemia, also affects 150 million people, mostly women and children. Iodine deficiency leads to disorders like mental retardation, cretinism, deafness, abortion, low resistance to disease, and goiter and this affects 60 million with about 150 million more at risk. Vitamin A deficiency causes blindness and low resistance to disease and affects about 10 million. Protein energy deficiency is treated by using donated foods in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, day care centers, and feeding centers. There are no community programs for anemia, or vitamin A or iodine deficiencies. Vaccines for preventing and drugs for treating diseases that cause malnutrition are imported. Therefore, African food and nutrition professionals met in 1988 and created the Africa Council for Food and Nutrition Sciences (AFRONUS) to eliminate famine and malnutrition in Africa. Activities have started in: 1) developing contacts between the workers in food and nutrition; 2) assessing the situation of food and nutrition in Africa; 3) developing an action plan; 4) implementing the plan; and 5) monitoring progress. Food and Nutrition Policy Guidelines have also been prepared by AFRONUS for food and nutrition workers. Africa has enough natural resources to solve the problem of hunger and malnutrition, but these resources have to be harnessed.
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PMID:Hunger and malnutrition: the determinant of development: the case for Africa and its food and nutrition workers. 139 7

We describe the maternal and neonatal complications of pregnancy in two patients with myotonic dystrophy. The disease leads to an increased spontaneous abortion rate, hydramnios, prolonged first and second stages of labour, retained placenta, postpartum haemorrhages and anaesthetic sensitivity in the mother. The neonatal problems are caused by the congenital form of the disease. The major clinical features of congenital myotonic dystrophy are bilateral facial weakness, hypotonia, neonatal distress, feeding difficulties, talipes, tent-shaped mouth, mental retardation and delayed motor development. Relatives of a known myotonic dystrophy patient should be advised to let themselves be examined for this disease. If the disease is diagnosed, information should be given regarding possibilities for prenatal diagnosis. Pregnancy in myotonic dystrophy patients should be monitored by a gynaecologist. Labour has to take place in a hospital with intensive care facilities for mother and child.
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PMID:[Dystrophia myotonica and pregnancy]. 146 72

The dictator Ceaucescu came to power in Romania in 1965, by which time the birth rate had decreased from 25 children/1000 fertile women in 1955 to 15.6/1000. Under a 1966 law, induced abortion was allowed only for women 45, for those with 4 or more children, or in life-threatening situations. IUDs, condoms, and spermicides were regulated to the black market. Pregnancies were registered, and women up to age 5 were subjected to a compulsory monthly gynecological examination at their workplace. The doctors' pay depended on the fulfillment of the prescribed monthly birth plan. Women aged 20-30 were given quarterly pregnancy tests whose outcome was checked by a regional demographic committee. Illegal induced abortion was punished with up to 12 years of imprisonment, and self-induced abortion was punished by 6 months to 2 years of prison. In 1984, the goal was set to increase the birth rate to 20/1000 to attain a population of 30 million by the year 2000. Instead the 1967 rate of 27.4/1000 dropped to 14.3/1000 by 1983. Maternal mortality increased from 86/100,000 live births in 1966 to 140 in 1981 and 150 in 1984, mostly abortion-related. In 1988, 519 maternal deaths occurred for 380,000 births (505 had to do with abortion). In 1985, infant mortality was 25.6/1000 live births. The premature birth rate was 16% in Bucharest in 1974 vs. 5-8% in the rest of Europe. 13,000 children (1500 in Bucharest) living in shelters maintained by the state were available for adoption for hard currency in Belgium, France, Israel, and Italy; the number of adoptions increased. Down's syndrome and mental retardation were prevalence among them.
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PMID:[Catastrophic results of the restrictive population policy in Romania]. 204 67

Bad pregnancy outcome includes abortion, stillbirth, neonatal death, morbidity, malformation, cerebral palsy, and mental retardation. These afflictions cause devastating personal impact. In the United States, almost 10% of all school-aged children are handicapped. Neurologic and communicative disorders affect 42 million people and cost $114 billion each year. The cause of cerebral palsy is known in less than 10% of these cases. Enormous litigations have threatened clinicians, paramedical personnel, hospitals, and insurance carriers. The placenta is an important potential means of establishing that fetal damage causes bad pregnancy outcome independently of clinical care. All pathologists serve an important role in the documentation of gross placental features and in the procurement of appropriate light microscopic slides. Pathologic placentas are common. Only an expert can determine whether an abnormal placenta represents the probable cause of bad pregnancy outcome.
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PMID:Placenta within the medicolegal imperative. 206 28

Gestational and familial risk factors were investigated for their association with astrocytoma, the most frequently occurring brain tumor in children. A case-control study of 163 matched pairs was performed. Cases under 15 years of age at diagnosis in 1980-1986 were identified through the tumor registries of 8 hospitals in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Controls were selected by random digit dialing and were matched to cases for age, race, and telephone area code and exchange. Maternal antinausea medications increased the risk of childhood astrocytoma [OR (odds ratio) = 2.0, P = 0.04]. Cured meat consumption during pregnancy was more common among cases (OR = 1.9, P = 0.07), and a significant trend with increasing frequency of consumption was observed (P = 0.04). Results for gestational exposure to marijuana (OR = 2.8, P = 0.07) were of borderline significance. Gestational exposure to neurally active medications, alcohol, and tobacco were not risk factors. There was a significant trend for cases to be of higher birth weight (P = 0.03). Mental retardation (OR = 3.0, P = 0.04) and cancer (OR = 1.7, P = 0.02) in a relative of the child significantly increased the risk of astrocytoma. Significantly increased risks were observed for brain tumors in relatives of children 0-4 years of age at diagnosis (OR = 6/0, P = 0.04). A significant protective effect was observed for maternal history of miscarriage or stillbirth (OR = 0.5, P = 0.01). The results of this study suggest that some gestational and familial factors may increase the risk of childhood astrocytoma.
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PMID:Gestational and familial risk factors for childhood astrocytoma: results of a case-control study. 232 86


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