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

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is the most common cause of congenital infections in developed countries, with an incidence varying between 0.5 and 2.2% and consequences varying from asymptomatic infection to lethal conditions for the fetus. Infants that are asymptomatic at birth may still develop neurological sequelae, such as hearing loss and mental retardation, at a later age. Infection of neural stem and precursor cells by HCMV and consequent disruption of the proliferation, differentiation, and/or migration of these cells may be the primary mechanism underlying the development of brain abnormalities. In the present investigation, we demonstrate that human neural precursor cells (NPCs) are permissive for HCMV infection, by both the laboratory strain Towne and the clinical isolate TB40, resulting in 55% and 72% inhibition of induced differentiation of human NPCs into neurons, respectively, when infection occurred at the onset of differentiation. This repression of neuronal differentiation required active viral replication and involved the expression of late HCMV gene products. This capacity of HCMV to prevent neuronal differentiation declined within 24 h after initiation of differentiation. Furthermore, the rate of cell proliferation in infected cultures was attenuated. Surprisingly, HCMV-infected cells exhibited an elevated frequency of apoptosis at 7 days following the onset of differentiation, at which time approximately 50% of the cells were apoptotic at a multiplicity of infection of 10. These findings indicate that HCMV has the capacity to reduce the ability of human NPCs to differentiate into neurons, which may offer one explanation for the abnormalities in brain development associated with congenital HCMV infection.
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PMID:Human cytomegalovirus inhibits neuronal differentiation and induces apoptosis in human neural precursor cells. 1694 May 5

A mail questionnaire survey on the present status and health of children of Korean survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing of Japan was conducted in 2004. In total, 1,115 Korean A-bomb survivors' reports on demographic factors and the health of their children (n = 4,079) were analysed. In 2004, 293 of their children were reported to have died and 3,786 children still living. Among the deceased children, the cause of death was unidentified in 64 per cent of cases. The most frequently reported cause of death was infectious disease (9.6%). Most of the deaths (51%) were reported to have occurred in children less than ten years old. The most frequently reported congenital disorders among living children were mental retardation (0.18%) and congenital bone disorders (0.18%). Further study and administrative support are needed to more accurately determine the status of Korean A-bomb survivors and their children.
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PMID:Korean atomic bomb survivors' report on the present status and health of their children: a mail questionnaire survey. 1719 23

Newborn Screening is a well recognised public health programme aimed at the early identification of infants who are affected by certain genetic/metabolic/infectious conditions. Early identification of these conditions is particularly crucial, since timely intervention can lead to a significant reduced morbidity, mortality, and associated disabilities in affected infants. Establishing sustainable newborn screening programmes in developing countries poses major challenges as it competes with other health priorities--infectious disease control, immunisation, malnutrition, etc. Despite this, it is imperative that developing countries recognise the importance of newborn screening based on experiences on both developed and developing countries in saving thousands of babies from mental retardation, death and other complications. Some of the critical factors necessary for a successful national newborn screening programme are inclusion of newborn screening among government priorities, funding (including the possibility of newborn screening fees), public acceptance, health practitioners cooperation, and government participation in institutionalising the newborn screening system. This paper presents a historical review of 4 eras of newborn screening in the Asia Pacific, discusses enabling factors leading to successful newborn screening programme implementation, and identifies obstacles that threaten the programme implementation in developing countries.
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PMID:Towards universal newborn screening in developing countries: obstacles and the way forward. 1990 64

We are living in a time of unprecedented increase in knowledge and rapidly changing technology. Such biotechnology especially when it involves human subjects raises complex ethical, legal, social and religious issues. The establishment of newborn screening programmes in developing countries poses major challenges as it competes with other health priorities like control of infectious diseases, malnutrition and immunization programmes. Despite this, it is imperative that the importance of newborn screening programmes is recognised by developing countries as it has been proven through decades of experience that it saves thousands of babies from mental retardation, death and other serious complications. Pakistan has an estimated population of 167 million inhabitants, 38.3% of whom are under 15 years of age. Pakistan lacks a national programme for newborn screening. However, as individual practice at the local level, Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) and a few other hospitals are doing newborn screening for congenital hypothyroidism. The main hurdle in the implementation of newborn screening in Pakistan is the lack of good infrastructure for health. Eighty percent of deliveries take place at home. Moreover, little resources are available for children identified with a genetic condition due to the non-existence of genetic and metabolic services in Pakistan. In a 20-year audit of congenital hypothyroid screening at AKUH we found 10 babies with congenital hypothyroidism. However due to missing data links spanning several years, we were unable to calculate its true incidence during this period. In order to estimate the incidence of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) we reviewed in detail data over 10 months in 2008, a period where there was better compliance for repeat thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) testing, and found 2 babies with CH. This gave an estimated incidence of 1 in 1600 live births.
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PMID:Newborn screening in Pakistan - lessons from a hospital-based congenital hypothyroidism screening programme. 1990 71

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a ubiquitous pathogen found in 40-100% of adults, and in about 1% of live births in the United States (1). It is the most common fetal and perinatal infectious organism; approx 10% of infected neonates are born with symptomatic congenital CMV disease, which is the most common cause of mental retardation and childhood deafness. CMV is a significant pathogen in immunocompromised individuals, including organ transplant recipients (2-4), and in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients (5,6). Infection is characterized by latency, chronic infection, and reactivation, a progression similar to that observed in other members of the herpesvirus family. Because CMV infection is usually controlled by the host cellular immune system, primary infections can occur without obvious symptoms, and progress to latency may go unnoticed. Latent infection may persist throughout life, but primary or reactivated infection, coupled with impaired host immune response, can rapidly produce symptomatic CMV disease.
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PMID:Quantification of human cytomegalovirus by competitive PCR and capillary electrophoresis. 2137 90

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most common vertically transmitted disease with the rate of the infection ranging from 0.2 to 2.4% in newborn infants. Congenital CMV infection causes multiorgan affection, but the most severe and permanent sequelae are those affecting central nervous system such as mental retardation, cerebral palsy, sensorineural hearing loss, chorioretinitis and seizures as a result of direct interference of the virus with neurogenesis. The time of acquiring infection is strongly connected to the level of child's disability. Infection in early pregnancy results in severe neurological sequelae, while later infection has less prominent signs. Radiological findings show connection between onset of infection and brain imaging, from lissencephaly, pachygyria, polymicrogyria, schizencephaly, calcification, cerebellar hypoplasia and/or hypoplasia/agenesis of corpus callosum as a result of an early infection, to white matter abnormalities including disturbed myelination as a result of a late infection. We present nine patients with proven congenital CMV infection and malformations of cortical development and their computed tomography/magnetic resonance (CT/MRI) findings along with clinical assessments. According to CT/MRI results we assume that two of our children with lissencephaly had an early onset of infection. The other seven with less severe cortical dysplasia in form of pachy/polymicrogyria were probably infected later Cerebellar hypoplasia and/or calcifications in our patients also confirm an early onset of infection. Developmental outcome in all of our children was poor: moderate to severe psychomotor retardation has been diagnosed in all children; five of them have developed cerebral palsy (four have bilateral spastic and one dyskinetic) and one is estimated to have minor motor dysfunction. Seven out of nine developed epilepsy, chorioretinitis was found in three of them and sensorineural deafness in two of them. All of our children, except one, were presented by symptomatic infection, yet only four of them were recognized at birth. Therefore, congenital CMV infection should be considered as one of the reasons for childhood disability more often.
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PMID:Malformations of cortical development in children with congenital cytomegalovirus infection - A study of nine children with proven congenital cytomegalovirus infection. 2164 39

In late April 2012, an infectious disease physician contacted CDC regarding a patient with aseptic meningitis who worked at a rodent breeding facility in Indiana. Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection was suspected, and LCMV-specific antibody was detected in blood and cerebrospinal fluid from the patient, confirming the diagnosis. LCMV is an arenavirus carried by the common house mouse. Persons become infected through close contact with infected rodents, through infected organ transplantation, or from mother to fetus. In immunocompetent adults, symptoms can range from mild febrile illness to meningeal symptoms (e.g., headache, stiff neck, or sensitivity to light). Congenitally infected infants can have a range of severe birth defects including hydrocephalus, chorioretinitis, blindness, and mental retardation (1). Infections in organ recipients, who are immunosuppressed, can have a case-fatality rate approaching 90% (2).
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PMID:Notes from the field: lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infections in employees of a rodent breeding facility--Indiana, May-June 2012. 2289 87

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most ubiquitous member of the herpes virus family and is the leading cause of congenital (vertical) infection in newborns (Fowler, Stagno, & Pass, 2003; Llorente, Steigmeyer, Cooper, Rivers, & Gazley, 2011; Noyola et al., 2000; Steigmeyer & Llorente, 2010). CMV is related to the group of viruses capable of causing more pernicious infectious diseases, such as chicken pox (Santos de Barona, 1998). Although the virus generally remains dormant, individuals whose symptoms are clinically apparent often are dramatically affected. Common symptomatic characteristics of the virus include microcephaly, jaundice, liver-spleen infections, pneumonia, cardiac anomalies, chorioretinitis, vision loss, sensory-neural hearing loss, mental retardation, and mononucleosis (Demmler, 1991; Kashden, Frison, Fowler, Pass, & Boll, 1998; Noyola et al., 2000; Pass, 2005; Santos de Barona). The prognosis of individuals with CMV is highly variable, and the prognosis of individuals with congenital CMV can usually be determined based on the extent of infection at birth. The purpose of this investigation is to present longitudinal results of neuropsychological evaluation of two dizygotic twin sets (one twin of each set is asymptomatic CMV-positive and the other is uninfected) who were reared in the same environment. In addition, the present findings are discussed within the context of emerging murine and other animal analogues of CMV as well as within the extant CMV literature.
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PMID:Congenital cytomegalovirus infection in fraternal twins: a longitudinal case study examining neurocognitive and neurobehavioral correlates. 2342 80

Infection with rubella virus during pregnancy, especially during the first trimester, can result in congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). Serious manifestations of CRS include deafness, cataracts, cardiac defects, mental retardation, and death. In the last major rubella epidemic in the United States, during 1964-1965, an estimated 12.5 million rubella virus infections resulted in 11,250 therapeutic or spontaneous abortions, 2,100 neonatal deaths, and 20,000 infants born with CRS. In 2004, after implementation of a universal vaccination program, elimination of endemic rubella virus transmission was documented in the United States; evidence also suggests that endemic rubella has been eliminated in the entire World Health Organization (WHO) Region of the Americas. However, rubella virus continues to circulate elsewhere in the world, especially in regions where rubella vaccination programs have not been established (e.g., the African Region), placing the United States at risk for imported cases of rubella and CRS. During 2004-2012, 79 cases of rubella and six cases of CRS were reported in the United States; all of the cases were import-associated or from unknown sources. Of the three cases of CRS that occurred in 2012, conditions included cardiac defects, cataracts, hearing impairment, and pericardial effusion in one infant; patent ductus arteriosus, cardiomegaly, thrombocytopenia, and pneumonitis in a second infant; and cataracts, thrombocytopenia, and cardiac defects in a third infant. All three mothers had been in Africa early in their pregnancies. While rubella remains endemic elsewhere in the world, imported CRS will continue to be a public health concern in the United States.
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PMID:Three cases of congenital rubella syndrome in the postelimination era--Maryland, Alabama, and Illinois, 2012. 2353 89

Plectranthus is a large and widespread genus with a diversity of ethnobotanical uses. In traditional medicine P. mollis has been used against snakebites, respiratory stimulant and vasoconstrictor, cardiac depressant, cure for haemorrahage, treatment of mental retardation and rheumatism. P. mollis is reported to exhibit relaxant activity on smooth and skeletal muscles, and has cytotoxic and anti-tumour promoting activity, and can be used in the treatment of cancer. The aim of the present study was to identify chemical composition of the essential oil of P. mollis and to evaluate antimicrobial efficacy of the oil. The essential oil of the flowering aerial parts of P. mollis was obtained by hydro-distillation and analyzed by gas chromatography equipped with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Twenty-seven compounds were identified, which comprised 98.6% of the total constituents. The main compound was identified as fenchone (32.3%), followed by alpha-humulene (17.3%), piperitenone oxide (8.5%), cis-piperitone oxide (6.0%) and E-beta-farnesene (5.9%). The oil was found rich in oxygenated monoterpenes type constituents (52.0%), followed by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (40.2%), oxygenated sesquiterpenes (4.9%), and monoterpene hydrocarbons (1.5%). Antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of P. mollis was tested against six Gram-positive and eight Gram-negative bacteria, and three fungi, by using the tube dilution method. The oil was active against the tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and fungi at a concentration range of 0.065 +/- 0.008-0.937 +/- 0.139 mg/mL, 0.468 +/- 0.069-3.333 +/- 0.527 mg/mL and 0.117 +/- 0.017-0.338 +/- 0.062 mg/mL, respectively. The present study revealed that the oil constituents somehow were qualitatively similar and quantitatively different than earlier reports from different parts of the world. The essential oil of P. mollis has found to be antimicrobial activity which can be usefulness in the treatment of various infectious diseases caused by bacteria and fungi.
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PMID:Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Plectranthus mollis (Lamiaceae) from Western Ghats Region, Karnataka, India. 2510 28


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