Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a nine-year-old girl with isodicentric chromosome 15 syndrome.

Isodicentric chromosome 15, also called idic(15), is a rare chromosomal abnormality resulting from inverted duplication of proximal 15q. It is associated with specific clinical findings such as early central hypotonia, developmental delay, cognitive dysfunction, autism spectrum disorders, and seizure. Herein we describe a case of a girl with idic(15) syndrome who developed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at the age of 9 years.

Combined assessment of thrombotic and haemorrhagic risk in acute medical patients.

Acute medical patients have a high risk of venous thromboembolic events (VTE). Unfortunately, the fear of bleeding complications limits the use of antithrombotic prophylaxis in this setting. To stratify the VTE and haemorrhagic risk, two clinical scores (PADUA, IMPROVE) have recently been developed.

Macronutrient intakes in obese subjects with or without small intestinal bacterial overgrowth: an alimentary survey.

Objective: Obesity is a multifactorial disorder with a possible microbiota derangement in its pathogenesis. Moreover, in obese patients the likelihood of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is greater than in controls, although few studies are currently available. This study investigates the prevalence of SIBO and the possible role of dietary macronutrients in obesity.

Identifying gene-environment interactions in schizophrenia: contemporary challenges for integrated, large-scale investigations.

Recent years have seen considerable progress in epidemiological and molecular genetic research into environmental and genetic factors in schizophrenia, but methodological uncertainties remain with regard to validating environmental exposures, and the population risk conferred by individual molecular genetic variants is small. There are now also a limited number of studies that have investigated molecular genetic candidate gene-environment interactions (G × E), however, so far, thorough replication of findings is rare and G × E research still faces several conceptual and methodological challenges. In this article, we aim to review these recent developments and illustrate how integrated, large-scale investigations may overcome contemporary challenges in G × E research, drawing on the example of a large, international, multi-center study into the identification and translational application of G × E in schizophrenia.