Glucokinase mutations in pediatric patients with impaired fasting glucose.

Aims: Our aim was to detect the frequency of glucokinase (GCK) gene mutations in a cohort of patients with impaired fasting glucose and to describe the clinical manifestations of identified variants. We also aimed at predicting the effect of the novel missense mutations by computational approach.

Methods: Overall 100 unrelated Italian families with impaired fasting glucose were enrolled and subdivided into two cohorts according to strict and to mild criteria for diagnosis of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY).

Redescriptions and lectotype designations for two neotropical Elminae (Coleoptera: Elmidae).

Two Elminae, Macrelmis germaini (Grouvelle, 1896) and Cylloepus reitteri Grouvelle, 1889 from Grouvelle's Collection in the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris are reviewed, and their lectotypes designated. Habitus photographs and illustrations of aedeagi for both species are also included.

Annotated checklist of Dryopidae and Heteroceridae (Coleoptera: Byrrhoidea) of Iran.

The distribution of Dryopidae and Heteroceridae (Coleoptera: Byrrhoidea) of Iran is summarized. A total of ten species of Dryopidae in three genera (Dryops Olivier, Parahelichus Löbl & Smetana, and Praehelichus Löbl & Smetana), and 18 species of Heteroceridae in two genera (Augyles Schiödte and Heterocerus Fabricius) are listed. Augyles hispidulus (Kiesenwetter, 1843) (Heteroceridae) is recorded from Iran for the first time.

Longitudinal assessment of bone quality by quantitative ultrasonography in children and adolescents.

Among the techniques available to assess bone quality, quantitative ultrasonography of the proximal phalanges of the hand (QUS) has emerged as particularly attractive. In this study, amplitude-dependent speed of sound (AD-SoS) and bone transmission time (BTT) were obtained by the sonographic device DBM Sonic BP IGEA in two sessions at two years' interval, in a school-age population (589 subjects, 290 mol/L and 299F, aged 3 to 16 y) with the aim to determine accuracy of QUS measurements, evaluate QUS variable changes during growth, relate these values with age and growth variables. Mean AD-SoS and BTT at age classes from 5 to 12 y as determined at the first and second measurement sessions were not significantly different.