Congenital atrichia with papular lesions resulting from novel mutations in human hairless gene in four consanguineous families.

Congenital atrichia with papular lesions (APL; Mendelian Inheritance in Man no. 209500) is a rare form of irreversible alopecia that follows an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. Patients with this form of alopecia show hair loss soon after birth with the development of papular lesions of keratin-filled cysts over the body.

Hepatitis B virus genotypes and precore and core mutants in UAE patients.

Background: Knowledge of the HBV genotype with which a patient is infected is crucial information for a physician to have when planning clinical treatment for that patient. Previous studies have suggested that there are possible differences in the pathogenicity and therapeutic response of different HBV genotypes. However, the prevalence of the various HBV genotypes and Precore and Core mutations is unknown in the UAE.

Transfusion transmitted virus in screened United Arab Emirates blood donors.

Objective: To investigate the rate of infection caused by Torque teno virus (TTV) in United Arab Emirates (UAEs) healthy population as a pilot study in detecting TTV DNA in 100 healthy blood donors.

Methods: We randomly choose a total of 100 healthy blood donors who attended Zayed Military Hospital, Abu Dhabi, UAE from January 20 to May 30, 2005. We carried out a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to detect TTV DNA.