The heterogeneity of craniofacial morphology in Prader-Willi patients.

Prader-Willi syndrome is a complex genetic disorder with narrow spectrum of facial phenotypic signs, which make the clinical diagnosis difficult in some cases. There are several reports describing the craniofacial appearance of Prader-Willi patients, but there are only a few cephalometric studies for these patients. In this study were included 18 patients with Prader-Willi syndrome and a control group of 18 subjects of both sexes selected based on specific criteria.

X-linked congenital adrenal hypoplasia with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism caused by an inversion disrupting a conserved noncoding element upstream of the NR0B1 (DAX1) gene.

Context: X-linked congenital adrenal hypoplasia with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (AHCH) is known to be caused by coding mutations in the nuclear receptor subfamily 0, group B, member 1 (NR0B1) gene, encoding the transcriptional repressor dosage-sensitive sex-reversal adrenal hypoplasia critical region on the X chromosome protein 1 (DAX1).

Objective/patients: Four males in a family were affected by AHCH. Our aim was to locate the genetic cause of their disease, knowing that they had no mutation in the obvious candidate gene, NR0B1.

15q overgrowth syndrome: a newly recognized phenotype associated with overgrowth, learning difficulties, characteristic facial appearance, renal anomalies and increased dosage of distal chromosome 15q.

Trisomy and tetrasomy of distal chromosome 15q have rarely been reported. Although most of the described patients have some learning difficulties and are overgrown, the phenotype associated with distal trisomy/tetrasomy 15q is uncertain due to the small numbers of reported cases and the common co-occurrence of additional chromosome deletions in many patients with trisomy 15q. We present five individuals with overgrowth, learning difficulties and increased dosage of distal 15q.

Severe hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia in a girl caused by a de novo 9;X insertion that includes XIST and disrupts the EDA gene.

X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (XLHED) is caused by mutations in the EDA gene. A girl with severe hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia and normal mental development had completely skewed X chromosome inactivation with only the paternal X active in peripheral blood cells. Routine chromosome analysis and sequencing of the EDA gene were normal.