Growth monitoring to detect children with cystic fibrosis.

Background/aims: Cystic fibrosis (CF) in infancy and childhood is often associated with failure to thrive (FTT). This would suggest that in countries without a newborn screening program for CF, FTT could be used as a clinical screening tool. The aim of this study is to assess the diagnostic performance of FTT for identifying children with CF.

Hb Nile[A1] and Hb Nile[A2]: novel identical [alpha77(EF6)Pro-->Ser] variants found in either the alpha1- or alpha2-globin genes.

We describe a novel hemoglobin (Hb) variant, caused by a CCC > TCC transition at codon 77 on the alpha gene. The mutation was found in two unrelated patients, in one patient on the alpha1 gene and in the other patient on the alpha2 gene. Both are anemic patients of African origin.

Multiple supernumerary ring chromosomes of different origin in a patient: a clinical report and review of the literature.

We describe a patient with multiple congenital abnormalities exhibiting 2-5 supernumerary chromosomes per cells. A variety of FISH techniques were used to demonstrate that the markers are probably rings, lack detectable telomere sequences, and originate from different non-acrocentric chromosomes, namely 6, 7, 10, 12, and 19. Such cases are extremely rare and this is only the 8th published report of an individual presenting three or more supernumerary chromosomes.