Publications by authors named "Melissa D Svoboda"

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common congenital virus passed from mother to fetus in the United States, and the most common acquired cause of sensorineural hearing loss. Neuroimaging in patients with symptomatic congenital CMV demonstrates abnormalities frequently, but many providers are unaware of the extent of these findings. We present a case of a 15-month-old girl with progressive sensorineural hearing loss and developmental delays.

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Heterozygous variants in the arginine-glutamic acid dipeptide repeats gene (RERE) have been shown to cause neurodevelopmental disorder with or without anomalies of the brain, eye, or heart (NEDBEH). Here, we report nine individuals with NEDBEH who carry partial deletions or deleterious sequence variants in RERE. These variants were found to be de novo in all cases in which parental samples were available.

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Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess whether chemically intolerant women are at greater risk for having a child with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Methods: We conducted a case-control study of chemical intolerance among mothers of children with ASD (n = 282) or ADHD (n = 258) and children without these disorders (n = 154). Mothers participated in an online survey consisting of a validated chemical intolerance screening instrument, the Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (QEESI).

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Importance: Autoantibodies to the γ-aminobutyric acid type B (GABAB) receptor have recently been identified as a cause of autoimmune encephalitis. Most patients with GABAB encephalitis have presented with limbic encephalitis. About half of the cases reported have been paraneoplastic in origin, with the majority of tumors representing small cell lung cancer.

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Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS) is an autosomal recessive genetic condition with a broad phenotype that results from deficiency of the final enzyme of the cholesterol synthesis pathway. This defect causes low or low-normal plasma cholesterol levels and increased 7- and 8-dehydrocholesterol (DHC) levels. Many therapies for SLOS and other disorders of sterol metabolism have been proposed, and a few of them have been undertaken in selected patients, but robust prospective clinical trials with validated outcome measures are lacking.

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