Pontine hypoplasia in Carey-Fineman-Ziter (CFZ) syndrome.

We describe an infant with multiple congenital anomalies including cleft palate and micrognathia, Möbius sequence, developmental delay, myopathy, hydronephrosis, and bilateral clubfeet. These features are consistent with Carey-Fineman-Ziter (CFZ) syndrome (MIM 254940), which has been previously reported in six children (including two sibling pairs). Cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed an unusually small pons, a finding not previously described in CFZ syndrome.

Maternal dietary docosahexanoic acid content affects the rat pup auditory system.

Previous studies of the effects of dietary docosahexanoic acid (DHA), 22:6n3, on neurodevelopment have focused mainly on visual-evoked potentials and indices of visual activity, measures that may be confounded by effects on the retina rather than on neural pathways. We investigated the effect of pre- and postnatal maternal dietary DHA content on auditory brainstem conduction times (ABCTs), the appearance of the auditory startle reflex (ASR), and 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase (CNPase) activity in brainstem homogenates. Timed pregnant dams were fed, beginning on day 2 of gestation and throughout lactation, a purified diet containing one of three levels of DHA (0, 1, or 3% of total fatty acids, or 0, 0.