Pontine myelinolysis in a child with carbamate poisoning.

Carbamate and organophosphate pesticides are widely used all over the world. Poisoning with these substances may produce both immediate and delayed neurotoxic effects. We report the case of a 4-year-old boy who was admitted to the Pediatric Department of the Second University of Naples for evaluation of stupor, lethargy, severe hypotonia, generalized weakness of his arms and legs, ataxia, dysmetria, miosis, excessive salivation and tearing.

Radiofrequency ablation in children with asymptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Background: Ventricular fibrillation can be the presenting arrhythmia in children with asymptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Deaths due to this arrhythmia are potentially preventable.

Methods: We performed a randomized study in which prophylactic radiofrequency catheter ablation of accessory pathways was compared with no ablation in asymptomatic children (age range, 5 to 12 years) with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome who were at high risk for arrhythmias.

Genetic heterogeneity of FG syndrome: a fourth locus (FGS4) maps to Xp11.4-p11.3 in an Italian family.

FG syndrome (FGS, MIM 305450) is a rare X-linked recessive disorder comprising mental retardation and multiple malformations. Various families have been described to date, increasing our knowledge of the phenotype variability and making the clinical diagnosis complex, especially in sporadic patients. The first locus for FG syndrome (FGS1) was linked to chromosome region Xq12-q21.