Prenatal diagnosis of deletion 11q23-->qter. Report of two unrelated cases.

Two cases of de novo deletion of the region distal to 11q23 were detected at cordocentesis, following sonographic evidence of malformations. Consistent findings in both fetuses were an abnormal amount of amniotic fluid, growth retardation, heart and renal defects. At delivery, the characteristic facial dysmorphisms of del(11q23) syndrome were also detected, including trigonocephaly, hypertelorism, abnormal slant of palpebral fissures, micrognathia and abnormal ears.

[Turner syndrome. Cytogenetic analysis of 165 patients with Turner syndrome. 1st report].

Results are reported of a cytogenetic study on 165 patients with Turner syndrome, based on sex chromatin and karyotype tests. We found that the karyotype 45,X is present only in 54.54% of the cases in homogeneous form and in about 14% of the cases in mosaic form associated with a normal clone 46,XX or, rarely, also with a clone 47,XXX; in the other cases X structural anomalies and different kinds of mosaic forms are present.

[Mosaicism 45,X/46,X,r/(Y) associated with mixed gonadal dysgenesis. Description of a case and review of the literature].

The structural anomalies of Y chromosome even if rare, are very interesting for the possibility of mapping male-determining genes. The authors report a case of ring (Y) chromosome to further elucidate the phenotype associated with a deleted Y chromosome and to present informations about the location of genes on the Y chromosome. The literature's cases are also reviewed and compared to Author's.

Increased chromosomal breakage in epileptic children after long-term treatment.

To investigate the mutagenic effects of antiepileptic drugs (AED), 39 epileptic children treated by long-term monotherapy (10 cases with Pb, 11 with Cbz, 9 with Vpa, 8 with Pht) have been studied. The long-term administration was monitored by measurement of AED serum concentrations by gaschromatography. Metaphase chromosome observations were performed using short time culture of peripheral blood lymphocytes and 100 mitoses from each proband were analyzed.