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Background: Congenital hyperinsulinism (CH) is treated surgically in many centers (near-total and partial pancreatectomy for diffuse and focal disease respectively). Most patients treated with near-total pancreatectomy developed diabetes during childhood/puberty. CH patients are at increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, some being severe, which are reported to occur in 14–44% of patients from highly heterogenous cohorts. Over the last few decades, we have treated children with CH conservatively without surgery. The aim of this study was to assess the neurodevelopmental outcome of these patients.

Design and methods: The study included 21 Ashkenazi CH medically treated patients: 11 homozygotes (diffuse disease) and 9 heterozygotes with mutations on the paternal allele (presumed focal disease). The mean age was 13.7 years (range 8–23). Neurodevelopmental outcomes were assessed by telephone interviews of parents, using a standard questionnaire. Closest age siblings of CH patients served as controls.

Results: Ten CH patients had perinatal seizures of short duration. Four had post-neonatal seizures, which remitted entirely. During early childhood, four patients (19%) had hypotonia, eight (38%) had fine motor problems, seven (33%) had gross motor problems (clumsiness), and one had mild cerebral palsy. Three patients (14%) had speech problems. Eight patients required developmental therapy, compared to one in the control group. Most of these problems were resolved by age 4–5 years. At school age, all were enrolled in regular education, some excelled in their studies, 6 out of 21 patients (29%) had learning problems (2 out of 21 controls). None had overt diabetes.

Conclusions: Good neurodevelopmental outcome was observed in our conservatively treated CH patients, with no diabetes as reported in patients undergoing pancreatectomy.

Objective: To clarify the molecular defect for the clinical finding of congenital hypothyroidism combined with the manifestation of calcinosis cutis in infancy.

Case report: The male patient presented with moderately elevated blood thyrotropin levels at neonatal screening combined with slightly decreased plasma thyroxine and tri-iodothyronine concentrations, necessitating thyroid hormone substitution 2 weeks after birth. At the age of 7 months calcinosis cutis was seen and the patient underwent further investigation. Typical features of Albright’s hereditary osteodystrophy (AHO), including round face, obesity and delayed psychomotor development, were found.

Methods and results: Laboratory investigation revealed a resistance to parathyroid hormone (PTH) with highly elevated PTH levels and a reduction in adenylyl cyclase-stimulating protein (Gsα) activity leading to the diagnosis of pseudohypoparathyroidism type Ia (PHP Ia). A novel heterozygous mutation (c364T > G in exon 5, leading to the amino acid substitution Ile-106 → Ser) was detected in the GNAS gene of the patient. This mutation was not found in the patient’s parents, both of whom showed normal Gsα protein activity in erythrocytes and no features of AHO. A de novo mutation is therefore likely.

Conclusions: Subcutaneous calcifications in infancy should prompt the clinician to a thorough search for an underlying disease. The possibility of AHO and PHP Ia should be considered in children with hypothyroidism and calcinosis cutis. Systematic reviews regarding the frequency of calcinosis in AHO are warranted.

OBJECTIVE: We describe an infant with surprisingly severe neonatal hypothyroidism due to transplacental passage of thyrotrophin receptor (TSH-R)-blocking antibodies (TBAb). DESIGN AND METHODS: TBAb were detected using a cell line which stably expresses the human TSH-R and a cAMP-responsive luciferase reporter by their ability to inhibit TSH-stimulated luciferase expression. Potent TBAb were detected in maternal serum and initially in the infant's serum but, in the latter, TBAb decreased over time to within the reference range by 3-4 months of age, illustrating the transient nature of this condition. RESULTS: The thyroid function of this child did not return to normal on withdrawal of thyroxine therapy at 16 months of age when he developed transient compensated hypothyroidism. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that the presence of potent TBAb in utero and in the first weeks of life may have implications for the development of a normally sized thyroid gland. We have demonstrated the presence of TBAb in the mother's milk and, as far as we are aware, this is the first such report. However, the TBAb in the milk probably did not contribute significantly to hypothyroidism in the child, given the reducing antibody titre in his circulation.

BACKGROUND: The term congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) comprises a group of different genetic disorders with the common finding of recurrent episodes of hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical presentation, diagnostic criteria, treatment and long-term follow-up in a large cohort of CHI patients. PATIENTS: The data from 114 patients from different hospitals were obtained by a detailed questionnaire. Patients presented neonatally (65%), during infancy (28%) or during childhood (7%). RESULTS: In 20 of 74 (27%) patients with neonatal onset birth weight was greatly increased (group with standard deviation scores (SDS) >2.0) with a mean SDS of 3.2. Twenty-nine percent of neonatal-onset vs 69% of infancy/childhood-onset patients responded to diazoxide and diet or to a carbohydrate-enriched diet alone. Therefore, we observed a high rate of pancreatic surgery performed in the neonatal-onset group (70%) compared with the infancy/childhood-onset group (28%). Partial (3%), subtotal (37%) or near total (15%) pancreatectomy was performed. After pancreatic surgery there appeared a high risk of persistent hypoglycemia (40%). Immediately post-surgery or with a latency of several Years insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus was observed in operated patients (27%). General outcome was poor with a high degree of psychomotor or mental retardation (44%) or epilepsy (25%). An unfavorable outcome correlated with infancy-onset manifestation (chi(2)=6.1, P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The high degree of developmental delay, in particular in infancy-onset patients emphasizes the need for a change in treatment strategies to improve the unfavorable outcome. Evaluation of treatment alternatives should take the high risk of developing diabetes mellitus into account.

BACKGROUND: The intellectual outcome in children with congenital hypothyroidism detected by neonatal screening is generally good; however, subtle neurological dysfunctions, subnormal IQ, or both, have been reported. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the intellectual outcome in 12-year-old patients with congenital hypothyroidism, detected by neonatal screening, in an attempt to identify factors that may affect intellectual development. METHODS: The intelligence quotient (IQ) of 40 children with congenital hypothyroidism was evaluated at 12 years of age, using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children -- Revised, and compared with the IQ of 40 healthy siblings (control group). RESULTS: The mean IQ score (88.4+/-13.1) was not significantly different from that of the control group (93.4+/-10.7). Thirteen patients showed subnormal IQ score (72.4+/-4.9) compared with their siblings (86.7+/-9.6; P<0.0001) and with the other patients (96.1+/-9.6; P<0.0001). The low IQ score was associated with lower serum concentrations of thyroxine at diagnosis, poor treatment compliance during follow-up and lower familial IQ. Interviews with parents of children with congenital hypothyroidism revealed that a refusal to acknowledge the disease was linked to poor attention to the child's emotional life and to poor treatment compliance in some cases (11%). CONCLUSION: Even though the mean IQ score in patients with congenital hypothyroidism falls within normal for the control population, low IQ scores may be present in patients with severe hypothyroidism, inadequate compliance to replacement therapy during follow-up and poor parental pedagogic attitude.

OBJECTIVE: Congenital isolated ACTH deficiency (IAD) is a rare inherited disorder that is clinically and genetically heterogeneous. Patients are characterised by low or absent cortisol production secondary to low plasma ACTH despite normal secretion of other pituitary hormones and the absence of structural pituitary defects. Onset may occur in the neonatal period, but may first be observed in later childhood. Recently, mutations in the TPIT gene, a T-box factor selectively expressed in developing corticotroph cells, have been found in cases of early-onset IAD. DESIGN: Here we report the screening of the TPIT gene in seven patients with IAD, four of whom had neonatal onset. METHODS: Genomic DNA was extracted and the sequences of the 8 TPIT exons and their intron/exon junctions were determined by automated sequencing. RESULTS: Two siblings with early-onset IAD were both compound heterozygotes for mutations in exons 2 and 6. The missense mutation (Met86Arg) in exon 2 within the T-box (or DNA binding domain) is predicted to disrupt DNA binding. A frameshift mutation in exon 6 (782delA) introduces a premature stop codon and is likely to lead to a non-functional truncated protein. No nucleotide changes were observed in exonic sequences in the other two early- or the three later-onset cases. Fifteen single nucleotide polymorphisms that were not predicted to change the TPIT transcript were also detected. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide a further illustration of the genetic heterogeneity of IAD and are highly suggestive of one or more other genes being implicated in this disorder.