Aim: The aim of the study was to determine whether paediatric ataxia speech subscores are reliably applicable for international early-onset ataxia (EOA) databases. If so, we reasoned that ataxia speech subscores should be associated with ataxia scores and involve high interobserver agreement, including those for internationally applicable Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) syllable r

IMPORTANCE: The impact of betaine treatment on outcome in patients with severe methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) deficiency is presently unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of betaine treatment on development and survival in patients with severe MTHFR deficiency. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases between January 1960 and December 2012. STUDY SELECTION: Studi

Mevalonate kinase deficiency (MKD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder causing 1 of 2 phenotypes, hyperimmunoglobulin D syndrome and mevalonic aciduria, presenting with recurrent fever episodes, often starting in infancy, and sometimes evoked by stress or vaccinations. This autoinflammatory disease is caused by mutations encoding the mevalonate kinase (MVK) gene and is classified in the group o

Background: Ramsay Hunt syndrome (progressive myoclonus ataxia) is a descriptive diagnosis characterized by myoclonus, ataxia, and infrequent seizures. Often the etiology cannot be determined. Recently, a mutation in the GOSR2 gene (c.430G>T, p.Gly144Trp) was reported in 6 patients with childhood-onset progressive ataxia and myoclonus. Methods: We evaluated 5 patients with cortical myoclonus, atax

Objective To examine cognitive functioning in patients with tyrosinemia type I treated with nitisinone and a protein-restricted diet. Study design We performed a cross-sectional study to establish cognitive functioning in children with tyrosinemia type I compared with their unaffected siblings. Intelligence was measured using age-appropriate Wechsler Scales. To assess cognitive development over ti

Asparaginase is a mainstay of treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Pegylation of asparaginase extends its biological half-life and has been introduced in the newest treatment protocols aiming to further increase treatment success. Hyperammonemia is a recognized side effect of asparaginase treatment, but little is known about its incidence and clinical relevance. Alerted by a patien

Background: Newborn screening (NBS) for long-chain 3-hydroxy acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (LCHAD) deficiency does not discriminate between isolated LCHAD deficiency, isolated long-chain keto acyl-CoA (LCKAT) deficiency and general mitochondrial trifunctional protein (MTP) deficiency. Therefore, screening for LCHAD deficiency inevitably comprises screening for MTP deficiency, which is much less amenable

Phosphohydroxylysinuria has been described in two patients with neurological symptoms, but the deficient enzyme or mutated gene has never been identified. In the present work, we tested the hypothesis that this condition is due to mutations in the AGXT2L2 gene, recently shown to encode phosphohydroxylysine phospholyase. DNA analysis from a third patient, without neurological symptoms, but with an

The glutamatergic neurotransmission system and the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) have been implicated in smoking and alcohol consumption behavior. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that nicotine and ethanol influence NMDAR functionality, which may have a role in tendencies to consume these substances. Nonetheless, little is known about concentrations of NMDAR coagonists in the cerebros

Serine deficiency disorders are caused by a defect in one of the three synthesising enzymes of the L-serine biosynthesis pathway. Serine deficiency disorders give rise to a neurological phenotype with psychomotor retardation, microcephaly and seizures in newborns and children or progressive polyneuropathy in adult patients. There are three defects that cause serine deficiency of which 3-phosphogly

Defects in the synthesis pathways of amino acids have only been discovered in recent years and are relatively unknown to most clinicians. In this chapter disorders neurological symptoms caused by genetic defects in the synthesis of the amino acids serine, glutamine and proline are discussed. Patients with serine deficiency invariably suffer from severe neurological symptoms such as microcephaly, p

Background: Vitamin B6 is present in various forms (vitamers) in the diet that need to be metabolized to pyridoxal phosphate (PLP), the active cofactor form of vitamin B6. In literature, the liver has been reported to be the major site for this conversion, whereas the exact role of the intestine remains to be elucidated. Objective: To gain insight into the role of the intestine in human vitamin B6

Recently, d-serine has been identified as an important NMDA-receptor co-agonist, which might play a role in central nervous system development. We investigated this by studying rat P19 cells, an established model for neuronal and glial differentiation. Our results show that (1) the d-serine synthesizing enzyme serine racemase was expressed upon differentiation, (2) extracellular d-serine concentra

Case: A 34-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with progressive movement disorders and neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation and enlargement of the frontal diploe on the MRI. Metabolic testing revealed that she had α-mannosidosis (AMD), a lysosomal storage disorder. Background: AMD is a rare genetic disorder that causes α-mannosidase deficiency resulting in lysosomal accumulation

Deficiency of ornithine-δ-aminotransferase (OAT) in humans results in gyrate atrophy. Early diagnosis may allow initiation of treatment before irreversible damage has occurred. However, diagnosis is commonly delayed well into adulthood because of the nonspecific character of initial symptoms. Here, we report findings in a neonate who was evaluated because of a positive family history of OAT defici

The neuregulin 1 (NRG1) receptor ErbB4 is involved in the development of cortical inhibitory GABAergic circuits and NRG1-ErbB4 signaling has been implicated in schizophrenia (SCZ). A magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1 H-MRS) study has demonstrated that a single-nucleotide polymorphism in ERBB4, rs7598440, influences human cortical GABA concentrations. Other work has highlighted the significant imp

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Vitamin B6 plays a pivotal role in brain development and functioning. Differences in vitamin B6 homeostasis between preterm and term newborn infants have been reported. The authors sought to investigate whether B6 vitamers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of preterm and term newborn infants are different. METHODS: B6 vitamer concentrations were determined in 69 CSF samples of

Worldwide, perinatal asphyxia is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among term-born children. Overactivation of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAr) plays a central role in the pathogenesis of cerebral hypoxia-ischemia, but the role of both endogenous NMDAr co-agonists d-serine and glycine remains largely elusive. We investigated d-serine and glycine concentration changes in rat gl

A family of eukaryotic proline racemase-like genes has recently been identified. Several members of this family have been well characterized and are known to catalyze the racemization of free proline or trans-4-hydroxyproline. However, the majority of eukaryotic proline racemase-like proteins, including a human protein called C14orf149, lack a specific cysteine residue that is known to be critical

Since vitamin B6 is essential for normal functioning of the central nervous system, there is growing need for sensitive analysis of B6 vitamers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This manuscript describes the development and validation of a rapid, sensitive and accurate method for quantification of the vitamin B6 vitamers pyridoxal (PL), pyridoxamine (PM), pyridoxine (PN), pyridoxic acid (PA), pyridoxa