A previously healthy 16-year-old girl of Jamaican descent presented with a 1-year history of progressive daytime somnolence, sleep attacks (sudden irresistible episodes of sleep), and paroxysms of altered level of consciousness. Her parents also reported irritability, mood lability, and hyperphagia. Her history was notable for a mild learning disability diagnosed at 9 years of age. Before sympt...

Microdeletions of the Y chromosome are the second most frequent genetic cause of spermatogenetic failure in infertile men after the Klinefelter syndrome. The molecular diagnosis of Y-chromosomal microdeletions is routinely performed in the workup of male infertility in men with azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia. Since 1999, the European Academy of Andrology (EAA) and the European Molecular ...

With the widespread clinical use of comparative genomic hybridization chromosomal microarray technology, several previously unidentified clinically significant submicroscopic chromosome abnormalities have been discovered. Specifically, there have been reports of clinically significant microduplications found in regions of known microdeletion syndromes. In general, these microduplications have d...

A region on mouse distal chromosome 1 (Chr. 1) that is highly enriched in quantitative trait loci (QTLs) controlling neural and behavioral phenotypes overlaps with the peak region of a major obesity QTL (Nob3.38), which we identified in an intercross of New Zealand Obese (NZO) mice with C57BL/6J (B6). By positional cloning we recently identified a microdeletion within this locus causing the dis...

Mequindox (MEQ) is a relatively new synthetic antibacterial agent widely applied in China since the 1980s. However, its reproductive toxicity has not been adequately performed. In the present study, four groups of male Kunming mice (10 mice/group) were fed diets containing MEQ (0, 25, 55 and 110 mg/kg in the diet) for up to 18 months. The results show that M4 could pass through the blood-testis...

RATIONALE 22q11 deletion syndrome, the most common chromosomal microdeletion disease, is caused by megabase-sized deletions on chromosome 22q11.2. It is characterized by a wide spectrum of congenital anomalies in velopharyngeal and facial, cardiac, genitourinary, vertebroskeletal, respiratory, digestive, and central nervous systems. Phenotype-genotype studies have revealed several causative gen...

Mowat-Wilson syndrome (MWS) is a rare autosomal dominant characterized by dysmorphic features, mental retardation, and congenital heart disease (CHD). MWS results from microdeletions of chromosome 2q23 or de novo SNVs involving the <i>ZEB2</i> gene. Here, we report on an Egyptian patient diagnosed chromosomal microarray (CMA). A 1-year-old male child was referred to CHD clinic, Nati...

Deletions of the Y chromosome are a significant cause of spermatogenic failure. Three major deletion intervals have been defined and termed AZFa, AZFb and AZFc. Here, we report an unusual case of a proximal AZFb deletion that includes the Y chromosome palindromic sequence P4 and a novel heat shock factor (HSFY). This deletion neither include the genes EIF1AY, RPS4Y2 nor copies of the RBMY1 gene...

Background: We are convinced that better infertility treatment will only be achieved with a better under understanding of the molecular mechanisms specific to each patient. To that effect we want to indentify genes involved in male infertility. Materials and Methods: We screened cohorts of infertile men to identify the cause of their infertility. Results: Our team has identified and caracterize...