Geochemical characterization of oceanic basalts using Artificial Neural Network

The geochemical discriminate diagrams help to distinguish the volcanics recovered from different tectonic settings but these diagrams tend to group the ocean floor basalts (OFB) under one class i.e., as mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORB). Hence, a method is specifically needed to identify the OFB as normal (N-MORB), enriched (E-MORB) and ocean island basalts (OIB)

A recurrent 16p12.1 microdeletion supports a two-hit model for severe developmental delay.

We report the identification of a recurrent, 520-kb 16p12.1 microdeletion associated with childhood developmental delay. The microdeletion was detected in 20 of 11,873 cases compared with 2 of 8,540 controls (P = 0.0009, OR = 7.2) and replicated in a second series of 22 of 9,254 cases compared with 6 of 6,299 controls (P = 0.028, OR = 2.5). Most deletions were inherited, with carrier parents likely to manifest neuropsychiatric phenotypes compared to non-carrier parents (P = 0.037, OR = 6). Probands were more likely to carry an additional large copy-number variant when compared to matched controls (10 of 42 cases, P = 5.7 x 10(-5), OR = 6.6). The clinical features of individuals with two mutations were distinct from and/or more severe than those of individuals carrying only the co-occurring mutation. Our data support a two-hit model in which the 16p12.1 microdeletion both predisposes to neuropsychiatric phenotypes as a single event and exacerbates neurodevelopmental phenotypes in association with other large deletions or duplications. Analysis of other microdeletions with variable expressivity indicates that this two-hit model might be more generally applicable to neuropsychiatric disease

PIEBALDISM IN A MENTALLY-RETARDED GIRL WITH RARE DELETION OF THE LONG ARM OF CHROMOSOME-4

A 4-year-old mentally retarded girl had congenital depigmentations of ventrolateral parts of the chest, abdomen, and legs. She also showed dysmorphic features of the head, thorax, and extremities, a pigmented ring in both irises, and a hernia of the left obliquus muscle. Cytogenetic investigations revealed deletion of chromosome 4 for the long arm segment q12-q21. The typical depigmentations, reported in four other patients with a similar chromosomal deletion, correspond with those in the autosomal dominant piebald trait. Mutations in the Kit protooncogene (mapped to the chromosome (4q11-4q1 2 region) have been found in patients affected with this dominant disorder. Piebaldism in children with developmental delay and dysmorphic features should alert the physician to the possibility of a deletion of the long arm of chromosome 4