Hvordan har mit stakkels barn det?

Family historian René van Wijngaarden contributes with a story about one of the prominent Jewish families of the Danish West Indies.Van Wijngaarden is a descendant of the Delvalle family, and the grandson of Hester van Daelen (1895-1965). Van Daelen is the Dutch translation of Del Valle/Delvalle, a family of Sephardic Jews, who settled in 17th century Amsterdam. Members of this family emigrated to the Caribbean to find their destination in Curaçao and St. Thomas in The West Indies. They also settled in Panama, were two presidents of the republic of Panamá, Max Delvalle and Eric Arturo Delvalle were members of this old Jewish family. One member of the Danish West Indies Delvalle clan, Deborah Viola Delvalle was mentally ill. She was sent by her parents, David Delvalle and Grace Cardoze to Denmark in 1905.The Royal Library in Copenhagen holds extensive correspondence between the Delvalle family and Rabbi David Simonsen (1853-1932) in Copenhagen. The correspondence covers a period of 22 years and gives a perfect insight into the difficulties the family encounters to procure the necessary help and care for Deborah Viola Delvalle. It also shows how committed and devoted David Simonsen and his family were taking care of this young girl.In the presence of members of the Delvalle family, Bent Lexner, Chief Rabbi of Denmark, unveiled the gravestone of Deborah Viola Delvalle in Vestre Mosaisk Begravelsesplads 81 years after her death. That completed her story

Effects of Morbid Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome on the Composition of Circulating Immune Subsets

Morbid obesity is characterized by chronic, low-grade inflammation, which is associated with ‘inflamm-aging’. The presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) might accelerate this phenomenon of metaflammation. In this study, we assessed the effects of morbid obesity and MetS on the composition of a broad spectrum of immune cells present within the circulation. A total of 117 morbidly obese patients (MOP) without MetS (MetS-), 127 MOP with MetS (MetS+) and 55 lean controls (LC) were included in this study. Absolute numbers of T cell, B cell, NK cell and monocyte subsets were assessed within peripheral blood using flow cytometry. Both absolute cell numbers and proportion of cells were evaluated correcting for covariates age, body mass index and cytomegalovirus serostatus. Although the absolute number of circulating CD4+ T cells was increased in the MetS+ group, the CD4+ T cell composition was not influenced by MetS. The CD8+ T cell and B cell compartment contained more differentiated cells in the MOP, but was not affected by MetS. Even though the absolute numbers of NK cells and monocytes were increased in the MOP as compared to LC, there was no difference in proportions of NK and monocyte subsets between the three study groups. In conclusion, although absolute numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, B cells, NK cells and monocytes are increased in MOP, obesity-induced effects of the composition of the immune system are confined to a more differentiated phenotype of CD8+ T cells and B cells. These results were not affected by MetS

Beneficial effects of growth hormone treatment on cognition in children with Prader-Willi syndrome: a randomized controlled trial and longitudinal study.

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND: Knowledge about the effects of GH treatment on cognitive functioning in children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is limited. METHODS: Fifty prepubertal children aged 3.5 to 14 yr were studied in a randomized controlled GH trial during 2 yr, followed by a longitudinal study during 4 yr of GH treatment. Cognitive functioning was measured biennially by short forms of the WPPSI-R or WISC-R, depending on age. Total IQ (TIQ) score was estimated based on two subtest scores. RESULTS: During the randomized controlled trial, mean sd scores of all subtests and mean TIQ score remained similar compared to baseline in GH-treated children with PWS, whereas in untreated controls mean subtest sd scores and mean TIQ score decreased and became lower compared to baseline. This decline was significant for the Similarities (P = 0.04) and Vocabulary (P = 0.03) subtests. After 4 yr of GH treatment, mean sd scores on the Similarities and Block design subtests were significantly higher than at baseline (P = 0.01 and P = 0.03, respectively), and scores on Vocabulary and TIQ remained similar compared to baseline. At baseline, children with a maternal uniparental disomy had a significantly lower score on the Block design subtest (P = 0.01) but a larger increment on this subtest during 4 yr of GH treatment than children with a deletion. Lower baseline scores correlated significantly with higher increases in Similarities (P = 0.04) and Block design (P < 0.0001) sd scores. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that GH treatment prevents deterioration of certain cognitive skills in children with PWS on the short term and significantly improves abstract reasoning and visuospatial skills during 4 yr of GH treatment. Furthermore, children with a greater deficit had more benefit from GH treatment.01 juli 201