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In spite of its serious sequelae, volatile substance abuse (VSA) attracts very little public attention in Germany. Our case report describes an adult male who inhaled propane for recreational purposes. Initially, he achieved short-lived euphoria and hallucinations. He compensated for the developing tolerance by increasing the dosage, finally consuming 5 litres of fluid propane daily. Getting such quantities was facilitated by his occupational access to propane. Since he abused the propane in an apartment house, he also exposed third parties to the danger of explosion. Clinical examination revealed disturbances in orientation, restricted perceptivity and concentration, reduced mnemonic performance, and psychomotor agitation. All these symptoms diminished during a 6-month follow-up. The relationship of his organic mental disorder to the abuse of propane was not clear, since he had also abused alcohol.

In a 4 1/3-year old girl we found the karyotype 45, XX, del13(pter yields q12). The father showed a balanced translocation 3/13 (karyotype: 46,XY,t(3;13) (p27;q12). Psychological investigation of the patient revealed almost normal intelligence (DQ91). Clinical symptoms were: low birth weight, growth retardation, dolichocephalus, microgenia, antimongoloid slant of the eyes, edema on hands and feet, strabismus convergens, clubfoot (left), slight decrease in IgA and IgM.

It is reported on a boy of 4 years 9 months with trisomy of the distal part of the short arm of a chromosome 10, due to a balanced 7/10 translocation in the father. Besides multiple minor dysmorphias the patient showed severe mental retardation, small stature, hypotonia, retarded bone age. The high and bulky forehead was especially remarkable, because this sign has also been noted in formerly reported cases with trisomy 10p.

The chromosomes of 6 (5 females, 1 male) newborns have been examined before and after exchange transfusion. The highest percentage of donor lymphocytes has been found immediately after the exchange transfusion (9%, range 5 to 16%). The percentage of donor lymphocytes had decreased to 4% after 24 hours and to 1% after 3 weeks. There was no hint of a clastogenic effect of phototherapy and exchange transfusion.