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Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS) is characterized by distinctive facial features that progress with age, developmental delay, cognitive impairment, and behavioral abnormalities associated with molecular anomaly in 17p11.2. Treatment includes: early childhood intervention programs, special education, vocational training later in life, and speech/language, physical, and occupational, behavioral, and sensory integration therapies. We report a 14-year-old girl with mental retardation, behavioral abnormalities and facial dysmorphism, with SMS diagnosis confirmed by cytogenetic analysis and in situ hydridization (FISH).

The aim of this study was to detect chromosomal and molecular abnormalities in 16 Argentine families with retinoblastoma (RB). Chromosomes were analyzed by G-banding, DNA from leukocytes and tumors was studied by segregation of polymorphisms within RB gene (RB1) and the DNA from chorionic villus by sequencing. The karyotype of an Rb236 bilateral patient with dismorphic signs revealed a deletion in 13q13-21. Polymorphism and exon analyses showed a deletion in the 3' end of RB1 in an Rb72 patient. The mutant RB1 allele, detected by loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in the tumor, was identified in 14 out of 18 tumors. The analysis of chorionic villus revealed a mutation, a C-to-T transition in exon 18. Molecular and cytogenetic analyses in families with RB offer valuable information on how to assess the risk of tumor development., (Copyright 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel)