Two patients with severe intrauterine growth retardation and bird-headed appearance are described. These two children had most of the clinical features of the so-called Seckel dwarfism. The radiological findings included: (1) ivory epiphyses affecting all phalanges in one patient and many phalanges in another; (2) cone-shaped epiphyses in the proximal phalanges; (3) marked disharmonic bone maturation between carpals and phalanges, between individual carpals, and from side to side; (4) alteration in the length of the hand bones, with considerable similarity of the metacarpophalangeal pattern between the two children; (5) relatively small carpals, which have an angular configuration; and (6) relatively normal or increased cortical thickness of the metacarpals.
G u i d o I a n n a c c o n e and P a o l o E m. i l i o P a n z i r o n i Ureteral reflux of the vesical content occurs when the vesico-ureteral valve mechanism is impaired and the intravesical pressure prevails on the pyelo-ureteral excretory pressure. In normal conditions urine backilow from the bladder into the ureters is prevented mainly by the following factors: a) ureteral tonus and contractions, which make the intra-ureteral pressure greater than that of the resting bladder; b) the considerable length and obliquity of the intramural portion of the ureter, which is compressed during contraction of the bladder wall; and c) the existence of a small mucosal valve 'leaf' a t the uretero-vesical junction. Vesico-ureteral reflux is not uncommonly observed in various diseases of the urinary tract (2), whereas it is still a matter of discussion whether it may occasionally occur in healthy subjects.
Using the gastric insufflation method, 5 cases of pancreatic calcification have been detected in a series of 60 patients with cystic fibrosis. All patients were over 5 years of age. Four of them showed a diabetic curve at glucose tolerance test and 2 have recently developed frank diabetes mellitus. The value of gastric distension by gas in the radiological detection of pancreatic calcification and the relatively high frequency of such calcification in cystic fibrosis are emphasized. The pathogenesis of the calcific change and its clinical significance are briefly discussed.
Two cases of severe intrauterine growth retardation, a boy and a girl studied for 7 and 10 years respectively, are reported. Both patients showed peculiar cranio-facial abnormalities as observed in the so-called Seckel's syndrome, an appearance of premature aging, peripheral GH resistance which was probably due to deficiency in Somatomedin A production, sella areas and volumes consistently at the upper limits of normal when related to the patients' height, and dysharmonic skeletal maturation ivory cone-shaped epiphyses of the tubular bones of the hands.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.