Asthma is recognized as a complex disease resulting from interactions between multiple genetic and environmental factors. Accumulating evidence suggests that respiratory viral infections in early life constitute a major environmental risk factor for the development of childhood asthma. Respiratory viral infections have also been recognized as the most common cause of asthma exacerbation. The advent of molecular diagnostics to detect...

The waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), calculated by dividing the waist circumference (WC) by height, has recently gained attention as an anthropometric index for central adiposity. It is an easy-to-use and less age-dependent index to identify individuals with increased cardiometabolic risk. A WHtR cutoff of 0.5 can be used in different sex and ethnic groups and is generally accepted as a universal...

Congenital aniridia is a rare ocular malformation that presents with severe hypoplasia of the iris and various ocular manifestations. Most cases of congenital aniridia are known to be related to mutations in the paired box gene-6 (PAX6), which is an essential gene in eye development. Herein, we report a familial case of autosomal dominant congenital aniridia with four affected members...

Bartter syndrome (BS) is an inherited renal tubular disorder characterized by low or normal blood pressure, hypokalemic metabolic alkalosis, and hyperreninemic hyperaldosteronism. Type III BS is caused by loss-of-function mutations in CLCNKB encoding basolateral ClC-Kb. The clinical phenotype of patients with CLCNKB mutations has been known to be highly variable, and cases that are difficult to categorize as type III...

Noonan syndrome is an autosomal dominant, multisystem disorder. Autoimmune thyroiditis with hypothyroidism is an infrequent feature in patients with Noonan syndrome. A 16-year-old boy was admitted because of chest discomfort and dyspnea; an echocardiogram revealed pericardial effusion. Additional investigations led to a diagnosis of severe hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto thyroiditis. The patient was treated with L-thyroxine at 0.15 mg daily....

Turner syndrome (TS) is a genetic disorder in phenotypic females that has characteristic physical features and presents as partial or complete absence of the second sex chromosome. Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is a condition caused by insufficient release of growth hormone from the pituitary gland. The concomitant occurrence of TS and GHD is rare and has not yet been reported...

Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is a rare condition that can cause irreversible brain damage during the neonatal period owing to the associated hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia in CHI occurs secondary to the dysregulation of insulin secretion. CHI has been established as a genetic disorder of islet-cell hyperplasia, associated with a mutation of the ABCC8 or KCNJ11 genes, which encode the sulfonylurea receptor 1...

Chromosome 11q13 deletion syndrome has been previously reported as either otodental syndrome or oculo-oto-dental syndrome. The otodental syndrome is characterized by dental abnormalities and high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss, and by ocular coloboma in some cases. The underlying genetic defect causing otodental syndrome is a hemizygous microdeletion involving the FGF3 gene on chromosome 11q13.3. Recently, a new form of severe deafness,...

Sex cord tumors with annular tubules are known to originate from the sex cord of embryonic gonads that synthesize Sertoli cells, Leydig cells, granulosa cells, and theca cells of the ovarian stroma, while ovarian small cell carcinoma of the hypercalcemic type is a type of neuroendocrine tumor. Both these tumors are uncommon, potentially malignant neoplasms in children. We report the...

Harlequin syndrome, which is a rare disorder caused by dysfunction of the autonomic system, manifests as asymmetric facial flushing and sweating in response to heat, exercise, or emotional factors. The syndrome may be primary (idiopathic) with a benign course, or can occur secondary to structural abnormalities or iatrogenic factors. The precise mechanism underlying idiopathic harlequin syndrome remains unclear. Here, we...

Ictal tachycardia and bradycardia are common arrhythmias; however, ictal sinus pause and asystole are rare. Ictal arrhythmia is mostly reported in adults with temporal lobe epilepsy. Recently, ictal arrhythmia was recognized as a major warning sign of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. We present an interesting case of a child with ictal sinus pause and asystole. A 27-month-old girl was...

Encephalocraniocutaneous lipomatosis (ECCL) is a rare neurocutaneous syndrome that affects ectomesodermal tissues (skin, eyes, adipose tissue, and brain). The neurologic manifestations associated with ECCL are various including seizures. However, ECCL patients very rarely develop brain tumors that originate from the neuroepithelium. This is the first described case of ECCL in combination with dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNET) that presented with intractable...

Anti-N-methyl D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis, recently recognized as a form of paraneoplastic encephalitis, is characterized by a prodromal phase of unspecific illness with fever that resembles a viral disease. The prodromal phase is followed by seizures, disturbed consciousness, psychiatric features, prominent abnormal movements, and autonomic imbalance. Here, we report a case of anti-NMDAR encephalitis with initial symptoms of epilepsia partialis...

Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that affects mainly the aorta, main aortic branches, and pulmonary arteries. Diverse neurological manifestations of TA have rarely been reported in children. Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a neuroradiological condition that presents with headache, seizure, visual disturbances, and characteristic lesions on imaging. Inflammatory condition and severe hypertension in...

Pediatric epilepsy can be caused by various conditions, including specific syndromes. 1p36 deletion syndrome is reported in 1 in 5,000–10,000 newborns, and its characteristic clinical features include developmental delay, mental retardation, hypotonia, congenital heart defects, seizure, and facial dysmorphism. However, detection of the terminal deletion in chromosome 1p by conventional G-banded karyotyping is difficult. Here we present a case of...

Chiari malformations are a congenital anomaly of the hindbrain. The most common, Chiari malformation type I (CM-I), is characterized by herniation of the cerebellar tonsils extending at least 3 mm below the plane of the foramen magnum. Consequently, CM-I is associated with hydrocephalus and symptoms involving compression of the cervicomedullary junction by ectopic tonsils. Several studies have reported the clinical...

Megalencephaly-capillary malformation-polymicrogyria syndrome (MCAP), previously known as macrocephaly-cutis marmorata telangiectatica congenita and macrocephaly-capillary malformation syndrome, is a rare multiple-malformation syndrome that is characterized by progressive megalencephaly, capillary malformations of the midline face and body, or distal limb anomalies such as syndactyly. Herein, we report a female infant case that satisfies the recently proposed criteria of MCAP and describe the distinctive...

Coexistence of paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD) with benign infantile convulsion (BIC) and centrotemporal spikes (CTS) is very rare. A 10-year-old girl presented with a 3-year history of frequent attacks of staggering while laughing and of suddenly collapsing while walking. Interictal electroencephalogram (EEG) revealed bilateral CTS, but no changes in EEG were observed during movement. The patient's medical history showed afebrile...

Phelan-McDermid syndrome is a rare genetic disorder caused by the terminal or interstitial deletion of the chromosome 22q13.3. Patients with this syndrome usually have global developmental delay, hypotonia, and speech delays. Several putative genes such as the SHANK3, RAB, RABL2B, and IB2 are responsible for the neurological features. This study describes the clinical features and outcomes of Korean patients with...

Guillain-Barré syndrome and acute transverse myelitis manifest as demyelinating diseases of the peripheral and central nervous system. Concurrency of these two disorders is rarely documented in literature. A 4-year-old girl presenting with cough, fever, and an impaired walking ability was admitted to hospital. She had no previous complaints in her medical history. A physical examination revealed lack of muscle strength...

Constitutional interstitial deletions of the long arm of chromosome 5 (5q) are quite rare, and the corresponding phenotype is not yet clearly delineated. Severe mental retardation has been described in most patients who present 5q deletions. Specifically, the interstitial deletion of chromosome 5q33.3q35.1, an extremely rare chromosomal aberration, is characterized by mental retardation, developmental delay, and facial dysmorphism. Although the...

Glucose transport 1 (GLUT-1) deficiency is a rare syndrome caused by mutations in the glucose transporter 1 gene (SLC2A1) and is characterized by early-onset intractable epilepsy, delayed development, and movement disorder. De novo mutations and several hot spots in N34, G91, R126, R153, and R333 of exons 2, 3, 4, and 8 of SLC2A1 are associated with this condition. Seizures,...

Joubert syndrome (JS) is characterized by the “molar tooth sign” (MTS) with cerebellar vermis agenesis, episodic hyperpnea, abnormal eye movements, and hypotonia. Ocular and oculomotor abnormalities have been observed; however, Horner syndrome (HS) has not been documented in children with JS. We present the case of a 2-month-old boy having ocular abnormalities with bilateral nystagmus, left-dominant bilateral ptosis, and unilateral...

Mucopolysaccharidosis type III (MPS III) is a rare genetic disorder caused by lysosomal storage of heparan sulfate. MPS IIIB results from a deficiency in the enzyme alpha-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase (NAGLU). Affected patients begin showing behavioral changes, progressive profound mental retardation, and severe disability from the age of 2 to 6 years. We report a patient with MPS IIIB with a long-term follow-up...

We report here a case of maternal 3-methylcrotonyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (3-MCC) deficiency in a Korean woman. Her 2 infants had elevated 3-hydroxyisovalerylcarnitine (C5-OH) on a neonatal screening test by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), but normal results were found on urine organic acid analysis. The patient was subjected to serial testing and we confirmed a maternal 3-MCC deficiency by blood...

Blau syndrome (BS) is a rare autosomal dominant, inflammatory syndrome that is characterized by the clinical triad of granulomatous dermatitis, symmetric arthritis, and recurrent uveitis. Mutations in the nucleotide oligomerization domain 2 (NOD2) gene are responsible for causing BS. To date, up to 30 Blau-associated genetic mutations have been identified within this gene. We report a novel NOD2 genetic mutation...

Short-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (SCADD) is a rare autosomal recessive mitochondrial disorder of fatty acid β-oxidation, and is associated with mutations in the acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (ACADS) gene. Recent advances in spectrometric screening for inborn errors of metabolism have helped detect several metabolic disorders, including SCADD, without symptoms in the neonate period. This allows immediate initiation of treatment and monitoring, so...

X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is a hereditary humoral immunodeficiency that results from Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) gene mutations. These mutations cause defects in B-cell development, resulting in the virtual absence of these lymphocytes from the peripheral circulation. Consequently, this absence leads to a profound deficiency of lg all isotypes, and an increased susceptibility to encapsulated bacterial infections. A 15-month-old Korean boy...

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is the most common Mendelian autoinflammatory disease, characterized by uncontrolled activation of the innate immune system that manifests as recurrent brief fever and polyserositis (e.g., peritonitis, pleuritic, and arthritis). FMF is caused by autosomal recessive mutations of the Mediterranean fever gene, MEFV which encodes the pyrin protein. Although FMF predominantly affects people from Mediterranean and Middle...