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Elevated maternal phenylalanine levels during pregnancy are teratogenic, and may result in embryo-foetopathy, which could lead to stillbirth, significant psychomotor handicaps and birth defects. This foetal damage is known as maternal phenylketonuria. Women of childbearing age with all forms of phenylketonuria, including mild variants such as hyperphenylalaninaemia, should receive detailed counselling regarding their risks for adverse foetal effects, optimally before contemplating pregnancy. The most assured way to prevent maternal phenylketonuria is to maintain the maternal phenylalanine levels within the optimal range already before conception and throughout the whole pregnancy. Authors review the comprehensive programme for prevention of maternal phenylketonuria at the Metabolic Center of Budapest, they survey the practical approach of the continuous maternal metabolic control and delineate the outcome of pregnancies of mothers with phenylketonuria from the introduction of newborn screening until most recently.Phenylketonuriában szenvedő várandós anya vérének emelkedett phenylalanin-koncentrációja a magzatra teratogén hatással van, embryo-foetopathiát okoz. Élveszülés esetén a kórkép jellemzői az intrauterin sorvadás, az általában jelentős fokú pszichomotoros retardáció és a gyakori fejlődési rendellenességek. Az így kialakuló tünetcsoportot maternális phenylketonuria szindrómának nevezzük. Azoknak a fogamzóképes korba került nőknek, akik vérében a phenylalanin-koncentráció a normálisnál magasabb, akár a phenylketonuria bármely formája, akár az egyébként ke zelést nem igénylő enyhe variáns, a hyperphenylalaninaemia esetén, még a gyermek vállalása előtt részletes felvilágosításban kell részesülniük arról a potenciális veszélyforrásról, amit állapotuk/betegségük a magzatra nézve jelenthet. A maternális phenylketonuria megelőzésének legbiztosabb módja, ha a fogamzás előtt és mindvégig a terhesség alatt az anyai vér phenylalanin-koncentrációja a normális tartományban van. A szerzők a Budapesti Anyagcsere Szűrő és Gondozó Központban a megelőzés érdekében tett intézkedéseket, valamint a gondozás gyakorlati kérdéseit ismer tetik, és áttekintik a budapesti központhoz tartozó phenylketonuriás anyák várandósságainak kimenetelét a hazai phenylketonuria-szűrés bevezetésétől napjainkig. Orv. Hetil., 2013, 154, 683–687.

Aim The aim of this study was to investigate the motor activity in the stomach of infants with repaired esophageal atresia (EA). Method Gastric myoelectrical activity was investigated by cutaneous electrogastrography in 15 infants after the surgical correction of EA. Ten infants with no gastrointestinal upset served as controls. Studies were done before and after a milk feed. The pH of the lower esophagus was measured for 24 hours to assess the gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in the infants with repaired EA. Results After feeding, a significant increase in bradygastria and decrease in tachygastria were observed as compared with the preprandial period. Compared with healthy infants, the electrogram showed pathological patterns in 73.3% (11/15) of EA patients. Twelve of 15 EA patients showed some clinical sign of GER, and 60% of the EA patients proved to be GER-positive on esophageal pH monitoring. There was no difference in the distribution of gastric myoelectrical waves between the GER-positive and GER-negative EA patients either before or after meal. Conclusion Cutaneous electrogastrography is a noninvasive, harmless method for obtaining indirect information about the motor function of the stomach. The abnormal changes in physiological gastric myoelectrical activity in EA patients can serve as markers of disturbed neuromuscular function and can play a role in the pathogenesis of feeding disturbances after operative correction of EA. Gastroesophageal reflux, which often occurs after surgical repair of EA, seems to be connected not only with disordered gastric myoelectric activity, but also probably with other factors such as artificially straightened esophagogastric angle or brachyesophagus.

The changes of gastric myoelectrical activity were investigated in 20 infants by cutaneous electrogastrography (EGG) before and after the surgical correction of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS). The dominance of 2-4 cycles per minute (CPM) "slow waves" is typical of the healthy gastric function. The shift of the dominant frequencies towards the slower frequency (0-2 CPM) is defined as bradygastria, whereas a shift towards the more frequent waves (4-10 CPM) is called tachygastria. Unlike with healthy infants, the electrogastrogram showed pathologic patterns in 85% (18 out of 20) of IHPS patients. In all except two of these infants with pathologic electrical patterns, the frequency of the waves significantly shifted towards tachygastria. The effect of feeding on the gastric myoelectrical activity could only be studied in limited (9/20) cases because of recurring vomiting during the preoperative period. In IHPS infants, a significant increase in the bradygastria group was observed in the postprandial period compared with healthy infants. Three to 5 days after surgical repair (pyloromyotomy) and the reintroduction of feeding in gradually increasing amounts, the gastric myoelectrical activity showed physiologic patterns again, showing that the pyloric function was back to normal. Cutaneous EGG is a useful, noninvasive method to obtain indirect information about the motor function of the stomach and might be further applicable to pediatric gastric motility disorders.

Pearson syndrome is a multisystem juvenile condition associated with deletions in the mitochondrial genome. The most common 4977 bp deletion of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can mainly be detected in the patients' peripheral blood. Here we report a child with a clinically unclarified diagnosis where molecular genetic results proved Pearson syndrome from stored dried blood sample 6 months after the patient's death. PCR amplification around the breakpoint of the most common mtDNA deletion could detect the presence of mutated mtDNA. Another polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay indicated the low level of wild type mtDNA in patients' blood. We believe that this case shows the importance of storing Guthrie card and the availability of detection of Pearson syndrome from dried blood sample.