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Introduction: Isolated or congenital hemihypertrophy is a rare disorder characterized by asymmetric overgrowth of one side of the body. This article describes the protocol and preliminary results of a lateral body asymmetry (hemihypertrophy) screening procedure performed in healthy adolescents in a multicenter study. The reported incidence of hemihypertrophy varies between different publications and standardized protocols are needed to improve research in this area. Methods: Our screening program is taking place in Australia, Israel, Mexico, Ukraine and USA. Procedure includes two steps: (1) "three measurements - three questions" screening, or assessment of face, palms, and shins; (2) in-depth assessment of selected cases in order to exclude localized, lesional, and syndrome-related cases as well as body asymmetry within normative range and to select suspected cases of isolated hemihypertrophy. This step includes measurements of various anatomical regions and a detailed questionnaire. Results: At this stage, the screening procedure is completed and the selected participants are advised to refer to medical institutions for further clinical and genetic follow up to exclude possible tumors and other accompanying disorders. Conclusion: We present an easy-to-use selection tool to identify children with suspected IH, which results in the selection of the risk group that may benefit from referral to a pediatrician and a clinical geneticist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus Mitchell) (Teraponidae), is a native Australian freshwater fish that, due to its high potential for aquaculture, was introduced to Israeli fish farming. The objective of this study was to find an optimal method for inducing spawning of silver perch. The agents tested for this purpose were: human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG; 150 or 200 IU/kg BW); salmon gonadotropin releasing hormone analogue (sGnRHa at 10, 20, 30, or 40 μg/kg BW); mammalian GnRH analogue (mGnRHa at 30 μg/kg) and the combination of sGnRHa at 20 μg/kg and domperidone at 5 mg/kg BW. Based on spawning success and relative fecundity, sGnRHa at the dose of 30 μg/kg was found to be more efficient than hCG, mGnRHa or sGnRHa with domperidone. Since domperidone does not improve the GnRHa effect on final oocyte maturation (FOM) and spawning, it is suggested that the dopaminergic inhibition during the stages of FOM in the silver perch is weak. Therefore, the use of GnRHa alone is sufficient to induce spawning in this fish. Immunoreactive gonadotropin (IR-GtH) and estradiol levels increased after a single injection of sGnRHa, and peaked after 24 h. Plasma levels of 17α,20β-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one (17,20-P) also increased significantly 24 h after the injection of mGnRHa, 12 h before spawning, suggesting that 17,20-P is the maturation-inducing steroid in silver perch. In order to reveal whether the heterologous gonadotropin may elicit an immunological reaction, silver perch was subjected to prolonged treatment with hCG. This treatment resulted in no detectable titer of antibodies against the mammalian gonadotropin. In conclusion, although hCG has no deleterious effects in this fish, and is the more commonly used for spawning induction, sGnRHa at 30 μg/kg is the recommended treatment for spawning induction of female silver perch under the conditions prevailing in Israeli aquaculture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]