The emergence of tics in children treated with stimulant medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was investigated. A retrospective chart review of the medical records of 555 subjects was performed to examine the emergence of tics in relation to treatment with a stimulant medication, dosage, duration of treatment, and age of subjects. A total of 7.8% of the subjects treated with stimulants developed tics: 8.3% of subjects treated with methylphenidate, 6.3% with dextroamphetamine, and 7.7% with pemoline. The subjects who developed tics were significantly younger than those who did not. Subjects treated with higher doses of stimulant medication were not more likely to develop tics. While the emergence of tics was common, these subjects may have developed tics irrespective of stimulant medication. Controversy remains as to the long-term risk of tics in relation to stimulant medication and to appropriate practice should tics emerge during the course of stimulant medication treatment.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A epidemiological assessment of water quality and "swimmer's ear".

In an effort to determine if bacterial water quality was related to the incidence of otitis externa (swimmer's ear), a retrospective study was conducted from July, 1980 to September, 1980. Data from 29 cases and 29 controls matched for age and sex were collected. Warm air, warm water, age of less than 18 yr, swimming, and length of time spent swimming were associated positively with cases of otitis externa. Water quality, as measured by fecal coliforms, enterococci, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was not found to be associated with otitis externa.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Microsatellite DNA markers from HLA region (D6S105, D6S265 and TNFa) in autochthonous Basques from Northern Navarre (Spain).

BACKGROUND: The extent of the genetic polymorphism of the HLA complex is becoming well characterized in Basque population and their subpopulations. This level of knowledge mainly concerns HLA class I loci. However, Basque population surveys dealing with HLA class II genes and/or microsatellites in the HLA region are still very scarce. AIM: The population genetics of three highly polymorphic short tandem repeat (STR) loci, D6S105, D6S265 and TNFa, from HLA region has been analysed in autochthonous (indigenous) Basques from Northern Navarre (Spain). The same blood samples have been typed for HLA class II genes from DQ/DR/DP regions and some findings from that information can be found therein. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Blood samples were taken from 107 unrelated autochthonous Basques from Northern Navarre. The criterion used to define Northern Navarrese identity was that of three generations of Basque surnames and birthplaces. RESULTS: The main features observed in Navarrese Basques were the rather high frequencies of alleles D6S105*4 and D6S265*7. A novel allele has been detected at the D6S265 locus (13: 145 bp). The most frequent haplotype was D6S105*8-D6S265*4 with a highly significant linkage disequilibrium being presented. The high frequency of allele TNFa*1 in Basques is noteworthy and this characteristic is not shared by other European populations, where TNFa*1 is absent or shows negligible values. The multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) for TNFa allele frequencies has shown a high variability among populations and that alleles TNFa*1 (F(ST) = 0.0615) and TNFa*12 (F(ST) = 0.0424) seem to have significant influence over the spatial population configuration. TNFa*2 showed the lowest FST value (0.0077) because of its conspicuous homogeneous distribution all over the European populations. CONCLUSIONS: Findings shown here on HLA microsatellites and their relationships with other HLA class I and class II genes in Basques can be helpful for those studies mainly addressed at detecting associations between HLA genes and diseases in the Basque area as a whole, and particularly in its autochthonous population, settled there since remote times.

Alleles↗

PubMedDate not supplied

HLA frequencies in Basques in Spain and in neighbouring populations.

HLA antigen and gene frequencies at the A, B, and C loci are examined in a sample of 181 Basques and 102 non-Basques in Bilbao, Spain. The most common associations of genes at the A and B loci are as in western Europe generally. The results are compared with gene frequencies in other Basque and non-Basque samples in Spain and France. There is clear distinction in gene frequency between Basques and non-Basques, to which the greatest contribution is made by A1 and B35, followed by B7, B8 and B12; and a difference between Basques in France and in Spain, notably in A28, 29, 30 and 31 and B17 and 18.

Ethnicity↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Study of three hypervariable DNA loci (D1S7; D7S22 and D12S11) in three European populations.

To investigate the population genetic characteristics and genetic affinity, DNA profiles of three highly polymorphic VNTR (variable number of tandem repeats) loci (D1S7; D7S22 and D12S11) were studied in 405 individuals from three major European populations (English, Spanish and Basques). Like other studies on VNTRs, a large significant heterozygote deficiency was observed in all three populations. This decrease was ascribed to the limitation, coalescence and non-detectibility of alleles associated with the RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) technique, through which the VNTR loci are genotyped. When the non-detectable alleles were taken into consideration, analyses of fragment sizes at these loci within each sample, as well as their fixed binned analyses, reveal that the assumptions of independence of allelelic occurrences within and between loci are valid for this European data. By comparing genetic variation at three VNTR loci with 17 blood groups, proteins and HLA loci in three well defined European populations, it is shown that the pattern of differentiation at these sets of loci are in general parallel especially for the hypervariable loci HLA and VNTR. Fixed-bin allele frequencies, therefore, are the best descriptions of such a database both for population genetic and forensic calculation studies. The Basques, with regard to VNTR loci, do not show any reduced genetic variability compared to other two European populations (English and Spanish).

Chromosome Mapping↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Anthropology of the apoplipoprotein E (apo E) gene: low frequency of apo E4 allele in Basques and in tribal (Baiga) populations of India.

The distribution of apolipoprotein E (apo E) polymorphism was examined in 11 population groups not previously studied for this system. There is a marked difference in phenotype and gene frequency between the populations of England and Spain. The south European populations of Basques and Spanish non-Basques showed greater similarity to the populations of South Asia. The study clearly indicates that the distribution of apo E alleles does match with regions showing a high mortality rate of coronary heart disease. The data presented also indicate that authochthon groups such as Basques in Europe and tribals in India may throw better light on the role of apolipoproteins in the regulation of lipid levels in disease.

Alleles↗

PubMedDate not supplied

ABH antigen secretion in Basques and the spatial variation pattern of the secretor locus in Spain.

Secretion of the ABH blood group antigen was analyzed in 305 saliva samples of students in the Basque Country University. The frequency of ABH non-secretor was 26.23%, a result very close to that obtained in autoctonous Basques (22-23%) and in other populations from the West (Galicia) and Centre (Castille) of Spain. With certain exceptions, the frequencies of non-secretor se allele present a fairly homogeneous variability pattern and no significant spatial orientation or tendencies of se gene distribution are observed in the Iberian Peninsula.

ABO Blood-Group System↗