Vitamin B-12 is essential for brain development, neural myelination, and cognitive function. Inadequate vitamin B-12 status during pregnancy and early childhood has been associated with adverse child health outcomes, including impaired cognitive development. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated. This review was conducted to examine the evidence that links vitamin B-12 and cognition in children. The search strategy resulted in 17 studies: 3 cross-sectional, 1 case-control, and 12 cohort studies, and 1 randomized trial. Cognitive processes assessed included attention, memory, and perception. Developmental outcomes, academic performance, and intelligence quotient were also considered. Despite the high prevalence of vitamin B-12 insufficiency and associated risk of adverse cognitive outcomes in children, to our knowledge, no studies to date have been conducted to examine the effects of vitamin B-12 supplementation on cognition in children. The role of vitamin B-12 in the etiology of child cognitive outcomes needs to be elucidated to inform public health interventions. Adv Nutr 2016;7:879-88.

Aberrant expression of PTEN tumor-suppressor gene in LSCCs seems to affect their biological behavior. Well-differentiated tumors express moderate to high protein levels, an evidence of normal gene function, whereas loss of its expression correlates with a progressive tumor dedifferentiation. Additionally, loss of its expression is detected more frequently in specific anatomical regions of the larynx (glottis, predominantly, and partially supraglottis).

Background/Aim: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) acts as an oncogene in malignancies. Our aim was to examine the role of combined EGFR/ anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) expression as molecular markers in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) patients. Materials and Methods: Fifty (n=50) tissue sections derived from twenty-five (n=25) primary LSCCs were analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results: EGFR overexpression was observed in 17/25 (68%) cases. Concerning ALK, 23/25 (92%) demonstrated low expression. EGFR expression was associated with grade (p=0.049), whereas ALK expression was correlated with stage (p=0.048). ALK overexpression was detected at advanced-stage EGFR-positive cases. A biphasic EGFR protein expression pattern was observed in five (n=5) LSCC cases, whereas ALK expression was stable in all cases. Conclusion: EGFR overexpression is frequently observed in LSCC combined with low ALK expression. LSCC patients with EGFR/ALK protein overexpression should be eligible for targeted therapeutic strategies. Molecular analyses in solid malignancies-including laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas (LSCC)-have shown that upregulation of specific growth factor receptors critically destabilize the cell micro-environment inducing signal transduction from the membrane to the nucleus (1). Among these molecules, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays a crucial role in this process. The EGFR (other names include: ERBB, ERBB1, or HER1) gene is located on the short (p) arm of chromosome 7 at position 12 (cytogenetic chr band 7p12.1) (2). The protein encoded by the corresponding gene acts as a transmembrane glycoprotein. It is a member of the verb -b2 erythroblastic leukemia viral oncogene (ErbB)/human epidermal receptor (HER) family of receptor tyrosine kinases, that includes also other three cell membrane receptor tyrosine kinases: HER2/c-neu (ERBB2), HER3 (ERBB3) and HER4 (ERBB4). Three main EGFR depended pathways have been already identified including the PI3K-AKT-PTEN-mTOR, the RAS-(B) RAF-MEK-ERK/MAPK and also the IL6-JAK1/2-STAT3 (3). Concerning LSCC, a subset of patients exhibits EGFR activating mutations (approximately 10-30%) and also gene amplification (approximately 10-35%) leading to protein overexpression (4, 5). Similarly, deregulation of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) seems to be a novel marker in handling LSCC patients with EGFR aberrant expression. ALK gene is located at chromosome 2 (2p23 band) encoding a protein which acts as a transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase 815 This article is freely accessible online.