For assessing the results of an isokinetic trunk muscle strength test, cross-sectional muscle area, gender, and pain on exertion should be taken into account.

The Rasch analysis lends support to the unidimensionality of the 7 items of the NDI, to its usefulness in capturing the disability in patients with neck disorder and it being generally robust to external factors.

Polymicrogyria is a brain malformation due to abnormal cortical organization. Two histological types, unlayered or four-layered can be distinguished. Polymicrogyria is a rare manifestation of chromosome 22q11 deletion syndrome. We report two boys with chromosome 22q11 deletion syndrome and polymicrogyria, and describe the neuropathological features of the malformation in one of them. Clinical examinations, EEG, brain MRI, chromosomal analysis with FISH, and neuropathological studies of surgically resected cortical tissue were performed. Both patients showed severe developmental delay with cardiovascular malformations and one of them had drug resistant epilepsy. Polymicrogyria was found in the frontal, parietal, and temporal areas, unilaterally in one patient and bilaterally in the other. Histology revealed four-layered polymicrogyria. The pathogenesis of polymicrogyria in 22q11 deletion syndrome is discussed.

Two unrelated children and their siblings of Arab origin were diagnosed as having GM1 gangliosidosis on the basis of clinical features and markedly low levels of beta-galactosidase. The T2-weighted magnetic resonance images of the brain revealed certain characteristic features, including delayed myelination and abnormal appearance of the subcortical white matter, internal capsule, and basal ganglia. Their mutation analysis showed two novel mutations, which have not been described in an Arabic population.