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This is the first description of slowly progressive Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) without the typical lysosomal storage in bone marrow and viscera in two descendants of a group of 17th century French-Canadians. The index patient was a married 43-year-old woman with onset of dementia in her thirties, later followed by the development of ataxia and athetoid movements. Her autopsy disclosed frontal lobe atrophy, neurolysosomal storage with oligolamellar inclusion and tau-positive neurofibrillary tangles. Of the 119 family members screened, only a married 42-year-old sister displayed symptoms of a dementia. Both women displayed vertical supranuclear ophthalmoplegia; expressive aphasia; concrete, stimulus-bound, perseverative behavior; and impaired conceptualization and planning. Cultured fibroblasts showed decreased cholesterol esterification and positive filipin staining, but no mutation was detected in coding or promoter regions of the NPC1 gene using conformation sensitive gel electrophoresis and sequencing. Sequencing showed a homozygous gene mutation that is predicted to result in an amino acid substitution, V39M, in the cholesterol binding protein HE1 (NPC2). Adult-onset NPC2 with lysosomal storage virtually restricted to neurons represents a novel phenotypic and genotypic variant with diffuse cognitive impairment and focal frontal involvement described for the first time.

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A survey of 67 pregnancies in 51 professional women (physicians, psychologists, nurses, administrators, etc.) revealed the occurrence of symptoms of cognitive dysfunction such as forgetfulness, disorientation, confusion and reading difficulties in 28 pregnancies occurring in 21 women. These were unrelated to such factors as age of delivery, percentage weight gain, the baby's sex or birth weight, alcohol consumption, smoking, a history of migraine or allergy or other symptoms occurring during pregnancy such as sleepiness and lack of concentration, irritability, loss of interest in job or nightmares. Nor was there any correlation with hypertension, proteinuria, glycosuria, ketonuria, anemia, or morning sickness. Furthermore, these cognitive disturbances were not related to depression or sleep deprivation.Address Charles M. Poser, M.D.