re cause of mental retardation in article apr cc uvcc edu harrisji cc uvcc edu writes chromosome studies have shown no abnormalities enzyme studies and urine analyses have not turned up anything out of the ordinary mri images of the brain show scar tissue in the white matter subsequent mri analysis has shown that the deterioration of the white matter is progressive because neither family has a history of anything like this and because two of our four children are afflicted with the disorder we believe that it is an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder of some kind naturally we would like to know exactly what the disease is so that we may gain some insight into how we can expect the disorder to progress in the future we would also like to be able to provide our normal children with some information about what they can expect in their own children it could be one of the leukodystrophies not adrenal only boys get that surely you ve been to a university pediatric neurology department if not that is the next step biopsies might help especially if peripheral nerves are also affected there are so many of these diseases that would fit the symptoms you gave that more can t be said at this time i agree with your surmise that it is an autosomal recessive if so your normal children won t have to worry too much unless they marry near relatives most recessive genes are rare except in inbred communities e g lithuanian jews gordon banks n jxp skepticism is the chastity of the intellect and geb cadre dsl pitt edu it is shameful to surrender it too soon
