R.J. Pollitt - Böcker

The articles in this issue contain the main lectures presented at the 30th Annual Symposium of the Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SSIEM), Belgium, 1992, which was dedicated to research on inherited metabolic diseases and the brain. Topics discussed included: inborn errors and brain fluids, neurotransmitter disorders, inborn errors and demyelination, and recent developments. Participants from many countries provided a state-of-the-art review which should be of interest to clinicians and research workers alike in many different disciplines.

394 finding by Dr C. Jakobs, Amsterdam, was elevated plasma galactitol and/or sorbitol levels in some cataract patients with quite normal activities of the galactose-degrading enzymes and sorbitol dehydrogenase in RBC. Inherited disorders of glycoprotein metabolism were reviewed by Dr M. Cantz, Heidelberg, followed by detailed presentations on selected disorders. The meeting was closed by two exciting lectures, given by Dr J. R. Hobbs, London, and Dr F. Ledley, Houston, on the outcome of bone marrow transplantation and on future aspects of gene therapy in patients with inborn errors of metabolism. Each year the 'Mini' Symposium preceding the main topics attracts increasing numbers and in Munich more than half of the 281 active participants also attended on "Maternal Phenylketonuria", organized by Dr the highly interesting workshop D. Brenton, London. This four-hour workshop included international practical experiences in the treatment of maternal phenylketonuria as well as the results of amino acid transport and animal experiments.

With improved control of most environmental causes of disease, genetic illness has assumed a primary importance in the causation of handicap and mortality in all age groups. At present, effective therapy is available for relatively few genetic conditions and prenatal diagnosis is an important option for couples at high risk. The task of providing prenatal diagnosis for these couples requires a team approach between clinicians and scientists, and is complicated by the large number of diverse conditions and by the rapid developments in the field, both obstetric in relation to imaging and tissue sampling methods and genetic in relation to techniques for analysis. Against this background, the aim of the Symposium was to provide an overview of the current status of prenatal and perinatal diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism. The format consisted of the usual mixture of specific invited overviews and free communications in either oral or poster form. The invited overviews, as can be seen from this publication, covered a wide range, from accepted methods for neonatal diagnosis and screening to newer techniques for prenatal diagnosis and likely future developments with respect to gene therapy. Similarly, the oral com­ munications included reviews of experience with biochemical analysis of chorionic villus sampling from major centres, more specific examples of progress towards the basic defect in Batten's disease and Canavan's disease, and prospects for effective therapy in Menkes' disease and a lipid myopathy.

captured for the published proceedings. Nevertheless, the two Supplements to this Journal (also available together as a hard-backed book) do, over the years, embrace many of the major aspects of the study of inborn errors of metabolism and can, particularly with the Short Communications section, be used as a way into the literature on specific new topics. We hope that with judicious selection of material these supplements will continue to provide, as did the Society's earlier annual publications, a balanced record of the present state of the subject in all its facets, a record of interest to those working in allied fields as well as to the specialist. R. J. Pollitt G. M. Addison R. A. Harkness The papers listed below were also presented at the meeting. Scripts were not available by the time of publication. 1. Tangier disease and related disorders of apolipoprotein Al. G. Assmann, Munster. 2. Contribution to Ethics Symposium by M. E. Pembrey, London.

Proceedings of the 24th Annual Symposium of the SSIEM held in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, September 1986.

The first symposium of the Society for the Study ofInborn valuable overview of advances in the application of Errors of Metabolism (SSIEM) on the organic acid urias chemical analysis of amniotic fluid to their early prenatal was held in Leeds in 1971 and published by the Society in diagnosis. The continuing complexity of diagnosis, 1972 (the 9th Annual SSIEM Symposium). Although biochemistry and aetiology ofthe dicarboxylic acid urias relatively few of these disorders were recognized at that has been admirably reduced by the papers from Dr time, the symposium was prompted by the then recent Gregersen and Dr Goodman, with Dr Goodman clearly identification between 1966 and 1970 of isovaleric identifying the primary defect in the polycystic variant of acidaemia, methylmalonic aciduria, propionic aci- multiple acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency ("glutaric daemia, pyroglutamic aciduria and 3-methylcrotonyl- aciduria type II") as a deficiency of electron transfer glycinuria. Identification and diagnosis of diseases of this flavoprotein (ETF) dehydrogenase.Dr Engel's paper kind had greatly improved primarily through the also provides a useful overview from currently available application of gas chromatography and mass spectro- data of the place of L-carnitine in the organic acid urias, metry to medicine, although the complexity of the an area in which rapid developments are occurring. The underlying biochemistry and the genetic heterogeneity of emerging understanding of the aetiologies of the the organic acidurias was not then realised.