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Neurological Aspects of Cretinism in Qinghai Province

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Iodine and the Brain

Abstract

We have examined 69 cretins from the Province of Qinghai in the Peoples’ Republic of China, an endemia where both myxoedematous and neurological cretinism occur. A characteristic neurological syndrome was observed in both euthyroid and hypothyroid individuals. The neurological findings were similar to those which have previously been reported: intellectual impairment, deaf-mutism, pyramidal signs, gait disorder, primitive reflexes and squint. The gait disorder was not typical of the ‘spastic diplegia’ of previous descriptions; much of it could be attributed to laxity and deformity of the joints of the lower limbs.

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© 1989 Plenum Press, New York

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Halpern, JP. et al. (1989). Neurological Aspects of Cretinism in Qinghai Province. In: DeLong, G.R., Robbins, J., Condliffe, P.G. (eds) Iodine and the Brain. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0765-5_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0765-5_22

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8071-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0765-5

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