Publications by authors named "Alicia Brandt"

Background And Objectives: Older adults report unmet oral health care needs and barriers in access to care, due in part to provider attitudes and discomfort towards treating older patients. Our study asked: What is known from the literature about the use of undergraduate dentistry programmes to influence dental students' attitudes, perceptions and comfort towards treating geriatric patients? And how can interdisciplinary care facilitate the ability of dentists to work with geriatric patients?

Materials And Methods: A scoping review and stakeholder consultation followed established methodological guidelines. Four databases and two grey literature sources were searched.

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Article Synopsis
  • Older adults face significant barriers to accessing oral healthcare, largely due to the reluctance of dental providers to offer geriatric care.
  • Consultations with dental students and faculty in Ontario highlighted various challenges, such as student anxiety and environmental constraints, as well as potential facilitators like supportive learning culture and increased exposure.
  • Overall, both students and faculty expressed support for implementing geriatric dentistry programs to enhance care accessibility, suggesting that pilot initiatives combining effective interventions could be advantageous.
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  • Short-read genome sequencing (GS) shows promise as a primary diagnostic tool for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and fetal structural anomalies (FSAs), outperforming standard tests like karyotype and exome sequencing (ES).
  • In a study of 1,612 families with ASD and 295 prenatal families, GS revealed a diagnostic variant in 7.8% of ASD cases, significantly higher than the diagnostic yields of chromosomal microarray (CMA) at 4.3% and ES at 2.7%.
  • GS also demonstrated a potential diagnostic yield of 46.1% in unselected FSAs, surpassing conventional tests, which indicates its strong efficacy and positions it as a recommended first-tier diagnostic
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Background: As exome sequencing (ES) integrates into clinical practice, we should make every effort to utilize all information generated. Copy-number variation can lead to Mendelian disorders, but small copy-number variants (CNVs) often get overlooked or obscured by under-powered data collection. Many groups have developed methodology for detecting CNVs from ES, but existing methods often perform poorly for small CNVs and rely on large numbers of samples not always available to clinical laboratories.

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Objective: Sequencing cell-free DNA now allows detection of large chromosomal abnormalities and dominant Mendelian disorders in the prenatal period. Improving upon these methods would allow newborn screening programs to begin with prenatal genetics, ultimately improving the management of rare genetic disorders.

Methods: As a pilot study, we performed exome sequencing on the cell-free DNA from three mothers with singleton pregnancies to assess the viability of broad sequencing modalities in a noninvasive prenatal setting.

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is a major constituent of the human gut microbiome and recognized as a prolific degrader of diverse and complex carbohydrates. This capacity is due to the large number of glycan-depolymerization and acquisition systems that are encoded by gene clusters known as polysaccharide utilization loci (PUL), with the starch utilization system (Sus) serving as the established model. Sharing features with the Sus are Sus-like systems, that require the presence of a specific membrane transporter and surface lipoprotein to be classified as Sus-like.

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  • Exome sequencing (ES) may help reduce the lengthy process of diagnosing genetic disorders in children, and a study called NCGENES 2 is exploring its effectiveness as a clinical tool.
  • Participants in this study, involving pediatric patients under 16 with suspected genetic issues, are randomly assigned to different intervention groups, including educational pre-visit preparation and offering ES.
  • The study focuses on improving access for underrepresented populations and measures outcomes through various surveys and clinical data collection after clinic visits.
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  • * The North Carolina Newborn Exome Sequencing for Universal Screening (NC NEXUS) project compared the effectiveness of exome sequencing (ES) in healthy newborns and those with conditions, finding high diagnostic confirmation rates for metabolic disorders (88%) but lower rates for hearing loss (18%).
  • * The study identified actionable genetic findings that standard NBS would miss and discovered various pathogenic variants, showcasing both the potential advantages and challenges of integrating genomic sequencing into newborn screening protocols.
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  • An amendment has been released for the paper.
  • The amended version includes updated information or corrections.
  • You can find the link to access the amendment at the top of the original paper.
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Purpose: We investigated the diagnostic and clinical performance of trio exome sequencing (ES) in parent-fetus trios where the fetus had sonographic abnormalities but normal karyotype, microarray and, in some cases, normal gene-specific sequencing.

Methods: ES was performed from DNA of 102 anomalous fetuses and from peripheral blood from their parents. Parents provided consent for the return of diagnostic results in the fetus, medically actionable findings in the parents, and identification as carrier couple for significant autosomal recessive conditions.

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As whole exome sequencing (WES) becomes more widely used in the clinical realm, a wealth of unanalyzed information will be routinely generated. Using WES read depth data to predict copy number variation (CNV) could extend the diagnostic utility of this previously underutilized data by providing clinically important information such as previously unsuspected deletions or duplications. We evaluated ExomeDepth, a free R package, in addition to an aneuploidy prediction method, to detect CNVs in WES data.

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Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic yield and workflow of genome-scale sequencing in patients with neuromuscular disorders (NMDs).

Methods: We performed exome sequencing in 93 undiagnosed patients with various NMDs for whom a molecular diagnosis was not yet established. Variants on both targeted and broad diagnostic gene lists were identified.

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PurposeWe investigated the diagnostic and clinical performance of exome sequencing in fetuses with sonographic abnormalities with normal karyotype and microarray and, in some cases, normal gene-specific sequencing.MethodsExome sequencing was performed on DNA from 15 anomalous fetuses and from the peripheral blood of their parents. Parents provided consent to be informed of diagnostic results in the fetus, medically actionable findings in the parents, and their identification as carrier couples for significant autosomal recessive conditions.

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Genomic methods are used increasingly to interrogate the individual cells that compose specific tissues. However, current methods for single cell isolation struggle to phenotypically differentiate specific cells in a heterogeneous population and rely primarily on the use of fluorescent markers. Many cellular phenotypes of interest are too complex to be measured by this approach, making it difficult to connect genotype and phenotype at the level of individual cells.

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Sensory neuron diversity is required for organisms to decipher complex environmental cues. In Drosophila, the olfactory environment is detected by 50 different olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) classes that are clustered in combinations within distinct sensilla subtypes. Each sensilla subtype houses stereotypically clustered 1-4 ORN identities that arise through asymmetric divisions from a single multipotent sensory organ precursor (SOP).

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