Publications by authors named "Maimoona A Zariwala"

Article Synopsis
  • - A study evaluated the management of primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) in pediatric participants using a multicenter, observational approach, collecting data on therapy types and their annual usage.
  • - Over 137 participants were monitored for 13 years, finding that nearly all received antibiotics, with a significant number using cephalosporins and chronic azithromycin, and older patients tended to utilize more therapies.
  • - Results indicated that therapy usage varies significantly, often correlating with age and specific types of ciliary defects, highlighting the need for more disease-specific research to better understand the effectiveness of these treatments.
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Article Synopsis
  • PCD (Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia) and CF (Cystic Fibrosis) are both genetic diseases that affect how the lungs work and cause issues from a young age, but PCD is thought to be milder, even though evidence is limited.
  • The study wanted to see how children with PCD compare to those with CF in terms of health over time, especially focusing on children with certain severe forms of PCD.
  • They found that kids with PCD and the severe type had lower lung function than kids with CF, but their nutrition was similar, with more CF kids getting sick from bacteria in their lungs than PCD kids.
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Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare, genetically heterogeneous, motile ciliopathy, characterized by neonatal respiratory distress, recurrent upper and lower respiratory tract infections, subfertility, and laterality defects. Diagnosis relies on a combination of tests for confirmation, including nasal nitric oxide (nNO) measurements, high-speed videomicroscopy analysis (HSVMA), immunofluorescent staining, axonemal ultrastructure analysis via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and genetic testing. Notably, there is no single gold standard confirmatory or exclusionary test.

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  • Tubulin is a key component of the cytoskeleton and has various isotypes in animals, but it's unclear how these isotypes influence microtubule structures in different cell types.
  • Research on 12 patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia and mouse models uncovered variants in the tubulin isotype that disrupted the formation of centrioles and cilia, impacting microtubule dynamics.
  • The study identified different variants causing distinct effects on tubulin interactions, allowing for the classification of patients into three types of ciliopathic diseases, highlighting the unique roles of specific tubulin isotypes in cellular functions.
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Bronchiectasis is a pathological dilatation of the bronchi in the respiratory airways associated with environmental or genetic causes (e.g., cystic fibrosis, primary ciliary dyskinesia, and primary immunodeficiency disorders), but most cases remain idiopathic.

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Background: Mucociliary clearance is dysfunctional in people with primary ciliary dyskinesia, resulting in the accumulation of dehydrated mucus in the airways that is difficult to clear. We undertook a study to assess the benefit on lung function of treatment with a nebulised epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) blocker, idrevloride, with or without hypertonic saline, in people with primary ciliary dyskinesia.

Methods: The CLEAN-PCD trial was a phase 2, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial conducted at 32 tertiary adult and paediatric care centres and university hospitals in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the UK, and the USA.

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Background: Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is typically an autosomal recessive disease characterized by recurrent infections of the lower respiratory tract, frequent and severe otitis media, chronic rhinosinusitis, neonatal respiratory distress, and organ laterality defects. While severe lower respiratory tract infections and bronchiectasis are common in Inuit, PCD has not been recognized in this population.

Methods: We report a case series of seven Inuit patients with PCD identified by genetic testing in three Canadian PCD centers.

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Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is characterized by impaired mucociliary clearance, recurrent respiratory infections, progressive airway damage, and obstructive lung disease. Although the association of ciliary ultrastructure defect/genotype with the severity of airflow obstruction has been well characterized, their association with airway abnormalities on chest computed tomography (CT) has been minimally evaluated. We sought to delineate the association of ciliary defect class/genotype with chest CT scores in children with PCD.

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The association between organ laterality abnormalities and ciliary ultrastructural defect or genotype in primary ciliary dyskinesia is poorly understood. To determine if there is an association between presence and/or type of laterality abnormality and ciliary ultrastructural defect or genotype. Participants with primary ciliary dyskinesia in a multicenter, prospective study were grouped based on ciliary ultrastructural defect or genotype.

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Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), an inherited lung disease, is characterized by abnormal ciliary function leading to progressive bronchiectasis. There is wide variability in respiratory disease severity at birth and later in life. To evaluate the association between neonatal hospital length of stay (neonatal-LOS) and supplemental oxygen duration (SuppO) with lung function in pediatric PCD.

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Mutations in SPAG1, a dynein axonemal assembly factor (DNAAF) that facilitates the assembly of dynein arms in the cytoplasm before their transport into the cilium, result in primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), a genetically heterogenous disorder characterized by chronic oto-sino-pulmonary disease, infertility and laterality defects. To further elucidate the role of SPAG1 in dynein assembly, we examined its expression, interactions and ciliary defects in control and PCD human airway epithelia. Immunoprecipitations showed that SPAG1 interacts with multiple DNAAFs, dynein chains and canonical components of the R2TP complex.

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Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare lung disease caused by mutations that impair the function of motile cilia, resulting in chronic upper and lower respiratory disease, reduced fertility, and a high prevalence of situs abnormalities. The disease is genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous, with causative mutations in > 50 genes identified, and clinical phenotypes ranging from mild to severe. Absence of (), a component of the outer dynein arm docking complex, results in a failure to assemble outer dynein arms (ODAs), mostly immotile cilia, and a typical PCD phenotype.

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Article Synopsis
  • Organ laterality defects, such as situs inversus totalis (SIT) and situs ambiguus (SA), are common in individuals with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), but existing guidelines do not universally endorse thorough investigations for these defects.* -
  • A study conducted at two Canadian children’s hospitals examined CXR results and additional imaging for PCD patients under 30, revealing that reliance on CXR alone often led to underdiagnosis of clinically significant defects, especially SA.* -
  • The findings indicate that the use of CXR combined with targeted investigations significantly improved the detection of laterality defects, suggesting the need for more comprehensive screening in PCD patients to reduce potential health issues.*
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Background: Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a motile ciliopathy characterised by otosinopulmonary infections. Inheritance is commonly autosomal recessive, with extensive locus and allelic heterogeneity. The prevalence is uncertain.

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Mucin homeostasis is fundamental to airway health. Upregulation of airway mucus glycoprotein MUC5B is observed in diverse common lung diseases and represents a potential therapeutic target. In mice, Muc5b is required for mucociliary clearance and for controlling inflammation after microbial exposure.

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Objective: This project aims to prospectively and objectively assess otolaryngological manifestations and quality of life of children with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) and compare these findings with healthy pediatric controls.

Study Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Two high-volume pediatric PCD specialty centers.

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Background: Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a mostly autosomal recessive, genetic disease of abnormal motile cilia function, resulting in bronchiectasis, infertility, organ laterality defects, and chronic otolaryngology disease. Though motile, ependymal cilia influencing cerebrospinal fluid flow in the central nervous system share many aspects of structure and function with motile cilia in the respiratory tract, hydrocephalus is rarely associated with PCD. Recently, pathogenic variants in FOXJ1 (Chr 17q25.

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Cilia and flagella are evolutionarily conserved eukaryotic organelles involved in cell motility and signaling. In humans, mutations in Radial Spoke Head Component 4A () can lead to primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), a life-shortening disease characterized by chronic respiratory tract infections, abnormal organ positioning, and infertility. Despite its importance for human health, the location of RSPH4A in human cilia has not been resolved, and the structural basis of PCD remains elusive.

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Motile cilia are highly complex hair-like organelles of epithelial cells lining the surface of various organ systems. Genetic mutations (usually with autosomal recessive inheritance) that impair ciliary beating cause a variety of motile ciliopathies, a heterogeneous group of rare disorders. The pathogenetic mechanisms, clinical symptoms and severity of the disease depend on the specific affected genes and the tissues in which they are expressed.

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Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is characterized by chronic airway disease, reduced fertility, and randomization of the left/right body axis. It is caused by defects of motile cilia and sperm flagella. We screened a cohort of affected individuals that lack an obvious axonemal defect for pathogenic variants using whole exome capture, next generation sequencing, and bioinformatic analysis assuming an autosomal recessive trait.

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