Background: The Roma population are an endogamous, genetically isolated, minority population who migrated from North-Western India to Europe from the 10 Century throughout the Byzantine period and continues to the present day. Approximately 10-12 million Romani people reside in segregated settlements in Europe, and smaller populations live in North America and China. In addition to the endogamy, they also practice consanguinity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNext generation sequencing based diagnosis has emerged as a promising tool for evaluating critically ill neonates and children. However, there is limited data on its utility in developing countries. We assessed its diagnostic rate and clinical impact on management of pediatric patients with a suspected genetic disorder requiring critical care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOculocutaneous albinism is an inherited disorder of melanin biosynthesis, characterized by absent or reduced pigmentation of the skin, hair, and eyes. Molecular alterations of genes that cause non-syndromic albinism in Asian Indians are poorly characterized. This information would be useful for developing therapies for this disorder.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients, families, the healthcare system, and society as a whole are all significantly impacted by rare diseases (RDs). According to various classifications, there are currently up to 9,000 different rare diseases that have been recognized, and new diseases are discovered every month. Although very few people are affected by each uncommon disease individually, millions of people are thought to be impacted globally when all these conditions are considered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To determine the diagnostic yield of next generation sequencing (NGS) in patients with moderate/severe/profound intellectual disability (ID) unexplained by conventional tests and to assess the impact of definitive diagnosis on the clinical management and genetic counselling of these families.
Methods: This was a ambi-directional study conducted at Institute of Medical Genetics and Genomics, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi. The study comprised 227 patients (prospective cohort - 126, retrospective cohort - 101) in whom NGS based tests were performed.
Multicentric carpotarsal osteolysis syndrome (MCTO) is a rare autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasia characterised by swelling and restriction of movement in the wrist and ankle joints, as well as osteolysis of the carpal and tarsal bones, that can be misdiagnosed as juvenile idiopathic arthritis. We describe five Indian families with heterozygous nonrecurrent missense pathogenic variants in exon 1 of MAF bZIP transcription factor B (MAFB).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Rare diseases (RD) are a health priority worldwide, overall affecting hundreds of millions of people globally. Early and accurate diagnosis is essential to support clinical care but remains challenging in many countries, especially the low- and medium-income ones. Hence, undiagnosed RD (URD) account for a significant portion of the overall RD burden.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDesbuquois dysplasia (DBQD) is an uncommon, autosomal recessive disorder with multiple joint dislocations. It is caused by pathogenic variants in CANT1 (calcium-activated nucleotidase 1) [NM_001159773.2].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypomelanosis of Ito is a rare neurocutaneous syndrome characterized by presence of hypopigmented skin lesions arranged in whorls and streaks following the lines of Blaschko and are often accompanied by abnormalities of the central nervous system, skeletal system, eyes and teeth. Additional symptoms include deafness, hemihypertrophy, cardiac abnormalities, renal malformations, and abnormalities of the genitourinary tract.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To define the spectrum of genetic disorders in patients with short stature visiting the genetic out-patient department in a tertiary care hospital.
Methods: A chart review was done for 455 individuals (10 months-16 yrs) with short stature, who were evaluated at the genetic clinic from 1 January, 2017 upto 31 October, 2018. 226 patients who needed detailed evaluation, the spectrum of genetic diagnosis is presented.
MPS II is an X linked recessive lysosomal storage disorder with multi-system involvement and marked molecular heterogeneity. In this study, we explored the clinical and molecular spectrum of 144 Indian patients with MPS II from 130 unrelated families. Clinical information was collected on a predesigned clinical proforma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenomics is an integral part of many pediatric diseases spanning all sub-specialities. While many genetic disorders are diagnosed with the currently available genomic tests, there still are many patients who do not receive a definitive diagnosis. The Indian Undiagnosed Diseases Program is a multicenter effort to address these challenges and unmet needs of rare disease patients where current available genetic tests have failed to make a diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we interviewed 26 patients with lysosomal storage disorders receiving enzyme replacement therapy. 20 (77 %) had significant interruption in their treatment, with an average of 8 (range 2-28) missed doses. Alternate methods of delivering uninterrupted care including home therapy were used.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe evaluated the clinical histories, motor and pulmonary functions, cardiac phenotypes and GAA genotypes of an Indian cohort of twenty patients with late onset Pompe disease (LOPD) in this multi-centre study. A mean age at onset of symptoms and diagnosis of 9.9 ± 9.
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