Early development of infants with neurofibromatosis type 1: a case series

Background Prospective studies of infants at familial risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have yielded insights into the earliest signs of the disorder but represent heterogeneous samples of unclear aetiology. Complementing this approach by studying cohorts of infants with monogenic syndromes associated with high rates of ASD offers the opportunity to elucidate the factors that lead to ASD. Methods We present the first report from a prospective study of ten 10-month-old infants with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a monogenic disorder with high prevalence of ASD or ASD symptomatology. We compared data from infants with NF1 to a large cohort of infants at familial risk for ASD, separated by outcome at age 3 of ASD (n = 34), atypical development (n = 44), or typical development (n = 89), and low-risk controls (n = 75). Domains assessed at 10 months by parent report and examiner observation include cognitive and adaptive function, sensory processing, social engagement, and temperament. Results Infants with NF1 showed striking impairments in motor functioning relative to low-risk infants; this pattern was seen in infants with later ASD from the familial cohort (HR-ASD). Both infants with NF1 and the HR-ASD group showed communication delays relative to low-risk infants. Conclusions Ten-month-old infants with NF1 show a range of developmental difficulties that were particularly striking in motor and communication domains. As with HR-ASD infants, social skills at this age were not notably impaired. This is some of the first information on early neurodevelopment in NF1. Strong inferences are limited by the sample size, but the findings suggest implications for early comparative developmental science and highlight motor functioning as an important domain to inform the development of relevant animal models. The findings have clinical implications in indicating an important focus for early surveillance and remediation in this early diagnosed genetic disorder

Clinical features and genetic risk of demyelination following anti-TNF treatment

Background: Anti-TNF exposure has been linked to demyelination events. We sought to describe the clinical features of demyelination events following anti-TNF treatment and test whether affected patients were genetically predisposed to multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: We conducted a case-control study to describe the clinical features of demyelination events following anti-TNF. We compared genetic risk scores (GRS), calculated using carriage of 43 susceptibility loci for MS, in 48 cases to 1219 patients exposed to anti-TNF who did not develop demyelination. Results: Overall, 39 (74%) cases were female. The median age (range) of patients at time of demyelination was 41.5 years (20.7 - 63.2). The median duration of anti-TNF treatment was 21.3 months (0.5 - 99.4) and 19 (36%) patients were receiving concomitant immunomodulators. Most patients had central demyelination affecting the brain, spinal cord or both. Complete recovery was reported in 12 (23%) patients after a median time of 6.8 months (0.1 - 28.7). After 33.0 months of follow-up partial recovery was observed in 29 (55%) patients, relapsing and remitting episodes in 9 (17%), progressive symptoms in 3 (6%): 2 (4%) patients were diagnosed with MS. There was no significant difference between MS GRS scores in cases (mean -3.5 x 10-4, SD 0.0039) and controls (mean -1.1×10-3, SD 0.0042) (p=0.23). Conclusions: Patients who experienced demyelination events following anti-TNF were more likely female, less frequently treated with an immunomodulator, and had a similar genetic risk to anti-TNF exposed controls who did not. Large prospective studies with pre-treatment neuroimaging are required to identify genetic susceptibility loci.published version, accepted version (12 month embargo), submitted versio

Six Recommendations for Implementation of FAIR Practice

This report analyses the state of FAIR practices within diverse research communities and FAIR-related policies in different countries and offers six practical recommendations on how FAIR can be turned into practice. These recommendations are aimed primarily at decision making entities of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), as well as research funders: 1. Fund awareness-raising, training, education and community-specific support. 2. Fund development, adoption and maintenance of community standards, tools and infrastructure. 3. Incentivise development of community governance. 4. Translate FAIR guidelines for other digital objects. 5. Reward and recognise improvements of FAIR practice. 6. Develop and monitor adequate policies for FAIR data and research objects. In order to ensure widespread benefits of the EOSC, improvements in FAIR practices are necessary. We believe that the timing of this report, which coincides with the fully-fledged launch of the EOSC, could help the EOSC, research funders and policymakers make crucial strategic decisions about investment needed to put FAIR principles into practice.nonPeerReviewe

Clinical Features and Genetic Risk of Demyelination Following Anti-TNF Treatment.

BACKGROUND: Anti-TNF exposure has been linked to demyelination events. We sought to describe the clinical features of demyelination events following anti-TNF treatment and to test whether affected patients were genetically predisposed to multiple sclerosis [MS]. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study to describe the clinical features of demyelination events following anti-TNF exposure. We compared genetic risk scores [GRS], calculated using carriage of 43 susceptibility loci for MS, in 48 cases with 1219 patients exposed to anti-TNF who did not develop demyelination. RESULTS: Overall, 39 [74%] cases were female. The median age [range] of patients at time of demyelination was 41.5 years [20.7-63.2]. The median duration of anti-TNF treatment was 21.3 months [0.5-99.4] and 19 [36%] patients were receiving concomitant immunomodulators. Most patients had central demyelination affecting the brain, spinal cord, or both. Complete recovery was reported in 12 [23%] patients after a median time of 6.8 months [0.1-28.7]. After 33.0 months of follow-up, partial recovery was observed in 29 [55%] patients, relapsing and remitting episodes in nine [17%], progressive symptoms in three [6%]: two [4%] patients were diagnosed with MS. There was no significant difference between MS GRS scores in cases (mean -3.5 × 10-4, standard deviation [SD] 0.0039) and controls [mean -1.1 × 10-3, SD 0.0042] [p = 0.23]. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who experienced demyelination events following anti-TNF exposure were more likely female, less frequently treated with an immunomodulator, and had a similar genetic risk to anti-TNF exposed controls who did not experience demyelination events. Large prospective studies with pre-treatment neuroimaging are required to identify genetic susceptibility loci

Clinical and genetic characteristics of late-onset Huntington's disease

Background: The frequency of late-onset Huntington's disease (>59 years) is assumed to be low and the clinical course milder. However, previous literature on late-onset disease is scarce and inconclusive. Objective: Our aim is to study clinical characteristics of late-onset compared to common-onset HD patients in a large cohort of HD patients from the Registry database. Methods: Participants with late- and common-onset (30–50 years)were compared for first clinical symptoms, disease progression, CAG repeat size and family history. Participants with a missing CAG repeat size, a repeat size of ≤35 or a UHDRS motor score of ≤5 were excluded. Results: Of 6007 eligible participants, 687 had late-onset (11.4%) and 3216 (53.5%) common-onset HD. Late-onset (n = 577) had significantly more gait and balance problems as first symptom compared to common-onset (n = 2408) (P <.001). Overall motor and cognitive performance (P <.001) were worse, however only disease motor progression was slower (coefficient, −0.58; SE 0.16; P <.001) compared to the common-onset group. Repeat size was significantly lower in the late-onset (n = 40.8; SD 1.6) compared to common-onset (n = 44.4; SD 2.8) (P <.001). Fewer late-onset patients (n = 451) had a positive family history compared to common-onset (n = 2940) (P <.001). Conclusions: Late-onset patients present more frequently with gait and balance problems as first symptom, and disease progression is not milder compared to common-onset HD patients apart from motor progression. The family history is likely to be negative, which might make diagnosing HD more difficult in this population. However, the balance and gait problems might be helpful in diagnosing HD in elderly patients