Gene-Specific DNA Methylation Profiles in Pediatric Medulloblastomas

2021 ◽  
pp. 109352662110366
Author(s):  
Naz Kanit ◽  
Ozge Uysal Yoca ◽  
Dilek Ince ◽  
Nur Olgun ◽  
Erdener Ozer

Introduction Medulloblastoma is the most common pediatric central nervous tumor of high malignancy that has been classified into both histological subtypes and molecular subgroups by the 2016 World Health Organization classification. However, there is a still need to understand the genomic characteristics and predict the clinical course. The aim of the study is to investigate the significance of the methylation profiles in molecular subclassification and precision medicine of the disease. Methods The study enrolled 47 pediatric medulloblastoma patients. DNA methylation levels of KLF4, SPINT2, RASSF1A, EZH2, ZIC2, and PTCH1 genes were analyzed using methylation-specific pyrosequencing. The significance of the statistical relationship between methylation profiles and clinicopathological parameters including molecular subgroups and histological subtypes, the status of metastasis, and event-free survival were analyzed. Results DNA methylation analysis demonstrated that KLF4, PTCH1, and ZIC2 hypermethylation were associated with the SHH-activated subgroup, whereas both SPINT2 and RASSF1A hypermethylation were associated with metastatic disease. EZH2 gene was not methylated in any of the samples. Conclusion We think that customized DNA methylation profiling may be a useful tool in the molecular subclassification of pediatric medulloblastoma and a potential technical approach in precision medicine.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeya Sutha M

UNSTRUCTURED COVID-19, the disease caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a highly contagious disease. On January 30, 2020 the World Health Organization declared the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. As of July 25, 2020; 15,947,292 laboratory-confirmed and 642,814 deaths have been reported globally. India has reported 1,338,928 confirmed cases and 31,412 deaths till date. This paper presents different aspects of COVID-19, visualization of the spread of infection and presents the ARIMA model for forecasting the status of COVID-19 death cases in the next 50 days in order to take necessary precaution by the Government to save the people.


Author(s):  
Adel Alizadeh ◽  
Reza Negarandeh ◽  
Fahimehe Bagheri Amiri ◽  
Zahra Yazdani

Abstract Objectives This systematic and meta-analysis review was conducted to determine the status of Iranian children and adolescents’ physical activity. Content All the related articles which were published in the major databases, including Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, Magiran, SID from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2019, were reviewed by researchers. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was also used to evaluate the quality of articles. Moreover, I 2 index and chi-square were used to assess the heterogeneity between the results. Summary 490 articles were found as a result of the search in the selected international and local databases, where finally, 10 articles were included into the meta-analysis after the elimination of the duplicated articles and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results indicated that 29.5% of the girls were considered active according to WHO criteria (16.1–42.8: 95% CI) and also 20.5% of the boys (7.3–33.7: 95% CI). Outlook Overall, this study’s findings showed that a large percentage of Iranian children and adolescents do not achieve the level of physical activity recommended by the World Health Organization. This can lead to undesirable consequences for this group of population that is considered as the human capital of any country; consequently, it seems necessary to take basic measures at the micro and macro levels in order to reduce such problems in the society.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii400-iii401
Author(s):  
Kuo-Sheng Wu ◽  
Tai-Tong Wong

Abstract BACKGROUND Medulloblastoma (MB) was classified to 4 molecular subgroups: WNT, SHH, group 3 (G3), and group 4 (G4) with the demographic and clinical differences. In 2017, The heterogeneity within MB was proposed, and 12 subtypes with distinct molecular and clinical characteristics. PATIENTS AND METHODS: PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrieved 52 MBs in children to perform RNA-Seq and DNA methylation array. Subtype cluster analysis performed by similarity network fusion (SNF) method. With clinical results and molecular profiles, the characteristics including age, gender, histological variants, tumor location, metastasis status, survival, cytogenetic and genetic aberrations among MB subtypes were identified. RESULTS In this cohort series, 52 childhood MBs were classified into 11 subtypes by SNF cluster analysis. WNT tumors shown no metastasis and 100% survival rate. All WNT tumors located on midline in 4th ventricle. Monosomy 6 presented in WNT α, but not in β subtype. SHH α and β occurred in children, while SHH γ in infant. Among SHH tumors, α subtype showed the worst outcome. G3 γ showed the highest metastatic rate and worst survival associated with MYC amplification. G4 α has the highest metastatic rate, however G4 γ showed the worst survival. CONCLUSION We identified molecular subgroups and subtypes of MBs based on gene expression and DNA methylation profile in children in our cohort series. The results may contribute to the establishment of nation-wide correlated optimal diagnosis and treatment strategies for MBs in infant and children.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (42) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyukmin Lee ◽  
Eun-Jeong Yoon ◽  
Dokyun Kim ◽  
Seok Hoon Jeong ◽  
Jong Hee Shin ◽  
...  

Surveillance plays a pivotal role in overcoming antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial pathogens, and a variety of surveillance systems have been set up and employed in many countries. In 2015, the World Health Organization launched the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS) as a part of the global action plan to enhance national and global surveillance and research. The aims of GLASS are to foster development of national surveillance systems and to enable collection, analysis and sharing of standardised, comparable and validated data on AMR between different countries. The South Korean AMR surveillance system, Kor-GLASS, is compatible with the GLASS platform and was established in 2016 and based on the principles of representativeness, specialisation, harmonisation and localisation. In this report, we summarise principles and processes in order to share our experiences with other countries planning to establish a national AMR surveillance system. The pilot operation of Kor-GLASS allowed us to understand the national burden of specific infectious diseases and the status of bacterial AMR. Issues pertaining to high costs and labour-intensive operation were raised during the pilot, and improvements are being made.


2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 247-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Angelo L. Lindoso ◽  
Ana Angélica B.P. Lindoso

Poverty is intrinsically related to the incidence of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). The main countries that have the lowest human development indices (HDI) and the highest burdens of NTDs are located in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Among these countries is Brazil, which is ranked 70th in HDI. Nine out of the ten NTDs established by the World Health Organization (WHO) are present in Brazil. Leishmaniasis, tuberculosis, dengue fever and leprosy are present over almost the entire Brazilian territory. More than 90% of malaria cases occur in the Northern region of the country, and lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis occur in outbreaks in a particular region. The North and Northeast regions of Brazil have the lowest HDIs and the highest rates of NTDs. These diseases are considered neglected because there is not important investment in projects for the development of new drugs and vaccines and existing programs to control these diseases are not sufficient. Another problem related to NTDs is co-infection with HIV, which favors the occurrence of severe clinical manifestations and therapeutic failure. In this article, we describe the status of the main NTDs currently occurring in Brazil and relate them to the HDI and poverty.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahasan Ullah Khan

Abstract In Bangladesh, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) reported the first COVID-19 positive patients in the country on March 8, 2020. The world health organization (WHO) declared a COVID-19 epidemic on March 11, 2020. The aim of this study was related to the situation and relation of tests, infested, recovered and death of people against COVID-19 of Bangladesh. The study was carried out from 8 March 2020 to 30 April 2021 (N=419 days) to observe the status of Bangladesh towards rampant COVID-19. The data of this research was collected from IEDCR, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), and cross-checked with different newspapers and online news portals. Correlations were made using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The total tests, infection, recovered and died were 5357294, 747761, 669995 and 11250; respectively in Bangladesh. The tests of COVID-19 were 1482, 69252, 244064, 460528, 409503, 362113, 397452, 389452, 436862, 454892, 424034, 392403 and 722848 in March to December, 2020 to January to April 2021; respectively in Bangladesh. The infestation of COVID-19 was 49, 7616, 39486, 98330, 92125, 73070, 50457, 44205, 57248, 58948, 21629, 11077 and 128555 in March to December, 2020 to January to April 2021; respectively in Bangladesh. The recovered of COVID-19 was 25, 135, 7904, 34845, 76517, 69452, 71600, 48658, 56099, 70367, 22285, 17140 and 150816 in March to December, 2020 to January to April 2021; respectively in Bangladesh. The death of COVID-19 was 6, 163, 472, 1198, 1264, 1125, 970, 666, 718, 938, 568, 277 and 2237 in March to December, 2020 to January to April 2021; respectively in Bangladesh. The maximum number of people infested and death in April, 2021. The positive correlation found between infested with tests and recovered with tests of April, 2021 by people where (R2= 0.5289, p<0.012 and 0.0000006 p<0.05) and the negative correlation found between tests with date and death with tests (R2= 0.2567, p<0.01 and 0.3614, p<0.01). All the Spearman correlation positive with moderate to strong relation between the variables at the 0.01 level in two-tailed and the total number was n=419. The mean Spearman correlation for tests was 0.31 (range 0.553 to 0.634), for infested was 0.35 (range 0.611 to 0.880), for recovered was 0.796 (range 0.634 to 0.799), for death was 0.808 (range 0.553 to 0.880). March to December 2020 and January to February 2021, not much less than April 2021. More people infested and died in April, 2021 than previous year. This study also indicated that there is moderate to strong relation among tests, infested, recovered and death with COVID-(2020-2021).


Author(s):  
Linnea Laestadius ◽  
Yang Wang ◽  
Ziyad Ben Taleb ◽  
Mohammad Ebrahimi Kalan ◽  
Young Cho ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The rapid global spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has compelled national governments to issue guidance on the use of face masks for members of the general public. To date, no work has assessed how this guidance differs across governments. OBJECTIVE This study seeks to contribute to a rational and consistent global response to infectious disease by determining how guidelines differ across nations and regions. METHODS A content analysis of health agency mask guidelines on agency websites was performed in late March 2020 among 25 countries and regions with large numbers of COVID-19 cases. Countries and regions were assigned across the coding team by language proficiency, with Google Translate used as needed. When available, both the original and English language version of guidance were reviewed. RESULTS All examined countries and regions had some form of guidance online, although detail and clarity differed. Although 9 countries and regions recommended surgical, medical, or unspecified masks in public and poorly ventilated places, 16 recommended against people wearing masks in public. There were 2 countries that explicitly recommended against fabric masks. In addition, 12 failed to outline the minimum basic World Health Organization guidance for masks. CONCLUSIONS Online guidelines for face mask use to prevent COVID-19 in the general public are currently inconsistent across nations and regions, and have been changing often. Efforts to create greater standardization and clarity should be explored in light of the status of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.


SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402094248
Author(s):  
Raj Panda ◽  
Pradeep Guin ◽  
Kumar Gaurav

The performance of a health system hinges upon effective and efficient allocation of resources. The nature of governance within the health system, including critical components such as purchasing mechanism of health care services, also determines the health status of program beneficiaries. This article investigates an existing purchasing mechanism of a state-funded health care scheme through the lens of governance. We applied framework method on an adapted version of a tool developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), Organizational Assessment for Improving and Strengthening Health Financing (OASIS), to draw four themes to study the status of purchasing mechanism in Madhya Pradesh (MP), India. We used purposive sampling to select subjects from the state, district, and block levels and conducted 32 in-depth interviews. Subjects from the district and block levels were drawn from a sample of three out of 51 districts in MP. We found that although the scheme is functional, it has immense scope for improvement, thereby bettering the health outcomes of its beneficiaries.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Muijen ◽  
Andrew McCulloch

For over a decade, concerted efforts have been made in Europe to reform mental health services and move away from institutions to community-based models of care, supported by international policy statements, good practice examples and research evidence. Progress has been uneven. So what is the status of mental healthcare across the World Health Organization European Region, and what factors support, or detract from, such progress?


2004 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
pp. 1777-1784 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Minor ◽  
J. Newham ◽  
N. Jones ◽  
C. Bergeron ◽  
L. Gregori ◽  
...  

Assays for the agent of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) include measurement of infectivity in different animal systems, such as wild-type or transgenic mice, and detection of PrPSc by different methods and formats. The various assays could be best calibrated against each other by use of uniform readily available materials, and samples of four human brains, two from sporadic CJD patients, one from a variant CJD patient and one from a non-CJD patient, have been prepared as 10 % homogenates dispensed in 2000 vials each for this purpose. Results of in vitro methods, particularly immunoblot assays, were compared in the first collaborative study described here. While dilution end-points varied, the minimum detectable volume was surprisingly uniform for most assays and differences in technical procedure, other than the sample volume tested, had no detectable systematic effect. The two specimens from sporadic CJD cases contained both type 1 and type 2 prion proteins in approximately equal proportions. The materials have been given the status of reference reagents by the World Health Organization and are available for further study and assessment of other in vitro or in vivo assay procedures.


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