Neuromyelitis optica positive antibodies confer a worse course in relapsing-neuromyelitis optica in Cuba and French West Indies

Background In Caucasian populations Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO-IgG) antibody has been detected in 27.1% / 78.2% of patients with relapsing-NMO (R-NMO). The prevalence reported for the disease in the Caribbean is 3.1/100,000 in the French West Indies (FWI) and 0.52 /100,000 in Cuba, but the NMO antibody status is unknown. Objective To assess the NMO-IgG antibody status of Cuban/FWI RNMO patients, comparing with European cases tested at the same laboratories. Methods Serum NMO-IgG antibodies were assayed in 48 R-NMO patients (Wingerchuck´s 1999 criteria): Cuba (24)/FWI (24), employing Lennon et al´s method. We compared the demographic, clinical, disability and laboratory data between NMO-IgG +/- patients. All the data were reviewed and collected blinded to the NMO-IgG status. Results Seropositivity of the NMO-IgG antibody demonstrated a lower rate in the Caribbean (33.3%), as compared with Caucasian patients from Spain/Italy (62.5%) and France (53.8%). Caribbean patients with NMO-IgG (+) displayed more attacks, more spinal attacks and a higher EDSS than NMO-IgG (-) cases, while brain and spinal cord MRI lesions were more frequent during remission, with more vertebral segments, more gray, white matter and holocord involvement. Conclusions NMO IgG positive antibodies in NMO patients had a lower rate in the Caribbean area – where the population has a predominant African ancestry – than in Caucasian Europeans, suggesting the influence of a possible ethnic factor in the pathogenesis of the disease, but they confer a worse course with more attacks, more disability and MRI lesions.

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Caribbean Commission

International Organization ◽

10.1017/s0020818300014314 ◽

1949 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 166-166

Keyword(s):

Dominican Republic ◽

United Nations ◽

West Indies ◽

West Indian ◽

The West ◽

French West Indies ◽

The Third ◽

The Caribbean ◽

The United Nations

The third session of the West Indian Conference opened at Guadeloupe, French West Indies on December 1, 1948 and closed on December 14, after considering policy to be followed by the Caribbean Commission for the next two years. The Conference was attended by two delegates from each of the fifteen territories within the jurisdiction of the commission and observers invited by the commission from Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

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Selected countries of the Caribbean area and the West Indies

Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean - Economic Survey of Latin America 1966 ◽

10.18356/228fd208-en ◽

1966 ◽

pp. 232-238

Keyword(s):

West Indies ◽

The West ◽

Caribbean Area ◽

The Caribbean

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MS and neuromyelitis optica in Martinique (French West Indies)

Neurology ◽

10.1212/wnl.56.4.507 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 56 (4) ◽

pp. 507-514 ◽

Cited By ~ 110

Author(s):

P. Cabre ◽

O. Heinzlef ◽

H. Merle ◽

G.G. Buisson ◽

O. Bera ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Neuromyelitis Optica ◽

West Indies ◽

French West Indies

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Cotton Stainers (Dysdercus spp.) In the West Indies

Bulletin of Entomological Research ◽

10.1017/s0007485300030455 ◽

1947 ◽

Vol 37 (3) ◽

pp. 389-391 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

E. McC. Callan

Keyword(s):

West Indies ◽

The West ◽

Caribbean Area ◽

Cotton Stainers ◽

The Caribbean

There has been much confusion in the taxonomy of the species of Dysdercus in the Caribbean area, and this contribution is an attempt to straighten out the nomenclature and synonymy for future workers on these important pests, until such time as a complete revision of the Neotropical Dysdercus can be attempted.

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APOL1 risk genotype in European steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome and/or focal segmental glomerulosclerosis patients of different African ancestries

Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation ◽

10.1093/ndt/gfy176 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 34 (11) ◽

pp. 1885-1893 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Olivier Gribouval ◽

Olivia Boyer ◽

Bertrand Knebelmann ◽

Alexandre Karras ◽

Jacques Dantal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nephrotic Syndrome ◽

Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis ◽

West Indies ◽

African Ancestry ◽

Compound Heterozygous ◽

French West Indies ◽

Steroid Resistant ◽

Steroid Resistant Nephrotic Syndrome ◽

Segmental Glomerulosclerosis ◽

Risk Variants

Abstract Background Apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) risk variants are strongly associated with sporadic focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in populations with African ancestry. We determined the frequency of G1/G2 variants in steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS)/FSGS patients with African or French West Indies ancestry in France and its relationships with other SRNS genes. Methods In a cohort of 152 patients (139 families), the APOL1 risk variants were genotyped by direct Sanger sequencing and pathogenic mutations were screened by next-generation sequencing with a panel including 35 SRNS genes. Results The two risk allele [high-risk (HR)] genotypes were found in 43.1% (66/152) of subjects compared with 18.9% (106/562) in a control population (P < 0.0001): 33 patients homozygous for APOL1 G1 alleles, 4 homozygous for G2 and 29 compound heterozygous for G1 and G2. Compared with patients in the low-risk (LR) group, patients in the HR group were more likely to originate from the French West Indies than from Africa [45/66 (68.2%) versus 30/86 (34.9%); P < 0.0001]. There were more familial cases in the HR group [27 (41.5%) versus 8 (11.4%); P < 0.0001]. However, causative mutations in monogenic SRNS genes were found in only 1 patient in the HR group compared with 16 patients (14 families) in the LR group (P = 0.0006). At diagnosis, patients in the HR group without other mutations were more often adults [35 (53.8%) versus 19 (27.1%); P = 0.003] and had a lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (78.9 versus 98.8 mL/min/1.73 m2; P = 0.02). Conclusions The HR genotype is frequent in FSGS patients with African ancestry in our cohort, especially in those originating from the West Indies, and confer a poor renal prognosis. It is usually not associated with other causative mutations in monogenic SRNS genes.

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Moribund English

English World-Wide ◽

10.1075/eww.25.2.04dec ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 217-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ken Decker

Keyword(s):

West Indies ◽

English Speakers ◽

Standard English ◽

French West Indies ◽

Linguistic Evidence ◽

The Caribbean

In this day of ever-expanding influence of English it is rare to find a people who are shifting away from the use of English. Such is the case of the speakers of a variety of English spoken in the port town of Gustavia, St. Barthélemy in the French West Indies. The varieties of French and French Creole on St. Barths have been well documented, but there has been only passing mention of the variety of English spoken on the island. While the presence of this English variety in the Caribbean may not seem to be an anomaly, there are interesting questions to investigate regarding its origin and the shift to French. I consider some historical and linguistic evidence that may help to explain the presence of an English variety on this French island. I also investigate the origins of some non-standard English features and whether or not there is evidence of creolization. Finally, I describe some of the sociolinguistic factors relevant to the remaining English speakers in Gustavia and factors involved in their shift from English to French.

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New Waves in the Caribbean

Worldview ◽

10.1017/s0084255900018611 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 37-39

Author(s):

Terence L. Thatcher

Keyword(s):

West Indies ◽

Third World ◽

American Foreign Policy ◽

British West Indies ◽

The Third ◽

Political Concern ◽

Caribbean Area ◽

Regional Community ◽

The Caribbean ◽

The Third World

There was a time when the Caribbean area loomed large on the American foreign policy scene. The Monroe Doctrine, the Cuban war, canal concerns, dollar-diplomacy—these issues occupied not only the time of diplomats but the attention of press and public as well. Yet now, ten years after the Cuban missile confrontation, seven after the Dominican Republic fiasco, Americans treat the Caribbean with monumental indifference. Rather than an area of great political concern, it has become merely a resort for winter holidays.But profound changes are under way in the Caribbean precisely in those islands known only for their tourist appeal. New forces in the British West Indies, traditionally the safe and stable members of the regional community, are transforming once sleepy tropical isles into fully conscious members of the Third World. One such force is the movement toward West Indian integration.

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