Basic new born and antenatal screening for aspirational districts: unique methods of management and treatment of inherited disorders

Background: Early screening, diagnosis and management program can contribute in reducing the burden of genetic disorders which can lead to early neonatal death or long-term disability in the vulnerable areas. UMMID (Unique Methods of Management and treatment of Inherited Disorders) and NIDAN (National Inherited Diseases Administration), aimed at developing a community level program for need assessment and to evaluate the feasibility of basic screening for some genetic/endocrine disorders in high-risk population.Methods: UMMID was carried out at the aspirational district Ranchi, Jharkhand for 3 years (2019-2022) to perform newborn screening (NBS) in <7 days old newborn babies for 5 metabolic disorders and to screen antenatal mothers for prevention of thalassemia and other hemoglobinopathies.Results: G6PD deficiency being more prevalent in Ranchi district out of five metabolic disorders screened. 13.6% of screen positive cases were confirmed positive for hemoglobinopathies. c.20 A>T is the most common mutation found among carriers.Conclusions: This initiative underscores the need of such screening programs in aspirational districts to manage and prevent these disorders effectively.

Application of array comparative genomic hybridization in clinical diagnostics of intellectual disability/developmental delay in children

Background: This study was designed to analyze and evaluate the potential pathogenic genomic imbalance in children with unexplained intellectual disability (ID) and/or developmental delay (DD) and its association with phenotypes, and to investigate the value of array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH).Methods: A total of 72 Children with ID/DD were evaluated by array-CGH for detection of genomic copy number variations (CNVs).Results: The results of the array-CGH revealed that 10(14%) of the 72 patients had pathogenic CNVs, in that six cases had pathogenic CNV in a single chromosome, 2 cases had multiple microdeletions and 2 cases had combined microdeletion and microduplication, 2 cases had pathogenic CNVs in chromosome 1p36 and Xq28 region. One case had variation of unknown significance in chromosome region 15q11.2. Large bands of copy neutral loss of heterozygosity were detected in 2 cases comprising more than 10% of genome.Conclusions: Array-CGH being a high-throughput and rapid tool, allows for the etiological diagnosis in some of the children with unexplained ID/DD.