ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To introduce the Laboratory Quality Stepwise Implementation (LQSI) tool and provide data about its roll-out, usage and effectiveness in assisting laboratories with quality improvement. METHODS: The LQSI tool, a freely available stepwise guide, was developed by WHO to assist laboratories with efficiently implementing a quality management system. RESULTS: Since the tool's launch in 2014, it has been accessed by 130 986 unique users from 195 of 206 listed states. Of 35 respondents to a survey, 12 (34%) indicated that their laboratory had been able to achieve accreditation/certification/licensing as a result of using the tool. CONCLUSIONS: The LQSI tool, currently being used worldwide and available in English, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Turkish, positively impacts the quality of services provided by clinical and public health laboratories, leading to improved clinical care and disease surveillance capacity as required by the IHR (2005) and envisioned by the Global Health Security Agenda.
Subject(s)
Laboratories/standards , Quality Control , Quality Improvement , World Health Organization , HumansABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Creatine deficiency syndromes are a newly described group of inborn errors of metabolism affecting creatine metabolism. Three diseases have been described: deficiency of arginine: glycine amidinotransferase (AGAT), deficiency of guanidinoacetate methyltransferase (GAMT) and creatine transporter defect (CRTR). STATE OF ART: These syndromes are characterized by a depletion of creatine/phosphocreatine in the brain. Clinically, most of the patients develop a variable mental retardation and a severe speech delay associated with epilepsy, extra-pyramidal syndrome and behavior disturbances. These diseases are often diagnosed during infancy but a few adult cases have been reported recently. Diagnosis is established by measurement of guanidinoacetate and creatine in biologic fluids and in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy by the total lack of intra-cerebral creatine/phosphocreatine demonstrating. GAMT and AGAT deficiencies are treatable by oral creatine supplementation whereas patients with CRTR do not respond to the treatment. CONCLUSION: Better knowledge of these syndromes is necessary to optimize diagnosis and patient management of these rare but potentially treatable disorders.
Subject(s)
Creatine/deficiency , Metabolism, Inborn Errors/genetics , Metabolism, Inborn Errors/metabolism , Amidinotransferases/genetics , Animals , Creatine/genetics , Creatine/metabolism , Guanidinoacetate N-Methyltransferase , Humans , Membrane Transport Proteins/metabolism , Metabolism, Inborn Errors/diagnosis , Methyltransferases/geneticsABSTRACT
The recent evolution of tandem mass spectrometry allows to diagnose more than twenty inherited metabolic diseases within a single blood spot. Nowadays, it is technically possible to screen newborns for most of fatty acid oxidation, organic acid and amino acid disorders. An important number of prospective pilot studies, using tandem mass spectrometry, have been done worldwide. However, several technical, economical, medical and ethical problems are raised by these applications. This review is intended to focus on this technology and to resume results from the main international studies.
Subject(s)
Mass Spectrometry , Metabolism, Inborn Errors/diagnosis , Forecasting , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Mass Spectrometry/methods , Mass Spectrometry/trends , Metabolism, Inborn Errors/genetics , Neonatal ScreeningABSTRACT
Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are a group of genetic diseases characterized by defective protein glycosylation. N-glycosylation defects are divided into two groups (I and II). CDG group II (types IIa to IIe) refers to defects in the Golgi processing of protein-bound glycans. We report a patient with CDG IIx and an unusual phenotype.
