All Variations Archives - The Association for X and Y Chromosome Variations

What’s missing in sex chromosome aneuploidies? Representation and inclusion

Article Title: What’s missing in sex chromosome aneuploidies? Representation and inclusion

Authors: Mehmet, McDonald, Saldarriaga, Pineros-Leano, and Dwyer

Date of Publication: January 2022

“Given that KS/TS happen by chance, theoretically, these rates should be similar across racial/ethnic groups. Namely, the rates of KS/TS should be similar among non-Hispanic Whites and Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Currently, it is unknown to what extent HR-QoL has been examined in BIPOC communities affected by KS/TS. To provide culturally-informed care for all patients with KS/TS, it is critical to understand the experiences of BIPOC communities. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on HR-QoL in KS/TS to examine the extent that BIPOC communities have been included and represented in the literature to date.”

Rick Frith2023-03-07T10:56:34-05:00Categories: 47,XXY (Klinefelter), All Variations, Other Variations|Tags: BIPOC, Inclusion, Representation, Turner syndrome|

Recommendations to improve the patient experience and avoid bias when prenatal screening/testing

Article Title: Recommendations to improve the patient experience and avoid bias when prenatal screening/testing

Authors: Meredith, Brackett, Diaz, Freeman, Huggins, Khan, Leach, Levitz, Michie, Onufer, Skotko, Smith, White, Waller, and Ayers

Date of Publication: October 29, 2022

“While prenatal screening and testing have expanded substantially over the past decade and provide access to more genetic information, expectant parents are more likely to describe the diagnosis experience as negative than positive. In addition, the conversations that take place during these experiences sometimes reflect unconscious bias against people with disabilities. Consequently, an interdisciplinary committee of experts, including people with disabilities, family members, disability organization leaders, healthcare and genetics professionals, and bioethicists, reviewed selected published and gray literature comparing the current state of the administration of prenatal testing to the ideal state. Subsequently, the interdisciplinary team created recommendations for clinicians, public health agencies, medical organizations, federal agencies, and other stakeholders involved with administering prenatal screening and testing to create better patient experiences; conduct training for healthcare professionals; create, enforce, and fund policies and guidelines; and engage in more robust data collection and research efforts.”

Rick Frith2023-02-14T14:04:39-05:00Categories: 47,XXX (trisomy x), 47,XXY (Klinefelter), 47,XYY, 48,XXXY, 48,XXYY, All Variations, Mosaicism, Other Variations|Tags: NIPS, NIPT, prenatal|

Positive predictive value of noninvasive prenatal testing for sex chromosome abnormalities

Article Title: Positive predictive value of noninvasive prenatal testing for sex chromosome abnormalities

Authors: Guo, Cai, Lin, Xue, Huang, and Xu

Date of Publication: August 12, 2022

A clinic had 47,855 patients undergo NIPT (noninvasive prenatal testing). They found that the positive predictive value (PPV) for sex chromosome abnormalities was 36.9%. The PPV in patients aged 30–34 years was significantly higher than that in patients aged < 30 years.

Rick Frith2022-11-11T16:32:26-05:00Categories: 47,XXX (trisomy x), 47,XXY (Klinefelter), 47,XYY, 48,XXXY, 48,XXYY, All Variations, Mosaicism, Other Variations|Tags: NIPS, NIPT, prenatal|

Noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS) results for participants of the eXtraordinarY babies study

Article Title: Noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS) results for participants of the eXtraordinarY babies study: Screening, counseling, diagnosis, and discordance

Authors: Howell, Davis, Thompson, Brown, Tanda, Kowal, Alston, Ross, and Tartaglia

Date of Publication: September 6, 2022

“The majority (57%) of parents with a NIPS result positive for SCA defer diagnostic confirmation until birth; however, diagnostic results can be discordant with NIPS results, which may impact genetic counseling.”

Rick Frith2022-10-20T14:33:20-04:00Categories: 47,XXX (trisomy x), 47,XXY (Klinefelter), 47,XYY, 48,XXYY, All Variations, Mosaicism, Other Variations|Tags: NIPS, prenatal|

Supporting students with sex chromosome aneuploidies in educational settings

Article Title: Supporting students with sex chromosome aneuploidies in educational settings: Results of a nationwide survey

Authors: Thompson, Davis, Janusz, Frith, Pylead, Howell, Boada, Wilson, and Tartaglia

Date of Publication: August 2022

“Many parents reported their children’s educators had little to no knowledge of SCA conditions, justifying a need to train teachers and policy makers in the unique educational needs of children and adolescents with SCAs. School psychologists should be aware of the frequent need for accommodations and individualized support plans in this population so they can support children and families by advocating for early and comprehensive evaluations and intervention plans.”

Rick Frith2022-06-28T12:56:32-04:00Categories: 47,XXX (trisomy x), 47,XXY (Klinefelter), 47,XYY, 48,XXXY, 48,XXYY, All Variations, Other Variations|Tags: Education|

‘I Wish the School Had a Better Understanding of the Diagnosis’: parent perspectives on educational needs of students with SCAs

Article Title: ‘I Wish the School Had a Better Understanding of the Diagnosis’: parent perspectives on educational needs of students with sex chromosome aneuploidies

Authors: Thompson, Stinnett, Tartaglia, Davis, and Janusz

Date of Publication: March 13, 2022

“Students with SCAs, have a unique educational profile that may be challenging to support within the schools. Challenges with reading and writing, EF, fatigue/endurance, social skills and emotion management may act as barriers to learning, and are frequently triggered in busy classroom environments. Skills hovering in the borderline range are common to the SCA phenotype and are not often well served by special education systems with limited resources and strict cut-offs for qualification. As a result, families may feel they need to advocate strongly for their child to receive adequate support services. To improve the educational experience of children with SCAs, we recommend increased collaboration between the school and the child’s medical team, strong parent partnerships and acknowledgement of the significant role the genetic condition plays in the educational experiences of students with SCAs.”

Rick Frith2022-03-15T13:35:24-04:00Categories: 47,XXX (trisomy x), 47,XXY (Klinefelter), 47,XYY, 48,XXXY, 48,XXYY, All Variations, Other Variations|Tags: Education|

The Need for Greater Awareness of Sex Chromosome Variations

Article Title: The Need for Greater Awareness of Sex Chromosome Variations

Author: Erin Torres, MSN, PMHNP-BC, RN-BC

Date of Publication: September 2021

From the article’s abstract: “Health care providers remain ill prepared to recognize these conditions and support patients and their families.”

Rick Frith2021-09-02T11:12:57-04:00Categories: 47,XXX (trisomy x), 47,XXY (Klinefelter), 47,XYY, 48,XXXY, 48,XXYY, All Variations, Other Variations|

What microRNAs could tell us about the human X chromosome

Article Title: What microRNAs could tell us about the human X chromosome

Authors: Di Palo, Siniscalchi, Salerno, Russo, Gravholt and Potenza

Date of Publication: April 30, 2020

“MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small-non coding RNAs endowed with great regulatory power, thus playing key roles not only in almost all physiological pathways, but also in the pathogenesis of several diseases. Surprisingly, genomic distribution analysis revealed the highest density of miRNA sequences on the X chromosome; this evolutionary conserved mammalian feature equips females with a larger miRNA machinery than males. However, miRNAs contribution to some X-related conditions, properties or functions is still poorly explored. With the aim to support and focus research in the field, this review analyzes the literature and databases about X-linked miRNAs, trying to understand how miRNAs could contribute to emerging gender-biased functions and pathological mechanisms, such as immunity and cancer. A fine map of miRNA sequences on the X chromosome is reported, and their known functions are discussed; in addition, bioinformatics functional analyses of the whole X-linked miRNA targetome (predicted and validated) were performed. The emerging scenario points to different gaps in the knowledge that should be filled with future experimental investigations, also in terms of possible implications and pathological perspectives for X chromosome aneuploidy syndromes, such as Turner and Klinefelter syndromes.”

Rick Frith2021-03-03T14:31:39-05:00Categories: 47,XXX (trisomy x), 47,XXY (Klinefelter), 47,XYY, 48,XXXY, 48,XXYY, All Variations|

ACRC Accomplishments

In 2015, the AXYS Board of Directors voted to approve the development of the AXYS Clinical and Research Consortium (ACRC). The two goals that AXYS defined at that time were to improve the availability and the quality of services to the X&Y variation community. As the ACRC grew, the original goals were refined to be as follows:

Make life easier for those seeking evaluation and treatment.
Bring consistency to treatment that is consensus and/or evidence-based.
Advance the overall X&Y variation field through coordinated efforts including research.
Bring clinical excellence to the field of X&Y variations.

Though each clinic operates independently, as members of a consortium, they collaborate with one another, share informational resources, and have the opportunity to participate in joint research projects.

In addition, AXYS organizes annual meetings of the consortium at which members meet to discuss topics important to the X&Y chromosome variation community. AXYS works to ensure that all families impacted by any of the chromosome variations have access to the best available evaluation and treatment or treatment recommendations.

Timeline of the ACRC

(Click on the year to see the accomplishments for that year.)

2014

AXYS brought on Robby Miller as an experienced consultant to assist AXYS in creating the ACRC.

2015

First meeting of ACRC 2015

The formation committee, Dr. Tartaglia and Susan Howell of the eXtraordinarY Kids Clinic in Colorado, Jim Moore the AXYS Executive Director and Robby met. The consortium was formed.

First ACRC meeting held in Denver.

AXYS Clinical Needs and Desires survey, supported by AXYS, Emory University and PCORI began.

2016

AXYS Clinical Needs and Desires survey concluded. Results presented to ACRC by lead investigator Dr. Sharron Close.

Launched with 8 founding clinics: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Los Angles, New York, Stanford, Wilmington

2017

ACRC meets in Denver

Discussed need for Adult clinics

Added clinic in Wake-Forest

2018

ACRC meets in Chicago

Began Consensus Documents

Added clinic in Philadelphia

2019

ACRC meets in Atlanta

Conducted study to pilot a process to form clinics for adults, funded by the WITH Foundation Grant. Study led by Sharron Close at Emory University and Susan Howell at Colorado Children’s Hospital.

AXYS awarded grant from the Kosloski Family Foundation to create CME course on Klinefelter Syndrome in Adults

Added clinics in Boston and Cleveland

Photo of 2019 ACRC meeting

2020

First virtual ACRC meeting

Held quarterly ACRC meetings with dedicated discussions on telehealth, Families of Color and Adult clinics.

Added clinic in New York, second clinic in Philadelphia for adults

Added first international clinics in Vancouver, Canada and Århus, Denmark.

Expanded ACRC to include clinical researchers:

Megan A. Allyse, PhD. Mayo Clinic, United States
Christine Disteche, PhD, University of Washington, United States
Claus Gravholt, MD, PhD, Aarhus University Hospital, Århus, Denmark
Armin Raznahan MD, PhD, National Institutes of Health, United States
Sophie van Rijn, PhD, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Published first Consensus Documents

2021

Added international clinic in London, UK.

Rick Frith2021-02-23T14:44:17-05:00Categories: 47,XXX (trisomy x), 47,XXY (Klinefelter), 47,XYY, 48,XXXY, 48,XXYY, All Variations, Other Variations|Tags: ACRC|

The Expert in the Room

Article Title: The Expert in the Room: Parental Advocacy for Children with Sex Chromosome Aneuploidies

Authors: Richardson, Riggan, and Allyse

Date of Publication: November 2, 2020

“Owing to fragmentation in the medical system, many parents of children with disabilities report taking on a care coordinator and advocate role. The parental advocacy and care coordination requirements are further amplified in this population because of a lack of awareness about sex chromosome aneuploidies (SCAs) in medical and social services settings, as well as the complex needs of affected children. This burden disproportionately affects mothers and low-resource families as a result of gendered ideas of parenthood and social stratification in resource access. The aim of this study is to understand the unique parental burdens of SCAs and family support needs.”

Rick Frith2020-11-13T15:01:37-05:00Categories: 47,XXX (trisomy x), 47,XXY (Klinefelter), 47,XYY, 48,XXXY, 48,XXYY, All Variations, Other Variations|Tags: Advocacy|

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