The frequency of human leukocyte anti- gen DRB1 alleles was determined in a cohort of 194 Kuwaiti Arabs consisting of 80 schizophrenia patients and 114 ethnically matched healthy controls, using a polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers method. A total of 12 DRB1 alleles were identified in this Kuwaiti cohort. A statistically significant difference was detected in the frequency of alleles DRB1(*)04 and DRB1(*)13 between the schizophrenia patients and controls. Allele frequency of DRB1(*)04 in schizophrenia patients was 14% compared with nearly 7% in controls (P = 0.028). For DRB1(*)13, the allele frequency was found to be 18% in schizophrenia patients compared with 9% in the controls (P = 0.015). For alleles, DRB1(*)03, DRB1(*)07, and DRB1(*)16 the frequency was higher in controls compared with schizophrenia patients. The frequency of DRB1(*)01, DRB1(*)08, DRB1(*)10, DRB1(*)11, and DRB1(*)15 alleles was almost identical in schizophrenia patients and controls. For the remaining alleles, the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant. Am. J. Med. Genet. (Neuropsychiatr. Genet.) 96:870-872, 2000.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by degeneration of lower motor neurons. We have assayed deletions in two candidate genes, the survival motor neuron (SMN) and neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein (NAIP) genes, in 108 samples, of which 46 were from SMA patients, and 62 were from unaffected subjects. The SMA patients included 3 from Bahrain, 9 from South Africa, 2 from India, 5 from Oman, 1 from Saudi Arabia, and 26 from Kuwait. SMN gene exons 7 and 8 were deleted in all type I SMA patients. NAIP gene exons 5 and 6 were deleted in 22 of 23 type I SMA patients. SMN gene exon 7 was deleted in all type II SMA patients while exon 8 was deleted in 19 of 21 type II patients. In 1 type II SMA patient, both centromeric and telomeric copies of SMN exon 8 were deleted. NAIP gene exons 5 and 6 were deleted in only 1 type II SMA patient. In 1 of the 2 type III SMA patients, SMN gene exons 7 and 8 were deleted with no deletion in the NAIP gene, while in the second patient, deletions were detected in both SMN and NAIP genes. None of the 62 unaffected subjects had deletions in either the SMN or NAIP gene. The incidence of biallelic polymorphism in SMN gene exon 7 (BsmAI) was found to be similar (97%) to that (98%) reported in a Spanish population but was significantly different from that reported from Taiwan (0%). The incidence of a second polymorphism in SMN gene exon 8 (presence of the sequence ATGGCCT) was markedly different in our population (97%) and those reported from Spain (50%) and Taiwan (0%).

No abstract

Introduction: Initial studies from Wuhan, China reported patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 have uncontrolled coagulopathy and an increased risk for thrombotic complications, including pulmonary embolism (PE), deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and arterial thrombosis.1 The incidence of thrombosis attributed to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ranged from 9.5% in all hospital-admitted patients to 31% in the critically ill.2,3 COVID-19 has had a major impact on the Chicago metropolitan area with over 121,000 confirmed cases as of August 2020, Cook county being the 4th highest affected county after Maricopa, Miami-Dade and Los Angeles counties.4 The primary goal of this study is to describe the rate of thrombotic events in the Chicago metropolitan area, highlighting an ethnically diverse population, and identify new risk factors for thrombosis between three university health systems. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis between three university health systems in the Chicago metropolitan area: Loyola University Health System (LUHS): comprised of one tertiary and two community hospitals, Rush University System for Health (RUSH): comprised of one tertiary and two community hospitals, and University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC): a tertiary hospital. All patients had positive SARS-CoV-2 testing and were hospitalized for COVID-19. PE, DVT or arterial thrombosis were confirmed by supportive imaging modalities. Wilcoxon rank sum test were used to test the associations of continuous variables; Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test were used to test the associations of categorical variables. All analyses were performed with SAS 9.4 and two-sided p-value < .05 were deemed statistically significant. Results: Between March and May 2020, 2,180 patients from LUHS, RUSH and UIC were hospitalized for COVID-19 and were included in our analysis. Baseline patient demographics are described in Table 1. Race/ethnicity demographics are as follows: Hispanics (H)/ African Americans (AA) represented 47%/17% of LUHS patients, 32%/42% of RUSH patients, and 36%/51% of UIC patients, respectively (Figure 1). Intensive care admissions were needed in 33% of all patients. Documented total thrombotic events are as follows: LUHS = 5.4% (41 VTE/PE, 10 arterial and 5 with both venous and arterial); RUSH = 9.7% (70 VTE/PE, 7 arterial and 4 with both venous/arterial); UIC = 6% (14 VTE/PE, 4 arterial and 0 with both venous/arterial). Patients that developed a thrombotic event were similar by age, sex, and BMI to those without a thrombotic event. Anticoagulation prophylaxis was given to 82% of pts at LUHS and UIC at time of admission. Collectively, those with thrombotic events (N=156) had higher incidence of intensive care admission, elevated white blood cell (WBC) count and a d-dimer >5X upper limit normal (ULN) at presentation. Furthermore, a higher proportion of pts that had a thrombotic event were diabetic at LUHS and RUSH (Table 2). Mortality in COVID-19 patients was 13-16% and patients that had a thrombotic event had a higher risk of death in the RUSH and UIC cohorts. Conclusions: In a racially diverse, multi-institutional cohort of patients, we demonstrate that 7.2% of COVID-19 patients had a thrombotic event. Consistent risk factors for thrombosis across the different centers included an initial d-dimer levels >5X ULN, elevated initial WBC count, diabetes, and being critically ill. Mortality differences and anticoagulation practices between the institutions as well as race/ethnicity differences regarding thrombosis will be explored in future combined multivariate analyses. Finally, based off these risk factors, identification of patients at most risk for thrombosis is needed to reduce the morbidity and mortality when diagnosed with COVID-19. References -Tang et. al. J Thromb Haemost. 2020;18:844-847. -Klock et. Al. Thrombosis Research 2020;191:145-147. -Al-Samkari H, Laef RS, Dzik WH et. Al. COVID-19 and coagulation: bleeding and thrombotic manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Blood. 2020;136(4):489-500. -https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/county-map.html; accessed 8/7/20. Disclosures Arain: Astellas: Other: Spouse is employed. Stiff:Macrogenics: Research Funding; Delta-Fly: Research Funding; Unum: Research Funding; Atara: Research Funding; Kite, a Gilead Company: Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; Gamida Cell: Research Funding. Saraf:Novartis, Global Blood Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Global Blood Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Advisory Boards, Speakers Bureau; Pfizer, Global Blood Therapeutics, Novartis: Research Funding.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by degeneration of lower motor neurons. We have assayed deletions in two candidate genes, the survival motor neuron (SMN) and neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein (NAIP) genes, in 108 samples, of which 46 were from SMA patients, and 62 were from unaffected subjects. The SMA patients included 3 from Bahrain, 9 from South Africa, 2 from India, 5 from Oman, 1 from Saudi Arabia, and 26 from Kuwait. SMN gene exons 7 and 8 were deleted in all type I SMA patients. NAIP gene exons 5 and 6 were deleted in 22 of 23 type I SMA patients. SMN gene exon 7 was deleted in all type II SMA patients while exon 8 was deleted in 19 of 21 type II patients. In 1 type II SMA patient, both centromeric and telomeric copies of SMN exon 8 were deleted. NAIP gene exons 5 and 6 were deleted in only 1 type II SMA patient. In 1 of the 2 type III SMA patients, SMN gene exons 7 and 8 were deleted with no deletion in the NAIP gene, while in the second patient, deletions were detected in both SMN and NAIP genes. None of the 62 unaffected subjects had deletions in either the SMN or NAIP gene. The incidence of biallelic polymorphism in SMN gene exon 7 (BsmAI) was found to be similar (97%) to that (98%) reported in a Spanish population but was significantly different from that reported from Taiwan (0%). The incidence of a second polymorphism in SMN gene exon 8 (presence of the sequence ATGGCCT) was markedly different in our population (97%) and those reported from Spain (50%) and Taiwan (0%).