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Editor-in-chief
Maria Stella Graziani

Deputy Director
Martina Zaninotto

Associate Editors
Ferruccio Ceriotti
Davide Giavarina
Bruna Lo Sasso
Giampaolo Merlini
Martina Montagnana
Andrea Mosca
Paola Pezzati
Rossella Tomaiuolo
Matteo Vidali

EIC Assistant
Francesco Busardò

International Advisory Board Khosrow Adeli Canada
Sergio Bernardini Italy
Marcello Ciaccio Italy
Eleftherios Diamandis Canada
Philippe Gillery France
Kjell Grankvist Sweden
Hans Jacobs The Netherlands
Eric Kilpatrick UK
Magdalena Krintus Poland
Giuseppe Lippi Italy
Mario Plebani Italy
Sverre Sandberg Norway
Ana-Maria Simundic Croatia
Tommaso Trenti Italy
Cas Weykamp The Netherlands
Maria Willrich USA
Paul Yip Canada


Publisher
Biomedia srl
Via L. Temolo 4, 20126 Milano

Responsible Editor
Giuseppe Agosta

Editorial Secretary
Chiara Riva
Biomedia srl
Via L. Temolo 4, 20126 Milano
Tel. 0245498282
email: biochimica.clinica@sibioc.it

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ISSN print: 0393 – 0564
ISSN digital: 0392- 7091



BC: Articoli scritti da L. Zoccante

Nuovi approcci diagnostici al ritardo mentale
New diagnostic approaches to mental retardation
<p>Genomic imbalances are considered the most frequent causes of mental retardation (MR). Although widespread screening with novel molecular karyotyping methods, such as multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) and array-based comparative genomic hybridization (Array-CGH) might be desirable, effective clinical preselection is essential because of the technical complexities and cost of testing. This study focuses on a retrospective analysis of clinical features in patients with MR of unknown etiology,thereby assessing the sensitivity of a six item checklist in identifying rearranged subjects. The diagnostic powers of single techniques were also evaluated. We studied 164 subjects with MR who had completed the follow diagnostic process: karyotype and eventually fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in case of suspected microdeletion syndrome, specific analysis in case of suspected X-linked or monogenic disease, MLPA for subtelomeric rearrangements in patients negative to previous tests, Array-CGH in patients negative to MLPA. A six items checklist based on relevant clinical signs was retrospectively applied. 5 patients were carrier of chromosomal abnormalities (3 detected by karyotype and 2 by FISH), 3 were affected by X-fragile syndrome, 6 had mutations, and 33 were carriers of genomic imbalances (9 detected by MLPA and 24 by Array-CGH), while 117 resulted negative to any tests. In patients with genomic imbalances and in subjects without rearrangements the median score of the checklist was 6 (range 3-9) and 4 (range 0-8), respectively (P &lt;0,0001). The ROC analysis for the diagnostic accuracy of our checklist showed an area under the curve of 0.74 (95% confidence interval: 0.65-0.83). Using a cut-off for the score of U3, 24% of patients could have been excluded without missing any genomic imbalances. This study supports the evidence that the application of a clinical checklist may improve the rate of pathological findings in patients with MR.</p>
Biochimica Clinica ; 36(3) 187-192
Contributi Scientifici - Scientific Papers