First report on chromosomal abnormalities in Eastern Morocco: Identification of a new case of a de novo partial trisomy 13q using single-nucleotide polymorphism array.

BACKGROUND: Chromosomal abnormalities are the main cause of birth defects, intellectual disability, and miscarriages. They contribute to significant human morbidity and infant mortality. Here we report for the first time the chromosomal abnormalities encountered in the population of Eastern Morocco. Furthermore, we describe a new case of a de novo partial trisomy 13q combined with a terminal deletion in an 11-day-old girl. METHODS: From November 2015 to March 2022, 195 patients from the BRO Biobank who were clinically suspected of having chromosomal abnormalities were referred to the cytogenetics laboratory of the Genetics Unit of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Oujda for cytogenetic study. Karyotyping analysis was performed on peripheral blood samples using standard R banding techniques. To identify single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and copy number variants (CNVs), Illumina SNP array was used. RESULTS: Among 195 studied cases, 32 (16.4 %) had abnormal karyotypes, of which 12 cases had numerical aberrations while 20 cases had structural aberrations. The most common numerical aberrations were Turner syndrome and Down syndrome followed by Edward, Patau, and Klinefelter syndromes. For structural aberrations, translocations were the most common, followed by derivative chromosomes, inversions, deletions, and an addition on chromosome 13 identified in an 11-day-old girl. To further characterize this addition, SNP array was carried out and revealed a 58.8-Mb duplication in region 13q14.3q34 associated with a 1-Mb deletion in region 13q34. Follow-up parental chromosomes analysis showed normal karyotypes for the parents, confirming that this partial trisomy 13q was de novo. Comparison of the phenotype associated with this novel duplication on chromosome 13q with those previously reported confirmed the considerable variability in the phenotype of the patients with partial trisomy 13q. CONCLUSION: This study provided the first report on chromosomal abnormalities in Eastern Morocco and it enriched the phenotype spectrum of partial trisomy 13q and further confirmed the genotype-phenotype correlations. Furthermore, these findings justify the need to set up microarray comparative genomic hybridization techniques in Morocco for better genetic diagnosis.

Post-traumatic stress disorder in patients treated for schizophrenia: A cross-sectional study in the psychiatric department of Oujda, Morocco.

The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the general population is unavoidable and it seems that people who are suffering from severe psychiatric disorders especially schizophrenia, are more vulnerable to traumatic exposure and consequently to post traumatic stress disorder. The present work aims at determining the prevalence and the characteristics of the association between schizophrenia and PTSD since it isn't well known in Morocco. Materials and methods: We conducted a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study over a period of three months from October 2019 to December 2019 at the Department of Mental Health and Psychiatric Diseases of the University Hospital Center Mohammed VI of Oujda. Results: The number of patients included in our study was 187 and the majority of them were male with a percentage of 76%. Several variables were evaluated. The prevalence of PTSD in the patients included in our study is 14%. In addition, the statistically significant variables were the presence of a stressful event (p = 0,001), the positive schizophrenia symptom score (PANSS P) (p = 0,031), the negative schizophrenia symptom score (PANSS N) (p = 0,005), the general schizophrenia symptom score (PANSS G) (p = 0,021), suicide risk (p < 0,001), and the presence of depression (p = 0,004). Conclusion: The comorbidity schizophrenia-PTSD exists with non-negligible prevalence. The risks of non-diagnosis of this comorbidity could lead to inappropriate treatments, a multiplication of care with no notable clinical improvement, poor therapeutic compliance and the alteration in the patients' quality of life.

A very rare case of priapism under aripiprazole in a patient followed for bipolar disorder: A CARE-compliant report.

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Priapism is a urological emergency characterized by abnormally prolonged, painful and irreducible erection. It occurs without a sexual stimulation and habitually exceeds 6 h. About a half of iatrogenic priapisms are believed to be associated with antipsychotics. Until to date, very few cases of aripiprazole-associated priapism were reported. CASE PRESENTATION: In this case report, we present the clinical findings of a 40-year-old patient that developed priapism after treatment with aripiprazole after his hospitalization for an episode of clinical mania following treatment discontinuation for bipolar I disorder. The management was successful and priapism was resolved spontaneously. CLINICAL DISCUSSION: Despite its low affinity to alpha-1 adrenergic receptors, aripiprazole may be associated with priapism. Several potential factors involved in the pathogenesis of this adverse event have been reported in the literature including history of priapism in a different class of neuroleptics and consumption of psychoactive drugs which are the principal factors found in our case. CONCLUSION: Priapism may occur even during treatment with antipsychotics that have a low affinity to alpha1-adrenergic receptors. All patients on antipsychotics should be informed about the risk of this rare but serious adverse event.

Morocco's First Biobank: Establishment, Ethical Issues, Biomedical Research Opportunities, and Challenges.

BACKGROUND: Biobanks are highly organized infrastructures that allow the storage of human biological specimens associated with donors' personal and clinical data. These infrastructures play a key role in the development of translational medical research. In this context, we launched, in November 2015, the first biobank in Morocco (BRO Biobank) in order to promote biomedical research and provide opportunities to include Moroccan and North African ethnic groups in international biomedical studies. Here, we present the setup and the sample characteristics of BRO Biobank. METHODS: Patients were recruited at several departments of two major health-care centers in the city of Oujda. Healthy donors were enrolled during blood donation campaigns all over Eastern Morocco. From each participant, personal, clinical, and biomedical data were collected, and several biospecimens were stored. Standard operating procedures have been established in accordance with international guidelines on human biobanks. RESULTS: Between November 2015 and July 2020, 2446 participants were recruited into the BRO Biobank, of whom 2013 were healthy donors, and 433 were patients. For healthy donors, the median age was 35 years with a range between 18 and 65 years and the consanguinity rate was 28.96%. For patients, the median age was 11 years with a range between 1 day and 83 years. Among these patients, 55% had rare diseases (hemoglobinopathies, intellectual disabilities, disorders of sex differentiation, myopathies, etc.), 13% had lung cancer, 4% suffered from hematological neoplasms, 3% were from the kidney transplantation project, and 25% had unknown diagnoses. The BRO Biobank has collected 5092 biospecimens, including blood, white blood cells, plasma, serum, urine, frozen tissue, FFPE tissue, and nucleic acids. A sample quality control has been implemented and suggested that samples of the BRO Biobank are of high quality and therefore suitable for high-throughput nucleic acid analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The BRO Biobank is the largest sample collection in Morocco, and it is ready to provide samples to national and international research projects. Therefore, the BRO Biobank is a valuable resource for advancing translational medical research.

Depression and anxiety disorders in chronic hemodialysis patients and their quality of life: A cross-sectional study about 106 cases in the northeast of morocco.

Hemodialysis (HD) has a severe impact on the life of HD patients. The aim of this work was to assess the prevalence of depression and anxiety disorders, suicidal ideation, and the quality of life among HD patients. Associated factors were also studied. A cross-sectional study was carried out among 103 HD patients treated at the HD Center of Al Farabi Hospital of Oujda during a period of six months in 2015. The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview and European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) were used for the assessment. Major depressive episode (MDE) was found in 34% of our patients, whereas anxiety disorder was observed in 25.2%. Suicidal ideation was found in 16.5% and 1.9% of our patients planned their suicide. The EQ-5D index was 0.41 ± 0.36 and the EQ-Visual Analog Scale score was 45.73 ± 14. Multivariate analysis showed that MDEs were associated with three factors: marital status, pain, and anxiety disorder. There was also an association between anxiety disorder and age and EQ-Visual Analog Scale score. Suicidal ideation was associated with marital status and anxiety disorders. Together, these results underline the importance of the collaboration between nephrologists and psychiatrists for a better care of HD patients.

Suicidal ideations, plans and attempts in primary care: cross-sectional study of consultants at primary health care system in Morocco.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study is to estimate the prevalence of suicidal ideation among Moroccan consultants in primary health care system. METHODS: We conducted a cross sectional survey in three health care centers in two cities of Morocco to estimate the prevalence of suicidal ideation, plan and suicide attempts among 396 consultants in the primary health care system, using the Mini International neuropsychiatric interview. Patients were 18 years and older, without known psychiatric or chronic somatic disease. Statistical analysis was performed by the SPSS 13.0 software. RESULTS: The prevalence of suicidal ideation was 5.3%, and 2.7% of the patients planned their suicide and 1.2% tried to commit suicide. The multivariate analysis did not demonstrate significant association. CONCLUSION: Suicidal ideation, plan and suicide attempts are prevalent in primary health care patients, but they are still under diagnosed. An adequate training of physicians and the establishment of education programs is essential to reduce the rate of suicide.

Epidemiological study of the prevalence of depressive disorders in primary health care in Morocco.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and the impact of depressive disorders in primary health care and its associated factors. METHODOLOGY: It's a cross-sectional study with 351 participants selected from Moroccan primary care facilities, aged above 18 years without chronic somatic or psychiatric disease. The participants answered a questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for major depressive episode (MDE), dysthymic disorder and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). Statistical analysis was performed by the SPSS 13.0 software. RESULTS: The prevalence of depressive disorders in the sample was 13.7%, that of MDE was 9.1%, while dysthymic disorder was 4.3%, the rate of recurrent depressive episodes was 38.2% (6% of participants), and the prevalence of depression over a lifetime was 17.7%. The percentage of depression was higher among women than men (P = 0.01). 6.3% of depressed patients have already attempted to suicide. Analysis of GAF scores showed an average of 76.2 ± 24, a lower score was significantly found among patients with current MDE (P = 0.001), dysthymic subjects (P = 0.001) and those who suffer from recurrent MDE (P = 0.001). Depressive disorders in univariate analysis were associated with: Female gender P = 0.01 odds ratio (OR) 2.1 (1.09-4.3), unemployment P = 0.02 OR 0.4 (0.2-0.9), and childbearing age P = 0.004 OR 3.5 (1.5-8). Adjusted OR has not demonstrated a significant association. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of depressive disorders, suicide risk, and the alteration of the quality of life among primary health care patients in Morocco suggest the importance of identifying and treating this population.