Can knowledgeable experts assess costs and outcomes as if they were ignorant? An experiment within precision medicine evaluation.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the validity of the standard approach in expert judgment for evaluating precision medicines, in which experts are required to estimate outcomes as if they did not have access to diagnostic information, whereas in fact, they do. METHODS: Fourteen clinicians participated in an expert judgment task to estimate the cost and medical outcomes of the use of exome sequencing in pediatric patients with intractable epilepsy in Thailand. Experts were randomly assigned to either an "unblind" or "blind" group; the former was provided with the exome sequencing results for each patient case prior to the judgment task, whereas the latter was not provided with the exome sequencing results. Both groups were asked to estimate the outcomes for the counterfactual scenario, in which patients had not been tested by exome sequencing. RESULTS: Our study did not show significant results, possibly due to the small sample size of both participants and case studies. CONCLUSIONS: A comparison of the unblind and blind approach did not show conclusive evidence that there is a difference in outcomes. However, until further evidence suggests otherwise, we recommend the blind approach as preferable when using expert judgment to evaluate precision medicines because this approach is more representative of the counterfactual scenario than the unblind approach.

Efficacy of Melatonin for Inducing Sleep in Pediatric Electroencephalogram Recordings: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Pilot Study.

Objective To compare the efficacy of melatonin, melatonin with sleep deprivation, and chloral hydrate with sleep deprivation on sleep induction in Asian children. Methods: For this randomized single-blind controlled trial, we recruited 45 children aged 1-5 years and older who were not cooperative on electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, randomly allocated to three groups: melatonin (group A), melatonin and sleep deprivation (group B), or chloral hydrate and sleep deprivation (group C). Between-group comparisons were performed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: Stage II sleep was achieved in 92.8%, 100%, and 100% of participants in groups A, B, and C, respectively. Sleep latency was significantly shorter in Group C than in Groups A (p = .022) and B (p = .027), while Group C had better sleep efficacy than Groups A (p = .02) and B (p = .04). Conclusion: Melatonin with sleep deprivation is less effective at inducing sleep than combined chloralhydrate and sleep deprivation.

Exome sequencing as first-tier genetic testing in infantile-onset pharmacoresistant epilepsy: diagnostic yield and treatment impact.

Pharmacoresistant epilepsy presenting during infancy poses both diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. We aim to identify diagnostic yield and treatment implications of exome sequencing (ES) as first-tier genetic testing for infantile-onset pharmacoresistant epilepsy. From June 2016 to December 2020, we enrolled patients with infantile-onset (age ≤ 12 months) pharmacoresistant epilepsy. 103 unrelated patients underwent ES. Clinical characteristics and changes in management due to the molecular diagnosis were studied. 42% (43/103) had epilepsy onset within the first month of life. After ES as first-tier genetic testing, 62% (64/103) of the cases were solved. Two partially solved cases (2%; 2/103) with heterozygous variants identified in ALDH7A1 known to cause autosomal recessive pyridoxine dependent epilepsy underwent genome sequencing (GS). Two novel large deletions in ALDH7A1 were detected in both cases. ES identified 66 pathogenic and likely pathogenic single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in 27 genes. 19 variants have not been previously reported. GS identified two additional copy number variations (CNVs). The most common disease-causing genes are SCN1A (13%; 13/103) and KCNQ2 (8%; 8/103). Eight percent (8/103) of the patients had treatable disorders and specific treatments were provided resulting in seizure freedom. Pyridoxine dependent epilepsy was the most common treatable epilepsy (6%; 6/103). Furthermore, 35% (36/103) had genetic defects which guided gene-specific treatments. Altogether, the diagnostic yield is 64%. Molecular diagnoses change management in 43% of the cases. This study substantiates the use of next generation sequencing (NGS) as the first-tier genetic investigation in infantile-onset pharmacoresistant epilepsy.

Novel de novo mutation substantiates ATP6V0C as a gene causing epilepsy with intellectual disability.

BACKGROUND: In approximately half of patients with epilepsy and intellectual disability (ID), the cause is unidentified and could be a mutation in a new disease gene. PATIENT DESCRIPTION: To determine the discovery of disease-causing mutation in a female patient with epilepsy and ID, we performed trio whole-exome sequencing, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) followed by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: Trio whole-exome sequencing was performed and revealed a novel de novo heterozygous stop-loss c.467A > T (p.*156Leuext*35) mutation in the ATP6V0C gene. Using RNA from leukocytes, RT-PCR followed by Sanger sequencing showed the existence of the mutant RNA, and real-time PCR demonstrated that the patient's ATP6V0C RNA level was approximately half of that in her parents, suggesting haploinsufficiency as a pathomechanism. CONCLUSION: These findings, along with previous reports of individuals with similar phenotypes and variants in the same gene, substantiate ATP6V0C as a gene causing epilepsy with ID.