During the COVID-19 pandemic, entire populations were instructed to live in home-confinement to prevent the expansion of the disease. Spain was one of the countries with the strictest conditions, as outdoor physical activity was banned for nearly two months. This study aimed to analyse the changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviours in Spanish university students before and during the confinement by COVID-19 with special focus on gender. We also analysed enjoyment, the tools used and motivation and impediments for doing physical activity. An online questionnaire, which included the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form and certain “ad hoc” questions, was designed. Students were recruited by distributing an invitation through the administrative channels of 16 universities and a total of 13,754 valid surveys were collected. Overall, university students reduced moderate (−29.5%) and vigorous (−18.3%) physical activity during the confinement and increased sedentary time (+52.7%). However, they spent more time on high intensity interval training (HIIT) (+18.2%) and mind-body activities (e.g., yoga) (+80.0%). Adaptation to the confinement, in terms of physical activity, was handled better by women than by men. These results will help design strategies for each gender to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour during confinement periods.

In genome-wide screening studies for de novo mutations underlying autism and intellectual disability, mutations in the ADNP gene are consistently reported among the most frequent. ADNP mutations have been identified in children with autism spectrum disorder comorbid with intellectual disability, distinctive facial features, and deficits in multiple organ systems. However, a comprehensive clinical description of the Helsmoortel-Van der Aa syndrome is lacking. We identified a worldwide cohort of 78 individuals with likely disruptive mutations in ADNP from January 2014 to October 2016 through systematic literature search, by contacting collaborators, and through direct interaction with parents. Clinicians filled in a structured questionnaire on genetic and clinical findings to enable correlations between genotype and phenotype. Clinical photographs and specialist reports were gathered. Parents were interviewed to complement the written questionnaires. We report on the detailed clinical characterization of a large cohort of individuals with an ADNP mutation and demonstrate a distinctive combination of clinical features, including mild to severe intellectual disability, autism, severe speech and motor delay, and common facial characteristics. Brain abnormalities, behavioral problems, sleep disturbance, epilepsy, hypotonia, visual problems, congenital heart defects, gastrointestinal problems, short stature, and hormonal deficiencies are common comorbidities. Strikingly, individuals with the recurrent p.Tyr719* mutation were more severely affected. This overview defines the full clinical spectrum of individuals with ADNP mutations, a specific autism subtype. We show that individuals with mutations in ADNP have many overlapping clinical features that are distinctive from those of other autism and/or intellectual disability syndromes. In addition, our data show preliminary evidence of a correlation between genotype and phenotype.

The severity of clinical features and the outcomes in previous series of patients reported with Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) vary greatly, probably due to selection bias. To establish the actual clinical spectrum of HSP in all age groups using an unselected and wide series of patients diagnosed at a single center, we performed a retrospective review of 417 patients classified as having HSP according to the criteria proposed by Michel et al. Of 417 patients, 240 were male and 177 female, with a median age at the time of disease diagnosis of 7.5 years (interquartile range [IQR], 5.3–20.1 yr). Three-quarters of the patients were children or young people aged 20 years or younger (n = 315), and one-quarter were adults (n = 102). The most frequent precipitating events were a previous infection (38%), usually an upper respiratory tract infection, and/or drug intake (18.5%) shortly before the onset of the vasculitis. At disease onset the most common manifestations were skin lesions (55.9%), nephropathy (24%), gastrointestinal involvement (13.7%), joint symptoms (9.1%), and fever (6.2%). Cutaneous involvement occurring in all patients, mainly purpuric skin lesion, was the most common manifestation when the vasculitis was fully established, followed by gastrointestinal (64.5%), joint (63.1%), and renal involvement (41.2%). The main laboratory findings were leukocytosis (36.7%), anemia (8.9%), and increased serum IgA levels (31.7%). The most frequent therapies used were corticosteroids (35%), nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (14%), and cytotoxic agents (5%). After a median follow-up of 12 months (IQR, 2–38 mo), complete recovery was observed in most cases (n = 346; 83.2%), while persistent, usually mild, nephropathy was observed in only 32 (7.7%) cases. Relapses were observed in almost a third of patients (n = 133; 31.9%). In conclusion, although HSP is a typical vasculitis affecting children and young people, it is not uncommon in adults. The prognosis is favorable in most cases, depending largely on renal involvement.

Background: There is tremendous potential for genome sequencing to improve clinical diagnosis and care once it becomes routinely accessible, but this will require formalizing research methods into clinical best practices in the areas of sequence data generation, analysis, interpretation and reporting. The CLARITY Challenge was designed to spur convergence in methods for diagnosing genetic disease starting from clinical case history and genome sequencing data. DNA samples were obtained from three families with heritable genetic disorders and genomic sequence data were donated by sequencing platform vendors. The challenge was to analyze and interpret these data with the goals of identifying disease-causing variants and reporting the findings in a clinically useful format. Participating contestant groups were solicited broadly, and an independent panel of judges evaluated their performance. Results: A total of 30 international groups were engaged. The entries reveal a general convergence of practices on most elements of the analysis and interpretation process. However, even given this commonality of approach, only two groups identified the consensus candidate variants in all disease cases, demonstrating a need for consistent fine-tuning of the generally accepted methods. There was greater diversity of the final clinical report content and in the patient consenting process, demonstrating that these areas require additional exploration and standardization. Conclusions: The CLARITY Challenge provides a comprehensive assessment of current practices for using genome sequencing to diagnose and report genetic diseases. There is remarkable convergence in bioinformatic techniques, but medical interpretation and reporting are areas that require further development by many groups.

To further investigate into the relapses of Henoch–Schönlein purpura (HSP), we analyzed the frequency, clinical features, and predictors of relapses in series of 417 unselected patients from a single center. After a median follow-up of 12 (interquartile range [IQR]: 2–38) years, almost one-third of the 417 patients (n = 133; 32%; 85 men/48 women) had experienced at least 1 relapse. At the time of disease diagnosis, patients who later experienced relapses had less commonly infections than those who never suffered flares (30.8% vs 41.9%; P = 0.03). In contrast, patients who experienced relapses had a longer duration of the first episode of palpable purpura than those without relapses (palpable purpura lasting >7 days; 80.0% vs 68.1%; P = 0.04). Abdominal pain (72.3% vs 62.3%; P = 0.03) and joint manifestations (27.8% vs 15.5%; P = 0.005) were also more common in patients who later developed relapses. In contrast, patients who never suffered relapses had a slightly higher frequency of fever at the time of disease diagnosis (9.3% vs 3.8%; P = 0.06). At the time of disease diagnosis, corticosteroids were more frequently given to patients who later had relapses of the disease (44% vs 32% in nonrelapsing patients; P = 0.03). Relapses generally occurred soon after the first episode of vasculitis. The median time from the diagnosis of HSP to the first relapse was 1 (IQR: 1–2) month. The median number of relapses was 1 (IQR 1–3). The main clinical features at the time of the relapse were cutaneous (88.7%), gastrointestinal (27.1%), renal (24.8%), and joint (16.5%) manifestations. After a mean ± standard deviation follow-up of 18.9 ± 9.8 years, complete recovery was observed in 110 (82.7%) of the 133 patients who had relapses. Renal sequelae (persistent renal involvement) was found in 11 (8.3%) of the patients with relapses. The best predictive factors for relapse were joint and gastrointestinal manifestations at HSP diagnosis (odds ratio [OR]: 2.22; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.34–3.69, and OR: 1.60; 95% CI: 1.01–2.53, respectively). In contrast, a history of previous infection was a protective factor for relapses (OR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.38–0.94). In conclusion, joint and gastrointestinal manifestations at the time of diagnosis of HSP are predictors of relapses.