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Background/Aims: Recruitment and retention of research participants are challenging and critical components of successful clinical trials and natural history studies. Infants with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) have been a particularly challenging population to study due to their fragile and complex medical issues, poor prognosis and, until 2016, a lack of effective therapies. Recruitment of healthy infants into clinical trials and natural history studies is also challenging and sometimes assumed to not be feasible. Methods: In 2011, our group initiated a two-year, longitudinal natural history study of infants with SMA and healthy infant controls to provide data to assist in the analysis and interpretation of planned clinical trials in infants with SMA. The recruitment goal was to enroll 27 infants less than 6 months of age with SMA and 27 age-matched healthy infants within the two-year enrollment period. A detailed recruitment and retention plan was developed for this purpose. In addition, a survey was administered to participant families to understand the determinants of participation in the study. Results: All healthy infants were recruited within the study's first year and 26 SMA infants were recruited within the two-year recruitment period. Thirty-eight participant families responded to the recruitment determinants survey. Nearly half of respondents (18/38, 48%) reported that they first heard of the study from their physician or neurologist. The most common reason to decide to enroll their infant (22/38, 58%) and to remain in the study (28/38, 74%) was their understanding of the importance of the study. Thematic recruitment tools such as a study brochure, video on social media, and presentations at advocacy meetings were reported to positively influence the decision to enroll. Conclusions: A proactive, thematic and inclusive recruitment and retention plan that effectively communicates the rationale of a clinical study and partners with patients, advocacy groups and the local communities can effectively recruit participants in vulnerable populations. Recommendations for the proactive integration of recruitment and retention plans into clinical trial protocol development are provided. Keywords: Social media, Altruism, Spinal muscle atrophy, Healthy controls, Network

OBJECTIVE Infantile-onset spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the most common genetic cause of infant mortality, typically resulting in death preceding age 2. Clinical trials in this population require an understanding of disease progression and identification of meaningful biomarkers to hasten therapeutic development and predict outcomes. METHODS A longitudinal, multicenter, prospective natural history study enrolled 26 SMA infants and 27 control infants aged

Objective This study prospectively assessed putative promising biomarkers for use in assessing infants with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Methods This prospective, multi-center natural history study targeted the enrollment of SMA infants and healthy control infants less than 6 months of age. Recruitment occurred at 14 centers within the NINDS National Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NeuroNEXT) Network. Infant motor function scales and putative electrophysiological, protein and molecular biomarkers were assessed at baseline and subsequent visits. Results Enrollment began November, 2012 and ended September, 2014 with 26 SMA infants and 27 healthy infants enrolled. Baseline demographic characteristics of the SMA and control infant cohorts aligned well. Motor function as assessed by the Test for Infant Motor Performance Items (TIMPSI) and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Infant Test of Neuromuscular Disorders (CHOP-INTEND) revealed significant differences between the SMA and control infants at baseline. Ulnar compound muscle action potential amplitude (CMAP) in SMA infants (1.4 ± 2.2 mV) was significantly reduced compared to controls (5.5 ± 2.0 mV). Electrical impedance myography (EIM) high-frequency reactance slope (Ohms/MHz) was significantly higher in SMA infants than controls SMA infants had lower survival motor neuron (SMN) mRNA levels in blood than controls, and several serum protein analytes were altered between cohorts. Interpretation By the time infants were recruited and presented for the baseline visit, SMA infants had reduced motor function compared to controls. Ulnar CMAP, EIM, blood SMN mRNA levels, and serum protein analytes were able to distinguish between cohorts at the enrollment visit.

Purpose The objectives of this report are to examine the incidence of and risk factors for stroke among childhood Hodgkin's disease (HD) survivors. Patients and Methods The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study is a multi-institutional cohort study of more than 5-year cancer survivors diagnosed between 1970 and 1986 and a sibling comparison group. Incidence rates of stroke among HD survivors (n = 1,926) and siblings (n = 3,846) were calculated and compared. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the hazard ratios, reported as relative risks (RR), of developing stroke between HD survivors and siblings. Results Nine siblings reported a stroke, for an incidence of 8.00 per 100,000 person-years (95% CI, 3.85 to 14.43 per 100,000 person-years). Twenty-four HD survivors reported a stroke. The incidence of late-occurring stroke among HD survivors was 83.6 per 100,000 person-years (95% CI, 54.5 to 121.7 per 100,000 person-years). The RR of stroke among HD survivors was 4.32 (95% CI, 2.01 to 9.29; P = .0002). All 24 survivors received mantle radiation exposure (median dose, 40 Gy). The incidence of late-occurring stroke among HD survivors treated with mantle radiation was 109.8 per 100,000 person-years (95% CI, 70.8 to 161.1 per 100,000 person-years). The RR of late-occurring stroke among HD survivors treated with mantle radiation was 5.62 (95% CI, 2.59 to 12.25; P < .0001). Conclusion Survivors of childhood HD are at increased risk of stroke. Mantle radiation exposure is strongly associated with subsequent stroke. Potential mechanisms may include carotid artery disease or cardiac valvular disease.

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is a congenital cancer-predisposition syndrome associated with embryonal cancers, macroglossia, macrosomia, ear pits or ear creases, and midline abdominal-wall defects. The most common constitutional abnormalities in BWS are epigenetic, involving abnormal methylation of either H19 or LIT1, which encode untranslated RNAs on 11p15. We hypothesized that different epigenetic alterations would be associated with specific phenotypes in BWS. To test this hypothesis, we performed a case-cohort study, using the BWS Registry. The cohort consisted of 92 patients with BWS and molecular analysis of both H19 and LIT1, and these patients showed the same frequency of clinical phenotypes as those patients in the Registry from whom biological samples were not available. The frequency of altered DNA methylation of H19 in patients with cancer was significantly higher, 56% (9/16), than the frequency in patients without cancer, 17% (13/76; P=.002), and cancer was not associated with LIT1 alterations. Furthermore, the frequency of altered DNA methylation of LIT1 in patients with midline abdominal-wall defects and macrosomia was significantly higher, 65% (41/63) and 60% (46/77), respectively, than in patients without such defects, 34% (10/29) and 18% (2/11), respectively (P=.012 and P=.02, respectively). Additionally, paternal uniparental disomy (UPD) of 11p15 was associated with hemihypertrophy (P=.003), cancer (P=.03), and hypoglycemia (P=.05). These results define an epigenotype-phenotype relationship in BWS, in which aberrant methylation of H19 and LIT1 and UPD are strongly associated with cancer risk and specific birth defects.

Background: Children with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS), a congenital syndrome associated with Wilms' tumor commonly are screened with abdominal sonography resulting in detection of tumor at a lower stage. Wilms' tumors have been traditionally treated with complete nephrectomy; however, smaller tumors are amenable to nephron-sparing surgery. Because Wilms' tumors may be metachronous and nonmalignant disease may compromise renal function in BWS, nephron-sparing approaches may be desirable as the first option. Methods: Seven patients with BWS and Wilms' tumor underwent nephrectomy. The preoperative computed tomography (CT) or ultrasound scan were evaluated by a pediatric surgeon to assess whether partial nephrectomy would have been feasible. The determining criteria included tumor involving one third or less of the kidney and no involvement of either hilar or vascular structures. Results: Seven patients underwent complete nephrectomies. The remaining patient, who had undergone a left nephrectomy before the initiation of screening had salvage chemotherapy after biopsy results showed right kidney involvement with Wilms' tumor. Conclusions: Nephron-sparing surgery is reasonable to consider in children with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome who are screened at intervals of 4 months or less. The relative benefits of partial nephrectomy for children with Wilms' tumor–predisposing conditions only can be assessed in the setting of a cooperative clinical trial. J Pediatr Surg 37:57-60. Copyright © 2002 by W.B. Saunders Company.

Background We undertook a cost-benefit analysis of screening for Wilms tumor and hepatoblastoma in children with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS), a known cancer predisposition syndrome. The purpose of this analysis was twofold: first, to assess whether screening in children with BWS has the potential to be cost-effective; second, if screening appears to be cost-effective, to determine which parameters would be most important to assess if a screening trial were initiated. Procedures We used data from the BWS registry at the National Cancer Institute, the National Wilms Tumor Study (NWTS), and large published series to model events for two hypothetical cohorts of 1,000 infants born with BWS. One hypothetical cohort was screened for cancer until a predetermined age, representing the base case. The other cohort was unscreened. For our base case, we assumed: (a) sonography examinations three times yearly (triannually) from birth until 7 years of age; (b) screening would result in one stage shift downward at diagnosis for Wilms tumor and hepatoblastoma; (c) 100% sensitivity and 95% specificity for detecting clinical stage I Wilms tumor and hepatoblastoma; (d) a 3% discount rate; (e) a false positive result cost of $402. We estimated mortality rates based on published Wilms tumor and hepatoblastoma stage specific survival. Results Using the base case, screening a child with BWS from birth until 4 years of age results in a cost per life year saved of $9,642 while continuing until 7 years of age results in a cost per life-year saved of $14,740. When variables such as cost of screening examination, discount rate, and effectiveness of screening were varied based on high and low estimates, the incremental cost per life-year saved for screening up until age four remained comparable to acceptable population based cancer screening ranges (