Rappaport Faculty of Medicine

About: Rappaport Faculty of Medicine is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Heparanase. The organization has 3205 authors who have published 3915 publications receiving 114533 citations.

The population genetics of chronic kidney disease: insights from the MYH9–APOL1 locus

Abstract: Many rare kidney disorders exhibit a monogenic, Mendelian pattern of inheritance. Population-based genetic studies have identified many genetic variants associated with an increased risk of developing common kidney diseases. Strongly associated variants have potential clinical uses as predictive markers and may advance our understanding of disease pathogenesis. These principles are elegantly illustrated by a region within chromosome 22q12 that has a strong association with common forms of kidney disease. Researchers had identified DNA sequence variants in this locus that were highly associated with an increased prevalence of common chronic kidney diseases in people of African ancestry. Initial research concentrated on MYH9 as the most likely candidate gene; however, population-based whole-genome analysis enabled two independent research teams to discover more strongly associated mutations in the neighboring APOL1 gene. The powerful evolutionary selection pressure of an infectious pathogen in West Africa favored the spread of APOL1 variants that protect against a lethal form of African sleeping sickness but are highly associated with an increased risk of kidney disease. We describe the data sources, process of discovery, and reasons for initial misidentification of the candidate gene, as well as the lessons that can be learned for future population genetics research.

Control of Aedes albopictus with attractive toxic sugar baits (ATSB) and potential impact on non-target organisms in St. Augustine, Florida

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of bait stations and foliar applications containing attractive toxic sugar baits (ATSB) and eugenol to control Aedes albopictus. At the same time, the potential impact of these control methods was evaluated on non-target organisms. The study was conducted at five tire sites in St. Augustine, Florida. A. albopictus populations were significantly reduced with ATSB-eugenol applications applied directly to non-flowering vegetation and as bait stations compared with non-attractive sugar baits and control. The applicationof ATSB made tonon- flowering vegetation resulted in more significant reductions of mosquito populations compared to the application of ATSB presented in a bait station. Over 5.5 % of the non-targets were stained in the flowering vegetation application site. However, when the attractive sugar bait application was made to non- flowering vegetation or presented in bait stations, the impact on non-target insects was very low for all non-target orders as only 0.6 % of the individual insects were stained with the dye from the sugar solutions, respectively. There were no signifi- cant differences between the staining of mosquitoes collected in flowering vegetation (206/1000) or non-flowering vegeta- tion (242/1000) sites during the non-target evaluation. Our field studies support the use of eugenol as an active ingredient for controlling the dengue vector A. albopictus when used as an ATSB toxin and demonstrates potential use in sub-tropical and tropical environments for dengue control.