scholarly journals Leucine rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gly2019ser mutation is absent in a second cohort of nigerian africans with parkinson disease

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Njideka U Okubadejo ◽  
Mie Rizig ◽  
Oluwadamilola O Ojo ◽  
Hallgeir Jonvik ◽  
Olajumoke Oshinaike ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson Disease ◽  
Kinase Inhibitors ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Attractive Potential ◽  
Ashkenazi Jews ◽  
Black African ◽  
Specific Pcr ◽  
Kasp Assay ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Black Populations

ABSTRACTTo date the LRRK2 p.G2019S mutation remains the most common genetic cause of Parkinson disease (PD) worldwide. It accounts for up to 6% of familial and approximately 1.5% of sporadic cases. LRRK2 has a kinase enzymatic domain which provides an attractive potential target for drug therapies and LRRK2 kinase inhibitors are in development. Prevalence of the p.G2019S has a variable ethnic and geographic distribution, the highest was reported among Ashkenazi Jews (30% in patients with familial PD, 14% in sporadic PD, 2.0% in controls) and North African Berbers (37% in patients with familial PD, 41% in sporadic PD, and 1% in controls). Little is known about the frequency of the LRRK2 p.G2019S among populations in Sub Saharan Africa. Our group and others previously reported that the p.G2019S is absent in a small cohort from Nigerian PD patients and controls. Here we used Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) assay to screen for the p.G2019S in a larger cohort of Black African PD patients (n =126) and healthy controls (n = 55) from Nigeria. Our analysis confirmed that all patients and controls are negative for the p.G2019S mutation. This report provides further evidence that the LRRK2 p.G2019S is not implicated in PD in black populations from Nigeria and support the notion that p.G2019S mutation originated after the early human dispersal from sub-Saharan Africa. Further studies using larger cohorts and advance sequencing technology are required to underpin the genetic causes of PD in this region.

scholarly journals KASP Genotyping as a Molecular Tool for Diagnosis of Cassava-Colonizing Bemisia tabaci

Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 305
Author(s):  
Everlyne N. Wosula ◽  
Wenbo Chen ◽  
Massoud Amour ◽  
Zhangjun Fei ◽  
James P. Legg
Keyword(s):  
Bemisia Tabaci ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Specific Pcr ◽  
Kasp Assay ◽  
Insect Identification ◽  
Gene Coi ◽  
Cryptic Species Complex ◽  
Allele Specific ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Primer Sets

Bemisia tabaci is a cryptic species complex that requires the use of molecular tools for identification. The most widely used approach for achieving this is the partial sequencing of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI). A more reliable single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based genotyping approach, using Nextera restriction-site-associated DNA (NextRAD) sequencing, has demonstrated the existence of six major haplogroups of B. tabaci on cassava in Africa. However, NextRAD sequencing is costly and time-consuming. We, therefore, developed a cheaper and more rapid diagnostic using the Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR (KASP) approach. Seven sets of primers were designed to distinguish the six B. tabaci haplogroups based on the NextRAD data. Out of the 152 whitefly samples that were tested using these primer sets, 151 (99.3%) produced genotyping results consistent with NextRAD. The KASP assay was designed using NextRAD data on whiteflies from cassava in 18 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. This assay can, therefore, be routinely used to rapidly diagnose cassava B. tabaci by laboratories that are researching or monitoring this pest in Africa. This is the first study to develop an SNP-based assay to distinguish B. tabaci whiteflies on cassava in Africa, and the first application of the KASP technique for insect identification.

Pensée 2: The “African” in Africana/Black/African and African American Studies

2009 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Somerville
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Black African ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
Research And Policy

In Pensée 1, “Africa on My Mind,” Mervat Hatem questions the perceived wisdom of creating the African Studies Association (focused on sub-Saharan Africa) and the Middle East Studies Association a decade later, which “institutionalized the political bifurcation of the African continent into two academic fields.” The cleaving of Africa into separate and distinct parts—a North Africa/Middle East and a sub-Saharan Africa—rendered a great disservice to all Africans: it has fractured dialogue, research, and policy while preventing students and scholars of Africa from articulating a coherent understanding of the continent.

scholarly journals Case Report of Kikuchi-Fujimoto Disease from Sub-Saharan Africa: An Important Mimic of Tuberculous Lymphadenitis

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karishma Sharma ◽  
Fredrick Otieno ◽  
Reena Shah
Keyword(s):  
Lupus Erythematosus ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Woman ◽  
Tuberculous Lymphadenitis ◽  
Rare Form ◽  
Black African ◽  
Tb Treatment ◽  
Node Biopsy ◽  
Night Sweats ◽  
Sub Saharan

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease (KFD) is a rare form of painful lymphadenopathy, usually cervical, which is more common in Southeast Asia and rarely reported from Africa. Symptoms are usually nonspecific (fever, night sweats, etc.), and can mimic more common diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) in endemic areas. We report a case of a 29-year-old black African woman who was admitted with headache, neck pain, fever, and lymphadenopathy. She was found to have aseptic meningitis, eventually attributed to TB based on cervical node biopsy, although further histology suggested KFD. Blood tests for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were negative; she had already been commenced on anti-TB treatment and had responded well and so was continued with this therapy. She was also later diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis 3 months after her diagnosis of KFD. Five months after stopping TB treatment, she was readmitted with the same symptoms and associated painless lymphadenopathy. Repeat biopsy was morphologically similar to that of 2017, and repeat evaluation confirmed SLE. She has since been managed by a rheumatologist and continues to do well.

scholarly journals A rep-based hairpin inhibits replication of diverse maize streak virus isolates in a transient assay

2011 ◽  
Vol 92 (10) ◽  
pp. 2458-2465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Betty E. Owor ◽  
Darren P. Martin ◽  
Edward P. Rybicki ◽  
Jennifer A. Thomson ◽  
Marion E. Bezuidenhout ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virus Replication ◽  
Inverted Repeat ◽  
Virus Genome ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Transcriptional Gene Silencing ◽  
Streak Virus ◽  
Transient Expression Assay ◽  
Specific Pcr ◽  
Post Transcriptional Gene Silencing ◽  
Sub Saharan

Maize streak disease, caused by the A strain of the African endemic geminivirus, maize streak mastrevirus (MSV-A), threatens the food security and livelihoods of subsistence farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Using a well-established transient expression assay, this study investigated the potential of a spliceable-intron hairpin RNA (hpRNA) approach to interfere with MSV replication. Two strategies were explored: (i) an inverted repeat of a 662 bp region of the MSV replication-associated protein gene (rep), which is essential for virus replication and is therefore a good target for post-transcriptional gene silencing; and (ii) an inverted repeat of the viral long intergenic region (LIR), considered for its potential to trigger transcriptional silencing of the viral promoter region. After co-bombardment of cultured maize cells with each construct and an infectious partial dimer of the cognate virus genome (MSV-Kom), followed by viral replicative-form-specific PCR, it was clear that, whilst the hairpin rep construct (pHPrepΔI662) completely inhibited MSV replication, the LIR hairpin construct was ineffective in this regard. In addition, pHPrepΔI662 inhibited or reduced replication of six MSV-A genotypes representing the entire breadth of known MSV-A diversity. Further investigation by real-time PCR revealed that the pHPrepΔI662 inverted repeat was 22-fold more effective at reducing virus replication than a construct containing the sense copy, whilst the antisense copy had no effect on replication when compared with the wild type. This is the first indication that an hpRNA strategy targeting MSV rep has the potential to protect transgenic maize against diverse MSV-A genotypes found throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Secretion of Paramyxovirus RNA in the Urine of Straw-Coloured Fruit Bats (Eidolon helvum)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elli Rosa Jolma ◽  
Louise Gibson ◽  
Richard D. Suu-Ire ◽  
Grace Fleischer ◽  
Samuel Asumah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Sequence ◽  
Environmental Temperature ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sample Collection ◽  
Rna Sequences ◽  
Sequence Detection ◽  
Specific Pcr ◽  
Fruit Bat ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Eidolon Helvum

The straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and is widely hunted for bushmeat. It is known to harbour a range of paramyxoviruses, including rubuloviruses and henipaviruses, but the zoonotic potential of these is unknown. We previously found a diversity of paramyxoviruses within a small, captive colony of E. helvum after it had been closed to contact with other bats for five years. In this study, we used under-roost urine collection to further investigate the paramyxovirus diversity and ecology in this colony, which had been closed to the outside for ten years at the time of sampling. By sampling urine weekly throughout an entire year, we investigated possible seasonal patterns of shedding of virus or viral RNA. Using a generic paramyxovirus L-gene PCR, we detected eight distinct paramyxovirus RNA sequences. Six distinct sequences were detected using a Henipavirus-specific PCR which targeted a different region of the L-gene. Sequence detection had a bi-annual pattern, with the greatest peak in July, although different RNA sequences appeared to have different shedding patterns. No significant associations were detected between sequence detection and birthing season, environmental temperature or humidity, and no signs of illness were detected in any of the bats in the colony during the period of sample collection.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Secretion of Paramyxovirus RNA in the Urine of Straw-Coloured Fruit Bats (Eidolon helvum)

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1654
Author(s):  
Elli Rosa Jolma ◽  
Louise Gibson ◽  
Richard D. Suu-Ire ◽  
Grace Fleischer ◽  
Samuel Asumah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Sequence ◽  
Environmental Temperature ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sample Collection ◽  
Rna Sequences ◽  
Sequence Detection ◽  
Specific Pcr ◽  
Fruit Bat ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Eidolon Helvum

The straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and is widely hunted for bushmeat. It is known to harbour a range of paramyxoviruses, including rubuloviruses and henipaviruses, but the zoonotic potential of these is unknown. We previously found a diversity of paramyxoviruses within a small, captive colony of E. helvum after it had been closed to contact with other bats for 5 years. In this study, we used under-roost urine collection to further investigate the paramyxovirus diversity and ecology in this colony, which had been closed to the outside for 10 years at the time of sampling. By sampling urine weekly throughout an entire year, we investigated possible seasonal patterns of shedding of virus or viral RNA. Using a generic paramyxovirus L-gene PCR, we detected eight distinct paramyxovirus RNA sequences. Six distinct sequences were detected using a Henipavirus-specific PCR that targeted a different region of the L-gene. Sequence detection had a bi-annual pattern, with the greatest peak in July, although different RNA sequences appeared to have different shedding patterns. No significant associations were detected between sequence detection and birthing season, environmental temperature or humidity, and no signs of illness were detected in any of the bats in the colony during the period of sample collection.

scholarly journals Cardiometabolic Health in African Immigrants to the United States: A Call to Re-examine Research on African-descent Populations

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, PhD, RN ◽  
Cheryl Dennison Himmelfarb, PhD, ANP, RN ◽  
Charles Agyemang, PhD, MPH ◽  
Anne E. Sumner, MD
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
African Descent ◽  
African Immigrants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Cardiometabolic Health ◽  
Optimal Care ◽  
Black African ◽  
Sub Saharan

<p> </p><p> In the 20th century, Africans in Sub-Saharan Africa had lower rates of cardiometabolic disease than Africans who migrated. How­ever, in the 21st century, beyond infectious diseases, the triple epidemics of obesity, diabetes and hypertension have taken hold in Africa. Therefore, Africans are acquiring these chronic diseases at different rates and different intensity prior to migration. To ensure optimal care and health outcomes, the United States practice of grouping all African-descent populations into the “Black/ African American” category without regard to country of origin masks socioeconomic and cultural differences and needs re-evalu­ation. Overall, research on African-descent populations would benefit from a shift from a racial to an ethnic perspective. To dem­onstrate the value of disaggregating data on African-descent populations, the epide­miologic transition, social, economic, and health characteristics of African immigrants are presented. <em>Ethn Dis. </em>2015;25(3):373- 380.</p>

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