MYH9 is associated with nondiabetic end-stage renal disease in African Americans

As end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has a four times higher incidence in African Americans compared to European Americans, we hypothesized that susceptibility alleles for ESRD have a higher frequency in the West African than the European gene pool. We carried out a genome-wide admixture scan in 1,372 ESRD cases and 806 controls and found a highly significant association between excess African ancestry and nondiabetic ESRD (lod score = 5.70) but not diabetic ESRD (lod = 0.47) on chromosome 22q12. Each copy of the European ancestral allele conferred a relative risk of 0.50 (95% CI = 0.39-0.63) compared to African ancestry. Multiple common SNPs (allele frequencies ranging from 0.2 to 0.6) in the gene encoding nonmuscle myosin heavy chain type II isoform A (MYH9) were associated with two to four times greater risk of nondiabetic ESRD and accounted for a large proportion of the excess risk of ESRD observed in African compared to European Americans.     

Meclofenamate does not reduce chronic hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction

Summary There was no reduction in the pulmonary pressor response to hypoxia following inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis in rats exposed to chronic hypoxia. A fall in left ventricular weight suggested that systemic pressure may have been reduced after inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis in normoxic rats.This work was supported by NIH grant No. HL14985.     

岷江上游花椒地/林地边界土壤水分分布及影响域

在岷江上游干旱河谷区选取典型的花椒地,林地边界,利用TDR仪测定干旱条件下和雨后0-15cm表土层水分体积分数,刻画沿样带梯度土壤水分分布以及不同时段土壤水分变化,同时用移动窗口法判定土壤水分的边界影响域。结果表明,在干旱河谷区土壤水分体积分数较低并沿样带存在明显的变化,从林地到边界到花椒地土壤水分体积分数基本呈“V”字型变化;而在林地和花椒地内部,水分体积分数呈“W”型波动。干旱时土壤水分体积分数日间变化不大,而雨后水分体积分数逐日递减。土壤水分的影响域在雨后可达14m,干旱时为8m。     

Mutations in MERTK, the human orthologue of the RCS rat retinal dystrophy gene, cause retinitis pigmentosa

Mutation of a receptor tyrosine kinase gene, Mertk, in the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat results in defective phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments by the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and retinal degeneration. We screened the human orthologue, MERTK, located at 2q14.1 (ref. 10), in 328 DNA samples from individuals with various retinal dystrophies and found three mutations in three individuals with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Our findings are the first conclusive evidence implicating the RPE phagocytosis pathway in human retinal disease.