African populations are underrepresented in medical genomics studies. for the Somali population, there is virtually no information on genomic markers with significance to precision medicine. Here, we analyzed nearly 900,000 genomic markers in samples collected from 95 unrelated individuals in the north eastern Somalia. ADMiXtURe program for estimation of individual ancestries revealed a homogenous Somali population. principal component analysis with pLinK software showed approximately 60% East African and 40% West Eurasian genes in the Somali population, with a close relation to the Cushitic and Semitic speaking Ethiopian populations. We report the unique features of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) in the Somali population, which seem to differentiate from all other neighboring regions compared. Current study identified high prevalence of the diabetes type 1 (T1D) predisposing HLA DR-DQ haplotypes in Somalia. This finding may explain the increased T1D risk observed among Somali children. In addition, ethnic Somalis were found to host the highest frequencies observed thus far for several pharmacogenetic variants, including UGT1A4*2. In conclusion, we report that the Somali population displays genetic traits of significance to health and disease. The Somali dataset is publicly available and will add more information to the few genomic datasets available for African populations. Africa harbors the largest human genetic variation in the world 1-5 and many human gene variants are found only in Africa 6 including those associated with drug response. Yet, many ethnic populations in Sub-Saharan Africa are not represented in medical genomics studies found in the literature, mainly because of the generally lower level of medical research conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa compared with developed countries due to insufficient research infrastructures or resources. As a result, most of the human genetic variation present in Africa is yet unexplored. Some efforts have been made in recent years to better understand African genetic variation. These include studies that examined genetic markers for diabetes 7,8 and those investigating the genetic selection in Africa as a result of disease exposure or environmental adaptation 4,9. However, the need for more genomic data from African populations still persists, notably for underrepresented ethnolinguistic groups, including the Somali population, where there is still lack of information on genetic markers for drug responses, immunity and diseases. Somalia is located in the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea,), a historic site for human migrations into either direction of Africa or Eurasia 10-13. Rock art paintings in multiple sites of Northern Somalia show Neolithic human activities in this part of East Africa 14,15. Later Himyarite and Sabaean inscriptions found in the same Somali region suggest existence of socio-cultural mingling with the ancient Axumite-South Arabian sphere 15. Due to the geographic location of Somalia, the Somalis have both African and non-Africa...

BackgroundMosquitoes are vectors for many diseases such as malaria. Insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying of insecticides are the principal malaria vector control tools used to prevent malaria in the tropics. Other interventions aim at reducing man-vector contact. For example, house screening provides additive or synergistic effects to other implemented measures. We used commercial screen materials made of polyester, polyethylene or polypropylene to design novel mosquito screens that provide remarkable additional benefits to those commonly used in house screening. The novel design is based on a double screen setup made of a screen with 3D geometric structures parallel to a commercial mosquito screen creating a trap between the two screens. Owing to the design of the 3D screen, mosquitoes can penetrate the 3D screen from one side but cannot return through the other side, making it a unidirectional mosquito screen. Therefore, the mosquitoes are trapped inside the double screen system. The permissiveness of both sides of the 3D screens for mosquitoes to pass through was tested in a wind tunnel using the insectary strain of Anopheles stephensi.ResultsAmong twenty-five tested 3D screen designs, three designs from the cone, prism, or cylinder design groups were the most efficient in acting as unidirectional mosquito screens. The three cone-, prism-, and cylinder-based screens allowed, on average, 92, 75 and 64% of Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes released into the wind tunnel to penetrate the permissive side and 0, 0 and 6% of mosquitoes to escape through the non-permissive side, respectively.ConclusionsA cone-based 3D screen fulfilled the study objective. It allowed capturing 92% of mosquitoes within the double screen setup inside the wind tunnel and blocked 100% from escaping. Thus, the cone-based screen effectively acted as a unidirectional mosquito screen. This 3D screen-based trap design could therefore be used in house screening as a means of avoiding infective bites and reducing mosquito population size.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-017-2322-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.