1 Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, Forest Ecology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Vienna, Austria 2 Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel 3 Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Dr...

Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel Ramon Science Center, PO Box 194, 80600 Mizpe Ramon, Israel Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Researc...

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a human chronic tubulointerstitial renal disease that occurs in rural areas of some Balkan countries. The disease is insidious and fatal, and mostly affects persons in their sixties or seventies. BEN areas have unusually high rates of otherwise rare upper urinary tract tumors (UTT). Since extensive production of reactive oxygen species leading to oxidative st...

The Drosophila bendless (ben) gene was originally isolated as a mutation affecting the escape jump response. This behavioral defect was ascribed to a single lesion affecting the connectivity between the giant fiber and the tergotrochanter motor neuron. A closer examination of the ben phenotype suggests that ben activity is broader and affects a variety of other neurons including photoreceptor c...

This is the second iteration of my notes on class field theory. I am attempting to prove (what I feel are) the the essential facts of class field theory in a way that I find attractive (bounded above by my lack of experience, time constraints, and ennui). This note is still not quite complete and can be imprecise in places. This will be straightened out as time goes on. A list of spots that nee...

Although recent data suggest aristolochic acid as a putative cause of Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN), evidence also exists in favor of ochratoxin A (OTA) exposure as risk factor for the disease. The potential role of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes, such as the glutathione transferases (GSTs), in OTA biotransformation is based on OTA glutathione adducts (OTHQ-SG and OTB-SG) in blood and urine...

(1)H NMR spectroscopy of urine has been applied to exploring metabolomic differences between people diagnosed with Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN), and treated by haemodialysis, and those without overt renal disease in Romania and Bulgaria. Convenience sampling was made from patients receiving haemodialysis in hospital and healthy controls in their village. Principal component analysis cluster...

In the first issue of BANTAO J, in 2003, I have presented the current research in Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) and associated upper urothelial tumors (UUT). As I stated in that paper, etiology remains the main problem for research in BEN [1]. Research of BEN in the nineties was hampered by the turmoil in the Balkans, especially in the former Yugoslavia. The Program Committee of the Interaca...