Strategy Planning for Higher Education Project Horizon

Objectives n Present an overview of the methodology followed n Present the findings of each team, and how they will confirm/ confront these issues (the data to be used) n Each team will discuss the key problems they faced and highlight what worked well for them n The project management office will present the next steps (activities for the coming two weeks

Strategy Planning for Higher Education Project Horizon

Objectives n Present an overview of the methodology followed n Present the findings of each team, and how they will confirm/ confront these issues (the data to be used) n Each team will discuss the key problems they faced and highlight what worked well for them n The project management office will present the next steps (activities for the coming two weeks

Managing Chronic Diseases in Family Medicine: Best practices and Evidence-Based Approaches

The management of chronic diseases within the realm of family medicine presents a multifaceted challenge with profound implications for healthcare systems and patients alike. Chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular conditions, are prevalent and impose a significant burden on individuals, families, and society as a whole. This article explores best practices and evidence-based approaches for managing chronic diseases in family medicine. It delves into the epidemiological landscape of chronic illnesses, emphasizing the need for effective prevention and management strategies. Evidence-based Models, such as The Chronic Care Model (CCM), Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), and Self-assessment models are discussed in the context of family medicine. The importance of comprehensive, coordinated, and patient-centric approaches is underscored, highlighting the pivotal role of primary care physicians in the ongoing battle against chronic diseases. It is clear, that development in the field of family medicine underscores the importance of patient involvement in diseases management process through shared-decision making model. Although such model require physicans to spend more time educating patients so they can make informed decisions and implement self-management strategies, it has overall better health outcomes and eventually needs to requiring less intervention by physicians

Bacterial Niche-Specific Genome Expansion Is Coupled with Highly Frequent Gene Disruptions in Deep-Sea Sediments

The complexity and dynamics of microbial metagenomes may be evaluated by genome size, gene duplication and the disruption rate between lineages. In this study, we pyrosequenced the metagenomes of microbes obtained from the brine and sediment of a deep-sea brine pool in the Red Sea to explore the possible genomic adaptations of the microbes in response to environmental changes. The microbes from the brine and sediments (both surface and deep layers) of the Atlantis II Deep brine pool had similar communities whereas the effective genome size varied from 7.4 Mb in the brine to more than 9 Mb in the sediment. This genome expansion in the sediment samples was due to gene duplication as evidenced by enrichment of the homologs. The duplicated genes were highly disrupted, on average by 47.6% and 70% for the surface and deep layers of the Atlantis II Deep sediment samples, respectively. The disruptive effects appeared to be mainly due to point mutations and frameshifts. In contrast, the homologs from the Atlantis II Deep brine sample were highly conserved and they maintained relatively small copy numbers. Likely, the adaptation of the microbes in the sediments was coupled with pseudogenizations and possibly functional diversifications of the paralogs in the expanded genomes. The maintenance of the pseudogenes in the large genomes is discussed

The ecology of a saline lagoon in southern England

A wide ranging study has been made of the Gilkicker lagoon, Hampshire, involving the history, morphology, sedimentary regime and ecology of the contained organisms. The physico-chemical parameters, benthic and macrophyte-associated macrofauna were sampled monthly for a period of twenty months. The phytoplankton cycle was followed for a period of one year and the distribution and abundance of other primary producers were investigated. Estimates of primary production were carried out. The biomass of the benthic and macrophyte-associated macrofauna was determined and the secondary production of the benthic macrofauna and the three dominant species associated with the macrophytes was estimated. Aspects of the life cycle of the common macrofaunal species were investigated and discussed in relation to other studies. The lagoon is probably of natural origin but has been modified extensively over the past three hundred years by human activities. The macrofauna has a higher species richness, a greater number of lagoonal species and nationally rare species than any other British lagoon of a similar size. However, in comparison with freshwater, marine and high salinity estuarine environments the lagoon fauna and flora are impoverished, with a few species accounting for most of the individuals. This is related to severe environmental conditions in the lagoon which exhibit relatively wide seasonal and daily variations. The lagoon macrofaunal species are however well established and displayed relatively little temporal variations in species composition and abundance. The lagoon has a high primary productivity (8.7mg c m-2day-1, max. gross production) of which the macrophytes (primarily Chaetomorpha linum and Ruppia cirrhosa) phytoplankton level found in the lagoon can be linked with the dense growth of macrophytes, which outcompete the phytoplankton for the available nutrients. Consequently, the phytoplankton bloomed late in the season (late summer-early autumn) after the macrophyte growth had ceased. The lagoon phytoplankton was strongly dominated by flagellates and the photosynthetic ciliate Mesodinium rubrum, whereas diatoms were the dominant group in the adjacent sea. Despite the high primary productivity, the benthic macrofaunal biomass and production were low to moderate (3.0-4.9g afdw m-2 and 8.7-20.6g adfw m-2y-1 respectively), in comparison with other productive systems such as estuaries. The possible reasons for this are discussed. Temperature was found to play a major role in the reproduction of many macrofaunal species. Year to year variations in winter temperature affected the reproductive success and population size of a number of species. The species richness of the lagoon flora and fauna, and the abundance, biomass and production of the macrofauna decrease away from the sea-influenced zone. This decrease is related to the increase in variability and unpredictability of environmental conditions towards the lagoon proper. Species with limited physiological tolerance are thereby excluded from the inner part of the lagoon. In contrast the lagoonal species showed an increase in species richness, abundance, biomass and production away from the sea-influenced zone. The study seems to emphasise the width and complexity of interactions within the lagoon ecosystem.</p

Satellite Tracking Reveals Nesting Patterns, Site Fidelity, and Potential Impacts of Warming on Major Green Turtle Rookeries in the Red Sea

&lt;jats:p&gt;Major aggregations of nesting green turtles (&lt;jats:italic&gt;Chelonia mydas&lt;/jats:italic&gt;) occur in the northern Red Sea, although little is known about the reproductive ecology of this endangered species in the region. To address this issue, we satellite-tracked 30 female green turtles to document their movements and to identify factors driving habitat use at two major rookeries in the Red Sea, Jazirat Mashabah (Mashabah Island) and Ras Al Baridi in Saudi Arabia. Between successive nesting events, turtles displayed high fidelity to nesting beaches and adjacent in-water habitats (inter-nesting habitats). Using generalized linear mixed models, we estimated the mean probability of nesting per beach emergence (nesting success rate) to be 0.628, and the mean duration between a successful nesting event and the successive emergence onto the beach (re-nesting interval) to be 10.8 days at each site. The nesting success rate was relatively high (&amp;amp;gt;0.8) when the preceding daytime land surface temperature (LST) was lower than 37°C but decreased with elevated daytime LST (&amp;amp;lt;0.4 when &amp;amp;gt;47°C). Re-nesting interval was longer at lower water temperatures and towards the end of the nesting season of individuals. Our study improves the robustness of abundance estimates from census data (e.g., track counts) and shows that the protection of nesting and inter-nesting habitats during a breeding season would be an effective conservation strategy for the species. We discuss how global warming could increase energy expenditure due to lowered nesting success, ultimately compromising the reproductive fitness of these populations.&lt;/jats:p&gt

Culture-dependent bacteria in commercial fishes: Qualitative assessment and molecular identification using 16S rRNA gene sequencing

Fish contamination has been extensively investigated along the Saudi coasts, but studies pertaining to bacterial pathogens are scarce. We conducted qualitative assessment and molecular identification of culture-dependent bacteria in 13 fish species from three coastal sites and a local fish market in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Bacterial counts of gills, skin, gut and muscle were examined on agar plates of Macconkey’s (Mac), Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) and Thiosulfate Citrate Bile Salts (TCBS) culture media. Bacterial counts significantly differed between species, sources and feeding habits of examined fishes. Mugil cephalus exhibited higher counts on TCBS (all body parts), Mac (gills, muscle and gut) and EMB (gills and muscle). Fishes from Area I had higher bacterial loads, coinciding with those in seawater and sediment from the same site, indicating direct association between habitat conditions and the levels of bacterial contamination. By feeding habit, detritivorous fish harbored higher counts than herbivorous and carnivorous species. Bacterial counts of skin were higher in fish from market than field sites, and positively correlated with other body parts indicating the relation of surface bacterial load on the overall quality of fish. Rahnella aquatilis (Enterobacteriaceae) and Photobacterium damselae (Vibrionaceae) were among the dominant species from fish muscle based on 16S rRNA sequencing. These species are known human pathogens capable of causing foodborne illness with severe antibiotic resistance. Opportunistic pathogens, e.g. Hafnia sp. (Enterobacteriaceae) and Pseudomonas stutzeri (Pseudomonadaceae) also occurred in fish muscle. The inclusion of bacterial contamination in future monitoring efforts is thus crucial. Keywords: Marine environment, Fish, Bacterial contamination, Population count, Molecular identification, Sanger sequencin

Macrobenthic Community Structure in the Northwestern Arabian Gulf, Twelve Years after the 1991 Oil Spill

The biota in the Arabian Gulf faces stress both from natural (i.e., hyper salinity and high sea surface temperature), and human (i.e., from oil-related activities) sources. The western Arabian Gulf was also impacted by world's largest oil spill (1991 Oil Spill). However, benthic research in this region is scarce and most of the studies have been conducted only in small areas. Here, we present data on macrobenthos collected during 2002–2003 from the open waters and inner bays in the northwestern Arabian Gulf aimed to assess the ecological status and also to evaluate the long-term impact, if any, of the 1991 Oil Spill. A total of 392 macrobenthic taxa with an average (±SE) species richness (S) of 71 ± 2, Shannon-Wiener species diversity (H′) of 4.9 ± 0.1, and density of 3,181 ± 359 ind. m−2 was recorded from the open water stations. The open waters have “slightly disturbed” (according to AZTI's Marine Biotic Index, AMBI) conditions, with “good-high” (according to multivariate-AMBI, M-AMBI) ecological status indicating the absence of long-term impacts of the oil spill. Overall, 162 taxa were recorded from inner bays with average (±SE) values of S 41 ± 9, H′ 3.48 ± 0.39, and density 4,203 ± 1,042 ind. m−2. The lower TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) stations (LTS, TPH concentrations &lt;70 mg kg−2) show relatively higher S, H' and density compared to the higher TPH stations (HTS, TPH concentrations ≥100 mg kg−2). In the inner bays, AMBI values indicate slightly disturbed conditions at all stations except one, which is moderately disturbed. M-AMBI values indicate good status at LTS, while, high, good, moderate, and poor status at HTS. The “moderately disturbed” conditions with “moderate-poor” ecological status in some locations of the inner bays specify a severe long-term impact of the oil spill