Terrestrial Snakebites in the South East of the Arabian Peninsula: Patient Characteristics, Clinical Presentations, and Management

Background: To describe the characteristics, clinical presentations, management and complications of snakebites in the border region between Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Buraimi, Sultanate of Oman. Methodology/Principal Findings: We carried out a retrospective review of medical records to study snakebite cases over four-year duration at three tertiary hospitals. Overall, 64 snakebite cases were studied with median hospitalization of 2 (interquartile range [IQR] 1–4) days. The majority of cases were male (87.5%), and most (61%) of the incidents occurred during summer months. The bite sites were predominantly (95%) to the feet and hands. Main clinical features included pain, local swelling, and coagulopathy, blistering and skin peeling. Overall, there were no deaths, but few major complications occurred; extensive skin peeling (n = 5, 8%), multi-organ failure (n = 1, 1.5%), and compartment syndrome (n = 1, 1.5%). Polyvalent anti snake venom (ASV), analgesia, tetanus toxoid, intravenous fluids, and antibiotics such as ampicillin, cloxacillin, and cephalosporins were commonly instituted as part of treatment protocols in the three hospitals. Conclusion: The overwhelming majority of bites occurred during summer months, and envenomations were more common in, relatively, young male farmers, but with no serious clinical complications. Prevention and treatment strategies should include increasing public awareness, developing management guidelines, and manufacturing specific ASV for a wid

Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) of Man-Made Lakes at the Northeast Part of the United Arab Emirates with a Hypothesis on Their Origin

A study of the water fleas (Crustacea: Cladocera) in man-made lakes in the northeast part of the United Arab Emirates revealed five species: Ceriodaphnia cf. cornuta Sars, 1885; Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia) arabica Neretina, Al Neyadi et Hamza, 2022; Moina cf. micrura Kurz, 1875; Anthalona mediterranea (Yalim, 2005); Coronatella anemae Van Damme et Dumont, 2008. The morphologies of the four taxa are described in detail, except that of D. Arabica, which has been described previously. The phylogenies of the C. cornuta and M. micrura species groups were reconstructed based on sequences of the COI mitochondrial gene and the possible divergence age of the Arabian clades was estimated based on molecular clocks with paleontological calibration. We concluded that the C. cornuta complex was differentiated in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous. The splitting off of clades containing the Arabian population took place during the Oligocene to Miocene. The M. micrura species group was differentiated in the Upper Cretaceous, and the splitting off of clades including Arabian populations took place around the Oligocene. Therefore, the clades (of different hierarchical orders) in the Arabian Peninsula are very old compared to clades of similar rank in northern Eurasia, which usually have Late Pleistocene history. Most of our sampled water bodies were newly constructed man-made reservoirs. As revealed, the phylogroups are locally distributed, and we hypothesized that they are colonists from surrounding natural water bodies inhabited by the relicts of older fauna that survived after the great climate aridization and then occupied newly available (man-made) biotopes

Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) of Man-Made Lakes at the Northeast Part of the United Arab Emirates with a Hypothesis on Their Origin

A study of the water fleas (Crustacea: Cladocera) in man-made lakes in the northeast part of the United Arab Emirates revealed five species: Ceriodaphnia cf. cornuta Sars, 1885; Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia) arabica Neretina, Al Neyadi et Hamza, 2022; Moina cf. micrura Kurz, 1875; Anthalona mediterranea (Yalim, 2005); Coronatella anemae Van Damme et Dumont, 2008. The morphologies of the four taxa are described in detail, except that of D. Arabica, which has been described previously. The phylogenies of the C. cornuta and M. micrura species groups were reconstructed based on sequences of the COI mitochondrial gene and the possible divergence age of the Arabian clades was estimated based on molecular clocks with paleontological calibration. We concluded that the C. cornuta complex was differentiated in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous. The splitting off of clades containing the Arabian population took place during the Oligocene to Miocene. The M. micrura species group was differentiated in the Upper Cretaceous, and the splitting off of clades including Arabian populations took place around the Oligocene. Therefore, the clades (of different hierarchical orders) in the Arabian Peninsula are very old compared to clades of similar rank in northern Eurasia, which usually have Late Pleistocene history. Most of our sampled water bodies were newly constructed man-made reservoirs. As revealed, the phylogroups are locally distributed, and we hypothesized that they are colonists from surrounding natural water bodies inhabited by the relicts of older fauna that survived after the great climate aridization and then occupied newly available (man-made) biotopes

Genome Assembly of a Relict Arabian Species of <i>Daphnia</i> O. F. Müller (Crustacea: Cladocera) Adapted to the Desert Life

The water flea Daphnia O.F. Müller 1776 (Crustacea: Cladocera) is an important model of recent evolutionary biology. Here, we report a complete genome of Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia) arabica (Crustacea: Cladocera), recently described species endemic to deserts of the United Arab Emirates. In this study, genome analysis of D. arabica was carried out to investigate its genomic differences, complexity as well as its historical origins within the subgenus Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia). Hybrid genome assembly of D. arabica resulted in ~116 Mb of the assembled genome, with an N50 of ~1.13 Mb (BUSCO score of 99.2%). From the assembled genome, in total protein coding, 5374 tRNA and 643 rRNA genes were annotated. We found that the D. arabica complete genome differed from those of other Daphnia species deposited in the NCBI database but was close to that of D. cf. similoides. However, its divergence time estimate sets D. arabica in the Mesozoic, and our demographic analysis showed a great reduction in its genetic diversity compared to other Daphnia species. Interestingly, the population expansion in its diversity occurred during the megadrought climate around 100 Ka ago, reflecting the adaptive feature of the species to arid and drought-affected environments. Moreover, the PFAM comparative analysis highlights the presence of the important domain SOSS complex subunit C in D. arabica, which is missing in all other studied species of Daphnia. This complex consists of a few subunits (A, B, C) working together to maintain the genome stability (i.e., promoting the reparation of DNA under stress). We propose that this domain could play a role in maintaining the fitness and survival of this species in the desert environment. The present study will pave the way for future research to identify the genes that were gained or lost in this species and identify which of these were key factors to its adaptation to the harsh desert environment

Linguistic Mechanisms for Context-Aware Security

Adaptive systems improve their efficiency, by modifying their behaviour to respond to changes in their operational environment. Also, security must adapt to these changes and policy enforcement becomes dependent on the dynamic contexts. We extend (the core of) an adaptive functional language with primitives to enforce security policies on the code execution, and we exploit a static analysis to instrument programs. The introduced checks guarantee that no violation of the required security policies occurs