Changes in Tax Revenue in Comparison with GDP at Current Prices in Syria (a 2000-to-2016 Study)

Tax revenue is one of the most important ways for countries to supplement their public budgets with revenues needed for public spending. Given its characteristics and qualities, tax revenue is a very important tool of widespread fiscal policies used by countries to reduce the problems experienced by their economies, such as inflation, stagnation and unemployment. Tax changes are supposed to be in line with GDP changes, in the rise and fall. In this research I will examine the change in tax revenues in Syria compared to the change in GDP at current prices in the period from 2000 to 2016. The conclusion the study reaches is that the changes in taxes are incompatible with the changes in the GDP. This shows the inflexibility of the taxation system in Syria, which in turn has led to low tax revenues and a decrease in tax burden. تعتبر الإيرادات الضريبية إحدى أهم الطرق التي تلجأ إليها الدول لرفد موازناتها العامة بالإيرادات اللازمة للإنفاق العام، وذلك بالنظر للخصائص والسمات التي تتمتع بها، والتي تجعلها أداةً بالغة الأهمية من أدوات السياسة المالية المعروفة، التي تستخدمها الدول للحد من مشكلات تمر بها اقتصادياتها، كالتضخم والركود والبطالة ... هذا ويُفتَرَض أن تتماشى تغيرات الضرائب مع تغيرات الناتج المحلي الإجمالي، سواء بالصعود أو الهبوط. في بحثنا هذا سوف ندرس تغير الإيرادات الضريبية في سورية، مقارنةً بتغير الناتج المحلي الإجمالي بالأسعار الجارية منذ عام 2000 حتى عام 2016، حيث سيتبين لنا من خلال الدراسة عدم مواكبة تغيرات الضرائب للتغيرات الحاصلة في الناتج، وهو ما يعني عدم مرونة النظام الضريبي في سورية، والذي أدى بدوره إلى ضعف حصيلة الإيرادات الضريبية، وانخفاض العبء الضريبي

Isolation and Antibiogram Profiles of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Cow milk and Dog samples

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a commensal bacterium associated with serious infections in men and animals. Recently, multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of S. aureus especially the so-called methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), represent a serious challenge that hinders the control of infections in man and animals. This study aimed to monitor milk samples from mastitic cows and vaginal and nasal swabs from dogs for the incidence of S. aureus. In addition, the isolates' antibiogram profiles were assessed to determine the extent of MDR and MRSA existence among the recovered isolates. Out of 260 samples, 29 (11%) S. aureus isolates were recovered with the highest incidence in milk samples (15/90, 17%), followed by vaginal swabs (8/90, 9%) and nasal swabs (6/80, 7%). Identification of the isolates was confirmed by PCR amplification of 16S rRNA gene sequence. Twenty S. aureus isolates were tested against seven antibacterial agents. Surprisingly, all the twenty isolates were MRSA and three bitch vaginal isolates were MDR. The findings of this study call for more research and cooperation between authors interested in assessing the MRSA and MRD bacterial incidence in both medical and veterinary fields. The cooperation will augment the challenge of disseminating MRSA and MDR staphylococci from animals to humans and vice versa

Detection of Antinuclear Antibodies Targeting Intracellular Signal Transduction, Metabolism, Apoptotic Processes and Cell Death in Critical COVID-19 Patients

Background and Objectives: The heterogeneity of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) lies within its diverse symptoms and severity, ranging from mild to lethal. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a leading cause of mortality in COVID-19 patients, characterized by a hyper cytokine storm. Autoimmunity is proposed to occur as a result of COVID-19, given the high similarity of the immune responses observed in COVID-19 and autoimmune diseases. Here, we investigate the level of autoimmune antibodies in COVID-19 patients with different severities. Results: Initial screening for antinuclear antibodies (ANA) IgG using ELISA revealed that 1.58% (2/126) and 4% (5/126) of intensive care unit (ICU) COVID-19 cases expressed strong and moderate ANA levels, respectively. An additional sample was positive with immunofluorescence assays (IFA) screening. However, all the non-ICU cases (n=273) were ANA negative using both assays. Samples positive for ANA were further confirmed with large-scale autoantibody screening by phage immunoprecipitation-sequencing (PhIP-Seq). The majority of the ANA-positive samples showed "speckled" ANA pattern by microscopy and revealed autoantibody specificities that targeted proteins involved in intracellular signal transduction, metabolism, apoptotic processes, and cell death by PhIP-Seq; further denoting reactivity to nuclear and cytoplasmic antigens. Conclusion: Our results further support the notion of routine screening for autoimmune responses in COVID-19 patients, which might help improve disease prognosis and patient management. Further, results provide compelling evidence that ANA-positive individuals should be excluded from being donors for convalescent plasma therapy in the context of COVID-19.This study was supported by funds from QNRF, grant # NPRP11S-1212-170092

Assessment of Broadly Reactive Responses in Patients With MERS-CoV Infection and SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination

Importance: In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there remain unanswered questions regarding the nature and importance of the humoral immune response against other coronaviruses. Although coinfection of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) with the SARS-CoV-2 has not been documented yet, several patients previously infected with MERS-CoV received the COVID-19 vaccine; data describing how preexisting MERS-CoV immunity may shape the response to SARS-CoV-2 following infection or vaccination are lacking. Objective: To characterize the cross-reactive and protective humoral responses in patients exposed to both MERS-CoV infection and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study involved a total of 18 sera samples collected from 14 patients with MERS-CoV infection before (n = 12) and after (n = 6) vaccination with 2 doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273). Of those patients, 4 had prevaccination and postvaccination samples. Antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV were assessed as well as cross-reactive responses to other human coronaviruses. Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcomes measured were binding antibody responses, neutralizing antibodies, and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) activity. Binding antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 main antigens (spike [S], nucleocapsid, and receptor-binding domain) were detected using automated immunoassays. Cross-reactive antibodies with the S1 protein of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and common human coronaviruses were analyzed using a bead-based assay. Neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) against MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 as well as ADCC activity against SARS-CoV-2 were assessed. Results: A total of 18 samples were collected from 14 male patients with MERS-CoV infection (mean [SD] age, 43.8 [14.6] years). Median (IQR) duration between primary COVID-19 vaccination and sample collection was 146 (47-189) days. Prevaccination samples had high levels of anti-MERS S1 immunoglobin M (IgM) and IgG (reactivity index ranging from 0.80 to 54.7 for IgM and from 0.85 to 176.3 for IgG). Cross-reactive antibodies with SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 were also detected in these samples. However, cross-reactivity against other coronaviruses was not detected by the microarray assay. Postvaccination samples showed significantly higher levels of total antibodies, IgG, and IgA targeting SARS-CoV-2 S protein compared with prevaccination samples (eg, mean total antibodies: 8955.0 AU/mL; 95% CI, -5025.0 to 22936.0 arbitrary units/mL; P =.002). In addition, significantly higher anti-SARS S1 IgG levels were detected following vaccination (mean reactivity index, 55.4; 95% CI, -9.1 to 120.0; P =.001), suggesting potential cross-reactivity with these coronaviruses. Also, anti-S NAbs were significantly boosted against SARS-CoV-2 (50.5% neutralization; 95% CI, 17.6% to 83.2% neutralization; P <.001) after vaccination. Furthermore, there was no significant increase in antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity against SARS-CoV-2 S protein postvaccination. Conclusions and Relevance: This cohort study found a significant boost in cross-reactive NAbs in some patients exposed to MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 antigens. These findings suggest that isolation of broadly reactive antibodies from these patients may help guide the development of a pancoronavirus vaccine by targeting cross-reactive epitopes between distinct strains of human coronaviruses..This work was supported by internal funds from the Biomedical Research Center of Qatar University. Dr Nasrallah received funding from The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO-EMRO) Special Grant for COVID-19 Research

Comparative analysis of within-host diversity among vaccinated COVID-19 patients infected with different SARS-CoV-2 variants

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a rapidly evolving RNA virus that mutates within hosts and exists as viral quasispecies. Here, we evaluated the within-host diversity among vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals (n = 379) infected with different SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern. The majority of samples harbored less than 14 intra-host single-nucleotide variants (iSNVs). A deep analysis revealed a significantly higher intra-host diversity in Omicron samples than in other variants (p value < 0.05). Vaccination status and type had a limited impact on intra-host diversity except for Beta-B.1.315 and Delta-B.1.617.2 vaccinees, who exhibited higher diversity than unvaccinated individuals (p values: <0.0001 and <0.0021, respectively). Three immune-escape mutations were identified: S255F in Delta and R346K and T376A in Omicron-B.1.1.529. The latter 2 mutations were fixed in BA.1 and BA.2 genomes, respectively. Overall, the relatively higher intra-host diversity among vaccinated individuals and the detection of immune-escape mutations, despite being rare, suggest a potential vaccine-induced immune pressure in vaccinated individuals.The authors are grateful for the leadership and assistance provided by the Ministry of Public Health in Qatar, the virology laboratory staff at Hamad Medical Corporation, and Qatar Biobank (QBB) team. This project was funded by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF; Project number UREP28-164-3-048) and Qatar University (Project number QUCG-BRC-22/23-547). The article processing charges were paid from grant no. QUCG-BRC-2022/23-578

The Usability of E-learning Platforms in Higher Education: A Systematic Mapping Study

The use of e-learning in higher education has increased significantly in recent years, which has led to several studies being conducted to investigate the usability of the platforms that support it. A variety of different usability evaluation methods and attributes have been used, and it has therefore become important to start reviewing this work in a systematic way to determine how the field has developed in the last 15 years. This paper describes a systematic mapping study that performed searches on five electronic libraries to identify usability issues and methods that have been used to evaluate e-learning platforms. Sixty-one papers were selected and analysed, with the majority of studies using a simple research design reliant on questionnaires. The usability attributes measured were mostly related to effectiveness, satisfaction, efficiency, and perceived ease of use. Furthermore, several research gaps have been identified and recommendations have been made for further work in the area of the usability of online learning

تأثير الفجوات التضخمية في سورية على نصيب الفرد الواحد من الناتج

تأثير الفجوات التضخمية في سورية على نصيب الفرد الواحد من الناتج من عام 2000 ولغاية عام 2016. رامي علي زيـدان تناول هذا البحث تأثير الفجوات التضخمية، على نصيب الفرد الواحد من الناتج في سورية، خلال الفترة الممتدة من عام 2000 ولغاية عام 2016. حيث هدف البحث إلى دراسة التغير الحاصل في نصيب الفرد الواحد من الناتج، وهل كان للفجوات التضخمية تأثيرٌ سلبيٌّ على الانخفاض الذي حصل فيه، وذلك بافتراض أن المتغير المستقل هو الفجوات التضخمية، والمتغير التابع هو نصيب الفرد الواحد من الناتج. وقد تم استخدام المنهج الوصفي التحليلي في البحث، مع الاستعانة ببعض الأدوات الإحصائية المساعدة. وبعد الدراسة، تم التوصل إلى نتيجة مفادها أنه لم يكن تراجع نصيب الفرد الواحد من الناتج في سورية، سببه الفجوات التضخمية. This paper examines the effect of inflationary gaps on per capita GDP in Syria during the period from 2000 to 2016. The aim of this research is to study the change in per capita GDP and whether the inflationary gaps have any effect on its decline. , The independent variable is the inflationary gaps, and the dependent variable is per capita GDP. The analytical descriptive approach was used in this research. Results of the statistical analysis showed that  per capita GDP decline in Syria was not caused by inflationary gaps