Conceptual Drawings as Explorative Tools: Tracing the Evolution of the Extended and Nuclear Family Houses in Kuwait

This paper examines the evolution of the layout and occupancy of family houses in Kuwait, using conceptual drawings as a tool to study, describe and understand their transformations. Through the analysis of the political and social development of the country, this research will describe the main architectural facets of a group of case studies related to three different phases: the pre-oil period, the post-oil period and the current contemporary stage of evolution. Particular attention is given to the dynamics that have influenced the relationships between social changes and the houses’ layouts, including specific design traditions developed in each period. The goal of this investigation is to propose a logical sequence of drawings and graphic analyses valuable to illustrate and verify the persistence of a cultural continuity, which has survived substantial socio-economic transformations that occurred during the past century. This cultural continuity runs from the urban layouts to the basic units and represents a significant level of awareness to be used in every future planning action

Full-Length Genome of the Equine Influenza A Virus Subtype H3N8 from 2019 Outbreak in Saudi Arabia

Equine influenza is a major cause of respiratory infections in horses and can spread rapidly despite the availability of commercial vaccines. This study aimed to screen the incidence of equine influenza virus (EIV) and molecularly characterize the haemagglutinin and neuraminidase from positive EIV field samples collected from Saudi Arabia. Six-hundred twenty-one horses from 57 horse barns were screened for the presence of the clinical signs, suggestive for equine influenza, from different parts of Saudi Arabia. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from each horse showing respiratory distress. Samples from the same horse barn were pooled together and screened for the presence of the influenza A virus using quantitative real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Selective positive samples were subjected to full-length genome sequencing using MiSeq Illumina. Out of the total 57 pools, 39 were found positive to EIV using qRT-PCR. Full-length gene sequences were compared with representative EIV strains selected from the GenBank database. Phylogenetic analysis of the HA and NA genes revealed that the identified virus strains belong to H3N8 clade 1 of the Florida sublineage and were very similar to viruses identified in USA in 2019, with no current evidence for reassortment. This is one of the first reports providing detailed description and characterization of EIVs in Saudi Arabia. Detailed surveillance and genetic information sharing could allow genetic evolution of equine influenza viruses to be monitored more effectively on a global basis and aid in refinement of vaccine strain selection for EIV