The Omani sandfish sea cucumber, Holothuria scabra Jaeger, 1833 (Holothuroidea: Holothuriidae): Fishery, length-Weight relationship and condition factor

The fishery of Omani sea cucumber, Holothuria scabra, is limited so far to the Mahout Bay in Al Wusta governorate. This fishery supports an uncertain number of fishermen ranging from 100 to 150. This fishery is not well-studied and has no current management program. In order to prepare a management strategy, the government has suspended this fishery for 2 years from March 2018 to March 2021. Apart from presenting a thorough review on the sea cucumber fishery in Oman, the current work presents a detailed analysis of the length–weight relationship, sex ratio, and condition factor of the H. scabra collected from four different areas during the period February-May 2019. Based on the results, the females were longer than males, that is 226±33.4 and 221±37.8 mm, respectively. The overall sex ratio of the entire/pooled sample was 0.49 which was not different from the anticipated theoretical sex ratio of 0.5. The mean Kn and the empirical weight–length equations for the total sample were between 0.12±0.01 and 1.0±0.16, and W=0.03L1.6, respectively

Wastewater treatment and reuse costs: a Middle-East case

Shortage of water has led many regions of the world to think seriously about reuse of wastewater effluent for non-domestic uses. The cost of water production for reuse is of great interest. The paper presents comparative figures of costs for sewage collection, sewer system, house connection, various levels of treatment and centralized management of wastewater storage and distribution. The State of Kuwait in the Middle-Eastern region is used as the case

Cytotoxic evaluation and concurrent analysis of two diterpenes in the chloroform extract of Plectranthus barbatus using a validated HPTLC-UV method

The objective of this study was to develop a validated high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method for the concurrent analysis of two diterpenes Sugiol (compound 1) and 11,14-dihydroxy-8,11,13-abietatrien-7-one (compound 2) in Plectranthus barbatus chloroform extract (PBCE) and to investigate cytotoxicity of both compounds. The chromatographic estimations were carried out using toluene : ethyl acetate : formic acid (8.2:1.3:0.5 v/v/v) as mobile phase. The compact spots of biomarkers were scanned at λmax= 275 nm. Cytotoxic evaluation of both compounds was performed using follicular thyroid cancer cells (FRO cells). A well resolved, compact and intense peaks of compound 1 (Rf = 0.550 ± 0.001) and compound 2 (Rf = 0.700 ± 0.002) were recorded. The proposed method for both compounds was recorded as simple, linear, precise (% RSD = 1.02-1.25), accurate (98-100%), robust and sensitive for the analysis of both compounds. Cytotoxicity evaluation showed significant cell cytotoxicity at 100 μg/mL concentration against the FRO cancer cells after 72 h of incubation. Both compounds were recorded as cytotoxic, however compound 1 showed significant cytotoxic effects. The proposed HPTLC method was found to be suitable for routine analysis of these two biomarkers in chloroform extract of P. barbatus. Both compounds were found to be cytotoxic against FRO cancer cells. KEY WORDS: Diterpenes, Sugiol, Plectranthus barbatus, Cytotoxicity, HPTLC Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2018, 32(3), 407-419.DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v32i3.

Design & investigation of 10x10 gbit/s MDM over hybrid FSO link under different weather conditions and fiber to the home

In this paper, we design and investigate 10-channels of mode division multiplexer (MDM) over hybrid free-space optics (FSO) link in several weather conditions to achieve the maximum possible medium range and fiber to the home (FTTH) for high bandwidth access networks. System capacity can be effectively increased with the use of MDM over hybrid FSO-FTTH. In this study, a 10-channel MDM over FSO-FTTH system has been analyzed in different weather conditions that operate at 1550 nm wavelength. The simulated system has transmitted 100 Gbit/s up for a distance of 3200 meters FSO in superbly clear weather condition. It also transmitted 100 Gbit/s up for a distance of 650 meters FSO during heavy rain. The validation of this study is measures based on eye diagrams bit-error rates (BER) that have been analyzed

Religious faith and psychosocial adaptation among stroke patients in Kuwait: A mixed method study

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2012 Springer Science+Business Media.Religious faith is central to life for Muslim patients in Kuwait, so it may influence adaptation and rehabilitation. This study explored quantitative associations among religious faith, self-efficacy, and life satisfaction in 40 female stroke patients and explored the influence of religion within stroke rehabilitation through qualitative interviews with 12 health professionals. The quantitative measure of religious faith did not relate to life satisfaction or self-efficacy in stroke patients. However, the health professionals described religious coping as influencing adaptation post-stroke. Fatalistic beliefs were thought to have mixed influences on rehabilitation. Measuring religious faith among Muslims through a standardized scale is debated. The qualitative accounts suggest that religious beliefs need to be acknowledged in stroke rehabilitation in Kuwait

Third national surveillance of risk factors of non-communicable diseases (SuRFNCD-2007) in Iran: methods and results on prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, central obesity, and dyslipidemia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The burden of non-communicable diseases is rising globally. This trend seems to be faster in developing countries of the Middle East. In this study, we presented the latest prevalence rates of a number of important non-communicable diseases and their risk factors in the Iranian population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The results of this study are extracted from the third national Surveillance of Risk Factors of Non-Communicable Diseases (SuRFNCD-2007), conducted in 2007. A total of 5,287 Iranian citizens, aged 15–64 years, were included in this survey. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were applied to collect the data of participants including the demographics, diet, physical activity, smoking, history of hypertension, and history of diabetes. Anthropometric characteristics were measured and serum biochemistry profiles were determined on venous blood samples. Diabetes (fasting plasma glucose ≥ 126 mg/dl), hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg, or use of anti-hypertensive drugs), dyslipidemia (hypertriglyceridemia: triglycerides ≥ 150 mg/dl, hypercholesterolemia: total cholesterol ≥ 200 mg/dl), obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m²), and central obesity (waist circumference ≥ 80 cm in females and ≥ 94 cm in males) were identified and the national prevalence rates were estimated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and central obesity was 8.7% (95%CI = 7.4–10.2%), 26.6% (95%CI = 24.4–28.9%), 22.3% (95%CI = 20.2–24.5%), and 53.6% (95%CI = 50.4–56.8%), respectively. The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia was 36.4% (95%CI = 34.1–38.9%) and 42.9% (95%CI = 40.4–45.4%), respectively. All of the mentioned prevalence rates were higher among females (except hypertriglyceridemia) and urban residents.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We documented a strikingly high prevalence of a number of chronic non-communicable diseases and their risk factors among Iranian adults. Urgent preventive interventions should be implemented to combat the growing public health problems in Iran.</p

Social Internet of Things and New Generation Computing -- A Survey

Social Internet of Things (SIoT) tries to overcome the challenges of Internet of Things (IoT) such as scalability, trust and discovery of resources, by inspiration from social computing. This survey aims to investigate the research done on SIoT from two perspectives including application domain and the integration to the new computing models. For this, a two-dimensional framework is proposed and the projects are investigated, accordingly. The first dimension considers and classifies available research from the application domain perspective and the second dimension performs the same from the integration to new computing models standpoint. The aim is to technically describe SIoT, to classify related research, to foster the dissemination of state-of-the-art, and to discuss open research directions in this field.Comment: IoT, Social computing, Surve

Present Limits to Heat-Adaptability in Corals and Population-Level Responses to Climate Extremes

Climate change scenarios suggest an increase in tropical ocean temperature by 1–3°C by 2099, potentially killing many coral reefs. But Arabian/Persian Gulf corals already exist in this future thermal environment predicted for most tropical reefs and survived severe bleaching in 2010, one of the hottest years on record. Exposure to 33–35°C was on average twice as long as in non-bleaching years. Gulf corals bleached after exposure to temperatures above 34°C for a total of 8 weeks of which 3 weeks were above 35°C. This is more heat than any other corals can survive, providing an insight into the present limits of holobiont adaptation. We show that average temperatures as well as heat-waves in the Gulf have been increasing, that coral population levels will fluctuate strongly, and reef-building capability will be compromised. This, in combination with ocean acidification and significant local threats posed by rampant coastal development puts even these most heat-adapted corals at risk. WWF considers the Gulf ecoregion as “critically endangered”. We argue here that Gulf corals should be considered for assisted migration to the tropical Indo-Pacific. This would have the double benefit of avoiding local extinction of the world's most heat-adapted holobionts while at the same time introducing their genetic information to populations naïve to such extremes, potentially assisting their survival. Thus, the heat-adaptation acquired by Gulf corals over 6 k, could benefit tropical Indo-Pacific corals who have <100 y until they will experience a similarly harsh climate. Population models suggest that the heat-adapted corals could become dominant on tropical reefs within ∼20 years

Health-related quality of life in infertile couples receiving IVF or ICSI treatment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Infertile couples might experience psychological distress and suffer from impaired health-related quality of life. This study aimed to examine health-related quality of life in infertile couples receiving either in-vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a cross-sectional study of quality of life in infertile couples attending to Vali-e-Asr Reproductive Health Research Center or Royan Institute for either IVF or ICSI treatment in Tehran, Iran. Health-related quality of life was assessed using the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Patients' demographic and clinical characteristics were also recorded. Data were analyzed to compare quality of life in infertile women and men and to indicate what variables predict quality of life in infertile couples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In all 514 women and 514 men (n = 1028) were studied. There were significant differences between women and men indicating that male patients had a better health-related quality of life. Also health-related quality of life was found to be better in infertility due to male factor. Performing logistic regression analysis it was found that female gender, and lower educational level were significant predictors of poorer physical health-related quality of life. For mental health-related quality of life in addition to female gender and lower educational level, younger age also was found to be a significant predictor of poorer condition. No significant results were observed for infertility duration or causes of infertility either for physical or mental health-related quality of life.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings suggest that infertility duration or causes of infertility do not have significant effects on health-related quality of life in infertile couples. However, infertile couples, especially less educated younger women, are at risk of a sub-optimal health-related quality of life and they should be provided help and support in order to improve their health-related quality of life.</p