Incentives of violence dynamics and duration of the Syrian civil war

For centuries the world has been plagued with conflict and violence that cause destruction, population displacement, famine, hunger and outright chaos. As the image of warfare has continually changed, internal conflict or civil wars became a more common site. With the end of the cold war, the world has witnessed an increasing number of civil strife enticing debates in the study of civil war on new and old wars and the encouraging theories on civil war onset and duration. The Middle East region is no stranger to the phenomena of civil war with the area itself home to several conflicts. In 2011, the region ignited with rebellions against ruling regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya. What started as revolutions aiming for political change soon escalated to internal conflict. Six years into civil war the conflict in Syria has left 400,000 people dead and millions seeking refuge across the globe. To understand the events of the Syrian Civil War and its possible outcomes, this research project analyzes the dynamics of Syrian society, the historic relationship between the different minorities and the regime and the role of the Ba\u27th Party in the creation of this modern state. This is achieved through tracing the actions of the rebels and the regime in mobilizing past grievances and the opportunities of greed that both have taken advantage of

Comparison of Direct Fluorescence Assay and Real-Time RT-PCR as Diagnostics for Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Young Children

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children worldwide. Early detection of RSV is critical to initiate proper care. Two methods, the direct fluorescence assay (DFA) and the real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-RT-PCR), that are used for RSV detection were compared. A total of 451 nasopharyngeal aspirates from children 5 years of age or less were tested for RSV using both methods. The overall prevalence rate of the RSV among the children was 23.7% with a significantly higher prevalence among children under the age of 6 months of age when compared to other age groups. The sensitivity of DFA in comparison to rt-RT-PCR was highest (86%) during the first 3 days of symptoms onset and decreased gradually till it reached 65% after the first week. The specificity of DFA in comparison to rt-RT-PCR ranged between 99 and 100% irrespective of the date of collection. We concluded that, although the rt-RT-PCR is more sensitive for RSV detection, the DFA offers a reliable point-of-care alternative detection method especially during the first few days of illness

Validated analytical study of the effect of Lycopene on the pharmacokinetics of Paracetamol and Chlorzoxazone in rats

Lycopene was reported to influence some cytochrome P450 enzymes activity. The present study investigates the effect of lycopene on the pharmacokinetics of paracetamol and chlorzoxazone. Lycopene (20 mg/kg) was intra-peritoneally administered to two groups of rats for eight consecutive days and two other groups were given vehicle. On the eighth day, chlorzoxazone and paracetamol were separately intravenously administered to a lycopene group and a control group. Blood samples were collected at different time intervals, treated and analyzed using HPLC. The HPLC method used for paracetamol analysis was based on isocratic elution using a mobile phase consisting of water: methanol, (77:23 v/v) at a flow rate 1 mL min−1, Kromasil C18 column, and UV detection at 254 nm using caffeine as internal standard. About chlorzoxazone, separation was carried out using water: acetonitrile (60: 40, v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate 1 mL min−1, Inertsil ODS-3 C18 column, UV detection at 283 nm and esomeprazole as internal standard. Statistical analysis of the pharmacokinetic data using student t test showed a significant increase in AUC0–t, AUC0-Inf and t1/2 of paracetamol (P<0.05) and of chlorzoxazone (P<0.05) in the groups pretreated with lycopene (20 mg/kg), significant increase in the volume of distribution of paracetamol (P < 0.05), but no significant difference in that of chlorzoxazone. In other words, paracetamol and chlorzoxazone showed significant decrease (P < 0.05), respectively. These results demonstrate that treatment of rats with Lycopene (20mg/kg, ip) has a significant effect on the metabolic clearance and the pharmacokinetics of both drugs