Review: Egyptian science - how good is it ? Can it be improved ?

No Abstract

Transferable skills of undergraduates of sciences and arts at Taibah University, El-Ula Branch, Saudi Arabia

Transferable skills constitute a principle element in the curriculum of all educational programmes. Some human skills are transferred with birth in genetic factors, but these skills need to be discovered and developed: university teaching programmes are the main source to teach and develop these skills. This study is designed to explore the skills abilities of undergraduates as they see themselves and their abilities. Students showed great variation in skills abilities in the seven studied skills; they showed high ability for teamwork, communication, personal and development skills. Second-year students seemed more skilful than those of the first year. Women were highly skilled relative to men, the difference mostly being how wide the gap is between women and men in the seven categories of skills. When we compared Arts and Science students in these skills, there were significant differences between them, mainly in that science students were more skilful in information technology and numerical skills. These data reflect the impact of social traditions on skill development rather than as a part of the teaching process, which means that effort should be put into creating courses which will develop the skills of students.Keywords: Education, skill classification, gender, grade, curriculu

A comparative study of two agamid lizards, Laudakia stellio and Pseudotrapelus sinaitus, in southern Sinai

The study compared habitat use and behaviour in two sympatric species of agamid lizard, Laudakia stellio and Pseudotrapelus sinaitus. Despite sharing the same habitat, the two species differed in their utilisation of microhabitats within it. Pseudotrapelus spent significantly longer on rocks compared to Laudakia. Pseudotrapelus showed evidence of heliothermic regulation, spending most of the time in the sun, but moving into the shade in the warmer afternoons. These varying temporal patterns may reflect differential thermoregulatory requirements between the two lizard species. Pseudotrapelus can change colour rapidly. There was no evidence of any thermoregulatory function in this ability; it is likely to be a form of social communication. Being brightly coloured was associated with behaviours implying increased conspicuousness: blue lizards were alert and vigilant for an average of 93% of each viewing session, compared to just 60% of the time in non-blue camouflaged lizards. The striking nature of the transitory blue colouration suggests it may have evolved for maximum salience, a trait common with signals. We simulated social encounters using blue model lizards and mirrors. Behavioural responses to these stimuli all involved colour changes, and support the social-signaling hypothesis

Patterns of resource use by milkweed insects in Sinai

Plant morphology and defensive chemistry are related to the insect community of herbivores on Gomphocarpus sinaicus (Boiss.) (Apocynaceae) in Sinai (Egypt). There appears to be significant variation among individual plants in the components of their chemical defences. The different components of the community respond differently to plant characters; plant defence appears to be an important determinant of the relative abundances of the insect species. The data showed an indications of different relationships of the insect herbivores to levels ofchemical defences, especially aphids. While weevil and bug densities covaried, those of aphids varied more independently, and possibly inversely. The community is compared with the much better known North American herbivore community on plants of the sister-genus Asclepias

Biological explorations of Sinai: flora and fauna of Wadi Isla and Hebran, St Katherine Protectorate, Egypt

A comprehensive survey was accomplished for two of the most important and beautiful wadis in the Sinai, Wadi Isla & Hebran. The biodiversity of the two wadis are surveyed including plant species and their associated insects, spiders and scorpions. The list includes 20 plant families with 51 species, 8 insect orders with 54 families and 138 species, and 4 arachnid orders with 17 families and 23 species. The highest number of species recorded were Coleoptera and Hymenoptera.Keywords: Biodiversity, checklist, plants, insects, spider

Monitoring birds, reptiles and butterflies in the St Katherine Protectorate, Egypt

Fifty-two bird species were recorded during transect and point count surveys of wadis in the St Katherine Protectorate in the mountainous southern region of the Sinai, Egypt. Two species are new to Egypt: Rock Nuthatch (Sitta neumeyer) and Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia). There were several other notable species: migrants such as Arabian Warbler (Sylvia leucomelaena) and Upcher’s warbler (Hippolais languida); and residents such as Verreaux’s Eagle (Aquila verreauxi), Hume’s Tawny Owl (Strix butleri) and Striated Scops Owl (Otus brucei).Estimates of bird density and descriptions of each wadi are given. Species diversity of wadis within the Ring dyke geological feature bounding the central mountain plateau was not significantly different from wadis outside. Species composition and numbers of individuals varied according to the distribution of water sources, natural trees and Bedouin gardens especially in fruit. These features appear to be particularly important as staging posts for migrants. Numbers ofsome birds increased around tourist areas. Observations of seven species of reptile and ten species of butterfly including endemics arealso presented. Recorded numbers of all groups depended heavily on the time of day

Local variation in helminth burdens of Egyptian spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus dimidiatus) from ecologically similar sites: relationships with hormone concentrations and social behaviour

Populations of Egyptian spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus dimidiatus) in a fragmented montane wadi system in the Sinai showed significant differences in the abundance of gut helminths. Differences in parasite load between populations were positively associated with measures of androgen activity but showed no significant relationship with glucocorticoid activity. Social discrimination tests with adult males from different wadis showed that those from sites with greater helminth abundance were less likely to investigate odours from other males and were less aggressive when subsequently interacting with the odour donors. Subjects showed markedly more investigation towards the odours of males from distant wadis compared with those from their own or immediately neighbouring wadi, but were less aggressive when confronted with odour donors from distant wadis. Despite this, there was a positive relationship between the amount of investigation towards distant male odour and subsequent aggression towards the male. While aggressiveness was positively associated with measures of androgen and glucocorticoid activity, no significant relationship emerged with individual helminth infection. Thus aggressiveness appeared to relate to overall local population levels of infection rather than individual challenge

People and climate: holocene sediment records of environmental change in Middle Egypt: fieldwork report and initial results

The aim of this project is to reveal more about the history of Lake Qarun through a multidisciplinary environmental study. This approach primarily concerns the examination of sediment records, but also includes collection of data from archaeological sites in the Faiyum. The sedimentary history of Lake Qarun will be compared with (i) independent palaeoclimate records for the East African Highlands and the eastern Mediterranean; (ii) local evidence (including Nile alluvial and palaeo-shoreline sequences and Holocene playa deposits); and (iii) the cultural history of the Faiyum. This report describes the fieldwork performed to obtain long sediment cores for palaeolimnological analysis and presents initial results from those cores. Results will be used to construct a Geographical Information System (GIS)

Culturally valuable minority crops provide a succession of floral resources for flower visitors in traditional orchard gardens

Agricultural intensification typically has detrimental effects on pollinator communities, but diverse cropping systems that contain sequentially-flowering crops have the potential to benefit pollinators through the provision of additional floral resources. In this study we investigate the importance of cultivated flora for flower visitors in ten agricultural gardens in South Sinai, Egypt. Insect-flower interactions in gardens and unmanaged plots were surveyed across a four-month period in two environmentally distinct years (pre-flood and post-flood). Despite containing an equal abundance and diversity of wild plants as unmanaged habitat, gardens supported a higher abundance and diversity of flower visitors due to the additional presence of cultivated flora. Visitation networks exhibited dramatic intra-annual changes in composition, with cultivated plants becoming increasingly important in later months. Trends were highly conserved across 2 years despite highly contrasting rainfall. Several key crop species were strongly involved in shaping the structure of the networks, the majority of which were herbs with strong cultural significance (fennel, rosemary, mint) and grown incidentally alongside the primary orchard crops. Minority crops are frequently overlooked in agricultural systems due to their low economic value, but we show that they can have a dramatic influence upon the structure of visitation networks, increasing both pollinator abundance and diversity, and emphasising the link between cultural practices and biodiversity conservation

Improvement of renal oxidative stress markers after ozone administration in diabetic nephropathy in rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several complications of diabetes mellitus (DM) e.g. nephropathy (DN) have been linked to oxidative stress. Ozone, by means of oxidative preconditioning, may exert its protective effects on DN.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>The aim of the present work is to study the possible role of ozone therapy in ameliorating oxidative stress and inducing renal antioxidant defence in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Six groups (n = 10) of male Sprague Dawley rats were used as follows: Group C: Control group. Group O: Ozone group, in which animals received ozone intraperitoneally (i.p.) (1.1 mg/kg). Group D: Diabetic group, in which DM was induced by single i.p. injections of streptozotocin (STZ). Group DI: Similar to group D but animals also received subcutaneous (SC) insulin (0.75 IU/100 gm BW.). Group DO: In which diabetic rats received the same dose of ozone, 48 h after induction of diabetes. Group DIO, in which diabetic rats received the same doses of insulin and ozone, respectively. All animals received daily treatment for six weeks. At the end of the study period (6 weeks), blood pressure, blood glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA_1c), serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), kidney tissue levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxide (GPx), aldose reductase (AR) activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration were measured.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Induction of DM in rats significantly elevated blood pressure, HbA_1c, BUN, creatinine and renal tissue levels of MDA and AR while significantly reducing SOD, CAT and GPx activities. Either Insulin or ozone therapy significantly reversed the effects of DM on all parameters; in combination (DIO group), they caused significant improvements in all parameters in comparison to each alone.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Ozone administration in conjunction with insulin in DM rats reduces oxidative stress markers and improves renal antioxidant enzyme activity which highlights its potential uses in the regimen for treatment of diabetic patients.</p