Coccidia in Camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Saudi Arabia1

Saudi Arabian camels {Camelus dromedarius) are infected with three species of Eimeria: E. dromedarii (28.4%), E. rajasthani < 22.2%), and E. cameli (19.2%); 41.6% of the animals examined were positive. The highest prevalence of infection was reported in the western region of the country. Mixed infection with two Eimeria species is most common; E. dromedarii was most frequently and generally the most predominant species. Eimeria dromedarii and E. rajasthani are described for the first time from Saudi Arabian camels.     

Anostracans in dark sections of Saudi Arabian caves

Anostracans were found living in ephemeral pools in the dark sections of three caves on the As Summan Plateau in Saudi Arabia. Branchipus schaefferi Fischer, 1834 occurred alone in one while it cohabited with Streptocephalus torvicornisbucheti Daday, 1910 in a second cave; fairy shrimps were observed but not collected from the third. None of the specimens demonstrated any of the types of morphological changes typically associated with cave adapted species. This is likely due to continuing colonization of the pools during flooding events. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Coronavirus and co-infections: A Saudi Arabian perspective

Mortality due to infectious diseases continues to rise globally, despite advances in antimicrobial therapy and supportive care. This is evident with the occurrence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, instigated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Saudi Arabia, an eminent country within the Arab region, has had significant impact during global pandemics, concomitant with the fact that millions of Muslims travel to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimages every year. Herein, we discuss the significance of SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, as well as the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia with particular reference to global transmission and/or emergence of new variants due to genetic mixing of different strains. Furthermore, we also discuss the role of Saudi Arabia with reference to novel emerging infectious diseases and re-emerging infections, such as Ebola, zika, and monkeypox, as well as in the context on coinfections. Future strategies to limit the spread of viral infections and the pivotal role of Saudi Arabia, are deliberated upon.     

Genetic Variability of PXR in Saudi Arabians

Polymorphisms in the PXR gene play important roles in influencing the efficacy and toxicity of a large number of endogenous and exogenous substrates. Because of ethnic specificity, several studies have been directed toward the determination of PXR polymorphisms in various populations. In the current study, we determined the genotype and allele frequencies of 19 coding and regulatory polymorphisms in the PXR gene in Saudi Arabians by direct sequencing. Our results show that the frequencies of the regulatory PXR SNPs in Saudi Arabians differ from those in other ethnic groups, and the results endorse the commonly seen ethnic pattern of a paucity of the PXR coding SNPs.     

Temperature and the Vegetative Growth of Three Saudi Arabian Herbs

In Saudi Arabia, Artemisia abyssinica is a perennial, sand-stabilizingspecies which is common in the great inland deserts; Rumex nervosusis a medicinal herb of lowland distribution; Verbesina encelioidesis an arable weed of similar distribution to R. nervosus, butis also locally common in certain fertile inland and montanehabitats. Typical environments of these species are sharplycontrasted in climate. To see if temperature played any partin limiting these species to their respactive habitats, seedlingsof all three (including two potentiallyseparate lowland andmontane populations of V. encelioides) were grown under controlled-environmentconditions over a range of different temperatures. Artemisia abyssinica proved to be innately slow-growing andto exhibit a high temperature optimum, though with a shallowresponse-gradient in respect of growth over-all and of partitioningbetween root and shoot. Rumex nervosus and both populationsof V. encelioides were quite unlike this, being faster-growing,plastic, and with clear, low temperature-optima Despite certain morphological distinctions, the two populationsof V. encelioides differed little in their whole-plant physiology.However, previous work had established that the montane population,like A. abyssinica, was protected from germination at high constantor fluctuating temperatures. The lowland population, like R.nervosus, was not. Differential conbinations of germinativeand vegetative behaviour were thus postulated as facilitatingthe wide natural distribution of V. encelioides. General conclusions were also drawn concerning the locationon a mesic-xeric continuum of the three species, and also oftwo others studied in a set of experiments published previously. Artemisia abyssinica Sch. Bip., Rumex nervosus Vahl., Verbesina encelioides (Cav.) Benth. et Hook., F. ex A. Gray, growth analysis, temperature, rsponse surfaces, plant distribution     

Eurasian and African mitochondrial DNA influences in the Saudi Arabian population

Background  

Genetic studies of the Arabian Peninsula are scarce even though the region was the center of ancient trade routes and empires and may have been the southern corridor for the earliest human migration from Africa to Asia. A total of 120 mtDNA Saudi Arab lineages were analyzed for HVSI/II sequences and for haplogroup confirmatory coding diagnostic positions. A phylogeny of the most abundant haplogroup (preHV)1 (R0a) was constructed based on 13 whole mtDNA genomes.     

Plasma and urinary selenium in Saudi Arabian patients with dilated cardiomyopathy

We measured selenium (Se) levels in the urine and blood plasma samples of 72 Saudi Arabian patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and 70 control subjects of the same origin. To correct for differences in the hydration state of the subjects, the selenium concentration for each urine sample was normalized by dividing it by the concentration of creatinine (CREAT) in the same sample. The median (and range) of the values found for the concentration of Se in plasma, urine, and normalized concentration in urine for the control subjects was 1.306 (0.66–2.50) μM, 0.478 (0.05–2.00) μM, and 56.7 (10.6–426.5) μM Se/M CREAT, respectively, whereas, for the patients, it was 1.246 (0.53–2.45) μM, 0.39 (0.05–1.90) μM, and 75.1 (4.9–656.2) μM Se/M CREAT, respectively. Additionally, the patients were separated into three subgroups according to the severity of their disease state as judged by NYHA procedure, and were then compared to the control group. Only group 4 (the most severe state of the disease) had a significantly lower concentration of urinary Se than the control group. However, the difference became nonsignificant when normalized for CREAT levels. There was no significant difference in the plasma Se levels between the controls and any of the patient groups. As the plasma Se in the control group and in the DCM patients both fell on the low end of the “normal” range, with the patients being marginally lower than the controls, there is no firm evidence from this study to suggest that Se is related to the high incidence rate of DCM found in Saudi Arabia.     

Characteristics of Immunogenetic Systems and Blood Serum Proteins in Some Pig Breeds and Georgian and Western Siberian Wild Boar Populations

A bank of reagents for hog serum protein allotypes has been created. All of these allotypes passed international comparison tests in 1987–1988. The bank can be used for typing the animals for four generally accepted (Gp, LpB, Lpr, and IgGH) and several experimental systems. In this study, immunogenetic characteristics of some pig breeds (Large White, Lithuanian White, Swedish Landrace, Kakhetinskaya, and Svanetskaya) bred in Georgia are compared with those of western Siberian breeds (Large White, Kemerovskaya, and Northern Siberian), and some foreign breeds, as well as with European, Caucasian, and Siberian subspecies of the wild boar.     

Fatty acid production of thraustochytrids from Saudi Arabian mangroves

This is the first report of thraustochytrids from Saudi Arabia. A total of 108 isolates of thraustochytrid were cultured from Syhat mangroves, Arabian Gulf, Saudi Arabia. Isolated thraustochytrids belonged to five genera: Aplanochytrium, Aurantiochytrium, Schizochytrium, Thraustochytrium and Ulkenia. Cultured thraustochytrids isolated from decaying leaves of Avicennia marina (77 isolates), sediment (15), seawater (10) and decaying thalli of Sargassum (6). Of the 108 isolates, three strains (SY25, SY38 and SY52) were selected based on their high biomass productivity and high percentages of PUFAs. Phylogenetic analyses based on 18S rDNA placed the three strains within the Aurantiochytrium clade with high statistical support. Species of Aurantiochytrium formed six separate clades, the two strains (SY38 and SY52) formed a separate clade that is a sister clade to the one that contains the type species A. limacinum, while SY25 grouped with Aurantiochytrium sp. TA4, that is also isolated from mangroves in Iran, Arabian Gulf. The strains (SY38 and SY52) shared the phylogenetic placement, their morphology and fatty acid profile. The strain SY25 have different shape of sporangia that divide to give zoospores directly, sporogenous cells are surrounded by thick gelatinous sheath and produce high levels of Linoleic and Oleic essential unsaturated fatty acids. The three studied strain produced high levels of Palmitic acid (ranged between 31.1 and 65.3 % of total fatty acids) that can be further optimized for biofuel production.     

Genetic variability and haplotype profile of MDR1 in Saudi Arabian males

Polymorphisms in multidrug resistance (MDR1) gene play an important role in influencing the pharmacological action and toxicity profile of a large number of therapeutic agents, and in human susceptibility to various diseases. Because of genotypic variability, several studies were directed toward determination of the frequencies of MDR1 polymorphisms and/or haplotypes in different ethnic populations. In this study, we determined the frequencies of the most common three polymorphisms in the MDR1 gene (i.e., C1236T, G2677T, and C3435T) in Saudi Arabians and their haplotypes. Our results showed that the frequencies of 1236T, 2677T, and 3435T were 43.7?%, 40.2?%, and 42.2?%, respectively. In addition, the frequencies of the most common MDR1 haplotypes, C-G-C and T-T-T, were correspondent to 48.8 and 35.5?%. Furthermore, we identified moderate to strong linkage disequilibrium between the loci of these single nucleotide polymorphisms in the studied subjects. These identified frequencies in Saudi Arabians are different from that reported in the other ethnic groups.     

大蒜体细胞胚发育分化中特异蛋白和某些生理生化变化（简报）

用改良的MS培养基培养大蒜体细胞胚,获得了稳定且数量较多的成熟胚;用双向电泳分离出5个可能与大蒜胚胎发育有关的特异蛋白质多肽;大蒜酯酶由3个位点的基因控制,其中位点1（Est-1）中的2个复等位基因Est-1e和Est-1f总是连锁表达;位点2种的Est-2b表达产物似可用作大蒜体细胞胚胎发育时期的分子标记;大蒜体细胞胚发生前后,有2个多糖累积高峰,可溶性蛋白的累积仅在球形胚期有1个高峰。     

The Frequencies of Alleles of Single Nucleotide Substitutions in the CCK and CCK2R Genes in Some Russian Cattle Breeds

Russian Journal of Genetics - Allele frequencies of three substitutions in the CCK (rs42891945 and rs42891946) and CCKBR (rs42670352) genes were identified in three Russian cattle breeds: Holstein...     

Preliminary palynological investigation of Saudi Arabian Upper Ordovician glacial sediments

An Ordovician stratigraphically admixed palynomorph assemblage that contains palynomorphs eroded from Middle through Upper Ordovician strata characterizes the Hawban Member (restricted) of the Sarah Formation in central Saudi Arabia. This distinctive assemblage, combined with detailed sedimentology, helps identify the presence of Hirnantian Gondwanan glacial sediments on the Arabian Plate. Similar Ordovician admixed assemblages have been recognized from Upper Ordovician glacial sediments elsewhere along the Gondwanan margin. Within Saudi Arabia the composition of reworked assemblages depends upon the stratigraphic succession exposed to glacial erosion. Sylvanidium? hawbanense, which is one of the acritarchs found in glacial sediments, is newly described from Arabian Upper Ordovician strata.     

Determination and stereochemistry of proteinogenic and non-proteinogenic amino acids in Saudi Arabian date fruits

Whereas an abundance of literature is available on the occurrence of common proteinogenic amino acids (AAs) in edible fruits of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), recent reports on non-proteinogenic (non-coded) AAs and amino components are scarce. With emphasis on these components we have analyzed total hydrolysates of twelve cultivars of date fruits using automated ion-exchange chromatography, HPLC employing a fluorescent aminoquinolyl label, and GC–MS of total hydrolysates using the chiral stationary phases Chirasil^®-L-Val and Lipodex^® E. Besides common proteinogenic AAs, relatively large amounts of the following non-proteinogenic amino acids were detected: (2S,5R)-5-hydroxypipecolic acid (1.4–4.0 g/kg dry matter, DM), 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (1.3–2.6 g/kg DM), γ-amino-n-butyric acid (0.5–1.2 g/kg DM), (2S,4R)-4-hydroxyproline (130–230 mg/kg DM), l-pipecolic acid (40–140 mg/kg DM), and 2-aminoethanol (40–160 mg/kg DM) as well as low or trace amounts (<70 mg/kg DM) of l-ornithine, 5-hydroxylysine, β-alanine, and in some samples (<20 mg/kg DM) of (S)-β-aminoisobutyric acid and (<10 mg/kg DM) l-allo-isoleucine. In one date fruit, traces of α-aminoadipic acid could be determined. Enantiomeric analysis of 6 M DCl/D₂O hydrolysates of AAs using chiral capillary gas chromatography–mass spectrometry revealed the presence of very low amounts of d-Ala, d-Asp, d-Glu, d-Ser and d-Phe (1.2–0.4 %, relative to the corresponding l-enantiomers), besides traces (0.2–1 %) of other d-AAs. The possible relevance of non-proteinogenic amino acids in date fruits is briefly addressed.     

Hammondia heydorni from the Arabian mountain gazelle and red fox in Saudi Arabia

Unsporulated oocysts were detected in the feces of an Arabian red fox (Vulpes vulpes arabica) between 6 and 8 days after it had been fed meat from Arabian mountain gazelles (Gazella gazella) known to contain sarcocysts. No oocysts were discovered in the feces of other experimental cubs, although sporocysts of Sarcocystis spp. were passed subsequently by all cubs that were fed gazelle meat, including those fed with reem (G. subgutturosa marica). The oocysts sporulated in 3 days at room temperature (25 +/- 2 C); they were 10.9 +/- 1.4 x 10.1 +/- 1.3 microm, with 2 sporocysts measuring 6.0 +/- 0.6 x 4.7 +/- 0.8 microm, each with 4 sporozoites. Sporulated oocysts were identified as those of Hammondia heydorni using molecular and standard morphometric techniques. Sequence differences between 2 fox and 3 dog isolates of H. heydorni were detected and allowed differentiation between the 2 populations of the organism. The involvement of Neospora caninum was excluded using molecular methods. The Arabian red fox and the Arabian mountain gazelle in Saudi Arabia are new, definitive and intermediate hosts for H. heydorni.     

HLA Class I and Class II Associations with ESRD in Saudi Arabian Population

Background

Chronic renal failure (CRF) leads in the majority of instances to end stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring renal replacement therapy. Our interest was to evaluate the possible associations of HLA class I and class II antigens with ESRD independent of other factors, in Saudi Arabia population.

Methodology

A retrospective study to determine the HLA class I and class II polymorphisms and their association with ESRD, was performed on 350 patients with ESRD, and 105 healthy unrelated control. Patients and control groups were typed by SSOP lumenix techniques. The alleles positively associated to the ESRD were: HLA-B*15, B*18, B*49 - DRB1*03, negatively associated alleles were A*26, HLA-B*39, B*50. The haplotypes positively associated with ESRD were: HLA-A*01-DRB1*13 and HLA-A*30-DRBI*03. The negatively associated haplotypes were: HLA-A*02-B*39, A*02-B*50, A*24-B*35, A*24-B*58, A*24-DRB1*16, A*68-DRB1*04, A*02-DQB1*03, A*29-DQB1*02, A*29-DOB1*05 and B*27-DRB1*07 and the last one is the most significant protective haplotypes.

Conclusion

The high Relative Risk (RR) observed and its statistical correlation reflect the strength of the described association between HLA antigens and ESRD.     

Antimicrobial efficacy of extracts of Saudi Arabian desert Terfezia claveryi truffles

BackgroundTerfezia claveryi truffles are known for their nutritional value and have been considered among traditional treatments for ophthalmic infections and ailments.ObjectivesWe sought to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial efficacy of several T. claveryi extracts from Saudi Arabia. Certain pathogenic fungi and gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria were included.MethodsDry extracts were prepared using methanol, ethyl acetate, and distilled water, while the latter was used for preparing fresh extracts. The extracts were microbiologically evaluated through the disc-diffusion agar method; the zones of inhibition of microbial growth were measured post-incubation. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were determined in Müller-Hinton Broth through the microdilution susceptibility method. anti-biofilm activity was assessed for potent extracts.ResultsDry extracts showed potent activity (>16-mm inhibition zones) against gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis IFO3007 and Staphylococcus aureus IFO3060) and gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa IFO3448 and Escherichia coli IFO3301) bacteria. The activity against fungi was moderate (12–16-mm inhibition zones) for both Aspergillus oryzae IFO4177 and Candida albicans IFO0583; there was no activity against Aspergillus niger IFO4414 growth. Methanolic extract had the lowest MIC and MBC, exhibiting remarkable activity against B. subtilis growth. Fresh extract showed moderate activity against bacterial growth and inactivity against fungal growth. Methanolic extract showed potent anti-biofilm activity (IC₅₀, 2.0 ± 0.18 mg/mL) against S. aureus.ConclusionsT. claveryi extracts showed antibacterial effects potentially suitable for clinical application, which warrants further in-depth analysis of their individual isolated compounds.