Search Results (17)

The genus of Nitraria L. are Tertiary-relict desert sand-fixing plants, which are an important forage and agricultural product, as well as an important source of medicinal and woody vegetable oil. In order to provide a theoretical basis for better protection and utilization of species in the Nitraria L., this study collected global distribution information within the Nitraria L., along with data on 29 environmental and climatic factors. The Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model was used to simulate the globally suitable distribution areas for Nitraria L. The results showed that the mean AUC value was 0.897, the TSS average value was 0.913, and the model prediction results were excellent. UV-B seasonality (UVB-2), UV-B of the lowest month (UVB-4), precipitation of the warmest quarter (bio18), the DEM (Digital Elevation Model), and annual precipitation (bio12) were the key variables affecting the distribution area of Nitraria L, with contributions of 54.4%, 11.1%, 8.3%, 7.4%, and 4.1%, respectively. The Nitraria L. plants are currently found mainly in Central Asia, North Africa, the neighboring Middle East, and parts of southern Australia and Siberia. In future scenarios, except for a small expansion of the 2030s scenario model Nitraria L., the potential suitable distribution areas showed a decreasing trend. The contraction area is mainly concentrated in South Asia, such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, North Africa, Libya, as well as in areas of low suitability in northern Australia, where there was also significant shrinkage. The areas of expansion are mainly concentrated in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau to the Iranian plateau, and the Sahara Desert is also partly expanded. With rising Greenhouse gas concentrations, habitat fragmentation is becoming more severe. Center-of-mass migration results also suggest that the potential suitable area of Nitraria L. will shift northwestward in the future. This study can provide a theoretical basis for determining the scope of Nitraria L. habitat protection, population restoration, resource management and industrial development in local areas. Full article

Despite extensive research on particulate matter (PM) pollution in India’s Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), source apportionment remains challenging. This study investigates the effect of particulate matter (PM₁₀)-associated water soluble inorganic ions (WSIIs) on ambient air concentration across the middle IGP from January to December 2018. Moreover, the seasonal fluctuation and chemical characterization of PM₁₀ were assessed for the year 2018. The results revealed a high concentration of PM₁₀ (156 µg/m³), exceeding the WHO and National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) limits. The highest PM₁₀ levels were observed during autumn, winter, summer, and the rainy season. The study identified SO₄²⁻ and NH₄⁺ as the most common WSIIs, constituting 46% and 23% of the total WSIIs. Source apportionment analysis indicated that street dust, biomass burning, and vehicle and industrial emissions together with secondary formation significantly contributed to IGP’s PM pollution. Additionally, the investigation of air mass back trajectory suggests that air quality in IGP is largely influenced by eastern and western Maritime air masses originated from the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, Gujarat, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Full article

This study describes the eye health of newly arrived refugees attending a state-funded health service in Adelaide, South Australia, helping to address the paucity of data on the eye health of refugees. Patients attending the Refugee Health Service undergo comprehensive assessment by an on-site optometrist with accredited interpreters if they have eye symptoms, personal or family history of eye disease, or visual impairment (using World Health Organization definitions). A retrospective audit of this service was performed to obtain patient demographics, presenting best-corrected distance visual acuity (better-seeing eye), diagnoses, and management. In 2017–2018, 494 of the 1400 refugees attending the service underwent an optometry assessment (age range 1–86 years, mean age 33.1 ± 18.6 years, 53% female). Regions of origin included the Middle East (25%), Bhutan (24%), Afghanistan (22%), Myanmar (15%), and Africa (14%). Of the 124 cases of visual impairment, 78% resolved with corrective lenses and 11% were due to cataracts. Ophthalmology follow-up was required for 56 (11%) patients, mostly for cataracts (22 patients). Newly arrived refugees have high rates of visual impairment from refractive error and cataracts. Integration of optometry and state-based refugee health services may improve the timely detection and treatment of these conditions. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed enormous pressure on healthcare systems. In the first line of the “war” against the virus, hospitals tried to maintain their general operations, while supplementing their services with COVID-19 patient care. To tackle the new difficulties, hospitals had to develop strategic response plans, and were in need of finding the most effective management structure for their institution. The focus of this paper is the aforementioned management structures. After overviewing the international literature, we identified three different approaches and we named them the Horizontal, Vertical, and Intermedier Approach. The separation is based on the following features: decision making, information distribution, command forwarding, intra-hospital communication channels, hierarchy, and control. After summarizing the international experiences, we introduce a Hungarian centrum hospital’s approach, as the institution was assigned to fulfil COVID-19 centrum hospital duties in the middle of the first wave. The North-Buda Szent János Central hospital was in need of restructuring their management structure, and the leadership decided to transform it into a hierarchical, vertical structure, operating with centralized decision making and personal control. This control–command system idea came from the hospital’s Internist Head Coordinator Physician, who is the first author of our article, and had serious military medicine experiences (in Afghanistan). Full article

Ophiolites are remnants of oceanic crust that have been thrust onto continental crust due to tectonic processes. They are composed of mostly mafic and ultramafic rocks, which are genetically associated with gold, silver, platinum group element (PGE), chrome, manganese, titanium, cobalt, copper, and nickel deposits. The main objective of this research was to identify the spatial distribution of Mesozoic ophiolitic complexes within the Central Afghan Block in Middle Afghanistan using optical remote sensing data and spectral analyses. Distinct algorithms, such as false color composite (FCC), proposed band ratios (PBR), principal component analysis (PCA), and spectral angle mapper (SAM), were used to map the targeted ophiolitic complexes. New band ratios were proposed in this study based on the spectral properties of mafic-ultramafic minerals and rocks, which showed high efficiency. Based on the results, four different ophiolitic complexes were delineated within this study area. These complexes are consistent with previous studies. The accuracy assessment of this study showed an overall accuracy of 72.2%. The findings of this study can significantly contribute to further studies on the emplacement mechanism and paleo-Tethys history of Middle Afghanistan. Also, the spatial distribution of the ophiolitic complexes identified in this study can be used to constrain models of the tectonic evolution of the Central Afghan Block. Additionally, the identification of new band ratios for mapping ophiolitic complexes can be used in future studies of other ophiolite-bearing regions. Full article

The bats of Saudi Arabia consist of 30 species and 21 genera within 9 families (Pteropodidae, Rhinopomatidae, Rhinolophidae, Emballonuridae, Nycteridae, Hipposideridae, Miniopteridae, Molossidae, and Vespertilionidae). Some species have been recorded from only one locality: Epomophorus labiatus, Hipposideros megalotis and Asellia patrizii. The taxonomy of some species was updated. Details on the past and present distribution of the bats were included along with available data on their habitat preference and biology. An analysis of the bat fauna of Saudi Arabia revealed that they have six major zoogeographical affinities; Afrotropical (eight species), Saharo-Sindian (three species), Afrotropical-Palaearctic (four species), Palaearctic (four species), oriental (one species), and Afrotropical-oriental (two species). Asellia patrizii stands as an endemic species known only from Eretria, Ethiopia, and Farasan Island in Saudi Arabia, and Rhyneptesicus nasutus is considered as a Middle East endemic species with distribution confined to Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, reaching as far as western Arabia. At least six more species are suspected to occur in Saudi Arabia, since they have been reported from neighboring Yemen. The threats to and conservation status of the bats of Saudi Arabia were highlighted. Full article

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) is suffering from a double burden of malnutrition in which undernutrition coexists with rising rates of overweight and obesity. Although the countries of the EMR vary greatly in terms of income level, living conditions and health challenges, the nutrition status is often discussed only by using either regional or country-specific estimates. This analytical review studies the nutrition situation of the EMR during the past 20 years by dividing the region into four groups based on their income level—the low-income group (Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen), the lower-middle-income group (Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, and Tunisia), the upper-middle-income group (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Libya) and the high-income group (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates)—and by comparing and describing the estimates of the most important nutrition indicators, including stunting, wasting, overweight, obesity, anaemia, and early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding. The findings reveal that the trends of stunting and wasting were decreasing in all EMR income groups, while the percentages of overweight and obesity predominantly increased in all age groups across the income groups, with the only exception in the low-income group where a decreasing trend among children under five years existed. The income level was directly associated with the prevalence rates of overweight and obesity among other age groups except children under five, while an inverse association was observed regarding stunting and anaemia. Upper-middle-income country group showed the highest prevalence rate of overweight among children under five. Most countries of the EMR revealed below-desired rates of early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding. Changes in dietary patterns, nutrition transition, global and local crises, and nutrition policies are among the major explanatory factors for the findings. The scarcity of updated data remains a challenge in the region. Countries need support in filling the data gaps and implementing recommended policies and programmes to address the double burden of malnutrition. Full article

As a great practice of building a community of shared future for mankind, the Belt and Road Initiative is facing geopolitical risk brought by great power games, regional conflicts and terrorism. It is an important mission of geopolitical research to scientifically deal with the geopolitical risk along the Belt and Road. This study systematically constructs the geopolitical risk assessment index system and analyzes the spatiotemporal evolution, obstacle factors and risk types of geopolitical risk of countries along the Belt and Road by using the entropy weight TOPSIS model, obstacle degree model and minimum variance method. The research results showed that: (1) From 2005 to 2020, the polarization of geopolitical risk in countries along the Belt and Road was very significant, and the overall trend of geopolitical risk tended to deteriorate. (2) The Middle East and Eastern Europe were the most important geopolitical risk zones along the Belt and Road, and Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia and Ukraine were the main high geopolitical risk centers, with significant risk spillover effects from these centers. (3) Terrorism and close relations with the United States were the most important obstacle factors for geopolitical risk in countries along the Belt and Road, and military intervention politics, trade dependence degree and foreign debt burden were important obstacle factors for geopolitical risk in countries along the Belt and Road. (4) Geopolitical risk along the Belt and Road can be divided into sovereign risk dominant type, sovereign and military risk dominant type, sovereign and major power intervention risk dominant type, and sovereign and military and major power intervention risk jointly dominated type, among which sovereign and military and major power intervention risk jointly dominated type was the most important geopolitical risk type. In order to scientifically deal with geopolitical risk in countries along the Belt and Road, it is necessary to strengthen geopolitical risk awareness, pay attention to the dominant geopolitical risk factors, strengthen the control of regional geopolitical risk spillover and formulate reasonable risk prevention and control scheme based on geopolitical risk types. Full article

The word “pstk” [pistag], used in the ancient Persian language, is the linguistic root from which the current name “pistachio”, used worldwide, derives. The word pistachio is generally used to designate the plants and fruits of a single species: Pistacia vera L. Both the plant and its fruits have been used by mankind for thousands of years, specifically the consumption of its fruits by Neanderthals has been dated to about 300,000 years ago. Native to southern Central Asia (including northern Afghanistan and northeastern Iran), its domestication and cultivation occurred about 3000 years ago in this region, spreading to the rest of the Mediterranean basin during the Middle Ages and finally being exported to America and Australia at the end of the 19th century. The edible pistachio is an excellent source of unsaturated fatty acids, carbohydrates, proteins, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and bioactive phenolic compounds that help promote human health through their antioxidant capacity and biological activities. The distribution and genetic diversity of wild and domesticated pistachios have been declining due to increasing population pressure and climatic changes, which have destroyed natural pistachio habitats, and the monoculture of selected cultivars. As a result, the current world pistachio industry relies mainly on a very small number of commercial cultivars and rootstocks. In this review we discuss and summarize the current status of: etymology, origin, domestication, taxonomy and phylogeny by molecular analysis (RAPID, RFLP, AFLP, SSR, ISSR, IRAP, eSSR), main characteristics and world production, germplasm biodiversity, main cultivars and rootstocks, current conservation strategies of both conventional propagation (seeds, cutting, and grafting), and non-conventional propagation methods (cryopreservation, slow growth storage, synthetic seed techniques and micropropagation) and the application of computational tools (Design of Experiments (DoE) and Machine Learning: Artificial Neural Networks, Fuzzy logic and Genetic Algorithms) to design efficient micropropagation protocols for the genus Pistacia. Full article

Middle Eastern, North African countries (MENA), and Central Asian countries are considered the countries most facing water and food scarcity. The current water exploitation indicates that a few countries are overexploiting their water resources and using the fossil water available. This study reviews each country’s renewable water resources volume and evaluates the resources available to expand the agricultural area. Different scenarios are considered, using both irrigated and rainfed farming options, for concluding the most sustainable farming method in each country. Different scenarios are considered using irrigated and rainfed farming options to recommend the most sustainable farming method for each country. Results show that the countries in the MENA and Central Asia can be divided into three main categories: (1) Countries whose expansion of agricultural area can only be applied by using fossil water resources (Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan); (2) Countries where the agricultural area can be expanded to a certain limit, by sustainably using both irrigated and rainfed farming (Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Palestine, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Oman, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, and Yemen); (3) Countries that have enough renewable water resources to farm all their agricultural area (Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, and Kyrgyzstan). However, the aim of this study and its results are only to assess the renewable water resources available to sustain the increased agricultural water demand by setting aside other agricultural factors that constrain the sector. Full article

Stunting predominantly occurs during the first 1000 days of life and continues to the age of five years. We will aim to assess the effectiveness of specialized nutritious foods (SNF)and social and behavior change communication (SBCC) strategies during the first 1000 days of life to prevent stunting among children in two rural districts of Badakhshan, Afghanistan. This will be a quasi-experimental pre-post study with the control group utilizing qualitative and quantitative methods. Before launching the program, formative research will be conducted on the acceptability, appropriate use and SBCC strategies needed to support the introduction of intervention package. Repeated cross-sectional baseline and endline surveys will be conducted in both the intervention and the control districts. After the formative research and baseline household survey, an intervention focusing on the provision of SNF, targeting pregnant and lactating women and children 6–23 months, and SBCC strategies will be implemented for at least 12 months. The primary outcome will be a reduction in the prevalence of stunting among children under two years in the intervention group compared to the control group. We will aim to compare the intervention and control group between the pre- and post-intervention assessments to isolate the effect of the intervention by difference-in-differences estimates. The program monitoring and evaluation component will examine the quality of implementation, acceptability of intervention, identification of potential barriers and to learn how to enhance the program’s effectiveness through ongoing operational improvements. The results will be beneficial to design interventions to prevent stunting within Afghanistan and other low–middle-income countries. Full article

An ethnobotanical field study focusing on traditional wild food botanical taxa was carried out in Kaniguram, South Waziristan, Pakistan, among Ormur (or Burki or Baraki) peoples, which represent a diasporic minority group, as well as among the surrounding Pashtuns. Through sixty semi-structured interviews, fifty-two wild food plants (taxa) were recorded, and they were primarily used raw as snacks and cooked as vegetables. Comparative analysis found a remarkable overlap of the quoted plant uses between the two studied groups, which may reflect complex socio-cultural adaptations Ormur speakers faced. Ormur people retain a rich knowledge of anthropogenic weeds and the phytonyms reveal important commonalities with Persian and Kurdish phytonyms, which may indicate their possible horticultural-driven human ecological origin from the Middle East. Some novel or rare food uses of Cirsiumarvense, Nannorrhops ritchiana, Periploca aphylla, Perovskia atriplicifolia, Viscum album,Oxalis corniculata and Withania coagulans were documented. Since the Ormuri language represents a moribund language, still spoken by only a few thousand speakers in NW Pakistan and Afghanistan, it is recommended that the traditional bio-cultural and gastronomical heritage of this minority group be appropriately protected and bolstered in future rural development programs. Full article

At the Bundeswehr Hospitals of Hamburg and Westerstede, patients repatriated from subtropical war and crisis zones of Northern Africa and the Middle East were medically treated, including microbiological assessment. Within a six-year interval, 16 Acinetobacter spp. strains, including 14 Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab) isolates with resistance against carbapenems and origins in Afghanistan (n = 4), Iraq (n = 2), Libya (n = 2), and Syria (n = 8) were collected. While clonal relationships of Libyan and Syrian strains had been assessed by superficial next generation sequencing (NGS) and “DiversiLab” repetitive elements sequence-based (rep-)PCR so far, this study provides core genome-based sequence typing and thus more detailed epidemiological information. In detail, sequencing allowed a definitive species identification and comparison with international outbreak-associated Ab strains by core genome multi locus sequence typing (cgMLST) and the identification of MLST lineages, as well as the identification of known resistance genes. The sequence analysis allowed for the confirmation of outbreak-associated clonal clusters among the Syrian and Afghan Ab isolates, indicating likely transmission events. The identified acquired carbapenem resistance genes comprised bla_OXA-23, bla_OXA-58, bla_NDM-1, and bla_GES-11, next to other intrinsic and acquired, partly mobile resistance-associated genes. Eleven out of 14 Ab isolates clustered with the previously described international clonal lineages IC1 (4 Afghan strains), IC2 (6 Syrian strains), and IC7 (1 Syrian strain). Identified Pasteur sequence types of the 14 Ab strains comprised ST2 (Syrian), ST25 (Libyan), ST32 (Iraqi), ST81 (Afghan), ST85 (Libyan), and ST1112 (Syrian), respectively. In conclusion, the study revealed a broad spectrum of resistance genes in Ab isolated from war-injured patients from Northern Africa and the Middle East, thereby broadening the scarcely available data on locally abundant clonal lineages and resistance mechanisms. Full article

Prevailing scholarship on pastoral literature often overlooks its political and radical dimensions, relegating the form to particular manifestations of the pastoral in Elizabethan England. World literature, however, exhibits a wider range of the pastoral in which poets contest social injustice and serve as voices of resistance against oppression. This paper explores the existence of and connection between the radical pastoral in both the East and West, as exemplified by the classical poetry of Ovid and Pashto pastoral poetry emanating from contemporary Afghanistan. It argues that, despite differences in time and space, both genres of poetry offer forceful criticisms of empire and consider pastoral values, aesthetics, and landscapes as a means of resistance against it. This paper thus examines pastoral poetics’ contribution to social commentary on empire in both imperial Rome and the imperialist present encapsulated by America’s post 9/11 political-military interventions in the Middle East. Full article

The Pamir ranges of the Hindu Kush regions in Afghanistan play a substantial role in regulating the water resources for the Middle Eastern countries. Particularly, the snowmelt runoff in the Khanabad watershed is one of the critical drivers for the Amu River, since it is a primary source of available water in several Middle Eastern countries in the off monsoon season. The purpose of this study is to devise strategies based on active microwave remote sensing for the monitoring of snow depth during the winter and the melt season. For the estimation of snow depth, we utilized a multi-temporal C-band (5.405 GHz) Sentinel-1 dual polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) with a differential interferometric SAR (DInSAR)-based framework. In the proposed approach, the estimated snowpack displacements in the vertical transmit-vertical receive (VV) and vertical transmit-horizonal receive (VH) channels were improved by incorporating modeled information of snow permittivity, and the scale was enhanced by utilizing snow depth information from the available ground stations. Two seasonal datasets were considered for the experiments corresponding to peak winter season (February 2019) and early melt season (March 2019). The results were validated with the available nearest field measurements. A good correlation determined by the coefficient of determination of 0.82 and 0.57, with root mean square errors of 2.33 and 1.44 m, for the peak winter and the early melt season, respectively, was observed between the snow depth estimates and the field measurements. Further, the snow depth estimates from the proposed approach were observed to be significantly better than the DInSAR displacements based on the correlation with respect to the field measurements. Full article