Search results for " Middle East"

Allium nazarenum (Amaryllidaceae), a new species of the section Codonoprasum from Israel

2017

Allium nazarenum, a new species of A. sect. Codonoprasum, is described and illustrated from Israel. Within this species, two well distinct subspecies have been recognized, represented by the subsp. nazarenum and subsp. ramonense respectively. The first one occurs in northern and central Israel, which falls within the Mediterranean bioclimate, while the second one is circumscribed to the Negev desert. Both taxa are diploid with 2n = 16 and are found on various substrata usually in the batha or steppic plant communities. This species shows close relationships with the species belonging to the A. staticiforme group, from which it differs in several relevant diacritic features. Its morphology, …

Taxonomic investigations on Psoralea palaestina (Fabaceae), a critical species of Mediterranean flora

2016

Psoralea palaestina is a critical and unappreciated species described from Palestinian territories, and currently treated as synonym of P. bituminosa, nowadays known as Bituminaria bituminosa. Nomenclatural investigations allowed to ascertain that it was validly described for the first time by Bassi (1768) and not by Gouan (1773), as previously thought. Extensive taxonomic investigations revealed that this very peculiar legume is morphologically well differentiated from the other allied known species. Therefore, it has to be properly treated at specific level and transferred to the genus Bituminaria, thus proposing a new combination: Bituminaria palaestina. Based on literature, herbarium an…

Identification of novel compounds against three targets of SARS CoV-2 coronavirus by combined virtual screening and supervised machine learning.

2021

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a major threat worldwide due to its fast spreading. As yet, there are no established drugs available. Speeding up drug discovery is urgently required. We applied a workflow of combined in silico methods (virtual drug screening, molecular docking and supervised machine learning algorithms) to identify novel drug candidates against COVID-19. We constructed chemical libraries consisting of FDA-approved drugs for drug repositioning and of natural compound datasets from literature mining and the ZINC database to select compounds interacting with SARS-CoV-2 target proteins (spike protein, nucleocapsid protein, and 2′-o-ribose methyltransferase). Supported by…

Prevalence and 30-Day Mortality in Hospitalized Patients With Covid-19 and Prior Lung Diseases.

2021

Patients with pre-existing respiratory diseases in the setting of COVID-19 may have a greater risk of severe complications and even death.A retrospective, multicenter, cohort study with 5847 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals. Patients were separated in two groups, with/without previous lung disease. Evaluation of factors associated with survival and secondary composite end-point such as ICU admission and respiratory support, were explored.1,271 patients (22%) had a previous lung disease, mostly COPD. All-cause mortality occurred in 376 patients with lung disease (29.5%) and in 819 patients without (17.9%) (Previous lung disease is a risk factor for mortality in patients with COVID-19.…

Building Bridges through Science

2017

WOS: 000415310800007 PubMed ID: 29144972 Science is ideally suited to connect people from different cultures and thereby foster mutual understanding. To promote international life science collaboration, we have launched "The Science Bridge'' initiative. Our current project focuses on partnership between Western and Middle Eastern neuroscience communities. Medical Research Council [MC_UP_1202/5]

A time series study on the effects of heat on mortality and evaluation of heterogeneity into European and Eastern-Southern Mediterranean cities: resu…

2013

Background: The Mediterranean region is particularly vulnerable to the effect of summer temperature. Within the CIRCE project this time-series study aims to quantify for the first time the effect of summer temperature in Eastern-Southern Mediterranean cities and compared it with European cities around the Mediterranean basin, evaluating city characteristics that explain between-city heterogeneity. Methods: The city-specific effect of maximum apparent temperature (Tappmax) was assessed by Generalized Estimation Equations, assuming a linear threshold model. Then, city-specific estimates were included in a random effect meta-regression analysis to investigate the effect modification by several…

The East Mediterranean Genus Orchamus Stål, 1876 (Insecta: Orthoptera: Pamphagidae).

2009

Islam politico e Guerra fredda: alternative islamiste in Iraq e Libano (1967-1991)

2019

This article seeks to evaluate the impact of Cold War strategies and superpowers initiative in the Middle East with a particular reference on the evolution of political Islam. Based on a storiographical analysis, the article also focuses its attention on two particular cases of the Shia social and political thought (the Lebanese Hezbollah and Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr writings) in order to show how these two particular expressions of the Islamic political thought have been influenced by the Cold War and what was their positioning in this regards. In the first paragraph a particular attention is dedicated to the applicability of Cold War paradigm to the Middle East and in this sense, by using H…

CELEBRATING WOMEN ARTISTS IN JORDAN: REFRAMING GENDER ROLES AS RESISTANCE

This thesis focuses on women artists in the capital of Jordan, Amman, and particularly on their cultural practices as an expression of a creative agency. These women create independent spaces, cultural initiatives, public performances and original artworks that allow the reframing of gender roles in neoliberal patriarchal societies today. Beyond labeling the emergence of a new female activism, or femtivism, as feminist or revolutionary, I suggest reading it as the reconfiguration of a new wave of feminisms in Jordan, which engages with the visual arts, the contemporary cultural scene of Amman, the geography of the city and the political commitment, often in informal domains rather than in i…

The diaptomid fauna of Israel (Copepoda, Calanoida, Diaptomidae), with notes on the systematics of Arctodiaptomus similis (Baird, 1859) and Arctodiap…

2014

Background: To date, only scarce information is available about the diaptomid copepods of the Middle East despite the ecological and biogeographical importance of the family Diaptomidae in the inland waters of the Holarctic region. Moreover, the taxonomic status of some of the taxa occurring in the area is in need of revision. We studied crustaceans collected from temporary and permanent lentic water bodies in Israel with the aim of providing an updated census of the diaptomid copepods occurring in the country. Furthermore, we morphologically and genetically analysed samples of Arctodiaptomus similis s.l. to shed light on its taxonomy. Results: Five diaptomid taxa were collected during this…