The Wisconsin glaciation was started a approximately 125,000 years ago and reached its lowest extend between 20,000 to 21,000 years ago during which the sea level fell 120 to 130 meter. At the end of the ice age, about 18,000 years ago, the sea level increased and reached its present level about 5,000 years ago. The Persian Gulf was exposed in the last glacial moment (LGM). After this moment, t...

Coral reefs are in rapid decline on a global scale due to human activities and a changing climate. Shallow water reefs depend on the obligatory symbiosis between the habitat forming coral host and its algal symbiont from the genus Symbiodinium (zooxanthellae). This association is highly sensitive to thermal perturbations and temperatures as little as 1°C above the average summer maxima can caus...

Sea water samples were collected from 32 stations in the southern part of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman during winter of 1987. Surface water of the Persian Gulf exhibited wide range and higher values of salinity (37.15-43.95, mean 40.02%) compared with lower values and narrow range (36.58-36.95, mean 36.74%) in the Gulf of Oman. Surface salinity did not reflect any significant relations...

The Persian Gulf is known as the westernmost distribution limit for sea snakes, except for Hydrophis platurus (Linnaeus, 1766) that reaches southeastern Africa. Previous identification guides for sea snakes of the Persian Gulf and its adjacent waters in the Gulf of Oman were based on old data and confined mostly to written descriptions. Therefore, a series of field surveys were carried out in 2...

To the Editor: We studied all active-duty Persian Gulf War–era veterans who remained on active duty at the conclusion of deployment (July 31, 1991), not as Leisure et al. stated in their letter “selected, mostly healthy, active-duty Persian Gulf War veterans enlisted as of 1994.” Our study was restricted to hospitalizations of active-duty service members because these were the only service memb...

Numerous studies have investigated the health problems reported by veterans of the Persian Gulf War, but important questions remain. Epidemiologic studies have consistently indicated that Gulf War veterans report unexplained symptoms at significantly higher rates than veteran comparison groups but that they have not experienced excess rates of disease-related mortality. Addressing unanswered qu...

BACKGROUND During the 1990-1991 Gulf War, approximately 700,000 U.S. troops were deployed to the Persian Gulf theater of operations. Of that number, approximately 100,000 have presented medical complaints through various registry and examination programs. OBJECTIVES Widespread symptomatic illness without defining physical features has been reported among veterans of the 1991 Gulf War. We asce...