We report two Omani brothers with intrahepatic cholestasis that resolved with supportive care. In one, cholestasis began in infancy; in the other, only at the age of 18 months. Whole exome sequencing identified a novel homozygous variant, c.379C>G (p.L127V) in ATP8B1. Those attending patients with cholestasis from the Arabian peninsula should be aware of this mutation and of the variation in it...

Evidence of current and past Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in dromedary camels slaughtered at an abattoir in Kano, Nigeria in January 2015, was sought by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and serology. MERS-CoV RNA was detected in 14 (11%) of 132 nasal swabs and antibody in 126 (96%) of 131 serum samples. Phylogenetic anal...

South Korea is experiencing the largest outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infections outside the Arabian Peninsula, with 166 laboratory-confirmed cases, including 24 deaths up to 19 June 2015. We estimated that the mean incubation period was 6.7 days and the mean serial interval 12.6 days. We found it unlikely that infectiousness precedes symptom onset. Based on currently...

The species of the paederine subtribe Cryptobiina from Oman and Yemen are examined. The following taxa are (re-) described and illustrated: Cryptomanum gen. n., C. omanicum (Coiffait, 1981), comb. n., C. spinosissimum sp. n. (Oman), and Afrobium arabicum sp. n. (Yemen, Iran). Keys to the genera of Cryptobiina present in the Western Palaearctic region and to the Cryptobiina species recorded from...

Background Chewing the ‘amphetamine like’ khat leaf in the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa communities emerges currently as a public health threat. It may impact health directly or through family dysfunction and alteration of agricultural practices. There is little information about khat chewing among Yemeni women. Understanding the context of khat chewing in women is important if preventive ...

The historical distribution of the cheetah Acinonyx jubatus extended from Africa through the Arabian Peninsula into Iran and Afghanistan. From there, the range continued eastwards to Pakistan and India, and northeast through Central Asia: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan (Nowell & Jackson 1996). During the Middle Ages, cheetahs also occurred to the west of the Caspian Sea, in Transcaucas...

Lebanon is an eastern Mediterranean country inhabited by approximately four million people with a wide variety of ethnicities and religions, including Muslim, Christian, and Druze. In the present study, 926 Lebanese men were typed with Y-chromosomal SNP and STR markers, and unusually, male genetic variation within Lebanon was found to be more strongly structured by religious affiliation than by...

This study was conducted as a part of a comprehensive baseline survey of insect biodiversity of Rawdhat Khorim National Park (RKNP), Central Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). During this study a total of 262 Coleoptera species belong to 182 genera in 35 families were identified, of which 247 are named at a species level. Fifteen species (6.0%) are apparently endemic to KSA. Thirty-eight species ar...

A newly discovered fossil monkey (AUH 1321) from the Baynunah Formation, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is important in a number of distinct ways. At ∼ 6.5-8.0 Ma, it represents the earliest known member of the primate subfamily Cercopithecinae found outside of Africa, and it may also be the earliest cercopithecine in the fossil record. In addition, the fossil appears to represent ...

Tetramorium amalae sp. n. is described and illustrated from Saudi Arabia based on two worker caste specimens collected in Al Bahah region. The new species belongs to the T. shilohense group and appears to be closely related to T. dysderke Bolton from Nigeria. T. amalae is distinguished by having well-developed frontal carinae, smaller eyes, greater head length and width, greater pronotal width,...