Because of the scarcity of observational data, existing estimates of the heat and water budgets of the Persian Gulf are rather uncertain. This uncertainty leaves open the fundamental question ofwhether this water body is a net heat source or a net heat sink to the atmosphere. Previous regional modeling studies either used specified surface fluxes to simulate the hydrodynamics of the Gulf or pre...

We employ a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model (COHERENS) in a fully prognostic mode to study the circulation and water mass properties of the Persian Gulf – a large inverse estuary. Our findings, which are in good agreement with observational evidence, suggest that the Persian Gulf experiences a distinct seasonal cycle in which a gulfwide cyclonic overturning circulation establishes in sprin...

The reporting of pain was compared for U.K. Persian Gulf War veterans, veterans from the Bosnian conflict, and personnel employed in the military at the time of the Persian Gulf War but not deployed (era comparison group). Pain manikins were used to assess the prevalence of the reporting of pain in different body sites and the prevalence of the reporting of widespread pain, in relation to compa...

Troops in the Persian Gulf War have registered complaints consistent with CNS dysfunction that emerged after returning from the Gulf. A common experience among Persian Gulf War veterans was exposure to pyridostigmine bromide (PB) for prophylaxis against nerve gas exposure. To determine whether PB causes emergent CNS dysfunction, Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were given PB for ...

Iran’s security is affected by a broad region that includes the Caspian Basin, Central Asia, Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf states, Pakistan, Turkey, and the Middle East. However, an increased focus on the countries of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), as well as Iraq, on the one hand, and with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (including Yemen) on the other, provides a na...

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...