The COVID-19 Pandemic: Quantification of Temporal Variations in Air Pollutants Before, During and Post the Lockdown in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia.

The government of Saudi Arabia imposed a strict lockdown between March and July 2020 to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which has led to a sharp decline in economic activities. The daily temporal variations of PM, PM, carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and ozone (O) were used to investigate the changes in air quality in response to COVID-19 lockdown control measures from January to December 2020 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Meteorological parameters (wind speed, direction, temperature, relative humidity) were also analyzed to understand the changes during the pandemic.

Contamination of the marine environment in Egypt and Saudi Arabia with personal protective equipment during COVID-19 pandemic: A short focus.

Plastic pollution and its impact on marine ecosystems are major concerns globally, and the situation was exacerbated after the outbreak of COVID-19. Clean-up campaigns took place during the summer season (June-August 2020) in two coastal cities in Egypt (Alexandria and Hurghada) and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to document the abundance of beach debris through public involvement, and then remove it. A total of 3673, 255, and 848 items were collected from Alexandria, Hurghada, and Jeddah daily, respectively.

Stroke and renal artery stenosis from Takayasu's arteritis diagnosed in a 57-year-old male patient.

Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a rare chronic granulomatous inflammatory arterial disease of unknown etiology that affects the aorta, its main branches and pulmonary artery. The clinical presentation is nonspecific, with signs and symptoms that vary according to the affected arterial segment. The most commonly affected vessel is the subclavian artery, while renal artery stenosis is relatively uncommon.

From waste to plastic: synthesis of poly(3-hydroxypropionate) in Shimwellia blattae.

In recent years, glycerol has become an attractive carbon source for microbial processes, as it accumulates massively as a by-product of biodiesel production, also resulting in a decline of its price. A potential use of glycerol in biotechnology is the synthesis of poly(3-hydroxypropionate) [poly(3HP)], a biopolymer with promising properties which is not synthesized by any known wild-type organism. In this study, the genes for 1,3-propanediol dehydrogenase (dhaT) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (aldD) of Pseudomonas putida KT2442, propionate-coenzyme A (propionate-CoA) transferase (pct) of Clostridium propionicum X2, and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase (phaC1) of Ralstonia eutropha H16 were cloned and expressed in the 1,3-propanediol producer Shimwellia blattae.

Large scale extraction of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) from Ralstonia eutropha H16 using sodium hypochlorite.

Isolation of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) from bacterial cell matter is a critical step in order to achieve a profitable production of the polymer. Therefore, an extraction method must lead to a high recovery of a pure product at low costs. This study presents a simplified method for large scale poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), poly(3HB), extraction using sodium hypochlorite.

Environmental risk factors for diarrhoea among male schoolchildren in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia.

Diarrhoeal disease is still one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity of children in developing countries. Our objective was to assess the prevalence of diarrhoeal disease among male schoolchildren in Jeddah and to identify the associated risk factors, especially those related to drinking water and sanitation disposal. This cross-sectional study was conducted randomly where self-administered questionnaires were issued to parents through the schools.