Joseph Azar

In conservation translocation, released animals should have comparable fitness to their wild counterparts to effectively contribute to the species demography. Captive-bred animals frequently exhibit lower fitness performances, which can often be attributed to an inadequate release strategy. Untimely release of migrant animals may interfere with key events such as their migration and breeding. In Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, declining wild populations of Asian houbara (Chlamydotis macqueenii) are reinforced in their breeding grounds with captive-bred individuals. Using data from 6 years of monitoring, we compare eight breeding traits and the productivity of wild and captive-bred females released in two distinct seasons (autumn vs. spring) considering the effects of age and time in the season. Females released in the spring nest prior to their first migration, and females released in the autumn nest following their first migration. Our results highlight that captive-bred and wild female...

The avifauna of the near-border areas along the Jordan River and at the southern and northern tips of the Dead Sea were studied during a survey from mid-July to early August 2005. Around 15 % of the breeding species within the study area do not breed anywhere else in Jordan. These include Black Francolin

INTRODUCTION The placenta is a transitory organ essential for proper fetal maturation and growth. Trophoblasts, the main cell type of the placenta, differentiate along the villous or extravillous pathways. The ability of villous cytotrophoblasts to undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition to form the invasive extravillous trophoblasts is vital for a successful pregnancy outcome. Many trophoblastic cell lines, including HTR-8/SVneo, have been widely used to investigate extravillous trophoblast biology and functions. We have previously reported that HTR-8/SVneo cell line contains a mixed populations of epithelial and mesenchymal cells. Uncovering the mechanisms underlying this heterogeneity is essential for the proper study of normal and pathological placental function. METHODS HTR-8/SVneo was subjected to monoclonal isolation, spheroid formation assay and cell sorting to isolate pure epithelial and mesenchymal populations. These fractions were maintained in culture and assessed for expression of epithelial and mesenchymal markers using quantitative real-time PCR and immunofluorescence. In addition, the implication of TGFβ in the EMT process was investigated using a selective inhibitor of TGF-βR1 (A83-01). RESULTS Passaging of the pure epithelial population maintained under normal culture condition resulted in a shift to a mesenchymal phenotype. This transition was reduced upon inhibiting TGF-βR1. Similarly, E-cadherin positive HTR-8/SVneo spheroids plated in 2D culture resulted in the emergence of streams of invading mesenchymal cells. DISCUSSION HTR-8/SVneo cell line is undergoing EMT under normal culture condition and TGFβ is a key mediator of this process. Our results raise the possibility of using HTR-8/SVneo cell line as a model to investigate EMT in extravillous trophoblast cells.

The present study is the first attempt to investigate the diet, seasonality and distribution of the globally vulnerable Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca in a wintering habitat in Jordan. There was a temporal pattern of observations, with nearly all observations in the northwestern part of the country occurring in late December or January. The main wintering period for Imperial Eagles occurs in January and February where (84.3%) of observations were recorded, peaking in January. Adults predominated, followed by immature birds, with sub-adults being least common. Diet includes 14 identified species of mammals, birds and reptiles. Large domestic animals, most likely consumed as carrion, predominated the food composition of wintering eagles and formed 53.7 % of analyzed food items, followed by presumably live-caught birds (26%) and small and medium sized mammals (19.7%) and reptiles (0.6%) respectively. Trapping was the major threat affecting the Imperial Eagle in its wintering habitat in ...

The applicability of critical plane approaches to predict fatigue life expectancy of drillpipe is investigated. These approaches consist of physically-based damage parameters that are capable of handling complex axial, bending and torsional load histories. Two damage parameters are considered, one based on normal strain amplitude and the other on shear strain amplitude. Comparison of full scale results and data from polished coupons indicate a strong influence of microscopic surface discontinuities. Approaches are presented for dealing with these effects analytically, along with a discussion on effects of realistic drillpipe geometry and loading histories. Fatigue notch factors are estimated and used with the damage parameters. Results are correlated with data from full scale test facilities using Grade E drillpipe.