, I. Fayad. Coupling SAR C-band and optical data for soil moisture and leaf area index retrieval over irrigated grasslands. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, IEEE, 2015, pp.1-15. 10.1109/JSTARS.2015 Coupling SAR C-band and optical data for soil moisture and leaf area index retrieval over irrigated grasslands

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During pregnancy, woman’s diet is one of the most preeminent factors affecting mother and child’s health. Prior to the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, inadequate maternal diet and low adherence to dietary guidelines was reported among pregnant women in the Arab countries. Nowadays, COVID-19 infection during pregnancy is widely discussed among literature. However, there is limited data on the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on non-infected pregnant women. This substantially larger group also suffered significant lifestyle changes during the lockdown period. The aim of the study is to characterize dietary patterns, intake and adherence to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) pregnancy guidelines before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Arab pregnant women. Using a specially designed questionnaire and using the snowball sampling method, the survey was carried out among a convenient sample of 1,939 pregnant women from five Arab countries. Our study found an increment in the consumption of cereals, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meats, and nuts that occurred during the pandemic compared to the preceding period. Despite this noticeable increase during the pandemic, the Arab pregnant women in this study had significantly lower adherence to the USDA pregnancy guidelines. The daily consumption of almost all food groups was lower than the USDA’s daily recommendations, except for fruits intake, which was higher than the daily standard. Demonstrated poor adherence to prenatal USDA dietary guidelines by Arab pregnant women can lead to numerous deficiencies and health risks among their offspring. In conclusion, our study showed that before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, poor adherence to dietary recommendations occurred in a considerable number of Arab pregnant women. The findings emphasize the need for nutritional education and intervention during prenatal visits.

Diabetes mellitus has long been seen as a substantial economic burden on patients, their families, and society. Impairment in blood sugar regulation has major health repercussions. Furthermore, untreated diabetes causes major chronic complications like blindness, renal failure, and heart failure, as well as an increase in associated mortality. New anti-diabetic medicines are being researched to help alleviate this issue. Conventional Anti-diabetic medications are beneficial, several synthetic drugs are available in the market to treat diabetes, but they are costly and come with inevitable adverse effects. Medicinal plants, on the other hand, may serve as an alternate source of anti-diabetic agents. According to the World Health Organization, 80 % of the population in underdeveloped nations still relies on traditional medicines or folk medicines, which are largely made from plants, for disease prevention or treatment. For instance, anti- proliferative, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperglycemic effects. In order to find a natural anti-diabetic source that comes with less side effects, several studies have been conducted. The aim of this work is to review these studies and highlight the potential of plants when it comes to their anti-diabetic effect.

There are between three and five million viral infections annually. And normally viral infections are being managed therapeutically through available antiviral regimens with unsatisfactory clinical outcomes. So chemically synthesized drugs can be replaced by secondary metabolites from medicinal plants, which are healthier, safer, and cheaper alternatives. Phytomolecules have been employed as antiviral medicines against a variety of viruses since they can inhibit them directly through blocking their entry or throughout the replication phases, in addition to their use as adjuvant treatments in respiratory infections. For instance, the newly emerged COVID-19 is causing one of the most disruptive pandemics in this century. Thus, phytomolecules offer a ray of hope for human health amid pandemics such as COVID-19. This review provides updated data on the secondary metabolites with different antiviral activities.

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