An-Najah Staff

The aim of this study was to compare milk production and reproductive traits of sheep breeds in the West Bank. The data included 1711 milk records on 1243 ewes and 3682 lambing records on 1837 ewes from the local Awassi breed, Assaf breed, Awassi x Assaf crosses, and two Improved Awassi strains, one of which is carrying the Booroola FecB gene. The data were collected between 2003 and 20١٠ from 21 farms covering five locations in southern West Bank (Dora, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Ramallah) and three locations in northern West Bank (Nablus, Qalqiliya, and Jenin). The results showed significant differences (P < 0.05) in performance among and within breeds in different locations. Milk production was highest for Awassi x Assaf in Nablus and Jenin (least-squares means of 330.6 kg and 267.6 kg for total milk yield in 150 d of lactation, respectively) and Assaf in Jenin (268.1 kg), and was lowest for Awassi in Jerusalem (124.6 kg). The Improved Awassi strain carrying the FecB gene had the highest reproductive performance (mean litter size of 1.69 lambs and mean lambing interval of 304.3d), while the lowest performance was for Awassi (mean litter size of 1.12 to 1.21 lambs and mean lambing interval of 347.3 to 416.6 d). The means of litter size and lambing interval for the Improved Awassi strain not carrying the FecB gene were 1.28 lambs and 353.5d. Introgression of the FecB gene may be utilized to improve reproductive performance of sheep breeds in the West Bank, particularly Awassi. Key words: milk yield, litter size, lambing interval, Awassi, Assaf, West Bank.

Global climate change is predicted as a result of increased concentrations of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. It is predicted that climate change will result in increasing temperature by 2 to 6◦C and a possible reduction of precipitation of up to 16% in the Mediterranean basin. In this study, the West Bank is taken as a case study from the Mediterranean basin to evaluate the effects of such climate change on water resources availability and agricultural water demands. Due to the uncertainty in climate change impacts on temperature and precipitation, a number of scenarios for these impacts were assumed within the range of predicted changes. For temperature, three scenarios of 2, 4 and 6◦C increase were assumed. For precip- itation, two scenarios of no change and 16% precipitation reduction were assumed. Based on these scenarios, monthly evapotranspiration and monthly precipitation excess depths were estimated at seven weather stations distributed over the different climatic and geographical areas of the West Bank. GIS spatial analyses showed that the increase in temperature predicted by climate change could potentially increase agricultural water demands by up to 17% and could also result in reducing annual groundwater recharge by up to 21% of existing values. However, the effects of reduced precipitation resulting from climate change are more enormous as a 16% reduction in precipitation could result in reducing annual groundwater recharge in the West Bank by about 30% of existing value. When this effect is combined with a6◦C increase in temperature, the reduction in groundwater recharge could reach 50%

Pregnancy is a hypercoagulable state with increased tendency for thrombus formation, a condition that is increased when combined with acquired or inherited risk factors that lead to thrombophilia. Among the inherited risk factors is Factor V Leiden mutation, an autosomal dominant trait with reduced penetrance. The mutation seems to be associated with different poor pregnancy outcomes including recurrent miscarriages. In the present study, we performed a case-control study to investigate the association between the Leiden mutation and poor pregnancy outcome among the Palestinian population in the West bank region of Palestine.  The study included 145 subjects with recurrent miscarriages and 205 matched control subjects with successful pregnancies who experienced normal delivery and no apparent complications. Leiden mutation was detected in 41 of the145 study subjects (28.2%), and in 24 of the 205 control subjects (11.7%). Subjects homozygous for the mutant allele were identified only among the test and not the control group. Data analysis indicates a significant association between the mutant allele and recurrent miscarriages (p-value < 0.05). Furthermore, this association is significant between the mutant haplotype with either early or late miscarriages compared to control group. Results show also that a significantly higher frequency of factor V leiden polymorphism among either primary or secondary aborters compared to control groups. The odds ratio for the primary aborters was 9.71and p<0.001, while the ratio for the secondary aborters was 1.14 and p-value =0.007. In conclusion, these results provide evidence for a significant correlation between recurrent miscarriages and Factor V mutation in our population.

In the Palestinian territories, as the country is developing, there is a need to study public transport characteristics. This study is concerned with transportation planning in Palestine. The objective of the study is to collect and analyze information about public transportation ridership behavior by using two different questionnaires for bus riders and shared-taxi riders. The study area was the Northern and Central Governorates of the West Bank. Five hundred and eighty six forms were distributed for intercity bus and shared-taxi riders, which accounted for 5 percent of riders. Questions were about riders' characteristics, trip itself, and changing mode preference for a change in bus fare or waiting time. Results showed that ridership demand elasticity towards the change in bus fare was -1.83 for bus riders and 1.34 for shared-taxi riders. Employees and students who make frequent trips were the most sensitive to mode change based on fare change, reducing waiting time, and availability of express bus services. It is recommended for future research to extend such efforts for the rest of the West Bank governorates and Gaza Strip

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معدل مرونة ركاب الباصات بين المدن في الضفة الغربية
تعنى هذه الدراسة بتخطيط المواصلات في فلسطين، فهناك حاجة لدراسة خصائص المواصلات العامة في المناطق الفلسطينية، حيث إن المنطقة تتطور وتنمو. وتهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تجميع معلومات وتحليلها بوساطة استبانات تم توزيعها على ركاب الحافلات، وسيارات النقل المشترك بين المدن. ومنطقة الدراسة هي المحافظات الشمالية والوسطى في الضفة الغربية. تم توزيع ٥٨٦ استبانة على ركاب النقل العام بين المدن، وهذا العدد يشكل ما يقارب ٥% من مجموع ركاب النقل العام لمنطقة الدراسة. وتحتوي الاست بانات على أسئلة عن خصائص الركاب، والرحلة، ومدى قابلية الركاب لتغيير وسيلة النقل العام نتيجة لتغير أجرة الركوب، وزمن الانتظار. وأظهرت النتائج أن معدل المرونة في الطلب، نتيجة تغير أجرة الركوب ، ه ي ١,٨٣ – لركاب
الحافلات، و ١,٣٤ لركاب سيارات النقل المشترك.وتبين كذلك أن الموظفين والطلبة هم الأكثر تأثرًا بتغير أجرة الركوب وزمن الانتظار، وذلك لكونهم يقومون برحلات شبه يومية، وهم أيضًا معنيون بالوصول إلى غاياتهم في وقت محدد. وتوصي الدراسة، لمن سيقوم بأبحاث مستقبلية، في هذا الموضوع، تناول باقي محافظات الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة في مثل هذا النوع من الدراسة.