Ahmed Al-Ghamdi

Antibiotic, Pesticide, and Microbial Contaminants of Honey: Human Health Hazards

Agricultural contamination with pesticides and antibiotics is a challenging problem that needs to be fully addressed. Bee products, such as honey, are widely consumed as food and medicine and their contamination may carry serious health hazards. Honey and other bee products are polluted by pesticides, heavy metals, bacteria and radioactive materials. Pesticide residues cause genetic mutations and cellular degradation and presence of antibiotics might increase resistant human or animals pathogens. Many cases of infant botulisms have been attributed to contaminated honey. Honey may be very toxic when produced from certain plants. Ingestion of honey without knowing its source and safety might be problematic. Honey should be labeled to explore its origin, composition, and clear statement that it is free from contaminants. Honey that is not subjected for analysis and sterilization should not be used in infants, and should not be applied to wounds or used for medicinal purposes. This article reviews the extent and health impact of honey contamination and stresses on the introduction of a strict monitoring system and validation of acceptable minimal concentrations of pollutants or identifying maximum residue limits for bee products, in particular, honey.

Agriculture satellite image segmentation using a modified artificial Hopfield neural network

Beekeeping plays an important role in increasing and diversifying the incomes of many rural communities in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, despite the regions relatively good rainfall, which results in better forage conditions, bees and beekeepers are greatly affected by seasonal shortages of bee forage. Because of these shortages, beekeepers must continually move their colonies in search of better forage. The aim of this paper is to determine the actual bee forage areas with specific characteristics like population density, ecological distribution, flowering phenology based on color satellite image segmentation. Satellite images are currently used as an efficient tool for agricultural management and monitoring. It is also one of the most difficult image segmentation problems due to factors like environmental conditions, poor resolution and poor illumination. Pixel clustering is a popular way of determining the homogeneous image regions, corresponding to the different land cover types, based on their spectral properties. In this paper Hopfield neural network (HNN) is introduced as Pixel clustering based segmentation method for agriculture satellite images.

Geographical distribution and population variation of Apis mellifera jemenitica Ruttner

Summary The races of Apis mellifera L. have evolved as a result of long periods of geographical isolation and ecological adaptation. Among these subspecies, A. m. jemenitica Ruttner 1976 (Rutter 1976c) is particularly interesting because it is the only race reported to occur naturally in both Africa and Asia. According to the literature, its natural distribution is extremely large, extending for 4,500 km from the Arabian Peninsula to West Africa. However, different populations of A. m. jemenitica exhibit a high degree of morphometric variation. Moreover, published classifications of the subspecies do not agree; different names, including A. m. nubi, A. m. sudanensis, and A. m. bandasiihave been applied to different populations of A. m. jemenitica. Although African and Asian A. m. jemenitica are reported to be morphometrically similar, genetic data have not shown African A. m. jementtica to be genetically closer to the Asian A. m. jementtica than to adjacent, contiguous African subspecies like A. m. litorea, A. m. adansoniiand A. m. scutellata, which exchange genes continuously. Moreover, the African and Asian groups differ in migratory, aggressive, and brood-rearing behaviours. Thus, categorizing the geographically-isolated Asian and the African groups of A. m. jemenitica as one honey bee race is questionable. The other important issue is that the present homelands of A. m. jemenitica (near East Asia and East Africa) have been suggested as the geographic origin of A. mellifera. The existence of close similar population in both continents may support the suggestion that either of these two regions as may be the centre of origin and diversification of Apis mellifera.

Nectar secretion dynamics and honey production potentials of some major honey plants in Saudi Arabia

The contribution of a bee plant species to honey production depends on the plant’s nectar secretion quality and quantity, which is mainly governed by biotic and abiotic factors. The aim of the current study, was to investigate the nectar secretion dynamics and honey production potential of 14 major bee plant species of the target area. We examined the quantity and dynamics of nectar sugar per flower five times a day using a nectar sugar washing technique and direct measuring of nectar with calibrated capillary tubes. The average nectar sugar amount of the species varied from 0.41 mg/flower to 7.7 mg/flower (P < 0.0001). The honey sugar per flower was used to extrapolate the honey production potential per plant and per hectare of land. Accordingly the honey production potential of the species observed to vary from 14 kg/hectare in Otostegia fruticosa to 829 kg/hectare in Ziziphus spina-christi. The nectar secretion dynamics of the species generally showed an increasing trend early in the morning, peaking toward midday, followed by a decline but different species observed to have different peak nectar secretion times. Generally, the tree species secreted more nectar sugar/flower than the herbs. The nectar secretion amount of the species was positively correlated with the ambient temperature, indicating the adaptation of the species to hot climatic conditions. However, different species were observed to have a different optimum temperature for peak nectar secretion. Despite the limited rainfall and high temperature of the area, many plants were found to have good potential for honey production. The monetary value of honey per hectare of the studied honeybee plant species can be of equal or greater than the per-hectare monetary value of some cultivated crops that require numerous inputs. In addition, the information generated is believed to be useful in apiary site selection and to estimate the honey bee colony carrying capacity of an area.

New approach for determination of an optimum honeybee colony's carrying capacity based on productivity and nectar secretion potential of bee forage species.

The present study was carried out to determine an optimum honeybee colony’s carrying capacity of selected valleys dominated by Ziziphus spina-christi and Acacia tortilis in the Al-Baha region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted based on the assessment of the number of colonies kept, their productivities and the existing productive bee forage resources in the target valleys with its economic implication. In the existing beekeeping practice, the average number of managed honeybee colonies introduced per square kilometer was 530 and 317 during the flowering period of Z. spina-christi and A. tortilis, respectively. Furthermore, the overall ratios of productive bee forage plants to the number of honeybee colonies introduced were 0.55 and 11.12 to Ziziphus trees and A. tortilis shrubs respectively. In the existing situation the average honey production potential of 5.21 and 0.34 kg was recorded per Ziziphus and A. tortilis plants per flowering season, respectively. The present study, revealed that the number of honeybee colonies introduced in relation to the existing bee forage potential was extremely overcrowding which is beyond the carrying capacity of bee forage resources in selected valleys and it has been observed to affect the productivities and subsequent profitability of beekeeping. The study infers that, by keeping the optimum honeybee colony’s carrying capacity of valleys (88 traditional hives/km2 or 54 Langstroth hives/km2 in Ziziphus field and 72 traditional hives/km2 or 44 Langstroth hives/km2 in A. tortilis field), profitability of beekeeping can be boosted up to 130.39% and 207.98% during Z. spina-christi and A. tortilis, flowering seasons, respectively.

Determining spatio-temporal distribution of bee forage species of Al-Baha region based on ground inventorying supported with GIS applications and Remote Sensed Satellite Image analysis

In arid zones, the shortage of bee forage is critical and usually compels beekeepers to move their colonies in search of better forages. Identifying and mapping the spatiotemporal distribution of the bee forages over given area is important for better management of bee colonies. In this study honey bee plants in the target areas were inventoried following, ground inventory work supported with GIS applications. The study was conducted on 85 large plots of 50 × 50 m each. At each plot, data on species name, height, base diameter, crown height, crown diameter has been taken for each plant with their respective geographical positions. The data were stored, and processed using Trimble GPS supported with ArcGIS10 software program. The data were used to estimate the relative frequency, density, abundance and species diversity, species important value index and apicultural value of the species. In addition, Remotely Sensed Satellite Image of the area was obtained and processed using Hopfield Artificial Neural Network techniques. During the study, 182 species from 49 plant families were identified as bee forages of the target area. From the total number of species; shrubs, herbs and trees were accounting for 61%, 27.67%, and 11.53% respectively. Of which Ziziphus spina-christi, Acacia tortilis, Acacia origina, Acacia asak, Lavandula dentata, and Hypoestes forskaolii were the major nectar source plants of the area in their degree of importance. The average vegetation cover values of the study areas were low (<30%) with low Shannon’s species diversity indices (H′) of 0.5–1.52 for different sites. Based on the eco-climatological factors and the variations in their flowering period, these major bee forage species were found to form eight distinct spatiotemporal categories which allow beekeepers to migrate their colonies to exploit the resources at different seasons and place. The Remote Sensed Satellite Image analysis confirmed the spatial distribution of the bee forage resources as determined by the ground inventory work. An integrated approach, combining the ground inventory work with GIS and satellite image processing techniques could be an important tool for characterizing and mapping the available bee forage resources leading to their efficient and sustainable utilization.

Advancing pharmaceuticals and patient safety in Saudi Arabia: A 2030 vision initiative

Low-quality medicines deliver sub-optimal clinical outcomes and waste precious health resources. It is important to ensure that public funds are spent on healthcare technologies that meet national regulatory bodies such as the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), quality standards for safety, efficacy, and quality. Medicines quality is a complicated combination of pre-market regulatory specifications, appropriate sourcing of ingredients (active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), excipients, etc.), manufacturing processes, healthcare ecosystem communications, and regular and robust pharmacovigilance practices. A recent conference in Riyadh, sponsored by King Saud University, sought to discuss these issues and develop specific policy recommendations for the Saudi 2030 Vision plan. This and other efforts will require more and more creative educational programs for physicians, pharmacists, hospitals, and patients, and, most importantly evolving regulations on quality standards and oversight by Saudi health authorities.

Characterization of honeys by their botanical and geographical origins based on physico-chemical properties and chemo-metrics analysis

Honey, because of its nutritional and medicinal values, is in high demand and has become one of the important commodities. However, the issue of its quality and authenticity remain as important factors in consumption and marketing of honey. To assess the possibility of discriminating honeys by their geographical and botanical origins; 30 fresh honey samples of different botanical and geographical origins were collected and their major physico-chemical properties such as: total dissolved sugar (TDS), total ash, sugar profile, acidity, metallic ions and electric conductivity (EC) were investigated. The data was subjected to different chemo-metric (Hierarchical Cluster, Principal components and stepwise discriminant) analysis. Among the 23 characters used in the analysis; only 11 (TDS, EC, acidity, total ash, colour, and some specific metallic ions) characters have showed significant variations among different origin honeys. According to the stepwise discriminant analysis; 11 variables confirmed the grouping of the honey samples into four cluster groups based on their botanical and geographical origins. The clustering of the honeys associated with dominant plant source & climatic conditions of their origins. The study generally revealed the successful discrimination of honeys into their botanical and geographical provenances using fewer physico-chemical characters supported with melissopalynological data through applying suitable chemo-metric analysis.

Drug shortages in large hospitals in Riyadh: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Drug shortages are a serious and complex issue in any healthcare system. We conducted this study because the prevalence of drug shortages in Saudi Arabia is largely unknown, while there have been reports of shortages. OBJECTIVE To explore the prevalence and characteristics of drug shortages as well as identify strategies to minimize their impact on patient care and safety in large hospitals. DESIGN Questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. SETTING Pharmacy departments in secondary and tertiary care hospitals in the city of Riyadh. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Pharmacists in ten hospitals, categorized as Ministry of Health [MOH], MOH-affiliated medical cities, and non-MOH, were recruited using convenience sampling. The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists drug shortage questionnaire was administered to survey pharmacists about drug shortages in their hospitals. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Percentages of drug class shortages, characteristics, and strategies to minimize impact on patient care and safety across each hospital sector. RESULTS Of 200 pharmacists invited to participate, 120 pharmacists completed the questionnaire (60% response rate). Twenty-four percent were from MOH hospitals, 32% from MOH-affiliated medical cities, and 44% from non-MOH hospitals. A significantly higher percentage of pharmacists from MOH-affiliated medical cities (42.11%) reported encountering drug shortages on a daily basis compared to 13.79% and 15.09% of participants from MOH-hospitals and non-MOH hospitals, respectively (P=.001). The top three drug classes that ≥ 25% of participants reported having shortages of were cardiovascular, antineoplastic, and endocrine drugs. The two most common strategies that were reported to minimize the impact of drug shortages on patient care by more than 70% of participants were informing prescribers and recommending alternative drugs, and alerting hospital staff about the presence of drug shortages using new communication tools. CONCLUSIONS The relatively high reported rates of drug shortages in some hospitals should encourage health policymakers to address this serious public health problem. LIMITATIONS The generazibility of the study’s findings were limited by the small sample size, convenience sampling technique, self-reported data, and the fact that only pharmacists were invited to participate.

Crematogaster chiarinii ants as a potential biological control agent for protecting honeybee colonies from attack by Dorylus quadratus driver ants in Ethiopia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Driver ants of the genus Dorylus are well known across tropical Africa for their aggressive foraging swarms. Although these swarms have beneficial effects in clearing out invertebrate pests; they destroy thousands of honeybee colonies and, accordingly, cause significant economic losses. Fear of driver ant attack leads most beekeepers in tropical Africa to hang their beehives high up on trees, making proper bee management difficult and limiting the involvement of women and the elderly. In Ethiopia, forest beekeepers have recognized that beehives hung on trees containing nests of an arboreal ant Crematogaster chiarinii Emery 1881 remain safe from invasion by swarms of a driver ant Dorylus quadratus Santschi 1914. In the present study, we report investigations into the mode and efficacy of the C. chiarinii defence system, as well as the potential for increasing its populations and enhancing this biological protection.