Syria Sy - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Syria Sy

Four further circular ssDNA components (C7-C10), about 1 kb in size and structurally similar to t... more Four further circular ssDNA components (C7-C10), about 1 kb in size and structurally similar to the previously described components (C1-C6) found associated with a Syrian (Sy) isolate of faba bean necrotic yellows virus (FBNYV), have been identified. Similar to C1 and C2, two of the new components (C7 and C9) encode putative replicationassociated (Rep) proteins of 33n2 and 32n7 kDa, respectively, the former of which is 90 % identical to the C10 Rep protein of milk vetch dwarf virus (MDV). C8 encodes a putative protein (17n4 kDa) whose function is unknown, but which is highly conserved between FBNYV and the other nanoviruses MDV, subterranean clover stunt virus and banana bunchy top virus. The putative protein (19n7 kDa) encoded by C10 contains an LXCXE motif, which is also 0001-5646 # 1998 SGM DBAB L. Katul and others L. Katul and others

We propose an informative dialect recognition system that learns phonetic transformation rules, a... more We propose an informative dialect recognition system that learns phonetic transformation rules, and uses them to identify dialects. A hidden Markov model is used to align reference phones with dialectspecific pronunciations to characterize when and how often substitutions, insertions, and deletions occur. Decision tree clustering is used to find context-dependent phonetic rules. We ran recognition tasks on 4 Arabic dialects. Not only do the proposed systems perform well on their own, but when fused with baselines they improve performance by 21-36% relative. In addition, our proposed decision-tree system beats the baseline monophone system in recovering phonetic rules by 21% relative. Pronunciation rules learned by our proposed system quantify the occurrence frequency of known rules, and suggest rule candidates for further linguistic studies.

Euphytica, 1991

The Near East Fertile Crescent extending from Iran to Israel is the centre of origin of cultivate... more The Near East Fertile Crescent extending from Iran to Israel is the centre of origin of cultivated barley and a region of great genetic diversity in wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum C. Koch (syn. H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum (C. Koch Thell)). Wild barley accessions collected from different parts of this region were evaluated for their reactions to infection with three isolates of Erysiphe graminis hordei and two of Puccinia hordei. One culture of each pathogen was isolated in Israel and the others, either in Japan or the United States. Out of a total of 330 wild barley accessions collected from 14 sites in Iran, Turkey and Syria, only 18.8% were resistant to the Israeli culture, and 14.8% were resistant to a composite of the Japanese and American cultures of E. graminis hordei. Out of 105 accessions collected from six sites in Iran and Turkey, none was found to be resistant to the Israeli culture and 34.3% were resistant to the American culture of P. hordei. Considerable variation was observed both within and among sites for reactions to infection with different cultures of each of the two pathogens. The results of this study were compared with those of an earlier study involving wild barley accessions from Israel to illustrate the relative importance of different subregions in the Near East Fertile Crescent as sources of new genes for resistance to E. graminis hordei and P. hordei. Implications of these studies for in situ conservation of genetic diversity in wild barley are discussed.

European Journal of Plant Pathology, 1989

One of the faba bean viruses found in West Asia and North Africa was identified as broad bean mot... more One of the faba bean viruses found in West Asia and North Africa was identified as broad bean mottle virus (BBMV) by host reactions, particle morphology and size, serology, and granular, often vesiculated cytoplasmic inclusions. Detailed research on four isolates, one each from Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan and Syria, provided new information on the virus. The isolates, though indistinguishable in ELISA or gel-diffusion tests, differed slightly in host range and symptoms. Twenty-one species (12 legumes and 9 non-legumes) out of 27 tested were systemically infected, and 14 of these by all four isolates. Infection in several species was symptomless, but major legumes such as chickpea, lentil and especially pea, suffered severely from infection. All 23 genotypes of faba bean, 2 of chickpea, 4 of lentil, 11 out of 21 ofPhaseolus bean, and 16 out of 17 of pea were systemically sensitive to the virus. Twelve plant species were found to be new potential hosts and cucumber a new local-lesion test plant of the virus. BBMV particles occurred in faba bean plants in very high concentrations and seed transmission in this species (1.37%) was confirmed. An isolate from Syria was purified and two antisera were produced, one of which was used in ELISA to detect BBMV in faba bean field samples. Two hundred and three out of the 789 samples with symptoms suggestive of virus infection collected in 1985, 1986 and 1987, were found infected with BBMV: 4 out of 70 (4/70) tested samples from Egypt, 0/44 from Lebanon, 1/15 from Morocco, 46/254 from Sudan, 72/269 from Syria and 80/137 from Tunisia. This is the first report on its occurrence in Egypt, Syria and Tunisia. The virus is a potential threat to crop improvement in the region. Eén van de in West-Azië en Noord-Afrika in faba-boon aangetroffen virussen werd geïdentificeerd als het tuinbonevlekkenvirus (‘broad bean mottle virus’) op grond van waardplantreacties, deeltjesvorm en-grootte, serologische eigenschappen en granulaire, vaak ‘gevacuoliseerde’ celinsluitsels. Verder onderzoek aan vier isolaten uit respectievelijk Marokko, Tunesië, Soedan en Syrië verschafte nieuwe informatie, over het virus. De in ELISA of gel-diffusietoetsen serologisch niet te onderscheiden isolaten verschilden enigszins in waardplantenreeks en symptomen. Van 27 getoetste plantesoorten werden 21 systemisch geïnfecteerd (12 vlinderbloemigen, en 9 niet-vlinderbloemigen) waarvan 14 door alle vier isolaten. In vele ervan was de infectie symptoomloos, maar belangrijke als gewas geteelde vlinderbloemigen, zoals erwt, linzen en kekererwt, leden ernstig onder aantasting. Alle 23 getoetste faba-boongenotypen, beide van kekererwt, alle vier van linzen, 11 van de 21 getoetste vanPhaseolus-boon en 16 van de 17 van erwt bleken systemisch gevoelig voor het virus. Twaalf plantesoorten, bleken nieuwe potentiële waardplanten en komkommer een nieuwe lokale-lesietoetsplant voor het virus te zijn. In faba-boneplanten kwam, het virus in hoge concentratie voor en overdracht met zaad (1.37%) in deze soort kon worden bevestigd. Een Syrisch isolaat werd gezuiverd en twee antisera werden bereid, waarvan één werd gebruikt voor de detectie van het virus in te velde verzamelde monsters. Van 789 in 1985 tot en met 1987 verzamelde bladmonsters, met symptomen die deden denken aan virusinfectie, bleken 203 het virus te bevatten en wel 4 van de 70 (4/70) uit Egypte, 0/44 uit Libanon, 1/15 uit Marokko, 46/254 uit Soedan, 72/269 uit Syrië en 80/137 uit Tunesië. Het virus was nog niet eerder aangetoond in Egypte, Syrië en Tunesië. De grote verbreiding, grote kunstmatige waardplantenreeks, overdracht met zaad, en pathogeniteit voor een aantal belangrijke vlinderbloemige gewassen maken het virus tot een potentiële bedreiging van de programma's tot verbetering van de teelt van de bedoelde gewassen in het betrokken gebied.

American Journal of Human Genetics, 2001

The origins and dispersal of farming and pastoral nomadism in southwestern Asia are complex, and ... more The origins and dispersal of farming and pastoral nomadism in southwestern Asia are complex, and there is controversy about whether they were associated with cultural transmission or demic diffusion. In addition, the spread of these technological innovations has been associated with the dispersal of Dravidian and Indo-Iranian languages in southwestern Asia. Here we present genetic evidence for the occurrence of two major population movements, supporting a model of demic diffusion of early farmers from southwestern Iran-and of pastoral nomads from western and central Asia-into India, associated with Dravidian and Indo-European-language dispersals, respectively.

BMC Research Notes, 2011

Background Delay in diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) may enhance the chances of morbi... more Background Delay in diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) may enhance the chances of morbidity and mortality and play a key role in continuous transmission of the bacilli. The objective of this study was to describe health care seeking behavior of suspected TB patients and initial diagnostic work up prior to consultation and diagnosis at National TB Center (NTC). Findings Interviews of 252 sputum smear positive patients were taken from NTC, Rawalpindi. The duration between on-set of symptoms and start of treatment was considered as the total delay and correlated with general characteristics of TB patients. The proportion of males and females were 49.6% and 50.4% with median age of 25 and 24 years respectively. A median delay of 56 days (8 weeks) was observed which was significantly associated with age, cough and fever. More than 50% of the current patients had a history of contact with previously diagnosed TB patients. The majority of patients (63%) visited health care providers within three weeks of appearance of symptoms but only thirty five percent were investigated for TB diagnosis. Conclusion Cough and fever are being ignored as likely symptoms of TB by patients as well as health care providers resulting in delay. Engaging private practitioners through public private mix (PPM) approach for expansion of TB diagnosis and increasing public awareness could be more beneficial to reduce delay.

Euphytica, 2011

Molecular diversity of 40 accessions of Tibetan wild barley (TB), 10 Syrian (SY), 72 North Americ... more Molecular diversity of 40 accessions of Tibetan wild barley (TB), 10 Syrian (SY), 72 North American (NA), 36 European (EU), 9 South American (SA) and 8 Australian (AU) varieties were characterized using multiple microsatellite loci. The 42 SSR primers amplified 278 alleles across the 175 barley accessions tested in the present study. The average gene diversity for the whole sample was 0.3387 whereas the mean value for the each population was as follows: TB = 0.3286, SY = 0.2474, EU = 0.299, AU = 0.2867, NA = 0.3138, SA = 0.2536. Clustering analysis based on Nei’s original genetic distance showed that the EU and NA barley populations were grouped together. The TB population was well separated from the other 5 barley populations. Associations between microsatellite markers and 14 quantitative traits were also investigated. Significant associations were found for 18 microsatellite marker loci. The number of marker loci associated with each trait ranged from one (stem diameter, filled grains per plant, grain weight per plant, length of main spike and awn length) to seven (plant height). The percentage of the total variation explained by each marker ranged from 4.59% (HVM2 associated with plant height) to 17.48% (Bmac90 associated with density of main spike). This study provides candidate markers for further QTL mapping of these traits and for marker-assisted selection.

Human Genetics, 1997

Immortalized B lymphocytes from Werner syndrome subjects are shown to be hypersensitive to 4-nitr... more Immortalized B lymphocytes from Werner syndrome subjects are shown to be hypersensitive to 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO), supporting earlier work on T lymphocytes. We also show that B cell lines from clinically normal heterozygous carriers exhibit sensitivities to this genotoxic agent, which are intermediate to those of wild-type and homozygous mutants. 4NQO is shown to induce an apoptotic response. These data encourage research on DNA repair with such cell lines and raise the question of an enhanced sensitivity of the relatively prevalent heterozygous carriers to certain environmental genotoxic agents.

British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 1994