In Saudi Arabia, the consumption of carbonated soft drinks is common and often occurs with each meal. Carbonated soft drink consumption has been shown to exhibit effects on the liver, kidney and bone. However, the effects of these soft drinks on brain activity have not been widely examined, particularly at the gene level. Therefore, the current study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the effects of chronic carbonated soft drink consumption on oxidative stress, brain gene biomarkers associated with aggression and brain histology. In total, 40 male Wistar rats were divided into four groups: Group 1 served as a control and was provided access to food and water ad libitum; and groups 2‑4 were given free access to food and carbonated soft drinks only (Cola for group 2, Pepsi for group 3 and 7‑UP for group 4). Animals were maintained on these diets for 3 consecutive months. Upon completion of the experimental period, animals were sacrificed and serological and histopathological analyses were performed on blood and tissues samples. Reverse transcription‑polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze alterations in gene expression levels. Results revealed that carbonated soft drinks increased the serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA). Carbonated soft drinks were also observed to downregulate the expression of antioxidants glutathione reductase (GR), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in the brain when compared with that in the control rats. Rats administered carbonated soft drinks also exhibited decreased monoamine oxidase A (MAO‑A) and acetylcholine esterase (AChE) serum and mRNA levels in the brain. In addition, soft drink consumption upregulated mRNA expression of dopamine D2 receptor (DD2R), while 5-hydroxytryptamine transporter (5‑HTT) expression was decreased. However, following histological examination, all rats had a normal brain structure. The results of this study demonstrated that that carbonated soft drinks induced oxidative stress and altered the expression of certain genes that are associated with the brain activity and thus should be consumed with caution.

A dust storm is the main attenuation factor that can disturb receiving radio signals in arid climate condition as in Saudi Arabia. This paper presents a study on the effect of dust storms on the received radio frequency power in a homogenous environment in the city of Riyadh. A number of micrometer and millimeter wave links have been considered along with several measured dust storm data to investigate the dust storm effects. The results showed that dust storm can critically influence the communication link and this effect grows up as the physical distance between the transmitter and the receiver increases. The negative effect of the dust storm apparently appears at high-frequency bands allocated for the next communication generation (5G) which imposes finding solutions to mitigate the effects of this phenomenon.

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The assembly of profound global developmental and intellectual delay, short stature and severe growth restriction, certain characteristic dysmorphic facial features, with the occasional inclusion of behavioral abnormalities, sensory disturbances, as well as some vague bony involvement that can be rather inconsistent, all constitute an extraordinarily uncommon clinical entity coined as “Alazami Syndrome”, the diagnosis of which can be further established by genetic studies confirming the autosomal recessive biallelic frameshift mutations in the LARP7 gene, culminating in a complex and novel form of primordial dwarfism (PD). Herein, we report a patient presenting with this disease, comorbid with pathogenetic variants in SEPSECS mRNA as well, which cause an amalgamation of central nervous system anomalies that include microcephaly, atrophy, mental retardation, and epilepsy, termed as “Pontocerebellar hypoplasia”, accentuating the rarity of our case, as no such variants of these ailments have been formerly defined in preexisting literature. Genetic sequencing of our patient provides further affirmation of the culpability of the pathogenetic variants for each respective condition, and which suggests a potential connection between Alazami syndrome and other genetic malformation disorders. Keywords: Alazami, syndrome, Saudi, girl, case, report

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