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[en] The paper discusses the effects of desertification and drought on the well-being of humankind and therefore it important for them to be combated and mitigated. Desertification is the process that turns fertile lands into desert; drought is defined as lack of sufficient precipitation to sustain plant and human life. In an effort to discuss how to combat desertification, the author has subdivided the paper into five sections namely; introduction, ecological crisis, strategies for combating desertification and mitigating the effects of drought and finally the conclusion

[en] Short communication

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[en] Geochemical drainage reconnaissance has been used to investigate the dispersion of uranium and its associated elements in the arid Ad Daww region of central Syria. Low order anomalies of U, accompanied by various combinations of anomalous concentrations of As, Ba, Mo, Se, Sr and V, have been recognized in wadi sediments and groundwaters. In wadi sediments anomalous dispersion trains are short and reflect phosphate rock units and minor occurrences of carnotite and tyuyamunite. Hydrogeochemical anomalies are found mainly in an aquifer in coarse clastic Neogene sediments. These anomalies constitute multielement geochemical signatures similar to those associated with sedimentary uranium deposits. 26 refs. (Author)

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[en] The luminescence sensitivity of coarse quartz extracted from desert sands in northern China was investigated. In general, the western deserts' samples are shown to be less sensitive than samples from the eastern deserts with respect to both OSL and the 110 deg. C TL peak. However, internal scatter among different aliquots of the same sample is observed for these two signals, which have already been normalized by weight. Laboratory dosing/bleach experiments indicate that earth surface processes, such as repeated burial and transportation can cause the sensitivity change and suggest that they may be responsible for the internal scatter. An intrinsic property of quartz was explored via the luminescence response to thermal activation to a maximum temperature of 700 deg. C. The thermal activation curves obtained with quartz from western and central deserts are similar, except one sample from Gurbantungut, which follows the pattern of eastern samples. The differences in quartz luminescence sensitivity exhibited by OSL/110 deg. C TL sensitivity and response to thermal activation are in accordance with the published results of geochemical studies.

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No abstract available

[en] Balanites aegyptiaca is a naturally grown desert plant at some radioactive places in Wadi El-Gemal area, Southeastern Desert. The aim of the present study was to highlight on the B. aegyptiaca species grown naturally at radioactive places in Wadi El-Gemal area (fruit part) on the ability of using the fruit in some biomedical application (glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and diabetes). The investigated plant was collected from different location at Wadi El-Gemal area. The uranium content was determined previously and different concentrations from the fruit with highest uranium content were used to examine the effect of B. aegyptiaca (fruit part) on the glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol (HDL and LDL-cholesterol) levels using experimental rats. Different analysis techniques were used in order to determine different parameters. The obtained data suggest the beneficial role of B. aegyptiaca fruit as an anti-diabetic and hypo-lipidimic agent.