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Environment quality and its determinants are one of the main challenges of the present and future of humanity and sustainable development is interpreted in the direction of preserving and improving the environment. In recent years, many studies have been conducted on the factors affecting environmental quality. One of the main topics that have been less considered in the related studies is the impact of governance on the quality of the environment. In this study, the impact of good governance components, including economic freedom, trade freedom, and political freedom, on the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and its sub-indices including environmental health, ecosystem vitality, and climate change is investigated. The data required for statistical analysis are related to Middle East and North Africa region countries and Turkiye (MENAT) during 2000-2021. The panel data method was used to estimate the model and examine the relationship between the variables. The findings show that there is a positive and significant relationship between economic freedom and political freedom with the environmental performance index (EPI), and there is no significant relationship between trade freedom and EPI. In addition, the study found that economic freedom had a detrimental effect on ecosystem vitality and climate change, leading to negative impacts in these areas. However, it had a positive impact on environmental health, indicating that it contributed positively to this aspect. On the other hand, political freedom was observed to have a positive effect on the vitality of the ecosystem and climate change. However, it did not have a significant impact on the overall health of the environment, suggesting that its influence was more prominent in specific areas related to ecosystem vitality and climate change. The result of this research showed that economic freedom has led to more investment in the oil and gas sector of MENA countries, and therefore wastewater and gas emissions have had a negative impact on the vitality of the environment and climate change, but with the increase in production and sales of oil and Gas, per capita income of countries has increased, and environmental health has improved. Also, considering that political freedom among the MENA region has a lot of diversity, the results showed that the countries with more political freedom, through greater awareness of the society and more accountability of the governments and the establishment of environmental protection laws, had a positive impact on the environment. Of course, the environmental health index is more influenced by the economic situation and per capita production of countries and political freedom has little effect on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the earlier notions that attributed the transformation of the Near East in the mid-7th century a.d. to war and the Islamic Arab conquest, recently the role of the climate is also being underscored. Archaeological investigation of the Sasanian landscape in the Mughan Steppe, Iranian Azerbaijan, contributes to a growing body of data documenting the urban collapse affected by environmental factors during Late Antiquity. Using results from surveys and excavations at Ultan Qalası, we focus on the possible correlation between flooding and settlement collapse during the Sasanian era in the Mughan Steppe. In addition, we draw on available CORONA imagery. The results from archaeological investigations indicate that almost all of the Sasanian settlements and irrigation systems were abandoned after a period of intense activity. We argue that the flooding and further riverbed incisions of the Aras River was one of the causes of the abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long term outcome of young patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) has not been described in the Middle East. Objectives: To evaluate the risk factors, presentations, clinical assessments and long term outcome of young patients as compared with older patients with acute coronary syndrome. Methods: The multi-center, prospective Arabian Gulf Registry of Acute Coronary Events (Gulf RACE-2) was used to determine the long term outcome of young patients with ACS. Results: Sixty-five hospitals in 6 Arabian Gulf countries enrolled 7930 ACS patients from October 2008 to June 2009. Patients were divided in to two groups. Group A ⩽40years, 686 pts (8.7%) with mean age of 36±4years and Group B >40years, 7244 pts (91.3%). Group A had a higher prevalence of STEMI (62% vs. 42.9%; P <0.001), male gender (91.3% vs. 77.6%; P <0.001), smoking (61.5% vs. 33.2%; P <0.001) and a lower prevalence of diabetes (18% vs. 42.2%; P <0.001), hypertension (21.4% vs. 50.2%; P <0.001) and hyperlipidemia (22% vs. 38.9%; P <0.001) as compared to Group B. However, in-hospital, 30days and 1-year mortality rate were significantly lower in Group A compared with Group B (1.9% vs. 4.8%, 4.4% vs. 8.5% and 5.7% vs. 13.2%, respectively; P <0.001 for all comparisons). Conclusion: ACS among young adults is a major concern. There is a need for prevention programs to control smoking epidemic by targeting young adults in the population. Our study documented for the first time long term outcome among young patients with ACS in the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forcibly displaced populations are among the most vulnerable groups in disasters. They experience poorer health conditions compared with nondisplaced individuals. However, a clear picture is lacking regarding the overall health problems encountered by disaster-induced mid- to long-term displaced people. This study investigated these disorders prevalence and identified their correlates among long-settled displaced populations worldwide. The current scoping review follows the PRISMA-ScR guidelines; a systematic search was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, and CINAHL and included original peer-reviewed studies, commentary, reviews, and grey literature published in English between January 1990 to June 2022. In the thematic and content analysis, the authors applied the narrative review approach to identify themes and sub-themes. Forty-eight documents were identified as fully relevant to this study. The largest number of published papers were from Asia, followed by the Middle East, the United States, and Europe. IDPs in developed countries were the most researched populations. Human-made disasters were addressed by 89% of the included studies. The four main thematic categories included were "physical health," "mental health," "inadequate facilities," and "lack of healthy behaviour." The worsening of noncommunicable diseases had the highest prevalence, followed by communicable diseases. Due to their condition, forcibly displaced migrants face a triple burden of communicable diseases and noncommunicable diseases such as mental health issues. Health-related research and policy need to consider the links among disasters, health problems, and forced migration as a determinant of health in the new era of climate change-driven displacements.

Hypertension is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity globally. This study aimed to obtain an overall regional estimate of the prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension and present the disease pattern based on the age and time in the Middle East region. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Medline for articles on the prevalence of hypertension, pre-hypertension among countries of the Middle East region from 1999 to 2019. STATA-14 was used to analyze the data. Data were pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis model, and heterogeneity between studies was assessed using I 2 test and subgroup analysis. A total of eighty-three studies with 479816 participants met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis process. The overall prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension in the Middle East region were 24.36% (95% CI: 19.06-31.14) and 28. 60% (95% CI: 24.19-33.80), respectively. An increasing trend in the prevalence of hypertension was observed with the increasing age. The prevalence of hypertension in the ≤ 49-year-old age group was 17.13% (95% CI: 13.79-21.27) and in people over 60 years was 61.24% (95% CI: 55.30-67.81) (P < 0.001). This pattern has been similar among both males and females. On the other hand, a decreasing trend in the prevalence of pre-hypertension was observed with the increasing age. The increasing trend in the prevalence of hypertension and decreasing trend in the prevalence of pre-hypertension with age are significant concerns in the Middle East region. Screening for the prevention and control of hypertension should prioritize public health programs., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Background: Social networks are a good source for monitoring public health during the outbreak of COVID-19, these networks play an important role in identifying useful information., Objectives: This study aims to draw a comparison of the public's reaction in Twitter among the countries of West Asia (a.k.a Middle East) and North Africa in order to make an understanding of their response regarding the same global threat., Methods: 766,630 tweets in four languages (Arabic, English French, and Farsi) tweeted in March 2020, were investigated., Results: The results indicate that the only common theme among all languages is "government responsibilities (political)" which indicates the importance of this subject for all nations., Conclusion: Although nations react similarly in some aspects, they respond differently in others and therefore, policy localization is a vital step in confronting problems such as COVID-19 pandemic.