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Byline: Mohammed S. Aljohani, Abdul-Rahman A.F. Abdul-Fattah, Abdullah I. Almarshad In this study, the role of nuclear desalination in Saudi Arabia is investigated. A water demand forecast between the years 2000 and 2025 was established for the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia as part of the collected input data for the DEEP computer code. The DEEP computer code was run for several options of energy sources such as PWR (600 MWe), SPWR (160 MWth), PHWR (450 MWe), HR (200 MWth) and GT (125 MWe or 175 MWe). These energy sources were investigated for different desalination plants such as RO, MSF, MED and the hybrid MED-RO. The levelised power cost, average daily water production, net saleable power and levelised water cost are presented for all cases. Two scenarios were investigated, the first assumes no interest and discount rates and the second assumes interest and discount rates equal to 8%. The first scenario assumes that the water utility will continue under the control of the government and the second assumes that the water utility will be privatised.

BACKGROUND: Despite the abundance of sunshine throughout the year, Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent among different Saudi populations. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the awareness and intake of Vitamin D and their association among adults of both genders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done between June and August 2016 among adult patients and their family members (>18 years) presenting at 6 Primary Care Centers in the Qassim region, Saudi Arabia. RESULTS: A total of 500 study participants were included in the study; 54.6% of the participants were males and mostly aged most between 26-50 years. The majority of the participants had heard of Vitamin D (91.4%), believed in its importance for health (92.8%), were aware of the symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency (72.6%), and were able to identify exposure to sunlight (81.4%) and diet (70.4%) as sources. The sources of Vitamin D used by the participants were exposure to the sun (57.2%), Vitamin D-rich foods (51.2%) and supplements (18.8%). There was a significant association between overall awareness of Vitamin D and intake of at least 2 sources of Vitamin D in males (P < 0.001) but not females (P = 0.920). Although females had better awareness than males, exposure to the sun was much lower in females than males. CONCLUSION: As supplementation was very low in both genders, and since cultural factors that limit females' exposure to the sun are not easily modifiable, the current findings further underline the critical importance of Vitamin D supplementation, particularly in females in Saudi Arabia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]