Horizon-247.indd 3
Researchers Use New methods to Study High Cholesterol
News Round Up
Laughter, the Best Medicine
Mind Over Matter
SQU receives New Employees
News Update
Removal of Pollutants
from Water
Department of Public
Relations and Information
Sultan Qaboos University
Issue 247
9/9/12 12:01:05 PM
View Point
A World of Possibilities
Mohamed Salem Al Ghailani
Editorial Supervision
Humaid Abdullah Al Adwani
Editor in Chief
M.K. Santhosh
Senior Editor
Ahlam Al Wahaibi
Design & Layout
Rashad Al Wahaibi
& Photography Dept., CET
Photography
Postgraduate studies is a central component of the higher education system.
It is of paramount importance for universities in their pursuit for preparing
highly qualified, efficient graduates and enhancing their innovative knowledge. Further, students will acquire the skills needed in the market so as to
contribute to the overall development plans. They will also get their professional and scientific experience polished. The society will be able to develop its
resources and, thus, become self-reliant. These are the reasons why SQU seeks
to improve the potentials of postgraduate studies through offering a variety
of programs and recruiting competent academics who would refine them. The
Deanship of Postgraduate Studies at SQU delivers on diverse issues, including
the enhancement of postgraduate studies, marketing the annual masters and
doctoral programs locally and internationally through advertisements, and
aligning them with the requirements for admission, registration, and graduation of the postgraduate students.
Postgraduate programs started at SQU in 1992, just six years after the inception of the university. At present, there are 57 programs offered in all colleges
except the newly established College of Nursing. Initiated in 2008, PhD programs are mainly based on research and some coursework determined by the
thesis committee. At the moment, there are 28 doctoral programs offered in the
five colleges of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Engineering, Medicine and
Health Sciences, Science, and Arts and Social Sciences.
Since the launch of masters programs in 1992, the number of postgraduate
students has rapidly increasedat SQU. While there were only 34 students at
the outset, the total number of students enrolled in different postgraduate programs up to the end of 2011 was 927. This is a considerable development, given
that the number of students enrolled only in 2011 totalled 699. This increase in
the number of students accepted in the masters programs occurred in 1999,
when the administrative structure of research was established. Since the inception of masters programs in 1992, some 1519 postgraduate students have
graduated so far. In 2011, the university granted 247 masters degrees compared
with only 24 in 1995, which signals the level of progress made by the university
in the areas of enhancing postgraduate studies, opening new programs, and
satisfying the students.
Horizon invites contributions from SQU members of staff and faculty. Contributions in the form of articles,
news, travelogues, stories of unique and interesting experiences, encounters, etc., are welcome. Contributions
may be edited for the sake of clarity and length. Please send your contributions to horizon@squ.edu.om preferably, as MSWord attachments. Authors will be suitably credited.
The views and opinions expressed in the articles published in this newsletter are those of the authors and are not to
be construed as the official views of the publication. Horizon is published three times a month by the Department of
Public Relations and Information, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 50, P.C. 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.
Phone: +968 24141045
E-mail: horizon@squ.edu.om
Fax: +968 24413 391
Website: www.squ.edu.om
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SQU receives New Employees
News Update
SQU to held ‘ Arabic
Language & Literature’
Conference in December
The Department of Public Relations & Information, SQU organized an induction program for the new employees, which will include trips to historic and tourist sites in various regions of the Sultanate. The number of the
new employees is 125 Omanis and non-Omanis in different colleges, units,
and centers of the university.
The new employees visited Sultan’s Armed Forces Museum and took a
free tour in Muscat. Also they will visit Barka halwa factory, Nakhal, Althowara spring, Nakhal fort and Al Nahda resort.
The department will also provide a full range of information about the
Sultanate and the university in addition to the necessary application forms
and register transactions.
And in honor of the new employees, SQU will host a dinner banquet, which
will be held under the patronage of H.E Dr. Ali bin Saud Al Bimani, the
Vice Chancellor. The dinner party will include welcoming speech of both
the Vice Chancellor, and the Director of Public Relations & Information.
The Department of Arabic Language and Literature, College of
Arts& Social Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University is gearing up
for organizing an International Conference next December entitled “ Arabic Language and literature: Contemporary Vision”. The
conference aims to provide scientific studies that equals between
the traditional and contemporary outlook towards Arabic sciences,
and benefit from the modern curriculum in linguistics and literature. The conference is also seeks to re-read scientific efforts made
by the ancient Arab scholars in the light of modern curriculum; so
that contemporary researchers can benefit from that efforts.
The conference addresses four linguistics topics: Arab scholars’
contribution in vocal studies, syntax and morphology thought,
vocabulary issues of the ancient Arab scholars, and modern Arabic dictionaries.
The conference also will have several criticism sessions namely
about: readings in Arabic heritage of linguistics and critique, and
modern criticism curriculum.
Sultan Qaboos University’s students finished a
training program in South Korea
relations between both the university and the company in the future.”
He added: “offering training opportunities to SQU students in Daewoo Engineering & Construction Company’s head office is good evidence that the
company trust the university students. It is worth mentioning that the company is one of the top three engineering and construction firms at South Korea, and we are confident that our students were good ambassadors for the
university and the Sultanate, and we hope that the cooperation between the
Sultan Qaboos University and Daewoo will continue in the coming years. “
In order to develop students’ knowledge, a number of students from College
of Economics & Political Science, SQU undergone summer training at Daewoo Engineering & Construction Company, South Korea.
The company hosted in its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea four Omani
students: Saif bin Ahmed Al Mangi, Shabib Al Salmi, Mahmoud Al Balushi,
Mohammad Al Balushi, and their training supervisor Khalfan bin Saif Al
Tuqi for a period of five weeks, where the students identified to the most
important administrative, technical and commercial aspects of the company,
in addition to the most important industrial and economic expertise.
This training program is within a framework of cooperation agreement
between Sultan Qaboos University and Daewoo. It is the first cooperation
agreement between SQU and Daewoo in the area of ​​international training
for university students.
In this regard, Dr. Yousef Bin Salem Al Hinai, Assistant Dean for Training and
Community Services, College of Economics & Political Science said: “The
summer training program for college students will contribute to promote the
Nam Chul Kim, Senior Vice President of Daewoo Engineering & Construction Company expressed his happiness of the internship program which is
done by the students from Sultan Qaboos University in Daewoo Engineering & Engineering, he said: “we hope that the students get benefit from this
training program, and certainly our company will benefit from this interaction with the Omani students. Furthermore, these training programs are a
good chance for strengthening the relationship between the Sultanate and
South Korea.”
The training supervisor, Khalfan bin Saif Al Tuqi said: “The external training is part of Sultan Qaboos University’s strategy to provide training opportunities for students to improve their skills, and the College of Economics
& Political Science is also working on providing training opportunities that
contribute to improve students’ skills, the training on South Korea was one
of those opportunities”.
Saif Al Mangi, student from College of Economics & Political Science said: “I
am glad to have such opportunity since South Korea is a focus of attention
for lots of people and Daewoo Engineering & Engineering Company is one
of the best 3 companies in this field in Korea and have many projects in the
Gulf. This training which lasted for 5 weeks was very useful and improved
my personal experience in the field of administration and international relations.”
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Insight
Removal of Toxic Pollutants from Water
By: Dr. Mahad Baawain
Department of Civil and
Architectural Engineering
ness of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and nanotechnology in
removing toxic organics and by-products from selected drinking water
supplies and wastewater effluents in different places in Muscat. Water
samples will include drinking water from water networks and groundwater. Wastewater samples will include treated effluents from different
wastewater treatment plants.
The development of innovative new technologies and materials could be utilized for
the provision of safe drinking water and safe wastewater disposal. Advanced oxidation processes and nanotechnology could play an important role in resolving many
of the problems involved in water and wastewater treatment. Dr. Mahad Baawain
and team are investigating on removal of toxic organic pollutants and by-products
from water and wastewater in Oman by using Advanced Oxidation Processes and
Nanotechnology. The co investigators of this research project, funded by the Research
Council of Oman (TRC), are Dr. Salim Al-Harthi and Dr. Ashraf Al-Hinai of College of Science, SQU and Prof. Shaik Feroz of Caledonian College of Engineering.
The whole world is facing alarming challenges to meet the growing demands of potable water due to extended droughts, population growth,
more stringent health-based regulations, and competing demands from a
variety of users. Pollution problems can be related typically to inadequate
sanitation, phosphorus and nitrogen contained in human and animal wastes,
detergents and fertilizers, pesticides, chemicals, and heavy metals. On the
other hand, wastewaters, generated from domestic, commercial, industrial
and agricultural sources, can be viewed as the only potential water source
that will increase as the population grows. Therefore, such wastewaters have
to be treated to remove/reduce their impurities for safe discharge and/or
reuse purposes. Moreover, increasing pollution of groundwater and surface
water from industrial, municipal, and agricultural sources has seriously contaminated water quality in these sources, effectively reducing the supply of
freshwater for human use.
This study aims at investigating the effectiveness of advanced oxidation
processes (AOPs) and nanotechnology in removing toxic organic pollutants
and by-products from drinking water supplies and wastewater effluents in
different places in Muscat, Oman. The research work will identify and address major concerns regarding toxic organic compounds and by-products
in final effluents from water and wastewater treatment plants, and will consequently identify the applicable advanced treatment techniques (among the
AOPs and nanotechnology). Therefore, this research is a unique and challenging attempt to solve the increasing environmental and public health concerns in the country emerging from the hazardous effluents discharge into
nearby water bodies (surface and ground water). Consequently, negative human health and environmental impact will be greatly reduced by providing
safe drinking water and conserving natural water resources and minimizing
pollutant release. To achieve the proposal’s objective, the research plan will
include two major tasks as follows: Task I: Organic Pollutants Identification
in Water and Wastewater in Oman and Task II: Bench-Scale Tests (AOPs and
nanotechnology bench-scale tests). The project tasks will be conducted by
engineers and scientist researchers with track records in the areas of Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Physics and Chemistry.
The main objective of this research proposal is to investigate the effective-
Although the studies reviewed above indicate potentials of the advanced treatment technologies (AOPs and nanotechnology) for water
and wastewater treatment in general, information is still very scarce
on the toxic organics and by-products in Oman. Various combinations
of advanced treatment technologies should be tested and optimized to
achieve the best performance in terms of treated water quality and cost
effectiveness. Fate of potentially hazardous compounds released to the
environment warrants more attention and research because of their carcinogenic and estrogenic properties. Although numerous studies have
been published in recent years on some organic compounds degradation
by AOPs and nanotechnology, most of the works were carried out on
synthetic wastewaters and did not necessarily represent the situations
in real water and wastewater treatment. There is no doubt regarding the
need for toxic and hazardous organics on by-product identification and
characterization in both during water and treated wastewaters in Oman.
This issue warrants more studies to ensure the safe production of drinking water and the safe discharge of treated wastewater.
This study is also unique as it can provide decision makers with the
complete picture about the current situation of toxic organics and byproducts in drinking water and wastewater effluents and associated
risks with such contaminants to the human health and the environment.
Moreover, experimental works will provide the applicable advanced
techniques in removing such contaminants using different AOPs and
Nanotechnology.
This research will comprehensively investigate the possible combinations of advanced treatment technologies for water and wastewater by
developing a futuristic, cost-effective, readily implementable, and reliable hybrid system that can effectively reduce the levels of conventional
inorganic and organic pollutants as well as micropollutants from the
water and wastewaters. This proposed research program is a unique
and challenging attempt to solve a two-fold problem: (1) growing water demand in the country; and (2) increasing environmental and public
health concerns emerging from the hazardous effluents discharge into
nearby water bodies (surface and ground water). Consequently, negative human health and environmental impact will be greatly reduced by
providing safe drinking water and conserving natural water resources
and minimizing pollutant release.
Different water samples from several areas in Muscat have been collected for the past 6 months. The samples were tested for all organic contaminants through evaluation of total organic carbon (TOC) and organic
contaminants using Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS).
Also, treated wastewater samples have been collected from different
treatment plants for the past 7 months. The samples were tested for all
organic contaminants through evaluation of chemical oxygen demand
(COD), TOC and organic contaminants using GC-MS. The sampling program will continue for 5 to 6 more months. Then bench scale experiment
will be conducted on removing the organic pollutants using the AOPs
and nanotechnology.
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Mind Over Matter
Laughter,
the Best Medicine
By: Shalini Narayanan
The business of teaching and learning is a serious one.
You could be well remembered by your students for
all the wrong reasons like how I remember a few of
mine!! But all of us have had teachers whom we have
immense respect for even today. This could be because
of the immense subject knowledge she/he possessed or
it could be the way the classes were conducted. Some
of them we remember because of the fun we used to
have in the class room and actually looked forward to
the next class when it ended. Have you ever wondered
how that came about?
As teachers I think all of us at some point have asked of ourselves the following questions:
How many times have we thought that a lesson could have
gone differently? What was that elusive element that was missing in the class room? How could we have made a class more interesting? How can we make students look forward to our classes?
I have thought about these questions long and hard when reflecting on how
well my classes went and my conclusion was LAUGHTER! Such a simple
tool! But how often do we use it deliberately as a teaching tool? This is the
question that I will try to answer in this article.
Though humour in its spontaneous form is the most infectious, it can be
used in a controlled fashion in a class room provided a teacher has planned
the lesson well. As you are aware, humour works best when it makes people laugh at a situation. When in a class room, as students laugh, you as a
teacher will find that there is an immediate sense of relaxation in the class
room. Contexts and concepts which were difficult to teach earlier becomes
a cake walk as students become more receptive, cooperative and eager to
learn. They start to build a rapport with you and with the rest of the students. You will find that when you infuse humour into the rigid atmosphere
of teaching, you tend to relax too. You will find that you can come up with
innovative ideas to use as students become the least of your worries in your
class!
But how to identify those times when you need to use humour? Well, as a
teacher, it is not too difficult to see or judge when a class becomes monotonous, boring and the attention of the students is flagging. It is useful if a
teacher can come up with situations that induces some laughter and thereby
some life within the students.
Of course, when using humour the teacher has to understand that it is a powerful tool. I have deliberately used the word ‘powerful’ because it has both
positives and negatives. Humour cannot be used to laugh at a student(s).
Rather it should be used to laugh with students. It must not target religion
and ethnicity. Sarcastic humour is a strict ‘no-no’. It can be used however to
diffuse tension, as an ice-breaker or to promote a sense of belonging within
the students and yourself as laughter tends to bring people closer.
So what kind of humour works best in a class room? As laughter is a spontaneous reaction to something funny, so should also the situation that induces
this reaction. To cite my personal experience with humour, I found that using existing situations in a class room works best. This could be as simple as
playing on words through puns and rhymes. It could be that you use a boring grammar concept by giving examples that targets yourself or the students (these should incorporated only if the teacher knows that students do
not mind laughing at themselves).This means that you should be quick on
your feet to use a situation to your advantage. But this may not always be
possible. So, I found that keeping certain external resources at hand before
any class is quite useful. These could range from a funny picture to a movie
clip with short rhymes, authentic texts (news clips, advertisements) and cartoons thrown in between. You can even go as far as planning a worksheet
based on the picture or a clip that you are showing provided it reinforces the
content that you are teaching.
However, when using external resources, one must take care that it is culturally inoffensive that does not target beliefs, sentiments and attitudes. There
are also certain pitfalls that a teacher should be aware of. Humour should
never be a dominant factor in the class room. It should be used in short
bursts and when the students least expect it. So there is a certain amount of
strategy involved here. The movie and cartoon clips should not be too long.
They work best when they run for a maximum of five minutes preferably
even shorter.
There are statistics that say the a child smiles about three hundred times
a day and this figure comes down to about forty times a day as we reach
adulthood. Though I cannot provide any concrete proof for this statement,
I can safely say that we don’t smile or laugh as much as we should. Health
wise, laughter has many benefits. A good laugh can improve respiration,
enhance blood circulation and even lose a few calories!! These benefits are
the same when we do Yoga!
So what is preventing us from laughing and making our students laugh
with us? After all learning should be a pleasurable experience. In this world
of technology and globalisation, using laughter to enhance learning is such
a simplistic tool in a futuristic era. But if this tool is going to help us achieve
our goal then why not use it effectively? We would do well to remember
that laugher is unique to humans and that we don’t use it as much as we
should.
“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand-” Mark Twain
(The author is a faculty member at Arab Open University-Oman Branch. This
article is based on her presentation at the Oman English Language Teaching (ELT)
Conference 2012 held at SQU. Shalini can be contacted at shalini@aou.edu.om)
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News Round Up
Researchers Use New methods to Study High Cholesterol
chemistry of the College of Medicine & Health Sciences, said that PCSK9,
Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9, is an enzyme that reduces both
hepatic and extrahepatic low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor (LDLR) levels and increases bad cholesterol. “This protein in humans is encoded by the
PCSK9 gene located on the short (p) arm of chromosome 1 at position 32.3.
Structure-function studies of PCSK9 are most intriguing, as certain mutations lead to its gain of function (leading to hypercholesterolemia), whereas
other specific mutations mediate loss of function (leading to hypercholesterolemia). In order to design an effective therapeutic strategy against hypercholesterolemia, it is important to predict the structural changes at the protein
level associated with individual gain of function mutation”, he said.
In a study, researchers at the College of Medicine & Health Sciences at
Sultan Qaboos University have employed free online tools and software
to deduce how mutations in PCSK9, a protein implicated in causing Familial Hypercholesterolemia, influence its structure and function. Familial hypercholesterolemia is a disorder of high LDL (bad) cholesterol that
is passed down through families, which means it is inherited. The condition begins at birth and can cause heart attacks at an early age. Studies performed via computers or computer simulation are called In-silico
studies. The researchers said that In-silico tools have gained tremendous
popularity in the last few years as it has turned out to be a time saving
as well as an economical strategy to understand structure-function relationships of bio-molecules and has also helped in virtual screening of
therapeutics leads.
Dr. Yajnavalka Banerjee, Assistant Professor in the Department of Bio-
Dr. Banerjee, is assisted by Mr. Karna Shah, a visiting student researcher from
Vellore Institute of Technology, is using web-based, inexpensive software
packages to gain an insight into the structural changes associated with individual gain of function mutations. This cost-effective methodology directs a
researcher towards the specific part of the protein that is affected in hypercholesterolemia caused due to the mutations in PCSK9. Case in point, if the
amino acid: aspartic acid at the 374th position is mutated to amino acids:
histidine or tyrosine, the protein binds with a plausible higher affinity to its
target molecule (the LDL-Receptor, as observed in the ongoing study.
Familial Hypercholesterolemia is observed in the Omani population and
thus the research could help in further understanding of the disease and
could help to design novel therapeutic strategies. The researchers plan to collaborate with Drs Khalid Al-Rasadi and Khalid Al-Waili at the SQUH lipid
clinic to further investigate into the genetic basis of the disease. Future work
will involve the detailed structure-activity characterization of the important
mutants of the protein in collaboration with researchers from Durrer Center
for Cardiogenetic Research, Amsterdam and The Scripps Research Institute,
USA.
Shifts in Sea Temperature Impacts Climate and Marine
Environment in Oman
Drs. Y.V.B. Sarma and Anesh Govender from the Department of
Marine Science & Fisheries of the College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University, conducted the study by
analysing a 50 year (1961-2010) record of SST off Muscat and off
Masirah along Oman. The variability of SST was fairly constant in
Sea of Oman while it was declining off Masirah after 1981-1991.
The decadal signal of SST in both areas indicate a regime shift in
the SST towards warmer ocean surface.
Scientists who investigated the shifts in the sea surface temperature (SST)
and associated environmental parameters such as rainfall and sea surface height in the Sea of Oman and the western Arabian Sea off Masirah
island, found statistically significant increase in mean temperature in the
Sea of Oman. The sea surface height (SSH) anomalies showed large variability in the sea level occurred simultaneously in the Sea of Oman and
along the east coast of Oman. Analysis of algal blooms indicate that during the post-1990s the large fluctuations in the SSH are associated with
harmful algal blooms that resulted in fish mortality in the region.
The researchers explained that the local weather and marine environmental factors changed around Oman in recent years making
it imperative to investigate the SST dynamics of the seas around
Oman. “Anomalous increase in the sea surface temperature (SST)
by 2°C was noticed weeks before intense weather systems striking Oman coast during 2007 (Gonu) and 2009 (Phet)”, they said.
Increased summer heating and reduced winter cooling rendered
upper ocean warmer after 1984 with an increase in SST of 0.32°C off
Muscat and 0.53°C of Masirah above the annual mean. Dr. Sarma
said that this may lead to the upper ocean becoming acidic and
unsupportive of marine life. The SSH variability is considerably
large particularly post-1990s and the harmful algal blooms (HABs)
events increased ever since. The increase in the frequency of harmful algal blooms and intense weather systems noticed during this
decade (2000-2010) are associated with an increase in the SST.
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From 557 in the year 1986, the number of students rose to
14722 in the academic year 2007-2008. This figure includes
Diploma, Bachelors, Masters and PhD students. There has
been gradual increase in the number of graduates as well;
from 284 graduates in the year 1990 to 2422 in 2011.
A Sun that never sets
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Straight Talk
Gulzhan Raiymbell
Gulzhan Raiymbell is a researcher in meat sciences pursuing her
PhD in Al Farabi Kasakh National University in Kazakhstan. As
part of her studies, she spent three months in SQU, evaluating meat
quality, histochemical, and nutritive values of Bactrian camel muscles. She used the HPLC (High-performance liquid chromatography) and Meat Texture Analyser in the laboratories attached to the
Department of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, to determine fatty
acids, amino acids, minerals, and vitamins of Bactrian camel meat.
Gulzhan Raiymbell was supervised by Prof. Isam T. Kadim, Head
of the Department, who has extensive experience in meat quality
characteristics.
Horizon: What is the purpose of your visit to SQU?
Gulzhan: I am doing research on the meat quality characteristics, his-
tochemical and chemical composition of the Bactrian Camel or the twohumped camel (Camelus Bactrianus) meat, which is a less explored area
of study. A lot of studies have been done on the chemical composition and
quality characteristics of dromedary camel meat of the one humped camel
(Camelus dromedarius) meat. I have brought samples of Bactrian camel
meat from Kazakhstan and used modern and sophisticated techniques
such as high pressure liquid chromatography to evaluate nutritive value
and quality parameters of Bactrian camel.
Horizon: Why did you choose SQU for doing your work?
Gulzhan: The PhD program in Kasakh National University stipulates
at least two sessions of two months laboratory training in foreign universities. Sultan Qaboos University is now recognised as an international leader
in research on camel meat as a result of many research publications and
SQU organized the 3rd Conference of the International Society of Camelid
Research and Development in 2012. Moreover, camel meat is a potentially
valuable food source because of its ability to produce high quality, low-cost
meat. The demand for camel meat has increased over the past few years
due to its low fat content, but its meat quality characteristics have received
little attention. This university has most advanced laboratories and equipment to test the meat quality characteristics, proteomics, nutritive values,
composition, and histochemical properties of different types of meats.
Horizon: What makes camel meat different from the meat of other animals?
Gulzhan: Camel meat is a potentially valuable food source because of
its ability to produce high quality, low-cost meat. The demand for camel
meat has increased over the past few years due to its low fat content as
well as having less levels of cholesterol in fat than other meat animals.
Camel meat is also relatively high in polyunsaturated fatty acid. This is
an important factor in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, which
is related to saturated fat consumption. Camel meat is also used for remedial purposes for diseases such as hyperacidity, hypertension, pneumonia
and respiratory disease as well as an aphrodisiac. In general, camel meat is
known for its large muscular fibres due to animal size and high percentage
of water. It has a sweet taste because of the presence of glycogen, and its
colour is red or dark brown. In its general composition, camel meat is similar to beef. Young camel meat in particular is delicious and rich in nutritive
elements which makes it as good as mutton.
Horizon: Is there a dearth of studies on camel meat quality?
Gulzhan: There has been a lack of research on camel meat. But recent
developments make it imperative to conduct serious research on this meat
because of its health and economic benefits. Our libraries are still poor in
studies which should support the production and marketing of this meat.
The effort of the animal scientists to study the meat characteristics of the
dromedary camel is laudable. In fact, I am using the same parameters
adopted in SQU to look into the characteristics of Bactrian camel meat.
How would you see the potential of camel meat in arid regions and countries like Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia where Bactrian
camels are found?
Horizon:
Camels are better qualified than other animals to be a good
source of meat especially in arid areas but also in other areas as well.
Therefore we must devise methods to protect these animals and improve
their production and their breeding. Studies and medical research have
proved that camel meat is superior to other kinds of meat. The demand
for camel meat appears to be increasing due to health reasons, as they produce carcasses with less fat as well as having less cholesterol and relatively
high polyunsaturated fatty acids than other meat animals. The camel is
distinguished from other animals by the fact that the percentage of its intramuscular fat declines as the animal gets older. This quality, only found
in camels, makes their meat less fatty, so its consumption is healthy and
recommended for weight loss.
Gulzhan:
Horizon: How do you feel about Oman?
Gulzhan: I am really impressed with the guidance and support from
the College and the Department of Animal & Veterinary Sciences. The academics, technical staff and the students are really helpful and hospitable. I
wish to come back to Oman again and encourage other graduate students
to do part of their research at SQU.
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