Maritime trade in the Gulf: The 11th and 12th centuries
Abstract In the eleventh century, the great port of Siraf collapsed, and was replaced by Kish. The latter, however, never attained the size or wealth of Siraf. The ‘failure’ of Kish is a symptom of a depression in the maritime trade of the Gulf, caused by a decline in demand for imported goods in Iran and Iraq. This decline, attributed to political fragmentation following the fall of the Buyids, was aggravated by the diversion of trade to the Red Sea. The historical and the archaeological data on these events point to fundamentally similar conclusions.
The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History
Illuminating one thousand years of history, "The Pilgrim Art" explores the remarkable cultural influence of Chinese porcelain around the globe. Cobalt ore was shipped from Persia to China in the fourteenth century, where it was used to decorate porcelain for Muslims in Southeast Asia, India, Persia, and Iraq. Spanish galleons delivered porcelain to Peru and Mexico while aristocrats in Europe ordered tableware from Canton. The book tells the fascinating story of how porcelain became a vehicle for the transmission and assimilation of artistic symbols, themes, and designs across vast distances - from Japan and Java to Egypt and England. It not only illustrates how porcelain influenced local artistic traditions, but also shows how it became deeply intertwined with religion, economics, politics, and social identity. Bringing together many strands of history in an engaging narrative studded with fascinating vignettes, this is a history of cross-cultural exchange focused on an exceptional commodity that illuminates the emergence of what is arguably the first genuinely global culture.
Modulating dopamine receptors subtype selectivity by thiophene and benzothiophene based derivatives
In this work we tried to develop new dopaminergic ligands with novel affinity and selectivity profile towards the five different dopamine receptor subtypes; namely D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5 receptors to come up with new medical agents but with fewer side effects relative to those present in the medicinal market such as Haloperidol that is considered to be among the very famous typical antipsychotic agents characterized with Extrapyramidal symptoms adverse effects and Clozapine that represents the atypical antipsychotic agents that suffers agranulocytosis adverse effects. Among the fifty five synthesized ligands, compounds 3, 44a, and 45a were shown to have unique subtype receptor selectivity, thus could be promising atypical antipsychotic agents. Compound 3 was the first azecine derivative to show antagonistic action on both D2 and D5 receptor subtypes, (Ki (D2): 1.5 nM; Ki (D5): 1.9 nM). Compound 44a showed to be more than 200 times more selective to D2 receptors rather than D4 (Ki (D2): 138 nM; Ki (D4):0.62 nM). Compound 45a has shown to be more than 100 times more selective to D3 rather than D2 receptor subtypes and more than 900 times more selective to D4 rather than D2 receptor subtypes (Ki (D2): 28.5 nM; Ki (D3): 0.26 nM; Ki (D4): 0.03 nM).