Syrian pound

The Syrian pound (sign: LS or £S; Arabic: الليرة السورية al-līra as-sūriyya, French: livre syrienne; ISO code: SYP) is the currency of Syria and is issued by the Central Bank of Syria. The pound is subdivided into 100 qirsh (Arabic: قرش plural: قروش, qurūsh, piastres in English or French), although coins in qirsh are no longer issued.

Before 1947, the word qirsh was spelled with the initial Arabic letter غ, after which the word began with ق. Until 1958, banknotes were issued with Arabic on the obverse and French on the reverse. After 1958, English has been used on the reverses, hence the three different names for this currency. Coins used both Arabic and French until Syrian independence, then only Arabic.

The standard abbreviation for the Syrian pound is SYP. On 5 December 2005, the selling rate quoted by the Commercial Bank of Syria was 58.4 SYP to the US dollar. A rate of about 50 pounds to one dollar has been usual in the early 2000s, but the exchange rate is subject to fluctuations. Since the start of the Syrian civil war against the president Bashar Al Assad in 2011, the exchange rate of the Syrian pound has deteriorated quickly from 47 SYP for US$1 in March 2011 to over 200 SYP for US$1 in June 2013. Strong currencies such as the USD, CAD, GBP or Euro cannot be bought from banks or exchange companies; the black market is the only source of foreign currencies available to Syrian businessmen, students and those who want to travel abroad. The maximum amount that is allowed to be taken out with the Syrian traveler is US$3,000 per flight per year. Any amount in excess of US$3,000 is confiscated by the authorities and the Syrian traveler will risk spending a long time in what is called "economic affairs court". The Syrian pound is not a hard currency, and there are restrictions on its export (the maximum amount is 2,500 SYP per person).

SYP (disambiguation)

SYP is the ISO code for the Syrian Pound.

SYP or Syp may also refer to:

Synaptophysin

Synaptophysin, also known as the major synaptic vesicle protein p38, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SYP gene.

Genomics

The gene is located on the short arm of X chromosome (Xp11.23-p11.22). It is 12,406 bases in length and lies on the Crick (minus) strand. The encoded protein has 313 amino acids with a predicted molecular weight of 33.845 kDa.

Molecular biology

The protein is a synaptic vesicle glycoprotein with four transmembrane domains weighing 38kDa. It is present in neuroendocrine cells and in virtually all neurons in the brain and spinal cord that participate in synaptic transmission. It acts as a marker for neuroendocrine tumors, and its ubiquity at the synapse has led to the use of synaptophysin immunostaining for quantification of synapses.

The exact function of the protein is unknown: it interacts with the essential synaptic vesicle protein synaptobrevin, but when the synaptophysin gene is experimentally inactivated in animals, they still develop and function normally. Recent research has shown, however, that elimination of synaptophysin in mice creates behavioral changes such as increased exploratory behavior, impaired object novelty recognition, and reduced spatial learning.