Diasporic virginities: social representations of virginity and identity formation amongst British arab muslim women

This study compares how practising and non-practising British Arab Muslim women position themselves in relation to representations of virginity. Overall, in our qualitative study, we found that representations of culture and religion influenced social practices and social beliefs in different ways: non-practising Muslim women felt bound by culture to remain virgins, while practising Muslim women saw it as a religious obligation but were still governed by culture regarding the consequences of engaging in premarital sex. Interestingly, some practising Muslim participants used Mut’a (a form of temporary ‘marriage’) to justify premarital sex. This, however, did not diminish the importance of virginity in their understanding and identification as Arab women. In fact, this study found that virginity, for the British Arabs interviewed, embodied a sense of ‘Arabness’ in British society. Positioning themselves as virgins went beyond simply honour; it was a significant cultural symbol that secured their sense of cultural identity. In fact this cultural identity was often so powerful that it overrode their Islamic identities, prescribing their behaviour even if religion was seen as more ‘forgiving’

Genome analysis and physiological comparison of Alicycliphilus denitrificans strains BC and K601T

The genomes of the Betaproteobacteria Alicycliphilus denitrificans strains BC and K601T have been sequenced to get insight into the physiology of the two strains. Strain BC degrades benzene with chlorate as electron acceptor. The cyclohexanol-degrading denitrifying strain K601T is not able to use chlorate as electron acceptor, while strain BC cannot degrade cyclohexanol. The 16S rRNA sequences of strains BC and K601T are identical and the fatty acid methyl ester patterns of the strains are similar. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis of predicted open reading frames of both strains showed most hits with Acidovorax sp. JS42, a bacterium that degrades nitro-aromatics. The genomes include strain-specific plasmids (pAlide201 in strain K601T and pAlide01 and pAlide02 in strain BC). Key genes of chlorate reduction in strain BC were located on a 120 kb megaplasmid (pAlide01), which was absent in strain K601T. Genes involved in cyclohexanol degradation were only found in strain K601T. Benzene and toluene are degraded via oxygenase-mediated pathways in both strains. Genes involved in the meta-cleavage pathway of catechol are present in the genomes of both strains. Strain BC also contains all genes of the ortho-cleavage pathway. The large number of mono- and dioxygenase genes in the genomes suggests that the two strains have a broader substrate range than known thus far.This research was supported by the Technology Foundation, the Applied Science Division (STW) of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), project number 08053, the graduate school WIMEK (Wageningen Institute for Environment and Climate Research, which is part of SENSE Research School for Socio-Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment, www.wimek-new.wur.nl and www.sense.nl), SKB (Dutch Centre for Soil Quality Management and Knowledge Transfer, www.skbodem.nl) and the Consolider project CSD-2007-00055. The research was incorporated in the TRIAS (TRIpartite Approaches 469 toward Soil systems processes) program (http://www.nwo.nl/en/research-and-results/programmes/alw/trias-tripartite-approach-to-soil-system-processes/index. html). Flávia Talarico Saia was supported by a FAPESP (the State of São Paulo Research Foundation) scholarship (2006-01997/5). The work conducted by the DOE JGI is supported by the Office of Science of the United States Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231. Alfons Stams acknowledges support by an ERC (European Research Counsil) advanced grant (project 323009). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Technology as a disruptive agent: Intergenerational perspectives

YesThis study explores how British South Asian parents perceive their children’s technology consumption through their collectivist lenses and interdependent values. The findings for this qualitative study indicate that second and third generation South Asian parents acknowledge the benefits of children’s technology use; but largely perceive technology as a disruptive agent, whereby children are becoming isolated and increasingly independent within the household. The analysis aims to understand how parents view their children’s relationship with others as a result of technology consumption. Accordingly, this paper proposes an extension of the Construal of self conceptualisation and contributes a Techno-construal matrix that establishes a dyadic connection between technology consumption and cultural values. Overall, the study reveals that children display less inter-reliance and conformance typically associated with collectivist cultures, resulting from their technology use. Consequently, parents interpret their children’s shift from interdependence to more independence as a disruptive and unsettling phenomenon within the household

Incidence and risk factors of unanticipated pathology in cases of hysterectomy for benign lesion a cross-section study in Al Shifa Medical Complex

Objective: To measure the incidence of unanticipated gynecologic malignancies among women who underwent hysterectomy for benign indications. Methods: We conducted a data analysis of hysterectomy cases from the medical files as well as from pathology reports in the pathology department in Al Shifa Medical Complex. Cases were abstracted from 1st January 2019 to 30th December 2020. Preoperative surgical indications included abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB), fibroid, endometrial malignancy, ovarian mass, prolapse, molar pregnancy, and adenomyosis. Results: During the study period, 195 women underwent a hysterectomy. More than 50% were performed for fibroid and abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). The incidence of unanticipated gynecologic malignancy among hysterectomies performed for benign indications was 3.06% (6 cases). Three of them underwent hysterectomy due to post-menopausal bleeding with no preoperative endometrial sampling. Main risk factor were age, anemia, previous medical disorder, lack of equipments, and insufficient preoperative investigations or risks assessments that we considered it an important factor for the development and concealment of pre-existing malignant growth which will lead to future complicated medical plan and management to control the situation. Conclusion: Unanticipated pathology in this study was mainly due to incomplete preoperative assessment and workup including diagnostic imaging modalities and D&C biopsy. This workup should be done for all cases before hysterectomy, especially in old-age women with postmenopausal bleeding. Our study indicates that even in cases that are expected to be benign, nothing should be overlooked, and detailed preoperative evaluations should be performed