Review of The Practice of Islam in America: An Introduction

The demand, indeed urgency, within the American Academy for courses on Islam has perhaps never been greater than at current. Yet, the very conditions that create this urgency also produce anxieties for those fulfilling this pedagogical role. The challenge confronting many of us - knowing that our students will enter the classroom with ideas/questions about Islam stemming, in large part, from what they’ve encountered through popular media and the news – is how to carry out this work in a way that both acknowledges this abiding, even if delimiting, contemporary context without allowing our teaching to be subsumed by it. How to engage with students’ a priori ideas and questions without assuming a pedagogical posture that offers ‘correctives’ rather than a different point of entry into conversations about Islam. How to provide students with knowledge about Islam that they can “hold onto” without fixing Islam in ways that reproduce totalizing or singular conceptions of this, or any, religious tradition. Edward Curtis’ edited volume, The Practice of Islam in America, provides both the methodological tools and content to resolve a number of these conundrums. It is a valuable and effective resource for all those invested in the academic study and teaching of Islam broadly, as well as the more particular context of the United States. The strength of this four-part text, comprised of twelve individually authored essays, can be enumerated in a variety of ways. For the purpose of this review, my comments will focus on its pedagogical breadth and utility; the capacity of this volume of essays to (individually and collectively) provide teachers and students with an array of ethnographic evidence to assist students in gaining a fuller understanding of Islam as a textual, historical and lived tradition

Beyond sequencing: Re-visiting annotations for PJL as a test case

Objectives: Current developments in sequencing techniques have enabled rapid and high-throughput generation of sequence data. however, there is a growing gap between the generation of raw sequencing data and the extraction of meaningful biological information. variant annotation is a crucial step in the analysis of genome sequencing data. incorrect or incomplete annotations can cause researchers to dilute interesting variants in a pool of false positives. we require consistent, accurate and reliable annotation of variants for making diagnostic and treatment decisions. current annotation depends on the set of transcripts, and software used can be managed, with sufficient care, in the research context. careful thought needs to be given to the choice of transcript sets and software packages for variant annotation in sequencing studies. in this project, the main objective is to analyze the genetic variants observed in pakistani population data within the 1000 genomes project (1kgp).Results: We characterized only snvs and indels types of genetic variations, in total ~ 1.4 million variants. besides this, we also annotated the genetic variants with multiple annotations tools, annovar and snpeff and compared the differential results. our population-specific catalogue will enhance future studies on the functional impact at protein level

Evaluation of Hardness of Ground Drinking Water in Vehari, Pakistan

Ground water contamination has become a major concern in recent years. Hard water is considered aprimary cause of many health-relating issues due to its unsuitability for drinking, domestic, industrial and agriculturalpurposes. Current studies were performed to explore the degree of hardness in drinking water of the selected areas ofVehari city, Pakistan. For this purpose, ten water samples were collected and analyzed. This research involves presentpractices and easy approaches to evaluate the quality of drinking water. The tested samples have shown pH 7.3-7.7,temperature 27-320C and TDS value of 545-1155 mg/L. The hardness of tested water samples was found in the rangeof 110-530 mg/L by titration method. The soap solution method demonstrated the degree of hardness (dᵒTH) in therange of 19.8-35.41. The obtained results were compared with the national and international standards worldwide. Thedrinking water of investigated areas was found hard, contaminated and unsuitable

Metal-Air Batteries—A Review

Metal–air batteries are a promising technology that could be used in several applications, from portable devices to large-scale energy storage applications. This work is a comprehensive review of the recent progress made in metal-air batteries MABs. It covers the theoretical considerations and mechanisms of MABs, electrochemical performance, and the progress made in the development of different structures of MABs. The operational concepts and recent developments in MABs are thoroughly discussed, with a particular focus on innovative materials design and cell structures. The classical research on traditional MABs was chosen and contrasted with metal–air flow systems, demonstrating the merits associated with the latter in terms of achieving higher energy density and efficiency, along with stability. Furthermore, the recent applications of MABs were discussed. Finally, a broad overview of challenges/opportunities and potential directions for commercializing this technology is carefully discussed. The primary focus of this investigation is to present a concise summary and to establish future directions in the development of MABs from traditional static to advanced flow technologies. A systematic analysis of this subject from a material and chemistry standpoint is presented as well

The genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of MTO1 deficiency.

BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial diseases, a group of multi-systemic disorders often characterized by tissue-specific phenotypes, are usually progressive and fatal disorders resulting from defects in oxidative phosphorylation. MTO1 (Mitochondrial tRNA Translation Optimization 1), an evolutionarily conserved protein expressed in high-energy demand tissues has been linked to human early-onset combined oxidative phosphorylation deficiency associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, often referred to as combined oxidative phosphorylation deficiency-10 (COXPD10). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty five cases of MTO1 deficiency were identified and reviewed through international collaboration. The cases of two female siblings, who presented at 1 and 2years of life with seizures, global developmental delay, hypotonia, elevated lactate and complex I and IV deficiency on muscle biopsy but without cardiomyopathy, are presented in detail. RESULTS: For the description of phenotypic features, the denominator varies as the literature was insufficient to allow for complete ascertainment of all data for the 35 cases. An extensive review of all known MTO1 deficiency cases revealed the most common features at presentation to be lactic acidosis (LA) (21/34; 62% cases) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (15/34; 44% cases). Eventually lactic acidosis and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are described in 35/35 (100%) and 27/34 (79%) of patients with MTO1 deficiency, respectively; with global developmental delay/intellectual disability present in 28/29 (97%), feeding difficulties in 17/35 (49%), failure to thrive in 12/35 (34%), seizures in 12/35 (34%), optic atrophy in 11/21 (52%) and ataxia in 7/34 (21%). There are 19 different pathogenic MTO1 variants identified in these 35 cases: one splice-site, 3 frameshift and 15 missense variants. None have bi-allelic variants that completely inactivate MTO1; however, patients where one variant is truncating (i.e. frameshift) while the second one is a missense appear to have a more severe, even fatal, phenotype. These data suggest that complete loss of MTO1 is not viable. A ketogenic diet may have exerted a favourable effect on seizures in 2/5 patients. CONCLUSION: MTO1 deficiency is lethal in some but not all cases, and a genotype-phenotype relation is suggested. Aside from lactic acidosis and cardiomyopathy, developmental delay and other phenotypic features affecting multiple organ systems are often present in these patients, suggesting a broader spectrum than hitherto reported. The diagnosis should be suspected on clinical features and the presence of markers of mitochondrial dysfunction in body fluids, especially low residual complex I, III and IV activity in muscle. Molecular confirmation is required and targeted genomic testing may be the most efficient approach. Although subjective clinical improvement was observed in a small number of patients on therapies such as ketogenic diet and dichloroacetate, no evidence-based effective therapy exists

Health, health related quality of life and executive functioning in young adults diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a disorder caused by prenatal alcohol exposure which leads to neurobehavioral, psychological, and adaptive functioning impairments. It has been well established that executive functioning in this population is significantly impaired. Further, recent research has demonstrated that when compared to the general population, the FASD population has a greater prevalence of chronic health conditions including auto-immune disorders, immune conditions, cardiac disease, and glucose tolerance abnormalities. Executive functioning skills are important in managing chronic health conditions and research has demonstrated that they influence quality of life in multiple clinical populations. However, this relationship has not been examined in the FASD population, where executive functioning deficits are characteristic. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to understand how executive functioning ability in young adults diagnosed with FASD relates to the presence of their chronic health condition(s) as well as their health related quality of life. To our knowledge, previous research has not investigated these variables in this population before and so this research is considered exploratory. Young adults (between age 15-29) diagnosed with FASD or FAS who were fluent in English were recruited to participate. A total of 12 participants were included in the analysis, with exactly half being diagnosed with at least one chronic health condition, and the majority of participants reporting some impairment in health related quality of life and in executive functioning. Non-parametric statistics (specifically Spearman Rank Correlations and the Mann-Whitney U test) were used to analyze the data. The findings suggest a relationship between the presence of chronic health conditions and health related quality of life, and between executive functioning and health related quality of life. A relationship was not observed between the presence of chronic health conditions and executive function.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat

Prognostic and Predictive Role of Selected Biochemical Markers in COVID-19

Rapid emergence and spread of current pandemic of COVID-19 has evoked the medical science community to investigate quick, accurate and reliable diagnostic and prognostic approaches. Early identification of causative agent SARS-CoV-2 in host and monitoring the blood biochemical parameters for the assessment of disease severity leads to devise proper management and care to minimize mortality rate. The research studies on biochemical markers in COVID-19 published till May 15, 2020, are retrieved by using keywords &ldquo;biochemical markers, biomarkers, COVID-19, and SARS-CoV-2&rdquo; at web search engines (Google scholar &amp; PubMed). Selected articles are reviewed for the selected biomarkers that can be useful prognosticators of mild and severe patient outcomes to provide assistance in clinical management of the outbreak for frontline medical personnel. Biochemical tests include panels of liver and renal functioning, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, and interleukin-6 that have abnormal and deteriorated values as compared to normal controls and mild cases. Patients having baseline comorbidities such as hepatitis or chronic kidney disorder might develop multiorgan injuries during hospitalization but in other patients&rsquo; biomarkers measure the status of inflammatory response and drug therapy outcomes</p

Comparative Study of Antimicrobial Activities of TiO 2 and CdO Nanoparticles against the Pathogenic Strain of Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT Background: and Objectives: The aim of this study was to detect the antibacterial properties o

Measuring severity of downtime influence factors to naval ship operational availability: a Delphi study

Rapid development in shipbuilding and ship repair calls for “cradle to grave” approach in ship maintenance to maximize growth. Organisations typically struggle to balance ideal maintenance philosophies against ongoing cost reductions whilst maintaining high availability of vessels. Due to limited research on Downtime Influence Factors (DIFs) on ships, improvement efforts could not be allocated precisely in tackling issues involving combined “human and equipment” aspects impacting ship availability. The purpose of this study is to generate RMN ship maintenance DIFs and their severity measures via a Delphi approach. The research pinpointed to 15 Severe DIFs as the key problem areas for prioritization of efforts in improving RMN ship availability

Pyridoxine-Dependent Epilepsy: An Expanding Clinical Spectrum

Pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy is a rare autosomal recessive epileptic encephalopathy caused by antiquitin (ALDH7A1) deficiency. In spite of adequate seizure control, 75% of patients suffer intellectual developmental disability. Antiquitin deficiency affects lysine catabolism resulting in accumulation of α-aminoadipic semialdehyde/pyrroline 6' carboxylate and pipecolic acid. Beside neonatal refractory epileptic encephalopathy, numerous neurological manifestations and metabolic/biochemical findings have been reported. We present a phenotypic spectrum of antiquitin deficiency based on a literature review (2006 to 2015) of reports (n = 49) describing the clinical presentation of confirmed patients (n > 200) and a further six patient vignettes. Possible presentations include perinatal asphyxia; neonatal withdrawal syndrome; sepsis; enterocolitis; hypoglycemia; neuroimaging abnormalities (corpus callosum and cerebellar abnormalities, hemorrhage, white matter lesions); biochemical abnormalities (lactic acidosis, electrolyte disturbances, neurotransmitter abnormalities); and seizure response to pyridoxine, pyridoxal-phosphate, and folinic acid dietary interventions. The phenotypic spectrum of pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy is wide, including a myriad of neurological and systemic symptoms. Its hallmark feature is refractory seizures during the first year of life. Given its amenability to treatment with lysine-lowering strategies in addition to pyridoxine supplementation for optimal seizure control and developmental outcomes, early diagnosis of pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy is essential. All infants presenting with unexplained seizures should be screened for antiquitin deficiency by determination of α-aminoadipic semialdehyde/pyrroline 6' carboxylate (in urine, plasma or cerebrospinal fluid) and ALDH7A1 molecular analysi