Muslims, multiculturalism and the question of the silent majority

Cultural diversity is the norm in Australia and the United Kingdom. Both states celebrate multiculturalism. But some populist politicians, commentators, and quasi-academics have recently portrayed Western Muslims as a “fifth column”, organized and intent on destroying the fabric of Western culture from within. Interestingly, extremist Muslim groups in the West make similar claims about the relationship between Islam and the West. In recent years, however, Western-born “moderate” Muslim intellectuals and moderates have emerged into the public sphere to challenge essentialist depictions of Islam and the Islamist textual interpretations. They claim an important social space for the Western practice of Islam. Whilst a burgeoning level of academic scrutiny is being focused upon moderate Muslims, this article notes the absence of academic literature about a large part of the Muslim population whose public life is not necessarily guided by their religion but more by their culture and ethnicity, i.e. the “cultural Muslims”. This group is unrepresented in the public debate on Islam and often ignored yet could constitute the majority of Western Muslims. This article concludes by posing significant questions about this group and the implications of political discourse upon their future trajectory

Evaluation of anti-cancer properties of pegylated ethosomal paclitaxel on human melanoma cell line SKMEL- 3

Purpose: To prepare pegylated ethosomal Paclitaxel® by reverse phase evaporation technique, and evaluate its cytotoxic effect on SK-MEL-3 cell line.Methods: Nanodrug was prepared by reverse phase evaporation technique. The characteristics of the nanoparticles were evaluated by a zetasizer and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Drug loading and encapsulation efficiency as well as paclitaxel® release were determined spectrophotometerically at 227 nm while the cytotoxicity of the pegylated ethosomal nanoencapsulated Paclitaxel® was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay on SK-MEL-3 cell line.Results: The mean diameter and zeta potential of drug-loaded pegylated ethosomal particles and blank pegylated ethosomes were 138.1 ± 2.7 nm and -13.1 mV, and 102.3 ± 2.1 nm and -19.2 mV, respectively, while drug loading and encapsulation efficiency were 2.82 ± 0.27 and 96 ± 1.27 %, respectively. The drug release pattern indicates that the half-life (t1/2) of the nanodrug was approximately twice that of the free drug for both static and dynamic release. Toxicological results indicate approx. 4.5-fold cytotoxicity against SK-MEL-3 cell line compared with the free drug.Conclusion: This study shows that pegylated ethosomal Paclitaxel® is significantly considerably more toxic than the free drug on SK-MEL-3 cell line, thus making it an potential alternative to the standard therapy. It is,  however, necessary to evaluate the nanoformulation in vivo

Which therapies will provide the best results in IBS

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a chronic abdominal pain with the change of defecation. The present study aimed to compare the effects of standard medical treatment plus stress management treatment and standard medical treatment alone in IBS symptoms and quality of life. An experimental study has been carried out among participants with Rome-III diagnostic criteria. Participants randomly assigned into two groups. The case group received the standard medical treatment plus stress management treatment, n= 15, while, the control group received the standard medical treatment alone, n= 15. The training programs were contain 8 domains of relaxation, cognation reproduce, contrast skills training, express trains and problem solving, anger management training and social supports. Data were collected using demographic, ROME III, Bowel Syndrome Symptom Severity Score and Quality of Life- IBS. Overall, 30 male participants were evaluated. The age range of participants was 25-55 years. The stress management training could decrease the ROME-II scores. Also the stress management training has a significant effect on quality of life and the HSE. Therefore, it is necessary that IBS suffering referred to psychologists for psychotherapy while they are under medical treatment

Chemical composition of the essential oils and extracts of Achillea species and their biological activities: A review.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The Asteraceae (alt. Compositae) family incorporates a large number of flowering plants, which have been classified under ca. 1600 genera covering more than 23,000 species. The genus Achillea is one of the best-known genera of this family. The Achillea species are important for their uses in the chemical and pharmaceutical purposes, and traditional and folk medicines. From ethnobotanical point of view, they heve been recommended as effective tonic, sedative, diuretic and carminative remedies and extensively prescribed for the treatment of stomachache, inflammation, gastrointestinal, hemorrhoid, hay fever, and wound healing in indigenous medicines. They are also known as effective remedies that promote breast-feedings and regulate women menstruation. This review presents an overview on the ethnopharmacological knowledge of the Achillea genus and provides a deeper insight into medicinal and pharmaceutical applications of different Achillea species. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant data were obtained through systematic electronic searches from various scientific databases including the Institute of scientific information (ISI)-Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scopus, Pubmed, other relevant texts and local books. RESULTS: A variety of ethnopharmacological properties of the Achillea have been documented, and a broad spectrum of medicinal applications, and phytochemicals of the essential oils and extracts of this genus have been identified. CONCLUSIONS: General correlations between the ethnopharmacological uses and medicinal properties identified through systematic research have been observed. Some of the medicinal properties could also be linked to the phytochemicals present in this genus. The findings of the studied reports in this review article represent therapeutic characteristics of Achillea species and account for their significant impact on the current and future modern medicine

Spatial and temporal variations of phytoplankton population in coastal waters of Hormozgan province (Qeshm and Leangeh)

The relationship between diversity or density of phytoplankton and other marine fisheries sector is of great importance. The study of Spatial and temporal variability of distribution of phytoplankton communities in the coastal waters of the Northern Persian Gulf (QESHM, LENGEH) were studied during 2008. In this study, five groups (47 genera) of phytoplankton include, Bacillariophyceae, Dinophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Crysophyceae and Euglenophyceae were identified. The result showed that Diatoms group (79.6 %) and Rhizosolenia genus (45.5 %), contributed more towards the percentage composition of different groups and genera of phytoplankton at the during Study. The annual changes in relative abundance and Margalef, Shannon, pielu and Simpson indices were estimated, 0.58-2.56, 0.08-0.97, 0.23-2.6, 0.09-0.93 respectively. Multivariate analysis of variance showed that during the study, density and biological indicators of phytoplankton were significant between seasons (p<0.05). The spatial cluster analysis based on similarity coefficients obtained two clusters in the areas studied. According to the results obtained can be concluded that both the area of ecological conditions in ranks are instead moderate. Also, phytoplankton of diversity and richness is good

Modeling of Individual and Organizational Factors Affecting Traumatic Occupational Injuries Based on the Structural Equation Modeling: A Case Study in Large Construction Industries

Background: Individual and organizational factors are the factors influencing traumatic occupational injuries. Objectives: The aim of the present study was the short path analysis of the severity of occupational injuries based on individual and organizational factors. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional analytical study was implemented on traumatic occupational injuries within a ten-year timeframe in 13 large Iranian construction industries. Modeling and data analysis were done using the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach and the IBM SPSS AMOS statistical software version 22.0, respectively. Results: The mean age and working experience of the injured workers were 28.03 ± 5.33 and 4.53 ± 3.82 years, respectively. The portions of construction and installation activities of traumatic occupational injuries were 64.4% and 18.1%, respectively. The SEM findings showed that the individual, organizational and accident type factors significantly were considered as effective factors on occupational injuries’ severity (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Path analysis of occupational injuries based on the SEM reveals that individual and organizational factors and their indicator variables are very influential on the severity of traumatic occupational injuries. So, these should be considered to reduce occupational accidents’ severity in large construction industries

The Effect of Acupressure at GB-21 and SP-6 Acupoints on Anxiety Level and Maternal-Fetal Attachment in Primiparous Women: a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Background: Delivery is one of the most stressful events in women’s life. Excessive anxiety, in turn, increases delivery and pregnancy complications. Mother’s positive experience of delivery leads to more effective maternal-fetal attachment in the first few hours of birth. Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the effects of acupressure at two different acupoints on anxiety level and maternal-fetal attachment in primiparous women. Materials and Methods: In this study, 150 primiparous women were allocated to acupressure at GB-21 acupoint, acupressure at SP-6 acupoint, and control group. The women in their active phase of delivery were enrolled in the study and pressure was applied to the acupoints for 20 minutes. Mother’s anxiety level was assessed using Spielberger’s questionnaire before and one hour after the intervention. In addition, maternal-fetal attachment behaviors were evaluated using Avant’s questionnaire during the first breastfeeding. Then the data were introduced to the SPSS (v. 13) and were analyzed using t test and one way ANOVA. Results: The results revealed no significant difference among the three groups regarding the anxiety level before the intervention (P > 0.05). One hour after the intervention, this measure was significantly lower in the intervention groups in comparison to the control group (P 0.05). Moreover, maternal-fetal attachment was higher in the intervention groups in comparison with the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Acupressure at both acupoints reduced anxiety level and increased maternal-fetal attachment. This method can be easily used in the delivery room

Convection of heat and thermodynamic irreversibilities in two-phase, turbulent nanofluid flows in solar heaters by corrugated absorber plates

The effects of simultaneous implementation of corrugated walls and nanoparticles upon the performance of solar heaters are investigated. Triangular and sinusoidal wall profiles along with varying concentration of nanoparticles are analyzed. The multi-phase mixture and the SST κ-ω models are used to simulate turbulent nanofluid flows inside the corrugated channels. The staggered computational grid is employed for storing the velocity and pressure terms at cell faces and cell center, respectively. The governing equations are first discretized by employing a second-order upwind differencing technique and are then solved by means of pressure-based finite volume approach. The convergence criterion is also presented for the validation of obtained results. The effects of wall profiles and nanoparticle concentration on the pertinent parameters including Nusselt number, pressure drop, performance evaluation criterion (PEC), and thermal and frictional irreversibilities are studied. This reveals that, in general, the triangular duct features superior heat transfer and inferior hydraulic characteristics in comparison with the sinusoidal duct. It is demonstrated that as long as the base fluid (water) is used the highest value of PEC corresponds to the straight duct. Yet, by introducing nanofluids the PEC values of the corrugated ducts exceed those of the straight duct. The analysis further shows that on the basis of the performance evaluation criterion, the sinusoidal duct appears to be a better choice in comparison with the triangular duct. However, the situation is reversed when thermodynamic irreversibilities are considered. It is argued that vortex formation in the two investigated wavy walls and shear layer developed in the triangular case are the essential physical reasons for the observed thermal, hydraulic and entropic behaviors