Colloquial Arabic Teaching at Ca' Foscari

Since the '70s Ca' Foscari teachers have been facing the challenge of diglossia that typifies the Arab world where the oral use of Standard Arabic is reserved to specific situations, while colloquial varieties of the same language are used for ordinary conversations. Thus, learning Colloquial Arabic is a paramount need to communicate with native Arabic speakers. Moreover, diglottic proficiency is necessary to access several contemporary cultural outputs of the Arab world. This article describes the features of Arabic diglossia and instructional approaches meant to cope with the phenomenon. It then offers a brief account of Colloquial Arabic teaching at Ca' Foscari, which has been a European vanguard in the field

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Background: Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. // Methods: We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung's disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. // Findings: We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung's disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middle-income countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in low-income countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. // Interpretation: Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

The teaching of Arabic as a foreign language : issues and directions

In this volume leading teachers of Arabic, many of whom have written influential textbooks for advanced learners, explore the realities and challenges of teaching Arabic as a foreign language. Topics covered include the state of the Arabic teaching profession; the institutional challenges in U.S. and study-abroad programs; the teaching of various skills such as writing, reading, speaking, and listening; the varieties of Arabic and their relevance in the classroom; the uses of technology in the classroom; and testing. Published in 1995, many of the issues raised in this volume remain relevant today.Distributed for the American Association of Teachers of ArabAbout the Author:Mahmoud Al-Batal is an associate professor and director of the Arabic Flagship Program at University of Texas at Austin. He is coauthor (with Kristen Brustad and Abbas Al-Tonsi) of the Al-Kitaab Arabic textbook series.xv, 359 p. ; 23 c

The Cohesive Role of Connectives in a Modern Expository Arabic Text.

The study of connectives in both ancient and modern Arabic grammar has been approached from a formal sentence-based perspective. While this approach provides an adequate account of the various syntactic properties of connectives, it does not reveal much of their semantic intricacies or textual functions. This study attempts to examine Arabic connectives in an actual textual environment to determine how they contribute to the cohesion of the text and how they relate to the general concept of textuality. The study is based on the occurrences of connectives in a modern expository Arabic text. Each connective in the text is examined in light of its syntactic and semantic properties as well as in light of its scope and significance to the flow of discourse. The study falls into five chapters. Chapter One is an introduction. Chapter Two presents a theoretical background to the study of cohesion and connectives in the western and Arabic linguistic traditions. Chapter Three provides a detailed description of the flow of connectives in Part One of the text while Chapter Four deals with the connectives found in Part Two of the text. In Chapter Five a comprehensive table of classification of the connectives in the text is presented, followed by a general discussion of cohesion and connectives. The approach followed in this study is eclectic, drawing from various studies on cohesion and text linguistics and from Arab grammarians' treatments of connectives. Our study shows that connectives perform an important cohesive role at all levels in the text from phrase to discourse. This role is realized through the connectives' representation of the underlying semantic relationships and their reflection of the movement of discourse in the text. The abundance of connectives in the text seems to be required by a connecting constraint which is rhetorical in nature but is structurally manifested through a connective slot that every sentence in the text seems to have. This study also points to the need for extending the scope of linguistic analysis in Arabic beyond the sentence level and for the integration, within the extended scope, of syntactic, semantic and discourse analyses.Ph.D.Middle Eastern literatureModern languageUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160631/1/8520857.pd

نجوجي واثيونجو : الأديب في معترك السياسة / Ngugi wa Thiong\u27o: Writers in Politics

[abstract not available

Al-kitab fii Ta`allum al-`Arabiyya : A Texbook for Beginning Arabic Part One

XXV+514hlm.;28c

Al-Kitaab fii ta'allum al-'Arabiyya : a textbook for intermediate Arabic (part two)

xxxi, 508 p. ; 28 c

Al-Kitaab fii ta'allum al-'Arabiyya : a textbook for beginning Arabic (part one)

xxx, 351 p.; 28 c

Alif baa : introduction to Arabic letters and sounds

xvii, 248 p.; 28 c