L-umoriżmu fil-letteratura Maltija

Charles Casha jittratta l-umoriżmu fil-letteratura Maltija fil-ktiba li ġġib sewwasew dan it-titlu. Il-letteratura tinterpreta l-ħajja u tirrifletti fuqha u għalhekk l-umoriżmu, flimkien mal-biża’, l-avventura, l-imħabba u l-aspetti oħrajn tal-ħajja, huwa ingredjent essenzjali fil-kitba tan-novelli, tar-rumanzi, tad-drammi u tal-ġeneri letterarji l-oħrajn. Fil-letteratura Maltija nsibu numru sabiħ ta’ awturi li għamlu użu mill-umoriżmu, għalkemm mhux ilkoll bl-istess mod jew għan. Xi awturi sawru xi xogħlijiet tagħhom fuq umoriżmu li l-għan tiegħu ewlieni hu li jnissel tbissima u jipprovdi divertiment sempliċi, oħrajn kitbu biex jgħallmu lill-poplu u jerfgħuh mill-injoranza li kien jgħix fiha u hemm dawk li kellhom il-ħsieb li b’mod satiriku jikkritikaw faxex tas-soċjetà Maltija. Barra minn dawn, l-umoriżmu iswed (black humour), li jwassal għal katarsi intellettwali u jikxef ir-realtà traġika tan-natura, daħal ukoll fil-letteratura Maltija permezz tal-kitbiet ta’ Alfred Buttigieg, Ġużè Stagno, Oreste Calleja u Alex Vella Gera. Xi awturi, bħal Simone Spiteri, iħallu s-sitwazzjonijiet li jsibu ruħhom fihom il-karattri jiżviluppaw l-element umoristiku waqt il-provi tad-dramm. Fil-ktiba tiegħu Casha jargumenta li l-umoriżmu jista’ jkun biċċa għodda tajba f’idejn il-kittieb biex jittratta problemi soċjali jew personali. L-umoriżmu, meta mqiegħed f’postu, itaffi mill-element qawwi ta’ xi kitba li taf tgħejji lill-qarrej meta dan ikollu x-xewqa li jirrilassa. Mil-lat psikoloġiku l-umoriżmu jgħin ħafna biex inkunu aktar f’saħħitna għax jista’ jħalli effett pożittiv kemm fuq is-saħħa fiżika u kemm fuq is-saħħa mentali.peer-reviewe

Opioid use trends in patients undergoing elective thoracic and lumbar spine surgery

© 2020 Joule Inc. or its licensors Background: Opioid use in North America has increased rapidly in recent years. Preoperative opioid use is associated with several negative outcomes. Our objectives were to assess patterns of opioid use over time in Canadian patients who undergo spine surgery and to determine the effect of spine surgery on 1year postoperative opioid use. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on prospectively collected data from the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network for patients undergoing elective thoracic and lumbar surgery. Selfreported opioid use at baseline, before surgery and at 1 year after surgery was compared. Baseline opioid use was compared by age, sex, radiologic diagnosis and presenting complaint. All patients meeting eligibility criteria from 2008 to 2017 were included. Results: A total of 3134 patients provided baseline opioid use data. No significant change in the proportion of patients taking daily (range 32.3%–38.2%) or intermittent (range 13.7%–22.5%) opioids was found from pre2014 to 2017. Among patients who waited more than 6 weeks for surgery, the frequency of opioid use did not differ significantly between the baseline and preoperative time points. Significantly more patients using opioids had a chief complaint of back pain or radiculopathy than neurogenic claudication (p \u3c 0.001), and significantly more were under 65 years of age than aged 65 years or older (p \u3c 0.001). Approximately 41% of patients on daily opioids at baseline remained so at 1 year after surgery. Conclusion: These data suggest that additional opioid reduction strategies are needed in the population of patients undergoing elective thoracic and lumbar spine surgery. Spine surgeons can be involved in identifying patients taking opioids preoperatively, emphasizing the risks of continued opioid use and referring patients to appropriate evidencebased treatment programs

Milied it-tajjeb!

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Epigrammi ta’ John Sciberras – L-Assedju l-Kbir ta’ Godfrey Zarb Adami – Epithalamion ta’ Ġużè Abela – L-hena biss fil-poeżija ta’ Ġużè Cardona – Lil San Ġużepp ta’ Joe Mejlak – L-għasfur tal-bejt ta’ Bro. Henry – Mill-ktieb tal-ħajja ta’ G. Ż. A. – Tagħniqa vojta ta’ Ġ. Cassar Pullicino – Meta l-mara tibqa’ tmieri ta’ A. Cremona – Iż-żgħożija ta’ Charles Casha – Il-Milied it-tajjeb! ta’ Ġ. Borg Pantalleresco.peer-reviewe

Nikteb...

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: L-iben il-ħali ta’ David Agius Muscat – Kaptan ta’ Kit Azzopardi – Il-lanterna ta’ Charles Bezzina – Li kelli mmur lura ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Firda ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Garden fairy ta’ Charles Briffa – Sejf jinfidlek ruħek ta’ Charles Briffa – Waqt ta’ Joseph Buttigieg – Vjaġġ ta’ John Caruana – Ċaqlembuta ta’ Antoine Cassar – Ħaġa tqila ta’ Carmel G. Cauchi – F’tarf il-blat ta’ Leanne Ellul – Int ta’ Victor Fenech – Pippin u l-bojja ta’ Charles Flores – L-arloġġ ta’ Joe Friggieri – Il-fjur tal-ġakaranda ta’ Joe Friggieri – Fjur tal-kaktus ta’ Joel Galea – Biss is-skiet ta’ Joel Galea – Għalissa ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Ilsna ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Is-sried ixoqqna fin fin ta’ Adrian Grima – Ħsieb ħalliel... ta’ Patrick Sammut – Lament lil ommi ta’ Salv Sammut – Hekk kif tinħass ġol-arja x-xitwa ta’ Lillian Sciberras – F’għajnejha, il-ħarsa siekta ta’ Clare Azzopardi – Għad jagħdab l-irdum ta’ Paul P. Borg – Forsi...xi darba ta’ Charles Casha – Faxxa ngħas ta’ Sergio Grech – Il-mejda tal-mogħdija ta’ Pierre J. Mejlak – Min jaf bi Stojan Kurepa? ta’ Immanuel Mifsud – L-eħrex jum tal-gwerra ta’ Maurice Mifsud Bonnici – Il-vażett tal-bewsiet ta’ Rita Saliba – Pjanu ta’ Trevor Żahra – Il-ħalliel ta’ Guy de Maupassant, traduzzjoni ta’ Toni Aquilina – Salvu tal-pasturi ta’ Francis Ebejer, traduzzjoni ta’ Steve Borg – Sunetti ta’ William Shakespeare, traduzzjoni ta’ Oliver Friggieri – Nikteb... ta’ Nizar Qabbani, traduzzjoni ta’ Kevin Saliba.peer-reviewe

Chondroitinase and Growth Factors Enhance Activation and Oligodendrocyte Differentiation of Endogenous Neural Precursor Cells after Spinal Cord Injury

The adult spinal cord harbours a population of multipotent neural precursor cells (NPCs) with the ability to replace oligodendrocytes. However, despite this capacity, proliferation and endogenous remyelination is severely limited after spinal cord injury (SCI). In the post-traumatic microenvironment following SCI, endogenous spinal NPCs mainly differentiate into astrocytes which could contribute to astrogliosis that exacerbate the outcomes of SCI. These findings emphasize a key role for the post-SCI niche in modulating the behaviour of spinal NPCs after SCI. We recently reported that chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs) in the glial scar restrict the outcomes of NPC transplantation in SCI by reducing the survival, migration and integration of engrafted NPCs within the injured spinal cord. These inhibitory effects were attenuated by administration of chondroitinase (ChABC) prior to NPC transplantation. Here, in a rat model of compressive SCI, we show that perturbing CSPGs by ChABC in combination with sustained infusion of growth factors (EGF, bFGF and PDGF-AA) optimize the activation and oligodendroglial differentiation of spinal NPCs after injury. Four days following SCI, we intrathecally delivered ChABC and/or GFs for seven days. We performed BrdU incorporation to label proliferating cells during the treatment period after SCI. This strategy increased the proliferation of spinal NPCs, reduced the generation of new astrocytes and promoted their differentiation along an oligodendroglial lineage, a prerequisite for remyelination. Furthermore, ChABC and GF treatments enhanced the response of non-neural cells by increasing the generation of new vascular endothelial cells and decreasing the number of proliferating macrophages/microglia after SCI. In conclusions, our data strongly suggest that optimization of the behaviour of endogenous spinal NPCs after SCI is critical not only to promote endogenous oligodendrocyte replacement, but also to reverse the otherwise detrimental effects of their activation into astrocytes which could negatively influence the repair process after SCI

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

The first wave of COVID-19 in Malta; a national cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed major challenges to all aspects of healthcare. Malta’s population density, large proportion of elderly and high prevalence of diabetes and obesity put the country at risk of uncontrolled viral transmission and high mortality. Despite this, Malta achieved low mortality rates compared to figures overseas. The aim of this paper is to identify key factors that contributed to these favorable outcomes. METHODS: This is a retrospective, observational, nationwide study which evaluates outcomes of patients during the first wave of the pandemic in Malta, from the 7th of March to the 24th of April 2020. Data was collected on demographics and mode of transmission. Hospitalization rates to Malta’s main general hospital, Mater Dei Hospital, length of in-hospital stay, intensive care unit admissions and 30-day mortality were also analyzed. RESULTS: There were 447 confirmed cases in total; 19.5% imported, 74.2% related to community transmission and 6.3% nosocomially transmitted. Ninety-three patients (20.8%) were hospitalized, of which 4 were children. Patients with moderate-severe disease received hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, in line with evidence available at the time. A total of 4 deaths were recorded, resulting in an all-cause mortality of 0.89%. Importantly, all admitted patients with moderate-severe disease survived to 30-day follow up. CONCLUSION: Effective public health interventions, widespread testing, remote surveillance of patients in the community and a low threshold for admission are likely to have contributed to these favorable outcomes. Hospital infection control measures were key in preventing significant nosocomial spread. These concepts can potentially be applied to stem future outbreaks of viral diseases. Patients with moderate-severe disease had excellent outcomes with no deaths reported at 30-day follow up

Sibt fir-raħal

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Hemm xtajta ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Kelma ta’ Paul P. Borg – Inżul ix-xemx fuq il-Guadalquivir ta’ Norbert Bugeja – In-ners ta’ Charles Casha – Tbissima ta’ Carmel G. Cauchi – Qalbi ta’ Sergio Grech – Poeżija waħda ta’ Sergio Grech – Nugrufum ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Bħal vuċi oħra ġo dil-konfużjoni ta’ Adrian Grima – Funeral ta’ Henry Holland – Ftit weraq mill-gżira ta’ Immanuel Mifsud – Għax xi darba kien hemm il-Palestina ta’ Walid Nabhan – It-tmiem fil-qrib ta’ Patrick Sammut – Biljett miftuħ ta’ Karl Schembri – Statistika ta’ Lillian Sciberras – Meta waqa’ l-ispazju kollu fuqha ta’ Clare Azzopardi – Passju ta’ Stanley Borg – Abdilla l-għaqli u l-kibx il-mitluf ta’ Steve Borg – Qaddis ġdid ta’ Maurice Mifsud Bonnici – Bl-irħis ta’ Vince Vella – Fejn hemm il-beraħ ta’ Trevor Żahra – L-Apostata jew moħħ imħarbat ta’ Albert Camus, traduzzjoni ta’ Toni Aquilina – Il-kantiku tal-ħlejjaq ta’ San Franġisk t’Assisi bi traduzzjoni ta’ Mario Debono – Siltiet minn “Il-Profeta” ta’ Kahlil Gibran, traduzzjoni ta’ Victor Fenech – L-għaxija ta’ jum ta’ festa ta’ Giacomo Leopardi, traduzzjoni ta’ Oliver Friggieri – Is-sibt fir-raħal ta’ Giacomo Leopardi, traduzzjoni ta’ Alfred Palma.peer-reviewe