Who Am I? : The Development of a Male Palestinian Political Identity

The Palestinian people have lived under numerous imperial rulers; first, the Ottoman Empire, then later the British. Today they live under the military occupation of the state of Israel as second class citizen millions more living abroad as refugees. Young Palestinian men have become the leaders and the physical manifestation of the struggle against Israel, a political Goliath that has used tactics to repress the Palestinians such as, detentions, beatings, and land confiscation, which many outside of the Israeli state deem as illegal. Scholar Rashid Khalidi states that “the quintessential Palestinian experience, which illustrates some of the most basic issues raised by Palestinian identity, takes place at the border[...] in short, at any one of those many modern barriers where identities are checked and verified”(Khalidi, 1997:1). It is through this process that the battered and bruised body of young Palestinian men represents the political identity of Palestinians to people all over the world. Yet the meaning of this body has transformed generation to generation. This paper analyzes not only this generational shift but also the history of this symbol. In this effort it also addresses related ideas, such as colonialism, nationalism and identity in the context of modern Palestine. Additional elements include issues such as state sanctioned violence and the impact this violence has on the mental development of identity in those Palestinian men who grow up under Israeli military occupation. Above all else, this paper explores Palestinian male identities, and their responses to the question “Who am I?”, and why and how their answers are not as simple as saying “I am a Palestinian man.

An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship Between Stock Market Indices and Macroeconomic Variables: Evidence from Jordan

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between stock market index and macroeconomic variables in Jordan.The unit root tests and the Granger causality test have been applied between the Amman Stock Exchange Index (ASEI) and the macroeconomic variables, Discount rate (interest), Money Supply, Index of Industrial production (IIP), Foreign Exchange Reserve (FR), and Consumer Price Index (CPI) using monthly data for the period from 2002 to 2015. The findings show the ASE Index doesn’t granger cause any of the variables except the interest rate. And shows that none of the macroeconomic variables granger causes ASEI except the CPI. Economists, policy makers and financial investors can use the findings to help them in exploring whether the movement of stock market indices is the result of some related macroeconomic variables or it is one of the causes of movement in those variables of the Jordanian economy. Keywords: Stock Index, Macroeconomic Variables, Granger Causality, Jordan

Sleep estimates in children: parental versus actigraphic assessments

Background: In the context of increasing awareness about the need for assessment of sleep duration in community and clinical settings, the use of questionnaire-based tools may be fraught with reporter bias. Conversely, actigraphy provides objective assessments of sleep patterns. In this study, we aimed to determine the potential discrepancies between parentally-based sleep logs and concurrent actigraphic recordings in children over a one-week period. Methods: We studied 327 children aged 3–10 years, and included otherwise healthy, nonsnoring children from the community who were reported by their parents to be nonsnorers and had normal polysomnography, habitually-snoring children from the community who completed the same protocol, and children with primary insomnia referred to the sleep clinic for evaluation in the absence of any known psychiatric illness. Actigraphy and parental sleep log were concomitantly recorded during one week. Results: Sleep logs displayed an average error in sleep onset after bedtime of about 30 minutes (P , 0.01) and of a few minutes before risetime in all groups. Furthermore, subjective parental reports were associated with an overestimated misperception of increased sleep duration of roughly one hour per night independent of group (P , 0.001). Conclusion: The description of a child’s sleep by the parent appears appropriate as far as symptoms are concerned, but does not result in a correct estimate of sleep onset or duration. We advocate combined parental and actigraphic assessments in the evaluation of sleep complaints, particularly to rule out misperceptions and potentially to aid treatment. Actigraphy provides a more reliable tool than parental reports for assessing sleep in healthy children and in children with sleep problems

Sleep estimates in children: parental versus actigraphic assessments

Background: In the context of increasing awareness about the need for assessment of sleep duration in community and clinical settings, the use of questionnaire-based tools may be fraught with reporter bias. Conversely, actigraphy provides objective assessments of sleep patterns. In this study, we aimed to determine the potential discrepancies between parentally-based sleep logs and concurrent actigraphic recordings in children over a one-week period. Methods: We studied 327 children aged 3–10 years, and included otherwise healthy, nonsnoring children from the community who were reported by their parents to be nonsnorers and had normal polysomnography, habitually-snoring children from the community who completed the same protocol, and children with primary insomnia referred to the sleep clinic for evaluation in the absence of any known psychiatric illness. Actigraphy and parental sleep log were concomitantly recorded during one week. Results: Sleep logs displayed an average error in sleep onset after bedtime of about 30 minutes (P , 0.01) and of a few minutes before risetime in all groups. Furthermore, subjective parental reports were associated with an overestimated misperception of increased sleep duration of roughly one hour per night independent of group (P , 0.001). Conclusion: The description of a child’s sleep by the parent appears appropriate as far as symptoms are concerned, but does not result in a correct estimate of sleep onset or duration. We advocate combined parental and actigraphic assessments in the evaluation of sleep complaints, particularly to rule out misperceptions and potentially to aid treatment. Actigraphy provides a more reliable tool than parental reports for assessing sleep in healthy children and in children with sleep problems

Sleep Assessments In Healthy School-Aged Children Using Actigraphy: Concordance with Polysomnography

Actigraphic recordings (ACT) are widely used in school children as a less intrusive and more extended approach to evaluation of sleep problems. However, critical assessment of the validity and reliability of ACT against overnight polysomnography (NPSG) are unavailable. Thus, we explored the degree of concordance between NPSG and ACT in school-aged children to delineate potential ACT boundaries when interpreting pediatric sleep. Non-dominant wrist ACT was simultaneously recorded with NPSG in 149 healthy school-aged children (4.1 to 8.8 years old, 41.7% boys and 80.4% Caucasian) recruited from the community. Analyses were limited to the Actiware (MiniMitter-64) calculated parameters originating from 1-min epoch sampling and medium sensitivity threshold value of 40; i.e., Sleep Period Time (SPT), Total Sleep Time (TST) and Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO). SPT was not significantly different between ACT and NPSG. However, ACT significantly underestimated TST by 32.2±33.4 minutes, and overestimated WASO by 26.3±34.4 minutes. The decreased precision of ACT was also evident from moderate to small concordance correlation coefficients (0.47 for TST and 0.09 for WASO). ACT in school-aged children provides reliable assessment of sleep quantity, but is relatively inaccurate during determination of sleep quality. Thus, caution is advocated in drawing definitive conclusions from ACT during evaluation of the sleep disturbed child

Sleep Assessments In Healthy School-Aged Children Using Actigraphy: Concordance with Polysomnography

Actigraphic recordings (ACT) are widely used in school children as a less intrusive and more extended approach to evaluation of sleep problems. However, critical assessment of the validity and reliability of ACT against overnight polysomnography (NPSG) are unavailable. Thus, we explored the degree of concordance between NPSG and ACT in school-aged children to delineate potential ACT boundaries when interpreting pediatric sleep. Non-dominant wrist ACT was simultaneously recorded with NPSG in 149 healthy school-aged children (4.1 to 8.8 years old, 41.7% boys and 80.4% Caucasian) recruited from the community. Analyses were limited to the Actiware (MiniMitter-64) calculated parameters originating from 1-min epoch sampling and medium sensitivity threshold value of 40; i.e., Sleep Period Time (SPT), Total Sleep Time (TST) and Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO). SPT was not significantly different between ACT and NPSG. However, ACT significantly underestimated TST by 32.2±33.4 minutes, and overestimated WASO by 26.3±34.4 minutes. The decreased precision of ACT was also evident from moderate to small concordance correlation coefficients (0.47 for TST and 0.09 for WASO). ACT in school-aged children provides reliable assessment of sleep quantity, but is relatively inaccurate during determination of sleep quality. Thus, caution is advocated in drawing definitive conclusions from ACT during evaluation of the sleep disturbed child

Exogenous erythropoietin administration attenuates intermittent hypoxia-induced cognitive deficits in a murine model of sleep apnea

Background: In rodents, exposure to intermittent hypoxia (IH), a hallmark of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), is associated with neurobehavioral impairments, increased apoptosis in the hippocampus and cortex, as well as increased oxidant stress and inflammation. Such findings are markedly attenuated in rodents exposed to sustained hypoxia 9SH) of similar magnitude. The hypoxia-sensitive gene erythropoietin (EPO) has emerged as a major endogenous neuroprotectant, and could be involved in IH-induced neuronal dysfunction. Methods and Results: IH induced only transiently increased expression of EPO mRNA in hippocampus, which was continued in (SH)-exposed mice. IH, but not SH, adversely affected two forms of spatial learning in the water maze, and increased markers of oxidative stress. However, on a standard place training task, mice treated with exogenously administered EPO displayed normal learning, and were protected from the spatial learning deficits observed in vehicle-treated (C) littermates exposed to IH. Moreover, anxiety levels were increased in IH as compared to normoxia, while no changes in anxiety emerged in EPO-treated mice. Additionally, C mice, but not EPO-treated IH-exposed mice had significantly elevated levels of NADPH oxidase expression, as well as increased MDA and 8-OHDG levels in cortical and hippocampal lysates. Conclusions: The oxidative stress responses and neurobehavioral impairments induced by IH during sleep are mediated, at least in part, by imbalances between EPO expression and increased NADPH oxidase activity, and thus pharmacological agents targeting EPO expression in CNS may provide a therapeutic strategy in sleep-disordered breathing

Impairments in Attention in Occasionally Snoring Children: An Event-Related Potential Study

Objective—To determine whether minimal snoring is benign in children. Procedure—22 rarely snoring children (mean age=6.9 years, 11 females) and age- and sexmatched controls participated in an auditory oddball task wearing 128-electrode nets. Parents completed Conner’s Parent Rating Scales-Revised Long (CPRS-R:L). Results—Snorers scored significantly higher on 4 CPRS-R:L subscales. Stepwise regression indicated that two ERP variables from a region of the ERP that peaked at 844 ms post-stimulus onset predicted CPRS-R:L ADHD Index scores. Conclusions—Occasional snorers according to parental report do exhibit ADHD-like behaviors. Basic sensory processing is longer than in controls, suggesting that delayed frontal activation requires more effort in snorers

Impairments in attention in occasionally snoring children: An event-related potential study.

Objective: To determine whether minimal snoring is benign in children. Procedure: 22 rarely snoring children (mean age = 6.9 years, 11 females) and age- and sex-matched controls participated in an auditory oddball task wearing 128-electrode nets. Parents completed the Conners Parent Rating Scales–Revised Long (CPRS–R:L). Results: Snorers scored significantly higher on four CPRS-R:L subscales. Stepwise regression indicated that two ERP variables from a region of the ERP that peaked at 844 msec post-stimulus onset predicted CPRS-R:L Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Index scores. Conclusions: Occasional snorers, according to parental report, do exhibit ADHD-like behaviors. Basic sensory processing is longer than in controls, suggesting that delayed frontal activation requires more effort in snorers