Is the Middle East Moving Toward Islamism after the Arab Spring? The Case Study of the Egyptian Commercial and Financial Laws

The first parliamentary elections that followed the Egyptian Revolution witnessed an unprecedented success for Islamists as they secured an overwhelming majority of seats in parliament, suggesting that they may intend to amend many laws to bring parliament into compliance with Islamic Shari’a. This article addresses legal challenges that will face the new majority if they decide to Islamize laws and regulations related to business and finance. Particularly, the article discusses Islamic money theory, trade, banking systems, consumer protection, insurance, competition, and tax systems. The article analyzes Egyptian business and finance laws to examine whether they comply with Islamic law. It then proceeds to explain the alternative Islamic principles that may replace several current rules. The article concludes that while some changes are foreseeable, there can be no expectation of radical change in the near future. Although the authors come to this conclusion, they analyze the legal issues without judging, supporting, or opposing the imposition of Islamic law

Continuous Wave Transscleral Cyclophotocoagulation and Endoscopic Cyclophotocoagulation in Childhood Glaucoma: A Meta-analysis

To report the outcomes of continuous wave-transscleral cyclophotocoagulation (TS-CPC) and endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation (ECP) in childhood glaucoma. We performed a systematic search of relevant databases. We collected data on age, follow-up duration, type of glaucoma, previous surgical interventions, preoperative and postoperative intraocular pressure (IOP), preoperative and postoperative number of glaucoma medications, adverse events, number of sessions, and success rates at different time points. The main outcome measures are the amount of IOP and glaucoma medication reduction. We included 17 studies studying 526 patients (658 eyes); 11 evaluated the effectiveness of TS-CPC (268 patients, 337 eyes), 5 evaluated ECP (159 patients, 197 eyes), and one study compared both techniques (56 patients, 72 eyes for TS-CPC vs. 43 patients, 52 eyes for ECP). The median duration of follow-up was 28 months in the TS-CPC group and 34.4 months in the ECP group. The mean number of treatment sessions was 1.7 in the TS-CPC and 1.3 in the ECP. In the TS-CPC group, the mean IOP was significantly reduced from 31.2±8 to 20.8±8 mmHg at the last follow-up (P<0.001). The mean number of glaucoma medications was reduced from 2.3±1.3 to 2.2±1.3 (P=0.37). In the ECP group, there was also a significant reduction in the mean IOP from 32.9±8 mmHg with a mean of 1.7±0.7 glaucoma medications to 22.6±9.8 mmHg (P<0.0001) on 1.2±1.1 medications (P=0.009) at the last follow-up. Both TS-CPC and ECP were effective in reducing the IOP and glaucoma medications in childhood glaucoma. Multiple treatment sessions were required