Situating Arab women’s writing in a feminist ‘global gothic’ : madness, mothers and ghosts

This article sketches a new way of approaching some contemporary Levantine (Egyptian and Lebanese) feminist texts. Extending Glennis Byron’s notion of the ‘global gothic’, I examine Hanan Al-Shaykh’s The Story of Zahra (1986), Mansoura Ez Eldin’s Maryam’s Maze (2007) and Joumana Haddad’s The Seamstress’ Daughter (2019) as examples of an Arab feminist Gothic approach, which serves as a framework to theorise difficult and pressing questions that feminism poses regarding women’s rights. Arab feminist Gothic writers use the jahiliyyah period, or the ‘time of ignorance’, as a folkloric referential backdrop for texts which theorise the female condition under contemporary patriarchal society. The presence of ghosts, madness, doubles in the form of the folkloric qarina spirit-doubles and dreams can be read as part of a local Gothic feminist mode. This as-yet unacknowledged Arab feminist Gothic tradition, while emerging from debates over statehood and postcolonial subjectivities, delves into the intensity of personal traumas through the lens of women’s relationships to other women, especially mothers and daughters. Taking Arab feminist fiction as its focus, this article models how feminist scholarship can use genre, particularly the Gothic, to trace artistic feminist theorising in non-western contexts

Fundamental Dynamics and Performance Assessment of Three-Dimensional Seismic Isolation

Seismic isolation is an effective technique used to mitigate effects of ground shaking and achieve higher seismic performance in building structures. Recent research has suggested that vertical excitation has significant effects on the structural response during an earthquake. In this dissertation, the dynamic response and control of buildings with 3-dimensional (3D) isolation systems is explored. First, the fundamental dynamic response of a simplified model consisting of a rigid block resting on isolation bearings is studied. The overall structural response of the 3D isolated block is evaluated through drift ratio, vertical and horizontal displacement and acceleration amplification factors. A parametric study is carried out to evaluate the effect of different site conditions, building aspect ratio and 3D isolation parameters on the structure and bearing response. The results show that effective 3D isolation is achieved by designing the system with vertical isolation period in the range of 0.5 – 1.0 sec. Also, the horizontal (TH) and vertical (TV) isolation periods should not be closely coupled, and TH should be selected to be much longer than TV. Structural responses are seen to increase for increasing site class (increasingly softer soil) over the entire parameter range. Increasing horizontal ζH and vertical damping ratios ζV, leads to decreasing drift ratios and vertical bearing displacement. However, increasing h/b leads to an increase in rocking, which consequently impacts the relative drift ratio between the top and the base and the vertical bearing displacement.Next, a concept is proposed for 3D isolation that combines elastomeric bearings to resist horizontal ground shaking in series with bilinear liquid spring (BLS) - controllable magnetorheological fluid dampers (CMRD) to resist vertical shaking. The simplified rigid block model is extended to predict the response of the building isolated with BLS-CMRD devices under earthquake loading. BLS-CMRDs are simulated through a combination of nonlinear springs, viscous and hysteretic (semi-active) damping. A new Disp/Vel-based Control strategy is proposed that adjusts the input current according to the instantaneous vector combination of feedback displacement and velocity of the damper. Two variations of the control strategy are explored. First, with Linear Current Variation, the current is activated when a threshold lower bound vector magnitude is reached, and maximum current is applied when a threshold upper bound magnitude is exceeded. Second, the simplified ON-OFF strategy uses a single threshold vector magnitude that triggers the maximum current to turn on when the instantaneous vector magnitude exceeds the threshold, and turn off otherwise. Results of this analysis show that for ground motions that exceed the design level, Disp/Vel-based Control is effective to moderate the level of energy dissipation, keep device vertical displacement within the design stroke limit, and attenuate vertical acceleration below PGA. In addition, Disp/Vel-based control reduces all responses relative to the well-known clipped optimal strategy used for structural control.Finally, the promising findings regarding 3D isolation are validated through a detailed study of the structural response of a real multi-story frame building with 3D isolation. Three hypothetical steel buildings of different aspect ratio with special concentric braced-frame lateral systems have been designed for this purpose. The seismic response of the buildings with fixed-base, horizontal (Hz) isolation and 3D isolation are compared to evaluate the effectiveness of 3D isolation to mitigate the vertical ground shaking. Also, responses predicted by a 3D rigid block model are compared to the flexible building response to identify the limitations of rigid block in predicting both global and local structural responses. The simplified rigid block model estimates reasonably well the global structural responses, but does not account for slab vibrations. Overall, 3D isolation with a relatively short isolation period (0.5 sec) is found to be adequate to significantly mitigate the vertical acceleration in a flexible frame building, including the amplification at mid-slab relative to adjacent columns, without compromising the usual reductions in horizontal story drifts and floor accelerations. Aspect ratio was shown to insignificantly influence the structural response of 3D isolated buildings for the relatively short, stiff buildings considered in the study

Epidemiology of ocular emergencies in the Egyptian population: a five-year retrospective study

Hany E El-Mekawey¹, Khaled G Abu El Einen¹, Mohammad Abdelmaboud¹, Amr Khafagy¹, Eman M Eltahlawy²¹Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, ²National Research Center, Cairo, EgyptBackground: The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiology of ocular lesions seen in the ophthalmic casualty room of the largest referral hospital in Egypt over 5 years from 2004 to 2008.Methods: This epidemiologic database study used the medical records at Cairo University Hospital. Data were recorded using the ICD10 classification. Statistical analysis was based on diagnosis, age, gender, residential area, and year of admission.Results: Over 5 years, 8361 ocular emergencies were admitted as inpatients. Open globe injuries were the most prevalent, comprising 33.46% of emergencies. Most cases were males (69%), in whom the most frequent lesions were open globe injuries, infective keratitis, and lid injuries. The most common ocular emergencies in females were open globe injuries, infective keratitis, endophthalmitis, and glaucoma. The age group 6–16 years accounted for 24% of emergencies, and patients over 45 years accounted for 26.8%. Under the age of 45 years, the most common lesions were open globe injuries (36%), and over this age, the most common lesions were infective keratitis (34.4%). Patients from Upper Egypt accounted for 56.2% of emergencies. A superficial corneal foreign body was the most common reason for attending the ophthalmic casualty room, with 24,844 cases seen over the 5 years of the study, all of which were managed as outpatient procedures. Deep corneal foreign bodies were more common than intraocular foreign bodies. The most common ocular hemorrhage was hyphema. The most common type of glaucoma was acute angle closure.Conclusion: Superficial corneal foreign bodies, open globe injuries, and infective keratitis are the main ocular emergencies seen in the Egyptian population. Corneal foreign bodies are mostly the result of occupational accidents in workers not wearing protective goggles. Violent altercations (41.9%), occupational accidents (26.3%), and motor vehicle accidents (24.4%) were the main circumstances involved in open globe injuries. The most common admissions were for open globe injuries under the age of 45 years and infective keratitis above this age. Upper Egypt was the main referring geographic area.Keywords: ocular casualties, foreign body, open globe, infective keratitis, lid injurie

Gamma-aminobutyric acid ameliorates gamma rays-induced oxidative stress in the small intestine of rats

Abstract Background The current study aimed to evaluate the role of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) in modulating histopathological and biochemical disturbances in the rat’s small intestine following gamma radiation exposure. Results The results showed that whole body gamma irradiation (6 Gy) of rats induced mucosal damage, hemorrhage, increased cellularity of the lamina propria layer with areas of complete ulcerations. Histopathological changes were associated with a significant increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs). In parallel, a significant decrease in catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities was demonstrated. Administration of GABA (200 mg/kg body weight GABA daily via gastric gavage for three consecutive weeks) after irradiation of rats has significantly improved the oxidant/antioxidant status which was associated with regeneration of the small intestinal cell structure. Conclusion Gastric administration of GABA was found to offer an advantageous treatment against gamma irradiation-induced small intestine oxidative stress in rats, probably by utilizing ameliorative effects via its antioxidant and free radical-scavenging activities. Its mechanisms need to be further investigated

Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy and Safety of P2Y

BACKGROUND: Guidelines recommend dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) following drug-eluting stent (DES) placement for ≥12 months in acute coronary syndrome or 6 months in stable coronary artery disease. However, with the advent of newer-generation stents, the optimal duration of DAPT to balance bleeding and thrombotic risks has been debated. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to perform a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing P2Y METHODS: Electronic databases were searched for RCTs of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with DES placement who received short (≤ 3 months) vs. standard DAPT course (≥12 months) and were followed for ≥12-months. Rates of major adverse cardiovascular events (a composite of cardiovascular mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and non-fatal stroke) were the primary outcome. Study-specific odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals were calculated using random-effects model. RESULTS: A total of 20,706 patients (10,344 in the SDG and 10,362 in the STG) were analysed from four studies. There was no significant difference observed for MACE (OR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.81-1.08, P = .92, I CONCLUSION: A short duration of DAPT followed by P2