Exploring the framings of water scarcity in Palestinian textbooks

Water scarcity in Palestine is a top national priority issue. Extensive research has analysed the causes of water scarcity in Palestine, focusing on negotiations, the occupation, climate change, environmental conditions, the role of international donors and funders, and mismanagement. Nevertheless, how these representations are reflected in Palestinian textbooks has not been investigated. However, textbooks are key because they reflect the governmental position and dominant discourses and forge future generations’ understandings of water issues. This paper takes textbooks as a case study to analyse the dominant discourses of water scarcity in Palestine

Syrian refugees, water scarcity, and dynamic policies: How do the new refugee discourses impact water governance debates in Lebanon and Jordan?

Since the Syrian crisis and the so-called “Arab Spring”, new discourses have been created, sparking the discursive water governance debates around water scarcity and hydropolitics. In Lebanon and Jordan—where most water resources are transboundary, and where most Syrian refugees have flown in—new discourses of climate change and especially of Syrian refugees as exacerbating water scarcity are emerging, shaping water governance debates. The aim of this paper is to engage in comparative discourse analysis about narratives of water crises and refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. This study is novel because of the focus on the new discourse of refugees in relation to water governance debates in both Lebanon and Jordan. This paper finds that in both countries the new discourses of refugees do not replace previous and existing discourses of water crisis and scarcity, but rather they build on and reinforce them. This paper finds that the impact these discourses had on the governance debates is that in Lebanon the resources mobilized focused on humanitarian interventions, while Jordan focused on development projects to strengthen the resilience of its water infrastructure and its overall water governance system

ANN-Based Prediction of Kidney Dysfunction Using Clinical Laboratory Data

This paper presents the prediction of Kidney dysfunction using probabilistic neural network (PNN). Six hundred and sixty (660) sets of analytical laboratory test have been collected from one of the private Clinical laboratories in Baghdad. For each subject, Serum urea and Serum creatinin levels have been analyzed and tested by using clinical laboratory measurements. The collected Urea and cretinine levels are then used as inputs to the Artificial Neural network model in which the training process is done by PNN which is a class of radial basis function (RBF) network is used as a classifier to predict whether Kidney is normal or it will have a dysfunction. The accuracy of Prediction, sensitivity and Specificity were found to be equal to 99%, 98% and 99% respectively for this proposed network .We conclude that the proposed model gives faster and more accurate prediction of Kidney dysfunction and it works as promising tool for predicting of routine kidney dysfunction from the clinical laboratory data

A Rentier State under Blockade: Qatar’s Water-Energy-Food Predicament from Energy Abundance and Food Insecurity to a Silent Water Crisis

This article investigates Qatar’s sustainability crisis of the high levels of water, electricity and food use. The high levels of consumption have been enabled by Qatar’s significant hydrocarbons wealth, a generous rentier state’s redistributive water governance, and structural dependence on imported food and food production subsidies. The water crisis is silent because it does not generate supply disruptions nor any public discontentment. The geopolitical blockade Qatar is experiencing sparked discussions in policy circles on the best ways to ensure food security, but has only exacerbated its water insecurity. The blockade makes more urgent than ever the necessity to maximize and increase synergies among different sectors

Az ischaemiás eredetű balkamra-aneurysma sebészi rekonstrukciója. Két sebészi technika korai és középtávú eredményei = Surgical ventricular reconstruction for ischemic left ventricular aneurysm. Early and medium-term outcomes for two surgical techniques

Absztrakt: Bevezetés: A balkamra-aneurysma az akut myocardialis infarctus súlyos szövődménye; jelentősen növeli a morbiditást, mortalitást. A sebészi korrekciós technikák fejlődése ellenére számtalan kérdőjel van e kórkép kezelésének optimális megközelítésével kapcsolatban. Célkitűzés: Tanulmányunk célja az ischaemiás eredetű balkamra-aneurysma két különböző sebészi technikával (endoventriculoplastica és lineáris varrat) végzett műtéti rekonstrukciója rövid és középtávú eredményeinek vizsgálata annak érdekében, hogy meghatározzuk, melyik eljárás előnyösebb. Módszer: A vizsgálatba 117 beteget vontunk be, 48 esetben (41%) endoventriculoplasticával (1. csoport), 69 betegnél (59%) lineáris varrattal (2. csoport) végeztük a balkamra-rekonstrukciót. 113 betegnél (96,5%) egy időben más eljárás is szükséges volt: 108 esetben műtéti myocardialis revascularisatio, 8 betegnél kamrai septumsutura, 18 esetben mitralisbillentyű-plastica történt. A rövid és középtávú morbiditást és mortalitást, az ejekciós frakció változásait és a szívelégtelenség súlyosságát (NYHA) elemeztük. Eredmények: A perioperatív mortalitás 11,11% volt, 4,2% az endoventriculoplasticás csoportban, 15,9% a lineárisvarrat-csoportban (p = 0,03). Az 5 éves túlélés 78,5% volt (88,7% az 1. csoportban és 71,2% a 2. csoportban). Mindkét csoportban javult a bal kamra ejekciós frakciója, a szív funkcionális osztályba sorolása (NYHA); az eredmények szignifikánsan jobbak voltak az endoventriculoplasticával műtött betegek csoportjában. Következtetések: A bal kamra műtéti rekonstrukciója jó korai és középtávú eredményeket mutató eljárás az ischaemiás balkamra-aneurysma korrigálására; az endoventriculoplastica jobb eredményeket biztosít a korai és középtávú mortalitás, az ejekciós frakció és a NYHA funkcionális osztály szempontjából. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(51): 2167–2174. | Abstract: Introduction: Left ventricular aneurysm is a severe complication of acute myocardial infarction, which contributes significantly to mortality and morbidity associated with this pathology. Despite the progress of correction techniques, there are still controversies about the optimal approach addressing this pathology. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse short and medium term outcomes of left ventricular reconstruction for ischemic left ventricular aneurysm using two surgical techniques (endoventricular patch plasty and liniar suture) in order to determine if one of these techniques has supperior results. Method: 117 patients were included in the study, 48 patients (41%) underwent left ventricular reconstruction with endoventricular patch (Group 1), 69 patients (59%; Group 2) had linear reconstruction. 113 patients (96.5%) required associated procedures: 108 surgical myocardial revascularization, 18 mitral valvuloplasty and 8 ventricular septal defect closure. Short and medium term morbidity, mortality, alteration of ejection fraction and NYHA class were analysed. Results: Perioperative mortality was 11.11%, 4.2% in the endoventricular patch group, and 15.9% in the linear suture group (p = 0.03). The overall 5-year survival was 78.5% (88.7% in Group 1 and 71.2% in Group 2). The left ventricular ejection fraction and NYHA functional class improved in both groups, with greater improvement in the endoventricular patch group. Conclusions: Surgical ventricular reconstruction is a procedure performed for the correction of ischemic left ventricular aneurysm with good early and medium-term results, but with better results with the endoventricular patch technique regarding early and medium-term mortality, ejection fraction and NYHA functional class improvement. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(51): 2167–2174

Preclinical Testing of Living Tissue-Engineered Heart Valves for Pediatric Patients, Challenges and Opportunities

Introduction: Pediatric patients with cardiac congenital diseases require heart valve implants that can grow with their natural somatic increase in size. Current artificial valves perform poorly in children and cannot grow; thus, living-tissue-engineered valves capable of sustaining matrix homeostasis could overcome the current drawbacks of artificial prostheses and minimize the need for repeat surgeries. Materials and Methods: To prepare living-tissue-engineered valves, we produced completely acellular ovine pulmonary valves by perfusion. We then collected autologous adipose tissue, isolated stem cells, and differentiated them into fibroblasts and separately into endothelial cells. We seeded the fibroblasts in the cusp interstitium and onto the root adventitia and the endothelial cells inside the lumen, conditioned the living valves in dedicated pulmonary heart valve bioreactors, and pursued orthotopic implantation of autologous cell-seeded valves with 6 months follow-up. Unseeded valves served as controls. Results: Perfusion decellularization yielded acellular pulmonary valves that were stable, no degradable in vivo, cell friendly and biocompatible, had excellent hemodynamics, were not immunogenic or inflammatory, non thrombogenic, did not calcify in juvenile sheep, and served as substrates for cell repopulation. Autologous adipose-derived stem cells were easy to isolate and differentiate into fibroblasts and endothelial-like cells. Cell-seeded valves exhibited preserved viability after progressive bioreactor conditioning and functioned well in vivo for 6 months. At explantation, the implants and anastomoses were intact, and the valve root was well integrated into host tissues; valve leaflets were unchanged in size, non fibrotic, supple, and functional. Numerous cells positive for a-smooth muscle cell actin were found mostly in the sinus, base, and the fibrosa of the leaflets, and most surfaces were covered by endothelial cells, indicating a strong potential for repopulation of the scaffold. Conclusions: Tissue-engineered living valves can be generated in vitro using the approach described here. The technology is not trivial and can provide numerous challenges and opportunities, which are discussed in detail in this paper. Overall, we concluded that cell seeding did not negatively affect tissue-engineered heart valve (TEHV) performance as they exhibited as good hemodynamic performance as acellular valves in this model. Further understanding of cell fate after implantation and the timeline of repopulation of acellular scaffolds will help us evaluate the translational potential of this technology

Dynamic political contexts and power asymmetries: the cases of the Blue Nile and the Yarmouk Rivers

This paper explores the evolving patterns of hydropolitical relations in the dynamic contexts of Yarmouk and Blue Nile Rivers in comparison. The analysis aims at shedding light over the complex implications that recent political and social changes have aroused for the water disputes between Jordan and Syria on the one hand, and Ethiopia and Egypt on the other. In both basins, cooperative efforts toward the integrated management of transboundary waters have been only partially effective and largely undermined by the perpetuation of unilateral actions by riparian states. In the case studies, the lack of a basin-wide vision over the control and use of shared waters has resulted in disputes among the basin states and ultimately in an unsustainable, unfair, and unwise utilization of the resources. This paper argues that a substantive and effective integration of national water policies is unlikely to occur, unless power asymmetries are properly addressed in order to overcome the likelihood of hegemonic regimes