Lineages of the Islamic State: an international historical sociology of state (de-)formation in Iraq

Existing accounts of the Islamic State (IS) tend to rely on orientalist and technicist assumptions and hence insufficiently sensitive to the historical, sociological, and international conditions of the possibility of IS. The present article provides an alternative account through a conjunctural analysis that is anchored in an international historical sociology of modern Iraq informed by Leon Trotsky's idea of ‘uneven and combined development’. It foregrounds the concatenation of Iraq's contradictory (post‐)colonial nation‐state formation with the neoliberal conjuncture of 1990‐2014. It shows that the former process involved the tension‐prone fusion of governing institutions of the modern state and the intermittent but steady reproduction, valorization, and politicization of supra‐national (religious‐sectarian) and sub‐national (ethno‐tribal) collective identities, which subverted the emergence of an Iraqi nation. The international sanctions regime of the 1990s transformed sectarian and tribal difference into communitarian tension by fatally undermining the integrative efficacy of the Ba’ath party's authoritarian welfare‐state. Concurrently, the neo‐liberal demolition of the post‐colonial authoritarian welfare states in the region gave rise to the Arab Spring revolutions. The Arab Spring however elicited a successful authoritarian counter‐revolution that eliminated secular‐nationalist forms of oppositional politics. This illiberal neoliberalisation of the region's political economy valorised the religionisation of the domestic effects of the 2003 US‐led destruction of the Iraqi state and its reconstruction on a majoritarian basis favouring the Shi’as and hence transforming sectarian tension into sectarian conflict culminating in IS. Thus, IS is, the paper demonstrates, the result of neither an internal cultural pathology nor sheerly external forces. Rather, it is the novel product of an utterly historical congealment of the intrinsically interactive and multilinear dynamics of socio‐political change

A bloodâ based nutritional risk index explains cognitive enhancement and decline in the multidomain Alzheimer prevention trial

IntroductionMultinutrient approaches may produce more robust effects on brain health through interactive qualities. We hypothesized that a bloodâ based nutritional risk index (NRI) including three biomarkers of diet quality can explain cognitive trajectories in the multidomain Alzheimer prevention trial (MAPT) over 3â years.MethodsThe NRI included erythrocyte nâ 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (nâ 3 PUFA 22:6nâ 3 and 20:5nâ 3), serum 25â hydroxyvitamin D, and plasma homocysteine. The NRI scores reflect the number of nutritional risk factors (0â 3). The primary outcome in MAPT was a cognitive composite Z score within each participant that was fit with linear mixedâ effects models.ResultsEighty percent had at lease one nutritional risk factor for cognitive decline (NRI â ¥1: 573 of 712). Participants presenting without nutritional risk factors (NRI=0) exhibited cognitive enhancement (β = 0.03 standard units [SU]/y), whereas each NRI point increase corresponded to an incremental acceleration in rates of cognitive decline (NRIâ 1: β = â 0.04 SU/y, P = .03; NRIâ 2: β = â 0.08 SU/y, P < .0001; and NRIâ 3: β = â 0.11 SU/y, P = .0008).DiscussionIdentifying and addressing these wellâ established nutritional risk factors may reduce ageâ related cognitive decline in older adults; an observation that warrants further study.Highlightsâ ¢Multiâ nutrient approaches may produce more robust effects through interactive propertiesâ ¢Nutritional risk index can objectively quantify nutritionâ related cognitive changesâ ¢Optimum nutritional status associated with cognitive enhancement over 3â yearsâ ¢Suboptimum nutritional status associated with cognitive decline over 3â yearsâ ¢Optimizing this nutritional risk index may promote cognitive health in older adultsPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152935/1/trc2jtrci201911004.pd

Abstract Concepts: Sensory-Motor Grounding, Metaphors, and Beyond

Abstract In the last decade many researchers have obtained evidence for the idea that cognition shares processing mechanisms with perception and action. Most of the evidence supporting the grounded cognition framework focused on representations of concrete concepts, which leaves open the question how abstract concepts are grounded in sensory-motor processing. One promising idea is that people simulate concrete situations and introspective experiences to represent abstract concepts [Barsalou, L. W., & Wiemer-Hastings, K. (2005). Situating abstract concepts. In D. Pecher, & R. A. Zwaan (Eds.), Grounding cognition: The role of perception and action in memory, language, and thinking (pp. 129–163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.], although this has not yet been investigated a lot. A second idea, which more researchers have investigated, is that people use metaphorical mappings from concrete to abstract concepts [Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Chicago University Press.]. According to this conceptual metaphor theory, image schemas structure and provide sensory-motor grounding for abstract concepts. Although there is evidence that people automatically activate image schemas when they process abstract concepts, we argue that situations are also needed to fully represent meaning

Genomic Damage in Endstage Renal Disease—Contribution of Uremic Toxins

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), whether on conservative, peritoneal or hemodialysis therapy, have elevated genomic damage in peripheral blood lymphocytes and an increased cancer incidence, especially of the kidney. The damage is possibly due to accumulation of uremic toxins like advanced glycation endproducts or homocysteine. However, other endogenous substances with genotoxic properties, which are increased in ESRD, could be involved, such as the blood pressure regulating hormones angiotensin II and aldosterone or the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α. This review provides an overview of genomic damage observed in ESRD patients, focuses on possible underlying causes and shows modulations of the damage by modern dialysis strategies and vitamin supplementation

Muscle mass decline, arterial stiffness, white matter hyperintensity, and cognitive impairment: Japan Shimanami Health Promoting Program study

Background: There is a close association between frailty and cognitive impairment. However, the underlying contribution of sarcopenia to the development of cognitive impairment is unclear. We investigated the possible association between muscle mass decline and cognitive impairment in a cross-sectional study of 1518 subjects aged 55 years or above. We also evaluated arterial stiffness and white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) as possible underlying mechanisms for this association. Methods: Two sarcopenic indices were measured: thigh muscle cross-sectional area (CSA; calculated by computed tomography) and skeletal muscle mass (bioelectric impedance). Muscle mass decline was defined as either the bottom 10% or 20% of participants for each sex. Cognitive function was assessed using the Touch Panel-type Dementia Assessment Scale, and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity was measured as an index of arterial stiffness. Results: Both sarcopenic indices were modestly but significantly associated with brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity in male and female subjects. The presence of WMHs was significantly associated with low thigh muscle CSA in men and with low skeletal muscle mass in women. The Touch Panel-type Dementia Assessment Scale score was modestly but significantly and positively associated with thigh muscle CSA in men and skeletal muscle mass in women. Muscle mass decline in the bottom 10% of participants on both sarcopenic indices was significantly and independently related to cognitive impairment in women. Conclusions: Lower sarcopenic indices are significantly related to lower cognitive scores. Arterial stiffness and WMHs could account, at least in part, for this association