From Peshawar to Kabul: Preserving Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage during Wartime

This article profiles the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University (ACKU) as an example of an organization that has successfully engaged in preserving a nation’s cultural heritage during a time of war. The ACKU has emerged from, and been engaged in, efforts to preserve Afghanistan’s cultural heritage from the time of the Soviet occupation until today.Ope

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Research without Archives?: The Making and Remaking of Area Studies Knowledge of the Middle East in a Time of Chronic War

The Middle East is home to ancient historical documents of great value to archivists and historians. Systemic violence, warfare, and political instability in the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 have taken a terrible toll on documents and archives as well as human life. The destruction of libraries that house primary source materials affects the creation of knowledge in Middle Eastern studies in important ways that remain to be understood. In this article, I review the extent of the damage to libraries and archives in the region since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and then ask: What happens to Middle Eastern studies when archives are destroyed and researchers must change their topics and methods of research? Can we create knowledge about a region when its archival resources and human informants are so endangered? If access to archival materials is essential to the very essence of Middle Eastern studies, then what is happening to that field and why should that matter to archivists? I recount anecdotal evidence of researchers changing the topics and themes of their research in response to a situation of limited access to archives and to the region, and then present outcomes of a survey I designed to understand more systematically how these problems are affecting the shape of research and knowledge about the Middle East. Finally, I present an aspirational call to the cultural heritage preservation community – researchers, archivists, and librarians – to digitize archival resources in the Middle East. RÉSUMÉLe Moyen-Orient abrite d’anciens documents historiques de grande valeur pour les archivistes et les historiens. La violence, les guerres et l’instabilité politique systémiques dans la région depuis l’invasion de l’Iraq en 2003 ont eu de lourdes conséquences sur les documents et les archives, aussi bien que sur les vies humaines. La destruction de bibliothèques qui hébergent des sources primaires a une incidence importante dont on ne saisit pas encore l’ampleur sur la création du savoir dans les études du Moyen-Orient. Dans cet article, je fais un survol de l’étendue des dommages causés aux bibliothèques et aux archives de la région depuis l’invasion américaine de l’Iraq en 2003 pour ensuite demander : qu’arrive- t-il aux études du Moyen-Orient quand les archives sont détruites et que les chercheurs doivent changer leurs sujets et méthodes de recherche? Peut-on créer le savoir au sujet d’une région quand ses ressources archivistiques et ses informateurs humains sont si ménacés? Si l’accès aux matériaux archivistiques est essentiel à l’essence même des études du Moyen-Orient, qu’advient-il de ce domaine et pourquoi les archivistes devraient-ils s’en préoccuper? Je fournis des preuves empiriques de chercheurs qui changent leurs sujets et thèmes de recherche en réaction à l’accès limité aux archives et à la région, et je présente ensuite les résultats d’un sondage que j’ai conçu pour comprendre plus systématiquement comment ces problèmes affectent l’orientation de la recherche et du savoir au sujet du Moyen-Orient. Enfin, je lance un appel ambitieux à la communauté de la préservation du patrimoine culturel – chercheurs, archivistes et bibliothécaires – à numériser les ressources archivistiques dans le Moyen-Orient

Disaster managment plan in time of war: a survey of the Middle East and North Africa Libraries

My poster examines whether Middle East libraries and archives have a disaster management and recovery plans during a time of armed conflict. i sent a survey in Arabic, Farsi, Turkish and English to 19 countries in the middle east asking them 20 questions. this poster shows part of the result and the survey still ongoing.Library committee for RPCOpe

Disaster Management Planning in the Times of War: the Case of the Middle East???s Libraries and Archives

My poster examines??whether Middle East libraries and archives have had disaster management and recovery plans during a time of armed conflict. ??If so, what were the plans, and were they applied in the case of the 2003 war on??Iraq and the conflict in Egypt this year?unpublishednot peer reviewe

In the Bubble: The Case of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Research in the Time of COVID-19

In early March 2020, a global COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of a large majority of academic institutions including libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutes in North America and around the world. As we write this paper, almost two years later, the situation remains critical, and most universities continue to offer online teaching while most libraries provide remote access to their resources. This article presents the results of a survey that was designed and circulated a questionnaire to faculty and students at US and Canadian universities in the summer of 2020. This paper aims to draw a portrait of the state of research in the Summer of 2020 and seeks to understand how libraries and users customized their access to resources during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The article identifies the main challenges faced by scholars in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies to develop, pursue, or complete research projects during the pandemic, and the strategies implemented to make up for the loss of access to primary source materials and field research. The article also highlights immediate initiatives developed by academic and research libraries to support the research community, and demonstrates how these responses to the crisis matched their institution’s strategies.n/aOpe

In-Vitro Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Selected Fruit and Vegetable Juices and Fermented Dairy Products Commonly Consumed in Egypt

ABSTRACT The antibacterial activities of the juices from fruits and vegetables and different fermented dairy products commonly consumed in Egypt were evaluated for their antioxidative and antimicrobial activities. A combination of biochemical analysis and bioassays to identify potency compounds included the 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydracyl hydrate (DPPH) radical scavenging method and Folin-Ciocaulteau total phenol method were used to study the distribution and levels of polyphenols and antioxidants (AOXs) contents. For the antimicrobial activity analysis, seven pathogens strains bacterial inoculated (10 4 cells/ml) into 20 ml of Mueller-Hinton agar and poured in Petri dishes, using the well diffusion, were added juices of fruits, vegetables and different fermented dairy products. After incubation, antibacterial activity was measured by zone of inhibition (ZOI). The pomegranate juices were highest in their polyphenol content, antioxidant activity compared to all other juices. High significant positive relationship existed between the polyphenolic content and the antioxidant activities of the juices. Only fresh juices of lemon (4.4 mg/well) and fresh pomegranate (3.6 mg/well) had the potency to exhibited inhibition activities towards the seven studied antibiotic resistant microorganisms. Sobya was the only lactic acid fermented dairy products with high antioxidant activity and efficiently inhibited the seven studied antibiotic resistant microorganisms. Lemon and pomegranate juices and fermented sobya may be a good candidate for functional foods as well as for nutraceutical plant based products