Revealing Clothing Ads: Evaluating the Appeal of Sexual Imagery in Advertising

The study expanded the sexual vs non-sexual categorization of clothing ads by adopting a three-category measure: non-sexual, suggestive, and provocative imagery. Results indicate that non-sexual advertisements were ranked most appealing. Data were gathered in three stages using a pre-survey, a focus group discussion, and a post-survey. A convenience sample was used to recruit 30 participants comprising 11 men and 19 women; they were recruited from Concordia University to participate in one of four group interviews. Pre- and post-survey results indicate the lower the degree of sexual explicitness, the greater the perceived appeal. In terms of gender differences, women are more likely than men to rank non-sexual advertisements as appealing. In contrast, men are more likely to rank provocative advertisements as appealing. Nonetheless, the data show a tendency of both men and women forming an agreement around their perceptions of non-sexual advertisements. The data also show a higher tendency of women forming an agreement around their perceptions of suggestive advertisements. Lastly, the data show a higher tendency of men forming an agreement around their perceptions of provocative advertisements. Thus, the focus group discussion impacted participants’ tendency to form an agreement around their perceptions of advertisements and alter their responses in the post-survey

'The House of the Priest': A Palestinian Life (1885-1954)

Editors: Sarah Irving, Charbel Nassif, and Karène Sanchez Summerer 'The House of the Priest’ presents and discusses the hitherto unpublished and untranslated memoirs of Niqula Khoury, a senior member of the Orthodox Church and Arab nationalist in late Ottoman and British Mandate Palestine. It discusses the complicated relationships between language, religion, diplomacy and identity in the Middle East in the interwar period. This original annotated translation and accompanying articles provide a thorough explication of Khoury’s memoirs and their significance for the social, political and religious histories of twentieth-century Palestine and Arab relations with the Greek Orthodox church. Khoury played a major role in these dynamics as a leading member of the fight for Arab presence in the Greek-dominated clergy, and for an independent Palestine, travelling in 1937 to Eastern Europe and the League of Nations on behalf of the national movement. Contributors: Sarah Irving, Charbel Nassif, Konstantinos Papastathis, Karène Sanchez Summerer, Cyrus Schayeg

Le grand euchologe melkite de Jérusalem (1865)

Faisant suite à l’euchologe grec de Benoît XIV imprimé à Rome en 1754, le grand euchologe melkite est imprimé en 1865 à Jérusalem sous la supervision du patriarche latin Joseph Valerga. À travers l’étude des correspondances relatives à l’élaboration de l’euchologe, cet article vise à évaluer le rôle de médiateur de Valerga, ainsi que son savoir liturgique. L’étude de certains rites (chirotonie du chorévêque, rite d’indulgence pour les mourants, rite du mariage, bénédiction des cierges le jour de la présentation du Christ au temple), et d’un chapitre en particulier de l’euchologe consacré aux fonctions ecclésiastiques, nous permettent de mieux saisir en quoi l’euchologe de Jérusalem est le fruit d’une collaboration entre un savoir occidental et une hiérarchie orientale catholique dans un contexte liturgique particulier oscillant entre tendance conservatrice et tendance latinisante.Following the Greek euchologion of Benedict XIV printed in Rome in 1754, the great Melkite euchologion was printed in 1865 in Jerusalem under the supervision of the Latin patriarch Joseph Valerga. Through the study of the correspondences pertaining to the drafting of the euchologion, this article aims to assess Valerga’s role as mediator, as well as his liturgical knowledge. The study of certain rites–chirotony of the chorepiscopos, the last rites and the rites of plenary indulgence, rite of marriage, blessing of candles on the day of the presentation of Christ at the temple–, and, particularly, of a chapter of the euchologion concerning the ecclesiastical functions, allows us to better understand how the Jerusalem euchologion is the fruit of a collaboration between Western knowledge and an Eastern Catholic hierarchy in a particular liturgical context oscillating between a conservative tendency and a Latinizing tendenc

The Work of the Aleppine Painter Yusuf Al-Musawwer. Contribution to the Re-vival of Melkite Religious Painting in the Seventeenth Century

Le prêtre Youssef Al-Musawwer est un peintre melkite alépin du XVIIe siècle qui aurait été initié à la peinture postbyzantine à l’étranger dans une région grecque qui demeure difficile à identifier. Il est le chef d’une descendance de peintres qui s’est poursuivie sans discontinuité jusqu’à la fin du XVIIIe siècle. Son œuvre s’inscrit dans le cadre de la renaissance littéraire du patriarcat melkite d’Antioche. Il était à la fois traducteur, copiste, miniaturiste et peintre d’icônes. Nous comptons dix-sept icônes et cinq manuscrits enluminés de Youssef Al-Musawwer. Notre étude a démontré l’attachement de Youssef Al-Musawwer aux œuvres crétoises conservatrices qui remontent aux XVe-XVIe siècles et qui s’éloignent des influences de la Renaissance italienne. Il s'est également inspiré des modèles iconographiques du Nord de la Grèce, de la peinture arménienne et ottomane ainsi que des ouvrages imprimés occidentaux. Youssef Al-Musawwer eut recours à l’hagiographie et à la liturgie pour créer de nouvelles compositions iconographiques. Il n’était pas par conséquent un peintre imitateur et passif. Ses compositions iconographiques, ses connaissances linguistiques ainsi que ses vastes compétences théologiques et liturgiques font de lui un éminent humaniste du XVIIe siècle qui a marqué l’Église melkite.Yusuf Al-Musawwer is a Melkite painter and priest from the 17th century. He might have been initiated to Postbyzantine painting abroad in a Greek region that remains difficult to identify. He is the first of a family of painters who continued his path without discontinuity until the end of the 18th century. His work is part of the literary revival of the Melkite patriarchate of Antioch. He was a translator, a copyist, a miniaturist and a painter of icons. Seventeen icons and five illuminated manuscripts realized by Yusuf Al-Musawwer have survived. Our study has demonstrated Yusuf Al-Musawwer's attachment to Cretan conservative works dating back to the 15th-16th centuries and which moved away from the influences of the Italian Renaissance. He was also inspired by the iconographic models of Northern Greece, Armenian and Ottoman painting, as well as Western printed books. Yusuf Al-Musawwer was inspired by hagiography and liturgy to create new iconographic compositions. Therefore, he was not an imitative, passive painter. His iconographic compositions, his linguistic knowledge, and his vast theological and liturgical skills made him an eminent 17th century humanist who marked the Melkite Church

Pattern recognition receptors are differentially expressed in the pig small intestine

International audiencePattern Recognition Receptors (PRR) include Toll-like receptors and NOD-like receptors. These molecules are involved in the innate immune response to infection, triggering inflammatory responses. The aim of this study was to determine if PRR and inflammatory cytokines are differentially expressed along the intestinal segments and relative lymphoid organs of healthy pigs. Duodenum, jejunum, ileum, jejunal Peyer patches, ileal Peyer patches and mesenteric lymph nodes were collected from 32 healthy pigs to study the expression of genes encoding for PRR (Tolllike receptors 1 to 10, NOD1 and NOD2) and inflammatory cytokines by quantitative PCR. Toll-like receptors 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 were less expressed in the duodenum than in the other intestinal segments. Toll-like receptors 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, NOD1, 2 were more expressed in the mesenteric lymph nodes than in the intestinal segments. Toll-like receptors 1, 7, 8, 9, 10 showed a more pronounced expression in Peyer patches than in relative intestinal segment. A heatmap analysis of our data highlights two distinct clusters of organs. Intestinal segments belong to the first cluster. They displayed high expression levels of TLR 5, 6 and IL-1 beta. Among these segments, duodenum was characterized by a weak expression of PRRs and cytokines, which may be related to its local lumen environment, poor in microorganisms. Lymphoid organs belong to the second cluster. They showed weak expression levels of TLR3, 5 and IL-1 beta and a high expression of TLR 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, IL-6 and TNF-alpha. Among these organs, mesenteric lymph nodes presented a high expression of most PRR and inflammatory cytokines, which may be related to their antigen uptake function. Our findings demonstrate thus that PRR and cytokines are differentially expressed along the intestine, highlighting segment-specific mechanisms. Acknowledgment: The present study was supported by the ANR “Sus Flora” research grant (coordinator: Claire Rogel-Gaillard)

« In partibus fidelium ». Missions du Levant et connaissance de l’Orient chrétien (XIXe-XXIe siècles)

En quoi les missions chrétiennes du Levant ont-elles été des lieux de production de savoirs « orientaux » ? Comment ces connaissances ont-elles circulé de part et d’autre de la Méditerranée ? Comment ont-elles été reformulées et réappropriées localement ? Cet ouvrage se penche sur l’assimilation en Europe de connaissances relatives aux cultures chrétiennes-orientales et sur le rôle que les missions ont joué dans ce processus. Collectés et élaborés dans les grandes bibliothèques et universités européennes, puis intégrés par les structures de gouvernance des Églises, ces nouveaux savoirs ont aussi été réappropriés dans l’espace d’où ils étaient issus. Ils ont donné lieu à des prises de conscience patrimoniales à côté des expériences tragiques de la fin de l’Empire ottoman et de l’établissement de nouveaux États. Ce travail éclaire ainsi la dimension intellectuelle des dynamiques d’arabisation des Églises locales, de reformulation des frontières confessionnelles et de construction d’identités communautaires et nationales au Moyen-Orient. Il montre enfin comment les missions contribuent à la mise en valeur du patrimoine culturel oriental, et comment le domaine du savoir participe d’une évolution de la notion de mission depuis la période ottomane. In what ways were the Christian missions in the Levant places of production of 'oriental' knowledge? Many late nineteenth and early twentieth-century academics utilised knowledge production from Christian missions, notably by way of scholarly Orientalism. However, the history of this knowledge is also a history of representations: while missionary knowledge helped showcase the cultural and religious traditions of Eastern Christianity, what were the underlying motives and especially the consequences? This book examines the formulation and circulation of Eastern Christian knowledge on either side of the Mediterranean, the study of which is sometimes rooted in non-Anglophone academic traditions. The aim is to shed light on how knowledge relating to Eastern Christianity was assimilated in Europe, as well as the role missions played in this process, especially from the last third of the nineteenth century, when the institutions and instruments for the circulation of knowledge emerged. Another objective is to address the circulations and transformations of this knowledge on either side of the Mediterranean: collected and developed in major European libraries and universities, it was integrated by the governance structures of churches, but quite often also returned to the space it originated from, where it was reappropriated and gave rise to patrimonial processes, notably alongside the sometimes tragic experiences of certain communities during the end of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of new states. Christian missions, at the intersection of East and West, were at the heart of this dynamic

Supply chain management practices and their possible relationships with manufacturing competitive priorities: Empirical evidence from electro-electronic industry in light of structural equation modeling Práticas de gestão da cadeia de suprimentos e seus eventuais relacionamentos com as prioridades competitivas da produção: Evidências empíricas do setor eletroeletrônico à luz de modelagem de equações estruturais

This article aims to identify the supply chain management practices adopted in the Brazilian electronics sector and verify whether manufacturing competitive priorities of companies in this sector relate to the adoption of such practices. An empirical quantitative research was developed based on an e-mail survey with managers of companies in the electronics sector associated with the Brazilian Association of Electrical and Electronics Industry. Descriptive and multivariate statistical techniques of second generation (Structural Equation Modeling) were used to analyze the data. Main results showed that: (a) the supply chain management practices most deployed are focused on the integration and support of product development activities with customers; and (b) no significant relationships between competitive priorities and supply chain management practices were found

Optical coherence tomography angiography: A comprehensive review of current methods and clinical applications

OCT has revolutionized the practice of ophthalmology over the past 10–20 years. Advances in OCT technology have allowed for the creation of novel OCT-based methods. OCT-Angiography (OCTA) is one such method that has rapidly gained clinical acceptance since it was approved by the FDA in late 2016. OCTA images are based on the variable backscattering of light from the vascular and neurosensory tissue in the retina. Since the intensity and phase of backscattered light from retinal tissue varies based on the intrinsic movement of the tissue (e.g. red blood cells are moving, but neurosensory tissue is static), OCTA images are essentially motion-contrast images. This motion-contrast imaging provides reliable, high resolution, and non-invasive images of the retinal vasculature in an efficient manner. In many cases, these images are approaching histology level resolution. This unprecedented resolution coupled with the simple, fast and non-invasive imaging platform have allowed a host of basic and clinical research applications. OCTA demonstrates many important clinical findings including areas of macular telangiectasia, impaired perfusion, microaneurysms, capillary remodeling, some types of intraretinal fluid, and neovascularization among many others. More importantly, OCTA provides depth-resolved information that has never before been available. Correspondingly, OCTA has been used to evaluate a spectrum of retinal vascular diseases including diabetic retinopathy (DR), retinal venous occlusion (RVO), uveitis, retinal arterial occlusion, and age-related macular degeneration among others. In this review, we will discuss the methods used to create OCTA images, the practical applications of OCTA in light of invasive dye-imaging studies (e.g. fluorescein angiography) and review clinical studies demonstrating the utility of OCTA for research and clinical practice. •OCTA images provide reliable, high resolution, and non-invasive images of retinal vascular tissue in a clinically feasible manner.•OCTA demonstrates clinically significant features of diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, macular degeneration, and glaucoma.•Quantitative OCTA metrics show good correlation with clinical severity of diabetic retinopathy, retinal venous occlusion, and uveitis.•Current FDA approved SD-OCTA systems have limited resolution underneath the RPE and a field-of-view that is limited to the macula.•Current OCTA methods display and interpret data in a 2D manner. Advances in 3D rendering and wide-field metrics will provide more information

Global variation in postoperative mortality and complications after cancer surgery: a multicentre, prospective cohort study in 82 countries

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licenseBackground: 80% of individuals with cancer will require a surgical procedure, yet little comparative data exist on early outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared postoperative outcomes in breast, colorectal, and gastric cancer surgery in hospitals worldwide, focusing on the effect of disease stage and complications on postoperative mortality. Methods: This was a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of consecutive adult patients undergoing surgery for primary breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer requiring a skin incision done under general or neuraxial anaesthesia. The primary outcome was death or major complication within 30 days of surgery. Multilevel logistic regression determined relationships within three-level nested models of patients within hospitals and countries. Hospital-level infrastructure effects were explored with three-way mediation analyses. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03471494. Findings: Between April 1, 2018, and Jan 31, 2019, we enrolled 15 958 patients from 428 hospitals in 82 countries (high income 9106 patients, 31 countries; upper-middle income 2721 patients, 23 countries; or lower-middle income 4131 patients, 28 countries). Patients in LMICs presented with more advanced disease compared with patients in high-income countries. 30-day mortality was higher for gastric cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (adjusted odds ratio 3·72, 95% CI 1·70–8·16) and for colorectal cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (4·59, 2·39–8·80) and upper-middle-income countries (2·06, 1·11–3·83). No difference in 30-day mortality was seen in breast cancer. The proportion of patients who died after a major complication was greatest in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (6·15, 3·26–11·59) and upper-middle-income countries (3·89, 2·08–7·29). Postoperative death after complications was partly explained by patient factors (60%) and partly by hospital or country (40%). The absence of consistently available postoperative care facilities was associated with seven to 10 more deaths per 100 major complications in LMICs. Cancer stage alone explained little of the early variation in mortality or postoperative complications. Interpretation: Higher levels of mortality after cancer surgery in LMICs was not fully explained by later presentation of disease. The capacity to rescue patients from surgical complications is a tangible opportunity for meaningful intervention. Early death after cancer surgery might be reduced by policies focusing on strengthening perioperative care systems to detect and intervene in common complications. Funding: National Institute for Health Research Global Health Research Unit

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licenseBackground: Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide. Methods: A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study—a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital. Findings: Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3·85 [95% CI 2·58–5·75]; p<0·0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63·0% vs 82·7%; OR 0·35 [0·23–0·53]; p<0·0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer. Interpretation: Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised. Funding: National Institute for Health and Care Research