Neoliberal visions? Exploring gendered media and popular culture in the Palestinian West Bank

Walking through Ramallah, it is hard not to notice the commercial advertising billboards, TV screens, and posters that line the city’s streets. They frequently feature bright glossy images of young nuclear families – always a man and a woman, often with light skin – gazing longingly at ‘dream’ homes. These materials document how capital and aspiration are increasingly enfolded into everyday space in post-Oslo Palestine. They particularly show how neoliberal ‘reforms’ have transformed Palestine’s political economy over (at least) the past 30 years. Indeed, Ramallah today embodies the complexities wrought by the Oslo process more than any other space in Palestine: its inhabitants paradoxically live under a colonial present shaped by neoliberal capitalism. While recent works consider how such shifts reformulate the political economy of occupied Palestine, and/or reroute the struggle for national liberation, rarely are the cultural practices and media forms that mark, embody and communicate such political and economic changes centralised as sites of meaning-making. Even less forthcoming is work that explores how such representations cultivate shifts in gender and sexuality norms. This project offers a different interpretation of the West Bank’s neoliberal order that moves beyond these traditional theoretical straightjackets. Using textual and qualitative methods, it foregrounds both the production and consumption of gendered advertisements as a way to explore how neoliberal culture constructs gendered subjectivity. It broadly asks how transforming forms of political economy, social relations and cultural practices relate to changing modes of gendered subjectivity in contemporary Palestine

Irathérapie dans la maladie de Basedow: place et efficacité

Le traitement de la maladie de Basedow repose sur trois thérapies: le traitement médical par les antithyroïdiens de synthèse, la chirurgie et l´irathérapie. L´objectif de notre étude était d´étudier la place et l´efficacité du traitement à l´iode radioactif dans le traitement de la maladie de Basedow. Une étude rétrospective portant sur 54 patients suivis pour une maladie de Basedow et traités par iode 131. On a mené en une étude descriptive des aspects épidémiologiques, cliniques, para cliniques et thérapeutiques et du le taux de rémission à court et à moyen terme. Le sex-ratio était de 0,45. L´âge moyen est de 38,33 ± 12,7 ans. Les signes fonctionnels les plus fréquemment retrouvés étaient l´amaigrissement, les tremblements et les palpitations. La FT4 moyenne est de 54,51 ± 19,56ng/dl (extrêmes: 8,90-100). La TSHus moyenne de nos patients était égale 0,074 ± 0,29 µUI/ml. Les antithyroïdiens de synthèse ont été prescrits chez 49 patients avec une persistance d´une hyperthyroïdie dans 83,67% des cas. L´irathérapie a été prescrite en première intention dans 9,3% et en 2ème intention dans 90,7% des cas. L´activité moyenne était égale à 13,29 mCi ± 1,46 avec des extrêmes allant de 10 à 15 mCi. Le premier contrôle hormonal post-irathérapie, réalisé après un délai moyen de 1,91 mois, a montré une rémission (eu- ou hypo-thyroïdie) chez 29 patients soit 53,7%. Après 12 mois de suivi, l´évolution était marquée par une rémission dans 88,88% (euthyroïdie chez 14,8% et l´hypothyroïdie chez 74%). L´irathérapie est un traitement efficace de la maladie de Basedow. Une dose forfaitaire forte d´iode radioactif permet d´obtenir un taux de rémission élevé

Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy with left ventricle outflow tract chordae insertion: Surgery or alcohol septal ablation? A case report

Key Clinical Message Anomalous insertion of chordae is a rare disease that could be associated with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), but clinical and echocardiographic diagnoses tend to be delayed. Alcohol septal ablation has emerged as an alternative to surgical myomectomy in HOCM. When a patient showed an anomalous insertion of chordae, physicians generally opt for surgery and not alcohol septal ablation. In this report, we present the case of a lady, with symptomatic HOCM associated with a chord inserted on the left ventricular outflow tract. We succeeded to relieve obstruction by alcohol septal ablation without the need for surgery

A ruptured balloon shaft during an angioplasty

Abstract We report a case of balloon shaft rupture during percutaneous coronary intervention. Although the entrapped balloon was not yet deflated when the complication occurred, we successfully retrieved it percutaneously using a trapping technique. This case described a cheap and straightforward technique of device retrieval that helped save our patient

Do users in Qatar perceive intellectual capital information to be value relevant for decision-making purposes?

This paper examines the perception of users on the value relevance of intellectual capital (IC) information for decision-making. The data were collected through questionnaires distributed to Qatari companies. The paper found that users perceive that IC information, internal capital information, and external capital information are relevant for decision-making. Thus, it has value relevance. Human capital was not perceived as relevant. The findings are useful for companies to better understand the needs of information users. They assist regulatory bodies in Qatar towards developing guidelines and standards for better corporate disclosure of IC, thereby helping in decision-making. This is the first research that examines the value relevance of IC information in Qatar. 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.Scopu

The Mineral Composition of Date Palm Fruits (Phoenix dactylifera L.) under Low to High Salinity Irrigation

Adaptability to salinity varies between different varieties of date palm trees. This research aims to explore the long-term impact of different salinity irrigation levels on the mineral content of 13 date palm varieties grown in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Date varieties were grown using three irrigation water salinity levels of 5, 10 and 15 dS m-1. The mineral composition (B, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, P and Zn) of date palm fruits was determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). High salinity levels showed no effect on the mineral content of Ajwat AlMadinah, Naghal, Barhi, Shagri, Abu Maan, Jabri, Sukkari and Rothan varieties. All date varieties remained good sources of dietary potassium, magnesium, manganese and boron even at high salinity levels. Increased salinity had no effect on the percent Daily Value (%DV) categories of most of the analyzed minerals. While no genotypes showed a general adaptation to different saline environments, Barhi, Ajwat Al Madinah, Khinizi, Maktoumi and Shagri varieties were more stable towards salinity variation. In the UAE, the genotype x saline-environment interaction was found to be high which makes it impossible to attribute the variation in mineral content to a single varietal or salinity effect

The Mineral Composition of Date Palm Fruits (Phoenix dactylifera L.) under Low to High Salinity Irrigation

Adaptability to salinity varies between different varieties of date palm trees. This research aims to explore the long-term impact of different salinity irrigation levels on the mineral content of 13 date palm varieties grown in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Date varieties were grown using three irrigation water salinity levels of 5, 10 and 15 dS m−1. The mineral composition (B, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, P and Zn) of date palm fruits was determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). High salinity levels showed no effect on the mineral content of Ajwat AlMadinah, Naghal, Barhi, Shagri, Abu Maan, Jabri, Sukkari and Rothan varieties. All date varieties remained good sources of dietary potassium, magnesium, manganese and boron even at high salinity levels. Increased salinity had no effect on the percent Daily Value (%DV) categories of most of the analyzed minerals. While no genotypes showed a general adaptation to different saline environments, Barhi, Ajwat Al Madinah, Khinizi, Maktoumi and Shagri varieties were more stable towards salinity variation. In the UAE, the genotype x saline-environment interaction was found to be high which makes it impossible to attribute the variation in mineral content to a single varietal or salinity effect

An assessment of the air quality in apple warehouses: new records of Aspergillus europaeus, Aspergillus pulverulentus, Penicillium allii and Penicillium sumatraense as decay agents

18 p.-9 fig.-6 tab.Airborne fungi are one of the major components of aeromycobiota known to produce several fungal diseases in fruits. Their presence in indoor environment of warehouses may limit the storage period of apples. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of airborne fungal spores were conducted using gravity settling techniques to detect fungal airspora present in the atmosphere of two apple warehouses in Tunisia. In this study, 375 fungal isolates were obtained and purified. Phylogenetic analysis of calmodulin, beta-tubulin and ITS regions coupled with phenotypic characterization helped to identify 15 fungal species. Penicillium exhibited the highest diversity with ten species detected (Penicillium allii, P. chrysogenum, P. citrinum, P. expansum, P. italicum, P. polonicum, P. solitum, P. steckii, P. sumatraense and P. viridicatum), followed by four species of Aspergillus genus (Aspergillus europaeus, A. flavus, A. niger and A. pulverulentus) and Alternaria alternata. In vivo experiments confirmed the pathogenicity of 13 species at room temperature and under cold-storage conditions. Among them, A. europaeus, A. pulverulentus, P. allii and P. sumatraense were described for the first time as pathogens on apples. The present study identified the major airborne fungi associated with postharvest rot in apple storage facilities in Tunisia and may help in efficient control of postharvest and storage fruit diseases.This study was funded by Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Tunisia (LR16ES05) and by funds from the Project of Valorization of Results (VRR no. 0310).Peer reviewe