Women in Iraq: beyond the rhetoric

At a press conference two weeks before the US-led invasion of Iraq, flanked by four “Women for a Free Iraq,”1 Paula Dobriansky, then undersecretary of state for global affairs, declared: “We are at a critical point in dealing with Saddam Hussein. However this turns out, it is clear that the women of Iraq have a critical role to play in the future revival of their society.” For the Bush administration, Iraqi women would not only be “helping give birth to freedom” in the post-Saddam order.2 US officials spoke publicly about rape, torture and executions of women under Ba‘th Party rule, implicitly linking these atrocities to the necessity for US military action.

The black-breasted lark (Melanocorypha bimaculata), a pest of sorghum in Butana region, Gezira Province, Sudan

Attempts were made to investigate and account for some aspects of the present status of the black-breasted lark (Melanocorypha bimaculata) as a pest of sorghum in one of the rain-fed semi-desert areas of the Sudan. Also some observations were conducted to understand the behavior and the feeding habits of the pest in relation to crop damage phenology. Problems encountered in the application of some control techniques were discussed and evaluated in order to suggest sound control strategy

Effect of Breast Cyst Fluid on Oestrone Sulphatase Activity in Breast Cancer Celllines

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Although breast cancers are generally oestrogen receptor positive initially, a substantial proportion become oestrogen receptor negative. Oestrogen receptor positive breast cancers are associated with a better prognosis than oestrogen receptor negative breast cancers as they are more responsive to hormonal therapy. Breast cyst fluid (BCF) is known to be a rich source of steroid hormones and growth factors. These substances may have significant effects on mammary epithelial cell growth and oestrogen metabolism in the breast and may, thus, play important roles in the pathophysiology and development of breast cancer. Oestrone sulphate acts as a large reservoir of active oestrogens in the breast and is converted to oestrone by the enzyme oestrone sulphatase. The aims of the present study were to assess the effects of BCF on cell growth of, and oestrone sulphatase activity in the MCF-7 oestroge

Evaluation of a photographic food atlas as a tool for quantifying food portion size in the United Arab Emirates

Although, United Arab Emirates (UAE) has one of the highest prevalence of overweight, obesity and type 2 diabetes in the world, however, validated dietary assessment aids to esti- mate food intake of individuals and populations in the UAE are currently lacking. We con- ducted two observational studies to evaluate the accuracy of a photographic food atlas which was developed as a tool for food portion size estimation in the UAE. The UAE Food Atlas presents eight portion sizes for each food. Study 1 involved portion size estimations of 13 food items consumed during the previous day. Study 2 involved portion size estimations of nine food items immediately after consumption. Differences between the food portion sizes estimated from the photographs and the weighed food portions (estimation error), as well as the percentage differences relative to the weighed food portion for each tested food item were calculated. Four of the evaluated food items were underestimated (by -8.9% to -18.4%), while nine were overestimated (by 9.5% to 90.9%) in Study 1. Moreover, there were significant differences between estimated and eaten food portions for eight food items (P<0.05). In Study 2, one food item was underestimated (-8.1%) while eight were overesti- mated (range 2.52% to 82.1%). Furthermore, there were significant differences between estimated and eaten food portions (P<0.05) for six food items. The limits of agreement between the estimated and consumed food portion size were wide indicating a large variabil- ity in food portion estimation errors. These reported findings highlight the need for further developments of the UAE Food Atlas to improve the accuracy of food portion size intake estimations in dietary assessments. Additionally, recalling food portions from the previous day did not seem to increase food portion estimation errors in this study

Statistical Estimate of Radon Concentration from Passive and Active Detectors in Doha

Harnessing knowledge on the physical and natural conditions that affect our health, general livelihood and sustainability has long been at the core of scientific research. Health risks of ionising radiation from exposure to radon and radon decay products in homes, work and other public places entail developing novel approaches to modelling occurrence of the gas and its decaying products, in order to cope with the physical and natural dynamics in human habitats. Various data modelling approaches and techniques have been developed and applied to identify potential relationships among individual local meteorological parameters with a potential impact on radon concentrations—i.e., temperature, barometric pressure and relative humidity. In this first research work on radon concentrations in the State of Qatar, we present a combination of exploratory, visualisation and algorithmic estimation methods to try and understand the radon variations in and around the city of Doha. Data were obtained from the Central Radiation Laboratories (CRL) in Doha, gathered from 36 passive radon detectors deployed in various schools, residential and work places in and around Doha as well as from one active radon detector located at the CRL. Our key findings show high variations mainly attributable to technical variations in data gathering, as the equipment and devices appear to heavily influence the levels of radon detected. A parameter maximisation method applied to simulate data with similar behaviour to the data from the passive detectors in four of the neighbourhoods appears appropriate for estimating parameters in cases of data limitation. Data from the active detector exhibit interesting seasonal variations—with data clustering exhibiting two clearly separable groups, with passive and active detectors exhibiting a huge disagreement in readings. These patterns highlight challenges related to detection methods—in particular ensuring that deployed detectors and calculations of radon concentrations are adapted to local conditions. The study doesn’t dwell much on building materials and makes rather fundamental assumptions, including an equal exhalation rate of radon from the soil across neighbourhoods, based on Doha’s homogeneous underlying geological formation. The study also highlights potential extensions into the broader category of pollutants such as hydrocarbon, air particulate carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide at specific time periods of the year and particularly how they may tie in with global health institutions’ requirements

Speed estimation and target detection in forward scattering radar

This paper presents work on target detection and speed estimation method in one of radar types called Forward Scattering Radar (FSR). The problem of extracting the Doppler signature in different interference environments is addressed. Wavelet technique is used to predict the existence of target. For vehicle speed estimation, a new method is proposed, which extracts features from the radar measurements by using a Standard Deviation theory

Effect of multi-wall carbon nanotubes on the mechanical properties of natural rubber

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were used to prepare natural rubber (NR) nanocomposites. Our first effort to achieve nanostructures in MWNTs/NR nanocomposites were formed by incorporating carbonnanotubes in a polymer solution and subsequently evaporating the solvent. Using this technique, nanotubess can be dispersed homogeneously in the NR matrix in an attempt to increase the mechanical properties of these nanocomposites. The properties of the nanocomposites such as tensile strength, tensile modulus, tear strength, elongation at break and hardness were studied. Mechanical test results show an increase in the initial modulus for up to 12 times in relation to pure NR. In addition to mechanical testing, the dispersion state of the MWNTs into NR was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in order to understand the morphology of the resulting system. According to the present study, application of the physical and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes to NR can result in rubber products which have improved mechanical, physical and chemical properties, compared with existing rubber products reinforced with carbon black or silicone

Investigating the role of autophagy in mitochondrial and nuclear genome maintenance

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved degradative mechanism. Being a central player in cellular stress responses, autophagy is activated by various stressors including nutritional stress. Autophagy has been reported to play an important role in maintaining the integrity of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. Consistently, defects in autophagy lead to aberrations in the integrity of both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. The mechanisms through which autophagy protects the cellular genomes, however, have largely been elusive. Previously, we have reported that, upon nitrogen starvation, yeast cells lacking autophagy suffer from nucleotide imbalance and elevated ROS levels, consequently degrading their mtDNA in a polymerase γ (POLG)-dependent fashion, a process we name POMD. Here, I report that, in parallel to the mtDNA degradation, autophagy-deficient cells also display signs of nuclear DNA damage such as H2AX phosphorylation, Rad51 and Rad52 foci formation, and elevated nuclear mutation rate. Remarkably, my data show that POMD is the main driver of DNA damage response observed in autophagy-deficient cells during starvation. Interestingly POMD-driven DDR requires yeast VDAC homolog Porin1 and the core components of the DNA repair machinery— the MRX complex, Tel1, and the key proteins of the homologous recombination pathway. Moreover, the plasmid-encoded heterologous expression of mouse cGAS also significantly attenuates the DDR in starved autophagy-deficient cells. Finally, I show that autophagy-deficient cells maintain lower steady-state levels of the homologous recombination pathway proteins compared to WT cells and fail to repair MMS-induced DNA damage. Together, my findings support a model in which autophagy-deficient cells induce a strong DNA damage response during starvation as a result of Por1-mediated release of POMDgenerated mtDNA fragments and compromised DNA repair machinery

A Mirror of Political Culture in Contemporary Egypt: Divisions and Debates Among Women Activists

The fourth of four volumes, this volume covers contemporary political and social issues in Egypt. The contributors include: Mona Abaza, Nadje Sadeg al-Ali, Iman Hamdy, Noha el-Mikawy, Reem Saad.https://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/2004/thumbnail.jp