Islam and cannabis: Legalisation and religious debate in Iran

This is the final version. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. Iran is currently discussing cannabis and opium regulations, which could bring a legalisation of drug consumption through a state supervised system. The article engages with the question of cannabis by looking at the legal interpretation of religious authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The choice of Iran is justified for several reasons: firstly, Iran has a long history of drug use and cannabis has been part of the country’s intoxicant traditions since times immemorial; secondly, the Iranian state is unique in that it combines religious exegesis with political machination through official channels; finally, among all Middle East and Islamic countries, Iran is at the avant-garde in experimenting in the field of drugs policy which makes an excellent case for the study of cannabis regulation. The article is the result of a direct engagement with Iran’s leading Shi’a authorities, the maraje’-e taqlid, ‘source of emulation’. The authors redacted a list of eight questions (estefta’at) about the status of cannabis in Iranian society. It questioned cannabis’ legality in Islam, its potential medical use, the feasibility of domestic production and other relevant aspects of its social-religious life. Based on the responses, the authors analysed the difference in opinions among the religious scholars and speculate on the possibility of policy reform. Given the dearth of scholarly work about illicit drugs in the Islamic world, about which many readers might not be familiar, the article opens with an overview of the place of cannabis in the history of Islamic societies. It discusses terminological ambiguities, references in religious texts and traditions, and the general interpretations within Muslim religious schools of thought. Then, it discusses the status of cannabis in contemporary Iran before tackling the responses provided by the religious scholars. Eventually, the paper puts forward reflections about the potential implications for future policy developments on cannabis.Wellcome Trus

Mobilisation of Income Zakat Payment in Indonesia

The objectives of the study establish a conceptual framework to strengthen institutions that support the mobilisation of paying zakat and to identify the concept of the cultural factor of mutual assistance in paying zakat. This is Important because the institution of zakat has implemented the collection of zakat. Meanwhile, the culture of mutual assistance in Indonesia can be a power of zakat payment mobilisation to gain the blessings of Allah SWT. This paper presents the factors of determining mobilisation of zakat payments, e.g., are awareness, willingness to donate, confidence in collection and distribution with the latest development of technology. The implication of this study will help mobilise the payment of income zakat in Zakat Institutions. This study uses the documentation analysis method. Factors affecting mobilisation are awareness, willingness to donate, confidence in collection and distribution with the latest development of technology to help mobilise the payment of income zakat in Zakat Institutions

Negative HER2/neu amplification using immunohistochemistry and chromogenic in situ hybridization techniques in skin melanoma cases

Background: This study was performed to evaluate the amplification of HER-2/neu in patients with melanoma. Materials and Methods: Amplification of HER-2/neu was evaluated in a group of patients with melanoma, referred to two referral centers in Tehran, using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) techniques. Results: Forty patients with mean age 57.9±19.5 years were enrolled in this study. The most frequent type of melanoma was acral, while lower limbs were the most frequent sites. The amplification of HER2/ neu was negative in 97.5 of patients with IHC and in 100 of patients with CISH technique. Only one case (2.5) shows weak positive staining (+2) in IHC method. Fifty five percent of melanoma was ulcerative, and the most common stages of tumors were stages 4b and 3b. More than 47 of cases were in Clark level III, while the mean of Breslow thickness was 3.56±2.87 mm. The stage of the case that showed weakly positive staining (2+) in IHC was 4b. Conclusions: The amplification of HER2/neu biomarker was negative in patients with melanoma, using both CISH and IHC techniques

Cost of living and standard of living nexus: the determinants of cost of living

Cost of living and standard of living are two elements that have strong causal relationship. Determining which one causes the other would give some ideas to policy makers about mitigating the adverse impact of the rising cost of living. This study investigates whether the standard of living causes the cost of living. It further identifies the factors influencing the cost of living. Based on Malaysian data over 1980-2014, we use Toda Yamamoto causality model, to identify whether the cost of living Granger causes the standard of living or vice-versa. In identifying the factors that influence the cost of living, we use, the Autoregresive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds test. The result indicates that there is evidence of unidirectional Granger causality between the cost of living and the standard of living. It addition, we found that the cost of living can be used to better predict the standard of living by considering the lagged values of the cost of living rather than the lagged values of the standard of living. The results further show that there is a long-run relationship between the cost of living and the factors of gross domestic product per capita, population growth, unemployment rate and degree of openness. PRO © 2020 Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All rights reserved

Draft genome sequence of arsenic- resistant Microbacterium sp. strain SZ1 isolated from arsenic-bearing gold ores

Microbacterium sp. strain SZ1 isolated from gold ores of a Malaysia gold mine was found to be highly resistant to arsenic. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of SZ1, which may provide further insights into understanding its arsenic resistance mechanism. In this draft genome, a complete set of ars operons and two additional scattered ars genes were encoded

Crystal structure of Cu-Sn-In alloys around the {\eta} phase field studied by neutron diffraction

The study of the Cu-Sn-In ternary system has become of great importance in recent years, due to new environmental regulations forcing to eliminate the use of Pb in bonding technologies for electronic devices. A key relevant issue concerns the intermetallic phases which grow in the bonding zone and are determining in their quality and performance. In this work, we focus in the {\eta}-phase (Cu2In or Cu6Sn5) that exists in both end binaries and as a ternary phase. We present a neutron diffraction study of the constitution and crystallography of a series of alloys around the 60 at.% Cu composition, and with In contents ranging from 0 to 25 at.%, quenched from 300\degreeC. The alloys were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, probe microanalysis and high-resolution neutron diffraction. The Rietveld refinement of neutron diffraction data allowed to improve the currently available model for site occupancies in the hexagonal {\eta}-phase in the binary Cu-Sn as well as in ternary alloys. For the first time, structural data is reported in the ternary Cu-Sn-In {\eta}-phase as a function of composition, information that is of fundamental technological importance as well as valuable input data for ongoing modelisations of the ternary phase diagram.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

Time Profile of nNOS Expression in the Spinal Dorsal Horn After L₅ Spinal Root Transection in Rats

Using immunohistochemical analysis, we investigated the time profile of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) expression in the lumbar spinal cord up to day 28 after transection of the L₅ spinal root. On day 14 after injury, we also evaluated the effect of intrathecal application of 7-nitroindazole (7-NI), a selective nNOS inhibitor (8.15 µg in 5 µl), on thermal hyperalgesia. Our results indicated that nerve transection increased the intensity of nNOSimmunoreactivity in superficial and deep laminae of the dorsal horn within a late stage (days 7 to 28) of the neuropathy model used. Furthermore, 7-NI attenuated nerve injury-evoked thermal hypersensitivity on day 14 but did not reduce it between days 2 and 5 after transection. These data suggest that nNOS overexpression is more involved in the development than in the initiation of thermal hyperalgesia in L₅ -transected rats.Ми досліджували часовий профіль експресії нейронної NOсинтази (nNOS) у люмбальному відділі спинного мозку щурів протягом 28 діб після перерізання спінального корінця L₅ , використовуючи імуногістохімічну методику. Ми також оцінювали впливи інтратекальних аплікацій 7-нітроіндазолу (7-NI) – селективного інгібітора nNOS (8.15 мкг у 5 мкл) на термічну гіпералгезію через 14 діб після ушкодження. В результаті секції корінця кількість nNOS-імунореактивних клітин у поверхневих та глибоких пластинах дорсального рога зростала на відносно пізніх етапах (із сьомої по 28-му добу) використаної моделі нейропатії. Аплікації 7-NI зменшували термічну гіперсенситивність, викликану пошкодженням нервових волокон, на 14-ту добу, але не впливали на цей феномен протягом другої–п’ятої діб після індукції нейропатії. Подібні дані вказують на те, що після перетину корінця L₅ у щурів підвищена експресія nNOS більшою мірою залучена в процес розвитку, ніж в ініціацію термічної гіпералгезії