Exploring the lived experiences of hearing mothers of Deaf children in Lebanon: A phenomenological study

The conceptualization of deafness is predominantly centered around two perspectives: the medical model which pathologizes hearing loss and congenital deafness as something to fix, and the sociocultural model which views deafness as a cultural identity. Deaf communities have their own distinct culture, values, history, art, language and mode of communication. However, not every deaf person necessarily identifies with these communities. The purpose of this study was to explore hearing mothers’ experiences of raising a Deaf child in Lebanon. Five participants were recruited through the Lebanese Center for the Deaf. The mothers had a Deaf child aged 10 to 15 years old at the time of the interview. The study aimed to formulate themes portraying the lived experience of these mothers and examine their meaning-making through an in-depth phenomenological approach. The research method adopted is an interpretative phenomenological analysis. The superordinate themes are: ‘Mother’s reaction to her child’s deafness: from denial to finding solutions’, ‘Mother’s meaning-making and acceptance of deafness’, ‘Societal and family reactions to deafness, ‘guilt towards other children and informal support received’, ‘Challenges faced and journey with the medical field: from diagnosis to rehabilitation’, and ‘The choice of education and communication strategies implemented’. The findings present the mothers’ meaning-making and formulation of motherhood through the grieving process upon hearing the diagnosis. The responsibility and inevitable decisions taken by the mothers created tremendous uneasiness. The choice of hearing devices, schools, and communication strategies affected the child’s development and interactions. Suggestions for practice and future research pertains to the formal and informal support offered to mothers and their families following their needs. Further research is needed to explore the lived experiences of people in the Deaf community in Lebanon and their families to improve services presented by practitioners in contact with this population

Post-traumatic stress disorders, depression, and anxiety in unaccompanied refugee minors exposed to war-related trauma: a systematic review

This systematic review gathers data from the existing literature on the prevalence and course of psychiatric disorders among unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs). The databases PsychINFO, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were searched and reference lists of papers were also manually examined to identify relevant articles. Peer-reviewed journal articles included focused on the mental health of URMs, who were forced to leave their place of residence because of threats of wars. A narrative synthesis was done to analyse the data presented in the studies. Results from the fifteen studies included in the review highlighted the high prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), depression, and anxiety among URMs. The association between internalizing disorders and exposure to trauma, and time since displacement were examined. Separation from family members, death of parents and close relatives, level of exposure to armed conflicts, and threats to a person were the most frequent stressful life events (SLE) among URMs before migration. Although the number of research done on this vulnerable population is increasing overtime, the review highlights the need for further examination of refugee mental health and the factors affecting symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety

Dynamic Functional Connectivity Reveals Temporal Differences in Wake and Stage-2 Sleep

The transition from wakefulness to sleep is marked by changes in neurophysiology, suggesting that changes in consciousness might be accompanied by changes in functional network organization. Brain activity of 21 healthy participants was measured via simultaneous EEG-fMRI as participants transitioned from wakefulness into sleep. All fMRI volumes were ICA-decomposed, yielding 42 neurophysiological sources. Independent component time courses were used to estimate mean functional connectivity (FC) and dynamic FC using a sliding window technique. Windowed matrices were submitted to k-means clustering (k = 7, L2-norm). Mean FC in Wake and Stage-2 Sleep (S2S) were similar. Dynamic analysis revealed differences in temporal features of FC. Participants transitioned more between connectivity states (CSs) and spent less time across all CSs in Wake than in S2S. Four of the seven CSs differed in their frequencies. The current analysis suggests conventional FC analyses obscure features in FC that are observable on a finer temporal scale

DFT Investigation of CH4 and H2O Adsorption on Pd (111), Ni (111), Pt (111), and Ir(111) Surfaces

Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the surface Gibbs free energy of methane and water adsorption on Pt(111), Ir(111), Ni(111), and Pd(111) surfaces was investigated. DFT computations were employed to investigate the adsorption of methane and water molecule on unit cells with varying coverage levels of 0.11, 0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 monolayers and the aggregation of H2O over clean transition metal surfaces. The adsorption configuration was assessed to experimental findings to evaluate our computational approaches' accuracy and reliability. A thermodynamic diagram was constructed for exploring the adsorption of CH4 and H2O on metal surfaces. The order of the methane adsorption energies on different metal surfaces is as follows: Pd(111) > Pt(111) > Ni(111) > Ir(111). A more significant number of H2O molecules on the transition metal surfaces reduces the contact between the metal surfaces and water molecules during water aggregation. The thermodynamic stability of water and methane adsorption coverage was found to be best on the Pt(111) surface

INVESTIGATING COMMERCIAL URBAN CORRIDORS - A PILOT STUDY IN BEIRUT LEBANON

Urban environments are multifaceted, varied, dynamic, complex, and evolving as are the underlying features for human health and wellbeing (Bai, Nath, Capon, Hasan & Jaron, 2020). Healthy and resilient cities can be entry points and platforms for change, adaptation and innovation to achieve optimal health for urban communities and the environment (Regional Framework for Urban Health in the Western Pacific 2016–2020: Healthy and Resilient Cities, 2016). Planners considered urban corridors, which are connection and access between urban districts, as major elements in shaping the city image and forming its identity and investigating them are vital for enhancing healthy and resilient cities. Narrowing the scope on commercial urban corridors, which are a concentration of retail stores that serve a common trade area and lie along a single street (Catherine Dyste, 2012). These corridors can be seen as a dynamic space, but at the same time, they are created to create a range of experiences (Shaban et al., 2018). Improving commercial urban corridors requires several indicators for reviving the companionable and sociable life of a street. Problems occur when space use is not driven. The society therefore uses the urban commercial corridor according to their own interests. This condition may generate conflict between users of the \u27Link\u27 and users of the \u27Space’, may make the corridor an uncomfortable location, and may decreases its livability. Rapid urbanization and unplanned rapid changes of commercial activities in corridors that have an impact on the surrounding streets and users’ activities imposes burdens on surrounding land use and mobility. However, this problem has contributed to various issues such as traffic congestion, pollution, decrease in green areas and degradation of the urban quality of living. That’s why investigating these corridors is imperative to know its utilization and functioning to identify the existing problems and chaos in the corridor since they are facing significant challenges, which is the lack of reliable knowledge on their characteristics and development; important for local authorities to provide wealth of knowledge and data collection. The paper aims to investigate commercial urban corridors to identify and analyze livability aspects and indicators for reviving its companionable and sociable life that can be implemented in a way of a considerable checklist which acts as a systematic structure for communicating the data required, diagnosing issues, and defining the strengths and limitations of the efficiency of a commercial urban corridor to promote a healthy and resilient urban context. To achieve the aim, the research investigates a commercial urban corridor focusing on one of the urban corridors in Beirut, Lebanon. By using Geoportal Interactive Tool, conducted by UN-Habitat and UNICEF to create cartography of the existing conditions of the pilot study, and then analyzes the aspects and indicators of livability based on cartography, walk through analysis and face-to-face interviews with inhabitants in area. After analyzing the commercial urban corridor and identifying the effective indicators, the research resulted in proposing some guidelines for enhancing livability in commercial urban corridors, which were mainly related to the physical aspect since it defines the most inadequate quality and performance

Thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy

Timely treatment of thyroid disease during pregnancy is important in preventing adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Thyroid abnormalities are very often subclinical in nature and not easily recognized without specific screening programs. Even mild maternal thyroid hormone deficiency may lead to neurodevelopment complications in the fetus. The main diagnostic indicator of thyroid disease is the measurement of serum thyroid-stimulating hormone and free thyroxine levels. Availability of gestation-age-specific thyroid-stimulating hormone thresholds is an important aid in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of thyroid dysfunction. Pregnancy- specific free thyroxine thresholds not presently available are also required. Large-scale intervention trials are urgently needed to assess the efficacy of preconception or early pregnancy screening for thyroid disorders. Accurate interpretation of both antepartum and postpartum levels of thyroid hormones is important in preventing pregnancy-related complication secondary to thyroid dysfunction. This article sheds light on the best ways of management of thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy in order to prevent any possible maternal or fetal complication