Arab Higher Education and Research post–2011. An Interview with Sari Hanafi

The upheavals of 2011 and subsequent developments in the MENA region have had substantial effects on universities and research centers within Arab world and in other neighboring countries where similar developments are taking shape (security issues, stricter political control/lesser levels of political control and repression, changing levels of funding, changing focus of donors etc.). META had the opportunity to talk with Sari Hanafi about the repercussions of these developments for scholarly work within the MENA region.Sari Hanafi is currently a Professor of Sociology and chair of the department of sociology, anthropology and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is also the editor of Idafat: the Arab Journal of Sociology (Arabic). He is the Vice President of the International Sociological Association (ISA) and Vice President of the board of the Arab Council of Social Science. He is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on the political and economic sociology of the Palestinian diaspora and refugees; sociology of migration; transnationalism; politics of scientific research; civil society and elite formation and transitional justice. His last book is Arab Research and Knowledge Society: New Critical Perspective (with R. Arvanitis) (in Arabic, Beirut: CAUS and forthcoming in English with Routledge)

Critical Area Studies

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Rekonfiguration einer Matrix : Islamisch-Theologische Studien, Islamwissenschaft und die ‚Anderen‘ der deutschen und europäischen Geschichte

Dieser Beitrag behandelt die bisherige Entwicklung der Islamisch-Theologischen Studien und ihr ambivalentes, vielfach verflochtenes Verhältnis zur etablierten Islamwissenschaft im Kontext eines historisch gewachsenen Feldes akademischer Wissensproduktion über nicht-christliche Religionen, in diesem Fall Islam und Judentum. Anders als die Islamisch-Theologischen Studien blicken die heutigen Jüdischen Studien in Deutschland auf eine längere (Vor-)Geschichte zurück, die bis ins frühe 19. Jahrhundert zurückreicht. Auch zwischen der Wissenschaft des Judentums und der etablierten Orientalistik existierten lange bedeutende Überschneidungen. Damit unterzieht dieser Beitrag die Frage der Vergleichbarkeit jüdischer und muslimischer Erfahrungen in Deutschland einer erneuten Prüfung im (wissenschafts-)geschichtlichen Kontext.Jenseits der zweifellos bedeutenden Unterschiede hinsichtlich der historischen und politischen Rahmenbedingungen sind strukturelle wie inhaltliche Parallelen im Feld der Wissensproduktion über Judentum wie Islam in Deutschland über zwei Jahrhunderte hinweg zu konstatieren: Es ging und geht um Anpassung an eine aus protestantischen Erfahrungen erwachsene säkulare Matrix des modernen Wissenschaftssystems. Teile von Staat und Öffentlichkeit standen und stehen organisierter nicht-christlicher, bzw. nicht-protestantischer, Religiosität mit Misstrauen gegenüber und setzen Integration damals wie heute mit Anpassung an eine gelegentlich als ‚deutsche Leitkultur‘ titulierte Mehrheitsnorm gleich. Eine augenfällige Parallele zwischen dem 19. und dem 21. Jahrhundert besteht zudem in der Orientalisierung nicht-christlicher Minderheiten als Element in antisemitischen wie islamfeindlichen Diskursen

Preclinical Assessment of Bacteriophage Therapy against Experimental Acinetobacter baumannii Lung Infection

Respiratory infections caused by multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii are difficult to treat and associated with high mortality among critically ill hospitalized patients. Bacteriophages (phages) eliminate pathogens with high host specificity and efficacy. However, the lack of appropriate preclinical experimental models hampers the progress of clinical development of phages as therapeutic agents. Therefore, we tested the efficacy of a purified lytic phage, vB_AbaM_Acibel004, against multidrug-resistant A. baumannii clinical isolate RUH 2037 infection in immunocompetent mice and a human lung tissue model. Sham- and A. baumannii-infected mice received a single-dose of phage or buffer via intratracheal aerosolization. Group-specific differences in bacterial burden, immune and clinical responses were compared. Phage-treated mice not only recovered faster from infection-associated hypothermia but also had lower pulmonary bacterial burden, lower lung permeability, and cytokine release. Histopathological examination revealed less inflammation with unaffected inflammatory cellular recruitment. No phage-specific adverse events were noted. Additionally, the bactericidal effect of the purified phage on A. baumannii was confirmed after single-dose treatment in an ex vivo human lung infection model. Taken together, our data suggest that the investigated phage has significant potential to treat multidrug-resistant A. baumannii infections and further support the development of appropriate methods for preclinical evaluation of antibacterial efficacy of phages

Repetitive Exposure to Bacteriophage Cocktails against Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Escherichia coli Provokes Marginal Humoral Immunity in Naïve Mice

Phage therapy of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is of great interest due to the rising incidence of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens. However, natural or therapy-induced immunity against therapeutic phages remains a potential concern. In this study, we investigated the innate and adaptive immune responses to two different phage cocktails targeting either Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Escherichia coli—two VAP-associated pathogens—in naïve mice without the confounding effects of a bacterial infection. Active or UV-inactivated phage cocktails or buffers were injected intraperitoneally daily for 7 days in C57BL/6J wild-type mice. Blood cell analysis, flow cytometry analysis, assessment of phage distribution and histopathological analysis of spleens were performed at 6 h, 10 days and 21 days after treatment start. Phages reached the lungs and although the phage cocktails were slightly immunogenic, phage injections were well tolerated without obvious adverse effects. No signs of activation of innate or adaptive immune cells were observed; however, both active phage cocktails elicited a minimal humoral response with secretion of phage-specific antibodies. Our findings show that even repetitive injections lead only to a minimal innate and adaptive immune response in naïve mice and suggest that systemic phage treatment is thus potentially suitable for treating bacterial lung infections

MicroRNA-223 Dampens Pulmonary Inflammation during Pneumococcal Pneumonia

Community-acquired pneumonia remains a major contributor to global communicable disease-mediated mortality. Neutrophils play a leading role in trying to contain bacterial lung infection, but they also drive detrimental pulmonary inflammation, when dysregulated. Here we aimed at understanding the role of microRNA-223 in orchestrating pulmonary inflammation during pneumococcal pneumonia. Serum microRNA-223 was measured in patients with pneumococcal pneumonia and in healthy subjects. Pulmonary inflammation in wild-type and microRNA-223-knockout mice was assessed in terms of disease course, histopathology, cellular recruitment and evaluation of inflammatory protein and gene signatures following pneumococcal infection. Low levels of serum microRNA-223 correlated with increased disease severity in pneumococcal pneumonia patients. Prolonged neutrophilic influx into the lungs and alveolar spaces was detected in pneumococci-infected microRNA-223-knockout mice, possibly accounting for aggravated histopathology and acute lung injury. Expression of microRNA-223 in wild-type mice was induced by pneumococcal infection in a time-dependent manner in whole lungs and lung neutrophils. Single-cell transcriptome analyses of murine lungs revealed a unique profile of antimicrobial and cellular maturation genes that are dysregulated in neutrophils lacking microRNA-223. Taken together, low levels of microRNA-223 in human pneumonia patient serum were associated with increased disease severity, whilst its absence provoked dysregulation of the neutrophil transcriptome in murine pneumococcal pneumonia

Robot-assisted image-guided transcranial magnetic stimulation for somatotopic mapping of the motor cortex: a clinical pilot study

Shape and exact location of motor cortical areas varies among individuals. The exact knowledge of these locations is crucial for planning of neurosurgical procedures. In this study, we have used robot-assisted image-guided transcranial magnetic stimulation (Ri-TMS) to elicit MEP response recorded for individual muscles and reconstruct functional motor maps of the primary motor cortex