"The November 1970 coup that brought Hafiz al-Asad to power fundamentally transformed cultural production in Syria. A comprehensive intellectual, ideological, and political project--a Ba'thist ...cultural revolution--sought to align artistic endeavors with the ideological interests of the regime. The ensuing agonistic struggle pitted official aesthetics of power against alternative modes of creative expression that could evade or ignore the effects of the state. With this book, Max Weiss offers the first cultural and intellectual history of Ba'thist Syria, from the coming to power of Hafiz al-Asad, through the transitional period under Bashar al-Asad, and continuing up through the Syria War. Revolutions Aesthetic reconceptualizes contemporary Syrian politics, authoritarianism, and cultural life. Engaging rich original sources--novels, films, and cultural periodicals--Weiss highlights themes crucial to the making of contemporary Syria: hero
What is the relationship between thought and practice in the domains of language, literature and politics? Is thought the only standard by which to measure intellectual history? How did Arab ...intellectuals change and affect political, social, cultural and economic developments from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries? This volume offers a fundamental overhaul and revival of modern Arab intellectual history. Using Hourani's Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798–1939 (Cambridge, 1962) as a starting point, it reassesses Arabic cultural production and political thought in the light of current scholarship and extends the analysis beyond Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and the outbreak of World War II. The chapters offer a mixture of broad-stroke history on the construction of 'the Muslim world', and the emergence of the rule of law and constitutionalism in the Ottoman empire, as well as case studies on individual Arab intellectuals that illuminate the transformation of modern Arabic thought.
In the wake of the Arab uprisings, the Middle East descended into a frenzy of political turmoil and unprecedented human tragedy which reinforced regrettable stereotypes about the moribund state of ...Arab intellectual and cultural life. This volume sheds important light on diverse facets of the post-war Arab world and its vibrant intellectual, literary and political history. Cutting-edge research is presented on such wide-ranging topics as poetry, intellectual history, political philosophy, and religious reform and cultural resilience all across the length and breadth of the Arab world, from Morocco to the Gulf States. This is an important statement of new directions in Middle East studies that challenges conventional thinking and has added relevance to the study of global intellectual history more broadly.
H
S is an endogenous gasotransmitter that increases cerebral blood flow. In the cerebral vascular endothelium, H
S is produced by cystathionine δ-lyase (CSE). Endothelin-1 (ET-1) has constrictor and ...dilator influences on the cerebral circulation. The mechanism of the vasodilation caused by ET-1 may involve endothelium-derived factors. We hypothesize that ET-1-elicited dilation of pial arterioles requires an elevation of H
S production in the cerebral vascular endothelium. We investigated the effects of ET-1 on CSE-catalyzed brain H
S production and pial arteriolar diameter using cranial windows in newborn pigs in vivo. H
S was measured in periarachnoid cerebrospinal fluid. ET-1 (10
-10
M) caused an elevation of H
S that was reduced by the CSE inhibitors propargylglycine (PPG) and β-cyano-l-alanine (BCA). Low doses of ET-1 (10
-10
M) produced vasodilation of pial arterioles that was blocked PPG and BCA, suggesting the importance of H
S influences. The vasodilator effects of H
S may require activation of smooth muscle cell membrane ATP-sensitive K
(K
) channels and large-conductance Ca
-activated K
(BK) channels. The K
inhibitor glibenclamide and the BK inhibitor paxilline blocked CSE/H
S-dependent dilation of pial arterioles to ET-1. In contrast, the vasoconstrictor response of pial arterioles to 10
M ET-1 was not modulated by PPG, BCA, glibenclamide, or paxilline and, therefore, was independent of CSE/H
S influences. Pial arteriolar constriction response to higher levels of ET-1 was independent of CSE/H
S and K
/BK
channel activation. These data suggest that H
S is an endothelium-derived factor that mediates the vasodilator effects of ET-1 in the cerebral circulation via a mechanism that involves activation of K
and BK channels in vascular smooth muscle. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Disorders of the cerebral circulation in newborn infants may lead to lifelong neurological disabilities. We report that vasoactive peptide endothelin-1 exhibits vasodilator properties in the neonatal cerebral circulation by stimulating production of H
S, an endothelium-derived messenger with vasodilator properties. The ability of endothelin-1 to stimulate brain production of H
S may counteract the reduction in cerebral blood flow and prevent the cerebral vascular dysfunction caused by stroke, asphyxia, cerebral hypoxia, ischemia, and vasospasm.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom that sectarianism is intrinsically linked to violence, bloodshed, or social disharmony, Max Weiss uncovers the complex roots of Shi?i sectarianism in ...twentieth-century Lebanon.The template for conflicted relations between the Lebanese state and Shi?i society arose under French Mandate rule through a process of gradual transformation, long before the political mobilization of the Shi?i community under the charismatic Imam Musa al-Sadr and his Movement of the Deprived, and decades before the radicalization linked to Hizballah. Throughout the period, the Shi?i community was buffeted by crosscutting political, religious, and ideological currents: transnational affiliations versus local concerns; the competing pull of Arab nationalism and Lebanese nationalism; loyalty to Jabal ?Amil, the cultural heartland of Shi?i Lebanon; and the modernization of religious and juridical traditions.Uncoupling the beginnings of modern Shi?i collective identity from the rise of political Shi?ism, Weiss transforms our understanding of the nature of sectarianism and shows why in Lebanon it has been both so productive and so destructive at the same time.
When and how do politicians talk about public health crises? Using evidence from the opioid crisis in the United States, this paper assembles and analyzes novel data on Congressional statements to ...explore the conditions under which politicians (1) issue public statements about opioids and (2) frame the opioid crisis as a predominantly public health or law enforcement problem. We examined 3.8 million Congressional floor speeches and 111,000 public statements to identify (1) floor speeches about drug crises in the 97th to 114th Congresses (1981–2017) and (2) public statements about the opioid crisis in the 116th Congress (2019–2020). Moderate ideology, women, greater overdose deaths, and larger white populations are associated with significantly higher frequencies of opioid statements. Using a dictionary-based text analysis approach, we find that ideologically liberal and African American legislators are more likely to use public health framing, while ideologically conservative members are more likely to use law enforcement framing and refer to national borders or foreign countries in opioid statements. Democrats/liberals more often referenced medication treatment for opioids. These findings imply two broader conclusions about the nature of political discourse in public health crises. First, that political extremists are least likely to talk about opioids suggests that increasing partisan polarization may result in less discussion, emphasis, and expertise in public health issues. Second, the tenor of discourse about opioids and other public health crises is likely to change with partisan electoral waves, potentially hindering long term planning of public health capacity.
•Public statements by members of Congress are a source of information about opioids.•We study determinants of the frequency and content of opioid public statements.•Moderates, women, and more impacted districts issue more opioid statements.•Liberal and African American members more often use public health language.•25% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans used mostly law enforcement language.
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•Enzymatic synthesis of three modified pentofuranose-1-phosphates in g-scale: Ara-1P, 2FR-b-1P, 2Fara-1P.•Application of a chemo-enzymatic method using a thermostable pyrimidine ...nucleoside phosphorylase.•Production of modified pentose-1P as barium salt with purity >95 % as -anomer only.•Characterization of pentose-1-P with regard to temperature and pH stability.
α-d-pentofuranose-1-phosphates (Pentose-1Ps) are key intermediates in nucleoside metabolism and important precursors for the enzymatic synthesis of modified nucleosides. To date, Pentose-1Ps are mainly produced by chemical approaches which have numerous disadvantages. Therefore, several enzymatic methods employing mesophilic enzymes have been developed but are not widely applied due to their limited substrate spectrum. Here we report the use of thermostable nucleoside phosphorylases for the chemo-enzymatic synthesis of modified Pentose-1Ps (2-deoxy-2-fluoro-α-d-ribofuranose-1-phosphate, α-d-arabinofuranose-1-phosphate, and 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-α-d-arabinofuranose-1-phosphate), which are interesting building blocks for the synthesis of modified nucleosides. After optimizing the synthesis protocol using the natural substrates uridine and thymidine, grams of modified Pentose-1Ps were purified as their Ba-salts with over 95% purity. Their structures were confirmed by NMR spectroscopy and the temperature and pH stability of natural and modified Pentose-1Ps in aqueous solution was -evaluated. Four of the Pentose-1P-Ba salts were stable with no visible degradation up to 60 °C and pH above 5, while 2-deoxy-α-d-ribofuranose-1-phosphate was less stable. The presented protocol provides an easy, fast, and environmentally-friendly method to produce grams of modified Pentose-1P-Ba salts of high purity.
In heart transplantation (HTx) patients, routine surveillance endomyocardial biopsies (rsEMB) are recommended for the detection of early cardiac allograft rejection. However, there is no consensus on ...the optimal frequency of rsEMB. Frequent rsEMB have shown a low diagnostic yield in the new era of potent immunosuppressive regimen. Efficacy and safety of lower frequency rsEMB have not been investigated so far. In this retrospective, single centre, observational study we evaluated 282 patients transplanted between 2004 and 2014. 218 of these patients were investigated by rsEMB and symptom-triggered EMB (stEMB). We evaluated EMB results, complications, risk factors for rejection, survival 1 and 5 years as well as incidence of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) 3 years after HTx. A mean of 7.1 ± 2.5 rsEMB were conducted per patient within the first year after HTx identifying 7 patients with asymptomatic and 9 patients with symptomatic acute rejection requiring glucocorticoide pulse therapy. Despite this relatively low frequency of rsEMB, only 6 unscheduled stEMB were required in the first year after HTx leading to 2 additional treatments. In 6 deaths among all 282 patients (2.1%), acute rejection could not be ruled out as a potential underlying cause. Overall survival at 1 year was 78.7% and 5-year survival was 74%. Incidence of CAV was 17% at 3-year follow-up. Morbidity and mortality of lower frequency rsEMB are comparable with data from the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) registry. Consensus is needed on the optimal frequency of EMB.
Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis causes end-stage renal failure in up to a third of cases even with treatment. The disease recurs occasionally after kidney ...transplantation, but new onset of ANCA-associated vasculitis after transplantation is highly unusual. The use of rituximab or plasmapheresis for de novo disease after transplantation has not previously been reported.
Routine post-transplant follow-up for a 66-year old asymptomatic woman revealed a rise in creatinine from 1.8 to 2.6 mg/dl and increased proteinuria. She had received a cadaveric kidney transplant 20 months previously for end-stage autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Renal allograft biopsy unexpectedly demonstrated pauci-immune glomerulonephritis with extracapillary proliferation and interstitial inflammation. Concurrent serum tested strongly positive for ANCA specific to proteinase 3 (PR3), but stored pre- and post-transplantation serum samples tested negative. These findings established a diagnosis of de novo ANCA-associated vasculitis in the renal allograft. We started treatment with high-dose corticosteroid and rituximab. Despite this, serum creatinine continued to rise and glomerulonephritis remained active in a repeat biopsy. Escalation of the treatment with seven sessions of plasmapheresis led to a temporary improvement in creatinine. No further features of vasculitis emerged and PR3-ANCA titres declined. However, multiple infections complicated the recovery period and were associated with progressive loss of renal transplant function. Four months after the index presentation, transplant function became insufficient and dialysis was restarted.
De novo ANCA-associated vasculitis after renal transplantation is exceptionally rare. It poses a significant risk to graft survival even in the context of intensified immunosuppression. Management relies on clinical evidence from populations with native renal function, yet post-transplant patients may be at increased risk of treatment-related adverse events. Precautions against these risks are crucial in the delivery of care.
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