פרסומים

In the interwar years, the Egyptian medical profession emerged as a leading national middle-class project. Egyptian doctors asserted their professional identity as they competed with foreign doctors who practiced in Egypt, and they struggled to prove themselves as equal members in the international scientific community. They saw indigenous medical research on specific Egyptian problems as a sign of local competence and, moreover, as professional independence necessary for national one. This chapter offers a social and intellectual history of the Egyptian medical profession from the late nineteenth century to World War II. First, it argues that during the decades in which medical education in Egypt was declining under colonial rule, the Egyptian medical community rebuilt itself through education in many different medical schools abroad. Second, it describes how Egyptian doctors sought to integrate themselves into global scientific conversations and regional networks. Third, it demonstrates that Egyptian doctors struggled to prove their professional competence on the international scale by conducting research on and offering solutions to Egypt’s pressing problems: child mortality, obesity, prostitution, drug addiction, and more. Finally, this chapter suggests that the re-emergence of the Egyptian medical profession was, for the most part, an effendi male project, designed to cultivate both the self and its other—particularly middle-class women, and both male and female peasants.

Helicobacter cinaedi is known to cause invasive infections in immunocompromised adults. Here we report the first case of H. cinaedi bacteremia in a child with nephrotic syndrome. The patient presented with a mild transient febrile illness that resolved spontaneously. We discuss the diagnostic challenges associated with this case and the microbiologic approach, including genomic analysis. Furthermore, we review the current case together with all previous pediatric cases (n = 6). Notably, all cases involved neonates or otherwise immunocompromised individuals and were characterized by severe disease with complicated infections (eg, meningitis, cholangitis and arthritis). H. cinaedi bacteremia in children is associated with a wide spectrum of clinical presentations ranging from mild to life-threatening conditions. This bacterium may be difficult to diagnose and require specialized methods.

The present research utilized the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study to explore the motives driving individuals to adhere to recommended health standards. One month into the first lockdown and eight months before the availability of vaccinations, a large sample of 1,263 individuals completed measures of empathic concern and personal distress in response to a person who contracted the virus. In addition, we measured their COVID-related behaviors, relating to benefitting another person (i.e., donation), the self (i.e., physical hygiene), or both self and other (i.e., physical distancing). Consistent with the Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis (Batson et al., 2015), we found that individuals who experience higher empathic concern, maintain greater physical distance and physical hygiene and act more generously. We further found that individuals who experienced high personal distress were less likely to act generously, albeit more likely to maintain personal hygiene and physical distance. These findings suggest that compliance with health recommendations can be encouraged by eliciting empathic concern or personal distress. Yet, compliance per se is not prosocial behavior. Any intervention aiming to increase prosocial motivation should focus on enhancing empathic concern while minimizing personal distress.

A critical current challenge in the development of all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs) is reducing the cost of fabrication without compromising the performance. Here we report a sulfide ASSLB based on a high-energy, Co-free LiNiO2 cathode with a robust outside-in structure. This promising cathode is enabled by the high-pressure O2 synthesis and subsequent atomic layer deposition of a unique ultrathin LixAlyZnzOδ protective layer comprising a LixAlyZnzOδ surface coating region and an Al and Zn near-surface doping region. This high-quality artificial interphase enhances the structural stability and interfacial dynamics of the cathode as it mitigates the contact loss and continuous side reactions at the cathode/solid electrolyte interface. As a result, our ASSLBs exhibit a high areal capacity (4.65 mAh cm−2), a high specific cathode capacity (203 mAh g−1), superior cycling stability (92% capacity retention after 200 cycles) and a good rate capability (93 mAh g−1 at 2C). This work also offers mechanistic insights into how to break through the limitation of using expensive cathodes (for example, Co-based) and coatings (for example, Nb-, Ta-, La- or Zr-based) while still achieving a high-energy ASSLB performance.

The interplay between neural progenitors and stem cells (NPSCs), and their extracellular matrix (ECM) is a crucial regulatory mechanism that determines their behavior. Nonetheless, how the ECM dictates the state of NPSCs remains elusive. The hindbrain is valuable to examine this relationship, as cells in the ventricular surface of hindbrain boundaries (HBs), which arise between any two neighboring rhombomeres, express the NPSC marker Sox2, while being surrounded with the membrane-bound ECM molecule chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan (CSPG), in chick and mouse embryos. CSPG expression was used to isolate HB Sox2+ cells for RNA-sequencing, revealing their distinguished molecular properties as typical NPSCs, which express known and newly identified genes relating to stem cells, cancer, the matrisome and cell cycle. In contrast, the CSPG- non-HB cells, displayed clear neuraldifferentiation transcriptome. To address whether CSPG is significant for hindbrain development, its expression was manipulated in vivo and in vitro. CSPG manipulations shifted the stem versus differentiation state of HB cells, evident by their behavior and altered gene expression. These results provide further understanding of the uniqueness of hindbrain boundaries as repetitive pools of NPSCs in-between the rapidly growing rhombomeres, which rely on their microenvironment to maintain their undifferentiated state during development.

The interplay between neural progenitors and stem cells (NPSCs), and their extracellular matrix (ECM) is a crucial regulatory mechanism that determines their behavior. Nonetheless, how the ECM dictates the state of NPSCs remains elusive. The hindbrain is valuable to examine this relationship, as cells in the ventricular surface of hindbrain boundaries (HBs), which arise between any two neighboring rhombomeres, express the NPSC marker Sox2, while being surrounded with the membrane-bound ECM molecule chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan (CSPG), in chick and mouse embryos. CSPG expression was used to isolate HB Sox2+ cells for RNA-sequencing, revealing their distinguished molecular properties as typical NPSCs, which express known and newly identified genes relating to stem cells, cancer, the matrisome and cell cycle. In contrast, the CSPG- non-HB cells, displayed clear neural-differentiation transcriptome. To address whether CSPG is significant for hindbrain development, its expression was manipulated in vivo and in vitro. CSPG manipulations shifted the stem versus differentiation state of HB cells, evident by their behavior and altered gene expression. These results provide further understanding of the uniqueness of hindbrain boundaries as repetitive pools of NPSCs in-between the rapidly growing rhombomeres, which rely on their microenvironment to maintain their undifferentiated state during development.

The 2020 Holding Foreign Companies Accountable (HFCA) Act will force China-based firms to delist from U.S. exchanges if China fails to permit audit inspections during a two-year period. The Act also requires such firms, as soon as China blocks such inspections, to disclose ties to the Chinese party-state. We first explain why the delisting provisions, while well-intentioned, may well harm U.S. investors. We then turn to the disclosure provisions, explaining that they appear to be motivated by a desire to name-shame Chinese firms rather than to protect investors. While China-based firms do pose unique risks to U.S. investors, the Act fails to mitigate—and may well exacerbate—these risks.

This article takes a fresh look at the various Hebrew inscriptions of the pre-exilic period, which are to be understood as letters, model letters, or dedicatory inscriptions. In particular, letter introductions and letter endings are examined. Not all elements of the earlier model letter introductions are found in later periods. Military-style letters between superiors and their subordinates are very brisk but nevertheless use various idiomatic and syntactic devices to express their objectives. Letters between colleagues or friends emphasize the blessing of YHWH they wish for their recipients but still differ from dedicatory inscriptions. The unprovenanced Hebrew ostraca published so far employ the same basic greeting formulas known from provenanced materials. Some letters from Arad and Lachish seem to have peculiar endings due to important information being kept for the last sentence.