An Ardent Flame: Witness to Distant Suffering, Human Rights and Unworthy Victims in the Coverage by The New York Times and Two Journals of the Religious Left of the 1980s Civil Wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua

Scholars have investigated witness to distant suffering (WTDS) almost entirely in visual media. This study examines it in print. This form of reporting will be examined in two publications of the religious left as contrasted with the New York Times. The thesis is that, more than any technology, WTDS consists of the journalist’s moral commitment and narrative skills and the audience’s analytical resources and trust. In the religious journals, liberation theology provides the moral commitment, the writers and editors the narrative skills and trust and the special vision of the newly empowered poor the analytical foundation. In bearing witness to those who have suffered state or guerilla terrorism in El Salvador and Nicaragua during the 1980s, we will investigate a distinction between “worthy” and “unworthy victims.” This last issue has a special ethical and political significance. Media witnessing to the suffering of strangers can help them become known, and so “worthy.” It can help them, and their plight and cause, become better recognized. This is the power of the media.

Molecular basis of Osteoarthritis and aspects of cellular senescence in disease

The aim of this study is to investigate on some molecular mechanisms contributing to the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA) and in particular to the senescence of articular chondrocytes. It is focused on understanding molecular events downstream GSK3β inactivation or dependent on the activity of IKKα, a kinase that does not belong to the phenotype of healthy articular chondrocytes. Moreover, the potential of some nutraceuticals on scavenging ROS thus reducing oxidative stress, DNA damage, and chondrocyte senescence has been evaluated in vitro. The in vitro LiCl-mediated GSK3β inactivation resulted in increased mitochondrial ROS production, that impacted on cellular proliferation, with S-phase transient arrest, increased SA-β gal and PAS staining, cell size and granularity. ROS are also responsible for the of increased expression of two major oxidative lesions, i.e. 1) double strand breaks, tagged by γH2AX, that associates with activation of GADD45β and p21, and 2) 8-oxo-dG adducts, that associate with increased IKKα and MMP-10 expression. The pattern observed in vitro was confirmed on cartilage from OA patients. IKKa dramatically affects the intensity of the DNA damage response induced by oxidative stress (H2O2 exposure) in chondrocytes, as evidenced by silencing strategies. At early time point an higher percentage of γH2AX positive cells and more foci in IKKa-KD cells are observed, but IKKa KD cells proved to almost completely recover after 24 hours respect to their controls. Telomere attrition is also reduced in IKKaKD. Finally MSH6 and MLH1 genes are up-regulated in IKKαKD cells but not in control cells. Hydroxytyrosol and Spermidine have a great ROS scavenging capacity in vitro. Both treatments revert the H2O2 dependent increase of cell death and γH2AX-foci formation and senescence, suggesting the ability of increasing cell homeostasis. These data indicate that nutraceuticals represent a great challenge in OA management, for both therapeutical and preventive purposes.

Predictors of readmission and health related quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure: a comparison of different psychosocial aspects

Psychological distress is common in patients with chronic heart failure. The impact of different psychological variables on prognosis has been shown but the comparative effects of these variables remain unclear. This study examines the impact of depression, anxiety, vital exhaustion, Type D personality, and social support on prognosis in chronic heart failure patients. One hundred eleven patients (mean age 57 ± 14 years) having participated in an exercise based ambulatory cardiac rehabilitation program were enrolled in a prospective cohort study. Psychological baseline data were assessed at program entry. Mortality, readmission, and health-related quality of life were assessed at follow up (mean 2.8 ± 1.1 years). After controlling for disease severity none of the psychological variables were associated with mortality, though severe anxiety predicted readmission [HR = 3.21 (95% CI, 1.04-9.93; P = .042)]. Health-related quality of life was independently explained by vital exhaustion, anxiety and either body mass index (physical dimension) or sex (emotional dimension). As psychological variables have a strong impact on health-related quality of life they should be routinely assessed in chronic heart failure patients` treatment.

Sea lions, sacrifice, and ritual : The symbolism of Moche Island imagery

The Mochica, or Moche (c. 100-800 AD) culture, flourished along the northern Peruvian coast. The Moche did not have a formal written language; as such, contemporary scholars base their analysis on Moche iconography and archaeological burial remains. Especially renown for their ceramic artistry, Moche vessels exhibit a wide range of subject matter, including animal and enigmatic figural representations that evoke terrestrial, marine and possibly, spiritual realms. While research has focused on political organization and the interrelationship between sacrifice and warfare, many marine themes have not been fully explored in the discourse. An exploration of sea lion imagery and sacrifice themes suggests that the marine mammals were ritually hunted. A careful iconographic analysis of island scenes demonstrates ritual and gender affiliations held by the Moche about sea lions. In a multi-disciplinary approach, scientific, archaeological and ethnographic resources substantiate this claim.

Hādhihi taʻlīqah laṭīfah fī-mā yataʻallaq bi-qawl al-Nabīy ṣallá Allāhu ʻalayhi wa-sallam "ḥubbiba ilayya min dunyākum al-nisāʼ wa-al-ṭīb wa-juʻilat qurrat ʻaynī fī al-ṣalāt" / taʼlīf al-Shaykh al-Imām al-Ālim al-Allāmah wa-al-baḥr al-fahhāmah Shaykh al-Islām wa-al-muslimīn ʻumdat al-fuqahāʼ wa-al-muḥaddithīn Sayyidī Abū al-Suʻūd ibn Tāj al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Zakī al-Dīn al-Khazrajī al-Shāfiʻī : manuscript, 1685

Written in one column, 15 lines per page, in black rubricated in red. Title written in green and red ink.

Hādhā Kitāb fī uṣūl al-dīn / lil-Imām al-Nasafī : manuscript, undated

1. Kitāb fī uṣūl al-dīn (ff. 1r-38v) -- 2. al-ʻAqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwīyah (ff. 39r-47r) -- 3. Muqaddimat Abī al-Layth (ff. 47v-63v) -- 4. Kitāb al-Arbaʻīn lil-Mundhirī (ff. 64r-70v) -- 5. Fāʼidah wa-mimmā naqalahu al-Shaykh Zarrūq al-Maghribī al-Mālikī ʻalá Sharh asmāʼ al-ḥusná manāfiʻ al-asmāʼ al-Idrisīyah al-Suhrawardīyah (ff. 71r-78r) -- 6. Fāʼidah jalīlah fī faḍāʼil ṣawm Ramaḍān (ff. 78r-96r).

Kitāb Tuḥfat al-ʻarūs wa-fākihat al-nufūs / taʼlīf al-Shaykh al-Imām Abī Muḥammad ʻAbd Allāh ibn al-Shaykh Abū ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Tijānī : manuscript, 1558

Written in one column, 21 lines per page, in black and red.

Hādhihi risālat Ṣiḥāḥ al-nuqūl fī radd al-fatwá bi-ṭahārat al-kuḥūl / lil-ʻĀlim al-Fāḍil ... al-Shaykh Muḥammad ʻAṭāʼ al-Kasm : manuscript, 1904

Paginated 1-24.

Mecmua : manuscript, undated

1. Turkish letter samples (ff. 1v-10v) -- 2. Risālah fī bayān ḥurmat shurb dukhān al-tunbāk / Mawlānā ʻAbd al-Nāfiʻ (ff. 11v-19v) -- 3. Risālah fī lubs al-aḥmar al-baḥt / Shaykh Qāsim (ff. 20v-21v) -- 4. Excerpt from Ibn al-ʻArabī (ff. 23v-24r) -- 5. Excerpt from Ayyuhā al-walad of al-Ghazzālī (ff. 26v-28r) -- 6. Excerpt from Kitāb Laṭāʼif al-adabīyah (ff. 30r-32r) -- 7. Şerh-i Hilyeti'n-Nebî (ff. 33r-35v) -- 8. Sharḥ Jannat al-asmāʼ wa-al-āyāt Allāh [sic] (ff. 35v-38v) -- 9. Fetvâlar (ff. 39v-96v) -- 10. ??? (ff. 98r-103v) -- 11. Persian and Turkish poems (ff. 104r-133r) -- 12. Manzume-i Nidâî Kaysûnîzâde (ff. 134v-157v) -- 13. Excerpts, hadiths and fatwas (ff. 158r-162r) -- Mā jāʼa fī ṭarīq al-taṣawwuf wa-arkānihi (ff. 162v-164v).

هذه رسالة الابحاث الملخصة في حكم كي الحمصة / لعبد الغني الشهير بابن النابلسي : مخطوطة، 1813

Unbound.

Hādhihi risālat al-Aḥkām al-mulakhkhaṣah fī ḥukm māʼ al-ḥimmaṣah / li-Mawlā al-Shaykh Ḥasan al-Shurunbulālī : manuscript, 1813

Copy completed on 3 Muḥarram 1229 [December 26, 1813] from the autograph copy of the author.