Near East School of Theology

Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia is a chronic lung disease of preterm infants. We previously established the NLRP3 inflammasome as critical in the pathogenesis of BPD. The hyaluronan receptor CD44 interacts with TLR4 to propagate extracellular signals driving inflammation. The role of CD44 in BPD is unclear. To determine the contribution of CD44 to NLRP3 inflammasome activation and the development of BPD. The activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and the development of BPD was studied in CD44 and TLR4 knockout mice. LPS was used to study TLR4-specific responses. In normal mice, lung CD44 decreased in the first two postnatal weeks but increased with exposure to neonatal hyperoxia. CD44 KO mice exposed to hyperoxia were protected from decreased alveolarization and inflammatory responses. Increased IL1ß mRNA and protein and cleaved caspase-1 observed in CD44 WT mice were not seen in CD44 KO mice, indicating a failure to activate the NLRP3 inflammasome. Intraperitoneal LPS resulted in increased plasma IL1ß concentrations in CD44 WT mice, which was decreased in CD44 KO mice. Intratracheal LPS caused a neutrophilic inflammation in CD44 WT lungs, which was absent in CD44 KO mice. TLR4 KO mice were protected from neonatal hyperoxia and showed less lung IL1ß and inflammation. Increased lung CD44 expression was observed in the lungs of preterm baboons developing experimental BPD and in lungs of preterm born humans at extended corrected ages. Collectively, these data implicate CD44 in the pathogenesis of BPD and identify a novel therapeutic target to limit NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Poor quality maternal and neonatal healthcare contributes to preventable deaths, birth complications, and long-term health disabilities. Organizational factors have a significant contribution for key maternal and neonatal health indicators improvement. A facility-based pre–post interventional evaluation design was deployed. Package of interventions were implemented in a phased approach. The study was conducted in three regions in Ethiopia. A total of 131 health facilities were included in the study. A mixed-Poisson regression models were used to examine the predictors to identify organizational factors. Quality improvement practice results were measured using improved clinical bundles, and maternal and neonatal health quality indicators. One hundred three(78.6%) and 117(89.3%) health facilities had at least one improved clinical bundle and MNH quality indicators, respectively. Team work, client satisfaction survey and a quality structure with clear terms of reference were found to be predictors of improved clinical bundle indicators with an incidence rate of 1.87(95% CI [1.06, 3.29]), 1.27(95% CI [1.12, 1.44]) and 1.34(95% CI [1.23, 1.47]) respectively. The cross-level interaction model revealed that health facilities implementing all three interventions (customer survey*teamwork*quality structure showed the strongest effects of 3.55(95% CI [2.53, 5.00]) times better outcomes verses facilities with none of them. On the other hand, knowledge on quality improvement, health facilities being hospital, resistance to change and staff turnover were found to be predictors of improved MNH quality indicators with an incidence rate of 1.34(95% CI [1.08, 1.67]), 1.35(95% CI [1.08, 1.67]), 0.73(95% [0.58, 0.92) and 0.62(95% [0.50, 0.76]) respectively. Improved clinical bundles were linked to teamwork, a culture of conducting customer feedback and having a quality structure with clear terms of reference. Improved MNH quality indicators were associated with health facility type, quality improvement knowledge, acknowledgment of staff resistance and staff turnover. Program implementers should prioritize these critical organizational factors while applying quality initiatives.

This paper proposes a deep-learning model for the detection of periodontal bone loss from dental radiographs. The process involves pre-processing using Cross Guided Bilateral Filtering (CGBiF), resizing and image enhancement to remove noise, followed by segmentation using a Region of Interest (ROI) model to isolate relevant periodontal structures. A novel Twin Attention-based Deep Red Convolutional Long Short Term Memory (TA_DRCLSTM) model is introduced to detect bone loss and is optimized with Enhanced Red Panda Optimization (ERPO). The model is evaluated and compared to existing approaches in terms of precision, recall, specificity, NPV and AUC-PR, achieving superior performance. The proposed model demonstrates effective and accurate detection of periodontal bone loss, providing a valuable tool for clinical applications. CGBiF improves image clarity for better detection by lowering noise and maintaining crucial features like bone structures. Resizing standardizes image dimensions, allowing for consistent model input. Image enhancement increases contrast, making periodontal structures more visible, resulting in a 93.8% recall, 81.2% precision and 95.4% AUC-PR in the study.

Abstract Most studies of the Abbasid shurṭa in Iraq focus on the institution’s military leadership, overshadowing its subordinate agents—ordinary policemen ( shuraṭ ), guards ( ḥurrās ), and clerks ( ʿurrāḍ )—whose daily actions sustained the apparatus of policing and state control. These figures rarely appear in historical sources, and when they do, their presence is fleeting, often reduced to single words or short phrases. One important exception is the Risālat siyāsat al-mulūk (Anonymous ms., Haci Mahmud Effendi 2041, Istanbul), a late third/ninth-century administrative manual that devotes an entire section to the shurṭa and its auxiliary staff. This paper argues that reconstructing the daily routine of the Abbasid police requires not only assembling fragmentary evidence but also shifting the methodological lens—from elite narratives to a micro-level reading of bureaucratic practices. In doing so, it challenges the notion, famously articulated by Michel Foucault, that such minor agents are faceless machinists of power. Instead, by examining chronicles, biographical dictionaries, mirrors for princes, and administrative treatises, this study recovers the spatial, social, and archival dimensions of subordinate police work in both urban and rural Iraq during the early Abbasid period. It shows how the internal organisation of the police mirrored the geography of state control and how the bureaucratisation of policing shaped interactions between the state and society.

Abstract This qualitative research on young adults of the Armenian Apostolic and Syriac Orthodox Churches in Lebanon considers why participation in liturgy aids the identity formation of youth in both communities. By participating in liturgical rituals, these young adults express identities which transcend the limited spaces they inhabit. These spaces are influenced by the minority context in Lebanon, as well as by traumatic historic experiences of both Armenians and Syriacs. Such spaces stimulate the youths’ appreciation for their ancient traditions and their strong connection to other members of their church communities, both past and present. Their sense of belonging is rooted in ancient languages and narratives, and in the embodied rituals that open Armenian and Syriac young people up to the divine dimension of liturgy in church and in daily life. We argue that, for the research population, engagement in the liturgy is a matter of identity.

The paper attempts to cover the various aspects of the relationship of the 1965 Vatican “Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions” to the Christians of the Middle East. After discussing the role and position of Eastern bishops and theologians during the Council, it goes on to describe and analyze the impact of the text on Catholics and non-Catholics alike in the Middle East in relation to the topics of the Church and the Jewish people and the Church and Muslims. The paper concludes with an assessment of the significance and limitations of Nostra Aetate for theological reflection in the Middle East and the Arab world.

Deanna Ferree Womack’s book on the Protestant mission and its local impact in what is today Lebanon and Syria is based on her doctoral dissertation, submitted to Princeton Theological Seminary in 2...

In conclusion, writing a scientific manuscript is a systemic process that starts at the planning phase of each research and should be designed to maximize the understanding of the reader for a better communication and spread of new findings in our field of study.