Check Archive

January 2008

• Calibre Macro World of January 31 published the findings of a research team from the American University of Beirut Medical Center on epilepsy. The team found that Oxcarbazepine, a recently introduced antiepileptic drug, possesses antineuralgic properties in animal models of neuropathic pain.
• Calibre Macro World of January 31 published the findings of a report by a research team from the American University of Beirut Medical Center on the difference between Lebanese men and women on their promptness in seeking care for acute coronary syndromes.
• Macro World Investor of January 31 published the findings of a report by a research team from the American University of Beirut Medical Center on gene frequencies of the HPA-1 platelet antigen alleles in the Lebanese population.
• Electronic Intifada of January 31 published an article by Asaad Abu Khalil, a professor of political science at California State University, on the death of the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) George Habash. Abu Khalil defended Habash from criticism labeling him as a terrorist, describing him as a more transparent leader than late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Abu Khalil presented a biography of Habashâ??s political career which started during the 1940s when he was a student at the American University of Beirut.
• Worcester Telegram & Gazette of January 30 published the obituary of Vera Joseph Peterson, a physician, who along with her husband received the Ira Hiscock award for contributions in public health from the New England Public Health Association. Born in Jamaica, Dr. Joseph moved to the United States in 1919. She earned her medical school degree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1936. In 1950, she moved to Beirut with her family where she worked as an assistant professor of medicine at the American University of Beirut while her husband worked with the United Nations. She returned to the United States in 1964 after a stay in Switzerland.
• An Associated Press story published in the Wall Street Journal of January 28, New York Daily News, the Washingtonpost.com, Bryan-College Station Eagle, Carlisle Sentinel, and the Boston Globe of January 27, and Townhall.com and Star-Telegram.com of January 26 reported on the death of the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), George Habash. They said that Hasbashâ??s rivalry with the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Yasser Arafat spurned him to create the PFLP. The group gained notoriety after the simultaneous hijackings of four western airliners in 1970. He graduated as a physician from the American University of Beirut in 1951, and launched the PFLP in 1967. He died in Amman Jordan after suffering from a severe heart attack.
• The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune of January 27 reported on the death of George Habash, the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He studied medicine at the American University in Beirut, but his studies were interrupted in 1948 when he left school to help his family flee Palestine as violence deepened between Arabs and Jews. That experience of the nascent Israeli Army driving the Palestinians from their homes had a profound effect on him. He graduated the first in his class in 1951. In 1953, Mr. Habash was among the founders of an organization in Jordan called the Arab Nationalistsâ?? Movement. In 1957, however, the Arab Nationalistsâ?? Movement was implicated in an attempt to overthrow King Hussein, and Habash and his followers fled to Syria. He founded the PFLP in December 1967 after the Arabsâ?? defeat in the 1967 war. He later remarked that the defeat convinced him of the need to adopt a strategy like that of the Marxist guerrillas in Vietnam.
• The Los Angeles Times of January 27 reported on the death of George Habash, the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He born in 1925 in the village of Lydda but was forced to flee in 1948 after it fell to Israeli control. He studied medicine at the American University of Beirut, founding a series of radical student organizations that called for unifying the Arabs' military might to destroy Israel. After the 1967 Middle East War, he formed the PFLP to launch operations against Israel. One of its first operations was the hijacking of an Israeli El Al airliner in July 1968. He gained more prominence because of his rivalry with late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Bedridden for years and partially paralyzed after two strokes, Habash died of a heart attack in Jordan.
• Chicago Tribune of January 26 and Santa Barbara News of January 25 presented an overview of the Lebanonâ??s ongoing political crisis. The crisis centers on the partiesâ?? failure to stage the presidential election because of a disagreement over power sharing in a new government. â??If we do not have a president soon, this will run the risk of open warfare,â? said Hilal Khashan, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut. Observers said that despite the tension, the Lebanese would be reluctant to engage in a new civil war, but instead say that the countryâ??s fate is linked to regional conflicts.
• Earthtimes.org of January 26 reported on the death of George Habash, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).  Born in 1926, he graduated as a physician from the American University of Beirut in 1951 and in that year he became a founding member of the Arab Nationalist Movement, inspired by Nasserism and other pan-Arab and socialist doctrines.
• The Middle East Forum of January 26 published an article by Dr. A. Nizar Hamzeh, an associate professor and chair in the Department of Political Studies and Public Administration at the American University of Beirut, entitled, â??Islamism in Lebanon: a Guide to the Groups.â? The article listed the major and minor Sunni and Shiite Islamist groups in Lebanon, their origins and current role in Lebanon politically and socially. Despite the great number of these groups, Hamzeh did not expect Islamism to flourish in Lebanon because of the groupsâ?? lack of unity and â??deep doctrinal differences.â?
• Denver Post of January 25 reported on the Tom Sutherland and Terry Andersen, two former hostages who were held captive by the Lebanese Hizbullah militant group during the Lebanese civil war. Sutherland was then a dean at the American University of Beirut, and Andersen was an Associated Press war correspondent. The two former hostages were held in captivity for six years, adding that they credit each other for each otherâ??s survival. They now express their condemnation of the United Statesâ?? polices in Iraq, accusing it of employing the same tactics as their former captors.
• Epoch Times of January 25 reported on the bombing that killed Captain Wissam Eid in Beirut on January 25. Eid worked for an intelligence unit that has extensive information on the series of assassinations and attacks that have plagued Lebanon since 2004. January alone witnessed at least three attacks. Timur Goksel, a former adviser to UN peacekeepers who now lectures at the American University of Beirut, said, â??It seems this captain [Eid] was working on tracking fundamentalists.â? He added, â??In the past bombers have not really targeted military and security personnel, so I'm guessing the culprits are non-Lebanese, maybe groups affiliated to al Qaeda.â?
• Calibre Macro World of January 24 published the findings of a research conducted at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, entitled, â??Bloodstream infections in febrile neutropenic patients at a tertiary care center in Lebanon: a view of the past decade.â? The researchers concluded, â??Protocols and guidelines should be adapted to the characteristics of individual institutions to ensure delivery of appropriate care to febrile neutropenic patients.â?
• Calibre Macro World of January 24 published the findings of a research team at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, entitled, â??Cardiac sarcoidosis responding to monotherapy with infliximab.â?
• Calibre Macro World of January 24 published the findings of a research team at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, entitle, â??'Acute NSAID-related transmural duodenitis and extensive duodenal ulceration.â?
• NewsRX of January 22 published the findings of a research team from the American University of Beirut Medical Center, entitled, â??High-performance liquid chromatography method for quantifying sphingomyelin in rat brain.â?
• Sfgate and AINA of January 21 and GlobalSecurity.org of January 16 reported on the attack against an American embassy vehicle in Beirut. It said that the attack is a sign that al-Qaeda-inspired militants are infiltrating Lebanon to drive the politically deadlocked country towards civil war. "Al-Qaeda is now unleashed in Lebanon and they are here to stay," said Ahmad Moussali, a professor of political science and Islamic studies at the American University of Beirut. "Al-Qaeda thrives in civil war and chaos. International players should be very careful in Lebanon," he added. The attack follows a resurgence of militant activity over the past month, which analysts said could push the political crisis into armed confrontation.
• Wicked Local of January 18 reported on Pat Bashford, an actress, teacher, and photographer about to write a screenplay about her own life, and who would be making her directorial debut at the New Works Festival. Bashford studied theater and speech at Emerson College. She later studied at the American University of Beirut later and earned her Masters degree in speech and communication from the University of Colorado. Bashford then returned to the United States, and after a few jobs in teaching, she rediscovered her passion for theater.
• IJnet.org of January 17 published an announcement for the American University of Beirutâ??s workshop on election coverage for print, broadcast, and on-line reporters scheduled for February 5 to 8.
• Calibre Macro World of January 17 published the findings of a report conducted by researchers from the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. The objective of the report, it said, was to examine the vocal symptoms and acoustic changes perceived in the short period after endotracheal intubation, and to find the association between these changes and the endotracheal tube parameters.
• GlobalSecurity.org of January 17 and VOA News of January 16 reported on the recent attack against an American Embassy vehicle in Beirut. Observers said that there could be several motives behind the attack, and a number of sides that may have been behind it. Timur Goksel a former UN spokesman in Lebanon and is now a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut said, "This was a specific anti-American attack, but as to the motive and who's behind it, I don't know if you'll ever find out." Looking at the bombing in a regional context, he said there is a long list of extremist groups that could be behind such an attack. Most analysts said the attack on the US embassy vehicle cannot be separated from the overall security situation in Lebanon.