Features

A gastric balloon that’s swallowed like a pill and then sits in the stomach filled with fluid helped patients lose more than a third of their excess weight over a four-month period, researchers have reported.

The Elipse device has not been approved for weight loss by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). But it is one of a new generation of “gastric balloons” aimed at helping the obese lose weight and improve related health conditions without undergoing an invasive and largely permanent replumbing of the digestive system.

In July, the FDA approved the “Reshape Dual Balloon” system, which is put in place during a 30-minute procedure during which a patient is mildly sedated.

The Elipse device, which is expected to come before the FDA for consideration soon, differs from the Reshape Dual Balloon in that it is swallowed rather than implanted into the stomach in an endoscopic procedure. Tethered to a tiny catheter, the Elipse device would be swallowed like a pill. Once in the stomach, the capsule dissolves, revealing a gastric balloon that is ready to be filled with sterile fluid through the catheter.

Once filled to roughly the size of a grapefruit, the balloon sits in the stomach for four months. By taking up room there, the balloon creates a sensation of fullness and helps a patient eat less and develop habits of portion control. After four months, the balloon is emptied and passed from the body in stool.

The device’s manufacturer, Allurion Technologies, calls the Elipse “the first procedure-less gastric balloon” and suggests it may be used to help those with a body mass index above 27 to lose weight.

A BMI of 25 is the cutoff point for overweight, and obesity is defined as a BMI above 30. The inclusion of non-obese patients in the population of the latest study suggests Allurion hopes to position the device as a treatment meant to prevent patients’ progression to obesity as well as to reverse it.

In research recently presented at the Obesity Society’s annual meeting, study co-author Dr Ram Chuttani reported that 34 overweight and obese subjects who got the balloon lost an average of 22 pounds after four months — roughly 37 per cent of their excess weight.

Chuttani, who is chief of interventional gastroenterology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston, said that patients who got the Elipse also saw improvements in their triglycerides and in haemoglobin A1C levels — a key measure of metabolic function.

The current study, sponsored by Allurion, had no comparison group of subjects who got a placebo treatment. Gastric balloons are widely reported to cause stomach discomfort and some vomiting, at least in the initial days and weeks after they are implanted.

Chuttani said that in addition to helping subjects feel full sooner, the Elipse appears to affect appetite, weight and physiological functions in some of the same ways that far more invasive bariatric procedures do: In addition to reducing the stomach’s capacity, it also appears to delay the process by which the stomach empties its contents and alters hormones that control hunger and appetite.

University of California, Irvine’s chief bariatric surgeon, Dr Ninh T. Nguyen, cautioned that the gastric balloon is not a permanent solution to weight loss. But Nguyen, who was not involved in the current study, said it may offer a treatment for overweight patients hoping to avert obesity, and to patients who may not be good candidates for bariatric surgery.

With nearly two-thirds of US adults overweight or obese and obesity now considered a disease, the Obesity Society’s meeting in Los Angeles this week underscores the clamorous effort to offer new treatments that are accessible to a wider range of patients.

Bariatric surgery’s Roux-en-Y bypass, which surgically removes a part of the stomach and reroutes food around part of the intestine, is still considered the most effective and enduring treatment of obesity and its related ills. But that procedure’s cost, invasiveness and irreversibility — as well as the technical demands of conducting the surgery — have left plenty of room for less radical and permanent treatments for obesity.

At this year’s meeting, researchers revealed that just three years after it was first introduced in the United States, a less radical bariatric procedure called sleeve gastrectomy — which uses sutures to create a smaller stomach “pouch” — has overtaken Roux-en-Y as the most-performed weight loss surgery.

Weight-loss medications, as well as devices such as gastric balloons and intestine-lining gastric “sleeves”, also appear to be diversifying choices for overweight and obese patients and their doctors.

Stanford bariatric surgeon Dr John Morton says that the growing portfolio of treatments will allow physicians to tailor their responses to meet the needs of patients in different stages of disease.

Morton, the current president of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, likened the treatment of obesity to cardiology and cancer care just a decade or two ago: Earlier intervention — and the ability to offer patients combination treatments — not only should make treatment more effective, he said, it also should increase the field’s focus on preventing obesity-related disease.

If you like to play with Lego you’d probably like to build your own desktop computer too, or to be more precise, to assemble its different components.

Admitted, it requires a little more knowledge than a Lego castle, some care and a dash of flair, but it is in no way a daunting task. And it takes much fewer pieces than the average Lego masterpiece you built last time you joined your children in their recreational activity.

Building a laptop computer is a different story. It does not really belong in the DIY category, mainly because of the high level of miniaturisation of the components, and of the hard to manipulate and extremely frail cables, not to mention the fact that everything is rather crammed inside the unit and makes it a specialist’s work to do anything inside its entrails.

On the other hand a desktop machine, understand a full size computer, a “tower” case as it is sometime referred to, is large and roomy enough to let you play with its components comfortably, adding and assembling the building blocks to make a customised power house. 

Building your own desktop computer is a fashion that has went up and down a few times since the 1980s. At the beginning of the personal computer story it was an absolutely inconceivable undertaking. A few manufacturers ruled the market and provided all-ready machines: IBM, Olivetti, Wang, Commodoure, DEC, Apple, to name the main ones.

Then Asian factories started flooding the market with all the discrete elements that make a computer: the motherboard, the memory modules, the CPU, the hard disk, the power supply unit, the “tower” case and so forth. The appeal was immediate. Not only you were suddenly able to assemble the machine of your dreams (and brag about it), but it also became cheaper and more fun to do so instead of buying a genuine IBM, an Apple or an Olivetti.

The wave after was caused by most manufacturers of ready-made desktops reacting and even counter attacking by slashing prices and making buying their products actually less expensive than getting the components from all the various sources. It has been the case for quite a while now and overall Dell, Lenovo, HP, Fujitsu and Acer reign over the market by offering excellent ready-made desktops at hard to beat prices. Why then should you bother building your own desktop?

A new wave may be here today for now several points come and combine to make building your own desktop computer an interesting enterprise again, from both the technical and the financial points of view.

The need to have extremely performing machines, more particularly when it comes to the multimedia aspect, makes it almost a must to build your own desktop. Choosing the exact motherboard, the fastest multi-core CPU, the perfect video card, the ultimate high-definition sound card, the efficient (and silent…) cooling fans, this can hardly be achieved by buying an off-the-shelf unit. 

Whereas the CPU would most likely be made by Intel, there’s a wide choice in the market when it comes to all the other components. Biostar, for one, makes a motherboard that can satisfy the most demanding hobbyist. 

The newest element, however, the one that changes everything compared to the previous years, is the fact the knowledge required to achieve the machine’s assembly is easily and widely available on the web, often in the shape of YouTube video tutorials, and sometimes in a simpler manner just by asking Google and getting the answer.

Not sure how to mount and set this video card? Hesitating about the compatibility of this CPU with that motherboard? Afraid of mixing memory modules? Take heart and don’t bother to ask a friend or to call the technical support of an expensive IT service company. This so twentieth century! Just search the web. Everything is there today, be it as video, image, sound or simple text. As long as you know how to search and can understand the information you find, you can easily build a super personal computer.

You still have to be a little tech-minded to succeed. It’s just like playing with Lego building blocks, you have to like it.

AMMAN — In his latest exhibition “Kitab Al Filaha” at Jacaranda Images, artist Tariq Dajani pays an evocative tribute to the legacy of Muslims in Al Andalus.

His meticulously created photography artworks hark back to a time when Muslims populated southern Spain’s La Alpujarra region, focusing on an aspect of Andalusian legacy that is often overlooked — their achievements in agriculture.

“There were no beautiful palaces or other splendid monuments by the Muslims in the Alpujarra. Yet their presence can be felt almost everywhere: in the names of villages… in the names of agricultural produce; and in the methods of farming and irrigation systems,” Dajani writes in his notes on the exhibition.

His photographs shed light on what Muslims left behind in farming techniques and animal husbandry, with the name of the exhibition coming from an authoritative encyclopaedia on agriculture by 12th century Muslim scholar Ibn Al Awwam Al Ishbili of Al Andalus.

Ruins of old farmhouses, remains of cattle raised by farmers in the past, olive trees planted centuries ago and the fruits and nuts borne by those trees are some of the subjects of Dajani’s pieces, where he skilfully manipulates the focus through his lens to enrich each photo.

In keeping with the spirit of the subject matter, the artist revives a photo printing technique that dates back to the 1800s in a tribute to the time and effort invested in the manual agriculture methods he seeks to highlight.

“I wanted a printing process that would be true to that notion… instead of just making digital prints, I thought it would be nice to make prints by hand,” he told The Jordan Times.

His use of the labour-intensive photogravure technique produces unique black-and-white prints with a sense of raw detail unlike that of regular digital prints.

Instead of being just another collection of photogenic images of beautiful trees and fruits, Dajani’s prints have a depth and degree of detail that speak of the time and effort put into creating them.

“I spent one and a half years learning how to print like that,” he said.

The method entails etching a photo onto a light-sensitive surface on a metal plate by exposure to ultraviolet sunlight.

“Oil-based inks are then pressed into the etched grooves and gently wiped. The deeper grooves retain more ink than the shallower ones, corresponding to the tonal range of the image,” according to Dajani’s notes.

The metal plate is then “placed on the bed of a traditional printing press and a damp piece of heavy-weight art paper” is positioned on top of it before both are “rolled through the press”, the artist explains.

In addition to the range and layers that each print gains from this process, having black-and-white photos also brings something to the work.

“Because they are black and white, the viewer is required to perhaps put more effort into feeling the picture and understanding… or seeing what they get out of it,” said Dajani.

The artist is also influenced by the still-life paintings of Spanish masters such as Francisco Goya and Diego Velazquez in their “staged presentation of objects”, and the use of light and shadow.

Employing similar techniques, “allowed me to present the work in a way which would isolate it from an environment and make it kind of more dramatic and theatrical,” he said.

The still nature of each piece and — paradoxically — the portrayal of life in the seeds, fruits and tree branches adds to the binaries of black and white, light and shadows.

The artist says he sought to explore this link between past and present, life and death. He was also intrigued by the use of pieces of string to position objects in these early paintings, employing it himself visibly in some of the photos and seeing it as a metaphor that links past and present.

The careful thought and effort that Dajani invests in each little aspect of every piece pushes the viewer to take similar meticulous effort to examine his work and soak in all the details.

The artist stresses that he does not want the process he used to take away “from the overall message of the work”, which sheds light on a bygone era whose legacy lives on today.

If anything, his work inspires one to examine and appreciate this forgotten past of Al Andalus better than thousands of words in history essays. 

The exhibition continues through November 26.

TSAGAAN NUUR, Mongolia — For thousands of years Mongolia’s Dukha ethnic minority have depended on their reindeer herds to survive the bitter winters, but now their nomadic way of life is threatened by new government restrictions introduced on environmental grounds, they say.

The Dukha spend the winter in snow-covered mountain forests where temperatures plunge as low as -50ºC.

Just a few dozen such families remain, sleeping in tarpaulin tents beside their tethered animals.

But raising livestock — including reindeer — has been banned in parts of the “taiga”, rugged wooded areas stretching from Mongolia to neighbouring Russia, where a national park was declared in 2011.

The area is the Dukhas’ traditional autumn feeding grounds, where they fatten their animals before the onset of the severest cold, and the measure has put them under what they call intolerable pressure.

“There is no place left for us to live in the taiga,” said Sandagiin Ganbat, a 57-year-old Dukha and father of five.

“The park authority’s decision is no different than letting us cease to exist.”

Even by the standards of one of the world’s most sparsely populated countries, life in the taiga is harsh. There are only a few tracks, and often the only mode of transportation is horse or reindeer.

Staying warm is a constant struggle and attacks from roaming packs of wolves an everyday threat.

Some of their tents are equipped with solar panels and satellite phones in a nod to modernity, but younger Dukha are tempted by apartments in Mongolia’s expanding towns and cities.

Herder Tsendeegiin Ganbat — no relation — recalled one harsh season when he could not find anything to eat.

“I wanted to give up several times, when the weather got too cold... and all my kids got sick,” he said.

His 11-year-old son Bayandalai spends his weekends at the family camp, riding a reindeer for an hour every Sunday to the nearest track, and then going by car to spend the week at a school in the nearest town.

He also has a daughter who studies in Mongolia’s bustling capital Ulan Bator, and has told her parents she will stay there after graduation — a decision they understand.

‘No more’

Most Dukha do not eat their reindeer, which they keep mainly for milk, and many keep guns to shoot elk and other wild mammals as well as for protection from wolves.

But Mongolia heavily restricts hunting, citing concerns about declining animal stocks, and the nomads are forced to buy mutton, goat meat and staples such as rice from nearby farmers in order to stay within the law.

The park had been made off-limits to nomads to protect it from illegal gold mining, which causes ecological damage, Tsedendashiin Tuvshinbat of Mongolia’s environment ministry told AFP.

Nomads can graze their reindeer outside the park, he added.

Some younger Dukha — known as Tsaatan in Mongolian — flout the rules, bringing their animals into forbidden zones to graze on moss and lichen buried under the snow.

Many Dukha are dependent on government handouts — worth about $65 each month for adults — and income generated from tourists visiting their camps.

“If there were no allowance, all the reindeer men would have gone to jail,” Sandagiin Ganbat said. “And there will be no more reindeer and reindeer riders.”

As I watched horrific pictures of the terrorist attack in Paris unfold on my television screen, my thoughts went back to a similar carnage that happened in my home country a few years ago. 

On November 26, 2008, Mumbai was brought to a standstill in one of the deadliest extremist assaults on Indian soil. One hundred seventy-one people died in a standoff between the police and ten heavily armed militants. The siege of the city lasted for over three days in the heart of India’s financial capital.

Last weekend, I had just returned to Amman from Mumbai after a short visit there. I was, in fact, staying at the same hotel where the terrorists had stormed in, seven years ago. The similarity in the bloodbath that occurred in the two cities Paris and Mumbai is eerie. Quite like the Bataclan concert hall where Eagles of Death Metal performed in Paris, the night when terrorists targeted the 1,500 capacity venue as part of a series of organised terror attacks, Mumbai’s attention, on that particular evening, was focused on one of the country’s favourite sports: cricket. 

India was playing against England, and beating its old colonial master. At about 9:30pm, two gunmen with assault rifles appeared on the sidewalk. One stood at the entrance, the second to his left. Then they started firing. Minutes later, they walked away, leaving more than a dozen casualties behind amid upturned, bloodied tables.

In Paris, gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs targeted three busy restaurants and a bar. Around forty people were killed as customers were singled out at venues including a pizza joint and a Cambodian diner. The other target was a stadium in France, on the northern fringe of Paris, where President Hollande and 80,000 other spectators were watching a friendly international between France and Germany. The president was whisked to safety after the first explosion just outside the venue. Three attackers were reportedly shot there.

In Mumbai the assailants landed by sea in a hijacked fishing trawler. They struck at a crowded railway station, a few restaurants and a hospital, and then, in a coordinated spate of attacks, seized two five-star hotels, taking hostages. Military commandos later stormed these places and began a battle with terrorists that transformed the city into a war zone for sixty hours, as live television footage of the shootout was beamed around the world. Fifty-two people died in one hotel while thirty-eight died at the other one. 

While checking-in at one of those hotels earlier this month, there was not a sign of the unfortunate tragedy that had occurred there previously. The resilience of the human spirit had ensured that on the surface at least, everything was back to normal. But the psychological and emotional scars that we carried resurfaced with the Paris incident, and I found myself instantly uniting with the French in their grief. Like I had united with the Pakistanis when there was a shootout in a school in Peshawar, with the Lebanese when there were serial bombings in Beirut last week, and so on. 

Talking to one of the survivors in Mumbai was an eye-opener. 

“A guy burst in with a machine gun. He was in western dress, wearing jeans,” the American singer of the hotel band recalled. 

“Then what happened?” I asked. 

“He told everybody to put their hands up and asked if there were any British or Yankees,” he continued. 

“What did you say?” I was curious.

“I am alive, aren’t I?” he smiled.

YEHLIU, Taiwan — Scientists are battling to save Taiwan’s ancient “Queen’s Head” rock from erosion — but the island is split over whether technology should be used to preserve the precarious natural masterpiece.

More than three million people visit the coastal landmark in northern Yehliu each year, named for its supposed likeness to England’s Queen Elizabeth I.

The tilting “head” is an imposing sweep of sandstone that mushrooms out of a slender stem.

Honed by seawater and strong winds the head tapers up to a point, likened to the piled-up curls of the eponymous royal.

But at 4,000 years old, exposure to the elements means it may soon topple.

“The neck may become too thin to support the head and might break off within the next five to 10 years, if nothing is done,” warns Hsieh Kuo-huang, a professor at the Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering at National Taiwan University.

“Any strong earthquakes or severe typhoons may bring down the rock formation,” said Hsieh, who is one of the scientists studying how to preserve the rock.

Researchers say the circumference of the neck is shrinking by 1.5cm-1.6cm each year, making it harder to support the 1.3-tonne head.

“The shape of ‘Queen’s Head’ today looks most elegant,” says Helena Tang of Neo-Space International Inc which manages the geopark where the rock stands.

“But sadly, there’s not much time left.”

Hsieh’s team have been experimenting with ways to save the formation, which stands eight metres tall from its base.

Using nanotechnology — which manipulates tiny matter on an atomic and molecular scale — Hsieh and his team developed paints to protect the rock.

“Our analysis shows that the strength of the rock’s neck could be intensified by up to three times, while the surface resistance to erosion could be enhanced markedly,” Hsieh said.

So far the paint has been applied to surrounding rocks, rather than to the Queen’s Head itself, but initial tests in August were unsuccessful as the paint peeled off.

Since then the ingredients have been tweaked and applied to other rocks in the geopark, Hsieh said.

Natural progression?

But while scientists wrack their brains for a solution, others feel nature should be left to take its course.

“As the coastal landscape was made by erosion, the lifespan of the ‘Queen’s Head’ is limited,” said Pan Han-sheng, an activist from the pro-environment Tree Party.

“I don’t understand why we would want to freeze its lifespan.”

The geopark conducted a survey of 1,200 people randomly picked across the island before going ahead with the paint tests.

Only 63 per cent backed the scientific experiments and the survey sparked alternative less invasive suggestions, including encasing the formation in a glass cabinet.

“I would prefer a glass cabinet so that the rock can be sheltered from erosion,” said Kin Kuo-yen, a tourist from China’s eastern Hangzhou city.

Kin was concerned that paints might damage the rock, while a glass case would preserve it.

“It’s a marvellous spectacle — once gone, it will be gone forever,” he said.

Neo-Space International has used 3-D technology to record the measurements of the rock twice each year so that it can be reproduced.

One replica already stands at the entrance to the park and has become a tourist attraction in itself.

Park administrator Kuo Chen-ling played down fears over the rock breaking down.

“Even in the worst scenario, a toppled ‘Queen’s Head’ could be placed in a museum and attract tourists,” he said, adding that there were other rocks in the park which drew visitors, including some in the shape of an elephant, a shoe and a peanut.

But with tourists to the geopark bringing in an estimated Tw$700 million ($21.54 million) of business each year to the 2,000 residents of Yehliu, some say losing the natural icon would be both an emotional and financial blow.

“It has been there since I was a kid,” says 73-year-old Liu Pi-lan.

“Lots of people in Yehliu depend on tourism for their livelihoods. I’m afraid tourists would show less interest if the ‘Queen’s Head’ fell down,” he added.

“I would be heartbroken if it breaks off, we cannot do without it.”

Agile, frisky, committed, adjustable and direct, the Peugeot 208 GT Line ekes a lot of fun from just 118BHP and a four-speed automatic gearbox. Highlighting the core compact car qualities of manoeuvrability, accessibility and frisky lightweight handling the GT Line is a new hot hatch-like appearance package for garden-variety version of a face-lifted Peugeot 208 line.

Aping the feisty design detail of the range-topping and formidably swift and sporty 208 GTI hot hatch, the affordable GT Line underscores the basic 208 platform’s clarity and little diluted and nippy thrills. Best driven with a heavy foot through winding roads, the 208 GT Line is nonetheless a comfortable, practical and well-equipped compact city car.

Contemporary and complex

A gem among a resurgent Peugeot line-up, the sporty yet classy 208 has always stood out in a competitive compact segment. Most closely rivalling the much-acclaimed Ford Fiesta and somewhat upmarket Mini Hatch, the 208’s attention to elegant detail and chiselled design has been little altered, but instead subtly refreshed and now includes the sporty GT Line. 

With a wider and dramatically hungry low-slung grille with red accents, sharper bumper design with aggressive recessed lower side foglights, visible chrome-tipped exhaust and LED light elements, including claw-like rear elements, the 208 GT Line cuts an assertive, dynamic and eager profile. Large 43cm alloy wheels with 205/45R17 tyres complete the faux-hit hatch appearance and provide high grip through corners. 

Elegant yet urgent in demeanour, the 208’s contemporary concave and convex surfacing is complex and classy canvas, with a bold bonnet groove mounted emblem and liberally tasteful smatterings of chrome. Athletic and brimming with dynamic tension, the 208’s body seems tightly wrapped and ready to pounce, with short overhangs, wide track and firmly planted road stance.

Ready to rev

Powered by a carryover naturally-aspirated 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine under its sculpted bonnet, the driven 208 GT Line variant develops 118BHP at 6000rpm and 118lb/ft at 4250rpm. Mated to a four-speed gearbox, this allows for 10.7-second 0-100km/h acceleration and a 190km/h top speed, while returning 6.7l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency.

Buzzy, eager and revvy, the 208’s 1.6VTI engine is progressive in delivery, smooth and refined when cruising, and somewhat guttural when pushed hard. Nippy rather than outright quick, the 208 1.6-litre is responsive, confidant and flexible in mid-range. With four gear ratios, the automatic version is best when revved hard to gather momentum and ensure upshifts into the engine’s sweet mid-range spot.

Entertaining and rewarding to rev right to its rev limit and use its’ gear lever actuated sequential shift mode, the 208 GT Line 1.6VTI is a car that would be best in 5-speed manual guise. An additional gear ratio would allow one to better utilise its’ power and torque for improved versatility, performance, efficiency and lower engine speed during highway cruising.

Frisky and fun

Rising to the occasion when wrung hard and high, the 1.6VTI engine is well mated to an agile and eager chassis, and provides the 208 with the inimitable thrills of a light and responsive yet modestly powered small driven hard for brisk progress. With progressive engine and grippy tyres, the 208 digs in hard when one comes back on power early, and maintains a committed cornering line. 

Alert and ready to manoeuvre the Peugeot 208’s quick ratio steering is well-weighted direct responsive, slack-free on centre and delicately nuanced through turns. Turning in crisply with flickable fun eagerness, the 208’s wide track and short overhangs provide a stable footprint, while compact size and short wheelbase make it manoeuvrable, nimble and agile.

Slick, swift, darty and agile through switchbacks, the lightweight 1090kg 208 is composed and poised through corners, with good body control and little by way of lean, and is stable but alert at speed. Finding a happy medium between handling ability and ride comfort, the GT Line’s well-chosen 205/45R17 tyres provide good cornering rigidity and decent suppleness over imperfections.

Elegantly upbeat

Generously accommodating larger drivers even with optional panoramic sunroof, the GT Line features good front and side visibility and supportively bolstered height adjustable sports seats, for an alert and comfortable driving position. With quick ratio small steering wheel ensuring most manoeuvres are executed from quarter-to-three grip. Meanwhile, an unorthodox layout with the instrument binnacle viewed from above the low-set steering soon becomes second nature.

Stylishly recapturing the allure of its now iconic 1980s 205 predecessor with elegantly urgent design lines, the 208 GT Line’s cabin features a measured and up-market sense of style. With sparingly tasteful use of metallic chrome-like details, glossy black panels, coned instruments and a modern, elegant upbeat ambiance, the 208 features intuitive user-friendly layouts and a practical cabin.

As much at home through winding roads as on city streets, the darty 208 is practical and manoeuvrable in fast-paced yet congested urban settings, and conveniently features dual zone climate control, front electric windows, keyless entry central locking and 60:40 split folding rear seats extend boot volume from 285- to 1076-litres. Well-kitted, the GT Line features a user-friendly touchscreen infotainment screen with satnav and USB slot.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.6 litre, transverse 4 cylinders

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, variable valve timing

Gearbox: 4-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive

Top gear/final drive ratios: 0.85:1/3.94:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 118 (120) [88] @6000rpm

Torque lb/ft (Nm): 118 (160) @4250rpm

0-100km/h: 10.7 seconds

Top speed: 190km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 6.7l/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 149g/km

Fuel capacity: 50 litres

Length: 3973mm

Width: 1739mm 

Height: 1460mm

Wheelbase: 2538mm

Track, F/R: 1470/1472mm

Overhang, F/R: 783/652mm

Headroom, F/R: 882/861mm

Legroom, F/R: 874/818mm

Luggage capacity, minimum/maximum: 285-/1,076 litres

Kerb weight: 1090kg (est.)

Steering: Variable assistance, rack & pinion

Lock-to-lock: 2.9 turns

Turning circle: 10.4 metres

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/torsion beam

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 266mm/discs, 249mm

Tyres: 205/45R17

In the Wake of the Poetic: Palestinian Artists after Darwish

Najat Rahman

New York: Syracuse University Press, 2015

Pp. 190

Najat Rahman is professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Montreal and has authored or edited several books on Mahmoud Darwish. In this book, she addresses the effects of his poetry on subsequent Palestinian artistic production — poetry, cinema, visual arts and song. Focusing on the period after the Oslo Accords, which radically altered the parameters of Palestinian struggle, she contends that the new artists “refuse to adhere to predetermined notions of aesthetics and politics, but they all claim a common historical legacy: historic Palestine, ‘national poets’ such as Darwish, the Nakba of 1948, Beirut 1982.” (p. 2)

“These Palestinian writers and artists, who live between many countries and languages, resist a fixed identity while expressing a desire for home and for belonging.” (p. 4)

In Rahman’s view, they “continue the legacy of Darwish without being derivative”. (p. 3)

Darwish considered poetry to be political when it is concerned with community and the future. In this sense, the new generation’s works are political but in new ways. Often they contest the injustices inflicted on the Palestinians — and the world’s seeming oblivion — via dark humour, irony and the absurd.

The strongest chapter in the book is the one on poetry in which Rahman compares the themes and aesthetics of Darwish with other Palestinian poets, chiefly Suhair Hammad, Liana Badr and Ghassan Zaqtan. Like Darwish, Hammad focuses on the themes of dispossession, loss, fragmentation, and the link between language and identity. Born in Brooklyn and mixing Arabic with English slang, shouting out what usually remains unspoken, she challenges preconceived notions and indicates new passages and identities, going beyond the strictly national to a transnational scene. “The diasporic poet through her voice gathers fragmented selves into new possible collective identities.” (p. 39) 

Similar themes, plus multiple exiles and the role of memory, mark the poetry of both Badr and Zaqtan. Each in their own way, they revisit history and combine the poetic, the political and the personal, often via small daily details which evoke the bigger tragedies and existential dilemmas of Palestinian lives.  

The films of Elia Suleiman, Hany Abu Assad and Rashid Masharawi have elicited international acclaim and brought new attention to the Palestinian issue. The sense of irony and the absurd, often present in Darwish’s poems to convey the Palestinian experience, reaches new heights in their cinematic imagery that, especially in the case of Suleiman, also includes fantasy. Rahman sees their films as “visual counterparts to Darwish’s poetics of loss, belonging, dispersion, and dispossession”. (p. 53)

Among the Palestinian visual artists noted in the book are not many painters, but mostly creators of conceptual art who work in a wide range of media: video, collage, photo documentation, mapping and performance, where the artist uses his or her own body to express the Palestinian experience. Rahman focuses on well-established artists like Kamal Boullata and Mona Hatoum, as well as more recently recognized ones such as Emily Jacir, Eman Haram, Rehab Nazzal, Sharif Waked and the artwork Till Roeskens developed with Palestinians of Aida Camp, near Bethlehem. While unmasking Israel’s ethnic cleansing and occupation, their artwork constitutes a struggle against the erasure of Palestinian history, memory and existence. 

Music is closely linked to poetry and many musicians have based their songs on lyrics drawn from Darwish’s poetry, from Sabreen to the hip-hop and rap groups such as DAM, which began in Lyd, and inspired other Palestinian rappers from Ramallah to the US. Tamer Nafar of DAM (of “Who’s the terrorist?” fame) acknowledges the impact of Darwish’s poetry on the group, naming other influences as: “30 per cent Hip Hop music; 30 per cent literature; and 40 per cent the political situation.” (p. 121)

Notably, Rahman counts hip-hop as the most directly political of all the new Palestinian art forms. 

“In the Wake of the Poetic” links literary criticism with Palestinian reality to give a fascinating panoramic view of Palestinian artistic production in the past two decades. Rahman succeeds admirably in her stated purpose: “to show how artists in different media and in different corners of the Palestinian diaspora innovate uniquely, and join the poetic legacy of Mahmoud Darwish in reassembling a disappearing homeland.” (p. 76)

The most important date on the regional motoring calendar for motoring enthusiasts and automotive industry professionals, the Dubai Motor Show is the Middle East’s biggest auto expo is held every other year in rotation with the Abu Dhabi Motor Show. Home to the region’s most spectacular reveals and debuts of the latest road cars, futuristic concept cars, industry announcements, brands and automotive technologies, the Dubai Motor Show is held at the Emirate’s sprawling 85,000-square-metre Dubai World Trade Centre from November 10th to the 14th.

Among the 157 cars making regional and global debuts in Dubai, Jaguar’s unexpected and sporty F-Pace SUV is set to play a major role in Jaguar’s regional portfolio. Commenting on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) sales success during 2015 despite regional tensions, Managing Director for the Middle East and North Africa Bruce Robertson indicated that the F-Pace is expected to be a “volume seller” and become Jaguar’s “market leader.” Meanwhile, managing director of Jaguar’s high-end luxury, performance and capabilities skunkworks special operations division, John Edwards, was also on hand to unveil the brand’s most luxurious Range Rover SV Autobiography to the Middle East.

Offering visitors a live and steep obstacle course experience demonstrating their vehicles’ off-road prowess British brand JLR’s centrepiece exhibit was however its’ Spectre film cars. Starring as the antagonists’ car in the latest James Bond film and as an extension of the brand’s “good to be bad” campaign, the JLR Spectre trio included a spectacular repurposed 2010 C-X75 hybrid supercar concept and battered post-production Land Rover Sports SVR performance SUV and Land Rover Defender off-roader.

With a rich heritage of accessible performance cars and motorsports success, including all-podium 1966 and subsequent Le Mans victories to 1969 for the GT40, the recently established Ford Performance wing sets the Blue Oval for a major comeback into this segment. Commenting on performance aspirations, Middle East and Africa President Jim Benintende said that Ford was “not going to be shy about it” anymore, and with US rally driver Ken Block on hand, unveiled Ford’s GT supercar and 2016 Le Mans hopeful. Also unveiled for the Middle East was the high performance flat-plane crackshaft Shelby GT350 Mustang. 

While Ford announced that it expected 30 new products for the Middle East and Africa region by 2020, Dubai was also an occasion for the regional reveal of its’ luxury Lincoln sister brand’s Continental Concept model. Expected to be launched globally by 2017, the Continental Concept flagship is elegantly smooth, low-slung and voluptuous design. Not revealing driveline details during roundtable discussions, Lincoln Motor Company President Kumar Galhotra however described the Continental as taking a “quiet luxury” approach.

A first for Cadillac, the US luxury brand debuted its’ XT5 crossover successor to the SRX at the Dubai Motor Show. Meanwhile hot hatch enthusiasts were treated to regional unveilings for the prodigious high performance Peugeot 308 GTI and brutally mighty Audi RS3 Sportback. A big day for Audi, the four-ring German luxury brand also unveiled the all-important next generation A4 compact executive saloon and R8 supercar, described by Director of Audi Middle East, Enrico Atanasio as the “dynamic vanguard of Audi”.

Away from the big players and new high tech models, the Dubai Motor Show also served as regional debut for the resurrected Alvis brand. A supercar in its era, Alvis plans a production run of 77 continuation Series cars built from original 1930s parts. Alvis makes build their own engines and “still makes cars how they used to be made”. according to chairman Alan Stote. Meanwhile, the Motoring Nostalgia Museum of classic cars memorably included the radical, purpose-built and diminutive 1976 Lancia Statos mid-engine rally car.

Jaguar F-Pace

With snouty bold mesh grille, squinting headlights and bulging bonnet similar to Jaguar’s elegant saloons and rear lights inspired by the F-Type sports car, the F-Pace seamlessly translates the British brand’s character into crossover SUV form for the first time. Expected to be a big regional seller, the F-Pace is built on light and stiff aluminium architecture and powered by Jaguar’s growling, consistently muscular and progressively urgent supercharged 3-litre V6 engine in 335BHP or 375BHP tune. Driving all four wheels, it should prove agile and sure-footed when launched. 

Ford GT

Celebrating the Ford GT40 sensational all-podium 1966 24-Hours of Le Mans victory 50th anniversary, the 2016 GT features a 600BHP+ mid-engine version of Ford’s acclaimed 3.5-litre direct injection twin-turbo V6 Ecoboost engine. Based on race-proven engine architecture, the GT is built on stiff lightweight carbon-fibre and aluminium construction. A post-retro design paying homage to its iconic ancestor, it features up-swinging doors, curved windshield and advanced active aero aids, while radical air tunnels direct airflow along a narrow fuselage-like cockpit.

Range Rover SV Autobiography

Ready for all comers in the emerging ultra-luxury SUV segment comprising the Bentley Bentayga and upcoming Rolls Royce SUV, the original luxury off-road just got plusher, courtesy of JLR’s special vehicle operations. With high quality dual tone paint, higher grades of leather and trim, more extensive features, optional long wheelbase and reclining seats with footrests, the SV Autobiography also features an upgraded 542BHP supercharged five-litre V8. Effortlessly muscular, extensively capable off-road and serenely comfortable on-road, the Range Rover is also built on stiff lightweight aluminium architecture.

Lincoln Continental Concept

Combining the elegant and emotive with an athletic demeanour, the Lincoln Continental Concept flagship is expected to catapult the American brand back firmly to the premium luxury segment as a 2017 model. With snouty but recessed grille, smatterings of chrome, huge alloys, low profile roof, muscular haunches and slanted low-slung boot, it features faint flavours of Maserati Quattroporte V and Pininfarina’s Fiat 130 Coupe and Rolls Royce Camargue in its C-pillar slant. Spacious inside, its cabin is swathed with lush blue leather and suede and features highly ergonomic seats.

Audi RS3 Sportback

A muscular yet agile brute, the Audi RS3 Sportback is not a garden-variety hot hatch but with a turbocharged five-cylinder engine producing 362BHP and 343lb/ft torque, is more aptly described as a hyper hatch. Expected to go on sale regionally by January 2016, the RS3 cracks the 0-100km/h benchmark in 4.3-seconds and can top 280km/h. Directing its power through all four wheels, the RS3 can vary power between front and rear and left and right for nimble and eager cornering agility, tremendous grip and tenacious traction. 

Peugeot 308 GTI

Peugeot’s long-awaited and elegant Ford Focus ST- and Volkswagen GTI-rivalling 308 GTI hot hatch features a choice of 247BHP or 266BHP high efficiency 1.6-litre turbocharged engines. With claimed best-in-class power-to-weight and 243lb/ft torque throughout 1,900-5,000rpm, 0-100km/h acceleration is dispatched in 6.2-seconds in 247BHP guise and six-seconds by the 266BHP version. Driving front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox, the 270HP version additionally features a Torsen limited-slip differential for added agility.

MIAMI — Some obese children as young as eight show significant signs of heart disease, according to research presented Tuesday at a major US cardiology conference.

Researchers compared 20 obese children and teenagers to 20 normal weight peers and found that 40 per cent of the obese children were considered at high-risk for heart disease because of thickened heart muscle, which can interfere with the muscle’s pumping ability.

Overall, obesity was linked to 27 per cent more muscle mass in the left ventricle of their hearts and 12 per cent thicker heart muscles — both signs of heart disease, according to the findings presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Florida.

Some of the obese children also had asthma, high blood pressure and depression. 

The children studied did not report physical symptoms of heart trouble, but the damage to their hearts was found during a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.

And researchers warn that heart problems in youth may lead to even more severe disease in adulthood, and a higher likelihood of dying prematurely.

“Parents should be highly motivated to help their children maintain a healthy weight,” said lead author Linyuan Jing, a researcher at Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania.

“Ultimately we hope that the effects we see in the hearts of these children are reversible; however, it is possible that there could be permanent damage. This should be further motivation for parents to help children lead a healthy lifestyle.”

Obesity was measured in the children using the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention standard growth charts, which use body mass index, a calculation derived from a child’s height and weight. Those above the 95th per centile were considered obese. 

Children with diabetes, or who were too large to fit in the MRI machine, were excluded from the study.

“As a result, this means the actual burden of heart disease in obese children may have been under-estimated in our study because the largest kids who may have been the most severely affected could not be enrolled,” Jing said.

Nationwide, about one in three children aged 2-19 are considered either overweight or obese in the United States.

Finding that children as young as eight may show signs of heart disease was “alarming to us,” Jing said.

“Understanding the long-term ramifications of this will be critical as we deal with the impact of the paediatric obesity epidemic.”