THE AMBASSADORS
THE AMBASSADORS
LETTERS
Volume 1,
Issues 2
September 1998
This section of the magazine will be dedicated to presenting responses, letters, consultations and queries about previous issues. As The Ambassadors celebrates its first issue, the Editorial staff would like to thank all readers who visited the magazine and sent their congratulations, comments, criticism and support. This LETTERS section contains a sample of the comments we recieved. As well, the photographs included represent the articles featured in the previous issue, now present in the ARCHIVES section.
Condolences
The following obituary for Prof. James Farquhar was published in the newsletter of the Edinburgh Sick Children's NHS Fund, Newsline, as well as the Scotsman and Glasgow Herald daily newspapers.
The
Ambassadors
in sending Dr. Farquhar's family its deepest condolences joins
its readers
"Your tribute
to my father on the Ambassadors website is very moving."
Mary Low, Prof. Jim Farquhar's
daugther, Edinburgh, UK
"I was so sorry to hear of Jim Farquhar's
death. He did so much for community paediatrics."
Prof. John A. Raeburn, MD, PhD, FRCPE
Director of the Medical Genetics Centre, Nottingham University
"We have read your magazine with great
interest. It is clear that much work and effort have been put
into it. It is professionally executed. We have enjoyed reading
the article about Prof. Farquhar. Our sincere condolences to
his family, friends and colleagues."
Some of Prof. Jim Farquhar's students
"The Ambassadors motto Peace, growth
& development has to be encouraged. The great Scotish
pediatrician, Prof. Farquhar is convinced with global mosaicism,
cooperation & competition. This must be our dream for the
third millenium."
Dr. Ashraf Sedra, MD Los Angelos
"I read all the issues in Ambassadors and
I congratulate you for this effort. I admired what was said about
the late Prof. Farquhar. I also liked Dr Sadika's article about
Down syndrome."
Dr. Sayed Nasr, MD consultant
pediatric neurology, Egypt
"My sincere condolences to Prof.
Farquhar's family and friends. I enjoyed reading the Ambassadors
magazine. It has truly achieved the status of an open university
and I envision it being very beneficial to many families. It
would be nice if you include a section in next issues for free
consultations. I am ready to help."
Dr. Soheir Habib, MD consultant
physician & diabetologist
The Ambassadors sends its condolences to the families of the 229 victims of the SwissAir Flight 111 crash. The Ambassadors will dedicate next issue's supplement to the disaster entitled: "SwissAir Flight 111 Supplement: The Tragedy, Victims, Heroes, Mysteries & Treasures"
COMMENTS
"I find myself intrigued by the focus and
scope of what has been described in The Ambassadors."
Ben Witte, BA (Wesleyan University)
"Reading the features section about
Mr.Omer Al-Awadi, with Down syndrome & the great effort done
by his parents to raise him up in an excellent form helped us to
cope with our 3 months old Down syndrome baby. Our doctor in New
York mentioned to us that there are more than one million persons
with Down syndrome. It seems that they & their families
deserve a special website."
American parents of a Down syndrome
baby
"Congratulations on having the first issue
of your net publication. It is an elegent and apparently
carefully edited issue.Your rich cultural background together
with your rooted experience in journalism and the colorfull views
of Adel and Essam will make it outstanding."
Prof. Ahmed S. Teebi, MD, FRCPE (Univ.
of Toronto)
"I enjoyed viewing the objectives of the
Ambassadors. If this magazine puts more emphasis on health
problems and education, this will be excellent."
Mrs. Ihsan Holwek, MA former French
teacher, Quebec
"I think the idea is great and the
challenges are justifiable."
Dr. Ahmed Al Shatti, MD (General
Secretary of Kuwait Medical Association)
"GREETINGS ! My hearty Congrats for
the successful launching of the THE AMBASSADORS - Monthly
magazine of unique and innovative structure and content. I am
sure it will fulfill its objective and will be appreciated and
very well supported by its readers. I wish you all the
success."
Dr. DS Krishna Murthy, BSc, MSc, PhD
(Ahmadabad Univ.)
"The Ambassadors is by all means a rich
magazine; the idea is great, the variety in topics, quenches the
thirst."
Hala M El-Banna, MA (Sadat Academy,
Cairo, Egypt)
"It is possible for me to write an article
about Down syndrome in India for the forthcoming issue."
Prof. IC Verma, FRCP, FAMS, FAAP (Sir
Ganga Ram Hospital)
"I must say u've done a great job with
that web site. It's neat work. Well done."
Amr Radwan-Engineer, BSc (AUC)
"We have just seen the AMBASSADORS and
went through all the pages. We admired very much the effort and
we send our congratulations."
Dr. Gaber Ramadan, MD consultant
pediatrician & family
"Congratulations for producing the first
issue of the Ambassadors internet magazine."
Dr. MA Sabry, MD (Birmingham)
consultant clinical geneticist
"I am pleased to find a section dedicated
to poetry and to read Miss Hala El-Banna's poem entitled,
"Instead of an emotional landing I took off." I would
be glad to contribute to your magazine with my poetry."
Mina Maher, engineering student,
Halifax.
"I congragulate you on the first edition
of the "Ambassadors." I was so happy and proud to find
something with this great quality on the internet. I am looking
forward to participate in the next edition. The sports section
was more than great. Mabrook!"
Mohamed Sabe, political science
student, Halifax
"This is a really great magazine, I got
excited when I saw this professional site."
Moheb George, Queen Elizabeth
Highschool (grade 12)
"I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at this
very interesting online Magazine. It provides a unique coverage
of very interesting topics. I especially enjoyed the sports
section which was very well written. I wish you all the best in
the future and hope that this magazine flourishes as I expect it
to."
Fady Faltas, Student of Pharmacy,
Cairo University
"With some of colleagues and friends here,
we enjoyed reading the selected study by Prof. M Booz discussing
the orthopedic diseases of the Bedouins. The book review section
challenged us to try to answer your question: if the death of the
golden monarch [King Tut] is natural, accidental or homocidal?
Prof. Bob Brier, the famous American paleopathologist, in his
book entitled "Murder of Tutankhamen: A true story" is
convinced with the homocide theory. We hope to find the answer as
soon as possible!"
Dr. Maher Hanna, MD (California)
CONSULTATIONS
Dear Ambassadors,
I am a high school student who is interested in pursuing a career
in foreign languages and cultures. I was wondering if you
could please give me some information concerning what courses or
classes to take or if there are any specific colleges that I
should try looking up. Any other information you could give
me about programs or institutions in my area would be very much
appreciated. Thank you for your time!
Tera Gross, Waverly, Ohio, USA
In response to your question, you have several options to choose from when looking for programs in foreign languages and cultural studies at the university and college level. Most programs focusing on cultural studies in U.S. universities are included in the departments of Anthropology or International Development. In addition, you will most often find foreign language studies under the Linguistics departments. Most universities have integrated programs where you can enroll in a double major in both a foreign language and do cultural studies alongside. One of the more reputable colleges offering such a program is Westminister College in PA. Its department of Modern languages has an interdisciplinary program which allows students to major in a specific language and take Intercultural studies courses. Another institution which is closer to you and worth considering is Georgia State Univ. which is home to one of the most comprehensive Intercultural studies departments in the country. The university's National Foreign Language Resource Centre offers courses in anthropology, black studies, East Asian language and literature, French, Italian, Germanic, Near Eastern languages (Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Persian), Hellenic, Spanish, Portugese...etc. Most universities and colleges have their program descriptions and course outlines on the web, so the most valuable advice I can give is surf around!
Websites to check out:
Ohio State University: http://www.cohums.ohio-state.edu/flc/CIC/cicdepartments.htm
Westminister College: http://www.westminster.edu/Acad/lang/
Listing of all U.S. Universities and College: http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ/
Medical Counseling
"Christmas Tree" small bowel
atresia
The Ambassadors recieved a letter from a young
non-consanguinous American couple having a baby born with small
bowel atresia. The paedriatric surgeon report showed that the
baby had Type IV jejunoileal atresia. The parents mentioned in
their letter: "Please let us know if this, in your opinion,
is genetic apple-peel atresia?"
In this type of atresia, the distal small bowel comes straight
off the coecum and twists around the marginal artery, suggesting
apple-peel, christmas tree or maypole appearance at operation.
This form is the rarest type of bowel atresia. If the atresia is
associated with cystic fibrosis, the risk will be 1 in 4 (Hellen
E. Roberts et al, 1998, Am J Med Genet., 78:446-448). There is a
rare type, reported mostly among inbred populations that occurs
in the absence of cystic fibrosis (TI Farag & AS Teebi, 1989,
J Med Genet., 26:67-68). In the 12th edition of McKusick
catalogue of Mendelian Inheritance in Man, 1998, he enlisted few
families with christmas tree atresia and without cystic fibrosis.
Once your doctor excluded the presence of cystic fibrosis, the
recurrence risk will be around 5%. Your new baby has to be
examined by a neonatologist & paediatric surgeon once
delivered, since early diagnosis and management gives 100% cure
in many published American studies. To summarize, you have 1 in
20 risk of having a similarly affected baby and 19 in 20 risk of
having a normal baby. I am sure you have access to some of the
most qualified specialists, so please consult them. Best wishes.
Dr. T. I. Farag FRCPE
Community Geneticist
