Journal articles on the topic 'Persian Women authors'

Poetry has always been the noteworthy face of Iran's cultural identity. Persian poets and their poems have reconstructed and revolutionized both the Eastern and Western literary world. Sadly, in a male-dominated Iranian society, female literary talents had been sidelined throughout centuries. Still, there were some iconic female poets who have blended their poetical talents with very powerful mental strength to cut off all the societal limitations, taboos and prohibitions and had left their marks on Persian literature's history forever. But to attain that, they had to come across a long way. As the title indicates, the subject of this article is about the growth of some of those persistent women poets of Iran, with an emphasis on the hardships they have faced and how they overcame through those phases. In short, this article analyses the problems of women poets in the context of the socio-political environment of Iran and discuss the efforts the women poets have to made to break those barriers. The Central Library of Dhaka University, Departmental Library of Persian Language and Literature, DU and original Persian manuscripts from the authors personal collections are used as the primary resources for this article as well as online helpful websites. Social Science Review, Vol. 38(1), June 2021 Page 93-108

AbstractThe article focuses on the warning about the "strange woman" in Prov 6:20-35. This instruction alludes to the Decalogue and the commandment to instruct children in the Torah, which follows the Schma' Yisrael. As an actualizing interpretation of this tradition, Prov 6:20-35 should be related to the process of canonizing the Torah and dated in the late Persian period. The instruction is written by men and women, a group of the Judean upper class who warn against sexual intercourse with women outside normal marriage relations. In their attempt to preserve existing family ties and social status, the authors create a negative image of women: every woman who is not an obedient wife can be called a "strange" one. In view of the text's ambivalent character, a modern interpretation of Prov. 6:20-35 attentive to gender must criticize the marginalization of women, while at the same time pointing to the contribution of women to this perspective. Recognizing the positive intention of its authors, who see Scripture as a guide for daily life, can help us to maintain the basic intention and at the same time to tell another, modern midrash that treats gender relationships in a more sensitive way.

Abstract This article examines the reception of Edgar Allan Poe in modern Persian literature with regard to his fiction and theory of writing. There have been scattered pieces written on Poe’s influence on Iranian poets and writers in Persian or English, but this article aims to offer a fairly comprehensive picture of Poe in Iran in general with a focus on his influence or affinities with two leading Iranian authors, Sadeq Hedayat and Sadeq Chubak, as far as female characters are concerned. The article at first surveys how Poe was introduced into Persian literature and then it studies personal, social, political, and historical backgrounds in classical and modern Persian literature that determined men’s taking a misogynous approach. A comparative study of representative works of Hedayat and Chubak reveals conscious alignment with Poe’s ideas. Confessionary monologues, gloomy atmosphere, and the lack of proper dialogues between men and women mark their writings. The article concludes that although patriarchy has been responsible for these two writers’ failures to overcome gender stereotypes, their acquaintance with Edgar Allan Poe had its impact on aggravating such tendencies.

Purpose Entrepreneurs are networking with others to get advice for their businesses. The networking differs between men and women; notably, men are more often networking for advice in the public sphere and women are more often networking for advice in the private sphere. The purpose of this study is to account for how such gendering of entrepreneurs’ networks of advisors differs between societies and cultures. Design/methodology/approach Based on survey data from the Global Entrepreneurships Monitor, a sample of 16,365 entrepreneurs is used to compare the gendering of entrepreneurs’ networks in China and five countries largely located around the Persian Gulf, namely Yemen, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Findings Analyses show that female entrepreneurs tend to have slightly larger private sphere networks than male entrepreneurs. The differences between male and female entrepreneurs’ networking in the public sphere are considerably larger. Societal differences in the relative prominence of networking in the public and private spheres, and the gendering hereof, correspond well to cultural and socio-economic societal differences. In particular, the authors found marked differences among the religiously conservative and politically autocratic Gulf states. Research limitations/implications As a main limitation to this study, the data disclose only the gender of the entrepreneur, but not the gender of each advisor in the network around the entrepreneur. Thus, the authors cannot tell the extent to which men and women interact with each other. This limitation along with the findings of this study point to a need for further research on the extent to which genders are structurally mixed or separated as entrepreneurs network for advice in the public sphere. In addition, the large migrant populations in some Arab states raise questions of the ethnicity of entrepreneurs and advisors. Originality/value Results from this study create novel and nuanced understandings about the differences in the gendering of entrepreneurs’ networking in China and countries around Persian Gulf. Such understandings provide valuable input to the knowledge of how to better use the entrepreneurial potential from both men and women in different cultures. The sample is fairly representative of entrepreneur populations, and the results can be generalized to these countries.

It is generally recognized that the prohibition against marriage with “foreign” women in Ezra 9-10 reflects a view among the repatriated gola community in Persian Yehud that non-repatriated Jewish groups should be viewed as ethnic outsiders; the chapters draw from Pentateuchal legal traditions (especially Deuteronomy) to justify this position. Several scholars have noted that this partisan/sectarian ideology has roots in the Ezekiel tradition, which informs much of Ezra 7-Nehemiah 13. Nevertheless, a direct antecedent for identifying the homeland women as “foreign” may be found in the book of Jeremiah, which served as the hermeneutical key for the exegetical goals of Ezra 9-10. This connection was recognized by the later Aaronide authors of Ezra 1-6, who amplified and redirected the implications of this relationship by inaugurating their addition to the corpus with a reference to Jeremiah’s oracles. By so doing, they extended Aaronide hegemony over Ezra 7-Nehemiah 13, incorporating it and its exegetical engagement of prophetic material into their own priestly-scribal curriculum.

Background: Despite all the positive effects of physical activity on maternal and fetal health, its level is low among pregnant women. Various barriers seem to prevent physical activity during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to investigate and determine the barriers to physical activity during pregnancy based on a review of available literature. Methods: To review the available literature, the authors searched Persian databases, such as Iran Medex, Magiran, MedLib, and SID, and also English databases, including Scopus, PubMed, Elsevier, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and ProQuest using the keywords of pregnant woman, physical activity, exercise, barriers, pregnancy, constraints, and attitudes individually or in combination between 2000 and 2020 and finally, 10 articles that met the inclusion criteria were reviewed. An ecological model was used to classify the reported barriers. Results: Seven quantitative articles and three qualitative articles were included in the study. Obstacles related to the intrapersonal level of the ecological model were the most reported in these studies and were classified into five areas, including pregnancy symptoms and limitations, time constraints, misunderstanding the adequacy of daily activities, lack of motivation, and maternal and fetus safety concerns. Barriers at the interpersonal level included lack of consultation and information and lack of social support and at the environmental, organizational, and political levels, climate and lack of resources were the most reported barriers. Conclusion: The present study outlined the perceived barriers to physical activity among pregnant women and highlighted the important factors that should be considered when planning interventions to increase the level of physical activity during pregnancy. Further studies are recommended to provide solutions to overcome these barriers and increase the activity of pregnant women.

This remarkable collaboration of primarily Maria Jaschok and Shui Jingjun(with contributions from nine other mostly Muslim Chinese women who areduly acknowledged), contains a wealth of information on a subject that most scholars of Muslim communities have never considered or perhaps evenimagined: the existence of bona fide women’s mosques in China. Throughpainstaking historical, archival, interview, and field research, the authors layout a convincing argument that such mosques have existed in China and continueto experience a “rapid increase” (p. 15), at least since the late Mingdynasty (sixteenth to seventeenth centuries), proliferating in northern China’scentral plains region (mainly Henan, Hebei, Shandong, and Anhui) during theQing emperor Jiaqing’s reign (1796-1820) (pp. 67-69).This work sheds light on “how women [in China] engendered and sustainedfaith, aspiration and loyalties under often challenging conditions” (p.5) – which is putting it mildly. Strenuously caught between Confucian,Islamic, and patrimonial requirements, they developed an institution of learningand cultural transmission perhaps unique to the Muslim world. While theauthors never fully address why “women’s mosques” and madrassahs developedso fully in China (and almost nowhere else), they do richly demonstratethe extraordinarily important role these religious and educational centershave played in preserving and promoting Islamic understanding amongChina’s Muslims, known as the Hui national minority (with a year 2000 populationof approximately 9.8 million, out of a total 20.3 million Muslims inChina, according to the especially accurate PRC state census).While the authors claim these women’s “prayer halls” (the Chinese termis ambiguous) and the women who lead them are fully-fledged ahongs orimams (again, the Chinese term, like the Arabic and Persian equivalents, isnot clear about the teacher’s actual status), the issue here is whether they haveany authority over men. Since they clearly do not, ahong should be taken inits more general sense of “one possessing advanced Islamic knowledge” ortraining, and does not imply institutionalized authority beyond the sphere ofwomen (and children, which in most instances includes boys). Nevertheless,it is significant that they have such organized authority, training, and separateprayer halls or mosques among themselves ...

Prominent examples of major Qur'anic characters in modern world literature include Joseph (and Zulaykha) -like characters in the 1984 Arabic novel, al-Rahīna (The Hostage) by the Yemeni writer Zayd Muṭīʿ Dammāj (d. 2000) and the fictionalised portrayal of the women around the Prophet Muḥammad in Algerian filmmaker and novelist Assia Djebar's 1991 French novel, Loin de Médine (Far from Medina). In this article I focus, rather, on a ‘minor’ Qur'anic character, al-Khiḍr (cf. Q. 18:65–82). I begin by looking briefly at the evolution of al-Khiḍr in Islamic literatures generally and then focus on his deployment in several short fictional accounts, viz. the 1995 French novella L'homme du livre (Muhammad, A Novel) by Moroccan author Driss Chraïbi (d. 2007); Victor Pelevin's 1994 Russian short story, ‘Prints Gosplana’ (Prince of Gosplan); the 1998 short story, ‘The Mapmakers of Spitalfields’, by Bangladeshi-British writer Manzu Islam; and Reza Daneshvar's 2004 Persian tale, ‘Mahboobeh va-Āl’ (‘Mahboobeh and Ahl’). I characterise the ways in which these modern authors draw on the al-Khiḍr type, persona, and legend, and go on to suggest how and why the use of al-Khiḍr in modern literature is productive and versatile.

Objectives: An increase in life expectancy results in the aging population growth. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and adverse events of ginseng that could be used as a herbal medicine in women with sexual dysfunction. Materials and Methods: The authors of this study searched Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and Persian databases without a time limitation until May 2018 and examined all the randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that compared the effect of different types of ginseng on sexual function of menopausal women as compared to the placebo controls. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. The heterogeneity was determined using the I2 index. In addition, standardized mean difference (SMD) was used instead of mean differences (MD) and a random effect was reported instead of fixed effect in meta-analysis. Results: The eligibility criteria were found in five RCTs. All the included studies were placebo-controlled. Two trials had a parallel design while three studies used a crossover design. Although four trials indicated that ginseng significantly improved sexual function, they didn’t report any treatment effect compared to the placebo group. Based on the results of meta-analysis obtained from five studies including 531 women, there was no statistically significant effect of ginseng on female sexual dysfunction (FSD) compared to the placebo control group (SMD: 0.26; 95% CI: -0.26 to 0.76). Nonetheless, there was a considerable heterogeneity among the studies (I2 = 81%; P < 0.0001). Moreover, all the included studies assessed adverse events, but in three of the RCTs, there was no significant difference between the placebo and ginseng groups. Conclusions: The evidence regarding ginseng as a therapeutic agent for sexual dysfunction is unjustifiable. Rigorous studies seem warranted in this respect.

A number of solid monographs are dedicated to Nadir Shah’s campaign in Dagestan in 1741-1743. While reviewing these studies, one can note a significant discrepancy in the estimations of the size of Nadir Shah's troops during the invasion of Dagestan in the spring of 1741. The authors provide information that specifies the army’s size ranging from “several dozen” to “one hundred and fifty thousand” men. However, they mainly cite a very limited range of sources of information provided by P.G. Butkov and L. Bazin. Meanwhile, the Foreign Policy Archives of the Russian Empire stores encrypted reports of the Russian residents at Nadir Shah’s court Ivan Kalushkin and Vasily Bratishchev. Examination of their information provides an idea ofthe number of troops of the Shah's army in the war, as well as determine the number of losses of his troops: the grand total of soldiers in the Dagestan campaign reached approximately 110 thousand people. Along with the army, there were about 40,000 service personnel and women. Of the soldiers, more than 82 thousand died in Dagestan and a small number of injured men were sent home. Most of the losses were due to combat, less – to hunger and diseases. The losses among the service personnel might have been just as large. The reports of the Russian residents at the Persian court are a very informative source, from which we can learn many interesting details not only about the number of troops, losses, but also the chronology of military events, the results of battles, about Nadir Shah’s tactics and strategy, about the problems of the military campaign, their solutions, international relations and lots of other historical information.

According to Xanthus of Lydia, who wrote in the fifth century B.C., the Magi considered it right to have intercourse with their mothers, daughters, and sisters and also to hold women in common. The first half of this claim is perfectly correct: Xanthus is here referring to the Zoroastrian institution of close-kin marriage (khwēdōdāh), the existence of which is not (or no longer) in doubt. But his belief that the Magi held women in common undoubtedly rests on a misunderstanding, possibly of easy divorce laws and more probably of the institution of wife lending. In the fifth century A.D., however, we once more hear of Persians who deemed it right to have women in common; and this time the claim is less easy to brush aside. The Persians in question were heretics, not orthodox Zoroastrians or their priests; their heresy was to the effect that both land and women should be held in common, not just women (though the first attempt to implement it did apparently concern itself with women alone); and the heretics are described, not just by Greeks, let alone a single observer, but also by Syriac authors and the Persians themselves as preserved in Zoroastrian sources and the Islamic tradition.

The article deals with the problem of love relationship between a man and a woman presented in the work of the medieval thinker Ibn Hazm ‘The Ring of the Dove’. The choice of the writer and his work is caused by several reasons which have determined the research problem. The authors note existing gaps in the study of love themes in Ibn Hazm’s works. Moreover, the love theme becomes especially relevant nowadays because of the vast variety of attitudes to gender relations existing in the world and differing from conventional wisdom accepted by world religions and traditional national cultures. The aim of the study is to analyze the representations of the art of love in the work ‘The Ring of the Dove’. The authors draw on the studies of Russian, Arab, Persian and Central Asian scholars who reflected upon certain aspects of Ibn Hazm’s thinking. The authors come to the conclusion about Ibn Hazm’s deep understanding of psychological and pedagogical peculiarities defining love relationship between a man and a woman, who observe origins, types, signs and results of love. The description of the feeling is illustrated by means of multiple examples from real life and the author’s personal experience. It is argued that Ibn Hazm’s thoughts are still relevant today.

The localisation of the three cities / centres of early Rus’ mentioned by Islamic authors is complicated due to significant differences in the versions of this plot. However, the traditional orientation of most historical interpretations to Eastern Slavic medieval realities does not find confirmation in narrative and archaeological data. The original core of the plot was connected with the state-political formations that left the monuments of Saltovo-Mayaki archaeological culture in the basin of the Don and its tributaries. Subsequently, after the destruction of some of these formations, this real plot acquires legendary details, Arab and Persian geographers change the location of some of its main points to the south of the Caucasus. The threads of biblical stories about the prince or the people of Rosh, connected with the Lesser Caucasus or Asia Minor, are woven into the historical canvas.

Abstract BACKGROUND: Placing of sewing needles in the brain through the anterior fontanelle was first described in Germany in 1914. Forty cases have been reported in the scientific literature; most of them were identified in Turkey and Iran, with only a few cases in the Far East, North and Eastern Europe, and the United States. The only case observed in Italy was recorded in 1987. In nonmedical literature, this practice was frequently described in Persian novels, and it has been thought that this ritual could have been diffused with the Persian Empire domination over the centuries. OBJECTIVE: We report on a new Italian case of an 82-year-old woman admitted for progressive right hemiparesis and gait disturbance. METHODS: Brain computed tomography scan showed a left frontoparietal chronic subdural haematoma and, surprisingly, three 4-cm-long sewing needles inserted through the region of the anterior fontanelle. The patient and her friends and family did not remember any event justifying their presence. RESULTS: Subdural collection was evacuated by craniotomic approach, and the sewing needles were left in place and followed up. CONCLUSION: The rare cases of intracranial needling reported in the literature may represent only the tip of the iceberg. The phenomenon is usually reported as an incidental finding in asymptomatic adults, whereas many babies could not have been diagnosed because they died. The therapy remains controversial, although many authors suggest only follow-up for asymptomatic patients. In this article, all the pertinent literature is reviewed and the most important clinical aspects are discussed, along with a historical assessment of the problem.

Background: Early detection of breast cancer is a crucial factor in surviving the disease. This study aimed to investigate the mammography screening based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) among rural women in Fasa and Shiraz cities, Iran. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study performed on 800 female clients referring to rural health centers in Fasa and Shiraz cities in southern Iran in early 2021. The authors decided to send and distribute the electronic questionnaire form through the WhatsApp application in collaboration with the health staff of rural health centers for the people covered by these centers. Data gathering tools were a questionnaire on demographic characteristics, a questionnaire based on constructs of TPB, and behavior of mammography screening. Using the structural equation model (SEM), the TPB constructs and demographic variables were entered into the model. Data analysis was executed employing SPSS software version 26 and Amos version 24 (IBM Co., Ann Arbor, MI, USA). Analyzing the data was carried out using the 1-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), logistic regression, and structural equation analysis. During data analysis, various model indicators such as the goodness of fit, including comparative fit index (CFI), goodness-of-fit index (GFI), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), and chi-square index/ df were evaluated. The significance level in all tests was considered 0.05. Results: The knowledge, attitude, and perceived behavioral control were the predictors of intention and behavior of mammography screening among the women. Among demographic variables, age, literacy, being menopausal, cancer in family, city, and ethnicity contribute more to the variance variation in TPB constructs. In this study, 7.2% of Persians, 8% of Qashqai Turks, and 4.5% of Arabs are contemplating going to mammography screening. In total, 6.8% (54 people) of all individuals intended to go mammography screening, and 5.4% (43 people) had a history of mammography screening. Goodness-of-fit indices (χ2 = 18.45, df = 10, n = 800, χ2/ df = 1.845, RMSEA = 0.032, GFI = 0.90, non-normed fit index (NNFI) = 0.91) of conceptual model of this study indicate the suitability of the model. Conclusions: The results of the study indicated that the constructs of the TPB can predict mammography screening behaviors in rural women. It has also demonstrated that mammographic behavior can be improved in rural women using education based on the TPB model, emphasizing critical psychological factors of creating or changing behavior.

The decision of the German Federal Supreme Court was based on the following set of facts: The defendant was a sole trader in Berlin selling carpets and carpeting. As an insert in a Berlin newspaper he distributed the brochure “Fantastic Choice of Chinese carpets”. On page 4 of this, under the heading “consistent good value”, carpets with Persian patterns were pictured which bore descriptions such as “K. Medaillon-Moud”. “K. Birdjend” or “K. Herati”. The carpets concerned were machine made. The claimant, an association with legal personality, established in order to oversee compliance with the rules relating to unfair competition, considered that this advertisement was misleading and sought an injunction. As the basis for this it was alleged that the format of the brochure and the lay-out of the advertising would lead the reader to think, in the absence of any express reference to the fact that the carpets concerned were woven, that hand-knotted oriental carpets were being advertised. The courts at first and second instance allowed the claim for an injunction, but the Federal Supreme Court dismissed it. In substance the reason for this was that, in answering the question whether advertisements or leaflets conveyed a misleading impression, reference was not to be made to the passing consumer when the goods concerned were not without some value and were reasonably durable (here: carpets). The standard of care of the averagely well-informed and sensible average consumer, whose level of comprehension was decisive, depended on the situation in question. Furthermore, the expressions “passing” and “sensible” were not mutually exclusive. The reader of the advertising brochure in question, who was interested in the acquisition of a carpet, would also read the explanations in small print under each picture, and therefore would not be misled into thinking that an original oriental carpet was being advertised. The following authors examine the decision from the point of view of Spanish and Austrian law.

We’ll have trouble now!The Archaeological Society of Jutland was founded on Sunday, 11 March 1951. As with most projects with which P.V Glob was involved, this did not pass off without drama. Museum people and amateur archaeologists in large numbers appeared at the Museum of Natural History in Aarhus, which had placed rooms at our disposal. The notable dentist Holger Friis, the uncrowned king of Hjørring, was present, as was Dr Balslev from Aidt, Mr and Mrs Overgaard from Holstebro Museum, and the temperamental leader of Aalborg Historical Museum, Peter Riismøller, with a number of his disciples. The staff of the newly-founded Prehistoric Museum functioned as the hosts, except that one of them was missing: the instigator of the whole enterprise, Mr Glob. As the time for the meeting approached, a cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of the people present. Finally, just one minute before the meeting was to start, he arrived and mounted the platform. Everything then went as expected. An executive committee was elected after some discussion, laws were passed, and then suddenly Glob vanished again, only to materialise later in the museum, where he confided to us that his family, which included four children, had been enlarged by a daughter.That’s how the society was founded, and there is not much to add about this. However, a few words concerning the background of the society and its place in a larger context may be appropriate. A small piece of museum history is about to be unfolded.The story begins at the National Museum in the years immediately after World War II, at a time when the German occupation and its incidents were still terribly fresh in everyone’s memory. Therkel Mathiassen was managing what was then called the First Department, which covered the prehistoric periods.Although not sparkling with humour, he was a reliable and benevolent person. Number two in the order of precedence was Hans Christian Broholm, a more colourful personality – awesome as he walked down the corridors, with his massive proportions and a voice that sounded like thunder when nothing seemed to be going his way, as quite often seemed to be the case. Glob, a relatively new museum keeper, was also quite loud at times – his hot-blooded artist’s nature manifested itself in peculiar ways, but his straight forward appearance made him popular with both the older and the younger generations. His somewhat younger colleague C.J. Becker was a scholar to his fingertips, and he sometimes acted as a welcome counterbalance to Glob. At the bottom of the hierarchy was the student group, to which I belonged. The older students handled various tasks, including periodic excavations. This was paid work, and although the salary was by no means princely, it did keep us alive. Student grants were non-existent at the time. Four of us made up a team: Olfert Voss, Mogens Ørsnes, Georg Kunwald and myself. Like young people in general, we were highly discontented with the way our profession was being run by its ”ruling” members, and we were full of ideas for improvement, some of which have later been – or are being – introduced.At the top of our wish list was a central register, of which Voss was the strongest advocate. During the well over one hundred years that archaeology had existed as a professional discipline, the number of artefacts had grown to enormous amounts. The picture was even worse if the collections of the provincial museums were taken into consideration. We imagined how it all could be registered in a card index and categorised according to groups to facilitate access to references in any particular situation. Electronic data processing was still unheard of in those days, but since the introduction of computers, such a comprehensive record has become more feasible.We were also sceptical of the excavation techniques used at the time – they were basically adequate, but they badly needed tightening up. As I mentioned before, we were often working in the field, and not just doing minor jobs but also more important tasks, so we had every opportunity to try out our ideas. Kunwald was the driving force in this respect, working with details, using sections – then a novelty – and proceeding as he did with a thoroughness that even his fellow students found a bit exaggerated at times, although we agreed with his principles. Therkel Mathiassen moaned that we youngsters were too expensive, but he put up with our excesses and so must have found us somewhat valuable. Very valuable indeed to everyon e was Ejnar Dyggve’s excavation of the Jelling mounds in the early 1940s. From a Danish point of view, it was way ahead of its time.Therkel Mathiassen justly complained about the economic situation of the National Museum. Following the German occupation, the country was impoverished and very little money was available for archaeological research: the total sum available for the year 1949 was 20,000 DKK, which corresponded to the annual income of a wealthy man, and was of course absolutely inadequate. Of course our small debating society wanted this sum to be increased, and for once we didn’t leave it at the theoretical level.Voss was lucky enough to know a member of the Folketing (parliament), and a party leader at that. He was brought into the picture, and between us we came up with a plan. An article was written – ”Preserve your heritage” (a quotation from Johannes V. Jensen’s Denmark Song) – which was sent to the newspaper Information. It was published, and with a little help on our part the rest of the media, including radio, picked up the story.We informed our superiors only at the last minute, when everything was arranged. They were taken by surprise but played their parts well, as expected, and everything went according to plan. The result was a considerable increase in excavation funds the following year.It should be added that our reform plans included the conduct of exhibitions. We found the traditional way of presenting the artefacts lined up in rows and series dull and outdated. However, we were not able to experiment within this field.Our visions expressed the natural collision with the established ways that comes with every new generation – almost as a law of nature, but most strongly when the time is ripe. And this was just after the war, when communication with foreign colleagues, having been discontinued for some years, was slowly picking up again. The Archaeological Society of Jutland was also a part of all this, so let us turn to what Hans Christian Andersen somewhat provocatively calls the ”main country”.Until 1949, only the University of Copenhagen provided a degree in prehistoric archaeology. However, in this year, the University of Aarhus founded a chair of archaeology, mainly at the instigation of the Lord Mayor, Svend Unmack Larsen, who was very in terested in archaeology. Glob applied for the position and obtained it, which encompassed responsibility for the old Aarhus Museum or, as it was to be renamed, the Prehistoric Museum (now Moesgaard Museum).These were landmark events to Glob – and to me, as it turned out. We had been working together for a number of years on the excavation of Galgebakken (”Callows Hill”) near Slots Bjergby, Glob as the excavation leader, and I as his assistant. He now offered me the job of museum curator at his new institution. This was somewhat surprising as I had not yet finished my education. The idea was that I was to finish my studies in remote Jutland – a plan that had to be given up rather quickly, though, for reasons which I will describe in the following. At the same time, Gunner Lange-Kornbak – also hand-picked from the National Museum – took up his office as a conservation officer.The three of us made up the permanent museum staff, quickly supplemented by Geoffrey Bibby, who turned out to be an invaluable colleague. He was English and had been stationed in the Faeroe Islands during the war, where he learned to speak Danish. After 1945 he worked for some years for an oil company in the Gulf of Persia, but after marrying Vibeke, he settled in her home town of Aarhus. As his academic background had involved prehistoric cultures he wanted to collaborate with the museum, which Glob readily permitted.This small initial flock governed by Glob was not permitted to indulge inidleness. Glob was a dynamic character, full of good and not so good ideas, but also possessing a good grasp of what was actually practicable. The boring but necessary daily work on the home front was not very interesting to him, so he willingly handed it over to others. He hardly noticed the lack of administrative machinery, a prerequisite for any scholarly museum. It was not easy to follow him on his flights of fancy and still build up the necessary support base. However, the fact that he in no way spared himself had an appeasing effect.Provincial museums at that time were of a mixed nature. A few had trained management, and the rest were run by interested locals. This was often excellently done, as in Esbjerg, where the master joiner Niels Thomsen and a staff of volunteers carried out excavations that were as good as professional investigations, and published them in well-written articles. Regrettably, there were also examples of the opposite. A museum curator in Jutland informed me that his predecessor had been an eager excavator but very rarely left any written documentation of his actions. The excavated items were left without labels in the museum store, often wrapped in newspapers. However, these gave a clue as to the time of unearthing, and with a bit of luck a look in the newspaper archive would then reveal where the excavation had taken place. Although somewhat exceptional, this is not the only such case.The Museum of Aarhus definitely belonged among the better ones in this respect. Founded in 1861, it was at first located at the then town hall, together with the local art collection. The rooms here soon became too cramped, and both collections were moved to a new building in the ”Mølleparken” park. There were skilful people here working as managers and assistants, such as Vilhelm Boye, who had received his archaeological training at the National Museum, and later the partners A. Reeh, a barrister, and G.V. Smith, a captain, who shared the honour of a number of skilfully performed excavations. Glob’s predecessor as curator was the librarian Ejler Haugsted, also a competent man of fine achievements. We did not, thus, take over a museum on its last legs. On the other hand, it did not meet the requirements of a modern scholarly museum. We were given the task of turning it into such a museum, as implied by the name change.The goal was to create a museum similar to the National Museum, but without the faults and shortcomings that that museum had developed over a period of time. In this respect our nightly conversations during our years in Copenhagen turned out to be useful, as our talk had focused on these imperfections and how to eradicate them.We now had the opportunity to put our theories into practice. We may not have succeeded in doing so, but two areas were essentially improved:The numerous independent numbering systems, which were familiar to us from the National Museum, were permeating archaeological excavation s not only in the field but also during later work at the museum. As far as possible this was boiled down to a single system, and a new type of report was born. (In this context, a ”report” is the paper following a field investigation, comprising drawings, photos etc. and describing the progress of the work and the observations made.) The instructions then followed by the National Museum staff regarding the conduct of excavations and report writing went back to a 19th-century protocol by the employee G.V. Blom. Although clear and rational – and a vast improvement at the time – this had become outdated. For instance, the excavation of a burial mound now involved not only the middle of the mound, containing the central grave and its surrounding artefacts, but the complete structure. A large number of details that no one had previously paid attention to thus had to be included in the report. It had become a comprehensive and time-consuming work to sum up the desultory notebook records in a clear and understandable description.The instructions resulting from the new approach determined a special records system that made it possible to transcribe the notebook almost directly into a report following the excavation. The transcription thus contained all the relevant information concerning the in vestigation, and included both relics and soil layers, the excavation method and practical matters, although in a random order. The report proper could then bereduced to a short account containing references to the numbers in the transcribed notebook, which gave more detailed information.As can be imagined, the work of reform was not a continuous process. On the contrary, it had to be done in our spare hours, which were few and far between with an employer like Glob. The assignments crowded in, and the large Jutland map that we had purchased was as studded with pins as a hedge hog’s spines. Each pin represented an inuninent survey, and many of these grew into small or large excavations. Glob himself had his lecture duties to perform, and although he by no means exaggerated his concern for the students, he rarely made it further than to the surveys. Bibby and I had to deal with the hard fieldwork. And the society, once it was established, did not make our lives any easier. Kuml demanded articles written at lightning speed. A perusal of my then diary has given me a vivid recollection of this hectic period, in which I had to make use of the evening and night hours, when the museum was quiet and I had a chance to collect my thoughts. Sometimes our faithful supporter, the Lord Mayor, popped in after an evening meeting. He was extremely interested in our problems, which were then solved according to our abilities over a cup of instant coffee.A large archaeological association already existed in Denmark. How ever, Glob found it necessary to establish another one which would be less oppressed by tradition. Det kongelige nordiske Oldsskriftselskab had been funded in 1825 and was still influenced by different peculiarities from back then. Membership was not open to everyone, as applications were subject to recommendation from two existing members and approval by a vote at one of the monthly lecture meetings. Most candidates were of course accepted, but unpopular persons were sometimes rejected. In addition, only men were admitted – women were banned – but after the war a proposal was brought forward to change this absurdity. It was rejected at first, so there was a considerable excitement at the January meeting in 1951, when the proposal was once again placed on the agenda. The poor lecturer (myself) did his best, although he was aware of the fact that just this once it was the present and not the past which was the focus of attention. The result of the voting was not very courteous as there were still many opponents, but the ladies were allowed in, even if they didn’t get the warmest welcome.In Glob’s society there were no such restrictions – everyone was welcome regardless of sex or age. If there was a model for the society, it was the younger and more progressive Norwegian Archaeological Society rather than the Danish one. The main purpose of both societies was to produce an annual publication, and from the start Glob’s Kuml had a closer resemblance to the Norwegian Viking than to the Danish Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie. The name of the publication caused careful consideration. For a long time I kept a slip of paper with different proposals, one of which was Kuml, which won after having been approved by the linguist Peter Skautrup.The name alone, however, was not enough, so now the task became to find so mething to fill Kuml with. To this end the finds came in handy, and as for those, Glob must have allied him self with the higher powers, since fortune smiled at him to a considerable extent. Just after entering upon his duties in Aarhus, an archaeological sensation landed at his feet. This happened in May 1950 when I was still living in the capital. A few of us had planned a trip to Aarhus, partly to look at the relics of th e past, and partly to visit our friend, the professor. He greeted us warmly and told us the exciting news that ten iron swords had been found during drainage work in the valley of lllerup Aadal north of the nearby town of Skanderborg. We took the news calmly as Glob rarely understated his affairs, but our scepticism was misplaced. When we visited the meadow the following day and carefully examined the dug-up soil, another sword appeared, as well as several spear and lance heads, and other iron artefacts. What the drainage trench diggers had found was nothing less than a place of sacrifice for war booty, like the four large finds from the 1800s. When I took up my post in Aarhus in September of that year I was granted responsibility for the lllerup excavation, which I worked on during the autumn and the following six summers. Some of my best memories are associated with this job – an interesting and happy time, with cheerful comradeship with a mixed bunch of helpers, who were mainly archaeology students. When we finished in 1956, it was not because the site had been fully investigated, but because the new owner of the bog plot had an aversion to archaeologists and their activities. Nineteen years later, in 1975, the work was resumed, this time under the leadership of Jørgen Ilkjær, and a large amount of weaponry was uncovered. The report from the find is presently being published.At short intervals, the year 1952 brought two finds of great importance: in Februar y the huge vessel from Braa near Horsens, and in April the Grauballe Man. The large Celtic bronze bowl with the bulls’ heads was found disassembled, buried in a hill and covered by a couple of large stones. Thanks to the finder, the farmer Søren Paaske, work was stopped early enough to leave areas untouched for the subsequent examination.The saga of the Grauballe Man, or the part of it that we know, began as a rumour on the 26th of April: a skeleton had been found in a bog near Silkeborg. On the following day, which happened to be a Sunday, Glob went off to have a look at the find. I had other business, but I arrived at the museum in the evening with an acquaintance. In my diary I wrote: ”When we came in we had a slight shock. On the floor was a peat block with a corpse – a proper, well-preserved bog body. Glob brought it. ”We’ll be in trouble now.” And so we were, and Glob was in high spirits. The find created a sensation, which was also thanks to the quick presentation that we mounted. I had purchased a tape recorder, which cost me a packet – not a small handy one like the ones you get nowadays, but a large monstrosity with a steel tape (it was, after all, early days for this device) – and assisted by several experts, we taped a number of short lectures for the benefit of the visitors. People flocked in; the queue meandered from the exhibition room, through the museum halls, and a long way down the street. It took a long wait to get there, but the visitors seemed to enjoy the experience. The bog man lay in his hastily – procured exhibition case, which people circled around while the talking machine repeatedly expressed its words of wisdom – unfortunately with quite a few interruptions as the tape broke and had to be assembled by hand. Luckily, the tape recorders now often used for exhibitions are more dependable than mine.When the waves had died down and the exhibition ended, the experts examined the bog man. He was x-rayed at several points, cut open, given a tooth inspection, even had his fingerprints taken. During the autopsy there was a small mishap, which we kept to ourselves. However, after almost fifty years I must be able to reveal it: Among the organs removed for investigation was the liver, which was supposedly suitable for a C-14 dating – which at the time was a new dating method, introduced to Denmark after the war. The liver was sent to the laboratory in Copenhagen, and from here we received a telephone call a few days later. What had been sent in for examination was not the liver, but the stomach. The unfortunate (and in all other respects highly competent) Aarhus doctor who had performed the dissection was cal1ed in again. During another visit to the bogman’s inner parts he brought out what he believed to be the real liver. None of us were capable of deciding th is question. It was sent to Copenhagen at great speed, and a while later the dating arrived: Roman Iron Age. This result was later revised as the dating method was improved. The Grauballe Man is now thought to have lived before the birth of Christ.The preservation of the Grauballe Man was to be conservation officer Kornbak’s masterpiece. There were no earlier cases available for reference, so he invented a new method, which was very successful. In the first volumes of Kuml, society members read about the exiting history of the bog body and of the glimpses of prehistoric sacrificial customs that this find gave. They also read about the Bahrain expeditions, which Glob initiated and which became the apple of his eye. Bibby played a central role in this, as it was he who – at an evening gathering at Glob’s and Harriet’s home in Risskov – described his stay on the Persian Gulf island and the numerous burial mounds there. Glob made a quick decision (one of his special abilities was to see possibilities that noone else did, and to carry them out successfully to everyone’s surprise) and in December 1952 he and Bibby left for the Gulf, unaware of the fact that they were thereby beginning a series of expeditions which would continue for decades. Again it was Glob’s special genius that was the decisive factor. He very quickly got on friendly terms with the rulers of the small sheikhdoms and interested them in their past. As everyone knows, oil is flowing plentifully in those parts. The rulers were thus financially powerful and some of this wealth was quickly diverted to the expeditions, which probably would not have survived for so long without this assistance. To those of us who took part in them from time to time, the Gulf expeditions were an unforgettable experience, not just because of the interesting work, but even more because of the contact with the local population, which gave us an insight into local manners and customs that helped to explain parts of our own country’s past which might otherwise be difficult to understand. For Glob and the rest of us did not just get close to the elite: in spite of language problems, our Arab workers became our good friends. Things livened up when we occasionally turned up in their palm huts.Still, co-operating with Glob was not always an easy task – the sparks sometimes flew. His talent of initiating things is of course undisputed, as are the lasting results. He was, however, most attractive when he was in luck. Attention normally focused on this magnificent person whose anecdotes were not taken too seriously, but if something went wrong or failed to work out, he could be grossly unreasonable and a little too willing to abdicate responsibility, even when it was in fact his. This might lead to violent arguments, but peace was always restored. In 1954, another museum curator was attached to the museum: Poul Kjærum, who was immediately given the important task of investigating the dolmen settlement near Tustrup on Northern Djursland. This gave important results, such as the discovery of a cult house, which was a new and hitherto unknown Stone Age feature.A task which had long been on our mind s was finally carried out in 1955: constructing a new display of the museum collections. The old exhibitio n type consisted of numerous artefacts lined up in cases, accompaied ony by a brief note of the place where it was found and the type – which was the standard then. This type of exhibition did not give much idea of life in prehistoric times.We wanted to allow the finds to speak for themselves via the way that they were arranged, and with the aid of models, photos and drawings. We couldn’t do without texts, but these could be short, as people would understand more by just looking at the exhibits. Glob was in the Gulf at the time, so Kjærum and I performed the task with little money but with competent practical help from conservator Kornbak. We shared the work, but in fairness I must add that my part, which included the new lllerup find, was more suitable for an untraditional display. In order to illustrate the confusion of the sacrificial site, the numerous bent swords and other weapons were scattered a.long the back wall of the exhibition hall, above a bog land scape painted by Emil Gregersen. A peat column with inlaid slides illustrated the gradual change from prehistoric lake to bog, while a free-standing exhibition case held a horse’s skeleton with a broken skull, accompanied by sacrificial offerings. A model of the Nydam boat with all its oars sticking out hung from the ceiling, as did the fine copy of the Gundestrup vessel, as the Braa vessel had not yet been preserved. The rich pictorial decoration of the vessel’s inner plates was exhibited in its own case underneath. This was an exhibition form that differed considerably from all other Danish exhibitions of the time, and it quickly set a fashion. We awaited Glob’s homecoming with anticipation – if it wasn’t his exhibition it was still made in his spirit. We hoped that he would be surprised – and he was.The museum was thus taking shape. Its few employees included Jytte Ræbild, who held a key position as a secretary, and a growing number of archaeology students who took part in the work in various ways during these first years. Later, the number of employees grew to include the aforementioned excavation pioneer Georg Kunwald, and Hellmuth Andersen and Hans Jørgen Madsen, whose research into the past of Aarhus, and later into Danevirke is known to many, and also the ethnographer Klaus Ferdinand. And now Moesgaard appeared on the horizon. It was of course Glob’s idea to move everything to a manor near Aarhus – he had been fantasising about this from his first Aarhus days, and no one had raised any objections. Now there was a chance of fulfilling the dream, although the actual realisation was still a difficult task.During all this, the Jutland Archaeological Society thrived and attracted more members than expected. Local branches were founded in several towns, summer trips were arranged and a ”Worsaae Medal” was occasionally donated to persons who had deserved it from an archaeological perspective. Kuml came out regularly with contributions from museum people and the like-minded. The publication had a form that appealed to an inner circle of people interested in archaeology. This was the intention, and this is how it should be. But in my opinion this was not quite enough. We also needed a publication that would cater to a wider public and that followed the same basic ideas as the new exhibition.I imagined a booklet, which – without over-popularsing – would address not only the professional and amateur archaeologist but also anyone else interested in the past. The result was Skalk, which (being a branch of the society) published its fir t issue in the spring of 1957. It was a somewhat daring venture, as the financial base was weak and I had no knowledge of how to run a magazine. However, both finances and experience grew with the number of subscribers – and faster than expected, too. Skalk must have met an unsatisfied need, and this we exploited to the best of our ability with various cheap advertisements. The original idea was to deal only with prehistoric and medieval archaeology, but the historians also wanted to contribute, and not just the digging kind. They were given permission, and so the topic of the magazine ended up being Denmark’s past from the time of its first inhabitant s until the times remembered by the oldest of us – with the odd sideways leap to other subjects. It would be impossible to claim that Skalk was at the top of Glob’s wish list, but he liked it and supported the idea in every way. The keeper of national antiquities, Johannes Brøndsted, did the same, and no doubt his unreserved approval of the magazine contributed to its quick growth. Not all authors found it easy to give up technical language and express themselves in everyday Danish, but the new style was quickly accepted. Ofcourse the obligations of the magazine work were also sometimes annoying. One example from the diary: ”S. had promised to write an article, but it was overdue. We agreed to a final deadline and when that was overdue I phoned again and was told that the author had gone to Switzerland. My hair turned grey overnight.” These things happened, but in this particular case there was a happy ending. Another academic promised me three pages about an excavation, but delivered ten. As it happened, I only shortened his production by a third.The 1960s brought great changes. After careful consideration, Glob left us to become the keeper of national antiquities. One important reason for his hesitation was of course Moesgaard, which he missed out on – the transfer was almost settled. This was a great loss to the Aarhus museum and perhaps to Glob, too, as life granted him much greater opportunities for development.” I am not the type to regret things,” he later stated, and hopefully this was true. And I had to choose between the museum and Skalk – the work with the magazine had become too timeconsuming for the two jobs to be combined. Skalk won, and I can truthfully say that I have never looked back. The magazine grew quickly, and happy years followed. My resignation from the museum also meant that Skalk was disengaged from the Jutland Archaeological Society, but a close connection remained with both the museum and the society.What has been described here all happened when the museum world was at the parting of the ways. It was a time of innovation, and it is my opinion that we at the Prehistoric Museum contributed to that change in various ways.The new Museum Act of 1958 gave impetus to the study of the past. The number of archaeology students in creased tremendously, and new techniques brought new possibilities that the discussion club of the 1940s had not even dreamt of, but which have helped to make some of the visions from back then come true. Public in terest in archaeology and history is still avid, although to my regret, the ahistorical 1960s and 1970s did put a damper on it.Glob is greatly missed; not many of his kind are born nowadays. He had, so to say, great virtues and great fault s, but could we have done without either? It is due to him that we have the Jutland Archaeological Society, which has no w existed for half a century. Congr tulat ion s to the Society, from your offspring Skalk.Harald AndersenSkalk MagazineTranslated by Annette Lerche Trolle

This article is a comparative study of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Love and Tears (1952) by Javad Fazel focusing on the theme of “family and woman” in the two works. The comparison of these works relies on their thematic similarity and the importance that both authors attach to the role of women in the family and society. In interpreting Tolstoy’s novel, the researchers rely on the ideas of Iranian society, which is more closely associated with traditional patriarchal views. The axiology of society says that a woman is the basis of the family, and family happiness depends on her behaviour, character, and awareness of her duties. When the issue of women’s emancipation in Russia and Iran started emerging, changes in the family structure caused many problems. The key issue in both novels is the infidelity of a married woman and the negative consequences of this act for the family and society. These personal problems threatened the institution of the family and in most cases led to the disintegration of the family. The questions of this study follow the problems of Tolstoy’s novel: what the woman’s role in maintaining the institution of the family is, what determines happiness in the family, and why some families fail. The authors conclude that in Tolstoy’s and Fazel’s points of view, their heroines’ feelings (Anna and Makhin) are not true love but passion. Both authors believe that family happiness depends on the woman’s observance of moral norms, but the norms themselves undergo dynamic changes. And a genuine feeling cannot simply be replaced by the rules of marital cohabitation.

AbstractCompassionate love is beneficial in a variety of domains, including in education, health, and law, as well as in people’s personal lives. The topic of compassionate love has therefore attracted growing interest from researchers interested in its psychological and social dimensions. Given the importance of compassion to the education and health sectors, and the expansion of these sectors in Iran, this paper aims to provide Persian (Farsi) speaking practitioners and researchers with an effective instrument for measuring compassion. As such, the authors have translated the compassionate love for humanity scale-short form (CLS-H-SF) into the Persian language, and assessed the psychometric properties of this instrument among a sample of the Iranian population. A sample of 827 adults (49.9% women and 51.1% men) completed the Persian version of the CLS-H-SF through an online survey. Concurrent validity was assessed using the Persian versions of the positive and negative affect scale, self-esteem scale, and satisfaction with life scale. The CLS-H-SF positively correlated with positive affect, self-esteem and life satisfaction, and negatively correlated with negative affect. These findings indicate acceptable concurrent validity for the CLS-H-SF. Cronbach’s alpha for the scale was 0.88, indicating good internal consistency between items. A confirmatory factor analysis supported a one-factor model same as the English version of the CLS-H-SF. The findings of this study showed the Persian version of CLS-H-SF had acceptable validity and reliability in assessing compassionate love for humanity in Iranian adults.

Background: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and dysmenorrhea are prevalent disabling conditions and affecting the quality of life of women in reproductive age. Melissa officinalis exhibits multiple pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, analgesic, and antidepressant activities. Objective: The aim of this study was to systematically review the effect of Melissa officinalis on PMS and primary dysmenorrhea. Methods: A systematic search in English (Embase ،PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, Clininaltrial.gov, Cochrane Library), and Persian (SID, Magiran, Iran Doc) databases to find articles were done in May 2020. All types of clinical trials were included. Two authors independently conducted the selection of articles and quality assessment and also extracted data. Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) was described as a measure of effect size due to the application of multiple tools to measure the severity of PMS. The quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach. Results: A total of 978 articles were obtained from databases. Ultimately, 7 articles were included in the study. Based on the results of these 7 studies, the consumption of Melissa officinalis improves the symptoms of PMS and primary dysmenorrhea after treatment, as compared to the control group. Also, from the meta-analysis results, the consumption of Melissa officinalis in the intervention group as compared to the control group, significantly reduces the mean severity of PMS's symptoms following treatment )SMD: -0.93; 95% CI: -.19 to -0.67; P=0. 88; I2=0%). Conclusion: Due to the limited number of articles included in the meta-analysis, conducting well-designed clinical trials with large sample size to ascertain the effect of Melissa officinalis on PMS and primary dysmenorrhea, are recommended.

Abstract Introduction Fennel has many medicinal properties and is used in the treatment of dysmenorrhea. Given the widespread use of herbal medicine among women for menstrual problems and considering the fact that there has been no study to date about the effect of fennel on menstrual bleeding and duration of menstrual bleeding through systematic review, the present study was conducted to determine the effect of fennel on the amount (primary outcome) and duration of menstrual bleeding and its side-effects (secondary outcomes). Materials All articles, including Persian and English, with no time limit were searched for in the following databases: Medline (through PubMed), Scopus, EMBASE (through Ovid), Cochrane Library, Web of Sciences, Google Scholar, ProQuest, Clininaltrial.gov, SID, Magiran, Irandoc, and Iranmedex, using MeSH terms, including menstrual bleeding, menstruation, severity of bleeding, hypermenorrhea, menorrhagia, fennel, fennelin, Foeniculum vulgare, dysmenorrhea, and painful menstruation, which were searched separately or in combination. Two authors separately reviewed articles to determine the inclusion criteria, and any disagreement was resolved by reaching consensus with a third person. Results A total of 7993 articles were identified through searching the databases, of which 7327 were excluded as duplicates and 666 were screened for inclusion. Six hundread and forty six were excluded by title and abstract based on not being relevant to the review and being conducted on animals. Eventually, six articles were included in the study and four articles entered into the meta-analysis. The results from meta-analysis showed that using fennel caused a significant increase in mean menstrual bleeding in the first cycle after treatment in the intervention group compared to the control (Std. mean difference: 0.46; 95 % CI: 0.18–0.73; p = 0.001; I2 = 9 %). However, it had no significant effect on menstrual bleeding in the second cycle after treatment (Mean difference: 1.44; 95 % CI:-5.09 to 7.96; p = 0.67; I2 = 0 %). Conclusions The results of meta-analysis of four articles showed that in the first cycle after treatment, use of fennel increased menstrual bleeding in the intervention group compared to the control, but meta-analysis of two articles showed no significant difference between intervention and control groups in the amount of menstrual bleeding in the second cycle after treatment. Given the poor quality of articles, conducting clinical trials to determine the effect of fennel on menstrual bleeding appears necessary.

AbstractIntroductionVitex agnus-castus, also called Vitex, is a plant with many medicinal properties. This systematic study examined the evidence of the effectiveness and safety of Vitex on menstrual bleeding (primary outcome) and its side effects (secondary outcomes).Materials and methodsThis systematic review study examined all papers that were a randomized controlled trial, quasi-experimental, and cross-over conducted on the effect of Vitex on menstrual bleeding, following the PICO (population, intervention, control, and outcomes) criteria without any time limits in December 2017. The participants were women of reproductive age with no gynecologic disorders. The intervention included the use of Vitex in form of tablets, capsule, or oral drops with different doses. The control group included the placebo or mefenamic acid group. The search strategy in this study was in accordance with MeSH terms. The keywords used separately or in combination with other words were Menstrual bleeding OR Menstruation OR Menorrhagia AND Vitexcastus OR Vitex OR Chasteberry AND randomized controlled trial OR randomized trial OR randomized clinical trial OR randomized controlled. All papers, including Persian or English, were searched for in the databases; Medline (through PubMed), Scopus, Embase (through Ovid), Cochrane Library, Web of Sciences, Google Scholar, SID, Magiran, Irandoc, and Iranmedex, without any time limits. Two authors independently reviewed the quality of the papers and assessed the risk of bias based on Cochrane handbook, and the disputes were resolved through discussion and consensus with a third person. The meta-analysis was done on continuous data (mean of menstrual bleeding). In meta-analysis, subgroup analysis was performed based on the type of comparison group.ResultsOut of the 8,905 searched papers in the databases, 8,905 titles, 720 abstracts, 85 full texts, and 20 references of the papers were reviewed, of which 5 papers entered this study. Based on the subgroup analysis, the consumption of Vitex did not have a significant effect on the amount of menstrual bleeding compared to the placebo group in the first (mean difference [MD]: 3.08; 95% CI: −3.11–9.26; p=0.33; I2=0%) and second menstrual cycles (MD: 0.00; 95% CI: −5.75–5.75; p=1.00; I2=0%). Also, the Higham mean score was statistically more in the Vitex group compared to the mefenamic acid group in the first menstrual cycle (MD: 7.17; 95% CI: 0.33–14.01; p=0.04; I2=0%) but there was no statistical significant difference between Vitex and mefenamic acid groups in the second menstrual cycle (MD: 12.18; 95% CI: −5.57–29.94; p=0.18; I2=75%). Only nausea and abdominal pain were reported as side effects of Vitex in the included studies.ConclusionsThe results of this study showed that the consumption of Vitex in the intervention group did not have a significant effect on menstrual bleeding in comparison with the placebo group. However, due to the relatively low quality of the papers, it is essential to perform clinical trials with an appropriate design to determine the effect of Vitex on menstrual bleeding.

Discussing the issues of the humanities, as well as other fields of science, does not seem to be endless, as long as we are still living in this world, because it exists in every part of the world and in every generation. As is the case in our journal, every issue always contains various problems about humanities from various countries. As contained in the description of this journal that the scope of this journal are matters relating to culture from around the world with various aspects. Likewise, in this July 2019 issue, readers can enjoy various cultural discussions from various countries, such as writing from China, which discusses multiculturalism thinking from Ho Chi Minh, then which discusses about Nigeria's cultural policy and the needs of performing arts, written by author from Nigeria.Besides these two countries, as well as in previous publications, this journal was dominated by articles originating from Indonesia, because this journal was indeed published in that country. However, it does not rule out the possibility for readers who want to see cultural problems in other countries, because even though the author comes from Indonesia, but the discussion is not necessarily about the problem of Indonesian culture, but about culture in other countries, such as an article on semiotic studies about communism in the film ЧЕБУРАШКА (ČEBURAŠKA). In addition, there are also articles made by Indonesian authors in which discuss the culture of other countries that are related to culture in Indonesia, such as articles on the reasons why Indonesians must learn Arabic and about translating Indonesian fatigue expressions into Arabic.In addition to writing about culture from outside the country, Indonesian authors also write about the culture of the country, especially about regional culture. As is known that the country of Indonesia consists of various tribes, each of which has its own culture. Among the discussions about regional culture written in this issue, is an analysis of Javanese regional novels by Javanese novelist Tulus Setiadi, about functions, meanings and messages of the natural environment from the story of "Keong Emas", about denotation, connotation and mythical meaning of The Cio Tao's ritual's wedding ceremony of the Chinese-fortress community through The semio-pragmatics approach and about slipping into the shadows of Kyai’s figures: woman participation in Indonesian Pesantren’s web of powerAnother article that is also interesting to be observed by readers in this issue is articles relating to issues of religion and belief, both from Indonesian and foreign authors, for example about the reality and non-peculiarity of The Yoruba's belief in reincarnation, written by an author from Nigeria and about bird symbols in Persian mystical poetry, written by an author from Indonesia. In addition, there are articles on religion and belief, in this issue, there are also articles on other cultural fields, such as philosophy, namely, about Hannah Arendt's "Political Beings" as a representation of political existentialism for human existing in the world and in the field of archeology, namely, about archeological artifacts as expressive desire of Hindu-Buddha religions in Java in the 8th-15th centuries.Like the previous issue, this journal always presents interesting articles about humanities from various parts of the world. Hopefully the readers can benefit from reading the articles displayed in this journal and are interested in participating in submitting articles about culture in their respective countries to exchange treasures about the field of humanities, both for ourselves and others.

Paul Theroux, like most writers, is far uglier in person than he is in photographs. For one thing, there's the matter of his bluntly-cut toupee, which tilts noticeably from side to side as he shifts in his chair. For another, there are Theroux's teeth, which are so badly stained they seem to be carved from the driftwood that dots the nearby Cape Cod shoreline. Never mind his unpleasant habit of hacking up massive gobs of phlegm, which he then expectorates into the Persian carpet at his visitor's feet. So begins the introduction to Dwight Garner's interview with the author in Salon in 1996. Though he continues… None of this is true, of course. I've never met Paul Theroux, and have no reason to believe that he wears a toupee, or has rotten teeth, or likes to spit into his carpet. But he has encouraged me, over the course of several telephone conversations, to make things up about him. In 1989 Theroux wrote a book called My Secret History. He declared quite emphatically that it was a work of fiction, and that his central character Andre Parent -- 'a writer, a world traveller, a lover of every kind of woman he chances to meet in a life as varied as a man can lead' -- while loosely based on his experiences, was a character that 'strolled out of my imagination'. Despite this, however, many critics continued to label it as a 'biographical work… couched as fiction to allow for creative license'. Partly in response to this, in 1996 Theroux wrote My Other Life 'about a fictional character named Paul Theroux, who has led a life quite similar to the author's own… But for the most part the 'truth' ends there' (Garner). In this novel Theroux aims to explore the 'wildly shifting nature of identities'. Did he really meet the Queen, interviewer Garner asks? 'Yes', says Theroux. But no, she didn't fart! Apart from his deliberate toying with the reader in this book (and perhaps an often misunderstood sense of humour/irony… he is often described as 'prickly', 'irascible', 'doesn't suffer fools gladly' and 'dyspeptic', while he says of himself 'I believe I have a sunny disposition and am not naturally a grouch') perhaps the confusion comes as a result -- unlike his friend and fellow travel writer Bruce Chatwin -- of his producing equal parts of fiction and travel writing, and drawing clear distinctions between the two. Unlike, as he describes: 'the highly imaginative works of someone like the late Bruce Chatwin, who was never quite sure if he was writing travel books or novels. Not that he cared much – the question nearly almost produced his loudest and most desperate laugh, as though he was being tickled in the ribs by a complete stranger' (Fresh-Air Fiend 37). In the cases of My Secret History and My Other Life, I suspect Theroux is having a similar laugh at our expense. Where Theroux does differ, however, is in his approach to travel writing, about which he states quite clearly: 'a travel writer must report faithfully about what he or she encounters in a country' (Fresh-Air Fiend 40). In fact telling the truth is a central theme of his Fresh-Air Fiend: Travel Writings 1985 – 2000. And he raised this with Chatwin. 'I think when you're writing a travel book you have to come clean', he said. 'This made Bruce laugh, and then he said something that I have always taken to be his motto…'I don't believe in coming clean!'' (Fresh-Air Fiend 388) But of course this begs the question as to whether there is really any such thing as 'fact', and if so, do the facts, in fact, accurately represent 'the truth'? Theroux is also quite clear that 'I have altered my memories in the way we all do -- simplified them, improved them, made them more orderly' (Fresh-Air Fiend 7). And he illustrates that 'the books are also, incidentally, the adventures of individuals. Ella Mailart's Forbidden Journey is exactly the same trip as Peter Flemming's in News From Tartary, since they were travelling companions. But the books read like different trips, as anyone who compares them will see. (Hers is clear-sighted and down to earth; his is often facetious.)' (Fresh-Air Fiend 38). As another fellow travel writer and friend of Theroux's, Jonathan Raban, puts it: In all my books, with the exception of Foreign Land, which very clearly sits in the category called 'novel,' I'm interested in the generic edge, the boundary between what is roughly called nonfiction and what is called fiction. I always want to remind people that the word fiction doesn't come from some imaginary Latin verb meaning I make things up as I go along. It actually comes from a real Latin verb which means I give shape to. The essence of fiction is shaping, patterning, and plotting, using symbols, handling narrative, all those things. In a recent article in the South African Sunday Times newspaper, about the Bessie Head Fellowship Award for 'narrative nonfiction', the reporter says: Looking for a way to hook readers into the human scale workings of the system and arrive at truth rather than only facts, [David] Simon took a year off to shadow a group of Baltimore homicide detectives at work and at play. Then he sat down and wrote a book. Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets… In the 21st century it is the challenge of nonfiction writers to make their real-life stories read like novels. But this of course also raises the issue of the practice in modern media of creative juxtaposition and editing. As Gary Carter, former Executive Director of a large international television company observed soberingly: Consider thirty-two seconds of footage of a child dying of AIDs somewhere in my native South Africa which flickers onto your screen at dinner time, while you eat your evening meal. Those thirty two seconds were part of a much longer sequence filmed by one of our famous objective journalists, who may film but not interfere in the child's plight, a notion so weird that it doesn't bear thinking about too closely. This sequence was transmitted back to London electronically at a cost which would have fed the child for the rest of its life by the standards of its own country. Back at the broadcaster, it was considered and edited by several people eating doughnuts, trying to establish which bits to show and for how long, to hold your attention for the maximum amount of time before some other attention grabbing symbol can be hurled at you in order to stop you flicking channels away from some advert. Do you think that these thirty seconds represent reality as the child experiences it? From the point of view of the child, is your life real? There is no doubt that many of the views expressed by -- and even the experiences of -- Andre Parent, the narrator of My Secret History, are those of Theroux, echoed in his travel book Fresh-Air Fiend. But I suspect that Andre Parent would agree with Theroux that 'fiction gives us the second chance that life denies us' (Fresh-Air Fiend 5). In the final section of My Secret History entitled Two of Everything -- in which Parent describes his arrival at the airport with just a book, no luggage and 'nothing to declare' because he has a house, a toothbrush, and a woman in both London (wife) and Cape Cod (mistress) -- he concludes: But this rainy morning passing through Hounslow I saw there was a third person. He was the observer, the witness to all this… This third man was the one who stood aside and made the notes and wrote the books. His life was lived within himself… He took long solitary walks. He made excuses about urgent meetings and hurried away from demanding friends to eat fish and chips in the park and feed the leavings to the ducks… He was a letter-writer. He killed time at the movies. He went to museums. He sat alone in concerts. He loitered in libraries… If there was a fight on the street, or an argument in the next room, or a crossed line, or someone punishing a child, he was transfixed, and he listened. He was alert, he was alive – not an actor waiting in the wings for a cue that would bring him onstage. This was his real existence, and there was no time to waste, because his life was passing and it was no more than a bubble the size of a seed pearl rising to break at the surface of the liquid in a tumbler, and then it would be over. But perhaps the final word should go to Paul Theroux 'himself', from his essay Memory and Creation: That is why it is often better to look at the past, or at the reality around us, through the window of fiction. A nation's literature is a truer repository of thought and experience, or reality and time, than the fickle and forgettable words of politicians. Anyone who wishes to be strong need only remember. Memory is power. I said earlier that in choosing to be a writer I felt that I was on the right road – but a narrow and lonely one. I remember most of the way, and now I see that it has been the long road home. (Fresh-Air Fiend 21) References Carter, Gary. Paper presented at the Nordic Film and Television Festival, 2002. Garner, Dwight. 'His Secret Life'. Salon 30 (1996).http://www.salon.com/weekly/interview960... [accessed 24 Aug. 2002]. Sunday Times Reporter. The Best in South African Writing. 21 July 2002. http://www.suntimes.co.za/2002/07/21/ins... [accessed 24 Aug. 2002]. Theroux, Paul. My Secret History. Penguin Books, 1989. Theroux, Paul. My Other Life. 1996. Theroux, Paul. Fresh-Air Fiend. Penguin Books, 2000. Weich, Dave. Interview with Jonathan Raban. 8 Nov. 2000.http://www.powells.com/authors/raban.html[accessed 24 Aug. 2002]. Links http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375725946/qid=1030269765/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/104-5316738-4517518?s=books http://www.salon.com/weekly/interview960902.html http://www.powells.com/authors/raban.html http://www.suntimes.co.za/2002/07/21/insight/in17.asp http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0395877520/qid%3D1028236101/sr%3D1-11/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F11/104-5316738-4517518 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0449912000/qid%3D1028235461/sr%3D1-3/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F3/104-5316738-4517518 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0618126937/qid=103026/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5316738-4517518?s=books Citation reference for this article Substitute your date of access for Dn Month Year etc... MLA Style Miller, Andie. "What is Real? " M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5.5 (2002). [your date of access] < http://www.media-culture.org.au/mc/0210/Miller.html &gt. 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