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The majority of Arab political economies are characterised by a peculiar distributional system built on excess public employment and wide-ranging energy subsidies—features that exist in other developing countries but are more pronounced in the Arab world. This chapter provides an overview of this distribution regime, develops hypotheses regarding its historical origin, and analyses the political and economic distortions it creates. It builds on a wide range of literature on energy subsidies and on recent publications on (the weakness of) conventional social safety regimes. In its comparative analysis of public employment, it mostly relies on primary data.The chapter proposes that the current distribution regime not only benefits insiders and creates multiple segmentation of labour markets, it also weakens links between business and citizens. There follows a discussion of the outlines of an alternative social contract based on less distortionary welfare systems, notably direct cash grants for citizens. In this, the text again draws on a well-developed literature on energy subsidy reform and on potential strategies for compensating for energy price increases. The chapter’s main contribution to the literature lies in its analysis of public employment reform and its labour market implications and of the wider political economy implications of distributional reform. It spells out the potential impact of a more inclusive and less distortionary distribution and welfare regime on social stratification and on relations between state, business and citizens.

The metal ion imprinted concept has been used to imprint dipicolinic derivative coordination cages in styrene-based polymeric material. This resin displays very high selectivity for yttrium and lanthanides. Distribution coefficients determined for 88Y and 85Sr emphasize the possibility for the material to be used as chromatographic support for direct production of medical grade 90Y from a 90Sr source. Europium has been successfully extracted by the resin from a large volume of tap water. Thus the material could be used for radiation monitoring of nuclear power plants, particularly regarding the determination of radiolanthanides in the cooling system.

The cavernous hemangioma (or angioma) of the orbit (HCO) is a benign, encapsulated venous malformation and the most common primary lesion of the orbit in adults. It occurs more often in women. These lesions can cause a unilateral proptosis (exophthalmos), optic nerve damage and other signs of orbital pathology, with varying degrees of visual impairment.When an HCO is suspected, ultrasound, scanner or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are a valuable aid to its definitive diagnosis. When HCO is symptomatic, multidisciplinary surgical management by a trained specialist in orbital surgery should be considered.This article aims to present the surgical management of HCO. Topographic classifications and surgical approaches are also discussed., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

Optic neuritis is one of the most important causes of visual loss in young and middle aged adults. The prognosis in terms of functional outcome is good. The diagnosis of optic neuritis is a clinical one. Steroids can shorten the recovery time but do not change the long term functional outcome. The MRI is the most important investiga- tion to assess an associated risk of multiple sclerosis. Optic cohe- rence tomography (OCT) contribute additional details to course and functional outcome of optic neuritis. In the future the OCT may additionally contribute to the relationship between optic neuritis and possible associated multiple sclerosis.