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Introduction: Equity-oriented efforts to mitigate and prevent COVID-related disparities are hindered due to methodological limitations of the categorization of racial and ethnic groups, including Arabs and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) communities, which remain invisible in national data collection efforts. This study highlights the disparities in COVID-related outcomes in Toronto, Canada and supports ongoing calls to collect public health data among MENA communities in the United States. Methods: Data on racial/ethnic identity and hospitalizations were collected by the Toronto Public Health (TPH) of the Ontario Ministry of Public Health Case between May 20, 2020, and September 30, 2021 from people with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19. Results: The reported COVID-19 infection rate for Arab, Middle Eastern, West Asians (i.e., categories used to self-identify as MENA in Canada) relative to Whites in Toronto was 3.51. The age-standardized hospitalization rate ratio between Arab, Middle Eastern, West Asians and Whites was 4.59. Discussion: Data from Toronto highlight that Arab, Middle Eastern, and West Asians have higher rates of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations than their White counterparts. Comparable studies are currently not possible in the United States due to lack of data that can disaggregate MENA individuals. This study underscores the critical need to collect data among MENA communities in the United States to advance our field's goal of promoting and advancing equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African (Arab/MENA) individuals are regularly unaccounted for in research because they are conflated with the racial category "White." The systematic underrepresentation of Arab/MENA individuals in research persists, despite the fact that Arab/MENA individuals experience stigma, discrimination, and structural barriers that separate them from their White peers and contribute to disparities in mental health and well-being (Awad et al., 2021). Further, the lack of widespread inclusion of an Arab/MENA racial category has created assumptions about the generalizability of psychological constructs, measures, and treatments for Arab/MENA people, despite well-known cultural differences. The present study explored the validity of a widely used emotion regulation measure, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale–18, in an Arab/MENA emerging adult sample (Mage = 21.8, SD = 3.02), invariance across sex assigned at birth, differences in latent scores for religious identity, and associations with mental health and well-being. Results support the original six-factor model and are invariant across males and females. The implications of these findings for supporting assessment and treatment of Arab/MENA individuals, and the importance of including Arab/MENA as a racial category in research, are discussed. Public Significance Statement: Arab and Middle Eastern Americans are incorrectly categorized as "White" despite the higher rates of structural discrimination and barriers these individuals face. The lack of research on this group yields the inability to understand if current psychological measures adequately capture Arab/Middle Eastern individuals' functioning. This article evaluated a widely used emotion regulation measure in Arab/Middle Eastern Americans and its associations with mental health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented in which the authors argue that limited data concerning Arab or Middle Eastern and North African Health (MENA) data erodes the credibility of health disparity assessments.

Aims: There are very few studies comparing epidemiology and outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in different ethnic groups. Previous ethnicity studies have mostly determined OHCA differences between African American and Caucasian populations. The aim of this study was to compare epidemiology, clinical presentation, and outcomes of OHCA between the local Middle Eastern Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Arab and the migrant North African populations living in Qatar. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of Middle Eastern GCC Arabs and migrant North African patients with presumed cardiac origin OHCA resuscitated by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Qatar, between June 2012 and May 2015. Results: There were 285 Middle Eastern GCC Arabs and 112 North African OHCA patients enrolled during the study period. Compared with the local GCC Arabs, univariate analysis showed that the migrant North African OHCA patients were younger and had higher odds of initial shockable rhythm, pre-hospital interventions (defibrillation and amioderone), pre-hospital scene time, and decreased odds of risk factors (hypertension, respiratory disease, and diabetes) and pre-hospital response time. The survival to hospital discharge had greater odds for North African OHCA patients which did not persist after adjustment. Multivariable logistic regression showed that North Africans were associated with lower odds of diabetes (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.25–0.91, p = 0.03), and higher odds of initial shockable rhythm (OR 2.86, 95% CI 1.30–6.33, p = 0.01) and greater scene time (OR 1.02 95% CI 1.0–1.04, p = 0.02). Conclusions: North African migrant OHCA patients were younger, had decreased risk factors and favourable OHCA rhythm and received greater ACLS interventions with shorter pre-hospital response times and longer scene times leading to better survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent genomic analyses suggest that the current North African gene pool was mainly influenced by population flow coming from the East that altered the genetic structure of autochthonous Berber populations. Such genetic flow has not been extensively addressed yet using North African populations of Middle-eastern origin as reference. Aim: To discern the Middle-eastern component in the genetic background of Tunisian Arabs and evaluate the extent of gene flow from the Middle East into North African autochthonous Berber populations. Subjects and methods: This study has examined 113 Tunisians of well-known Arabian origin from Kairouan region, using 15 autosomal Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) loci. Results: No deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed and all loci presented high levels of heterozygosity. Principal coordinate and STRUCTURE analyses were consistent in clustering together North African and Middle Eastern populations, likely reflecting the recent gene flow from the East dating back to the Arab conquest period. This demographic migration and the Arabisation process that submerged the original Berber language and customs seems to have be accompanied by substantial gene flow and genetic admixture. Conclusion: This study represents an additional step to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the complex demographic history of North African populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent findings suggest that the North African Middle Stone Age technocomplex known as the Aterian is both much older than previously assumed, and certainly associated with fossils exhibiting anatomically modern human morphology and behavior. The Aterian is defined by the presence of 'tanged' or 'stemmed' tools, which have been widely assumed to be among the earliest projectile weapon tips. The present study systematically investigates morphological variation in a large sample of Aterian tools to test the hypothesis that these tools were hafted and/or used as projectile weapons. Methodology/Principal Findings: Both classical morphometrics and Elliptical Fourier Analysis of tool outlines are used to show that the shape variation in the sample exhibits size-dependent patterns consistent with a reduction of the tools from the tip down, with the tang remaining intact. Additionally, the process of reduction led to increasing side-to-side asymmetries as the tools got smaller. Finally, a comparison of shape-change trajectories between Aterian tools and Late Paleolithic arrowheads from the North German site of Stellmoor reveal significant differences in terms of the amount and location of the variation. Conclusions/Significance: The patterns of size-dependent shape variation strongly support the functional hypothesis of Aterian tools as hafted knives or scrapers with alternating active edges, rather than as weapon tips. Nevertheless, the same morphological patterns are interpreted as one of the earliest evidences for a hafting modification, and for the successful combination of different raw materials (haft and stone tip) into one implement, in itself an important achievement in the evolution of hominin technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the media practices of ethnic minorities of Arab or North African descent in London, England. It discusses the use of transnational media by the ethnic minorities, and examines the differences in their perception of citizenship, identity and belonging. The article explores the cultural and political situation of ethnic minorities in London, considering their gender, age at migration, language proficiency and their experience of living across and between multiple discursive economies.

The present essay appears twenty-five years after the 'Marche des Beurs', the name given to demonstrations staged throughout France by the children of North African immigrants. It studies the social and political context of this movement, examining both its successes and its failures. By looking at the present-day conflicts in the suburbs (banlieues) , it argues that the configurations that came about in the 1980's continue to influence immigrant struggles. Yet, despite this influence, today's 'housing-estate generation' clearly differs from the 'Generation'. Thus, despite the tense social situation, a depoliticisation has occurred, which, in conjunction with the interventions of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, has confronted immigrant struggles in contemporary France with new challenges. Accordingly, the essay concludes with a discussion on the anti-racist strategies that propose to take up these challenges, as well as critically assimilate the experiences of the 'Marche des Beurs'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how the Bedouins acquired the milled colonial Spanish coins, and how the symbols on the reverse of these coins were integrated into the folk culture of the Bedouin and Fellahin in southern Palestine during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The said coins served as more than a simple medium of exchange. They came to be used as medicinal talisman by the people during the Ottoman and British Mandate periods. For the Kingdom of Spain, the coins were both a currency and a propaganda tool for showing the wealth and power of the Empire and its colonies.

Until the final quarter of the twentieth century, the black presence in Paris was far more visible than that of Arabs or North Africans. Since the mid-1970s, the tendency has been reversed, with North Africans generally overshadowing the Afro-Caribbean presence. After documenting this shift, this article explores relations between ‘Blacks’ and ‘Arabs’ in contemporary French society and culture. It suggests that while the changing demographics of mass migration to France are clearly among the factors contributing to this transformation, wider patterns of geopolitical and geocultural change have also been at work. The article shows that shared experiences of disadvantage and discrimination have not always resulted in a common cultural and/or political front among minority ethnic groups. While a ‘Black-Blanc-Beur’ trio of buddies is now a lieu common of popular culture, competition between minority ethnic groups has often been in evidence in the political sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the studies of several North African countries and their differences between their historic fates. He talks on Algeria, stating that it had suffered the longest and most disruptive colonial period and had only came into being because of the Reformist Islamic movement of Ben Badis. He also talks on Tunisia, defining it as the most liberal and Kemalist of the Maghrebin states. The country, according to him, has entered into modernization without in subordination of either the new purified Islam or an old dynasty. He concluded that North Africa has been designed for a kind of comparative experiment in political sociology. He added, that at the end of the 20th century, religious fundamentalism became strong.