Maryam Ali, 12, is in fine spirits with her father Ali Abdullah Saeed at their home in Sharjah yesterday.
Maryam Ali, 12, is in fine spirits with her father Ali Abdullah Saeed at their home in Sharjah yesterday.

Brain disorder girl back at school after surgery



SHARJAH // A little girl with a rare and paralysing brain disorder returned to school yesterday after surgeons removed a lump the size of a tennis ball from her head.

When Maryam Ali, 12, went to bed one night last month she seemed perfectly normal. The next morning she awoke unable to walk or talk and could not move the left side of her body.

Her parents called an ambulance, telling emergency workers they thought their daughter was dying.

By the time Maryam arrived at the emergency department the paralysis had spread throughout her body, said Dr Sathish Krishnan, a consultant neurosurgeon at Al Qassimi Hospital.

Dr Sathish said Maryam was suffering from a congenital blood vessel abnormality that caused her brain to bleed and formed a cavernoma, a lumpy cluster of abnormal blood vessels, in her head.

Doctors removed the cavernoma during a five-hour surgery performed under a microscope last Monday and say she is recovering well. But Maryam, a Grade 6 pupil, will need physical rehabilitation and up to a year of speech therapy before she is fully back to normal.

Maryam’s father, Ali Abdullah Saeed, thanked the hospital staff.

The father of four girls and two boys said Maryam had been excelling at Al Istiqlal Private School before her illness and returned yesterday to take exams.

“God is great. She survived the operation and is now catching up with her life,” Mr Saeed said.

While Maryam’s disorder was rare, Dr Krishnan said blood-vessel abnormalities were more widespread than many realised. He said the hospital had recently treated 22 cases of varying severity.

“There was also another case of a Bangladeshi who complained of a severe headache and vomiting,” Dr Krishnan said.

“When he was referred to us we found he also had an abnormality in the blood vessels.”

The patient also had bleeding in the brain, but his case differed as he was suffering from an arteriovenous malformation – an abnormal connection between his veins and arteries. He has undergone two surgeries and his situation has normalised, Dr Krishnan said.

ykakande@thenational.ae

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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989

Director: Goran Hugo Olsson

Rating: 5/5

The Buckingham Murders

Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu

Director: Hansal Mehta

Rating: 4 / 5

KINGDOM%20OF%20THE%20PLANET%20OF%20THE%20APES
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THE%20HOLDOVERS
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Company%20Profile
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Sui Dhaaga: Made in India

Director: Sharat Katariya

Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav

3.5/5

About Proto21

Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKinetic%207%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rick%20Parish%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Clean%20cooking%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self-funded%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Perfect Couple

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor

Creator: Jenna Lamia

Rating: 3/5

The design

The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.

More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.

The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.

The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.

A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.

Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.

Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.

Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.

 From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.

Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019. 

Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.

Sting & Shaggy

44/876

(Interscope)

Sleep Well Beast
The National
4AD

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PAKISTAN v SRI LANKA

Twenty20 International series
Thu Oct 26, 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
Fri Oct 27, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
Sun Oct 29, 3rd T20I, Lahore

Tickets are available at www.q-tickets.com

Book%20Details
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THE APPRENTICE

Director: Ali Abbasi

Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong

Rating: 3/5

The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Power: 268bhp / 536bhp
Torque: 343Nm / 686Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
On sale: Later this year
What is graphene?

Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.

It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.

It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.

It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.

Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.

The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.


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