Audit of stillbirths in a Nigerian teaching hospital Kuti

Objective: The purpose of this study is to classify the stillbirths (SBs) in our institution and to determine the avoidable contributors using a pro forma that was developed in our perinatal unit.Materials and Method: All mothers who delivered SBs at Obafemi Awolowo University Hospitals Complex Ile‑Ife, Nigeria, from April 2014 to August 2015 were the subjects of this study. At our weekly perinatal mortality meeting, every SB was reviewed in detail to determine the cause of death and identify gaps in the care. The causes of fetal death were classified using three classification systems – Simplified CODAC, ReCoDe, and our newly developed Ife Perinatal Death Classification System. Remote contributors to fetal demise were assigned using a purpose–designed “Avoidable Factor Proforma” A SB was deemed avoidable if one or more factors were identified.Results: The total number of deliveries during the study was 2,142 with 109 SBs giving a gross SB rate of 51/1000 total births. The SB rate was significantly lower among booked patients than their unbooked counterparts (15 vs. 140 per 1000; P < 0.005). Antepartum death constituted 82.6% of SB among booked patients compared to 41.2% in the unbooked. The most common cause of SB among booked mother was intrauterine growth restriction (21.7%) while obstructed labor (23.3%) was the leading cause among unbooked mothers. Using our classification system, only 3.8% of SBs were unexplained, as against 5.7% for ReCode, and 26.4% for Simplified CODAC. Majority (81.7%) of the SBs were avoidable; and the most common avoidable factor was deficiency in health care. Access to the point of care was not associated with any of the avoidable deaths.Conclusion: Our SB rate remains unacceptably high, with a preponderance of antepartum deaths among booked patients. Majority of the SBs are avoidable dictating the need for training in modern methods of fetal surveillance and improved efficiency of our health‑delivery systems.Keywords: Avoidable Factors , Classification,. Stillbirth

QED With Unequal Charges: A study of spontaneous Zn symmetry breaking

We study two-dimensional QED with unequal charges at finite temperature, and show that there is a phase with a spontaneously broken $Z_n$ symmetry. In spite of this, we were not able to establish the presence of domain walls. The relevance for QCD in higher dimensions is discussed.Comment: 14 Page

Health Risks Associated with Consumption of Vegetables Grown using Domestic Wastewater in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Most vegetables consumed in the cities of developing countries are grown using wastewater discharged through township drainage network. This paper, therefore, investigates the risk involved in the consumption of such vegetables. The human daily intake rate (DIR) and Health Risk Index (HRI) of heavy metals were calculated using established formulae and the values of DIR ranged from 0.10 mg/kg/day to 0.71 mg/kg/day in wastewater plots in dry season for adults and 0.10 mg/kg/day to 0.14 mg/kg/day for children. Health risk index (HRI) values ranges from 0.40 mg/kg/day to 0.75 mg/kg/day in wastewater plots for adults in dry season and 0.20 mg/kg/day to 0.95 mg/kg/day for children. In wet season wastewater plots, the HRI ranges from 0.40 mg/kg/day to 0.95 mg/kg/day for children. The values of Hazard index (HI) ranged between 1.00 mg/kg/day and 1.21 mg/kg/day for all the seasons. Statistical analysis showed that there is a significant difference between the wet and dry season values for all the parameters assessed. Finally, uptake of heavy metals from the soil by all the vegetable crops under investigation was established. Therefore proper monitoring needs to be carried out to regulate consumption of vegetables produced from the experimental sites as continuous application of the industrial wastewater may lead to further accumulation of these heavy metals

Assessment of Heavy Metals Uptake by Vegetables Cultivated on Soil Receiving Industrial Wastewater in Minna, Nigeria

Consumption of vegetable crops grown on soil irrigated with industrial wastewater has been the order of the day in most urban towns and cities of Nigeria, despite reports of its serious health impact. This study assessed the possibility of uptake of heavy metals by crops grown on soil receiving industrial wastewater during rainy and dry seasons. The crops investigated are Spinach, Cayenne Pepper, Jute mallow, roselle and lady’s fingers okra. The initial composition of the wastewater was analyzed to contain 0.89 mg/l of chromium, 0.74 mg/l of cadmium, 1.04 mg/l of copper and 2.81 mg/l of iron. Control water used for this experiment contain no trace of any of these heavy metals. The experimental soil was also analyzed and contained 0.10 mg/kg of chromium, 0.06 mg/kg of iron before irrigation in dry season. After irrigation at the wastewater plots, the heavy metal concentrations in soil had increased to 6.24 mg/kg of chromium and 7.50 mg/kg of iron. In wet season, the concentrations of heavy metals in the soil were 0.00 mg/kg of chromium and 2.32 mg/kg of iron before irrigation. After irrigation in wet season, the concentrations increased to 6.01 mg/kg of iron. Mean difference of heavy metal concentrations were significantly high in vegetables in dry season, with values ranging from 0.03 mg/kg to 211mg/kg in wastewater plots, 0.20 mg/kg to 215 mg/kg in wet seasons wastewater plots, 0.00 mg/kg to 157 mg/kg in dry season. It is however recommended that consumption of vegetables irrigated with domestic/industrial wastewater be strongly discouraged because of its serious health implications.&nbsp

A protosolar nebula origin for the ices agglomerated by Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

The nature of the icy material accreted by comets during their formation in the outer regions of the protosolar nebula is a major open question in planetary science. Some scenarios of comet formation predict that these bodies agglomerated from crystalline ices condensed in the protosolar nebula. Concurrently, alternative scenarios suggest that comets accreted amorphous ice originating from the interstellar cloud or from the very distant regions of the protosolar nebula. On the basis of existing laboratory and modeling data, we find that the N$_2$/CO and Ar/CO ratios measured in the coma of the Jupiter family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the ROSINA instrument aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft match those predicted for gases trapped in clathrates. If these measurements are representative of the bulk N$_2$/CO and Ar/CO ratios in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, it implies that the ices accreted by the comet formed in the nebula and do not originate from the interstellar medium, supporting the idea that the building blocks of outer solar system bodies have been formed from clathrates and possibly from pure crystalline ices. Moreover, because 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is impoverished in Ar and N$_2$, the volatile enrichments observed in Jupiter's atmosphere cannot be explained solely via the accretion of building blocks with similar compositions and require an additional delivery source. A potential source may be the accretion of gas from the nebula that has been progressively enriched in heavy elements due to photoevaporation.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres

Observation of Anomalous Internal Pair Creation in 8^8Be: A Possible Signature of a Light, Neutral Boson

Electron-positron angular correlations were measured for the isovector magnetic dipole 17.6 MeV state ($J^\pi=1^+$, $T=1$) $\rightarrow$ ground state ($J^\pi=0^+$, $T=0$) and the isoscalar magnetic dipole 18.15 MeV ($J^\pi=1^+$, $T=0$) state $\rightarrow$ ground state transitions in $^{8}$Be. Significant deviation from the internal pair creation was observed at large angles in the angular correlation for the isoscalar transition with a confidence level of $> 5\sigma$. This observation might indicate that, in an intermediate step, a neutral isoscalar particle with a mass of 16.70$\pm0.35$ (stat)$\pm 0.5$ (sys) MeV$/c^2$ and $J^\pi = 1^+$ was created.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Characterization of the Subsurface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's Abydos Site

We investigate the structure of the subsurface of the Abydos site using a cometary nucleus model with parameters adapted to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and the Abydos landing site. We aim to compare the production rates derived from our model with those of the main molecules measured by Ptolemy. This will allow us to retrieve the depths at which the different molecules still exist in solid form

The Distribution of Constituent Charm Quarks in the Hadron

Using a statistical approach in the framework of non-covariant perturbation theory the distributions for light and charmed quarks in the hadron have been derived, taking into account the mass of the charmed quark. The parameters of the model have been extracted from the comparison with NA3 data on hadroproduction of J/psi particles. A reanalysis of the EMC data on charm production in muon-nucleon scattering has been performed. It has been found in comparison with the conventional source of charmed quarks from photon-gluon fusion, that the EMC data indicate the presence of an additional contribution from deep-inelastic scattering on charmed quarks at large x. The resulting admixture of the Fock states, containing charmed quarks in the decomposition of the proton wave function is of the order of 1%. The approach presented for the excitation of the Fock states with charmed quarks can also be applied to states with beauty quarks as well as to the hadronic component of the virtual photon (resolved photon component).Comment: 23 pages, 4 PostScript figures, Latex2e. In revised version in comparison with the original one all (?) mistypings have been corrected, one more thank has been added and the comparison of the pion and the proton J/psi production is described in more detai