BRST-BFV method for nonstationary systems

Starting from an associated reparametrization-invariant action, the generalization of the BRST-BFV method for the case of nonstationary systems is constructed. The extension of the Batalin-Tyutin conversional approach is also considered in the nonstationary case. In order to illustrate these ideas, the propagator for the time-dependent two-dimensional rotor is calculated by reformulating the problem as a system with only first class constraints and subsequently using the BRST-BFV prescription previously obtained.Comment: Latex, RevTeX, 13 page

Renal cell carcinoma in a semi-urban population of south-western Nigeria

Objective: To describe the demographic features, treatment challenges and  prognosis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in a semi-urban population of south-western NigeriaDesign: A retrospective review of RCC managed between January 2007 and  December 2014Setting: Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife,  southwestern NigeriaSubjects: Fifty-one patients with histologically confirmed RCC Interventions: Radical nephrectomy, ImmunotherapyMain outcome measures: Surgical outcomesResults: A total of 51 cases were reviewed, representing 46.8/100,000 of all new  patients. Age range was 21 to 83 years, with peak in third decade and male to female ratio of 1:1.5. Identified risk factors were systemic hypertension (15.7%), smoking  (11.8%) and obesity (3.9%). Triad of haematuria, loin pain and loin mass was found in 13.7% while 5.9% were discovered  incidentally. The right and left kidneys were involved in 41.2% and 58.8% respectively. Radical nephrectomy was the most  common procedure done (78.4%). Surgical complications included  excessive primary haemorrhage (8.5%), surgical site  infection (6.4%) and duodenal injury (2.1%) while mortality was (2.1%). Adjuvant immunotherapy with  sunitinib/sorafenib was given in 7.8% of patients. The histologic types were clear cell (60.8%), chromophobe (17.6%), papillary (13.7%), sarcomatoid (3.9%), mixed (1.9%) and multilocular cystic RCC (1.9%). Clear cell variant were low grade with good prognosis. Poor prognostic factors were sarcomatoid histology and late presentationConclusion: RCC is more common in females mainly of the younger age group in our environment. Radical nephrectomy remains the mainstay of management, including in advanced cases

Non-Newtonian effects in the peristaltic flow of a Maxwell fluid

We analyzed the effect of viscoelasticity on the dynamics of fluids in porous media by studying the flow of a Maxwell fluid in a circular tube, in which the flow is induced by a wave traveling on the tube wall. The present study investigates novelties brought about into the classic peristaltic mechanism by inclusion of non-Newtonian effects that are important, for example, for hydrocarbons. This problem has numerous applications in various branches of science, including stimulation of fluid flow in porous media under the effect of elastic waves. We have found that in the extreme non-Newtonian regime there is a possibility of a fluid flow in the direction {\it opposite} to the propagation of the wave traveling on the tube wall.Comment: to Appear in Phys. Rev. E., 01 September 2001 issu

Urologic Emergencies in a Low‑Resource Setting: A 10‑Year Review from South‑Western Nigeria

Background: Emergency presentations are quite an important aspect of the urologic practice, and prompt attention is necessary to relieve  symptoms, limit morbidity, and prevent mortality. Adequate knowledge of the pattern of emergency urologic presentations might aid rapid  diagnosis and provide data for hospital and public health planning purposes. We present our experience with urologic emergencies in our hospital. Objectives: The objective was to describe the pattern of presentation and the peculiar challenges of urologic emergencies in a typical low‑resource setting in South‑Western, Nigeria. Patients and Methods: A retrospective review of all patients with urologic complaints who presented acutely to the accident and emergency  department (AED) of our hospital, between January 2008 and December 2017, was done. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. Results: There were 1102 patients seen with urologic complaints, which constitute 3.2% of the total patients presenting to our AED over the 10‑year period reviewed. Urinary retention (28.7%) and gross hematuria (19.5%) were the most common emergency urology presentations, whereas urethral injury was the most common mode of urologic trauma (59%). Over half (53%) of the patients with hematuria had a urologic malignancy. Prostate cancer was the leading urologic malignancy presenting to the AED. Testicular torsion and priapism were predominantly found in young male patients. There were 2.7% mortalities, with complicated prostate cancer, the leading cause (66.7%). Immediate causes of mortality were metastatic disease and urosepsis. Conclusion: Urologic emergencies are a probable cause of morbidity and mortality in our setting. Adequate knowledge of the pattern of patientpresentation might aid diagnosis, improve outcomes, and provide data for hospital and public health planning purposes. Keywords: Emergency, urine retention, haematuria, malignancy, mortality, urolog

Progress in QCD next-to-leading order calculations

I review progress related to the calculation of QCD jet cross sections at the NLO accuracy. After a short introduction into the theory of NLO calculations, I discuss two recent developments: the calculation of two- and three-jet leptoproduction at the NLO accuracy and the extension of the dipole subtraction method for computing NLO corrections for processes involving massive partons.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX using JHEP3.cls, Invited talk at the International Europhysics Conference on High-Energy Physics (HEP 2001

Instrumental variable analysis using offspring BMI in childhood as an indicator of parental BMI in relation to mortality

Abstract Childhood BMI shows associations with adult mortality, but these may be influenced by effects of ill health in childhood on BMI and later mortality. To avoid this, we used offspring childhood BMI as an instrumental variable (IV) for own BMI in relation to mortality and compared it with conventional associations of own childhood BMI and own mortality. We included 36,097 parent–offspring pairs with measured heights and weights from the Copenhagen School Health Records Register and register-based information on death. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated using adjusted Cox regression models. For all-cause mortality, per zBMI at age 7 the conventional HR = 1.07 (95%CI: 1.04–1.09) in women and 1.02 (95%CI: 0.92–1.14) in men, whereas the IV HR = 1.23 (95%CI: 1.15–1.32) in women and 1.05 (95%CI: 0.94–1.17) in men. Per zBMI at age 13, the conventional HR = 1.11 (95%CI: 1.08–1.15) in women and 1.03 (95%CI: 0.99–1.06) in men, whereas the IV HR = 1.30 (95%CI: 1.19–1.42) in women and 1.15 (95%CI: 1.04–1.29) in men. Only conventional models showed indications of J-shaped associations. Our IV analyses suggest that there is a causal relationship between BMI and mortality that is positive at both high and low BMI values

Histomorphological pattern of urologic malignancies in Ile-Ife, south-western Nigeria

Introduction: The last decade witnessed a remarkable rise in the prevalence of several malignant diseases in Nigeria. Whether  Urologic malignancies (UM) have followed the same trend remains to be studied. The pattern of UM diagnosed in a Nigerian tertiary hospital is hereby presented. Our aim was to determine the pattern and prevalence of histologically diagnosed UM in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex. Ile-Ife, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: A 10-year retrospective review of all patients diagnosed with UM was carried out between January 2005 and December 2014. Data was obtained from the patients’ case files and the Ife-Ijesha Cancer registry. Information obtained included demographic characteristics, site of origin and histology. Data was analysed with Statistical package for Social sciences (SPSS) Version 20.Results: A total of 4675 malignancies were histologically confirmed during the study period. UM accounted for 420 (8.9%) of totalmalignancies. Prostate cancer was the commonest UM with 315 (75%) cases. Others include renal tumours 62(14.8%), bladder  tumours 29 (6.9%), testicular tumours 13(3.1%) and scrotal tumour 1(0.2%). UM were commoner in males (348, 88.8%) than females (47, 11.2%) and accounted for 13.8% and 2.18% of all tumours in males and females respectively.Conclusion: This study revealed a rising prevalence of UM most especially Prostate and Renal Cancers among other malignancies in Ile-Ife. Keywords: Pattern, Urologic malignancies, Ile-Ife

Quantum evolution across singularities: the case of geometrical resolutions

We continue the study of time-dependent Hamiltonians with an isolated singularity in their time dependence, describing propagation on singular space-times. In previous work, two of us have proposed a "minimal subtraction" prescription for the simplest class of such systems, involving Hamiltonians with only one singular term. On the other hand, Hamiltonians corresponding to geometrical resolutions of space-time tend to involve multiple operator structures (multiple types of dependence on the canonical variables) in an essential way. We consider some of the general properties of such (near-)singular Hamiltonian systems, and further specialize to the case of a free scalar field on a two-parameter generalization of the null-brane space-time. We find that the singular limit of free scalar field evolution exists for a discrete subset of the possible values of the two parameters. The coordinates we introduce reveal a peculiar reflection property of scalar field propagation on the generalized (as well as the original) null-brane. We further present a simple family of pp-wave geometries whose singular limit is a light-like hyperplane (discontinuously) reflecting the positions of particles as they pass through it.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figur

From secondary school to university: associations between sport participation and total and domain-specific sedentary behaviours in Spanish students

Effective ways to reduce sedentary behaviour in adolescents are needed to mitigate the risk of chronic disease and poor mental health. Organised sport participation is the most practiced physical activity during adolescence. However, the influence sport participation has on sedentary behaviours remains unclear. This study investigated the associations between sport participation, total and domain-specific sedentary behaviour and physical activity during the transition from secondary school to university. A 3-year longitudinal survey followed Spanish secondary school students (n = 113) to their first year of university. Generalized linear models, adjusted by gender and year, assessed the relationships between sport participation, total and domain-specific sedentary behaviour and physical activity. Compared with non-sport participants, teenagers who played individual sports from baseline during secondary school spent significantly less total time sitting (− 110.5 min/day at weekends), watching television (− 18.7 min/day at weekends) or using the computer for leisure (− 37.4 min/day weekdays). Those who played team sports from baseline at secondary school spent less time sitting (− 126.4 min/day at weekends) or socialising (− 37 min/day at weekends). Conclusion: From secondary school to university, sport participation–based interventions might be an effective strategy to reduce sitting time spent on some domain-specific behaviours. Promoting sports could reduce the rise of sedentary behaviour during adolescence, a stage where sedentary behaviour evolves

The Centurion 18 telescope of the Wise Observatory

We describe the second telescope of the Wise Observatory, a 0.46-m Centurion 18 (C18) installed in 2005, which enhances significantly the observing possibilities. The telescope operates from a small dome and is equipped with a large-format CCD camera. In the last two years this telescope was intensively used in a variety of monitoring projects. The operation of the C18 is now automatic, requiring only start-up at the beginning of a night and close-down at dawn. The observations are mostly performed remotely from the Tel Aviv campus or even from the observer's home. The entire facility was erected for a component cost of about 70k$ and a labor investment of a total of one man-year. We describe three types of projects undertaken with this new facility: the measurement of asteroid light variability with the purpose of determining physical parameters and binarity, the following-up of transiting extrasolar planets, and the study of AGN variability. The successful implementation of the C18 demonstrates the viability of small telescopes in an age of huge light-collectors, provided the operation of such facilities is very efficient.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, some figures quality was degraded, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc