Penile fracture at Lautech Teaching Hospital, Osogbo

Background/Objective: We have seen three cases of penile fracture presenting in diverse ways in our teaching hospital.Wewant to highlight the difficulties of management when patients present late. Patients and Methods: Three case reports of young men whose ages range between 22-32 years and who presented at 1year 6months, fourweeks, and 3 hours respectively, following penile fracture. Results: The patient that presented within 3hours had immediate exploration and primary repair with good results while the one that presented after four weeks is still being followed up. The patient that presented very late has been lost to followup after hewas told that hewould require surgery. Conclusion: Early surgical intervention in penile trauma still gives the best result and is hereby advocated. Decision to operate or not should also be based on the empirical finding of size of tear if there is no associated urethra injury.KeyWords: Penile fracture, tunica albuginea, injury, surger

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

A review of post-stack 4D seismic time-shifts, part 1: values and interpretation

A review and analysis of post‐stack time‐lapse time‐shifts has been carried out that covers published literature supplemented by in‐house datasets available to the authors. Time‐shift data are classified into those originating from geomechanical effects and those due to fluid saturation changes. From these data conclusions are drawn regarding the effectiveness of post‐stack time‐shifts for overburden and reservoir monitoring purposes. A variety of field examples are shown that display the range and magnitude of variation for each class of application. The underlying physical mechanisms creating these time‐shifts are then described, and linked to a series of generic and field‐specific rock physics calculations that predict their magnitudes. These calculations serve as a guide for practitioners wishing to utilise this information on their own datasets. Conclusions are drawn regarding the reliability of this attribute for monitoring purposes, and the extent to which further development is required and how it should be reported by authors

Morphological measurements and body indices for Cuban Creole goats and their crossbreds

In this work, linear body measures were taken and production indices calculated for 100 Cuban Creole goats and 100 crossbred goats in order to aid in the characterization of animal genetic resources in Cuba. Low variation was found for all indices of the Creole goats, showing homogeneity between the groups of animals studied. Most of the functional indices are related to the milk biotype which is in agreement the possible origin of the breed from animals of the Iberian Peninsula and Canary Islands. The crossbreds were more varied, mostly due to undesigned disorganized crossing. These data may help in identifying a commercial niche for the breed and contribute to in situ conservation of the Cuban Creole goat