Prehistory of Sudan

The Republic of Sudan, northeast Africa, is bordered by Egypt, Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. To the east there is the Red Sea. With an area of 1,886,068 square kilometers, it is the third largest country in Africa. The country is marked by diversity in terms of environment, archaeology, and ways of living. The most well-known archaeological remains and periods are the pyramids from the Kingdom of Kerma (2500–1500 BC), the rise of the Kingdom of Kush (c. 785 BC–AD 350), the later Christian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria, and Alodia and the Funj Sultanate in central and eastern Sudan. Sudan’s complex history has seen Mahdi, Ottoman, British, and Islamist rule and is now a secular state. While the present population is estimated to be 70% Arab, there is a diverse range of groups, languages, and dialects

The chronological and social implications of the pottery from Jebel Moya (south-central Sudan)

Continued research at Jebel Moya shows that this burial and habitation site has a very long chronology and was the locus for a number of activities. This study presents the first comprehensive analysis of pottery from stratified contexts from the new field seasons, utilizing a statistical attribute approach that provides both clarity and avenues for further research. The stratigraphic sequence and radiometric dates show that the site was inhabited from at least the late 6th millennium to 2000 years ago. Our analyses reveal previously unknown types of pottery and a wider range within assemblages. Overall, there is a longer period of mid-late Holocene habitation than previously recognised. Results are considered within a broader contextual and comparative approach with central Sudan, showing the importance of rethinking networks between south-central and central Sudan

Solution of the Percus-Yevick equation for hard discs

We solve the Percus-Yevick equation in two dimensions by reducing it to a set of simple integral equations. We numerically obtain both the pair correlation function and the equation of state for a hard disc fluid and find good agreement with available Monte-Carlo calculations. The present method of resolution may be generalized to any even dimension.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

A para-religious setting for financial exploitation of the mentally incapacitated: when the habit doesn’t make a monk

Exploitation and circumvention of the mentally incapacitated is a criminal offence listed in the Italian penal code (Penal Code Art. 643). It involves the exploitation and circumvention of people who are fragile and vulnerable owing to their health conditions and/or mental status, and fits into the grey area between such subjects’ freedom to make decisions about their physical conditions and economic assets, and the abuse of their trust perpetrated by third parties for personal gain. The authors describe a case of financial exploitation and circumvention of a married couple that is remarkable in view of both the huge sums extorted from the victims and the duration of the peculiar illicit activities (that lasted more than 10 years). These were perpetrated by a charismatic figure leading a “para-religious” group. He claimed to be a prophet, but his private life was highly questionable. The method of ascertainment used to verify the victims’ mentally incapacitated state is described, analyzed and commented; the diagnosis could not be deferred in view of the characteristics of the prolonged penal offences committe

Sex-selective abortions and infant mortality in India: the role of parents’ stated son preference

In India, millions of female foetuses have been aborted since the 1980s alongside an abnormally high infant girl mortality rate; this has generated a vast literature exploring the root causes of son preference. The literature is sparse, however, on how the decisions to abort or neglect girls are made. This paper examines mothers’ and fathers’ respective roles behind those decisions. Using NFHS-3 data, we show that sex- selective abortions are most commonly used if both spouses or if only the fathers prefer sons, while sex-selective neglect is used if only the mothers prefer sons

Current surgical management of peri-hilar and intra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Cholangiocarcinoma accounts for approximately 10% of all hepatobiliary tumors and represents 3% of all new-diagnosed malignancies worldwide. Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (i-CCA) accounts for 10% of all cases, perihilar (h-CCA) cholangiocarcinoma represents two-thirds of the cases, while distal cholangiocarcinoma accounts for the remaining quarter. Originally described by Klatskin in 1965, h-CCA represents one of the most challenging tumors for hepatobiliary surgeons, mainly because of the anatomical vascular relationships of the biliary confluence at the hepatic hilum. Surgery is the only curative option, with the goal of a radical, margin-negative (R0) tumor resection. Continuous efforts have been made by hepatobiliary surgeons in order to achieve R0 resections, leading to the progressive development of aggressive approaches that include extended hepatectomies, associating liver partition, and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy, preoperative portal vein embolization, and vascular resections. i-CCA is an aggressive biliary cancer that arises from the biliary epithelium proximal to the second-degree bile ducts. The incidence of i-CCA is dramatically increasing worldwide, and surgical resection is the only potentially curative therapy. An aggressive surgical approach, including extended liver resection and vascular reconstruction, and a greater application of systemic therapy and locoregional treatments could lead to an increase in the resection rate and the overall survival in selected i-CCA patients. Improvements achieved over the last two decades and the encouraging results recently reported have led to liver transplantation now being considered an appropriate indication for CCA patients

Solution of the Percus-Yevick equation for hard hyperspheres in even dimensions

We solve the Percus-Yevick equation in even dimensions by reducing it to a set of simple integro-differential equations. This work generalizes an approach we developed previously for hard discs. We numerically obtain both the pair correlation function and the virial coefficients for a fluid of hyper-spheres in dimensions $d=4,6$ and 8, and find good agreement with available exact results and Monte-Carlo simulations. This paper confirms the alternating character of the virial series for $d \ge 6$, and provides the first evidence for an alternating character for $d=4$. Moreover, we show that this sign alternation is due to the existence of a branch point on the negative real axis. It is this branch point that determines the radius of convergence of the virial series, whose value we determine explicitly for $d=4,6,8$. Our results complement, and are consistent with, a recent study in odd dimensions [R.D. Rohrmann et al., J. Chem. Phys. 129, 014510 (2008)].Comment: Accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phys. (11 pages, 6 figures

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on liver donation and transplantation: A review of the literature

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has upended healthcare systems worldwide and led to an inevitable decrease in liver transplantation (LT) activity. During the first pandemic wave, administrators and clinicians were obliged to make the difficult decision of whether to suspend or continue a lifesaving procedure based on the scarce available evidence regarding the risk of transmission and mortality in immunosuppressed patients. Those centers where the activity continued or was heavily restricted were obliged to screen donors and recipients, design COVID-safe clinical pathways, and promote telehealth to prevent nosocomial transmission. Despite the ever-growing literature on COVID-19, the amount of high-quality literature on LT remains limited. This review will provide an updated view of the impact of the pandemic on LT programs worldwide. Donor and recipient screening, strategies for waitlist prioritization, and posttransplant risk of infection and mortality are discussed. Moreover, a particular focus is given to the possibility of donor-to-recipient transmission and immunosuppression management in COVID-positive recipients

Production and Use of Ceramics in the First Millennium BC: Jebel Moya, Sudan

The site of Jebel Moya, situated in the center of the southern Gezira Plain in southcentral Sudan, has an occupational sequence spanning at least five millennia until around 2000 years ago. Renewed excavation is shedding new light on its occupational chronology and socioeconomic history, including activities such as burial, savanna herding, and domesticated sorghum cultivation practices dating to at least the mid-third millennium BC. In the present study, predominantly final phase pottery sherds from the first millennium BC to the start of the first millennium AD (Assemblage 3) have been analyzed via a combination of thin section petrography and instrumental geochemistry to determine their raw materials and place of manufacture and reconstruct their manufacturing technology. Organic residue analysis was also conducted to identify the products processed within vessels found at the site. The results suggest the existence of a well-developed local ceramic craft tradition that persisted for over one thousand years. Pots from Assemblage 3 were used to process, store, and consume animal and plant products, thus reinforcing emerging evidence for early agro-pastoral activities