Bulk scalar field in DGP braneworld cosmology

We investigated the effects of bulk scalar field in the braneworld cosmological scenario. The Friedmann equations and acceleration condition in presence of the bulk scalar field for a zero tension brane and cosmological constant are studied. In DGP model the effective Einstein equation on the brane is obtained with bulk scalar field. The rescaled bulk scalar field on the brane in the DGP model behaves as an effective four dimensional field, thus standard type cosmology is recovered. In present study of the DGP model, the late-time accelerating phase of the universe can be explained .Comment: 10 pages, to appear in JCA

Gallbladder cancer: 7-Year experience from Qatar

Thirty-five patients presented with GC during the study period, 10 females (28.6%) and 25 males (71.4%). Fourteen patients (40%) were diagnosed incidentally after laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 16 (48.6%) were diagnosed pathologically, and 4 (11.4%) were diagnosed radiologically. The median age at diagnosis was 54 years (31–78). 74.3% of the disease occurred in patients less than 60 years old. Metastatic disease was discovered in 25 patients (71.4%) versus no metastasis in 10 patients (28.6%). The most common sites for metastasis were the liver (42.9%), peritoneum (25.7%), and lymph nodes (25.7%). Curative central hepatic resection was done in 8 patients (22.9%). Pathology showed adenocarcinoma in 27 patients (77.1%), neuroendocrine tumor in 3 patients (8.6%) and high-grade dysplasia in 1 patient (2.9%). No histopathology was available for 4 patients (11.4%). Twenty-eight patients (80.0%) had regular follow up, with 22 (62.9%) still alive. Six patients (17.1%) died during follow up with survival after diagnosis ranging from 42 days to 6.8 years

Rare presentation of primary varicella zoster as fatal fulminant hepatitis in adult on low-dose,short-term steroid: Case report

Background Varicella zoster virus presents clinically as primary (chickenpox) or secondary (herpes zoster) infection. Cutaneous and extracutaneous dissemination may occur, usually in immunocompromised patients. VZV hepatitis that progresses to fulminant hepatic failure is very rare and fatal. To the best of our knowledge, 9 cases have been reported to date, of which 7 were in immunocompromised adults, and only one patient was on short duration steroid therapy. Presentation of case We present a 26-year old man who was admitted initially with acute abdomen as query persistent biliary colic. Later, he showed clinical and laboratory findings of VZV hepatitis that progressed rapidly despite maximal medical ICU support and he expired on day 3 of admission. Conclusions Acute VZV infection may present as fulminant hepatitis. The presentation may initially be challenging for the diagnosis and should be considered if the patient has been in contact with a sick case. Low dose corticosteroid could carry a risk for fatal VZV fulminant hepatitis and should be used very cautiously especially with VZV patients’ contacts. Further causative relationships remain to be established.Scopu

A real-world exploration into clinical outcomes of direct oral anticoagulant therapy in people with chronic kidney disease: a large hospital-based study

Background There is limited evidence to support definite clinical outcomes of direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) therapy in chronic kidney disease (CKD). By identifying the important variables associated with clinical outcomes following DOAC administration in patients in different stages of CKD, this study aims to assess this evidence gap. Methods An anonymised dataset comprising 97,413 patients receiving DOAC therapy in a tertiary health setting was systematically extracted from the multidimensional electronic health records and prepared for analysis. Machine learning classifiers were applied to the prepared dataset to select the important features which informed covariate selection in multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results For both CKD and non-CKD DOAC users, features such as length of stay, treatment days, and age were ranked highest for relevance to adverse outcomes like death and stroke. Patients with Stage 3a CKD had significantly higher odds of ischaemic stroke (OR 2.45, 95% Cl: 2.10–2.86; p = 0.001) and lower odds of all-cause mortality (OR 0.87, 95% Cl: 0.79–0.95; p = 0.001) on apixaban therapy. In patients with CKD (Stage 5) receiving apixaban, the odds of death were significantly lowered (OR 0.28, 95% Cl: 0.14–0.58; p = 0.001), while the effect on ischaemic stroke was insignificant. Conclusions A positive effect of DOAC therapy was observed in advanced CKD. Key factors influencing clinical outcomes following DOAC administration in patients in different stages of CKD were identified. These are crucial for designing more advanced studies to explore safer and more effective DOAC therapy for the population

New Models for a Triaxial Milky Way Spheroid and Effect on the Microlensing Optical Depth to the Large Magellanic Cloud

We obtain models for a triaxial Milky Way spheroid based on data by Newberg and Yanny. The best fits to the data occur for a spheroid center that is shifted by 3kpc from the Galactic Center. We investigate effects of the triaxiality on the microlensing optical depth to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The optical depth can be used to ascertain the number of Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs); a larger spheroid contribution would imply fewer Halo MACHOs. On the one hand, the triaxiality gives rise to more spheroid mass along the line of sight between us and the LMC and thus a larger optical depth. However, shifting the spheroid center leads to an effect that goes in the other direction: the best fit to the spheroid center is_away_ from the line of sight to the LMC. As a consequence, these two effects tend to cancel so that the change in optical depth due to the Newberg/Yanny triaxial halo is at most 50%. After subtracting the spheroid contribution in the four models we consider, the MACHO contribution (central value) to the mass of the Galactic Halo varies from \~(8-20)% if all excess lensing events observed by the MACHO collaboration are assumed to be due to MACHOs. Here the maximum is due to the original MACHO collaboration results and the minimum is consistent with 0% at the 1 sigma error level in the data.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures. v2: minor revisions. v3: expanded discussion of the local spheroid density and minor revisions to match version published in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP

Full counting statistics of information content

We review connections between the cumulant generating function of full counting statistics of particle number and the R\'enyi entanglement entropy. We calculate these quantities based on the fermionic and bosonic path-integral defined on multiple Keldysh contours. We relate the R\'enyi entropy with the information generating function, from which the probability distribution function of self-information is obtained in the nonequilibrium steady state. By exploiting the distribution, we analyze the information content carried by a single bosonic particle through a narrow-band quantum communication channel. The ratio of the self-information content to the number of bosons fluctuates. For a small boson occupation number, the average and the fluctuation of the ratio are enhanced.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Geographical differences in semen characteristics of 13 892 infertile men

Objective: To assess the relationship between geographical differences and all semen parameters, across 13,892 infertile men of 84 diverse nationalities, recruited at a specialised tertiary hospital that represents the main healthcare provider in Qatar. Male infertility is an important and global public health problem. Despite this, there is a significant scarcity of epidemiological male infertility and semen analysis research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, as well as geographical comparisons with other parts of the world. Patients and methods: Retrospective study of semen findings of 13 892 infertile men assessed at the Male Infertility Unit at Hamad Medical Corporation, in Qatar between January 2012 and August 2015. Based on country of origin, patients were categorised into those from the MENA region (n = 8799) and non-MENA patients (n = 5093). The two groups were compared across demographic features and semen characteristics: age, sperm volume, sperm total motility, sperm progressive motility (PMot), abnormal sperm forms (ABF), and sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF). Results: The whole sample's mean (SD) age was 35.7 (0.7) years, sperm concentration was 32.3 (0.25) × 106 sperm/mL, total motility was 45.4 (0.2)%, sperm PMot was 25.1 (0.2)%, and ABF was 79.9 (0.2)%. Overall, 841 patients had azoospermia (6.05%), 3231 had oligospermia (23.3%), 4239 had asthenospermia (30.5%) and 6772 had teratospermia (48.7%). SDF (1050 patients) was abnormal in 333 patients (31.7%). MENA patients were significantly younger than their non-MENA counterparts and had a greater semen volume. Non-MENA patients had significantly higher sperm counts, total motility and PMot, and lower ABF. SDF showed no statistical difference between the two groups. MENA patients had significantly higher prevalence of oligospermia, asthenospermia, and teratospermia; and lower prevalence of normal sperm concentration, normal motility, and normal morphology. Throughout the 4 years of the study, MENA patients constantly had significantly lower sperm counts; generally lower sperm total motility percentage and generally lower quality sperm morphology. We compared patients by age (≤40 and >40 years): in the patients aged ≤40 years, the same results as for the overall study were reproduced; in the >40-years group, the same results were reproduced with the exception of morphology, which was not significantly different between the MENA and non-MENA patients. Conclusion: Semen quality is generally lower in male infertility patients from the MENA region compared to non-MENA regions. © 2018 Arab Association of UrologyScopu

Widening the Adaptation of White Clover by Incorporation of Valuable New Traits from Wild Clover Species

Although white clover (Trifolium repens) is the most widely used legume in grazed pastures of temperate and sub-tropical regions, it is severely restricted in genetic diversity for adaptive traits to low soil fertility and other stress environments, including drought. The objective of this research was to transfer traits for wider adaptation from other clover species by hybridisation. Eight Trifolium species with contrasting adaptations were shown by DNA sequence phylogenetics to be closely related to white clover. Interspecific hybridisation was undertaken among these species using embryo rescue, and an array of partially fertile F1 hybrids was obtained. Population development from these F1 hybrids showed that hybrids involving six taxa could be selected for high sexual fertility. Most showed strong inter-species chromosome pairing and the potential for introgression of exotic genomes into white clover. Several of the new genomic combinations, which do not occur in nature, will improve prospects for extending the adaptive range of white clover

Interference in strong-field ionization of a two-centre atomic system

Strong-field photoionization of argon dimers by a few-cycle laser pulse is investigated using electron-ion coincidence momentum spectroscopy. The momentum distribution of the photoelectrons exhibits interference due to the emission from the two atomic argon centres, in analogy with a Young's doubleslit experiment. However, a simulation of the dimer photoelectron momentum spectrum based on the atomic spectrum supplemented with a theoretically derived interference term leads to distinct deviations from the experimental result. The deviations may have their origin in a complex electron dynamics during strong-field ionization of the Ar2 dimer. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft