Morphology of colorectal carcinoma among Nigerians: A 30-year review

Background: The incidence of colorectal carcinoma has been on the increase in the developing countries, including Nigeria, as a result of change in diet and adoption of western lifestyle.Objectives: The aim of this review is to highlight the prevalence, age and sex distribution, anatomical location, and morphological characteristics of colorectal carcinomas in Ilorin, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of all cases of histologically diagnosed colorectal carcinoma in the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria, over a 30-year period (January 1979–December 2008), using the departmental record and histological slides of the cases.Result: A total of 241 cases of colorectal carcinoma were reported, 144 cases (60%) in males and 96 cases (40%) in females with a male: female ratio of 1.5:1. The peak age of occurrence for males was between 51 and 60 years, while that of the females was between 41 and 50 years. The malignancy was found in the rectum in 60.2% of the cases, while the least affected site is the descending colon (1.2%). The exophytic occluding masses were found in 82.2% of the cases, and the most common histological type is adenocarcinoma (77.2%) with well-, moderately, and poorly differentiated forms constituting 52.3%, 32.8%, and 14.9% respectively. Of the 241 cases that were seen over the last 30 years, 93 cases (38.6%) were seen in the last 5 years.Conclusion: Colorectal carcinoma is no longer a rare disease in Nigeria. The surge in the incidence reported in the last 5 years in this center calls for a pragmatic action in its control, with emphasize on colonoscopic  screening for those with family history, and possibly making digital rectal examination a mandatory aspect of clinical examination, because most colorectal carcinomas are within the reach of examining finger

Geological and Electrical Resistivity Sounding of Olokonla Area in North-Central Nigeria

Geological mapping and Electrical resistivity sounding were carried out in Olokonla area in Moro Local Government of Kwara State in order to determine the apparent resistivities of the subsurface lithologies and correlate them with the exposed rocks observed during the geological mapping. The studies also delineate the pattern of fractures in the area which form prefential pathways for ground water. Three vertical electrical soundings (VES) were performed radially adopting the Schlumberger electrode configuration, with half-current electrode separation (AB/2) varying from 1m to 100m. Anisotropy polygon was also constructed based on the radial electrical sounding. The geoelectric parameters revealed five subsurface layers which were interpreted as topsoil, lateritic soil, dry sand soil, weathered granite and granite respectively. The geological mapping showed that the area is underlain by crystalline rocks comprising biotite granite, granite-gneiss and migmatite. The anisotropy polygon showed that a major fracture direction along 600 (northeast to southwest) and the coefficient of anisotropy is 0.79. Based on the apparent resistivities and the structural disposition, a potential aquifer was inferred at a depth of 45m. The fracture pattern in the area was constrained to northeast to southwest direction. The data obtained would be useful in borehole drilling for water within the study area.KEYWORDS: Vertical electrical sounding, aquifer, electrical resistivity, anisotropy polygon, geological mapping, fracture patter

A Dynamic Partial Computation Offloading for the Metaverse in In-Network Computing

The In-Network Computing (COIN) paradigm is a promising solution that leverages unused network resources to perform some tasks to meet up with computation-demanding applications, such as metaverse. In this vein, we consider the metaverse partial computation offloading problem for multiple subtasks in a COIN environment to minimise energy consumption and delay while dynamically adjusting the offloading policy based on the changing computation resources status. We prove that the problem is NP and thus transformed it into two subproblems: task splitting problem (TSP) on the user side and task offloading problem (TOP) on the COIN side. We modelled the TSP as an ordinal potential game (OPG) and proposed a decentralised algorithm to obtain its Nash Equilibrium (NE). Then, we model the TOP as Markov Decision Process (MDP) proposed double deep Q-network (DDQN) to solve for the optimal offloading policy. Unlike the conventional DDQN algorithm, where intelligent agents sample offloading decisions randomly within a certain probability, our COIN agent explores the NE of the TSP and the deep neural network. Finally, simulation results show that our proposed model approach allows the COIN agent to update its policies and make more informed decisions, leading to improved performance over time compared to the traditional baseline.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Inclusive knowledge production at an elementary school through family-school-university partnerships: A formative intervention study

Students from racially minoritized backgrounds have been disproportionately subject to exclusionary school discipline in the United States. Utilizing cultural-historical activity theory and the formative intervention methodology, we conducted a yearlong formative intervention, Learning Lab, in an elementary school with significant racial disproportionality in school discipline. Teachers, family members, administrators, support staff, and community members with diverse and often opposing histories and goals worked together to critically examine their existing behavioral support system and racial disparities in practices, assumptions, processes, and outcomes from multiple perspectives. We utilized the method of expansive learning actions to analyze qualitative data from ten subsequent sessions. Our findings showed that local stakeholders successfully formed and sustained a diverse working group that represented families, educators, researchers, and community members. Learning Lab members worked collaboratively to question their existing school practices and to examine the root causes of racial disproportionality through historical and empirical analyses. We discuss both possibilities and challenges regarding inclusive knowledge production and the systemic transformation process at local schools

Probing SUSY-induced CP violations at B factories

In the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), the \mu-parameter and the trilinear coupling A_t may be generically complex and can affect various observables at B factories. Imposing the edm constraints, we find that there is no new large phase shift in the B^0 - \bar{B^0} mixing, CP violating dilepton asymmetry is smaller than 0.1 %, and the direct CP violation in B\to X_s \gamma can be as large as \sim \pm 16 %.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

MSSM Higgs sector CP violation at photon colliders: Revisited

We present a comprehensive analysis on the MSSM Higgs sector CP violation at photon colliders including the chargino contributions as well as the contributions of other charged particles. The chargino loop contributions can be important for the would-be CP odd Higgs production at photon colliders. Polarization asymmetries are indispensable in determining the CP properties of neutral Higgs bosons.Comment: 24 pages, 40 figure

Effects of natural selection and gene conversion on the evolution of human glycophorins coding for MNS blood polymorphisms in malaria-endemic African populations

Malaria has been a very strong selection pressure in recent human evolution, particularly in Africa. Of the one million deaths per year due to malaria, more than 90% are in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with high levels of genetic variation and population substructure. However, there have been few studies of nucleotide variation at genetic loci that are relevant to malaria susceptibility across geographically and genetically diverse ethnic groups in Africa. Invasion of erythrocytes by Plasmodium falciparum parasites is central to the pathology of malaria. Glycophorin A (GYPA) and B (GYPB), which determine MN and Ss blood types, are two major receptors that are expressed on erythrocyte surfaces and interact with parasite ligands. We analyzed nucleotide diversity of the glycophorin gene family in 15 African populations with different levels of malaria exposure. High levels of nucleotide diversity and gene conversion were found at these genes. We observed divergent patterns of genetic variation between these duplicated genes and between different extracellular domains of GYPA. Specifically, we identified fixed adaptive changes at exons 3-4 of GYPA. By contrast, we observed an allele frequency spectrum skewed toward a significant excess of intermediate-frequency alleles at GYPA exon 2 in many populations; the degree of spectrum distortion is correlated with malaria exposure, possibly because of the joint effects of gene conversion and balancing selection. We also identified a haplotype causing three amino acid changes in the extracellular domain of glycophorin B. This haplotype might have evolved adaptively in five populations with high exposure to malaria

Diagnosis of Pseudoangiomatous Stromal Hyperplasia of the Breast: Ultrasonography Findings and Different Biopsy Methods

of the breast is a rare, benign condition that can be mistaken as a fibroadenoma on an ultrasound examination or as a lowgrade angiosarcoma on a histological examination. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ultrasound features and to present biopsy methods to correctly identify PASH. Patients and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 55 women who were diagnosed with PASH of the breast. Ultrasound features were evaluated according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS; American College of Radiology). The diagnostic ability of different biopsy methods such as core needle biopsy, vacuum-assisted biopsy and excisional biopsy were analyzed with the final histopathological results of surgical specimens. Results: PASH presented as a circumscribed solid mass, with hypoechoic texture with or without heterogeneity, and a parallel orientation