A brief report of the final round of the first World Physics Olympiad (WoPhO) held in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia is presented. The theoretical and experimental problems are presented and the mark distribution is discussed. —

We extend the 1/N_c meson-baryon scattering formalism to pi N to multi-pi N case. We first show that the leading-order large N_c processes proceed through resonant intermediate states (e.g., rho N or pi Delta). We find that the pole structure of baryon resonances can be uniquely identified by their (non)appearance in eta N or mixed partial-wave pi Delta final states.

We estimate the reaction mechanisms for the photoproduction of the {Theta}{sup +}(1540) resonance on the nucleon, through K and K* Regge exchanges. We compare the size of the cross sections for the {gamma}n {yields} K{sup -} {Theta}{sup +} and {gamma}p {yields} {bar K}{sup 0} {Theta}{sup +} reactions, and investigate their sensitivity to the spin-parity assignments J{sup P} = (1/2){sup {+-}}, (3/2){sup {+-}} for the {Theta}{sup +} resonance. The model allows to estimate the cross sections corresponding with a given upper bound on the width of the {Theta}{sup +}. Within this model, the cross sections on the neutron are found to be around a factor 5 larger than the ones on the proton, due to the presence of charged K exchange for the reaction on a neutron target. Furthermore, the photon asymmetry is found to display a pronounced sensitivity to the parity of the {Theta}{sup +}, making it a very promising observable to help determining the quantum numbers of the {Theta}{sup +} resonance.

Melanoma in children is rare. Nevertheless, it is imperative that clinicians be aware that melanoma does occur in childhood. Yet there is very little information available on the clinico-pathologic variations, and the prognostic parameters of melanoma in children. This report presents the results of a multicenter study of 102 lesions originally diagnosed as cutaneous melanoma, conducted among 5 Western European countries and collected during the period 1961-1994. Criteria for inclusion in the study included: (1) diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma; (2) age up to 16 years at diagnosis; and (3) availability of representative microscopic slides. On the basis of the histologic review only, 60 lesions were confirmed as melanoma, and 42 lesions initially diagnosed as melanoma were reclassified as nevi; 31 of the latter contained a predominance of spindle cells. The only significant parameter associated with the development of metatases or fatal outcome was thickness of more than 2.00 mm. The 5-year survival rate observed in this study was 84%. Based on these findings we conclude that considerable over-diagnosis of melanomas in children occurs. In order, therefore, to give consistent epidemiological data on melanomas in children and to improve proper recognition of their diagnostic features, both by clinicians and by pathologists, we propose to set up a central registry of melanomas in children in Europe, under the auspices of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer.