Normative Findings for Periocular Anthropometric Measurements among Chinese Young Adults in Hong Kong

Measurement of periocular structures is of value in several clinical specialties including ophthalmology, optometry, medical and clinical genetics, oculoplastic surgery, and traumatology. Therefore we aimed to determine the periocular anthropometric norms for Chinese young adults using a noninvasive 3D stereophotography system. Craniofacial images using the 3dMDface system were acquired for 103 Chinese subjects (51 males and 52 females) between the ages of 18 and 35 years. Anthropometric landmarks were identified on these digital images according to standard definitions, and linear distances between these landmarks were calculated. It was found that ocular measurements were significantly larger in Chinese males than females for intercanthal width, biocular width, and eye fissure lengths. No gender differences were found in the eye fissure height and the canthal index which ranged between 43 and 44. Both right and left eye fissure height-length ratios were significantly larger in females. This is the first study to employ 3D stereophotogrammetry to create a database of anthropometric normative data for periocular measurements. These data would be useful for clinical interpretation of periocular pathology and serve as reference values when planning aesthetic and posttraumatic surgical interventions

Repeatability and reproducibility of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging of the liver

As the burden of liver disease reaches epidemic levels, there is a high unmet medical need to develop robust, accurate and reproducible non-invasive methods to quantify liver tissue characteristics for use in clinical development and ultimately in clinical practice. This prospective cross-sectional study systematically examines the repeatability and reproducibility of iron-corrected T1 (cT1), T2*, and hepatic proton density fat fraction (PDFF) quantification with multiparametric MRI across different field strengths, scanner manufacturers and models. 61 adult participants with mixed liver disease aetiology and those without any history of liver disease underwent multiparametric MRI on combinations of 5 scanner models from two manufacturers (Siemens and Philips) at different field strengths (1.5T and 3T). We report high repeatability and reproducibility across different field strengths, manufacturers, and scanner models in standardized cT1 (repeatability CoV: 1.7%, bias -7.5ms, 95% LoA of -53.6 ms to 38.5 ms; reproducibility CoV 3.3%, bias 6.5 ms, 95% LoA of -76.3 to 89.2 ms) and T2* (repeatability CoV: 5.5%, bias -0.18 ms, 95% LoA -5.41 to 5.05 ms; reproducibility CoV 6.6%, bias -1.7 ms, 95% LoA -6.61 to 3.15 ms) in human measurements. PDFF repeatability (0.8%) and reproducibility (0.75%) coefficients showed high precision of this metric. Similar precision was observed in phantom measurements. Inspection of the ICC model indicated that most of the variance in cT1 could be accounted for by study participants (ICC = 0.91), with minimal contribution from technical differences. We demonstrate that multiparametric MRI is a non-invasive, repeatable and reproducible method for quantifying liver tissue characteristics across manufacturers (Philips and Siemens) and field strengths (1.5T and 3T)

Investigation of trace metals in air particulate matter collected from Colombo

The suspended particulate matter (SPM) in air is a complex multi-phase mixture of all airborne chemicals.Among the airborne inorganic chemicals, compounds associated with heavy metals have subjected tonumerous chemical investigations due their known health effects. Uniqueness of the heavy metalshas attributed its use in identifying or tracing the pollutant sources through source apportionmentstudies and in understanding the distribution of pollutants through computer modeling.In general, airborne metals exist in trace quantities. The suspended particulate matter may contain themetallic species as fine particles or they may have adsorbed onto other particulate matter originatedfrom natural or human activities. Agglomerated heavier particle settles due to gravitation and pose alesser risk to human health. Finer particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 urn (PM2) arebelieved to posses the biggest health threat through respirationCentral Environmental Authority (CEA) has been involved in air quality monitoring at the ColomboFort Railway Station. Using their high volume air sampler, particles having aerodynamic diameter lessthan I0 ~L1n(PM 10) were collected onto glass fiber filters daily during the period of November 2003 toNovember 2005 November. They were gravimetrically analyzed by CEA. This study was focused tofurther investigate randomly selected filters (two filters per month) to differentiate the levels of selectedmetals during the period. The filters were acid digested to recover the airborne metallic species.Levels of copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and manganese (Mn) were analyzed byusing atom ic absorption spectrophotometer at the Department of Chemistry, University of ColomboThe average concentrations found during the study were Cu = 0.29 ± 0.25 ng/rri', N i = 0.21 ± 0.1 0 ng/m', Pb = 0.59 ± 0.48 ng/rn", Cd = 0.03 ± 0.03 ng/rn ', Mn = 0.43 ± 0.22 ng/rn '. During the study periodPb levels were found to be the highest and Cd levels were found to be the lowest. The maximumairborne levels were 1.24 ng/rn ' for ClI in April 2005,0.56 ng/rn ' for Ni in January 2005,2.37 ng/m 'for Pb in February 2004, 0.09 ng/m ' for Cd in February 2004 and 0.78 ng/rn ' for Ni in May 2005.On average the minimum airborne levels were found in the period of May to August. This is attributedto the settling of particles with rainfall as well as the wind patterns which drifts the pollutants awayfrom the sampler during the season. From November to Apri I all the five metals have showed relati velyhigher concentrations compared to any other months in each year. This may be due to poor dispersionpatterns in the Colombo air which results in stagnating pollutants. In general, wind speed is relativelyhigher for the period of May to August compared to the period of November to AprilThe most prevailing metal in the Colombo air is Pb while the least prevailing metal is Cd. The levelsofPb have demonstrated a pronounced decline in concentration starting from April 2005 whrch coincideswith the introductiorr of un-leaded petrol to Sri Lankan market in January 2004.

Stability of Breakwater Armor Units against Tsunami Attacks

The design of breakwater armour units against tsunami attacks has received little attention in the past because of the comparative low frequency of these events and the rarity of structures designed specifically to withstand them. However, field surveys of recent events, such as the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake Tsunami and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, have shown flaws in the design of protection structures. During these extreme events, many breakwaters suffered partial or catastrophic damage. Although it is to be expected that most normal structures fail due to such high order events, practicing engineers need to possess tools to design certain important breakwaters that should not fail even during level 2 events. Research into the design of critical structures that only partially fail (i.e., “resilient” or “tenacious” structures) during a very extreme level 2 tsunami event should be prioritized in the future, and in this sense the present paper proposes a formula that allows the estimation of armour unit damage depending on the tsunami wave height

Failure Mechanisms and Local Scour at Coastal Structures induced by Tsunamis

On March 11 2011, an exceptionally large tsunami event was triggered by a massive earthquake offshore, the northeast coast of Japan, which affected coastal infrastructure such as seawalls, coastal dikes and breakwaters in the Tohoku region. Such infrastructure was built to protect against the Level 1 tsunamis that previously hit the region, but not for events as significant as the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, which was categorized as a Level 2 tsunami [Shibayama et al. 2013]. The failure mechanisms of concrete-armoured dikes, breakwaters and seawalls due to Level 2 tsunamis are still not fully understood by researchers and engineers. This paper investigates the failure modes and mechanisms of damaged coastal structures in Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures, following the authors' post-disaster field surveys carried out between 2011 and 2013. Six significant failure mechanisms were identified for the coastal dikes and seawalls affected by this tsunami: 1) Leeward toe scour failure, 2) Crown armour failure, 3) Leeward slope armour failure, 4) Seaward toe and armour failure, 5) Overturning failure, and 6) Parapet wall failure, in which leeward toe scour being recognized as the major failure mechanism in most surveyed locations. The authors also propose a simple practical mathematical model for predicting the scour depth at the leeward toe of the coastal dikes, by considering the effects of the tsunami hydrodynamics, the soil properties and the type of structure. The key advantage of this model is that it depends entirely on quantities that are measurable in the field. Furthermore this model was further refined by conducting a series of hydraulic model experiments aimed to understand the governing factors of the leeward toe scour failure. Finally, based on the results obtained, key recommendations are given for the design of resilient coastal defence structures that can survive a level 2 tsunami event

Biodiversity baseline survey of up country tea plantations in Nuwara Eliya District, Sri Lanka

Tea plantation is a prominent and very abundant land use type in the up country of Sri Lanka. Though they are disturbed habitats they still sustains a significant portion of up country biodiversity. Here we have studied the floral and faunal diversity of five selected tea estates in the Nuwara Eliya District, Sri Lanka. Though this type of studies has been carried out previously, most of them have only covered a few well known taxa. The present study has covered all vertebrate taxa excluding fishes, three main invertebrate taxa namely butterflies, odonates (dragonflies and damselflies) and land mollusks and higher plants widening the knowledge on biodiversity in up country tea plantations and providing baseline information for biodiversity conservation. Seven major habitat types were surveyed randomly in order to record flora and fauna. They are managed tea plantations, streams and ponds, wet marshy grasslands, fuel wood plantations, abandoned land, rock outcrops and anthropogenic habitats. Field work was carried out randomly from March 2011 to June 2012. Both day and night sampling was done and direct observations, indirect observations and reliable information from local people were used for the survey. Visual encounter survey method was the main sampling technique used during field surveys.Presence of 245 fauna and 158 flora species at the up country tea plantations in Nuwara Eliya district was confirmed during the study carried out. The vertebrates comprises of 22 amphibians, 19 reptiles, 95 birds and 21 mammals including 16, 10, 10 and 2 endemics respectively. The recorded bird fauna consists of 16 migrant species and 1 species known to have both migrant and resident population within the country. The invertebrates recorded from the study comprises of 43 butterflies, 18 land snails and 27 odonates. Respectively these invertebrate taxa consist of 2, 8 and 7 endemic species. A total of 28 vertebrates and 10 invertebrates are threatened species according to the 2007 Redlist of threatened fauna and flora in Sri Lanka. Endangered species such as the agamid lizards Calotes liocephalus and Ceratophora stoddartii, butterflies Udara lanka and Euthalia lubentina were found to be very rare within the study area as all of them were recorded on only one occasion during the study period. The 158 species of flora recorded from the study area comprised of 95 introduced species, 52 native species and 11 endemic species. From the introduced plants 46 were weeds and 17 were invasive plants. 5 of the recorded plant species are nationally threatenedOne of the main conservation issues observed at the study area was the spread of alien invasive species. Invasive fauna such as the mollusks Milax gagates, Allopeas gracile, Bradybaena similaris, Deroceras reticulatum and invasive flora such as Clidermia hirta, Eupatorium riparium and Ludwigia peruviana were commonly found in the surveyed areas. Other main conservation issues are use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and soil erosion. Increase of organic farming practices and habitat enrichment programs may improve the biodiversity in these plantations. Aforestation of native plant species especially butterfly host plants and fruit trees, eradication of alien invasive species, establishment of reserved forest areas are some steps that can be followed in order to achieve this

Burkholderia pseudomallei in soil and natural water bodies in rural Sri Lanka: A hidden threat to public health

Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of the potentially fatal infection, melioidosis. This study provides the first evidence for the presence of B. pseudomallei in soil and water in Sri Lanka. Targeted sampling of soil and natural water sources was done between November 2019 and October 2020 over eight field visits encompassing the neighborhood of 28 culture and/or antibody-positive melioidosis patients in northwestern, western and southern Sri Lanka. A total of eight environmental isolates of B. pseudomallei (BPs-env1 to BPs-env8) were cultured from 116 soil and 117 natural water samples collected from 72 locations. The presence of B. pseudomallei in soil and natural water in these areas poses a risk of melioidosis for populations cultivating crops in such soils and using untreated water from these sources for drinking, bathing, and other domestic purposes. Identifying sites positive for B. pseudomallei may help to mitigate risk by raising public awareness of contaminated environmental sources and allowing soil and water remediation