The Health Consequences of Urbanization in Nepal: Perspectives from a Participatory Photo Project with Recent Rural-Urban Migrants

What new challenges to health do recent rural-to-urban migrants in Nepal face? How do newly urbanized individuals navigate and seek healthcare in the city? This photo essay offers a glimpse of the answers to these questions from the perspective of newly urbanized people living in Kirtipur and Pokhara, two rapidly growing urban areas in Nepal. It draws on a nine-month participatory study which used participatory photography, amongst other methods, to better understand the health opportunities and risks faced by new rural-urban migrants. All photographs presented in this essay were taken and selected by research participants and are accompanied by their narrations of what these images represent to them. Consequently, this essay provides insights into how the newly urbanized themselves understand threats to their health, and how they understand the urban health system they are confronted with as service users

Effect of age, sex, stimulus intensity, and eccentricity on saccadic reaction time in eye movement perimetry

Purpose: In eye movement perimetry (EMP), the extent of the visual field is tested by assessing the saccades using an eye tracker. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of age and sex of the subjects, the eccentricity and intensity of the peripheral stimuli on saccadic reaction time (SRT), and the interaction between these parameters in healthy participants. Methods: Healthy participants aged between 20 to 70 years underwent a complete ophthalmic examination and an EMP test. SRT was determined from detected peripheral stimuli of four intensity levels. A multilevel mixed-model analysis was used to verify the influence of subject and stimulus characteristics on SRT within the tested visual field. Results: Ninety-five subjects (mean age 43.0 [15.0] years) were included. Age, stimulus intensity, and eccentricity had a statistically significant effect on SRT, not sex. SRTs were significantly faster with increasing stimulus intensity and decreasing eccentricity (P < 0.001). At the lowest stimulus intensity of 192 cd/m2, a significant interaction was found between age and eccentricity. Conclusions: The current study demonstrated significant SRT dependence across the visual field measured up to 278, irrespective of sex. The presented SRT values may serve as a first normative guide for EMP. Translational Relevance: This report of SRT interaction can aid in refining its use as a measure of visual field responsiveness

Application of remote sensing techniques to deal with scale aspects of GRACE data to quantify groundwater levels

Groundwater has become an indispensable source of irrigation and drinking water. Industrial dependence on groundwater has also increased drastically. This has led to the rapid exploitation of groundwater. There is accelerating concern about the depletion of groundwater water levels and the deterioration of groundwater quality due to geogenic and anthropogenic causes. The availability of groundwater data is a huge concern, as it requires both time and capital. GRACE satellite project has become a very important tool for groundwater data access. The latest version of GRACE data provides terrestrial water storage, which is the sum of surface and groundwater. The present study details the method to access GRACE satellite data and prepare a spatial map for analysis. It also discusses how to handle data at different resolutions to quantify meaningful correlations. Further, groundwater data is correlated with nitrate data (both are at different grid resolutions) to throw light on the relationship between the important anthropogenic contaminant (nitrate) and groundwater levels. This provides insights into the linkage of quantity with quality. In brief, the important contributions of the paper are:• To provide the methodology to access GRCAE data and prepare spatial maps.• To handle the variables at different grid resolutions.• To correlate two GIS maps at different spatial resolutions

Globe rupture with aphakia, aniridia, secondary glaucoma and late corneal decompensation: A multi-staged approach to management

Severe blunt ocular trauma may result in immediate and delayed complications requiring appropriate management algorithms. We hereby report a case of globe rupture, aphakia, traumatic aniridia, and secondary glaucoma in a 33-year-old male following road traffic accident. He was treated initially by primary repair followed by novel combined approach of aniridia IOL with Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation. Delayed corneal decompensation required deferred penetrating keratoplasty. After a follow-up of 3.5 years after last surgery, patient maintains good functional vision with stable IOL, clear corneal graft and controlled intraocular pressure. A meticulously planned and staged management approach appears better suited in complex ocular trauma in such scenarios giving a good structural and functional outcome

Management of complications in glaucoma surgery

Surgical option for glaucoma is considered when other modalities are not working out to keep the intraocular pressure under control. Since the surgical procedures for glaucoma disrupt the integrity of the globe, they are known to produce various complications. Some of those complications can be vision-threatening. To minimize the morbidity, it is very important that one should know how to prevent them, recognize them and treat them. The objective of this article is to provide insight into some of those complications that will help the ophthalmologists in treating glaucoma patients in their clinical practice

Investigation of a novel ionic liquid, Cyphos IL 104 for the solvent extraction of mineral acids

A variety of mineral acids is used in metallurgical processes which generate a huge amount of waste solutions containing such acids. Effective recovery of these acids can yield value added products which can minimize health and environmental hazards. The present investigation deals with the use of an ionic liquid as an extractant for the recovery of mineral acids. Extraction behavior of an equimolar concentration (1 M) of different mineral acids such as HCl, H2SO4, H3PO4, HClO4 and HNO3 was investigated using an ionic liquid, "Cyphos IL 104" (trihexyl(tetradecyl) phosphonium bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) phosphinate) (IR4P+[A(-)]). The stoichiometry of extraction of the acid by the ionic liquid examined by Job's method indicated the involvement of 1 mol of Cyphos IL 104 for the extraction of 1 mol of acid. Loading capacity of Cyphos IL 104 for different acids was particularly investigated. McCabe Thiele plots drawn for the extraction of HCl and HNO3 by using 0.5 M Cyphos IL 104 indicated that two stages are required for complete extraction of 1 M HCl; at O/A ratio of 2.2:1, whereas only one stage is required for complete extraction of 1 M HNO3 at O/A ratio of 2:1. Stripping study of loaded Cyphos IL 104 was examined using distilled water and NaOH solution. Regenerated Cyphos IL 104 exhibited similar extraction efficiency as that of virgin Cyphos IL 104. Extraction of hydrochloric acid by Cyphos IL 104 has also been studied in the presence of the lanthanum (III) ions with the aim of processing the leach solutions of rare earths containing resources. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved