Nitrogen dynamics as a function of soil types, compaction, and moisture.

In this study, the complex interactions between soil types, compaction, and moisture on nitrogen (N) transformation processes such as ammonia (NH3) volatilization, ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification were examined over a 30-day period using a simulated column approach. Two soil types: loam, and sandy loam, were subjected to three compaction treatments-control, surface, and sub-surface compaction-and two moisture regimes, dry and wet. Liquid urea ammonium nitrate (32-0-0) was used as the N fertilizer source at a rate of 200 kg N ha-1. Key indicators of N transformations were measured, including residual concentrations of ammonium (NH4-N) and nitrate (NO3-N), NO3-N leaching, NH3 volatilization, and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Findings revealed that compaction significantly increased residual NH4-N concentrations in deeper soil profiles, with the highest 190.80 mg kg-1 recorded in loam soil under sub-surface compaction and dry conditions. Nitrification rates decreased across both soil types due to compaction, evidenced by elevated residual NH4-N levels. Increased NO3-N leaching was observed in loam soil (178.06 mg L-1), greater than sandy loam (81.11 mg L-1), due to initial higher residual NO3- in loam soil. The interaction of compaction and moisture most affected N2O emissions, with the highest emissions in control treatments during dry weather at 2.88 kg ha -1. Additionally, higher NH3 volatilization was noted in moist sandy loam soil under control conditions at 19.64 kg ha -1. These results highlight the necessity of considering soil texture, moisture, and compaction in implementing sustainable N management strategies in agriculture and suggest recommendations such as avoiding broadcast application in moist sandy loam and loam soil to mitigate NH3 volatilization and enhance N use efficiency, as well as advocating for readjustment of fertilizer rate based on organic matter content to reduce potential NO3-N leaching and N2O emissions, particularly in loam soil.

Jellylike Bumps on Scleral Contact Lens of a Child Aged 13 Years.

This case report discusses the finding of calculi on the scleral contact lens of a 13-year-old child with a history of keratoconus.

Contact lenses in dry eye disease and associated ocular surface disorders.

Dry eye disease (DED) is prevalent in all age groups and is known to cause chronic ocular discomfort and pain, and greatly affects the quality of life. Patients with ocular surface disease (OSD) may also have reduced tear secretion due to lacrimal gland damage, thus leading to aqueous deficient DED. Even with conventional management modalities such as lubricating eyedrops, topical corticosteroids, autologous serum eyedrops, or punctal plugs, many patients continue to suffer from debilitating symptoms. Contact lenses are increasingly being used in OSD providing surface hydration, protection from environmental insults, mechanical damage from abnormal lids, and as a modality for constant drug delivery to the ocular surface. This review describes the role of soft lenses and rigid gas-permeable scleral lenses in the management of DED associated with OSD. The efficacy of contact lenses, lens selection, and optimal lens fit are reviewed for specific indications.

Endotracheal Intubation at 3,600 Meters Above Sea Level for High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema Followed by Helicopter Evacuation in Nepal.

Ranging from 64 to 8848 m above sea level, Nepal is a country rich in hilly and mountainous terrain.1 24.8% of Nepal's land area is above 3000 m, 18.9% is between 3000 and 5000 m, and 5.9% is above 5000 m.2 Hikers and trekkers are increasingly attracted to this challenging altitude and terrain, which presents risks for altitude sickness and other physical complications. Responding to medical emergencies in high-altitude areas in Nepal is highly challenging. This difficulty is often exacerbated by inclement weather, unavailability of helicopters, and poor communication regarding the location and condition of patients requiring medical attention and evacuation. High-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) is an illness characterized by non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema, which occurs not infrequently in individuals who rapidly ascend above 2500-3000 m in elevation,3 and which has a high mortality rate if not treated in a timely manner. Improved outcomes would be likely if skilled and equipped medical staff had better access to the sites of high-altitude expeditions in Nepal, so that life-saving interventions could be performed promptly. We report the case of a patient with HAPE who was intubated in the field at an altitude of 3600 m, and then evacuated via helicopter to a healthcare facility.

Desmoplastic trichoepithelioma: A clinicopathological study of three cases and a review of the literature.

Desmoplastic trichoepithelioma (DTE) is a rare benign adnexal tumor with the characteristic features of asymptomatic, solitary, annular, indurated and centrally depressed papules or plaques, most commonly occurring in younger individuals on the face. Microscopically and clinically, DTE may be difficult to distinguish from other cutaneous adnexal neoplasms, particularly syringoma, cutaneous metastatic breast cancer, morpheaform basal cell carcinoma and microcystic adnexal carcinoma. The present study reports three cases of DTE. The first case was of a 45-year-old male with an asymptomatic flesh-colored plaque below the right edge of the outer canthus that had been present for seven years. The second case was of a 23-year-old female with an asymptomatic skin lesion on the right cheek that had slowly and progressively increased in size. The third case was of a 26-year-old female who presented with a hard yellowish-white plaque, which gradually grew and formed a rectangular, 3×4-cm patch, on the tip of the left brow. This plaque was present for three years without evident cause or subjective symptoms. In all three cases, the routine systemic examinations and laboratory findings were normal. Histopathological and immunohistochemical findings from incisional biopsies of the lesions were consistent with a diagnosis of DTE. DTE treatment methods and immunohistochemical markers were analyzed by reviewing clinical pathological aspects in order to avoid a misdiagnosis and to provide the best available treatment approach for DTE.

Geometric feature-based facial expression recognition in image sequences using multi-class AdaBoost and support vector machines.

Facial expressions are widely used in the behavioral interpretation of emotions, cognitive science, and social interactions. In this paper, we present a novel method for fully automatic facial expression recognition in facial image sequences. As the facial expression evolves over time facial landmarks are automatically tracked in consecutive video frames, using displacements based on elastic bunch graph matching displacement estimation. Feature vectors from individual landmarks, as well as pairs of landmarks tracking results are extracted, and normalized, with respect to the first frame in the sequence. The prototypical expression sequence for each class of facial expression is formed, by taking the median of the landmark tracking results from the training facial expression sequences. Multi-class AdaBoost with dynamic time warping similarity distance between the feature vector of input facial expression and prototypical facial expression, is used as a weak classifier to select the subset of discriminative feature vectors. Finally, two methods for facial expression recognition are presented, either by using multi-class AdaBoost with dynamic time warping, or by using support vector machine on the boosted feature vectors. The results on the Cohn-Kanade (CK+) facial expression database show a recognition accuracy of 95.17% and 97.35% using multi-class AdaBoost and support vector machines, respectively.