ABSTRACT
Currently, the available indices to measure mangrove health are not comprehensive. An integrative ecological-socio economic index could give a better picture of the mangrove ecosystem health. This method explored all key biological, hydrological, ecological and socio-economic variables to form a comprehensive mangrove quality index. A total of 10 out of 43 variables were selected based on principal component analysis (PCA). They are aboveground biomass, crab abundance, soil carbon, soil nitrogen, number of phytoplankton species, number of diatom species, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, education level and fishing time spent by fishers. Two types of indices were successfully developed to indicate the health status viz., (1) Mangrove quality index for a specific category (MQISi ) and, (2) Overall mangrove quality index (MQI) to reflect the overall health status of the ecosystem. The indices for the five different categories were mangrove biotic integrity index ( M Q I S 1 ), mangrove soil index ( M Q I S 2 ), marine-mangrove index ( M Q I S 3 ), mangrove-hydrology index ( M Q I S 4 ) and mangrove socio-economic index ( M Q I S 5 ). The quality of the mangroves was classified from 1 to 5 viz. 1 (worst), 2 (bad), 3 (moderate), 4 (good), 5 (excellent). These MQI class could reflect the quality of mangrove forest which could be managed with the objective of improving its quality. Advantages of this method include: â¢PCA to select metrics from ecological-socioeconomic variablesâ¢Formulation of MQI based on selected metricsâ¢Comprehensive index to classify mangrove ecosystem health.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Ocular involvement in Behçets disease (BD) is characterized by recurrent inflammatory attacks leading to poor long-term visual prognosis. The development of biologic agents has heralded a new era in the management of BD uveitis enabling more targeted immune modulation with greater efficacy and has now become the first line agents. OBJECTIVE: To report a case of young gentleman with Behçets disease whose ocular recurrence was controlled with injection Adalimumab. CASE: A 31-year-old male with recurrent oral and genital ulcers with bilateral recurrent uveitis was diagnosed as bilateral ocular Behçet's disease based on positive HLA B51typing and ferning pattern in FFA. He was on oral Prednisolone and Cyclosporine and was advised for biological agents. On presentation to us, he had anterior uveitis with pseudophakia and secondary open angle glaucoma in right eye and posterior sub capsular cataract in left eye. After starting Inj Adalimumab with oral Methotrexate, he ocular inflammation was under control and patient underwent uneventful cataract surgery in left eye. Over 1-year follow-up, the patient is on remission, on injection Adalimumab with the steroid tapered off. CONCLUSION: Biological agents like Adalimumab is effective in controlling recurrences in Behçet's disease.
