Ashes to eye: A skilled snake handler's experience with ophthalmic envenomation.

With the continued growth of human populations, rural urbanisation and habitat degradation are on the rise, resulting in the displacement of native wildlife and an increase in human-wildlife conflicts. The presence of human habitation and waste often attracts rodents and thereby, snakes, leading to increased snake sightings in homes. To address this problem, snake handlers, who are volunteers that remove and relocate snakes away from human development areas, are called upon. However, snake removal is a high-risk task that poses a risk of envenomation, particularly when dealing with spitting snakes. Several cobra species have the ability to spit venom. If the venom enters a person's eye, it can result in ophthalmic envenomation, which can have serious consequences for their eyesight. Therefore, snake handlers should take precautions, wear suitable eye protection, and use appropriate tools to ensure their safety and that of the snake. In this case, an experienced snake handler was called to remove a spitting cobra, but they were ill-equipped. During the removal, the venom was sprayed across the handler's face, and some of it entered their eye, resulting in ophthalmic envenomation. The handler promptly irrigated their eye, but medical treatment was still necessary. This report highlights the risks and consequences of ophthalmic injury and the importance of wearing appropriate eye protection and taking due care when dealing with venomous species, particularly those that can spit venom. It serves as a reminder that accidents can happen at any time and experienced snake handlers are not exempt from the risks.

Real-Time Monitoring of Tetraselmis suecica in A Saline Environment as Means of Early Water Pollution Detection.

Biological water pollution, including organic pollutants and their possible transportation, via biofouling and ballast water, has the potential to cause severe economic and health impacts on society and environment. Current water pollution monitoring methods are limited by transportation of samples to the laboratory for analysis, which could take weeks. There is an urgent need for a water quality monitoring technique that generates real-time data. The study aims to assess the feasibility of three sensing techniques to detect and monitor the concentrations of the model species Tetraselmis suecica in real-time using eleven samples for each method. Results showed UV-Vis spectrophotometer detected increasing concentration of Tetraselmis suecica with R² = 0.9627 and R² = 0.9672, at 450 nm and 650 nm wavelengths, respectively. Secondly, low-frequency capacitance measurements showed a linear relationship with increasing concentration of Tetraselmis suecica at 150 Hz (R² = 0.8463) and 180 Hz (R² = 0.8391). Finally, a planar electromagnetic wave sensor measuring the reflected power S11 amplitude detected increasing cell density at 4 GHz (R² = 0.8019).