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ABSTRACT:The respirable particle matter (PM 10 ) concentration in urban areas has been a chronic cause concern and principal reason for increased morbidity rate among resident population. The present study aimed at estimating a discrete event like mortality rate associated and attributable to excess particulate matter pollution in the Kathmandu Valley area. The Government of Nepal conducts air monitoring of particulates at its air monitoring site network covering valley area. Adopting the data available with respect to PM 10 and with several other considerations like cutoff value for PM 10 , mean annual concentration, demographic data of valley, exceedance to the reference cutoff value, attributable fraction evolution and computation relative risk attributable to PM 10 was computed. Assumption was made about the relative risk of long-term average PM 10 exposure on natural mortality estimated and reported from a previous study. The estimation or mortality rate in our case was 0.95% after all these considerations and computation. This implies that 95 deaths out of 10,000 deaths are due to particulate pollution existing in the Kathmandu Valley Area.

Presence of eyelid on anterior ocular surface and its thermal effects play significant role in maintaining eye temperature. In most of the literatures of thermal modeling in human eye, the eyelid is not considered as an eye component. In this paper, finite element model is developed to investigate the thermal effects of eyelid closure and opening in human eye. Based on different properties and parameter values reported in literatures, the bio-heat transfer process is simulated and compared with experimental results in steady and transient state cases. The sensitivity analysis using various ambient temperatures, evaporation rates, blood temperatures and lens thermal conductivities is carried out. The temperature values so obtained in open eye show a good agreement with past results. The closure of eyelid is found to increase/decrease the eye temperature significantly than its opening, when the parameter values are considered to be at extreme.

Blinking is regarded as the continuous interrupted eyelid closure or opening and its thermal effect will compromise between these two. During a blink, the heat loss via convection, radiation and tear evaporation from cornea is prevented, warm tear is layered across corneal surface and the vessels of the palpebral conjunctiva provide heat to anterior eye. In most of the thermal models in human eye that are found in literatures, effect of blinking is not included, simulation is carried out only in open eye. Thus, in this paper, thermal effects of blinking are investigated using one-dimensional finite element method in transient state case. The bio-heat transfer process is simulated during different blinking rates, lid closure and opening. The simulation is carried out using normal and extreme values of ambient temperatures, blood temperatures, evaporation rates, blood perfusion rates, and lens thermal conductivities. Blinking is found to increase corneal and lens temperature by 1.29 • C and 0.78 • C respectively when compared to open eye. The results obtained from this model are useful in predicting temperature distribution in different laser eye surgeries, hyperthermia and cryosurgery treatment of eyelid carcinoma, choroidal melanoma and can be used for diagnosing temperature-related diseases.

In this paper, a bio-heat transfer model of temperature distribution in human eye is discussed using appropriate boundary conditions for cornea and sclera. Variational finite element method with Crank-Nicolson scheme is used to calculate the transient temperature distribution in normal human eye. The temperature with and without the effect of blood perfusion and metabolism on retina is simulated and compared for various ambient temperatures, evaporation rates and lens thermal conductivities. The obtained results are compared with experimental results and past results found in literatures. The results show that the steady state corneal temperature is achieved in around 31 and 45 minute of exposure at ambient temperatures 10˚C and 50˚C respectively. Steady state eye temperature is achieved earlier at higher evaporation rate. Similar result is achieved for higher lens thermal conductivity and also for lower ambient temperature.