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Aim:To evaluate the profile of strabismus and amblyopia in patients presenting to a tertiary care institution in order to understand the disease burden.Materials and Methods:A retrospective, prospective hospital-based observational study was conducted at a tertiary level eye care hospital in India. All patients with strabismus or amblyopia who presented over a 1-year period were identified and referred to the squint clinic, where they were evaluated with a detailed clinical history and examination.Results:A total of 24475 patients were evaluated, of which 1950 had strabismus or amblyopia. The overall magnitude of amblyopia and strabismus was 2.0% [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.8-2.2)] and 6.9% (95% CI, 6.6-7.2), respectively. About 20% of those seeking an ophthalmic consultation were children and they constituted over half of the population referred to the squint clinic. Among younger children, the burden of amblyopia and strabismus was 84.4% and 26.6%, respectively. Among the referred patients, strabismus was noted in 84.6% (N = 1649), most of the cases of which was of the comitant subtype (78.1%, N = 1288) with an equal distribution of exotropia and esotropia. Paralytic [12.9% (N = 251)] and restrictive [4.7% (N = 85)] squint constituted the remaining burden of strabismus.Conclusion:Strabismus and amblyopia affect a sizeable proportion of patients presenting to a tertiary care ophthalmology setup. A significantly higher burden is present in the pediatric population. The majority of the cases of strabismus are of a comitant variety, which do not merit tertiary level eye care. There is a need to improve pediatric eye care at a secondary level to reduce the immense burden on tertiary referral centers.

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<p>Sea spray aerosols (SSA) represent one of the largest sources of atmospheric particles since over two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans. They play an important role in climate and atmospheric chemistry, however, despite this a series of knowledge gaps hinder us from constraining their relevance. One critical question is why the physicochemical properties of nascent particles generated in the laboratory are so different from those measured in the ambient marine atmosphere. For example, a series of studies have highlighted that SSA generated in the laboratory exhibit essentially the same ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei as inorganic sea salt, regardless of the amounts of organic substances present in the seawater from which they were generated (e.g., Collins et al., 2016). This is in stark contrast to observations of ambient marine aerosols - their ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei is often significantly reduced in comparison (Swietlicki et al., 2000).</p> <p>To address this discrepancy, we prepared a novel experimental setup in which we deployed a chemical ionisation mass spectrometer (CIMS) with an Aim inlet in a setup together with a sea spray simulation chamber, an oxidative flow reactor (OFR), and a differential mobility particle sizer (DMPS) at Graciosa Island, Azores, in the eastern north Atlantic Ocean during summer 2022 as a part of the AGENA campaign.</p> <p>We used freshly-sampled ocean water to generate SSA that were aged in an OFR for an equivalent period of 3 to 3.5 days in the atmosphere. We recorded the gas-phase chemical composition of nascent and aged aerosols using the AIM-CIMS with multiple reagent ions, collected filter samples for offline analysis of the particle-phase chemical composition, and used a DMPS to compare the particle size distribution and concentration.</p> <p>The first results of our study show that the volatile organic compounds released from the sampled ocean water considerably nucleate when they are oxidized in the OFR. Furthermore, the chemical analysis of these gases reveals an increase in the concentration of DMS oxidation products, such as methane sulfonic acid, when the nascent SSAs along with the gases in the tank headspace are exposed to oxidants in the OFR. However, we did not observe any substantial differences in the concentration and size distribution of the accumulation and larger-mode particles for primary and aged SSA. This could be attributed to extensive nucleation taking place in the OFR. It is possible that in the real world, these VOCs would rather condense on the primary SSA than form new particles.</p> <p>In this presentation we will compare the properties of ambient SSA particles in the Eastern North Atlantic and those generated and aged with our experimental setup using real seawater in an attempt to address the discrepancy.</p> <p>Collins, D. B.<em>, et al.</em>, <em>Geophys. Res. Lett. </em><strong>2016, </strong><em>43 </em>(18), 9975-9983.</p> <p>Swietlicki, E.<em>, et al.</em>, <em>Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology </em><strong>2000, </strong><em>52 </em>(2), 201-227</p>