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Purpose: To study the clinical spectrum and recovery patterns in patients of acquired isolated ocular motor nerve palsies (OMNPs). Methods: Patients above 5 years of age with various etiologies of OMNPs were included. Demographic and ocular details were recorded, and a squint assessment was performed. Recovery patterns at 3 and 6 months were noted. Results: OMNP was more common in adults, in the order VI > III > IV nerve. Ischemic cause (35%) was followed by idiopathic (26.3%). III nerve palsies were all unilateral, of which all ischemic palsies were pupil-sparing. By 6 months, >50 patients showing complete recovery had ischemic and idiopathic palsies. Smaller baseline deviation correlated with better recovery. Conclusion: Acquired isolated OMNPs are mostly ischemia-related, with >80% of cases fully recovering by 6 months. VI nerve palsy of ischemic or idiopathic etiology and small baseline deviation were associated with self-recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Soufrière Hills Volcano, on the island of Montserrat, has an eruption history spanning over 2 million years. During this time the volcano has undergone multiple eruptions with intervening periods of low activity or dormancy. The most recent activity began in 1995 and has seen a series of major eruptive events. One of the most recent of these, and the focus of this study, occurred on the 20th May 2006. This major dome collapse produced 90 million m³ of volcanic material in only 3 hours, propelling ash clouds through the air and pyroclastic flows down the side of the volcano and into the sea. In this study of benthic foraminifera, cores from four sites off-shore Montserrat are analysed, including those collected from a location within the path of the 2006 ash cloud, around 10 km west of the Montserrat coast. In this area, one core contained 6–7 cm of ash overlying hemipelagic sediments. Volcanic ash is present in two distinct layers, one 3 cm layer produced by the 2006 eruption and the other, 3–4 cm layer, from an earlier eruption in 2003. Other cores were collected from areas unaffected by recent ash fall deposits and provide a base line for comparisons within the affected areas. To the east and south-east of Montserrat there is a different situation as this is the direction of travel of massive pyroclastic flows down the Tar Valley and the impact on the sea floor is more dramatic. There are also two extinct volcanic centres that allow the investigation of sea floor re-colonization on different time scales. The sites to the west of Montserrat record rapid colonization by benthic foraminifera of opportunistic taxa, comparable to that seen near Mt Pinatubo in the South China Sea while the sites to the east record a slower pattern of re-colonization by a wider spectrum of taxa, similar to that recorded at Deception Island in the Southern Ocean, with different benthic taxa performing the pioneering role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild juvenile chinook salmon appear to spend an extended period of time in the estuary of the Smith River, California. Based on recovery patterns of freeze-branded juveniles released from June through August, 2000, mean estuarine residence time ranged from 8.3-13.8 d during June and July, and increased to an estimated 38.3 d for fish marked and released in August.  Based on computer simulations of the process of estuarine entrance and exit, and on evidence of estuarine growth of juvenile Chinook salmon, it appears that these estimates of mean residence times were negatively biased. True mean residence times calculated in other studies may also be considerably longer than those estimated using existing published methods.Rowdy Creek Hatchery rears large numbers of chinook salmon and many are released as fingerlings into the Smith River estuary during May–June. In 1999, about 13% of Rowdy Creek fingerlings were marked with a left maxillary clip, whereas in 2000 about 22% of fingerlings were marked with an adipose fin clip and coded wire tag. Based on collection and examination of juvenile chinook salmon in the Smith River estuary, following release of these hatchery fish, it appears that the majority of chinook salmon juveniles are still produced by wild spawning fish rather than by Rowdy Creek Hatchery. Maximum estimated daily percentages of hatchery juveniles were 33% in 1999 and 31% during 2000. Within 30 days following releases in 1999 and 2000, the estimated percentages of hatchery fish present in the estuary had dropped to 15% and 9%, respectively. Together, these estimates of estuarine residence time and percentages of hatchery fish suggest that the Smith River estuary may be an important habitat for wild juvenile chinook salmon.

We investigated decaying post-seismic deformation observed on the Korean Peninsula associated with the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The GNSS velocity vectors were estimated in five periods from 2005 to 2019. A co-seismic offset of the Korean Peninsula caused by the 2011 earthquake was inversely proportional to epicentral distances. According to the temporal variations of two components (magnitude and direction) of the GNSS velocity vector with the epicentral distance, the difference between the eastern and western regions for the two components becomes smaller over time. For approximately nine years after the 2011 event, the direction for the crustal movement in South Korea showed a recovery pattern returning to the pre-earthquake motion. In addition, the recovery patterns of the crustal movement were observed differently with the regional geologic structure (e.g., the crustal thickness) and each period. Our estimates of the decay in post-seismic deformation of the Korean Peninsula suggest that post-seismic relaxation will be complete within 5–20 years after the 2011 earthquake. The results suggest that the crustal movement on the Korean Peninsula is gradually recovering to its pre-earthquake motion.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze in detail how knee flexion and extension progress in the first 8 weeks after primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The secondary goal was to compare knee range of motion (ROM) recovery patterns between patients with normal and delayed ROM recovery 8 weeks after TKA.Methods: This prospective clinical trial included all patients who underwent a primary unilateral TKA between February and December 2016 with weekly ROM data documented by the treating outpatient physical therapists (n = 137). Goniometry was used to measure knee ROM preoperatively, postoperatively on day 1 and weekly until follow-up at the orthopedic clinic 8 weeks after surgery. ROM recovery patterns were compared between patients with sufficient (≥ 90°) or insufficient (< 90°) knee flexion 8 weeks after TKA.Results: Knee flexion recovered from a median of 80° in the first postoperative week to 110° 8 weeks after surgery and knee extension from a mean of - 10.7° to - 3.2°. Recovery was nonlinear, with greatest improvements in the first 4 weeks for knee flexion. In contrast to patients with sufficient knee flexion 8 weeks postoperatively, the insufficient group (n = 8, 5.8%) had poor knee flexion on the first postoperative day and from week 4 to week 8 almost no improvement or even worsening of knee flexion.Conclusions: Both knee flexion and extension recover in a nonlinear manner after TKA surgery. Poor postoperative knee function can be detected early, using ROM data from the first postoperative day up to the fourth week. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circumpolar boreal forest biome contains a significant portion of the global forest carbon (C) stocks, and is generally considered to be a sink for atmospheric C. However, there is a concern that disturbances occurring concurrently with fibre utilization may cause these boreal forest ecosystems to become net C sources resulting from cumulative effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbances, and altered C cycling processes at stand- and landscape scales. In this study, we have synthesized soil C data (forest floor + upper 20 cm of mineral soil) from six long-term, forest management-based manipulative experiments situated in both the Boreal Plain and Boreal Shield ecozones to examine the collective effects of disturbance type and intensity, and dominant tree cover type on soil C pools. The disturbances of clearcut harvest, burn, burn + salvage logging, harvest + forest floor removal resulted in rapid and significant declines in measured soil C following disturbance. In contrast, partial stand removals (i.e., light and heavy thinnings through partial harvest treatments) conducted at the Ecosystem Management Emulating Natural Disturbance (EMEND) trial resulted in slight increases in total measured soil C by year 6, with the exception of conifer dominated stands. The observed declines in total soil C, particularly in the high intensity treatments, were largely a function of declines within the forest floor. In most cases, the rate of change in measured soil C converged over time with baseline levels (clearcut and partial harvests by year 6). In contrast, the data suggests that longer periods of time (>15 years) will be required for the total soil C pool to fully recover to pre-disturbance levels for the higher intensity disturbances. Dominant tree species cover type also influenced the rate of change in total measured soil C. There was a clear difference in the rate of change in the soil C pool between conifer-dominated stands compared to mixed or aspen-dominated stands, going from a positive rate of change (accumulation) under deciduous cover to a negative rate of change under conifers. Our results illustrate that the complex and interactive relationships among species effects, inherent soil and site properties, and management practices should collectively be considered in the development of options related to boreal forest soil C management and climate change mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a transient stability constrained‐optimal power flow (TSC‐OPF) model is proposed and applied to a real case in the currently interconnected Balearic Islands‐Iberian Peninsula system. The TSC‐OPF retains the dynamics of all generators in the islands with fourth degree transient synchronous generator models and includes a representation of a high‐voltage direct current (HVDC) link on the inverter side. The proposed large‐scale non‐linear optimisation problem, programmed in GAMS and solved using the CONOPT tool, is used to assess the economic impact of the HVDC on the Balearic Islands generation cost under different circumstances, using TSC‐OPF and traditional OPF on the dispatch. Different recovery patterns of the HVDC link after a severe fault in the transmission grid are evaluated from the viewpoint of the cost and stability of power generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introductory article underlines various patterns of urbanization in the 'New Urban World' as a starting point for reflections about the life and death and life of cities in the 21st century. A particular emphasis is put on the shrinkage phenomenon and the possible recovery solutions, being highlighted that there is not just a single recipe in this respect. Relevant case studies from Central and Eastern Europe are brought into discussion, the idea of this special issue resulting from the animated debates of the plenary round table organized on this topic on the occasion of the 9th International Conference of the Romanian Regional Science Association which took place in Galati, Romania, in May 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greek and the English versions of the Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT) were used to assess the linguistic abilities of a premorbidly highly proficient late bilingual female after a haemorrhagic cerebrovascular accident involving the left temporo-parietal lobe. The BAT was administered in the two languages on separate occasions by the first author, a bilingual English--Greek speech pathologist. The results revealed a non-parallel recovery in the two languages. This information will be used not only to guide clinical intervention for the patient but also to provide the first report on the manifestations of aphasia in Greek. Moreover, the use of the (Standard Modern) Greek version of the BAT to investigate Greek Cypriot aphasics has implications for the use of the BAT on underspecified languages or dialects. Such studies may help with the development of assessment measures and therapy strategies that focus on specific characteristics of one or multiple languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We illustrate the value of the Bilingual Aphasia Test in the diagnostic assessment of a trilingual speaker post-stroke living in England for whom English was a non-native language. The Comprehensive Aphasia Test is routinely used to assess patients in English, but only in combination with the Bilingual Aphasia Test is it possible and practical to provide a full picture of the language impairment. We describe our test selection and the assessment it allows us to make. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Aim: This study examined the physical, psychological and social recovery patterns of Hong Kong Chinese patients who have undergone CABG surgery over a period of six months. Background: Recovery from coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is a dynamic process and the associated physical, psychological and social effects could lead to failure to recuperate leading to hospital re-admission and morbidity. Design: A prospective repeated measures design was used for this research. Patients were interviewed in person 5 days before surgery and at 1 week after discharge, and by telephone at 3 and 6 months after discharge. Physical recovery dimension was assessed by three categories of the Sickness Impact Profile (ambulation, sleep-rest, body movement and care). Social recovery dimension was assessed by three categories of the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) (home management, social interaction, and recreation and pastimes). Psychological recovery was assessed using the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies—Depression (CES-D). Results: Sixty-eight patients participated in this research. The mean physical SIP-dimension score and depression level at discharge was the highest then gradually decreased at 6 months after CABG. The SIP-physical and SIP-social and depression level differed significantly across the four-assessment time within-group. There were no gender differences in physical and social recovery and depression levels. Patients who had poorer physical and social recovery had more depression at one week and three months after CABG surgery. Conclusion: Patients should be prepared for discharge after CABG surgery. Cultural factors may have influenced the similar recovery patterns between genders. These factors contributing to early recovery must be further examined. Relevance to clinical practice: Because of the large number of patients who undergo CABG worldwide, and because of healthcare cost related to this intervention, it is important for both patients and healthcare providers to have realistic expectations about the recovery process and to recognise deviations from the norm. The results provided some insights into the Hong Kong Chinese patients’ recovery from CABG surgery that would guide the development of culturally appropriate pre-operative and discharge teaching for this group of patients. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Benomile is one of the most used fungicides in the growing fields. In the rainy season brings benomilo with the planktonic communities. The effect of nominal concentrations of benomile under acute and chronic exposure was tested in the cladoceran Ceriodaphnia reticulata that were used. The value of LC50 was calculated as 2.0 mg L-1 ± 0.15 mg L-1 of benomile. In all concentrations, the demographic variables showed inhibition of reproduction. The unique behaviour of Ceriodaphnia reticulata with this particular toxicant is the diminution in the reproduction without affecting the survivorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the effect of recovery pattern on mechanical and neuromuscular responses in active men during three repeated-sprint ability tests consisting of ten 6-s cycling sprints. Within each test, the recovery duration was manipulated: constant, increasing, and decreasing recovery pattern. Maximal voluntary contractions of the knee extensors were performed before and after the repeated-sprint ability tests to assess strength and electromyographic activity [root mean square (RMS)] of the quadriceps muscle. We observed different fatigue patterns for peak and mean power output between recovery patterns, with earlier decrements recorded during the increasing recovery pattern. Total work performed over the ten sprints was also lower in the increasing recovery pattern (43.8 ± 5.4 kJ; P < 0.05). However, the decreasing recovery pattern induced a greater overall power output decrement across the sprints (-15.8%; P < 0.05), compared with the increasing recovery pattern (-5.1%) but not the constant recovery pattern (-10.1%). The decreasing recovery pattern was also associated with higher post-sprint RMS values (+16.2%; P < 0.05). Therefore, the recovery pattern within successive short sprints may influence repeated-sprint ability, and may lead to greater post-sprint neuromuscular adjustments when recovery intervals decrease between sprints. We conclude that peripheral impairments caused the major differences in repeated-sprint ability between recovery patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longitudinal studies show that almost all stroke patients experience at least some predictable degree of functional recovery in the first six months post stroke. However, the non-linear pattern as a function of time is not well understood. Several mechanisms are presumed to be involved, such as recovery of penumbral tissues, neural plasticity, resolution of diaschisis and behavioural compensation strategies. Rehabilitation is believed to modulate this logistic pattern of recovery, probably by interacting with these underlying processes. However, prediction models that are adjusted for the effects of time after stroke onset suggest that outcome is largely defined within the first weeks post stroke, although functional improvement has been found to extend beyond six months post stroke. In addition, kinematic studies show that functional improvement is more than recovery from impairments alone, suggesting that patients are able to improve in terms of gait or dexterity deficits using behavioural compensation strategies. Therefore, understanding the impact of task-dependent cortical activation patterns in non-invasive methods requires not only information derived from longitudinal studies pertaining to functional outcomes, but also a better understanding of what is kinematically learned during the acquisition of new skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central problem in relating disturbance to community structure lies in determining how community structure is affected by the size of disturbance events. In soft-bottom habitats, recovery rate and patterns of macrobenthic community are usually affected by the spatial scale of disturbance. Thus far, no studies have explicitly addressed these issues for meiobenthic copepods. To test the effects of the size of hypoxia/anoxia disturbance on the recovery of meiobenthic copepod communities in a vegetated (Ruppia cirrhosa) sediment, a field experiment was set up in Valle Smarlacca, a brackish lagoon on the northern Adriatic coast of Italy. Plots of three different sizes—small (40×40 cm), medium (80×80 cm) and large (160×160 cm)—were exposed to experimentally induced hypoxia/anoxia for 5 days. Control plots of 40×40 cm were added, for comparison with ambient abundance. Recolonisation and community recovery were then observed for 12 days, with samplings on days 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12. Sampling was designed to focus on the distance from source pools of colonists. The induced anoxia had a severe impact on the copepods, but the impact of the disturbance was independent of plot size. Copepod abundance increased linearly over time, and no differences in recolonisation rate among the differently sized plots were observed. Recolonisation comprised two phases: until day 3, abundances were low and very similar in all plot sizes; from day 5 onwards, abundances of the dominant species (which were the same in control and disturbed plots) increased, and a more diversified pattern among disturbance sizes was observed. Multivariate analyses showed a gradual response of community structure to disturbance size: copepod assemblages in small plots attained the same structure of the control plots at day 5, while for larger-sized plots this occurred later and was observed on the following sampling date. However, clear differences among the three disturbance sizes were never detected. Variability in community structure seemed to respond more to the overall impact of disturbance than to the size of the disturbed area. In the seagrass meadows of the Valle Smarlacca, several factors seem to influence the structural organisation of meiobenthic copepod communities during recolonisation processes. Among others, the recovery of the vegetated habitat to suitable conditions seems to play a much more relevant role than the size of the disturbed patches. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We investigated decaying post-seismic deformation observed on the Korean Peninsula associated with the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The GNSS velocity vectors were estimated in five periods from 2005 to 2019. A co-seismic offset of the Korean Peninsula caused by the 2011 earthquake was inversely proportional to epicentral distances. According to the temporal variations of two components (magnitude and direction) of the GNSS velocity vector with the epicentral distance, the difference between the eastern and western regions for the two components becomes smaller over time. For approximately nine years after the 2011 event, the direction for the crustal movement in South Korea showed a recovery pattern returning to the pre-earthquake motion. In addition, the recovery patterns of the crustal movement were observed differently with the regional geologic structure (e.g., the crustal thickness) and each period. Our estimates of the decay in post-seismic deformation of the Korean Peninsula suggest that post-seismic relaxation will be complete within 5–20 years after the 2011 earthquake. The results suggest that the crustal movement on the Korean Peninsula is gradually recovering to its pre-earthquake motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]