Ethnic Entitled Conflict? An Ethnic - Based Analysis to Conflict in Sri Lanka <Research Note>

As a phenomenon to be understood, ethnic conflicts in the current world trend are becoming as a force shaping human affairs and create an escalation of threat. Once ethnicity came at the center of politics in country after country, a potential source of challenges formed not only nationally but also internationally as well. The aim of this paper is to explore the implications of ethnicity in severely divided societies; the primary focus is on Sri Lanka. The attempt, based on ethnicity, is to define the nature of Sri Lankan conflict by using some empirical viewpoints and then provide the background, ethnic affiliation and its importance, and, ethnic dynamics throughout the conflict and its escalation, including major actors as well as sources

Putting the Home Grown Mechanism into Practice in Post War Sri Lanka : The Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation <Research Note>

The aftermath of the prolonged civil war concluded with the defeat over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the Sri Lankan government forces, Sri Lanka entered into post-war peacebuilding phase, encompasses with various measures, to achieve stable peace. In order to pursue peace and reconciliation, Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has established as a home grown mechanism to address and resolve the injustices subjected throughout the past. Though the long awaited final report's recommendations, made by the Commission, were met with some shortcomings, it is significant for devising benchmarks for necessary transition from conflict to peace. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prospects of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry in general and to examine the four key issues, related to political solution, rehabilitation and reintegration of former LTTE cadres, demilitarization and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and the recommendations the LLRC report holds for genuine reconciliation in Sri Lanka

戦後スリランカにおける和解と安全保障の連関 : 「教訓と和解委員会」報告書の意味と評価

広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(学術)Philosophydoctora

Genetic analysis and molecular basis of G6PD deficiency among malaria patients in Thailand: implications for safe use of 8-aminoquinolines

Background: It was hypothesized that glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency confers a protective effect against malaria infection, however, safety concerns have been raised regarding haemolytic toxicity caused by radical cure with 8-aminoquinolines in G6PD-deficient individuals. Malaria elimination and control are also complicated by the high prevalence of G6PD deficiency in malaria-endemic areas. Hence, accurate identification of G6PD deficiency is required to identify those who are eligible for malaria treatment using 8-aminoquinolines. Methods: The prevalence of G6PD deficiency among 408 Thai participants diagnosed with malaria by microscopy (71), and malaria-negative controls (337), was assessed using a phenotypic test based on water-soluble tetrazolium salts. High-resolution melting (HRM) curve analysis was developed from a previous study to enable the detection of 15 common missense, synonymous and intronic G6PD mutations in Asian populations. The identified mutations were subjected to biochemical and structural characterisation to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying enzyme deficiency. Results: Based on phenotypic testing, the prevalence of G6PD deficiency (T) and intronic (c.1365-13T>C and c.486-34delT) mutations was detected with intermediate to normal enzyme activity. The double missense mutations were less catalytically active than their corresponding single missense mutations, resulting in severe enzyme deficiency. While the mutations had a minor effect on binding affinity, structural instability was a key contributor to the enzyme deficiency observed in G6PD-deficient individuals. Conclusions: With varying degrees of enzyme deficiency, G6PD genotyping can be used as a complement to phenotypic screening to identify those who are eligible for 8-aminoquinolines. The information gained from this study could be useful for management and treatment of malaria, as well as for the prevention of unanticipated reactions to certain medications and foods in the studied population

Challenges of IDP Resettlement in Sri Lanka An Examination of Northern Spring Program in Vavuniya District <Article>

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and their resettlement are not new phenomena among post-war countries. This article focuses on IDPs, who have been displaced by nearly 3 decades of protracted conflict, and their resettlement in Sri Lanka. Conflict-induced internal displacement has become a major obstacle in developing the nation, due to the massive number and prolonged cycle of protracted conflict. During conflicts, civilians have been targeted by either the Sri Lankan government forces or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who are identified as a liberation movement group fighting for the minority's independence from the Sinhala ruling government in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Since the end of the war in May 2009, substantial rehabilitation and reconstruction processes have taken place under the government programs. Resettling IDPs in their places of origin became a prime task under a special development program called 'Northern Spring' to rebuild the affected areas of the entire Northern Province. As a multi step program, at present 180 day program, which is the first stage in this program, has been implemented with the intention to bring back the normalcy in the affected areas. Vavuniya district is one of the five districts in the Northern Province and was chosen as a field area to examining the implementation of 'Northern Program' in terms of IDP resettlement. The results revealed that, in spite of the rapid process of resettlement implemented under this program, still the gap remains between the efforts by the Government of Sri Lanka and the satisfaction of the IDPs. The way the IDP resettlement is being implemented has created more grievances since their recovery needs are large than what they received related with safety, property and conditions of sustainability before they resettled. Despite this fact, government also has many challenges to overcome in the implementation of this program

Preliminary study of structural changes of Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency variants

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is the most common enzyme deficiency disorder affecting over 400 million individuals worldwide. G6PD protects red blood cells (RBC) from the harmful effects of oxidative substances. There are more than 400 G6PD mutations, of which 186 variants have shown to be linked to G6PD deficiency by decreasing the activity or stability of the enzyme. Different variants manifest different clinical phenotypes which complicate comprehending the mechanism of the disease. In order to carry out computational approaches to elucidate the structural changes of different G6PD variants that are common to the Asian population, a complete G6PD monomer-ligand complex was constructed using AutoDock 4.2, and the molecular dynamics simulation package GROMACS 4.6.7 was used to study the protein dynamics. The G410D and V291M variants were chosen to represent classes I and II respectively and were created by in silico site-directed mutagenesis. Results from the Root mean square deviation (RMSD), Root mean square fluctuation (RMSF) and Radius of gyration (Rg) analyses provided insights on the structure - function relationship for the variants. G410D indicated impaired dimerization and structural NADP binding while the impaired catalytic activity for V291M was indicated by a conformational change at its mutation site