Associated risk factors in Breast cancer: A comparative Sri Lankan perspective

Breast cancer (BC) is the commonest carcinoma among women in Sri Lanka. Various modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors are reported as causatives of BC, even though studies on the incidence and relevance of these risk factors to the Sri Lankan context are not comprehensively documented. Thus, objectives of the present study were to assess the odds related to the incidence of known and unknown risk factors in BC development in Sri Lanka. The risk factors including age at diagnosis of BC, age at menarche, age at menopause, parity, duration of breastfeeding, history of abortions, usage of hormonal contraceptives, smoking, involvement of exercises, frequency of consumption of selected foods etc. were collected from an interviewer-administered questionnaire from 355 participants (255 BC patients and 150 healthy women). Ethical approval for the study was obtained. The majority (63%) of the BC patients were postmenopausal and the commonest age group at diagnosis of the carcinoma was 51-60 years. A woman was observed to have 3.6 (Odds Ratio= 3.58, Confidence Interval 1.37-9.34) and 2.1 (Odds Ratio 2.13, Confidence Interval 1.0-4.95) times risk in developing BC when_having first-order relatives and second-order relatives with breast cancer respectively. A woman had three times the odds (Odds Ratio= 3.02, Confidence Interval 1.59-5.75) of developing BC with the use of hormonal contraceptives for more than two consecutive years and three times the risk of _having BC (Odds Ratio= 3.12, Confidence Interval 1.63-5.98) if she has had one or more spontaneous or induced abortions. Factors including consumption of selected food, use of bottled water and usage of microwave ovens with inappropriate containers (plastic containers) among BC patients were not significantly different compared to healthy. The risk factors including a woman in the age close to or soon after menopause, having a family history of BC, having used hormonal contraceptives and having experienced one or more abortions showed a higher risk compared to other factors studied. KEYWORDS: Breast cancer, risk factors, family history, abortions, menopausal statu

Gender and displacement in Jaffna, Sri Lanka

This report presents the preliminary results of a household survey of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Jaffna District in Northern Province, one of the areas that still has a large IDP population. The main focus of this survey conducted in October 2020 employing Covid-19 safety protocols was to examine the gendered experiences arising from protracted displacements spanning over three decades. The survey covered 220 households (182 male-headed and 38 female-headed), which accounts for 54.3 per cent of the total IDP households in the Jaffna District. Among other topics, the survey gathered data on the respondents’ current living conditions, finances, asset ownership, safety and security concerns, access to services, social networks and relationship with other IDPs and the host community, and water, sanitation and hygiene issues they face. It also gathered data on the respondents’ pre-displacement experiences to compare that with their current lives, in order to examine the role of displacement in gendered issues they face

How to Overcome Challenges Caused by Lack of ICT Resources in Sri Lankan Schools

It is well recognised that education can aid development of a country by creatinga workforce that is more productive. However, without the availability of classroomresources, teachers cannot provide quality education. It is now being recognised thatInformation Communication Technologies (ICT) could support quality-education inmany ways. Nevertheless, ICT resources are limited in many schools. For example,computer laboratories are available in only 40% of schools and only 12% of schoolshave the internet connectivity. Some of these computer laboratories are now becomingout of date. Moreover, it is well known that the remote schools always have less ICTresources and the low levels of electrification. Therefore, frequent power outages inmany places regularly hinder the effective use of ICT in teaching and learning. Thepossibility of using mobile phones to carry out most of the functions that computerscould do make them an ideal solution for education. The biggest advantage in usingmobile phones for learning activities in Sri Lanka is the comparable low cost of mobilephones. Further, mobile phones do not suffer from power outages and can be used inareas where there is no electricity.The work presented in this paper first reviews the literature to discuss thepotential of mobile phones for teaching and learning. Then the factors that supportedtheir use in Sri Lankan schools were discussed by carrying out a survey among group ofscience teachers and a market survey in Sri Lanka. Finally, four sample lessons weredeveloped with a group of teachers and implemented in four different classroomsettings. The survey questionnaire data were analysed descriptively using the SPSSstatistical package. During the lesson development and implementations, data werecollected using observation via video, audio recording and written materials (teachers‟notes on how they used mobile phones during lesson planning stage, the participantobserver‟s field-notes and students‟ comments in post-lesson interviews). These datawere transcribed; translated, coded and emerging themes were abstracted usingThematic Network Analysis. From the findings it was recognised that the mobile phone is an ideal alternative for computer, video camera and still-camera and they couldsupport learning by bridging the outside world with classroom and enhancing theinteractions. However, the main limitation of this study was that the findings are basedonly on four lessons. Thus, further studies should be carried out with a greater numberof participants and in different contexts before making a broad generalisation of theabove claim.Key words: Teaching and learning, challenges, ICT, Mobile phon

Gender and Forced Displacement in Humanitarian Policy Discourse: The Missing Link

This paper reports on a study that examines how gender has been referenced in United Nations (UN), supranational and state documents on forced migration over the past 40 years. It is motivated by the premise that humanitarian protection discourses reflect broader institutional priorities and ideologies and may therefore expose gaps that reveal the relative importance given to the category of gender. The evidence presented below is the result of an extensive review of policy documents on Afghanistan, Kurdistan Region-Iraq (KRI), and Sri Lanka contained in the Refworld database. 1 The study sought to understand how gender is mentioned in terms of 1.  governmentality — a top-down policy preference, which emphasizes the management of humanitarian protection; 2.  empowerment — a bottom up policy preference, which emphasizes self-actualization and self-determination: we seek to understand how agency is expressed, including how opportunities for participation feature in policy discourse; 3.  inclusion — the scope of coverage of different gender categories in policy discourse; and, 4.  differentiation — the particularization of needs, wishes, and demands made by women, men, and girls and boys in displacement settings. The paper finds: • Where gender and displacement are discussed together, there is greater emphasis on governmentality, which crowds out other objectives, including advancing opportunities for gender empowerment and participation. • Internally displaced persons (IDPs) tend to be treated as an operational challenge alongside security and peacebuilding. The nature of their displacement is implicit in these documents, associated within the recurring themes of land, violence, empowerment, and livelihoods. The documents mention violence, but do not widely cover maternal, sexual, and reproductive health. • The documents offer little insight into the identities of the displaced — whether female, male, children, or members of LGBT communities — and are mostly silent on their specific protection needs. Overall, the paper finds remarkably little integration of gender within the humanitarian literature on forced displacement. In spite of much advocacy by the UN, the concept of gender has not been effectively disaggregated to address the specific needs of IDPs, especially in the discussion of children. This paper argues that taking gender seriously means recognizing how protection needs may be shaped by power relationships, and how policy and practice would be enhanced by a more nuanced understanding of how vulnerabilities and opportunities are structured by gender and the specificities of the displacement context. It recommends that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and partner UN agencies continue to find opportunities to bring humanitarian policy on gender and forced displacement into conversation in order to strengthen protection. To this end, it suggests that the concept of gender should be disaggregated to address the specific needs of displaced people, to reflect the wider range of identities of displaced people, and to foster opportunities for their empowerment, and participation

Mycosynthesis of CuO Nanoparticles Using Aspergillus niger and Their Bioefficiency against Human Pathogens

In the present study, copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were biosynthesized from an Aspergillus niger cell-free extract (CFE), and several optimal operating parameters that affected the formation and dimensions of the CuO nanoparticles were determined, as follows: 15 mmol/L metal salt and 90 mL of CFE at room temperature for 24 h, to achieve an average size of 77 nm. Spectroscopic studies revealed an association between alcohol, alkene, and amine functional groups and the grain-shaped CuO nanoparticles. The elemental composition of the nanoparticles was confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) data. Mycogenic CuO nanoparticles exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacterial species compared with Gram-negative bacterial species, i.e., Streptococcus pneumoniae MTCC 2672, Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 737, Micrococcus luteus MTCC 11948, Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 424, and Escherichia coli MTCC 443, at 200 mg/mL, with inhibition zones of 9.2, 8.3 7.7, 7.2, and 6.1 mm, respectively. Finally, myogenic CuO nanoparticles exhibited good antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus versicolor

Antidiabetic Compounds in Syzygium cumini

Herbal beverages with desirable sensory attributes are an ideal way to offer consumers with phytochemicals having specific health promoting functionalities. Syzygium cumini bark decoction is used in treating diabetes mellitus in Ayurveda medicine. This work attempted to prove the presence of antidiabetic compounds in the S. cumini decoction and the ready to serve (RTS) herbal drink developed using the decoction. Activity guided fractionation of the decoction of the S. cumini was carried out by sequential extraction with organic solvents of different polarities. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) with authentic compounds and HPLC were performed for identification and confirmation of the compounds in the decoction and the RTS herbal drink. Presence of gallic and ellagic acids in the decoction and RTS herbal drink was proven and confirmed with HPLC. The LC UV-VIS spectra of the two compounds were identical with the corresponding spectra of the library. Further, gallic acid and umbelliferone were determined as the active compounds in the decoction by TLC and were confirmed by cochromatography with authentic compounds. The present investigation confirmed the presence of gallic acid, ellagic acid, and umbelliferone which are proven to have antidiabetic activities in the decoction and the RTS herbal drink prepared with the decoction