Nymphaea rubra Roxb. ex Andrews in Sri Lankan Fresh Waters

Native water lilies are wide spread in aquatic ecosystems in Sri Lanka and the RevisedHandbook to the Flora of Ceylon has recognized only two native water-lilies, Nymphaeanouchali Burm. f. and N. pubescens Willd. However, another night blooming Nymphaeaspecies with red flowers that is not either taxonomically described or recognized in the Floraduring the revision occurs in many parts of the country. A detailed taxonomic investigationwas carried out with field collected samples of all Nymphaea species occurring in local waterbodies. Forty eight morphological characters were studied in detail and coded into a datamatrix. Data were analysed using PAST software version 2.17.The multivariate analysis separated this group of Nymphaea from the other native Nymphaeaspecies as a separate phenetic group. Larger leaves (25-48 cm) with reddish purple abaxialand green adaxial surfaces, red petals and a larger number of stamens (62-103), and creamcolour stigmatic head are important characters that separates the group from its closeresemblance, N. pubescens. Comparing the morphological features of the individuals in thisphenetic group with taxonomic descriptions of N. rubra, confirmed their identity as N. rubra.A complete morphological description and an identification key to separate the differentNymphaea species occurring in Sri Lanka were constructed.

Urban Coastal Ecosystem Services and Value of Cultural Landscape: An Assessment of View Value to the Indigenous Fishing Community

Benefits from an ecosystem to support sustainable human well-being-commonly referred to as ‘ecosystem services’-are basically categorized into four major groups such as “Provisioning”, “Regulating”, “Cultural” and “Supporting”. In environmental valuation studies, these have often been taken as a bundle of services and the individual value of certain attributes such as Cultural services, which accounts for non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems, were largely overlooked. The purpose of this study was to assess the value of cultural landscape of an urban coastal ecosystem, which is made out of two categories (i.e. urban systems and coastal systems) specified under the ‘ten system classification of millennium ecosystem assessment’. Negombo lagoon was selected as the study site, and the view of the site was justified to explain the cultural landscape of lagoon in concern. Admitting those inherent difficulties associated with defining the cultural landscape, this was slender down into few values, namely: aesthetic, social relations, sense of place, and cultural heritage values. The lagoon area is geographically segregated into areas known as “Thotupola” where the fisherman used to launch their fishing boats. Choice Method was applied to assess the community preferences for lagoon view to which the ‘attributes’ and ‘levels’ identified through the pilot survey were used. There were number of lagoon front properties as lagoon provides many other amenities. Therefore view was classified into three levels as “full view” (unobstructed lagoon view), “partial view” (some obstruction by buildings and trees) and “no view” (fully obstructed or no view can be seen). Face-to-face interviews supported by a structured questionnaire were carried out with 300 respondents representing 15 ‘Thotupola’ areas to collect data. The level “no view” was omitted as the dummy variable; “full” and “partial” view were combined to value the cultural landscape. The outcome of analysis shows that the Marginal willingness-to-pay (MWTP) for cultural landscape is Rs. 309.50. Further, the lagoon view had significant impact on implicit price of overall ecosystem services in terms of both ‘full’ (Rs. 161.50) and ‘partial’ (Rs. 148.50) view. The overall implicit price for the ecosystem services is derived as Rs. 1062.75. Cultural landscape account solely 30 percent from whole ecosystem value that cannot readily provide a substitute to the indigenous people in community. Therefore in formulating conservation policies and exploiting land development activities the policy makers must account the fact and importance of cultural landscape of an ecosystem to the indigenous people in community.Keywords: Choice Methods, Cultural landscape, Negombo lagoon, Urban ecosystem services, Value of vie

Engaging a rural community in identifying determinants of low birth weight and deciding on measures to improve low birth weight: an experience from a Sri Lankan study

Background: Involving communities in identifying and addressing determinants of their own health is effective in addressing complex problems, such as low birth weight (LBW). LBW is an important public health problem which has not improved significantly in Sri Lanka in the last 10 years. This study reports the ability of lay persons to identify and address determinants of LBW. Methods: A health promotion intervention was conducted among 403 mothers registering at 26 antenatal clinics in the district of Anuradhapura, in Sri Lanka. The components of a health promotion process\u2014initiation, maintenance and continual monitoring, and re-direction towards greater effectiveness\u2014were explained to the mothers. Inputs were initially provided through different methods to enable mothers\u2019 groups to identify determinants of LBW and to decide actions to address those identified determinants. The overall study was carried out over a period of 1 year, of which the intervention phase took around 7 months. The mothers in the clinic group were encouraged to continue an ongoing process in smaller \u201cneighborhood action committees\u201d (NACs)\u2014of which there were 71. The findings are based on field notes maintained during the process, analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Each group of mothers identified at least eight determinants of LBW at the first attempt (without first author\u2019s guidance), four of which corresponded with those already mentioned in published studies. Up to five other determinants were agreed, after facilitation by the first author, at the second attempt. Of the total, 10 determinants of LBW were finally prioritized. Twenty actions to address the 10 selected prioritized determinants were agreed through a collective consensus development process. Conclusions: Lay communities successfully identified determinants of LBW and household level actions to address these, with relatively simple guidance, when stimulated to initiate the relevant process. This capacity should be nurtured and better used in interventions to improve LBW

Mechanisms by which sialylated milk oligosaccharides impact bone biology in a gnotobiotic mouse model of infant undernutrition

Undernutrition in children is a pressing global health problem, manifested in part by impaired linear growth (stunting). Current nutritional interventions have been largely ineffective in overcoming stunting, emphasizing the need to obtain better understanding of its underlying causes. Treating Bangladeshi children with severe acute malnutrition with therapeutic foods reduced plasma levels of a biomarker of osteoclastic activity without affecting biomarkers of osteoblastic activity or improving their severe stunting. To characterize interactions among the gut microbiota, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), and osteoclast and osteoblast biology, young germ-free mice were colonized with cultured bacterial strains from a 6-mo-old stunted infant and fed a diet mimicking that consumed by the donor population. Adding purified bovine sialylated milk oligosaccharides (S-BMO) with structures similar to those in human milk to this diet increased femoral trabecular bone volume and cortical thickness, reduced osteoclasts and their bone marrow progenitors, and altered regulators of osteoclastogenesis and mediators of Th2 responses. Comparisons of germ-free and colonized mice revealed S-BMO-dependent and microbiota-dependent increases in cecal levels of succinate, increased numbers of small intestinal tuft cells, and evidence for activation of a succinate-induced tuft cell signaling pathway linked to Th2 immune responses. A prominent fucosylated HMO, 2'-fucosyllactose, failed to elicit these changes in bone biology, highlighting the structural specificity of the S-BMO effects. These results underscore the need to further characterize the balance between, and determinants of, osteoclastic and osteoblastic activity in stunted infants/children, and suggest that certain milk oligosaccharides may have therapeutic utility in this setting

Coital Experience Among Adolescents in Three Social-Educational Groups in Urban Chiang Mai, Thailand

This article compares coital experience of Chiang Mai 17–20-year-olds who were: (1) out-of-school; (2) studying at vocational schools; and (3) studying at general schools or university. Four-fifths, two-thirds and one-third, respectively, of males in these groups had had intercourse, compared to 53, 62 and 15 per cent of females. The gender difference for general school/university students, but not vocational school students, probably reflects HIV/AIDS refocusing male sexual initiation away from commercial sex workers. Vocational school females may have been disproportionately affected. Loss of virginity was associated, for both sexes, with social-educational background and lifestyle, and was less likely in certain minority ethnic groups. Among males, it was also associated with age and parental marital dissolution, and among females, with independent living and parental disharmony. Within social-educational groups, lifestyle variables dominated, but among general school/university students, parental marital dissolution (for males) and disharmony (for females) were also important, and Chinese ethnicity deterred male sexual experimentation

Identification of nursing assessment models/tools validated in clinical practice for use with diverse ethno-cultural groups: an integrative review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High income nations are currently exhibiting increasing ethno-cultural diversity which may present challenges for nursing practice. We performed an integrative review of literature published in North America and Europe between 1990 and 2007, to map the state of knowledge and to identify nursing assessment tools/models which are have an associated research or empirical perspective in relation to ethno-cultural dimensions of nursing care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data was retrieved from a wide variety of sources, including key electronic bibliographic databases covering research in biomedical fields, nursing and allied health, and culture, e.g. CINAHL, MEDline, PUBmed, Cochrane library, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and HAPI. We used the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tools for quality assessment. We applied Torraco's definition and method of an integrative review that aims to create new knowledge and perspectives on a given phenomena. To add methodological rigor with respect to the search strategy and other key review components we also used the principles established by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirteen thousand and thirteen articles were retrieved, from which 53 full papers were assessed for inclusion. Eight papers met the inclusion criteria, describing research on a total of eight ethno-cultural assessment tools/models. The tools/models are described and synthesized.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>While many ethno-cultural assessment tools exist to guide nursing practice, few are informed by research perspectives. An increased focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of health services, patient safety, and risk management, means that provision of culturally responsive and competent health services will inevitably become paramount.</p