Current Trends in Forest and Environmental Policies in Sri Lanka

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HABITATS OF Anoectochilus setaceus, Zeuxine flava, Zeuxine regia IN KANNELIYA MAN AND BIOSPHERE RESERVE AND PEAK WILDERNESS SANCTUARY IN SRI LANKA

Anoectochilus setaceus, Zeuxine jlava, and Zeuxine regia are threeendangered medicinal plants belong to family Orchidaceae and sub familyNeottioideae. They are widely used in traditional medicine. Due to itsbeautiful variegated leaves they are also used as ornamental plants andcommonly known as Jewel Orchids.The Methodology used to identify the natural distribution of these specieswas field observation in the sites. In order to identify the places where thesespecies are growing knowledge of the traditional practitioners and villagepeople were used. According to literature, these species are confined totropical wet evergreen, sub montane and mid country wet ever green forests.In this study these three species were observed in particular locations inKanneliya MAB reserve and Peak Wilderness sanctuary.Anoectochilus setaceus is a rather common species found under the shade oftrees among fallen leaves. It was found along the riverbanks in Kanneliyawhile in Peak Wilderness it was found in a valley close to a stream. Theywere confined to small patches with high humidity where it gets very lowintensity of sunlight. Number of plants, which were observed in PeakWilderness sanctuary, was high (150 plants/rrr') while it was lesser (50plants/rrr') in Kanneliya. Distance between two forest patches where A.setaceus was found was about 50m in Peak Wilderness sanctuary while itwas too far (> 100m) in Kanneliya MAB reserve. Some patches had adistance of about 2km.Zeuxine regia was found in disturbed sites in Kanneliya MAB along the trailcloser to village, which situated at the boundary of the forest. In PeakWilderness also this species was found closer to the main trail starts fromSiripagama. These plants were found in places where there is no stream evenwithin 500m. Z. regia was found among rocks where environmentalconditions were very harsh but the soil was rather wet.Zeuxine flava was observed along a trail situated within the village inKanneliya far away from sites where other two species were distributed.Natural abundance is comparatively low for this species. In Peak Wildernessit was found along the same trail with Z. regia and A. setaceus but indifferent pockets. Environmental conditions of Z. flava are totally differentwhen compared with the sites where other two species were found.Anoectochilus setaceus was observed under same environmental conditionsrecorded by previous researchers, while other two species were found fromentirely different environmental conditions from recorded data. Althoughliterature reports that, Z. regia found together with A. setaceus under naturalconditions, such combinations were not observed in both forests. They werefound in entirely different locations

In vitro callus induction of Spilanthes calva DC [Spilanthes acmella auct. non L,.] (Maha Akmella)

Spilanthes calva DC. (Maha Akrnella) is a valuable medicinal plant belongs to Family Asteraceae. Itis widely used in indigenous medicine to treat toothache in most of the Asian countries. Not only it hasanesthetic properties, but also contain secondary metabolites, with the insecticidal properties, whichcould be used as potential bio insecticide. This is an annual plant, which grows to a height about 30ern. After flowering mother plant is dried off. Four to six weeks later seeds are germinated and newseedl ings are produced. Viabil ity of seeds loses with in short period of time. Even though seeds aregerminated percentage of germination is low (about 30%). Rooting of cuttings is also not possible.This is a limitation in using this valuable medicinal plant for commercial production. Therefore it isvery important to develop a protocol for mass propagation through tissue culture and establishing cellcultures will be useful for large-scale chemical extraction in industrial purposes.Leaf discs were used as explant for callus initiation. In order to identify the suitable maturity stage forcallus initiation, leaves were harvested at different maturity stages i.e first, second and third fullyopened leaf.Leaves were washed with Dettol" soap and soaked in a solution of Teepol" for 5 minutes. After thatleaves were washed with running tap water for 45 minutes, In order to surface sterilize. Leaves werewashed with 10% Clorox ™ (5.25% Sodium hypochlorite v/v) for 5 minutes and then with 70% alcoholfor 30 seconds each followed by three successive washings in sterile distilled water. These operationswere carried out inside the laminar airflow cabinet before inoculation. Basal media tested for the study were full strength MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) medium and Y2 MS (both macro andmicronutrients) medium. Media were supplemented with different concentrations (1.0 mgl' - 3.0mgl") of BAP and 2,4-0. Cultures were incubated under complete dark at 25± I °C in the growthroom.Study conducted by Haw and Keng (2003) on the same species produced multiple shoots from axillarybud explants without inducing callus in MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mgl.:' BAP. In the presentstudy, callusing was observed within 5 days of incubation in full strength MS medium supplementedwith BAP and 2AO. It took longer period to initiate callus when both macro and micro nutrients in thebasa l rned ium was lowered to ha If and the amount of callus produced was also very low even after 6thweek of incubation. In order to observe the time taken to produce maximum amount callus freshwe iuht was measured after 2".1,4th and 6tltweek of incubation. It was observed that maximum amountofc~llus was produced within 4 weeks in all explant types tested with a maximum of 0.88 g:': 0.23 inleaf discs obtained from first fully opened leaf.In order to determine the best growth regulator combination for callus initiation, calli fresh weightswere measured after fourth week of incubation in different growth regulator combinations tested.Highest amount of calli were in MS medium in the presence of2.25 mgl' BAP and 1.0 mgl' 2.4-0.Fragile calli, which were transulant and mucilaginous in nature were observed within 15 days ofincubation, which could lead to cell suspension cultures. 

Factors associated with the level of inhibitory control in elderly people living in elderly care institutions in Galle District, Sri Lanka

Objectives: The proportion of elderly people living in institutions has increased in Sri Lanka duringthe recent decades as a result of population aging and ongoing sociocultural changes. Cognitivefunctions that are important for goal directed behavior will be increasingly important for independentliving. Inhibitory control of irrelevant information (IC) is such cognitive process vital for this. Hencethis study was conducted to assess the level of inhibitory control and associated factors among elderlypeople living in elderly care institutions in Galle District.Methods: Study was conducted in 190 elderly people living in institutions who are physicallyindependent with Barthel’s index score of more than 90. IC was assessed via computerized stroopinhibitory task. Number of errors was calculated to assess the level of inhibitory control. Groupdifferences were assessed through independent sample t test and significant level was kept at p<0.05.Results: The sample comprised of 69.5% (n=132) females with a mean age of 71.78 years (+6.5). Meannumber of errors of the stroop tasks was 8.88 (+3.99). The number of errors in the stroop inhibitory taskwas significantly lower among females (n=132, p<0.01) who have had above secondary education(n=33, p<0.05), who engaged in group (n=153, p<0.05) and leisure time activities (n=173, p<0.05) andwho were younger than 70 years of age (n=78, p<0.01).Conclusions: IC was significantly associated with age, educational status, gender, engagement in groupand leisure time activities among the study sample

Accessibility and Usage of Digital Technologies among Academics for Research: A Case of Selected Humanities and Social Sciences Faculties in Sri Lankan Universities

The Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) involve understanding the human experience and the relationships between individuals and groups in society. The adoption of digital technologies has challenged the discipline of HSS, creating an entirely new environment for the study of human activities. This research aims to explore the employment of digital tools, resources and services in HSS research. Further, the use of digital methods (DM) throughout the research process; the impact of COVID-19 on the use of DM in research; the constraints of using DM in research were tested. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from Colombo, Kelaniya and Sri Jayewardenepura universities targeting academics in Economics, English, English Language Teaching, Geography, History and Archeology, Buddhist Studies, Political Science, Sinhala, and Sociology. Considering the digital infrastructure facilities, most of the academics rated email (45.6%) and LMS services (46.7%) as excellent but maintenance provided by the institute was not adequate. Most academics rated good on access to data storage (37.9%); reference management software (27.5%); plagiarism detection software (29.1%); institutional repository (35.2%); and support to online publications (39.6%) provided by their institutes. 55.7% of surveyed academics in SS often use digital data collection methods while in the Humanities it was 43.4%. Online publishing was most often used by SS (50.9%) and only 39.5% by the Humanities. 53.8% of SS academics and 43.4% of humanities academics often use cloud storage. Findings confirmed the expansion of using digital research methods during the pandemic compared to the early pandemic situation. Collaborative research works, virtual conferences, citation databases and digital indexing were identified as popular trends. DOI: http://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v08i02.0

Mobilization of Iron Stored in Bacterioferritin Is Required for Metabolic Homeostasis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Iron homeostasis offers a significant bacterial vulnerability because pathogens obtain essential iron from their mammalian hosts, but host-defenses maintain vanishingly low levels of free iron. Although pathogens have evolved mechanisms to procure host-iron, these depend on well-regulated iron homeostasis. To disrupt iron homeostasis, our work has targeted iron mobilization from the iron storage protein bacterioferritin (BfrB) by blocking a required interaction with its cognate ferredoxin partner (Bfd). The blockade of the BfrB–Bfd complex by deletion of the bfd gene (Δbfd) causes iron to irreversibly accumulate in BfrB. In this study we used mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy to compare the proteomic response and the levels of key intracellular metabolites between wild type (wt) and isogenic ΔbfdP. aeruginosa strains. We find that the irreversible accumulation of unusable iron in BfrB leads to acute intracellular iron limitation, even if the culture media is iron-sufficient. Importantly, the iron limitation and concomitant iron metabolism dysregulation trigger a cascade of events that lead to broader metabolic homeostasis disruption, which includes sulfur limitation, phenazine-mediated oxidative stress, suboptimal amino acid synthesis and altered carbon metabolism

Effect of cross-linkers on the processing of lignin/polyamide precursors for carbon fibres

This work reports the use of cross-linkers in bio-based blends from hydroxypropyl-modified lignin (TcC) and a bio-based polyamide (PA1010) for possible use as carbon fibre precursors, which, while minimising their effects on melt processing into filaments, assist in cross-linking components during the subsequent thermal stabilisation stage. Cross-linkers included a highly sterically hindered aliphatic hydrocarbon (Perkadox 30, PdX), a mono-functional organic peroxide (Triganox 311, TnX), and two different hydroxyalkylamides (Primid® XL-552 (PmD 552) and Primid® QM-1260 (PmD 1260)). The characterisation of melt-compounded samples of TcC/PA1010 containing PdX and TnX indicated considerable cross-linking via FTIR, DSC, DMA and rheology measurements. While both Primids showed some evidence of cross-linking, it was less than with PdX and TnX. This was corroborated via melt spinning of the melt-compounded chips or pellet-coated TcC/PA1010, each with cross-linker via a continuous, sub-pilot scale, melt-spinning process, where both Primids showed better processability. With the latter technique, while filaments could be produced, they were very brittle. To overcome this, melt-spun TcC/PA1010 filaments were immersed in aqueous solutions of PmD 552 and PmD 1260 at 80 °C. The resultant filaments could be easily thermally stabilised and showed evidence of cross-linking, producing higher char residues than the control filaments in the TGA experiments

Informed consent in Sri Lanka: A survey among ethics committee members

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Approval of the research proposal by an ethical review committee from both sponsoring and host countries is a generally agreed requirement in externally sponsored research.</p> <p>However, capacity for ethics review is not universal. Aim of this study was to identify opinions and views of the members serving in ethical review and ethics committees in Sri Lanka on informed consent, essential components in the information leaflet and the consent form.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We obtained ethical approval from UK and Sri Lanka. A series of consensus generation meetings on the protocol were conducted. A task oriented interview guide was developed. The interview was based on open-ended questionnaire. Then the participants were given a WHO checklist on informed consent and requested to rate the items on a three point scale ranging from extremely important to not important.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-nine members from ethics committees participated. Majority of participants (23), believed a copy of the information leaflet and consent form, should accompany research proposal. Opinions about the items that should be included in the information leaflets varied. Participants identified 18 criteria as requirements in the information leaflet and 19 for the consent form.</p> <p>The majority, 20 (69%), believed that all research need ethical approval but identified limited human resource, time and inadequate capacity as constraints. Fifteen (52%) believed that written consent is not required for all research. Verbal consent emerged as an alternative to written consent. The majority of participants rated all components of the WHO checklist as important.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The number of themes generated for the consent form (N = 18) is as many as for the information leaflet (N = 19) and had several overlaps. This suggests that the consent form should be itemized to reflect the contents covered in the information leaflet. The participants' opinion on components of the information leaflets and consent forms proved to be similar with WHO checklist on informed consent.</p