Interhalogens as Oxidimetric Titrants: Part VI* - Oxidimetric Determinations with Bromine Monochloride

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Analysis of various types of ectopic pregnancies: a five-year review

Background: Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is a common, life threatening emergency during the first trimester and a significant cause for maternal morbidity and mortality. In any woman of reproductive age presenting with abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, ectopic pregnancy should be considered. The objectives of the present study is to determine the incidence, risk factors, clinical presentation, type of ectopic pregnancy, treatment, morbidity and mortality.Methods: Retrospective analysis of case sheets of patients admitted with ectopic pregnancy at PSGIMSR, Coimbatore during the period July 2011 to June 2016 was done. The details noted were age, parity, risk factors {previous abortion, previous EP, previous pelvic surgery, intrauterine contraceptive device, tubectomy, history of pelvic inflammatory disease}, treatment for infertility, clinical presentation, ultrasound findings, investigations including beta HCG value and hemoglobin level, treatment offered, need for blood transfusion, operative findings and morbidity.Results: During the five year, there were 12,407 deliveries at our hospitals and 88 cases of ectopic pregnancies were managed. The incidence is 6.6/1000 deliveries. Among them 44% belonged to the age group of 25-30 years and multi gravida were 73.8%. Most common risk factors were previous abortion (23.8%) and previous surgeries including caesarean section, tubectomy, appendicectomy, tubal microsurgery (23.8%). Most common presentation was pain abdomen (85.2%). Out of the 88 cases, 73 patients were managed surgically (82.9%) and 11 cases were managed successfully with methotrexate (12.5%). Three of them underwent conservative management and one had Uterine Artery Embolization.Conclusions: Early diagnosis based on risk factors and timely intervention plays a main role in reducing morbidity and mortality associated with ectopic pregnancy

Tuberculosis Medication Nonadherence—A Qualitative Case Study

India is grappling with the problem of controlling tuberculosis nearly for the past 50 years. The problem of nonadherence to treatment regimen has also worsened the situation of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in India. This article explores the factors behind nonadherence among erstwhile TB defaulters in a rural district in India. In-depth interviews with seven chronic defaulters and with healthcare professionals were conducted at a government-run Chest Clinic. In addition to in-depth interviews with defaulters and healthcare professionals, medical records and government orders related to TB control were examined extensively. Participants were also observed to understand their interaction with healthcare professionals and fellow patients, especially during drug delivery time. Qualitative content analysis is the most appropriate method to analyze the transcribed text and archival records. Qualitative content analysis brought out five major themes responsible for their past nonadherence behavior, namely, (a) Awareness about tuberculosis and treatment, (b) Symptom recognition and self-medication, (c) Family support, (d) Accessibility, and (e) Stigma. Findings are documented according to the major themes and documenting direct quotes from participants and with healthcare professionals wherever appropriate. This case study also provided context-specific recommendations to the healthcare professionals as regards the nonadherence behavior among TB patients. It is hoped these focused recommendations, albeit known to the healthcare professionals, would be extremely useful in making modifications to the existing program to tackle the nonadherence behavior

Public Value and Level of e-Government in Sri Lanka: Problems and Prospects

Achieving public value and maintaining a higher public value in e-Government is considered as the ability of e-Government systems to provide efficient and better services to the citizens. The government of Sri Lanka has started e-Government developments since early 2000 investing more than 2000 million Sri Lanka rupees annually on e-Government implementation and adoption, but the level of eGovernment and public value of some websites must be further improved for a better service delivery. This study examines public value and level of e-Government in Sri Lanka based on selected ten government websites which provides most essential services to the public. The level of e-Government has been examined by using criteria of the UN-ASPA model and the public value of the selected websites has been examined through a survey. Among 1200 final year undergraduates for the year 2023, 75 of them were selected from a purposive sample who are following eGovernment subject as a part of their degree program at the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. Data were collected from a structured questionnaire to examine the public value of the websites and used descriptive statistics to analyze the data. The level of e- Government has been examined using the UN-ASPA model and results were analyzed based on a scoring method. The study revealed that the selected government websites have a relatively higher level of public value and e- Government level. Accordingly, the highest scored e-Government website is the Central Bank (23 scoring marks out of 25), and the least scored website is the Department of Registration of Persons (19 scoring marks). The public value of all the selected websites ranges from a high level to a moderate level. The Ministry of Education has scored the highest public value (the mean value is 4.2) among the ten-government websites and the Ministry of Higher Education has the lowest public value (3.8). The study observed that a higher level of public value tends to have a higher level of e-Government. A further study is necessary however, to confirm this relationship. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on e-Government services on Value and concludes that a higher level of public value represents a higher level of e Government services based onSri Lankan government websites. Finally, the study proposed recommendations to further improve public value level and e-Government level of the websites in Sri Lanka. Key words: Public value, e-Government, Sri Lank

Dufour and Thermal Radiation Effects of Kuvshinski Fluid on Double Diffusive and Convective MHD Heat and Mass Transfer Flow Past a Porous Vertical Plate in the Presence of Radiation Absorption, Viscous Dissipation and Chemical Reaction

In this paper an analysis is presented to investigate the influence of diffusion thermo, thermal radiation, radiation absorption, chemical reaction and viscous dissipation on hydro magnetic free convective heat and mass transfer flow of Kuvshinski fluid past a porous vertical plate. A uniform magnetic field of is applied in the direction of the flow field.  Analytical solutions for velocity, temperature and concentration are obtained by using a Perturbation technique. Skin friction, rate of heat and mass transfer coefficients are also derived. The results have been analyzed graphically and numerically for various values of the flow parameters

ANTIDIABETIC AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF RESVERATROL AND VITAMIN-C COMBINATION ON STREPTOZOTOCIN INDUCED DIABETIC RATS

Objective: Resveratrol and vitamin-C combination was evaluated for its antidiabetic and antioxidant activity in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats. Methods: The wistar rats were challenged with a single intra peritoneal injection of STZ (50 mg/kg). The rats were treated with graded oral dose of 10 mg/kg of resveratrol and 0.9 g/kg of Vitamin C for 21 days. The fasting blood glucose levels were monitored for all animals in 1,7,14 and 21 days of drug treatments by using glucometer. The liver homogenate was used for estimation of proteins, malondialdehyde (MDA), lipid hydroperoxide (LH), Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT), Glutathione reductase (GSSH) and Reduced glutathione (GSH).Results: Resveratrol with vitamin C combination showed significant (P<0.01) increase in body weight, total protein, and significant (P<0.01) decrease in fasting blood sugar level, MDA and LH, when compared to diabetic control. Resveratrol and vitamin C significantly (P<0.01) restored the levels of both enzymatic (SOD, CAT, GSSH) and non enzymatic antioxidant enzymes (GSH) which are almost similar to the control.Conclusion: Resveratrol and vitamin C both is having antioxidant activity, but the combination showed synergistic antioxidant & antidiabetic activity. Thus, the present study provides a significant rationale for the management of diabetes.Â

Human Resource Management Practices and Organizational Performance in Public Sector Organizations: with reference to Development Officers in the Colombo District in Sri Lanka

Human resources management concerns how people are employed, utilized, and maintained effectively and efficiently in achieving organizational objectives.   The performance of any organization largely depends on its human resources. Among the human resources management practices, recruitment, and selection of the right pool of employees, proper training and development, performance appraisal, and compensation directly affect achieving organizational objectives. However, these Human Resource (HR) practices in the public sector, especially in relation to the position of Development Officers (DOs) of Sri Lanka have not been practiced in an effective manner. Recruitment of Graduates as Development Officers has been a major reason for increasing the growth of public service in the country. Since the 1990s, the government of Sri Lanka has practiced bulk recruitment of graduates without having a clear and formal duty list, service minutes, recruitment procedures, training and development programs, promotion policy, and salary scale. The main purpose of this study is to discuss the existing Human Resource Management (HRM) practices, identify strengths and weaknesses of the existing HRM practices, and examine how these weaknesses affect the performance of the public sector organizations in relation to Development Officers in the public sector in Sri Lanka. The study used a qualitative research method with the inductive approach. Data were collected through in-depth interviews from all 13 Divisional Secretaries in the Colombo District and the data were analyzed narratively. The study revealed that the existing recruiting, training, and performance appraisal practices negatively affect the performance of the public sector due to some weaknesses in these practices.  Finally, this study proposes policy recommendations for improving the effectiveness of these practices for enhancing the public sector performance in Sri Lanka. Keywords: Human resource management practices, Development officers, Public sector, Sri Lank

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ANALGESIC AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECTS OF AERIAL PARTS OF FLACOURTIA JANGOMAS

Objective: The present study was aimed to evaluate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of leaf and stem part aqueous extract of Flacourtia jangomas. Methods: Aqueous extract of leaves (ALE) and aqueous extract stem (ASE) part of Flacourtia jangomas were sequentially prepared by maceration process and subjected to a preliminary phytochemical screening. The anti-inflammatory activity was assessed by the carrageenan-induced acute rat paw oedema model and Analgesic activity was evaluated by acetic acid-induced writhing model and hot plate method in mice. The data were analysed by one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc Dunnet’s test by using SPSS V.15 (student trail version). Results: The preliminary phytochemical analysis of extracts of leaves and stems indicated the presence of carbohydrate, alkaloids flavonoids, phenols, tannins, saponins. The extracts showed significant anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities with a dose-dependent manner. The ethanolic extract from the leave extract of Flacourtia jangomas at the dose 200 mg/kg has 55.6% significant anti-inflammatory activity compared to the standard drugs (44.4%). Even at the low dose leave extract has more potent than aqueous stem extract. Where in analgesic effect by Hot plate method basal reaction time results showed that aqueous extract of stem part at the dose of 200 mg /kg has a significant effect at 120 mts 10.0 sec when compared with std pentazocine 13.0 sec. In peripheral analgesic method Acetic acid-induced writhing model results have not shown much more significant when compared with standard drug (42.1%). The potential to cause anti-inflammation by stem extract was comparatively less than that of leave extract. Thus it could be concluded that Flacourtia jangomas leave extract possess significant anti-inflammatory activity Conclusion: Our findings suggest that Flacourtia jangomas extract is safe and has potential anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities, which promote this use as a food supplement against pain and inflammation related to inflammatory diseases