Economic development of Ceylon Tea Industry in Sri Lanka

The functioning of the tea industry forms the main source of revenue for Sri Lanka's budget, which is now ranked as the world's fourth largest tea producer and second largest exporter. About 20% of the world's tea products are sourced from Sri Lanka. The key objective of this study is to analyze the financial and economic aspects in the context of studying the peculiarities of sales of tea production enterprises

Ancient Sri Lankan Economic Systems

The Greek philosopher Father of History Herodotus realized the value of studying the past as not how it happened but what happened. It is also a critical analysis that shows the human development; a phenomenon that changes rapidly and a methodical study that helps to acquire knowledge. The strategies implied by Sri Lankan aristocrats who lived in the ancient society to maintain their existence safely and in a balance manner, is the philosophy and all the Victories and Failures are involved in the Present! Moreover, both the ordinary vendor and the Mayor or Tax Collectors were advised wisely by the Kings, legitimate heir and clergy to do the needful. You can obtain some experience by looking into the ancestral methods they practiced in trade and economy which are similar to the present situation. As trade becomes strong against new challenges and when the immunity is created through society the historical heritage and perception become the same. Therefore, it is essential to study their nature of the contribution to render services to trade and economy, which has been complied, based on that standpoint. This strengthens minds for criticizing the everlasting conversation of past to present trade and economy and opens gateways to other activities as well. Whilst studying, a person is well disciplined, improves his own ability, learns human ideologies other than their own ways, gains access to inter relationships and most importantly distinguish associate

Relations of science students’ academic performance at university level with their gender: a case study at the faculty of science, university of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

University is an institution for higher education, research, and social development. Hence, the students’ performance at the University is very important as graduates are supposed to become future leaders in this world. There are many factors affecting the students’ performance at the University level. Thus, this study was focusing on assessing the impact of gender on students’ academic performance at University level. This is a quantitative study. Sample of the study was drawn from the Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya through convenient sampling technique. The sample consisted of 1729 undergraduates from four consecutive batches from 2006 to 2009. There were 822 males and 907 females in the sample. The data were collected through documents from the Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya and analyzed using MS Excel 2010 and SPSS 17. The study established a relationship between gender of students and their performance measured according to the students’ Grade Point Average (GPA) at the University. The results of the study revealed that the performance of female students is higher than that of males. There were 18% of female undergraduates in 4.00-3.70 GPA range while only 5% of male undergraduates were in the same range. Male undergraduates are prominent in 3.30-3.00 GPA range and < 3.00 GPA.This situation could be due to many inter-related factors such as study habits, aspirations, self-concepts, motivation, other psychological conditions, and some physiological aspects. Thus, an in-depth study has to be conducted to investigate the issue in order to support especially the male students to perform well in their higher education at the University level

Interfacial Molecular Imprinting in Nanoparticle-Stabilized Emulsions

A new interfacial nano and molecular imprinting approach is developed to prepare spherical molecularly imprinted polymers with well-controlled hierarchical structures. This method is based on Pickering emulsion polymerization using template-modified colloidal particles. The interfacial imprinting is carried out in particle-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions, where the molecular template is presented on the surface of silica nanoparticles during the polymerization of the monomer phase. After polymerization, the template-modified silica nanoparticles are removed from the new spherical particles to leave tiny indentations decorated with molecularly imprinted sites. The imprinted microspheres prepared using the new interfacial nano and molecular imprinting have very interesting features: a well-controlled hierarchical structure composed of large pores decorated with easily accessible molecular binding sites, group selectivity toward a series of chemicals having a common structural moiety (epitopes), and a hydrophilic surface that enables the MIPs to be used under aqueous conditions

Optimization of spray-drying conditions for lulo (Solanum quitoense L.) pulp

The spray drying of lulo was optimized by using the central composite design of the response surface methodology, to study the effect of inlet air temperature (120-180 degrees C), arabic gum concentration (0-10% w/w), and maltodextrin DE16.5-19.5 concentration (0-10% w/w) on some product and process aspects. Arabic gum and maltodextrin, more than inlet air temperature, improved the product yield, reduced the hygroscopicity and the water content of the obtained powder, and contributed to the retention of its nutritive and functional properties through an increase in ascorbic acid, vitamin C, total phenol and total flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity. Significant (p < 0.05) response surface models were obtained in every case, with the linear terms of solute concentration being the factors that affected the response variables most significantly. The overall optimum spray drying conditions for obtaining lulo powder were 125 degrees C inlet air temperature, 3% (w/w) arabic gum, and 13.4% (w/w) maltodextrin DE16.5-19.5. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The authors thank the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia for the financial support given throughout the Project ADSIDEO-COOPERACION 2010 "Adaptacion de procesos de secado para favorecer la comercializacion de super frutas de origen colombiano".Igual Ramo, M.; Ramires, S.; Mosquera, LH.; Martínez Navarrete, N. (2014). Optimization of spray-drying conditions for lulo (Solanum quitoense L.) pulp. Powder Technology. 256:233-238. doi:10.1016/j.powtec.2014.02.003S23323825

Case Report: melioidosis - poor compliance resulting in a relapse

No abstract availabl

Functional Analysis of Retinitis Pigmentosa 2 (RP2) Protein Reveals Variable Pathogenic Potential of Disease-Associated Missense Variants

Genetic mutations are frequently associated with diverse phenotypic consequences, which limits the interpretation of the consequence of a variation in patients. Mutations in the retinitis pigmentosa 2 (RP2) gene are associated with X-linked RP, which is a phenotypically heterogenic form of retinal degeneration. The purpose of this study was to assess the functional consequence of disease-associated mutations in the RP2 gene using an in vivo assay. Morpholino-mediated depletion of rp2 in zebrafish resulted in perturbations in photoreceptor development and microphthalmia (small eye). Ultrastructural and immunofluorescence analyses revealed defective photoreceptor outer segment development and lack of expression of photoreceptor-specific proteins. The retinopathy phenotype could be rescued by expressing the wild-type human RP2 protein. Notably, the tested RP2 mutants exhibited variable degrees of rescue of rod versus cone photoreceptor development as well as microphthalmia. Our results suggest that RP2 plays a key role in photoreceptor development and maintenance in zebrafish and that the clinical heterogeneity associated with RP2 mutations may, in part, result from its potentially distinct functional relevance in rod versus cone photoreceptors

Impact of milk protein type on the viability and storage stability of microencapsulated Lactobacillus acidophilus using spray drying

Three different milk proteins — skim milk powder (SMP), sodium caseinate (SC) and whey protein concentrate (WPC) — were tested for their ability to stabilize microencapsulated L. acidophilus produced using spray drying. Maltodextrin (MD) was used as the primary wall material in all samples, milk protein as the secondary wall material (7:3 MD/milk protein ratio) and the simple sugars, d-glucose and trehalose were used as tertiary wall materials (8:2:2 MD/protein/sugar ratio) combinations of all wall materials were tested for their ability to enhance the microbial and techno-functional stability of microencapsulated powders. Of the optional secondary wall materials, WPC improved L. acidophilus viability, up to 70 % during drying; SMP enhanced stability by up to 59 % and SC up to 6 %. Lactose and whey protein content enhanced thermoprotection; this is possibly due to their ability to depress the glass transition and melting temperatures and to release antioxidants. The resultant L. acidophilus powders were stored for 90 days at 4 °C, 25 °C and 35 °C and the loss of viability calculated. The highest survival rates were obtained at 4 °C, inactivation rates for storage were dependent on the carrier wall material and the SMP/d-glucose powders had the lowest inactivation rates (0.013 day−1) whilst the highest was observed for the control containing only MD (0.041 day−1) and the SC-based system (0.030 day−1). Further increase in storage temperature (25 °C and 35 °C) was accompanied by increase of the inactivation rates of L. acidophilus that followed Arrhenius kinetics. In general, SMP-based formulations exhibited the highest temperature dependency whilst WPC the lowest. d-Glucose addition improved the storage stability of the probiotic powders although it was accompanied by an increase of the residual moisture, water activity and hygroscopicity, and a reduction of the glass transition temperature in the tested systems

Genetics Mutations in RPGR and RP2 Account for 15% of Males with Simplex Retinal Degenerative Disease

PURPOSE. To determine the proportion of male patients presenting simplex retinal degenerative disease (RD: retinitis pigmentosa [RP] or cone/cone-rod dystrophy [COD/CORD]) with mutations in the X-linked retinal degeneration genes RPGR and RP2. METHODS. Simplex males were defined as patients with no known affected family members. Patients were excluded if they had a family history of parental consanguinity. Blood samples from a total of 214 simplex males with a diagnosis of retinal degeneration were collected for genetic analysis. The patients were screened for mutations in RPGR and RP2 by direct sequencing of PCR-amplified genomic DNA. RESULTS. We identified pathogenic mutations in 32 of the 214 patients screened (15%). Of the 29 patients with a diagnosis of COD/CORD, four mutations were identified in the ORF15 mutational hotspot of the RPGR gene. Of the 185 RP patients, three patients had mutations in RP2 and 25 had RPGR mutations (including 12 in the ORF15 region). CONCLUSIONS. This study represents mutation screening of RPGR and RP2 in the largest cohort, to date, of simplex males affected with RP or COD/CORD. Our results demonstrate a substantial contribution of RPGR mutations to retinal degenerations, and in particular, to simplex RP. Based on our findings, we suggest that RPGR should be considered as a first tier gene for screening isolated males with retinal degeneration. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012;53:8232-8237