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

Household willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a better waste management system An empirical investigation in the. Mawanella Pradeshiya Sabha region

The Mawanella Pradeshiya Sabha in the Kegalle district that serves to a population of 100,280 hasintroduced a novel approach to manage its waste under its "Increased Public Awareness &amp; LocalGovernment Capacity Building Program" in 2004. The key feature of this program was, educatingand encouraging households to collect and sort waste at its source, which was facilitated by distributionof plastic bags and waste bins with different colour codes designed for the purpose, and subsequently,treat the waste at specific dumping sites using the principles of recycling to produce marketableproducts. This study assesses the progress of this program, and in particular how much the householdsare WTP for continuation and advancement of the program, because the regulatory authorities insistthat it cannot run the program with taxpayers money for any longer time. A survey was conductedwith a help of a structured questionnaire with 120 households selected randomly to represent 31 %households joined to the pilot program in 2004. The WTP of each household was modeled with anumber of variables, includ ing age, income and education level, amount of waste production, distanceto waste collection centre etc. The Contingent Valuation techniques were employed to estimate thecoefficients of model. The results suggest that all variables, except the level of education. have apositive and significant impact on households' WTP for a better system. it was estimated that ahousehold, in general, would like to pay Rs. 39.05 per month to continue the program. The officialsfrom the Pradheshiya Sabha indicated that this is a rational estimate as it can cover the net operatingcost of about Rs. 25-30 per month per household, and the rest can be used to improve the system

TANNINS IN SOME AGRO FORESTRY SPECIES OF LOCAL INTEREST

Total and condensed tannin contents were determined in six agro forestry species usedby local farmers to feed ruminants. Total and condensed tannins were determined byFolin-Ciocalteu and Butanol-Hcl methods respectively. Total tannin (1T) contentranged from 5.41% for Calliandra calothyrsus to 0.15% for Erythrina indica.Condensed tannins (CT) contents ranged from 6.92% in Acacia auricu/iformis to 0.78%in G/iricidia sepium. The percentages of CT were 6.40%, 4.60%, and 1.58% respectivelyfor Artocarpus heterophy//us, C. ca/othyrsus, and Leucaena le ucoceph ala. Among thesix species tested, E. indica, was free of CT while having traces of IT. On the basis oftheir respective CT contents G. sepium was classified as containing traces of CT «1 %),while L. /eucocepha/a classified as containing low level of CT (1-3%). C. calothyrsuswas classified as containing medium level of CT (4-6%) while A. auriculiformis and A.heterophyl/us classified as containing high level of CT (&gt;6%).In a further study, it was found that tender leaves and stems (0-30 cm from the tip) of C.calothyrsus, and A. auriculiformis contained higher levels of IT and CT as comparedwith mature leaves and stems (30-60 em from the tip) of the same species. In contrasttender leaves and stems of A heterophyllus contained low levels IT as compared withmature leaves and stems.The results suggest that IT and CT contents of tested six species are different due totheir inherent characteristics. It was also evident that tannins are present not only inleguminous species but also in non-leguminous species such as A. heterophyllus. Theincrease in TT and CT contents in tender parts of C. callothyrsus and A. auriculiformismay be associated with the chemical defence mechanisms found in younger plant parts.Further investigations are necessary to verify the effects of tannins on their nutritivevalue of above forages

EFFECT OF GRAZING ON SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES IN INTEGRATED FARMING SOILS.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of grazing on somesoil properties; bulk density (BD), true density, porosity, moisture content(Me) and pH. The effect of long term grazing (&gt;20 yrs) was examined in acoconut - pasture - cattle integrated farming system in Kamburupitiya area.Short term grazing effect was compared with an adjoining coconut plantationpermitting 18 buffaloes to graze for 6 months. Another adjoining ungrazedcoconut farm soil was considered as control. Soil samples were taken fromthe topsoil using a core sampler (v = 98.21 em"). Four replicate samples weretaken three times with 30 days interval and analyzed in triplicates. Data werestatistically analyzed using SAS.Soils collected from the long term integrated farming site had a significantlyhigher (p &lt; 0.05) average pH (5.58) than that of non-integrated sites (4.65).Reduction of acidity may be due to the improvement of soil nutrients viadung, urine and accumulation of litter. It was observed that the soil inintegrated sites were comparatively dark in color. BD of integrated soil(1.15g/cm3) was significantly lower than that of non-integeated soil (21.26%)due to the better ground cover by dominant prostate type herbages comparedto ungrazed soils where erect type herbages were prominent. Soil porosityalso improved due to integration (47.76%) with that of non-integrated soil(43.76%). There was no significant difference observed under the effect ofshort term grazing. A considerable time period may be required to change toimproved soil properties.It is concluded that long term crop-livestock integration could improve thesoil physiochemical properties

EFFECT OF BUFFALO GRAZING ON PLANT SPECIES DIVERSITY IN A COCONUT-PASTURE-CATTLE INTEGRATED SYSTEM

The effects of long and short-term buffalo grazing on plant species diversityunder coconut were examined. 18 Murrah and Surthi pure and crossbredbuffaloes were allowed to graze 3 hours a month for 6 months (short termgrazing). Herbage from an adjoining coconut plantation was taken as thecontrol. Quadrate sampling was adopted to analyze herbage up to specieslevel and four random samples were taken at each event.The Shannon diversity Index (H), species richness and evenness werecalculated for each treatment.Results showed that the diversity index and evenness in the undisturbedhabitat (ungrazed coconut plantation) were 2.176 and 0.6679 respectively andwere much higher than highly disturbed habitat (grazed plantation) where thesame values were 0.4.747 and 0.2160. The short term grazing effect showedan intermediate results. In the ungrazed site there were greater number ofplant species and more equitable the individuals in the community weredistributed. Long term grazed coconut plantation had only 9 species and over80% of the individuals belong to one species; Carpet grass (Axonopus affinis)the most common species in a grazing land. Grazing pressure was favorableto dominate prostate type plants. It was shown that grazing pressure whethershort term or long term changed the abundance of plant species.It is concluded that different levels of disturbance have different effects onplant species diversity

Development of an Innovative Mobile Phone-Based Newborn Care Training Application

Mobile infrastructure in low - and middle-income countries (LMIC) has shown immense potential to reach the unreachable. Healthcare providers (HCP) are one such group who are at the frontline of the fight against infant mortality in LMICs. Mortality among newborn infants (birth to 28 days) now accounts for around 45% of all under 5-years child mortality. Birth asphyxia is one of the three leading causes of newborn death; neonatal resuscitation training, among health care providers, reduces mortality from birth asphyxia. We have developed a mobile phone-based training app, called mobile Helping Babies Survive (mHBS), to support the training of health care providers on neonatal resuscitation. mHBS is integrated with the District Health Information System (DHIS2) platform, which is used in over 60 countries around the world. The mHBS/DHIS2 training app is a part of an application suite which includes another DHIS2-linked data collection app, mHBS tracker. The mHBS training application has the potential to scale-up integration with other neonatal training apps. Ultimately, the mHBS training suite will provide new insights into healthcare worker education along with the necessary tools for effective care of newborn babies

Effects of Deliberate Ingestion of Organophosphate or Paraquat on Brain Stem Auditory-Evoked Potentials

Organophosphate (OP) and paraquat (PQ) ingestion is a serious health problem. A common pathology behind OP or PQ poisoning is the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which is known to cause ototoxicity. The aim of the study was to identify the effects of deliberate ingestion of OP or PQ on brain stem auditory-evoked potentials (BAEPs). Consecutive patients with deliberate self-poisoning with OP or PQ who were admitted to a secondary and a tertiary care hospital in the Southern province of Sri Lanka and matched controls were recruited. BAEPs were performed at 1 week (first assessment) and 6 weeks (second assessment) after the exposure. Interpeak latencies of I–III, III–V, and I–V were measured. There were 70 and 28 patients in the OP and PQ arms with the mean age of 32 ± 12 and 29 ± 12 years, respectively. There were 70 controls and their mean age was 33 ± 12 years. In OP and PQ poisoning, 53/70 and 18/28 came for the second assessment, respectively. The interpeak latency was not statistically different in the controls vs the first assessment, controls vs the second assessment, and the first vs the second assessment. There were no significant lesions in the auditory pathway in OP or PQ poisoned patients. The generation of ROS within the perilymphatic space following the ingestion of OP or PQ may not be sufficient to cause lesions in the auditory pathway. Further studies with the assessment of auditory threshold are needed

Autonomic Function following Acute Organophosphorus Poisoning: A Cohort Study

Autonomic dysfunction after chronic low level exposure to organophosphorus (OP) pesticides has been consistently reported in the literature, but not following a single acute overdose. In order to study autonomic function after an acute OP overdose, sixty-six overdose patients were compared to 70 matched controls. Assessment of autonomic function was done by heart rate response to standing, deep breathing (HR-DB) and Valsalva manoeuvre; blood pressure (BP) response to standing and sustained hand grip; amplitude and latency of sympathetic skin response (SSR); pupil size and post-void urine volume. The patients were assessed one and six weeks after the exposure. The number of patients who showed abnormal autonomic function compared to standard cut-off values did not show statistically significantly difference from that of controls by Chi-Square test. When compared to the controls at one week the only significant differences consistent with autonomic dysfunction were change of diastolic BP 3 min after standing, HR-DB, SSR-Amplitude, SSR-Latency, post-void urine volume and size of the pupil. At 6 weeks significant recovery of autonomic function was observed and only HR-DB was decreased to a minor degree, −5 beats/min [95%CI 2–8]. This study provides good evidence for the lack of long term autonomic dysfunction following acute exposure to OP pesticides

Application of phasor measurement units for monitoring power system dynamic performance

This Working Group is a sequel to a previous working group on Wide Area Monitoring and Control for Transmission Capability Enhancement, which published the Technical Brochure 330 in 2007. Since then the synchrophasor technology has advanced rapidly and many utilities around the world have installed hundreds of PMUs in their networks. In this Technical Brochure, we look at the current state of the technology and the extent to which it has been used in the industry. As the technology has matured, it is also important to understand the communication protocols used in synchrophasor networks and their relevant cyber-security issues. These concerns are briefly discussed in the brochure. The applications of Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) measurements reported here are divided into three categories: (a) applications already installed in utility networks, (b) applications that are well-tested, but not yet installed, and (c) applications that are beneficial to the industry, but not fully developed yet. The most common and mature applications are wide area monitoring, state estimation, and model validation. Out of these three applications, wide area monitoring is well established in the industry. The protection and control applications are emerging as evident from the reported examples. The experience of using remote synchrophasor measurements as feedback control signals is not widely reported by the industry. In parallel to this Working Group, Study Committee B5 had a Working Group on “Wide area protection and control technologies.” The Technical Brochure 664 published by this Working Group in September 2016 reviews synchrophasor technology and discusses the industry experience with wide area protection and control. The North American synchrophasor Initiative (NASPI) is another technical group that has gathered and reported a wide range of PMU experiences of industry and researchers. In summary, the field-tested applications presented in this Technical Brochure are a testimony to the confidence of utilities in the synchrophasor technology. The progress in state estimation techniques indicates that synchrophasor measurements will become a standard part of energy management and security assessment systems in the near future

Cost per responder for ixekizumab and other biologic drugs approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in Italy

This analysis was aimed at estimating the cost per responder as measured by number needed to treat of ixekizumab as compared with other biologic drugs approved in Italy for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. The clinical efficacy was assessed in terms of number needed to treat, based on a network meta-analysis of published efficacy data as measured by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index response (PASI75, PASI90, and PASI100) for relevant biologic comparators. The cost was based on the number of administrations dispensed in the first (induction plus maintenance period) and the second (maintenance period only) year of treatment and the ex-factory price net of discounts of each biologic drug. The cost per responder was adopted as a cost-effectiveness indicator. Independent of the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index response (PASI75, PASI90, and PASI100) used and the year of treatment considered, the cost per number needed to treat for ixekizumab appeared consistently to be the lowest. For example, considering first-year costs and PASI75, the cost per responder for ixekizumab was €16,388, compared to adalimumab (€22,574), etanercept (branded original: €32,420; biosimilar: €21,432), secukinumab (€17,937), and ustekinumab (€20,014). The differences in the cost per responder between ixekizumab and the comparators increased when higher Psoriasis Area and Severity Index response levels were considered. This economic assessment confirmed that ixekizumab is a cost-efficient option from the perspective of the Italian National Health Service for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis