Glycemic and Lipid Metabolic Markers in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients after Consuming Red Pigmented Parboiled Rice as a Staple—A Clinical Trial

Red pigmented rice has been proven to have unique properties beneficial to health. These might be further enriched if parboiled. This study investigated the effects of consumption of RPPR on glycemic response, lipid profile and BMI in diabetics. For this prospective study patients with diabetes mellitus (aged 40-75 yrs) in a prison (n = 69) were recruited. Their usual diet in prison was red pigmented rice. They were served 180 g of RPPR for 16 weeks during intervention period.Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG) and BMI was assessed at 0, 4, 8, 12 weeks and glycated haemoglobin and lipid profile at 0 and 16 weeks. Values at 0 weeks were compared with those at 4, 8, 12, 16 weeks after consuming RPPR using ANOVA repeated measures. HBA1c and lipid profile at 16 weeks were compared with the 0 week value. During consumption of RPPR, FPG was significantly reduced at 8 (p = 0.006), 12 (p = 0.002), and 16 weeks (p = 0.005), with a significant reduction of the BMI at 8 (p = 0.028) and 16 weeks (p = 0.003). At the end of 16 weeks of consuming RPPR, LDL, Total Cholesterol (TC) and TC/HDL ratio were significantly reduced compared to 0 weeks (p = 0.001, p = 0.013, p = 0.032, respectively. These results suggest that RPPR consumption reduces FPG, LDL, TC,TC/HDL ratio and BMI

Financial Development and Economic Growth in Sri Lanka

A well-developed financial sector can affect a country’s economic development by channeling financial resources in the most productive way and by providing sufficient credit to the private sector for investments. Studying the relationship between financial development and economic growth has become increasingly important. Although there are a significant number of studies on this subject, ideas about the relationship between financial development and economic growth are controversial due to mixed results. The theoretical background to this relationship has a long history. In 1911, Schumpeter argued that financial development plays an essential role in economic development because intermediary financial institutions have the capacity to allocate savings to more productive investments that promote economic progress. Other empirical studies have shown unidirectional, bidirectional or no relations between these two factors. Sri Lanka introduced reforms to its financial sector in 1977 by implementing an open economic policy. Therefore, studying the relationship between financial development and economic growth in this country is important. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Sri Lanka for the period 1952 to 2014. After considering time series characteristics of the data, this study employs vector error correction methodology. This study uses five variables: real per capita GDP, ratio of broad money to GDP, ratio of investments to GDP, deposit interest rate in real terms and trade ratio. The results of this study confirm that there is a unidirectional relationship from financial development to economic growth in Sri Lanka. In addition, the investment ratio and trade ratio negatively affect the real per capita GDP and broad money ratio, while the deposit interest rate positively affects both variables. There are two cointegrating relationships among the five variables, and the error correction coefficients show economically and statistically significant results. The error correction coefficient of the GDP relationship is -0.0430 while error correction for broad money supply is -0.3693. This study highlights the importance of developing the financial sector in Sri Lanka to increase the growth of the country’s GDP. The interest rate has become the significant factor for GDP growth and for implementing monetary policy. The open economic policy has significant effect on money supply, and money supply affects the economic growth in the short term. Therefore, policy makers should consider about the time range in making policies

Investigation of fretting behaviour in pressure armour layers of flexible pipes.

The incidence of fretting damage in the pressure armour wires of flexible pipes used in offshore oil explorations has been investigated. A novel experimental facility which is capable of simulating nub and valley contact conditions of interlocking wire winding with dynamic slip, representative of actual pipe loading, has been developed. The test set-up is equipped with a state of the art data acquisition system and a controller with transducers to measure and control the normal load, slip amplitude and friction force at the contact, in addition to the hoop stress in the wire. Tests were performed with selected loading and the fretted regions were examined using optical microscopy techniques. Results show that the magnitude of contact loading and the slip amplitude have a distinct influence on surface damage. Surface cracks originated from a fretting scar were observed at high contact loads in mixed slip sliding while surface damage predominantly due to wear was observed under gross slip. The position of surface cracks and the wear profile have been related to the contact pressure distribution. The evolution of friction force and surface damage under different slip and normal pressure conditions has been analysed. A fracture mechanics based numerical procedure has been developed to analyse the fretting damage behaviour. A severity parameter is proposed in order to ascertain whether the crack growth is in mode I or mode II cracking. The analysis show the influence of mode II cracking in the early stages of crack growth following which the crack deviates in the mode I direction making mode I the dominant crack propagation mechanism. The crack path determined by the numerical procedure correlates well with the experimental results. A numerical analysis was carried out for the fretting fatigue condition where a cyclic bulk stress superimposes with the friction force. The analysis correlates well with short crack growth behaviour. The analysis confirms that fretting is a significant factor that should be taken into account in design and operation of the pressure armour wires of flexible pipes at high contact pressure if the bulk cyclic load superimposes with the friction force. As predicted by the numerical procedure and further by experimental investigations, the surface cracks initiating on the wire in this condition are self arresting after propagating into a certain depth

‘Competent, but not allowed to blossom’: Midwifery-trained registered nurses’ perceptions of their service: A qualitative study in Sri Lanka

Objective: To explore midwifery-trained registered nurses’ perceptions of their own profession as maternity care providers and how they identify their role, tasks, and responsibilities within a multi-professional team. Design: An exploratory qualitative study using focus group discussions and qualitative content analysis. Setting: Three selected tertiary care hospitals in the Capital Province in Sri Lanka. Participants: Twenty-two midwifery-trained RNs working in intra-partum and postpartum units. Findings: The overriding theme of the analysis was identified as ‘competent but not allowed to blossom fully in their practice’, based on two main categories: ‘provision of competent care’ and ‘working with disappointments’. Each main category had four subcategories: ‘acting with compassion’, ‘cooperation in emergencies’, ‘exceeding one’s boundaries’, ‘taking full responsibility’ and ‘deprived of utilizing special knowledge and skills’, ‘role confusion with other professional groups’, ‘lack of professional identity’, and ‘not being appreciated by others’, respectively. Conclusion: Midwifery-trained RNs conveyed a deep sense of disappointment regarding their profession as maternity care providers in Sri Lanka. Midwifery-trained RNs’ perceptions of their high proficiency are incongruent with their low sense of identity and belongingness within the multi-professional hospital-based maternity care team. This phenomenon warrants further study, considering its implications for team work and patient safety

Effect of central obesity on serum lipid profile in non-diabetic, non-hypertensive subjects - A preliminary study

Central obesity is a significant risk factor for metabolic syndrome in adults. Central fat distribution greatlyalters the lipid profile and induces atherogenic dyslipidaemia even in normoglycaemic, non-hypertensivesubjects. Hence, the aim of the present study was to identify the serum lipid parameters which are alteredwith central obesity in non-diabetic, non-hypertensive subjects in Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study wasconducted at the Family Practice Centre of University of Sri Jayewardenepura, after obtaining ethicalclearance and informed written consent from 227 non-diabetics, non-hypertensive subjects who were not onStatins. Overnight fasting venous blood was collected and assayed for serum lipid profile such astriglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC) and high density cholesterol (HDL). Low density cholesterol (LDL)and TG/HDL ratio were calculated. Waist circumference (WC) was measured based on WHO and NHANESstandards. All data were analysed using SPSS (ver.17) software. Mean age of the subjects was 40.7 ± 13.7years and 59.9% were females. Obese males and females were 40.7% and 49.3% respectively. In the studysample, mean TG and TG/HDL ratio were significantly (p<0.05) higher in obese males. However, all meanserum lipid parameters such as TG, TC, LDL and TG/HDL ratio were higher in both obese males andfemales and HDL was lower in them. Hence, even in non-diabetic, non-hypertensive subjects, central obesityhas a relationship with altered lipid profile which could lead to obesity related metabolic abnormalities.Keywords: central obesity, triglycerides, waist circumference

Investigation of fretting behaviour in pressure armour layers of flexible pipes

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Performance of Gaussian Distributed Input in Non-Coherent Rayleigh Fading MIMO Channels

The mutual information of a discrete time Rayleigh fading channel is considered, where neither the transmitter nor the receiver has knowledge of the channel state information (CSI). We show the mutual information of uncorrelated multiple input multiple output (MIMO) Rayleigh fading channel in closed form when the input distribution is complex Gaussian for any transmit and receive antenna configuration at any signal to noise ratio (SNR). In addition, we show the maximum mutual information is achieved with a single transmitter and multiple receivers with a reduction in mutual information with additional transmitters. Also, we argue that the mutual information is bounded on the SNR similar to non-coherent SISO systems