Surveillance of chikungunya and its impacts in the Sainthamaruthu MOH division

Chikungunya is dengue like disease caused by a group A virus. This disease was reported in the Sainthamaruthu MOH Division in 2006. In this study 200 families comprise of 885 individuals were studied in this MOH division. Proportion of population affected by this disease was estimated. Duration that an individual affected by this disease, contraction order, means of treatments, use of injections, observed symptoms were studied. Further associations between demographic factors and symptoms were also studied. This study revealed that 89.2% of the population were affected with Chikungunya (89.2 } 2.1%, P=0.05). In 71.5% of the families, all the family members were affected with Chikungunya (71.5 } 3.0%, P=O.05) and only in 1.5% of the families, none of the family members were affected with Chikungunya (1.5 } 0.8%, P=0.05). Females were affected significantly more than males (P= 0.08). One or less than one year old children were affected significantly less than any other age group. It was found that in average, an individual suffered by this disease for 50.9 days (50.9 }3.6, P = 0.05) and it is significantly associated with the age group (P=0.00). It was also found that there is a significant difference in contract order within a family in relation to age (P=0.00). All the Chikungunya affected patients had fever and in average one had fever for 3.9 days. (3.9 } 0.2 days, P=0.05). 11.5 % of the patients were given injection for pain or severe vomiting. All type of joint pains considered in this study had significant association with age (P=0.00). 15.1% of the Chikungunya patients had rash on their bodies and this percentage is associated with gender (P=0.00). 1.5 % and 9.3% of the Chikungunya patients had bleeding from Mucosa and Mucosa Ulcer respectively and this percentages are also associated with gender (P=0.02). 22.7% of the Chikungunya patients had vomiting and there is an association between gender and vomiting (P=0.00). 32.5 % of female patients had vomiting and it is only 13.2 % for males. One male and one female Chikungunya patients were reported death. However mere is no evidence that the reason for these deaths was Chikungunya. This emergence of the disease in Sainthamaruthu MOH Division in 2006 made to realize for the first time that there is no expertise or a standard guideline for the proper surveillance, clinical case, management, and control and prevention of Chikungunya fever. Socio-economic burden of the disease had devastated this MOH Division by affecting a large proportion of the population

The Impact of intake quality in student performance in science undergraduate program

The quality of intake in terms of Z score to a particular course to different universities differs vastly in Sri Lanka. The students who get higher Z scores go to established universities mostly under merit category and the students from educationally disadvantaged districts with less Z score enter to the newly established universities. The variation in quality of intake in these newly established universities is greater and there is a concept that students' performance in the undergraduate programme is associated with the quality of intake. In this study the relationship between Z score and the student performance in two study programmes was analyzed for 174 students studying at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka. This study revealed that the quality of intake has some influence on the performance of the students at the beginning of the study programmes and it is lost gradually. The final performance of the students was not related to the intake quality of the students and this emphasizes that the current partial quota system of allocation should exist

Relative risk for tuberculosis (TB) in the Sammanthurai DS division

Tuberculosis (TB) is still continuing to be a major public health problem in Sri Lanka. About 8000 new cases of TB are notified every year. The incidences of TB differ much within the divisional secretariat (DS) divisions of the country based on the environmental pollution and other factors such as occupation, nutrition and education levels. The risk for TB also, therefore, differs much within the DS divisions. In this study the relative risk for TB in the Sammanthurai DS division was estimated using linear logistic models. This DS division had 2.89 fold higher relative risk for TB compare to the national incidence. Within this DS division, an area called J block was identified as more susceptible area for TB. Presence of metal quarries, traditional brick manufacturing industries, low level of education and low income might be the causes for the increased relative risks

Male participation in family planning

Before developing of modern contraceptives, males' domination in family planning was extra ordinal. The development of modern contraceptives such as hormonal contraceptives in 1960 and the subsequent development of intrauterine devices and surgical sterilization for women, led to the development of family planning service providers and community to focus on women, up to the extent of excluding men from family planning. However in Sri Lankan set up still the men domination is believed to be present concerned to family size and contraceptive use. In this purview a community based cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among 335 married men of reproductive age group in Kalmunai South MOH area to study the male participation in family planning. The overall contraceptive knowledge was moderate among the respondents. 95.2% of the respondents know at least one contraceptive method and 88.3% know at least two methods. The lowest knowledge was seen in the age group of 20 to 24years and the highest was found in age group of over 40 years. A positive association was found between level of education and contraceptive knowledge. Generally the knowledge is poor among lower socio economical groups. The attitude among the respondents is very much in favours to family planning. Practice of male contraceptive among the respondents is much higher (11.3%) than the national level (3.7%). The use of male partner dependent contraceptive (traditional) not very much lower (18.2%) than national figure (20.5%). 78% of the respondents discuss with their wife about family planning and in 74% of the families, the family planning decisions are taken by both partners jointly. The major portion of the contraceptive service is provided by the general practitioners (78.7%)

An attempt for improving CUSUM chart for monitoring process variance

Control charts for monitoring of process variance are developed based on Shewhart, exponentially weighted moving average and cumulative sum (CUSUM) control charts for mean. In all these variance control charts, log transformation of the sample variance is used. The design procedure of this chart is complex and it is poorly understood by the industry. In this paper an attempt is made to develop CUSUM chart for monitoring standardized variance which is having several advantages over the existing charts such as sample number free design, use in the joint monitoring scheme of process mean and variance and fit to multivariate monitoring. In industrial application this chart can be used to monitor different variances in one display simultaneousl

Trends in paddy production in Sri Lanka

In recent years viability of the paddy production sector in Sri lutnka has been a question because of lack of net profit to the paddy-producing farmers. It has been well proved by the attitude of the young generation who diverge from the paddy cultivation. Even though the country could able to reach the self-sufficiency due to increased average yield and extent of cultivation it failed to satisfy the poor farmers. In this study an attempt is made to understand the past trends in paddy production in order to find out the reasons for the above discussed problems and to forecast the future requirements. Paddy production related variables such as extent sown, extent sown under different water sources, crop failure percentage, production, average yield, cost of production, standard of living of the farmers, rice consumption and imports of rice over the time have been analyzed using simple and complex time series analysis techniques and other statistical techniques. Future situations have been forecasted from the result of the analysis. During the last three decades cost of production increase is significantly higher than the increase of the selling price of paddy, which affected the standard of living of the farmers. At present in thefanner's point of view, still thex are cultivating paddy because of return to their own labor, lack of belter alternative jobs and the lowest investment for paddy. Therefore to uplift and keep viable the paddy production in Sri Lanka, the cost ofproduction, scale of cultivation and the market price have to be kept in control while keep on increasing the average yield. Results indicate that, a farmer to have a reasonable standard of living in 2006, at least 2.81 hectares to be cultivated by one farmer and the profit margin should he Rs. 2.32 per Kg paddy produced

Analysis of selected maternal factors for development trends in Sainthamaruthu moh division

Prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) in Sri Lanka is 22 % and in the Ampara district it is 15.8%. It is believed the Sainthamaruthu Medical Officer of Health (MOH) division which is a suburban area in the Ampara district has improved maternal health facilities and this should have different statistics. In this descriptive research study, all the pregnant women who delivered babies in 2015 in Sainthamaruthu MOH area were studied for the selected maternal factors and this statistics were comparedfor development trend with2009. The associated maternal factors related to LBW were also studied. The study results revealed that theprevalence of LBW was 12.65% which is significantly less than the district statistics (p = 0.032). The mean birth weight was 2997.47 g. The initial weight of the pregnant mothers was significantly associated with LBW (p = 0.0073). The relative risk of delivering LBW babies in 2015 compare to that of 2009 was between 0.866 to 1.969 (OR=1.3059, 95% CI: 0.866, 1.969). Therefore no improvement has occurred which is not a good contribution to the millennium development goal and therefore it is recommended to identify the high risk mothers early during their pregnancy time to provide special prenatal car

Comparison of low birth weight prevalence in the Sainthamaruthu MOH division with national Prevalence

Prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) is the single most important social indicator of the socioeconomic and health condition of a country or community. Several factors are associated with the prevalence of LBW. The study of all the births in year 2009 and associated factors related to LB W in the Sainthamaruthu Medical Officer of Health (MOH) division provided an unusual very less LBW prevalence statistics of 9.98 % which is very small compared to the national prevalence of 18 0/0. Satisfactory socio economic condition, good maternity care service, less stress in life, nutritional and non vegetarian food habit, non smoking, no use of alcohol and drugs and altitude of living location could be the reasons for this less prevalence. This study also revealed that gestational duration and parity had significant association with LB W. Sex of the baby was not associated with LB W while maternal age and body mass index (BMI) had marginal association with LBW

A Solution for the problems caused by Eichornia crassipes in the Ampara District

Eichornia crassipes (Japan Jabara/Japan Japarli/Aathu Valai/Water hyacinth) is a nonnative invasive freshwater plant to Sri Lanka, which blocks the drainage and irrigation cannels. During heavy rainy season Eichornia crassipes plants block the flow of rivers and by spreading over the paddy fields cause floods frequently, destroy the aesthetic value of the water bodies and obstructs the fishing activities. Due to very rapid growth and spread rate, farmers and local authorities need to spent significant amount of money to remove these plants and need large dumping areas for disposing of these plants. A study was conducted to prepare compost using Eichornia crassipes as the main resource material along with paddy straw and cow dung. Multiple layers of these materials were mixed at 3rd and 6th weeks and the moisture content was maintained at 50 - 60%. In the 10th week, compost was ready and it was sieved. The return percentage of compost from the input was 65. The moisture percentage of the produced compost was 50.3 and the volatile solid percentage was 22.8. The compost contained 39.5 % carbon, the pH was 8.1 and 73.5 % of the produced compost was sieved through 4 mm sieve. The total production cost was Rs 4.40 kg-I and it had very good demand and the selling price was Rs. 13.00 kg-

A Technique to compare ewmad2 scheme with different sample sizes

Basically the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) charts were introduced for monitoring the process mean in 1959 by Robert. It is much sensitive in detecting small shifts of mean than Shewhart charts. But lately it was felt that monitoring process mean was not enough in some cases. Then it was essential to introduce EWMA chart for monitoring sample variance and such a chart was introduced by Chen and Gan in 1993. These both EWMA charts can be used to monitor process mean and variance independently. But later it was identified monitoring mean and variance is a bivariate problem. In this series Exponentially Weighted Moving Average Distance square scheme (EWMAD2) was introduced with the claim that the control limits of the schemes are independent of sample size. In this research project the effect of sample size in EWMAD2 scheme is analyzed with the simulated samples with the different sample size and Average Run Lengths. In conclusion it is proved that EWMAD2 scheme is independent of sample size in determining the control limits