Pharmacokinetics and allometric scaling of antimalarial drugs

Allometric scaling was found as a plausible technique for dose determination in children. Permeability and P-glycoprotein efflux transport of antimalarials were determined using in-vitro Caco-2 cells. Mefloquine showed P-glycoprotein inhibition. Amodiaquine, artesunate and artemisone were not P-glycoprotein substrates or inhibitors. Methylene-blue showed some P-glycoprotein mediated efflux. Permeability was high for amodiaquine and artemisone, medium for mefloquine and artesunate and low for methylene-blue. P-glycoprotein was up-regulated when exposed to dihydroartemisinin/artemisone in combinations with amodiaquine/mefloquine

A Sri Lankan hacking case study

The aim of the paper is to consider how hacking could impact a country that had historically experienced major cyber-attacks. The aim of the paper is to explore a cyber incident that occurred against the Sri Lankan president and how Sri Lankan authorities reacted to the incident. The paper will focus upon the motivations of the attack, the impact of the attack and how Sri Lankan authorities reacted to the situation

Financial Literacy and Financial Distress on Financial Wellness among Public University Students in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is currently grappling with its most severe economic crisis, marked by a scarcity of foreign currency, impending debt payments, inflation, and shortages in essential goods. The crisis has disproportionately affected the younger generation, impacting their education and businesses. Public university students, in particular, face challenges with rising costs of living and educational materials. This study aims to investigate the influence of financial literacy and financial distress on the financial wellness of public university students in Sri Lanka. While existing literature abroad explores these factors, there is a research gap in understanding their combined impact on financial wellness in the Sri Lankan context. The theoretical framework incorporates Prospect Theory, Behavioral Life-Cycle Theory, and Self-Efficacy Theory. Primary data collection involved survey questionnaires distributed randomly among Sri Lankan public university students, with 122 responses analyzed using EVIEWS and Excel. The results indicate a strong positive relationship between financial literacy and financial wellness, highlighting the positive impact of financial knowledge on overall financial well-being. Conversely, while there is a negative relationship between financial distress and financial wellness, it is not statistically significant. However, when considering the combined effect, there is a significant impact of both financial literacy and financial distress on financial wellness. Overall, the study reveals that public university students in Sri Lanka exhibit higher financial literacy and effective financial management, contributing to their resilience during the economic crisis. The findings emphasize the importance of addressing both financial literacy and distress for comprehensive financial wellness among this demographic

Ecological Significance of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in Headwater Streams

Headwater streams are the starting points of river ecosystems, that consist of an array of unique microhabitats. Most of these stream segments are first-order streams and these aquatic ecosystems provide habitats for many macroinvertebrates including arthropods, mollusks, annelids, nematodes, and turbellarians. These species play a significant role in maintaining the ecological integrity of the river ecosystem. Specifically, their feeding habits of scraping, collecting, shuddering, and predating make a significant contribution to maintaining stable food webs within the stream ecosystems. These macroinvertebrates are highly sensitive to environmental changes and consequently, they have been used as indicators of environmental quality. Although the aquatic macroinvertebrates play a crucial role in headwater streams, they face stresses caused either by nature itself or man leading to their extinction on certain occasions. Global warming, acidification, deforestation, forest fires, industrialization, intensive agriculture, and livestock farming practices have been identified as potential stresses behind the extinction and biodiversity losses of macroinvertebrates in headwater streams. Therefore, the abundance and distribution of macroinvertebrates in headwater streams need to be critically considered in developing criteria for development projects, agricultural practices, and other environmental management strategies to protect and conserve these unique environmental creatures

The influence of passage number for Caco2 cell models when evaluating P-gp mediated drug transport

Caco2 cells are a human adenocarcinoma cell line that forms tight junctions and are widely used to examine bidirectional drug transport as well as P-glycoprotein mediated efflux. Unfortunately Caco2 cell lines can be very heterogeneous in nature. Our aim was to improve the Caco2 cell model for determination of P-glycoprotein mediated drug transport. Young passage Caco2 from ATCC had inadequate expression of P-glycoprotein, therefore three approaches were adopted to upregulate Caco2 P-glycoprotein expression to mimic that in vivo; a) incubation of mature Caco2 monolayer with rifampicin, b) prolonged exposure of Caco2 cells to vinblastine (generating the Caco2 VIN line), and c) splitting cells every 7 to 9 days until late passage numbers (over P80) were available. Upon development of the models, P-gp expression and activity was determined using western blotting and bidirectional transport studies of rhodamine123. All four models exhibited P-gp mediated efflux transport for rhodamine123. Incubation with rifampicin did not alter bidirectional transport compared to passage 44 cells. Increased passage number altered P-glycoprotein expression and the efflux ratio increased to 4.7 for passage 80 from 1.4 of passage 44. The highest basolateral to apical transport was observed for both passage 89 Caco2 and the Caco2 VIN model with an efflux ratio of 13 to 14. Western blot images confirmed the increased P-glycoprotein expression of late passage and Caco2 VIN. Caco2 cells are not ready for P-gp related research when first acquired from ATCC (Passage 18). Late passage Caco2 cell monolayers or Caco2 VIN models are needed to determine P-gp mediated efflux transport

An empirical study of the influence of different organisation cultures on e-commerce adoption maturity

Drawing on Cameron and Quinn’s organisational cultures typology that defines four types of organisational culture (i.e., clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy), and Daniel et al.’s four-stage model of e-commerce adoption, this paper empirically examines the influence of different organisational cultures on e-commerce adoption maturity in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka. The result indicates a positive correlation between adhocracy culture and e-commerce adoption. However, those firms with hierarchy cultural characteristics indicate a negative correlation in relation to e-commerce adoption. The organisational culture differences explain these issues

Security and Privacy Concerns for Australian SMEs Cloud Adoption

Cloud Computing has become increasingly important for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises because of its cost-effective benefits. However, the adoption of Cloud Computing over the recent years raised challenging issues with regard to privacy and security. In this study, we explored and presented the findings of the influence of privacy and security on Cloud adoption by SMEs. Based on a survey of SMEs across Australia, we analysed the data using structural equation modelling. We found that Cloud privacy and Cloud security are major concerns for SMEs to adopt Cloud computing. The study findings are useful for IT practitioners and regulatory bodies to understand how SMEs consider privacy and security issues for Cloud adoption