Environmental contamination of pathogenic and intermediate pathogenic <em>Leptospira</em> spp in two divisional secretariats of Kandy district

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Cultural values and demographic correlates of citizenship performance

This study examines the impact of cultural values on citizenship performance (CP) in the context of a developing country. Although differences in CP across cultures have been examined, the situation in developing countries is often not clear. Using a sample of 362 Sri Lankan employees, it is found that gender and education have significant impact on CP. While collectivism, future orientation, and uncertainty avoidance are found to be positively related to CP, power distance and masculinity values are negatively correlated with CP. It is also evident that the same cultural value orientation can have both positive and negative impacts on CP, depending on the particular aspect of CP. The findings reveal that developing countries are not totally different from developed countries as far as the impact of cultural values on CP is concerned. The study contributes to the advancement of CP theories of individual differences and cultural values and relevant knowledge pertaining to developing countries. Implications of findings are discussed and suggestions are offered for further research

Simulation of Bacterial Motion Under Flow Inside Micro Channel Using CFD and DPM

Discrete Phase Method (DPM) is coupled in this study with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to simulate motion of rod-shaped motile bacteria under flow conditions inside a microfluidic device where a micro scale chamber is connected to same scale inlet and outlet channels. Here, bacterial cells are represented by spherical solid particles with equivalent volume of a typical bacterial cell, and physio-chemical interactions between cells and solid surface are omitted. Bacterial suspension is assumed as a Newtonian fluid in a laminar flow. Particle injection mass flowrate was selected to emulate OD600 0.1 bacterial cell concentration and lowered up to 10% of initial concentration. Particle diffusion pattern was affected by the fluid velocity (within the range 0.05–0.005 m.s−1), but the pattern remined similar for particle mass flowrates varying from 8–80 × 10–9 kg.s−1. Particle mass concentration long the flow direction was varied with fluid velocity but not affected by the injection concentration. At 0.005 m.s−1 fluid velocity, maximum particle mass concentration varied with a linear relationship with particle injection mass flowrate, and the variation at 0.05 m.s−1 fluid velocity too showed a linear relationship with injection mass flowrate but with higher gradient. This is a new finding on P. aeruginosa cell motion and diffusion inside microchannels.</p

Anatomical landmarks for ankle block

Abstract We aimed to describe anatomical landmarks to accurately locate the five nerves that are infiltrated to accomplish anaesthesia of the foot in an ankle block. Twenty-four formaldehyde-fixed cadaveric ankles were studied. Photographs of cross sections of the frozen legs, cut at a horizontal plane across the most prominent points of the medial and lateral malleoli, were analysed. The curvilinear distance from the most prominent point of the closest malleolus to each of the five cutaneous nerves and their depth from the skin surface were measured. Sural, tibial, deep peroneal, saphenous and medial dorsal cutaneous nerves were located 5.2 ± 1.3, 9.2 ± 2.4, 7.4 ± 1.9, 2.8 ± 1.1, 2.1 ± 0.6 mm deep to the skin surface. The curvilinear distances from the medial malleolus to the tibial, deep peroneal and saphenous nerves were 32.5 ± 8.9, 62.8 ± 11.1 and 24.4 ± 7.9 mm, respectively. The curvilinear distances from the lateral malleolus to the sural and medial dorsal cutaneous branches of superficial peroneal nerves were 27.9 ± 6.3 and 52.7 ± 7.3 mm, respectively. The deep peroneal nerve was found between the tendons of the extensor hallucis longus and the extensor digitorum longus in the majority of specimens, while the medial dorsal cutaneous nerve was almost exclusively found on the extensor digitorum longus tendon. The sural and tibial nerves were located around halfway between the most prominent point of the relevant malleolus and the posterior border of the Achilles tendon. In conclusion, this study describes easily identifiable, palpable bony and soft tissue landmarks that could be used to locate the nerves around the ankle