Volume 01 Issue 01 - 2014

Effect of Central Obesity on Serum Lipid Profile in Non-diabetic, Non-hypertensive Subjects - A Preliminary Study

Mon, 24 Oct 2016 09:29:06 GMT

Effect of Central Obesity on Serum Lipid Profile in Non-diabetic, Non-hypertensive Subjects - A Preliminary Study Walatara, Kasuni; Nusha, Fathima; Kaneshapillai, Anusha; Athiththan, Lohini; Perera, Rasika; Hettiaratchi, Usha Central obesity is a significant risk factor for metabolic syndrome in adults. Central fat distribution greatly alters the lipid profile and induces atherogenic dyslipidaemia even in normoglycaemic, non-hypertensive subjects. Hence, the aim of the present study was to identify the serum lipid parameters which are altered with central obesity in non-diabetic, non-hypertensive subjects in Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Family Practice Centre of University of Sri Jayewardenepura, after obtaining ethical clearance and informed written consent from 227 non-diabetics, non-hypertensive subjects who were not on Statins. Overnight fasting venous blood was collected and assayed for serum lipid profile such as triglycerides (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 NHANES standards. All data were analysed using SPSS (ver.17) software. Mean age of the subjects was 40.7 ± 13.7 years and 59.9% were females. Obese males and females were 40.7% and 49.3% respectively. In the study sample, mean TG and TG/HDL ratio were significantly (p<0.05) higher in obese males. However, all mean serum lipid parameters such as TG, TC, LDL and TG/HDL ratio were higher in both obese males and females and HDL was lower in them. Hence, even in non-diabetic, non-hypertensive subjects, central obesity has a relationship with altered lipid profile which could lead to obesity related metabolic abnormalities.

Meta-model for Collaboration Modeling in Legal Sector

Mon, 24 Oct 2016 09:25:05 GMT

Meta-model for Collaboration Modeling in Legal Sector Vasanthapriyan, S.; Bhagya, R.P.T.; Jayaweera, P. Cost effective and best practice legal services are highly relying on the coordination of collaborative workflow activities as well as of several resources needed to perform these activities and their flow of information exchanges among many different participants. In the context of ever increasing numbers of legal cases and involved stakeholders in multi-party collaborations, we have discovered the appropriateness of the adaptation of workflow management systems in legal sector to address the resulting complexities and performance issues in legal service collaborations. In this work, a meta-model for legal service collaboration modeling which includes the main semantics of modeling elements, has been introduced as the basis for defining the choreography for sector collaboration with the objective of facilitating legal collaboration modeling in such a way as to provide a useful input for the creation of legal workflow specifications for setting up legal workflow management systems. The meta-model was developed based on Business Transaction View meta-model in UN/CEFACT’s recommendations for business collaborations. The proposed modeling framework could facilitate and guide the complex legal collaboration modeling processes with promising results in workflow coordination.

Drinking Water and Sanitation Conditions of Households in Tea Estates: A Case Study from the Giragama Estate

Mon, 24 Oct 2016 09:22:44 GMT

Drinking Water and Sanitation Conditions of Households in Tea Estates: A Case Study from the Giragama Estate Sellathurai, T.; Rangalla, R.D.N.P.; Dheera, K.A.D.K.; Galagedara, L.W. Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are considered as basic human rigths. The understanding of how many people do not have access to drinking water and sanitation may help to assess the communities who do not have access to the fundamentals needs and facing spread of communicable diseases. In Sri Lanka, the estate sector has comparatively low health and sanitation condition than the rural and urban sectors. The population coverage for water and sanitation services for urban, rural and estate sectors are 100%, 82% and 62% and 100%, 82% and 55%, respectively in 2012. The Millanium Development Goals and National Development Plan targets 80%, 90% and 100% of water for estate, rural and urban areas, respectively. In the case of sanitation they target 75%, 85% and 95% for estate, rural and urban areas respectively. This study was conducted to investiage the drinking water and sanitation situation of househods in two villages of the Giragama tea estate in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The required data were collected through a structured questioner from a randomly selected 26 households from Kudaoya and 35 households from Kirimetiya watta of the Giragama estate. The main source of drinking water is unprotected spring in Kirimettiya watta and piped water in Kudaoya. The percentage of improved source of drinking water is 77.2% and 94.9% in Kirimettiya watta and Kudaoya, respectively. A 51.4% and 34.6% of water collection is done by females in Kirimettiya watta and Kudaoya, respectively. A 96.8% of households in Kirimettiya watta have access to safer drinking water while it was 78.3% in Kudaoya. Boiling is found to be the major means of treatment of drinking water for 85.3% of the population tested. Kirimettiya watta has 87.3% improved sanitation facilities while it is 85.6% in Kudaoya. With respect to sanitation, 81.1% dispose children’s faeces safely in Kirimettiya watta and this was 100% in Kudaoya. According to the overall analysis, it can be concluded that the two villages considered in this study has a fairly good improved drinking water facility and water availability. The households in Kudaoya have less awareness with regard to making drinking water safer. More than 85% of the households are using improved sanitation facilities and most of them have improved methods of childen’s fecal removal.

Optimization of Palmyrah (Borrasus flabellifer) Fruit Pulp in Different Varieties of Fruit Yoghurts

Mon, 24 Oct 2016 08:12:21 GMT

Optimization of Palmyrah (Borrasus flabellifer) Fruit Pulp in Different Varieties of Fruit Yoghurts Sangheetha, S.; Wansapala, M.A.J.; Gnanasharmala, A.; Srivijeindran, S. The research focused on processing palmyrah fruit pulp into a value added product to broaden the utilization of palmyrah fruit pulp. Set, swiss style, jelly and pulp preserve yoghurts incorporated with palmyrah fruit pulp were developed. Control yoghurt and plain yoghurt for other preparations were prepared with 13 % sugar, 1% gelatin, 12 % skim milk powder and lactic acid bacteria culture following household method. The fresh pulp was kept at – 25 oC for 48 hours and heated up to 85 oC for 30 minutes with 5 % cane sugar, 0.6 % tartaric acid, 1 % ascorbic acid and 0.13 % sodium chloride. The treated pulp was added at 5 %, 7.5 %, 10 %, 12.5 % and 15 % into both set and swiss style yoghurts. Fruit jelly was prepared with sugar, gelatin, sodium citrate, citric acid and 20 % pulp. It was then incorporated into yoghurt at 5 % and 6 %. Palmyrah fruit pulp preserve was prepared by heating sugar, pectin and pulp (45. 8 %) until its brix reached 68.5 o and it was topped on set yoghurt at 5 %, 7.5 % and 10 %. Sensory evaluation for colour, odour, appearance, mouth feel and texture was conducted with 21 untrained panelists using 5 point hedonic scale and the optimized pulp concentrations for set, swiss style, jelly and preserve yoghurt were 5 %, 7.5 %, 6 % and 10 % respectively (p < 0.05). The overall sensory qualities of all palmyrah fruit yoghurts were rated as good to very good. There were no significant changes in sensory attributes, brix and pH in storage at 4 oC. Shelf life was 18 days for all products at 4 oC without any preservatives except set yoghurt as it showed separation of water from the third day of the preparation. Nutritional and microbiological qualities of the products were investigated and compared with control yoghurt. Protein was higher in swiss style (6.12 %) and jelly (7.77 %) yoghurts. Carbohydrate was higher in swiss style yoghurt (36.87 %) and preserve yoghurt contained highest fat content (2.57 %).