A total of 360 bacteria, isolated from the rhizospheres of a system of rice intensification (SRI) fields, were characterized for the production of siderophore, fluorescence, indole acetic acid (IAA), hydrocyanic acid (HCN) and solubilization of phosphorus. Of them, seven most promising isolates (SRI-156, -158, -178, -211, -229, -305 and -360) were screened for their antagonistic potential again...

Field experiments were conducted in 2006 to investigate the impacts of modified rice cultivation systems on: grain yield, N uptake, ammonia volatilization from rice soil and N use efficiency (ANUE, agronomic N use efficiency; and PFP, partial factor productivity of applied N). The trials compared rice production using modified methods of irrigation, planting, weeding and nutrient management (th...

Background: Sri Lanka became a signatory to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in September 2003 and ratified in November 2003. Aiming to reduce tobacco burden in Sri Lanka, National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol Act [NATA] No. 27 was authorized in 2006. The objective of this study was to assess the behavioral changes related to tobacco use among adolescents and young adults fol...

Numerous studies have shown growing information indicating the contribution of food to the dietary exposure of arsenic (As) through consumption of different food items in many different regions over the world. However, few review papers with regard to As in Sri Lankan foods are available in databases. Thus, a critical review and assessment of a number of local studies on total As concentrations...

Growing numbers of "electromagnetic hypersensitive" (EHS) people worldwide self-report severely disabling, multiorgan, non-specific symptoms when exposed to low-dose electromagnetic radiations, often associated with symptoms of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) and/or other environmental "sensitivity-related illnesses" (SRI). This cluster of chronic inflammatory disorders still lacks validate...

BACKGROUND Internet-based media coverage to explore the extent of awareness of a disease and perceived severity of an outbreak at a national level can be used for early outbreak detection. Dengue has emerged as a major public health problem in Sri Lanka since 2009. OBJECTIVE To compare Internet references to dengue in Sri Lana with references to other diseases (malaria and influenza) in Sri L...

BACKGROUND Respiratory insufficiency in COPD may present as hypoxic and/or hypercapnic respiratory failure treated with long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) and/or noninvasive ventilation (NIV) with LTOT. The Severe Respiratory Insufficiency Questionnaire (SRI) is a tool for the assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in subjects receiving NIV. However, it remains unclear whether the SR...

Organisms utilize light as energy sources and as signals. Rhodopsins, which have seven transmembrane α-helices with retinal covalently linked to a conserved Lys residue, are found in various organisms as distant in evolution as bacteria, archaea, and eukarya. One of the most notable properties of rhodopsin molecules is the large variation in their absorption spectrum. Sensory rhodopsin I (SRI) ...