Sea snakes of Sri Lanka are among the most venomous snakes in the island although they have not received much attention in the last few decades. According to data from other countries, they may be more toxic than highly venomous land snakes in the island. Most sea snake species found around Sri Lanka are gentle and inoffensive and will only bite when provoked, but certain species like Astrotia ...

E-government has become popular in Sri Lanka with the implementation of various e-government initiatives. The public value of these e-government initiatives, however, is not clear due to a lack of rigorous assessment so far on the performance of such e-government initiatives. This paper presents an empirical study in evaluating the public value of e-government in Sri Lanka within a conceptual f...

Coscinium fenestratum (Gaertn.) Colebr. (Family: Menispermaceae) is one of the most important plants used in traditional systems of medicine. The major compound in the C. fenestratum is berberine. In the present study, berberine content was quantified using C. fenestratum grown in Sri Lanka. Results revealed that hot extraction method was more suitable for getting high yield of berberine from C...

BACKGROUND Leishmania donovani is the etiological agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in the Indian subcontinent. However, it is also known to cause cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan L. donovani differs from other L. donovani strains, both at the molecular and biochemical level. To investigate the different species or strain-specific differences of L. donovani in Sri Lanka ...

Background In general, different foods and food ingredients are believed to be causing hypersensitivity/allergy among the Sri Lankan population. Global epidemiological observations have revealed lists and levels of hypersensitive foods but proper researches have been carried out in Sri Lanka for identifying food allergens. This study was carried out to obtain statistical data for different food...

1 Under-representation of developing countries in the research literature: ethical issues arising from a survey of five leading medical journals Authors Athula Sumathipala 1, 4, Sisira Siribaddana 2,4 and Vikram Patel 3. 1. Section of Epidemiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London SE5 8AF. 2 Sri Jayewardenepura Postgraduate Teaching Hospital, Thalapathpitiya, Nugegoda, 10250, Sri ...

INTRODUCTION Sri Lanka has one of the highest suicide and self-harm rates in the world and although alcohol has been found to be a risk factor for self-harm in Sri Lanka, we know little about the connection between the two. This paper comprises a protocol for a qualitative study investigating alcohol's role in self-harm in rural Sri Lanka at three levels: the individual, community and policy le...

Dr. Nadira Karunaweera: I am pleased to say that our research program on leishmaniasis has had a major impact on health policy decisions on several fronts during the past decade or so that has helped to lay the foundation and facilitated the process for better management and control of this disease in Sri Lanka. First, the published information on clinical and epidemiological aspects of leishma...

BACKGROUND Tobacco promotions are linked to tobacco consumption in adolescents. The aim of this study was to determine knowledge of and exposure and responses to tobacco-promotional activities and factors associated with knowledge among adolescents in a rural setting in Sri Lanka. METHODS Seven schools in Polonnaruwa district were randomly selected for this cross-sectional study. Adolescents ...

BACKGROUND International guidelines on research have focused on protecting research participants. Ethical Research Committee (ERC) approval and informed consent are the cornerstones. Externally sponsored research requires approval through ethical review in both the host and the sponsoring country. This study aimed to determine to what extent ERC approval and informed consent procedures are docu...