Department of Medical Laboratory Science

Prevalence of Animal Rabies in Southern Province, Sri Lanka: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

2024-11-07T06:45:35Z

Prevalence of Animal Rabies in Southern Province, Sri Lanka: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study. Amarasiri, A.M.S.S.; Ramanayake, R.M.T.M.; Peiris, H.H.; Samaraweera, B.; Udara, G.K.J.N. Introduction Rabies is one of the dreaded infectious diseases, which progress into invariably fatal encephalo- -myelitis. Understanding population-wide trends in prevalence of rabies is vital for planning public health approaches for disease prevention and policy making. Hence this study was aimed to estimate the prevalence of animal rabies and its associated factors in Southern Sri Lanka. Methods A cross-sectional survey was done based on data retrieved from the archived patient and laboratory records for the period of January 2021 to December 2023, at the rabies unit in National Hospital, Galle, the sole rabies diagnostic unit in Southern Province. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results A total of 641 brain stem specimens from dogs (Canis familiaris; 54.6%), cats (Felis catus; 41.5%), rabbits (Lepus nigricollis; 0.6%), guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus; 0.2%), cattle (Boss spp.; 0.3%), squirrels (Ratufa macroura; 1.9%) and mongoose (Herpestes smithii; 0.8%), were received during the study period. Among them, 48%, 38% and 41% were confirmed positive for rabies by Seller’s staining and/or direct fluorescent antibody test in year 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. Most of them were received from Baddegama, Elpitiya and Galle MOH areas in Galle district (71%). The reduction in prevalence of animal rabies from 2021 to 2023 was statistically significant (p <0.05). Majority of the positive cases (84.3%) were of canine in origin and from domesticated animals (50.6%). More than 90% of the positive cases were from the animals which were non-vaccinated or without a vaccination history. However, 1.7% of the positive cases were reported from the vaccinated animals. Conclusions This study highlights the prevalence of rabies in non-vaccinated domestic animals with a substantial percentage in dogs, although it shows a reduction in total number of positive cases with

Stability of Serum Total Cholesterol, Triglycerides, and Plasma Glucose of Healthy Individuals at Different Storage Conditions at Different Storage Conditions.

2024-11-25T05:23:16Z

Stability of Serum Total Cholesterol, Triglycerides, and Plasma Glucose of Healthy Individuals at Different Storage Conditions at Different Storage Conditions. Adhikari, A. Charuka; Peiris, H. Harshini; Attanayake, Anoja P. Abstract: Evaluation of the stability of serum and plasma analytes under different temperatures and time points is vital since it significantly affects the pre-analytical errors. The aim of the study was to determine the stability of serum total cholesterol and triglyceride and plasma glucose of healthy individuals under different storage conditions (25-30°C and 2-8°C) and at different time points (1-hour, 4-hour, 6-hour, and 24-hour). Venous blood samples were collected from healthy individuals aged between 20-50 years after a 12-hour fast. Plasma and serum were separated and stored at different temperatures (25-30°C and 2-8°C) and different time points (1-hour, 4-hour, 6-hour, and 24-hour). Results indicated a significant difference between the mean plasma glucose concentration at room temperature (25 30°C) and refrigerated temperature (2-8°C) at 1-hour (0.072%, p = 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in mean serum total cholesterol concentrations (p = 0.633) and mean serum triglyceride concentrations (p = 0.246) between these temperatures at 1-hour time point. Regarding time points (1-hour, 4-hour, 6-hour, and 24-hour), significant differences in plasma glucose concentrations occurred at 24-hour (10.03%, p = 0.001) at room temperature (25-30°C) and 6-hour (8.79%, p = 0.003) at refrigerated temperature (2-8°C) compared to the 1-hour reference values. Additionally, there were significant differences in serum total cholesterol concentration at 4-hour (12.55%, p = 0.000) and serum triglyceride at 24-hour (29.18%, p = 0.001) compared to the reference values obtained at 1-hour at room temperature (25-30°C). No significant differences were observed among the time points (1-hour, 4-hour, 6-hour, and 24-hour) for serum total cholesterol (p = 0.507) and serum triglyceride values (p = 0.761) at refrigerated temperature (2-8°C). Plasma glucose is unstable at both room temperature (25-30°C) and refrigeration (2-8°C), with recommended testing within 6 hours at room temperature (25-30°C) and stored in a refrigerator (2-8°C) if delayed. It is better to estimate serum total cholesterol within 1-hour of collection at room temperature (25-30°C) while serum triglyceride concentration within 6 hours at the same temperature to obtain accurate and reliable results.

Diagnostic significance of individual glucose values in oral glucose tolerance test and the associated risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus in pregnant mothers: A cross-sectional study.

2024-11-05T07:21:25Z

Diagnostic significance of individual glucose values in oral glucose tolerance test and the associated risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus in pregnant mothers: A cross-sectional study. De Silva, U.H.; Dissanayake, M.; Amarasiri, S.S. Background: The diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is mainly based on oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in Sri Lankan clinical setting. The present study was to assess the diagnostic significance of individual glucose values in 75g OGTT in a group of pregnant mothers, to modify the test procedure to make it more convenient and cost-effective and to identify the associated risk factors for GDM. Methods: A total of 150 pregnant women within the second trimester and attending the antenatal clinics at Teaching Hospital Mahamodara were recruited for the study. Data collection was carried out via an interviewer-administered questionnaire followed by retrieval of laboratory data on OGTT. Results: Seventeen pregnant women (11.33%) were diagnosed with GDM by OGTT based on the WHO criteria. Diagnosis was based on either fasting or 2-hour glucose values alone or by increased levels in more than one of those parameters. None of them were diagnosed based on the 1-hour glucose value alone. The AUC values were 0.951 (0.884, 1.000), 0.829 (0.715, 0.942) and 0.859 (0.776, 0.943) respectively for fasting, 1-hour and 2-hour glucose concentrations (CI 95%). GDM was asso ciated with uncontrolled sweet consumption ( 2=5.86, p=0.015) and no association was observed with reference to maternal age, parity, BMI, positive family history of diabetes, and prior history of GDM or diabetes mellitus.Conclusion: Fasting and 2-hour plasma glucose values have higher diagnostic accuracy over 1-hour glucose values and the findings suggest the performance of fasting and 2-hour samples alone in the standard 75g OGTT procedure for the diagnosis of GDM

Correlation Between Salivary and Serum Biomarkers of Kidney Function in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Attending the Nephrology Clinics at Teaching Hospital Karapitiya, Sri Lanka

2024-11-05T06:11:52Z

Correlation Between Salivary and Serum Biomarkers of Kidney Function in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Attending the Nephrology Clinics at Teaching Hospital Karapitiya, Sri Lanka Liyanage, Tharaka D.; Amarasiri, Sachinthi S.; Attanayake, Anoja P. The present study was designed to determine the correlation between salivary and serum levels of creatinine and urea in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and to propose the use of saliva as an alternative medium for the analysis of biochemical parameters of kidney function. Accordingly, an analytical cross-sectional study was carried out using 100 CKD patients attending the Nephrology Clinics at Teaching Hospital Karapitiya, Sri Lanka. Saliva and serum samples were collected from the patients for the estimation of creatinine and urea using spectrophotometric assay kits. Of the total, the majority of the patients were found within CKD stage 3 (82%). The salivary and serum concentrations of creatinine varied within the range of 0.20 - 2.10 mg/dL and 1.54 – 11.6 mg/dL, whereas the salivary and serum concentrations of urea varied within the range of 68.04 – 127.59 mg/dL and 60.14 – 168.25 mg/dL respectively within the study population. Significant positive correlations were observed between the salivary and serum concentrations of creatinine (r= 0.985, p=0.01), and urea (r= 0.942, p=0.01), and between salivary concentrations of creatinine and urea (r=0.887, p=0.01). A significant difference was observed in the salivary biomarkers between mild to moderate stages of CKD patients and severe to end-stage CKD patients. No significant association was observed in the salivary markers with the age and sex of the patients. The area under curve values in the receiver operating characteristic analysis was>0.9 (95% CI). These findings revealed high levels of diagnostic accuracy in salivary biomarkers suggesting the potential use of saliva for the assessment of kidney function in CKD patients