All about Vaccines

In Sri Lanka we have a well established island wide immunization programme to prevent diseases. Government hospitals provide vaccines for free of charge. However there can be lot of question on vaccination and this is to educate you on vaccination.

What is vaccination? Vaccination is a preventive treatment developed for bacterial or viral infections.

Do all infections have vaccines? No, Vaccines are mainly developed for the diseases with high morbidity and mortality rate or to prevent epidemic conditions. Our immune system and medical care can easily cure many other infections.

Do vaccines contain live viruses? Yes, there are several types of vaccines and following are the commonly found:

• Live attenuated, uses weakened live viruses which cannot produce the disease in a healthy human

• Inactivated, uses killed viruses or parts of the killed virus
• Toxoids, uses inactivated toxins produced by the microorganisms examples are tetanus and diphtheria vaccines

How vaccination prevents infections? When live attenuated/toxoids or inactivated viruses in the vaccine enter in to the body our immune system activates and develops antibodies and memory. When an immunized person is exposed to actual infection the immune system easily fights and eliminates the viruses before harming the body.

How vaccines are administrated: Most common ways are subcutaneous, intramuscular and oral administration.

Does every one develop desired immunity after vaccination? No, usually booster doses are given after the first dose to immunize the most of the population.

Do vaccines provide long lasting immunity? Not all, it depends on the vaccine. Period of protection may vary and some vaccines required periodic administration.

Can someone get infected by vaccination? Rarely Yes, since some vaccines use live organisms, rarely a person with inadequate immunity may be infected and have a chance to develop symptoms and complications similar to actual exposure. However vaccines that use inactivated viruses cannot infect the receiver.

Are there any side effects? Yes mild side effects (i.e. swelling near the injected site, low fever, headache, stomach problems etc.)  are common for any vaccine. These do not need special medical treatments other than mild antipyretics (for fever) and subside within few days.

Though it is uncommon some may develop moderate to severe side effects such as high fever, rashes and breathing difficulties in which the medical treatments are required.

In rare cases some people develop hypersensitivity reactions which can be life threatening.

What are hypersensitivity reactions? They are undesirable reaction to the ingredients of the vaccine by the immune system. It should be noted that it is not a fault of the vaccine or the person administrated.

Can hypersensitivity reactions are preventable? Sometimes not, some people develop hypersensitivity reactions for the first time for a particular vaccine. Therefore it may not be predictable. But emergency medical treatments can prevent the complications. 

Hypersensitivity reactions come soon as less than 60 minutes after vaccination and the symptoms can be severe. Immediate administration of the adrenalin and respiratory support can save the patient. Government or private immunization clinics should have these facilities and trained staff.

Unfortunate rubella vaccine incidents occurred in Sri Lanka most likely to be hypersensitivity reactions.

• It is better to immunize yourself/children at a facility with emergency medical care.
• It is also important to stay at the place at least 30 minutes before leaving.

To be continued .....http://www.blogs.lk/2011/08/all-about-vaccines_25.html

Thalassemia in Sri Lanka

Let’s eradicate Thalassemia from Sri Lanka

What is Thalassemia?

Thalassemia is an inherited (pass from parents) disease which leads to produce absent or low amount of normal hemoglobin. This is literally a preventable disease.

About our genes: Our genes are arranged in pairs with one gene received from each parent. There are two types of hereditary diseases.

Autosomal Dominant – One defected gene from one parent is enough for the full blown disease.

Autosomal Recessive – Required both genes to be defected to show symptoms. If each parent carries one defected and one normal gene they do not show the symptoms but have 25% chance to have a child with the disease.  

Thalassemia Minor: Have one defected gene from a parent; usually they do not show symptoms expect for mild anemia. However if married another carrier they may produce a child with Thalassemia

Thalassemia Major: Both genes are required to be defected and show severe symptoms.

www.lankapuvath.lk

Problems

For most of the times Thalassemia Minor does not require medical interventions. However Thalassemia Major has lot of complications including the following necessary to be treated for life.

·   Bone deformities in the face

·         Fatigue

·         Growth failure

·         Shortness of breath

·         Short life expectancy ;Average life span is 20 years

·         Iron overload  ·      Organ failure are the health risks

Treatments (for Thalassemia Major)

• Lifetime monthly blood transfusions which is painful and reduce the quality of life.
• Drug therapy throughout the life is required to remove excess iron from the system

Other main problem is High health cost. According to some health news Rs 1,600 million is spent every year to treat Thalassemia and it is about 15% of the total health allocation. During the lifetime average of 10 million rupees is spent for one Thalassemic patient.If this is eradicated, that money could be used to save many lives.

Do only blood related couples produce Thalassemic children?: No, although the chance of having a Thalassemic child to a blood related couple is high due to the tendency of both parents being carriers. Non blood related couples could also have Thalassemic children if both of them are carriers.

What should we do?

It is a great responsibility of us to eradicate this unfortunate preventable disease. Couples can test them selves before the marriage and consider the following

• If both tested negative-No problem at all
• If one is positive and other is not – still you can marry and have children (but remember to test your children at least before they get married)
• If both found positive – If possible don’t get married/ if you marry you can consider adopting a child. But if    you really want to have your own children just think twice about the suffering your child has to bear throughout.

What are the tests to identify the carriers?

• Hemoglobin electrophoresis

• Complete Blood Count
• Iron status studies

Helping institutions

National Thalassaemia Center at Teaching hospital Kurunegala provides assistance to Thalassemic patients.

www.nation.lk

Please refer the article
http://www.nation.lk/2010/08/15/newsfe1.htm for additional information.

Happiness in Buddhism

Happiness is what everyone needs. We do everything for the happiness of our mind. In Buddhism the happiness is the final achievement and that happiness is eternal. However the path to happiness in Buddhism is different from what is conventional.

Usually we can be happy if we get what we needed and if we don’t get what we don’t need. So to be happy always we simply need to provide what our mind needs. If someone wants a car he can be happy once he gets it. However we need lot of things at a time (tasty foods, long hair, nice car, pass the exams etc.) So it is highly unlikely to make us continuously happy. In other hand although we get what we needed the happiness is uncertain as quickly we need something else. As and example once we get a car then we may need to modify it with seat covers, stickers or need an air freshener etc.

If we closely look at our life at first we went to school and want to pass the exams and then need to go to a university or training then need a job, then need to find a partner, have children, give them education, find them jobs, find them partners and care their children repeating exactly what our parents did. But very few feel they are accomplished even at the age of 70s. People think the happiness comes ahead but they die without ever having it.

The happiness in Buddhism is different and we can have it for no cost and at the present moment if we train our mind (or meditate). We don’t need to get older, get married or to find a good job but can be happy even during sickness and while dying. Training our mind is done through understanding the nature of things and we need to know how to concentrate. Meditation is a tool to train the mind.

Following practices helps the mind training

Practice precepts- Precepts are the set of rules lead to social wellbeing (by avoiding from killing, stealing, adultery, lying, intoxicating the society become harmless)But if we break precepts we cannot escape from the guilty feeling which damages the tranquility/contemplation of the mind.Without having tranquility of the mind we can’t train our mind.

Generosity

Get rid of Jealousy

Develop compassion,

Forgiveness

Acceptance

Simplicity

Few expectations

Mind is trained to understand the common three features of worldly objects. They are” Uncertain, Suffering, and non self”.

Uncertain-Everything changes so this is common for everything whether we like it or not. (aging process is a good example, we can see this in everything like in weather, health, death etc.)

Suffering- Since things change and we can’t control them it is a suffer (no one want to be sick or die, but everyone becomes sick and finally die)

Non self- (this may be difficult to understand) since we cannot gain control against the nature and both of our body and mind are uncertain and suffering we can’t call us a self. Irrespective to our wish nature takes its course. We only have a limited control.

So through the training we have to understand this very nature and that can help us to be happy even at very stressful situations.

Below examples may help you to understand how training of the mind lead to happiness.

1. A buys a beautiful Mug of his desire and never had trained his mind. so he thinks the mug will be with him as long as he wants it. But his servant accidently drops it very next day. Then A becomes unhappy and may punish the servant

2. B also buys a mug but with his trained mind he knows it could be broken and he is ready to face that. His servant too drops it. Since B expected this he doesn’t worry and forgive the servant.

In this way we can practice our mind

The more you understand the nature the less you suffer. Enlightened ones had completely understood the nature so they do not suffer at all and they taste the eternal happiness.

to be continued  

Chinese Products

China is a rapidly developing country and it supplies large number of products to the global market. In recent years Chinese products, especially the electrical and electronics items had invaded the Sri Lankan market. Chinese products are cheaper than the products of Japan or USA therefore the sellers as well as the customers are now interested on them. However the quality and the safety of these products are not clear. This article is intended to help you to select the best Chinese products.

Mainly 3 types of products from china are available in our market

Original products of renowned brands made in China

Many world famous companies such as Nokia, HP, Sony have their factories in China under their supervision Since these products use the original technology and the quality standards they are similar to products of the originated country although sometimes they mention “Made in China” or “Product of China” on the product. These products are not very cheap and you can easily feel the quality. The product and its functions are similar world wide. Usually the buyer gets an original company warranty. There is no harm of purchasing these products.

Unauthorized copy cat products made in China

These products are produced in China by different manufacturers and look similar to the original product. However these products do not use the original technology and the quality is not maintained. The product can be changed in function. Although they are made in China the product may display the name of the country of the original product. They are comparatively very cheaper and usually do not issue a company warranty.

Please be careful when purchasing these products as the quality, safety and durability issues are not known. In case of mobile phones we don’t know the level of radiation of these products.

The below shown (1st picture) is the Apple iPod Shuffle, a product of USA, which is sold for Rs. 8000/= by the authorized dealers in Sri Lanka. The 2^nd picture shows a Copy cat product from China which is commonly available from Rs. 900/= – 3000/= in the Sri Lankan market. Although they look similar they have functional and quality differences.

http://www.apple.com

http://www.favordeals.com

Products originally from china

China has the technology to produce anything. There are products made in China using technology available to them and carry there own brand names Although the brand names are not popular there can be high quality products as well as bad and unsafe products. Please search well before purchasing these items. By testing it before purchasing you may be able to understand its quality to some extend.

Finally ask the seller about the originality; a good seller does not hide

Buddhism in Sri Lanka

Lets protect Buddhism through correct practice

Buddhism is a very practical religion. The Buddha taught how to train our mind to be happy. It is quite different from the happiness we generally expect. As an example “If someone wants to have a car, he will be definitely happy once he owns one. But since we cannot get everything we need it is difficult to be happy. Even though we get them the happiness from the materials does not last long.

But the Buddha taught how to be happy (or not to be unhappy) at any situation by training our mind to accept the nature. With that training we can stay without being worried during an illness or death of a loved one. We know that the Buddha renounced all his property and family but he was happy. He only owned few robes and a food bowl and he always encouraged his disciples to renounce and train the mind to attain the constant happiness (or Nirvana). He always expected and encouraged meditation.

However today it seems most of the Buddhists do not at least understand what Buddhism is. For most of them it is just a chanting religion to relieve a problem. It is a tragedy to see some monks malpractice the Buddhism. Very popular examples are

• ·         The Vishwa Shakthi Monk Ven.Dr Delduwe.Gnanasumana and
• ·         Monks who engage in astrology and black magic like Shobitha Hamuduruwo, Ruwanwella.

The Buddha prohibited these types of practices for monks as it damages the Buddha Sasana and also hampers the development of the mind.

The Buddha was believed to have lot of supernatural powers, but he never used them to cure diseases. He advised his followers to contemplate on the pain you feel from diseases and understand the nature and to renounce from the desire for your body which is getting older, painful and uncertain. (for more information Please read http://www.blogs.lk/2011/08/happiness-in-buddhism.html)

Today the essence of the Buddhism (mind training, observe precepts, stay away from evil) has been masked by less effective practices like “Chanting for every thing” The chants are the discourses of the Buddha or Maha Sangha. To get an effect you have to practice them, just chanting them has a minimal effect and that was not indented by the Buddha. Just think that you listen and chant “Karaneeya Metta Sutra” daily and twice a day to get rid of your problems but kill cockroaches, mosquitoes and place rat poison to kill rats. Will that work?

We always blame other religions for converting Buddhists to their religions. But the harm is immense when the Buddhist monks and lay people themselves doing the wrong practice for sake of the Buddhism.

Ministry of Buddha Sasana & Religious Affairs and other Buddist organizations have a huge responsibility to protect the Buddhism. They can take an action against the monks who break the rules. Also they can aware people about the correct Buddhists practices.

Stock Market Invesments

Investment decision at Colombo Stock Exchange 

www.cse.lk

Investing in the share market is generally accepted to be profitable. However the risk is not totally avoidable and it does not occur always by chance. Therefore the investment decision should be made carefully to minimize the risk and maximize the profit. Following are the points to be considered before investing in the stock market.

Trade history

Trade history plays an important role in making decisions. Shares that continuously fluctuate largely have a good potential for short term investors they can buy during the lowest price and sell when reach the peak. All time highest and lowest price are another parameter. You can buy shares at its closest to the lowest and sell closest to the highest. However subdivisions, right issues and consolidations may affect the all time values. Past data on subdivisions, right issues etc. can be found under the announcements of each company on www.cse.lk

Twelve months trade history gives you a better understanding about the seasonal fluctuations.

Invest for IPOs

IPOs of well reputed companies have a good potential to rise several times than the initial price although it could be a gradual process. Further it does not involve broker fees. In Sri Lanka IPOs of the financial sector companies usually rise several times.

Higher dividends

Some companies pay higher dividend against the initial offering/listing price. CSE daily and weekly reports provide the dividend announcements and you have to own the share by XD date to be entitled for the dividends.  

Liquidity

Some shares had gone up to its maximum and liquidity is very low for the prices above. Avoid purchase of those shares unless you require them for something other than gaining profits.

Links to trade history

Trade history can be viewed by several stock information web sites

• www.cse.lk- shows a brief graph up to  for 12 months and  detailed history is available for charge
• www.colombo-stock-exchange.com provide a very user friendly history analyzing environment with sorting facilities and related news. http://www.colombo-stock-exchange.com/#!activePage

US warns Sri Lanka on war crime charges

The above is one of the headlines of The Straits Times today.  It may be a serious condition but made me laugh due to several reasons. Why do US and western community still worried about this terrorist and serial killer Prabhakaran. We all know that Saddam and Osama had been killed and Gaddafi will also be killed or arrested soon. They are terrorists outside US but even without the permission of the relevant governments the US killed them for peace.  Do you think US army did it without killing a civilian?

Our problem was domestic and no one (US and western community) ever cared 30 –year human right violati

Do you want this to happen again?

Source: www. defence.lk

on by Prabhakaran who owned a suicide bombing squad. When innocent civilians and children of all the races in the country were killed, when the child soldiers were trained, that too was reported internationally but no one cared.  Like they did to Saddam and Osama, they had power to catch the Prabhakaran but never happened. They waited until about 100000 died and only entered the problem at the very end of the war. That is also support to the LTTE. It is a surprise to learn that the western countries haven’t seen human violation in Sri Lanka until Channel-4 showed some biased videos.

I want to ask the US, UN and the western community how you justify the killing of Saddam, Osama and arrest warrant of Gaddafi  over the defeat of well known terrorist Prabhakaran. What made westerners upset about the defeat of the LTTE leader. Is it the jealousy or what?

What is expected from the Sri Lankan government? To re-establish the LTTE again?

Now Sri Lanka is a peaceful country. Please let Prabhakaran rest in peace as Saddam and Osama.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_685178.html

Consumers in Sri Lanka

Are you really protected?

Today consumer market has grown in both size and variety. In urban areas due to the set up of supermarkets consumers are largely exposed to a wide range of local and imported products. Manufacturers and exporters face highly competitive environment in making a demand for their products. It is OK to compete as it leads to fair market price and high quality product, but it is also possible to sell low quality products to higher prices deceiving consumers. If they sell their products to consumers by false information or exaggeration it is not right at all.

It is not uncommon to see lot of value added products such as health food, effective fitness machines etc. in the market for a comparatively higher price. There should be several requirements to fulfill to claim a benefit and it should be well explained to the customer.

As an example if a particular noodle claimed to be a healthy food, it should have properties like high fiber, law calorie, low fat etc. and the nutritional vales should be in the label. Then the consumer can decide is it really valuable for the cost.

To increase the demand, other than providing high quality product to fair price some sellers and manufacturers use gimmicks.  One such gimmick done by the seller or the manufacturer is emphasizing a naturally occurring property as a benefit. A good example is claiming “Cholesterol Free” for vegetable oils. Though this may attract the consumer and encourage buying even at a higher price, cholesterol does not naturally occur in plant sources.

Another attempt is exaggeration. One example is slimming teas. It is true that green tea and some herbal preparations can help to reduce body fat but and obese cannot shed several kilos within days and have a slim figure shown in the label just by drinking it. Some telemarketing campaigns promote fitness products that give preferred body image by using it only few minutes a day for several days which is unrealistic in real world. Most of the soap advertisements are also unrealistic.

Some products tend to provide expected result but it also has side effects. Mercury is banned to use in cosmetics in many countries considering the potential health hazards. But it is very effective in some skin conditions such as freckles and whitening. Cosmetics containing Mercury are available in the Sri Lankan market and neither the seller nor the consumer knows about it.

The quality and the price are interdependent. As consumers we have right to obtain a reasonable product for what we pay. However lots of exported items are sold at highly varied prices and it is hard to regulate.

As a consumer to get the best thing for your money

• Read the label (a good product has most of the product details in the label)
• Details of the manufacturer should be in the label (some products only have a name)
• Compare the prices and properties of the similar products
• Sometimes you may get more information through the internet
• If you feel that the manufacturer or the seller has provided wrong or altered information you can complain to Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) http://www.caa.gov.lk/ for appropriate action

Who killed Roshen Chanaka ?

Garment industry plays an important role in Sri Lankan export market strengthening our economy via foreign exchange. The contributors of the garment industry (employers and workers) should be thereby appreciated, supported and protected. 

However the incident that killed the youth Roshen chanaka cannot be undermined as an accident or riot. It is true that a police man has fired (or misfired) him but the story behind the incident should be evaluated widely to avoid further tragic incidents as such.

If we look from the beginning, the government’s proposed pension scheme was the motive for this demonstration. The context of the garment employment is different from other sectors to which the proposed scheme was most suitable therefore the garment workers do not benefit and an explanation is required to solve the problem. But did they really need to have a protest, should not the government listen to them if they do not protest. Who is behind the protest and what is his intention? A person or a group that really thinks about the benefit of the employees never put them in a danger.

A protest should be the action to be taken at last after failing all other efforts. But in Sri Lanka specially among some political groups the first line action is this. What the most of the people do not understand is many problems can be solved diplomatically without much trouble. Most of the protesters may not have known the full details of the proposed bill

Though the policemen open fired and killed a youth they are only partially responsible for the incident. If they are going to be punished persons who made them shoot also should be punished. The leaders of the protesters now are justifying their action as the withdrawal of the proposed bill by the government but the damaged occurred is not really justifiable.

Claim lives, Damage property, Halting manufacturing of export items which could be a great loss to our economy, wound people are really unnecessary to solve a problem which is justifiable. Any government that has a brain will not create unnecessary trouble leads to lose the faith of it voters. The leaders of the protests want to make a trouble via a potential loophole to tarnish the image of their oppositions and they do not love the employee though they try to pretend.

www.adaderana.lk

To avoid these tragic incidents the government should show their flexibility over the solutions and the public should be made aware on how to communicate with the government in much acceptable manner.

It is advisable to introduce a leadership programme not only for the university students but also for the all the school leavers including how to handle a problem diplomatically.

Leadership training for university students

University students are considered as adults, therefore they have the freedom to bear any political opinion and actively engage in political activities. However it should not ruin the university education system. Science the public money is used for the free education, university students have a responsibility to study well and contribute to the development of the country.

Source www.lankapolity.blogspot.com

However last few decades political activities inside the universities become influential beyond the limits damaging the peaceful education environment. Some radical political leaders try to transfer their political views to the new comers by force during the rag season. Although these parties pretend to respect the democracy they break the rule for the personal gain. Further they do not allow other political groups to introduce their political views. Now a day’s most of the university students are just school leavers at their early twenties. They haven’t been exposed to influential political environment earlier and that may lead them to follow what is introduced first.

Only small number of students directly involve in these destructive political activities (such as strikes, exam boycott), but the majority is afraid to raise their voice against them.

The government recently introduced a leadership training programme to the students selected for universities. The objective is to produce students, who are well disciplined, physically fit, knowledgeable and capable of conflict resolution at the end of the university life.

Although the programme is valuable and useful huge political influence against the programme goes on. Most of the protestors are not the students undergoing the training, their parents or university staff, but the people involve in politics.

The training programme is organized at different military bases due to the availability of infrastructure for large number of students such as accommodation, play grounds etc. As confirmed by the government the training does not involve military activities and completely harmless.

This training may help them to have liberal political views and avoid the physical and mental harassments at the rag and to continue university education without interruption.