Browsing by Author "Kularathne, S.A."

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    Hydroxychloroquine for post-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 among naval personnel in Sri Lanka: study protocol for a randomized, controlled trial
    (BioMed Central, 2020) Niriella, M.A.; Ediriweera, D.S.; de Silva, A.P.; Premaratna, R.; Balasooriya, P.; Duminda, K.D.; Malavige, N.G.; Wanigasuriya, K.; Lekamwasam, S.; Kularathne, S.A.; Siribaddana, S.; de Silva, H.J.; Jayasinghe, S.
    BACKGROUND: The first case of a coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection in a Sri Lankan was reported on March 11, 2020. The situation in Sri Lanka changed with the rapid increase of personnel contracting COVID-19 in a naval base camp that housed more than 4000 people. This provided a unique opportunity to study the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), while taking stringent, non-pharmacologic, public health measures to prevent spread. Our aim is to study the effectiveness and safety of HCQ for PEP among naval personnel with exposure to COVID-19-positive patients. METHODS/DESIGN: This is a placebo-controlled, randomized, clinical trial carried out in the naval base camp and quarantine centers of the Sri Lanka Navy, Ministry of Defense, Sri Lanka. Navy personnel who are exposed to a patient with confirmed COVID-19 infection but test negative for the virus on reverse real-time polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) at recruitment will be randomized, 200 to each arm, to receive HCQ or placebo and monitored for the development of symptoms or rRT-PCR positivity for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus for 14 days. DISCUSSION: This trial will provide high-quality evidence of the effectiveness and safety of HCQ as PEP for COVID-19. The study design is unique due to the circumstances of the outbreak in a confined area among otherwise healthy adults, at a relatively early stage of its spread. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry (SLCTR) SLCTR/2020/011. Registered on 04 May 2020. KEYWORDS: COVID-19; HCQ; Hydroxychloroquine; Post-exposure; Prophylaxis; Randomized controlled trial; SARS-CoV-2; Sri Lanka.
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    The importance of context sensitivity of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Bilingual Education
    (Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Perera, M.; Kularathne, S.A.
    National Education Commission proposed Bilingual Education to the national curriculum in 2003. One of the main objectives of this introduction is to improve the second Language proficiency of learners. The Ministry of Education in collaboration with the National Institute of Education is designing a model based on CLIL; a widely used learning teaching approach in bilingual education, to suit the Sri Lankan context. Cummins (1981) claims two language proficiencies that are necessary in improving the bilingual learner‘s second language proficiency; BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). BICS is an informal day today language that learners acquire when exposed to an acquisition rich environment while CALP refers to the use of academic language in formal learning teaching contexts. Cummins claim that BICS lays the foundation for CALP. The objective of this paper is to examine Cummins‘ BICS in relation to Bilingual Education in Sri Lankan context. This analysis is based on interviews held with a purposive sample of bilingual teachers and teachers of English and observation of classrooms and content analysis of pupils textbooks. Literature relating to CLIL too was studied. Cummins‘ interpretation of BICS has to be modified if it is to be applied to Sri Lanka. Opportunities for the pupils to acquire BICS are not adequately available in Sri Lanka as the teachers are not well equipped with learning teaching strategies facilitating BICS .Therefore BICS should be facilitated in the formal classroom context. Text books prescribed to teach bilingually are the direct translation of monolingual textbooks designed for monolingual learners .It is recommended that teachers be trained in CLIL pedagogy and textbooks be revised. Teachers should be equipped with knowledge and skills to adapt available textbooks to facilitate BICS.