Browsing by Author "Senanayaka, S."

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    Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in black tea at different processing stages.
    (4th International Research Symposium on Pure and Applied Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Sithara, T. A. H.; Marapana, R. A. U. J.; Liyanage, R.; Senanayaka, S.
    Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous organic molecules considered as environmental pollutants, generally enter to the environment during incomplete combustion of organic materials. Various foods have been contaminated from PAHs during preparation, processing or from the environment. The present study was carried out to investigate the occurrence of 16 priority PAHs, in black tea, collected from a tea factory. There were six samples of tea from the same batch and same grade at different processing stages that were analyzed. The Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) method was followed to prepare samples and the analysis was done by using gas chromatography- mass spectroscopy. The total PAHs contents of fresh tea leaves, withered, rolled, fermented, dried, graded tea were 26631.84, 59716.89, 43517.76, 11584.72, 7151.88, 16726.77 μg/kg respectively. The results showed that the PAHs were high in withering and rolling steps than the other steps and high PAHs count in graded tea than dried black tea. Since the withering, rolling and tea grading steps are carried out close to the unloading bay and machinery, they could be contaminated from smoke of vehicles and factory smoke effluent. The fermented tea showed less PAHs content and that decrement could be due to volatilization and degradation of PAHs during fermentation. The PAHs contamination of tea leaves depend on the manufacturing premises, environmental condition, thermal energy type, dryer type and raw material conditions etc. The majority of detected PAHs in tea samples were of low molecular weights. According to International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2 and 3 ring PAHs were classified into group 2B and 3 according to the carcinogenicity; the agent possibly carcinogenic and not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans respectively. Even though, tea was contaminated from PAHs, these PAHs are not harmful to the human health. Therefore, the consumption of black tea is safe to the humans
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    Prevalence of migraine and tension type headache among 20 to 59 year old adults in the Gampaha district
    (College of the Community Physicians of Sri Lanka, 2007) Perera, G.S.N.; Jayawardena, P.; Senanayaka, S.; Samarage, S.M.
    INTRODUCTION: World Health Organization has identified headache disorders as a public health problem which may be primary or secondary. Of the former migraine and tension-type headache (TTH) are the most common primary headache disorders. OBJECTIVE: TO determine one-year period prevalence of migraine and TTH among 20 - 59 year old adults in the Gampaha district. METHODOLOGY: One-year period prevalence of migraine and TTH among 20 – 59 year old adults in the Gampaha district was determined through a cross sectional descriptive survey. Cluster sampling technique was used to identify the sample. Expected total sample size was 2112. The number of clusters was 64 with 33 per cluster. Primary sampling unit was the ‘Grama Niladhari’ (GN) divisions. Selection of clusters was based on population proportion to size. An interviewer administered validated instrument was developed and used as the screening instrument. RESULTS: The total number of individuals contacted was 2075 and out of that 1854 participated in the study giving a response rate of (89.4%). Crude period prevalence of migraine was 10.4% (95% CI: 9.0 - 11.8) while the age, sex standardized prevalence was 9% (95% Cl: 9.0 - 9.1). Crude period prevalence of TTH Was 20% (95% CI: 18.3 - 22.0) while the age sex standardized prevalence was 20% (95% CI: 19.9 - 20.1). CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The period prevalence of migraine and tension type headache are 9% and 20% for the Gampaha district. Recommend the use of the validated questionnaire for screening for the above primary headache disorders.