Future of medical research in Sri Lanka: amidst economic chaos.

Sri Lanka is facing an economic crisis and medical research is significantly affected at present with researchers facing many obstacles. Urgent remedial measures are required to overcome the current situation if medical research is to continue in Sri Lanka.

Ventricular trigeminy in a patient with serologically confirmed dengue haemorrhagic fever.

Background: Cardiac arrhythmias occur during the acute stage of Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever. Dengue myocarditis is the most likely cause of the arrhythmias.

Case Presentation: We report a 55-year-old patient with Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever presenting with transient ventricular trigeminy which has not been reported before.

Neurophobia among medical students and non-specialist doctors in Sri Lanka.

Background: Neurophobia is the fear of neurosciences held by medical students and doctors. The present study aims to identify whether Neurology is considered a difficult subject by medical students and non-specialist doctors from Sri Lanka and evaluate reasons for such perceived difficulties.

Methods: The study was conducted from May-June 2008.

In vitro erythrocyte membrane stabilization properties of Carica papaya L. leaf extracts.

Background: Carica papaya L. fruit juice and leaf extracts are known to have many beneficial medical properties. Recent reports have claimed possible beneficial effects of C.

Non-cognitive characteristics predicting academic success among medical students in Sri Lanka.

Background: To identify non-cognitive and socio-demographic characteristics determining academic success of Sri Lankan medical undergraduates.

Methods: A retrospective study among 90 recently graduated students of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. Students were stratified into two equal groups; 'High-achievers' (honours degree at the final MBBS examination) and 'Low-achievers' (repeated one or more subjects at the same examination).

Medial temporal lobe atrophy, apolipoprotein genotype, and plasma homocysteine in Sri Lankan patients with Alzheimer's disease.

The authors studied the association of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) and apolipoprotein E (apoE) genotype, and the usefulness of measuring medial temporal lobe thickness (MTL) thickness for the diagnosis of AD in Sri Lankan patients. Using criteria of the NINCDS-ADRDA, 23 AD patients and 21 controls were recruited. All underwent MTL-oriented computed tomographic (CT) scans, measurement of plasma tHcy, and apoE genotyping.