Monday, March 23, 2015

The Microbiome.

Programme for the get-together on June 13th 2015 at the Jetwing Blue, Negombo, Sri Lanka.

Decisions taken at Ms. Durumila’s place at Barnes Place, Colombo regarding the ‘get-together’ of the ‘1960 Entrants’ to the Colombo Medical Faculty.
Venue of the ‘Get together’ – Jetwing Blue, Negombo
Date – 13th June 2015
Cost of the day programme – Rs.3500/
Agenda – 13th June 2015
10.00am – Arrival, Welcome Drink.
Registration – Fee Rs. 3500/- includes Lunch and evening tea.
11.00 am – Group Photo (Copies Rs.2000/-each, delivered by evening).
Fellowship.
1pm to 3 pm Lunch.
4.30 – Remembering those who have departed.
5.30pm – Concert – Geri Jayasekara, Travis Perera Vijitha – Anula Nikapota and Buddy Reid.
7pm to 12 midnight – Music by Sam the Man - to have group singing of oldies and dancing, free style.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Confirmed bookings so far, for stay at the Jetwing Blue.
1.       Sujeewa Tinto nee Athulathmudali
2.       MBS De Silva & Karunanayake.
3.       Nannayakkara CS and wife.
4.       Bala Balakrishnan & wife.
5.       Nalini Rodrigo.
6.       Vijitha Nikapota.
7.       Amarasiri Pushpa.
8.       Felix Senanayake.
9.       Gunasekara Asoka & Ramya.
10.   Gunasekaram Jeyendran.
11.   Duru & Devi.
12.   Gunawardena HP.
13.   Hema De Silva & wife Paula.
14.   Hetttiarachchi Sydney and Pearl.
15.   Jayasekara Geri.
16.   Jayasinghe Daya.
17.   Jayasekera Asoka &  wife Shantha.
18.   Jayaweera Tissa.
19.   Kapuwaththe Sarath.
20.   Pathirana Udula.
21.   Suneetha.
22.   Ponnnambalam Arjuna Asoka.
23.   Reid Buddy.
24.   Thavarasa AS & Wife.
25.   Thenabadu Nihal.
26.   Thevarapperuma.
27.   Weerasinghe Tilak.
28.   Wignaraja.
29.   Jayalath De Silva.
30.   L.R. Amarasekera.
31.   L.D. Karalliedde.
32.   Ranjan Fernando.
33.   Philip Veerasingam & Ramya.
Anyone who has booked at the adjoining Jetwing Beach could be transferred to the Jetwing Blue. Please make the request to us, to do the needful.
The organising committee is not handling bookings at hotels. You have to do these yourselves. You can use your credit cards to do the bookings.
Please contact :-
ASHAN RANASINGHE
Senior Sales Executive (Corporate Sales) - Jetwing Hotels Ltd. 
ashan@jetwinghotels.com
T: 
+94 11 2345700 ext: 1329  F: +94 11 2345730  M: +94 774750908
Please find the applicable rates below for your perusal.

THERE IS NO HALF BOARD.  
FULLBOARD FOR SINGLE IS Rs.16600/-

FULL.BOARD FOR DOUBLE IS Rs.22000/-.
FULL BOARD FOR A TRIPLE IS Rs.28280/-
WITH THE DAY FUNCTION HALF BOARD IS NOT AVAILABLE.
  

Day Outing Rate at Jetwing Blue: Rs. 3,500/- Nett per person (Inclusive of Lunch & Tea / Coffee and Snack)
 If you are coming only for the day with no hotel stay for the night, you could have dinner also at the hotel for Rs.3000/- each.
If you have any doubts regarding your bookings please contact Durumila Kumara:-
durukumara@gmail.com
Home - 0112697188

Fees for Sam the Man and his band has met with a shortfall of Rs.40,000/-. Rs.70,000/- balance from last get together will meet the balance, for total fee of Rs. 110,000/-
The organizers hope that any contributions from any members of the batch on the day of arrival  will meet this shortfall.

Please circulate this document among batch mates.

The Organising Committeee.

1960batch@gmail.com

Dear Phillip,
Geri called to discuss the problem of Rs.1.3 lakhs for Sam.
Please write to all the batchmates & say this is the cost & whether they would like us to go ahead with getting him & also whether any of them would like to give a small donation towards the cost. Better do it soon so that Sarath K can say yes or no to  Sam.
Thanks.
Nalini

Sunday, March 22, 2015

saffron found to help vision loss in elderly

email from chellah pathmanathan

Researchers strike gold - 

5 February 2010
The golden herb saffron may hold the key to preventing the loss of sight in the elderly, a world first trial by researchers at the University of Sydney and in Italy has found.
Professor Silvia Bisti, a visiting scholar based at The VisionCentre at the University of Sydney, described the results as a breakthrough, with trial participants showing significant vision improvements after taking a saffron pill for three months.
"Measurements using objective eye sight tests showed patient's vision improved after taking the saffron pill. When they were tested with traditional eye charts, a number of patients could read one or two lines smaller than before, while others reported they could read newspapers and books again."
The trial, conducted at Italy's Policlinico Gemelli by Professor Benedetto Falsini, was double blind and randomly controlled, involving 25 subjects over six months. Half the group were given a saffron pill for the first three months followed by a placebo, while the other half were given the pills in the reverse order.
"All patients experienced improvements in their vision while taking the saffron pill," Professor Bisti said. "But when they stopped taking the pill the effect quickly disappeared."
Professor Bisti began studying the effects of saffron at L'Aquila, in Italy's mountainous Abruzzi country, because it was a widelygrown local crop which has been used in traditional medicine as a treatment for conditions such as cancerous tumours and depression.
"The chemistry of saffron is quite complex", she says. "It is wellknown as an antioxidant, but noone had explored its effects on eyesight before."
Professor Bisti says "saffron appears to affect genes which regulate the fatty acid content of the cell membrane, and this makes the vision cells tougher and more resilient".
Professor Bisti singled out "saffron's 'anti-apoptotic' properties - its ability to increase the availability of oxygen to the body and prevent cell death," as a key factor in its beneficial effects.
In collaboration with the Catholic University of Rome and the University of L'Aquila Professor Bisti is now conducting a twelve month trial, with the aim of finding out more information about optimal doses, and at what point patients might experience a peak effect.
Another potentially fruitful line of research will be investigating saffron's ability to treat genetic diseases of the eye, such as retinitis pigmentosa, which can cause lifelong blindness in young people.
Professor Bisti's work builds on many years of collaboration with Professor Jonathan Stone at the University of Sydney's The Vision Lab. The lab's extensive trials using animal models, which found that a saffron diet will protect the eye from the damaging effects of bright light, formed much of the basis for Professor Bisti's research with humans.

"After decades of lab research it is wonderful to now be able to help people," Professor Stone said.

Note:
Professor Bisti's laboratory at L'Aquila University was severely damaged in last year's earthquake in Italy and her experiments disrupted. The Vision Centre has supported two of her research staff to continue their work at the University of Sydney.

To interview Professor Bisti or Professor Stone contact Kath Kenny, University of Sydney Media Office (02) 9351 2261(02) 9351 2261 or 0434 606 1000434 606 100, k.kenny@sydney.edu.au

Need not a ‘National Health Service’ but a “National Well-being service’.




PS
The Ancient Chinese apparently had a system, where the family doctor was paid his annual retainer, only if there was no sickness in the family for the past year.