Emerging drug targets for Aβ and tau in Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review

Currently, treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD) focuses on the cholinergic hypothesis and provides limited symptomatic effects. Research currently focuses on other factors that are thought to contribute to AD development such as tau proteins and Aβ deposits, and how modification of the associated pathology affects outcomes in patients. This systematic review summarizes and appraises the evidence for the emerging drugs affecting Aβ and tau pathology in AD. Methods A comprehensive, systematic online database search was conducted using the databases ScienceDirect and PubMed to include original research articles. A systematic review was conducted following a minimum set of standards, as outlined by The PRISMA Group 1. Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were followed and studies fitting the criteria were selected. No human trials were included in this review. In vitro and in vivo AD models were used to assess efficacy to ensure studied agents were emerging targets without large bodies of evidence. Results The majority of studies showed statistically significant improvement (P < 0.05) of Aβ and/or tau pathology, or cognitive effects. Many studies conducted in AD animal models have shown a reduction in Aβ peptide burden and a reduction in tau phosphorylation post‐intervention. This has the potential to reduce plaque formation and neuronal degeneration. Conclusions There are many emerging targets showing promising results in the effort to modify the pathological effects associated with AD. Many of the trials also provided evidence of the clinical effects of such drugs reducing pathological outcomes, which was often demonstrated as an improvement of cognition

Drilling data quality improvement and information extraction with case studies

Data analytics is a process of data acquiring, transforming, interpreting, modelling, displaying and storing data with an aim of extracting useful information, so that decision-making, actions executing, events detecting and incidents managing can be handled in an efficient and certain manner. However, data analytics also meets some challenges, for instance, data corruption due to noises, time delays, missing and external disturbances, etc. This paper focuses on data quality improvement to cleanse, improve and interpret the post-well or real-time data to preserve and enhance data features, like accuracy, consistency, reliability and validity. In this study, laboratory data and field data are used to illustrate data issues and show data quality improvements with using different data processing methods. Case study clearly demonstrates that the proper data quality management process and information extraction methods are essential to carry out an intelligent digitalization in oil and gas industry.publishedVersio

Morphological Variation of Vegetative Phase among Ma Wee (Oryza sativa L.) Accessions during Non-Inductive Growing Season for Flowering

Ma wee (Oryza sativa L.) had been a popular traditional rice in the past due to desirableagronomic traits for adverse environments. Ma wee accessions (Accns) are known to bephotoperiod sensitive for flowering initiation which flower during Maha (short day) season.Understanding morphological variation of Ma wee is useful in future analysis for geneticdiversity. Thirty nine Accns of Ma wee varieties used for the present study with the objectiveof determining variation of morphological responses when Accns remained in vegetativephase under non-inductive photoperiod for flower initiation at 210 days after sowing. Thirtynine Accns from plant genetic resources center, Sri Lanka were grown in Kamburupitiya withfour replicates in a completely randomised design at the end of Maha season in 2013/2014.Quantitative characters of plant height (PH), total tiller number (TTN), total leaf number(TLN), culm number (CN) and ligules length (LL) and qualitative characters of ligule color(LC), ligule shape (LS), internode color (IC), culm strength (CS) were recorded. None of the39 Accns flowered by 210 days and PH, TTN, TLN, CN, and LL varied from 87.5±1.61 cm,2±0.37, 8±0.84, 2±0.43, 1.8±0.46 cm to 199±1.36 cm, 22±2.09, 136±2.20, 24±2.03 and4.18±0.25 cm respectively. The lowest PH, TTN, TLN, and CN were recorded from Accn6253. Except for Accn 6253, rests 38 Accns were over 1 m in PH.Qualitative characters varied among clusters without any uniformity for a given cluster. CSvaried among Accns from weak, intermediate to strong. LC and IC varied from green towhite and green to yellow respectively. Acute to acuminate and two cleft LS were alsoobserved. Principal Component Analysis followed by Cluster Analysis was performed usingdata from quantitative characters. First two of PCs explained over 80% of total morphologicalvariations. The first PC represented the PH, TTN, TLN and CN whereas PC2 represented theLL. Eight clusters were obtained at rescaled distance five in the dendogram. Variation amongAccns within clusters for qualitative characters may be an indication of genetic diversity.Keywords: Ma wee, Morphological variation, Vegetative phas

Determination of Candidate Breeding Resource from Sri Lankan Traditional Rice Mudukiri Al

Most of the traditional rice varieties conserved at Plant Genetic Resources Centre, Sri Lanka,possess more than one accession. Determination of morphological variation and yieldpotential among accession within same variety would be useful for breeding new varietiesand farmer introductions. Six accessions of Mudukiri Al variety were selected for this study.The objective of this study was to determine the morphological variation among accessionsof Mudukiri Al for selecting candidates for future breeding. Six accessions obtained from thePlant Genetics Resources Centre, Sri Lanka, were grown in Kamburupitiya with threereplicates in a completely randomised design from November 2013. Days to fifth leaf (DFL),seedling height at fifth leaf (SHT), leaf area of fifth leaf (LA), days to flowering (DF), plantheight at flowering (PH), culm number at flowering (CN), total number of panicles (PN),number of grains per first panicle (GN), grain length (GL) and width (GW) were recordedwhich varied from 51 to 59 days, 63.8 to 80.3 cm, 6.5 to 44.4 cm2, 86 to 102 days, 112.7 to148.6 cm, 16 to 38, 7 to 29, 103 to 255, 0.7 to 0.9 cm and 0.3 to 0.4 cm respectively.Accession 4,144 produced significantly higher GN of 255 while accession 3,970, 4,145 and3,758 produced 184, 160 and 166 respectively. Accessions 3,970 and 5,536 were with shortawns. A positive correlation between DFL and PH (0.870) had been observed. Higher GNand the highest CN (38) would be favourable for selecting accession 4,144 as a candidatebreeding resource.Keywords: Mudukiri Al, Morphological variation, Breeding resourc

Stock price reaction to merger and acquisition announcement: evidence from Colombo stock market

This study examines, Stock Price Reaction to Merger and Acquisition Announcement in the Sri Lankan context for the period of 2009 to 2014. It was analysed using 26 offeror companies and 40 offeree companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. To examine the reaction of share prices to the announcement of Merger and Acquisition the standard event study was done. In addition, it was also examined using accounting study that is financial ratios of two years before the announcement date and two years after the announcement date were analysed. Analysis shows that the announcements of merger and acquisition have a negative impact on the firm performance from the offeree side and there is a positive impact on the firm performance from the offeror side

Varietal diversity of Sri Lankan traditional rice based on sensitivity to temperature and photoperiod at vegetative stage

Photoperiod and temperature are two important environmental factors affecting vegetative growth and yield of rice. The varietal diversity based on the response to temperature and photoperiod during vegetative growth was determined in a core collection of 40 Sri Lankan traditional rice accessions (SLTRA) and 2 improved and 2 wild rice types in terms of days to fully expansion of fifth leaf (DFL) and plant height (PH). Short day (SD), day neutral (DN) and long day (LD) conditions were imposed during 2 trials of high temperature (HT) and low temperature (LT) at 36.9 ± 0.43 °C and 34.0 ± 0.98 °C under natural temperature fluctuation. Average DFL of the collection at HT was significantly lower than that of the LT irrespective of photoperiods. Temperature affected the DFL of 22 accessions, while photoperiod alone affected 1 accession. Average PHs under HT were similar irrespective of the photoperiod, which were lower than those of LT. PH of 15 accessions was not affected by photoperiod or temperature. Temperature alone affected 12 accessions and photoperiod alone affected 2 accessions. Both photoperiod and temperature affected 4 accessions. In the cluster analysis on response to photoperiod and temperature, SLTRA and improved rice were differentiated into 2 clusters at a rescaled distance of 25. Further, sub-clusters grouped several accessions of the same variety together. The differential varietal response to photoperiod and temperature in SLTRA would be useful in breeding for climate change adaptations after further experiments on flowering time and yield

Factors Affecting Growth, Survival and Leaf Functional Traits of Tree Saplings Planted Along a Successional Chrono-Sequence in Endane Biodiversity Corridor in Southwestern, Sri Lanka

The growth of a sapling is influenced by species, succession, and habitat characteristics such as shade and elevation. Forest restoration efforts often fail due to insufficient consideration of habitat characteristics and site-species suitability. In this study, we examined how habitat characteristics, successional age and elevation affect growth, survival, and functional traits of 13 threatened tree species planted in Endane Biodiversity Corridor in Southwestern Sri Lanka. The growth parameters and selected leaf functional traits in 13 threatened tree species interplanted within four successional ages (marginal tea, scrub, woodland 1, and woodland 2) with contrasting elevation and canopy closure were measured after one year of planting and analyzed using a linear mixed-effect model. We found that mean annual height growth in different habitats increased significantly with successional age, from the highest being in shaded woodland, the lowest growth (p&lt;0.001) in open marginal tea habitats. Mean annual diameter growth also varied by successional age but did not follow the same trend as height growth due to differences in canopy closure. A strong positive correlation was observed between height and diameter growth one year after planting (r=0.71, p&lt;0.001). Chlorophyll content increased with succession, the highest in a shaded woodland (p&lt;0.001). In contrast, leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and leaf mass per area (LMA) decreased with successional age, with marginal tea showing the highest values (p&lt;0.001). The LMA variability was explained by LDMC (r=0.41, p&lt;0.001) and leaf thickness (LT) (r=0.42, p&lt;0.001). These results provide valuable insights into long-term monitoring of restoration success in Endane Biodiversity Corridor in Southwestern Sri Lanka. Keywords: Mean annual height growth, Species selection, Specific leaf area, Specific dry matter conten

Modelling Interrelationships of the Factors Impeding Community Engagement in Risk-Sensitive Urban Planning: Evidence from Sri Lanka

During the last two decades, global disasters have impacted over 5.2 billion people, with economic losses exceeding USD 2.97 trillion. This underscores the critical need for inclusive risk-sensitive urban planning (RSUP) that integrates community insights. Community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) has demonstrated a potential reduction of up to 40% in mortality rates during disasters and cost savings in disaster response and recovery. However, research has shown that only 20% felt they are involved in decisions related to neighborhood planning, despite communities’ lived experience in surviving local hazards. This highlights a gap where practitioners dominate the development of mitigation and development plans, sidelining local perspectives. Using Sri Lanka as a case study, this study investigated the barriers to effective community participation in the decision-making of RSUP and thereby developed an interpretive logic model to establish an understanding of why they occur and how each barrier is interlinked. The data gathered from a sample of 44 experts and community representatives revealed 19 factors that impede community inclusion in the decision-making of RSUP in Sri Lanka. The Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) analysis adopted identified that the absence of legal provisions for inclusive development, political dynamics, and corruption are the most significant barriers. The Matrix Impact of Cross Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) further revealed that fewer financial provisions and the absence of an institutional framework for community engagement are the linking barriers to the other 17 barriers. This study not only extends the theoretical debate on barriers to community engagement for risk-responsive and equitable development but also helps urban planners, disaster management practitioners, and strategy policymakers focus on critical areas that need major reforms

Mobilising Community Engagement in Disaster Risk-Sensitive Urban Planning: Insights From Grounded Theory and Two-Mode Social Network Analysis

Despite the emphasis in sustainable development goals (SDG) 11, 13, and 17 on collaborative efforts to address climate change-induced disaster risks through inclusive planning, stakeholders' role in fostering community engagement in risk-sensitive urban planning (RSUP) remains underexplored. This study, focusing on Sri Lanka, employs a two-mode social network analysis to examine stakeholders' roles in overcoming barriers and promoting enablers of inclusive RSUP. Through documentary review, expert interviews, and focus-group discussions, 62 stakeholders, 19 barriers, and 19 enablers were identified. State agencies for urban development and disaster management, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and inter-governmental organisations (IGOs) were found to influence over half of the barriers and enablers. Most stakeholders demonstrate the capacity to address gaps in community knowledge, skills, and competencies while incorporating lived experiences into development planning. NGOs and IGOs are vital for securing resources, knowledge, and technical support. The findings emphasise a multistakeholder approach for enhancing national-level decision-making, policy design, and offer insights into fostering partnerships and addressing challenges for resilient urban environments