Browsing by Author "Peiris, C."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Inhaled beclomethasone in the treatment of early COVID-19: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, hospital-based trial in Sri Lanka
(BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2023) Mettananda, C.; Peiris, C.; Abeyrathna, D.; Gunasekara, A.; Egodage, T.; Dantanarayana, C.; Pathmeswaran, A.; Ranasinha, C.
OBJECTIVES: To study if early initiation of inhaled beclomethasone 1200 mcg in patients with asymptomatic, mild or moderate COVID-19 reduces disease progression to severe COVID-19. DESIGN: Double-blinded, parallel-groups, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. SETTING: A hospital-based study in Sri Lanka. PARTICIPANTS: Adults with asymptomatic, mild or moderate COVID-19, presenting within the first 7 days of symptom onset or laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19, admitted to a COVID-19 intermediate treatment centre in Sri Lanka between July and November 2021. INTERVENTIONS: All participants received inhaled beclomethasone 600 mcg or placebo two times per day, for 10 days from onset of symptoms/COVID-19 test becoming positive if asymptomatic or until reaching primary endpoint, whichever is earlier. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Progression of asymptomatic, mild or moderate COVID-19 to severe COVID-19. SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The number of days with a temperature of 38°C or more and the time to self-reported clinical recovery. RESULTS: A total of 385 participants were randomised to receive beclomethasone(n=193) or placebo(n=192) stratified by age (≤60 or >60 years) and sex. One participant from each arm withdrew from the study. All participants were included in final analysis. Primary outcome occurred in 24 participants in the beclomethasone group and 26 participants in the placebo group (RR 0.90 ; p=0.763). The median time for self-reported clinical recovery in all participants was 5 days (95% CI 3 to 7) in the beclomethasone group and 5 days (95% CI 3 to 8) in the placebo group (p=0.5). The median time for self-reported clinical recovery in patients with moderate COVID-19 was 5 days (95% CI 3 to 7) in the beclomethasone group and 6 days (95% CI 4 to 9) in the placebo group (p=0.05). There were no adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Early initiation of inhaled beclomethasone in patients with asymptomatic, mild or moderate COVID-19 did not reduce disease progression to severe COVID-19. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry; SLCTR/2021/017.
Inhaled beclomethasone in the treatment of early COVID-19: a phase 2, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial
(The College, 2023) Mettananda, C,; Peiris, C.; Abeyrathna, D.; Gunasekera, A.; Egodage, T.; Danthanarayana, C.; Pathmeswaran, A.; Ranasinha, C.
No abstract available
A Novel Technique to Digest Biochar for Metal Analysis
(4th International Conference on Advances in Computing and Technology (ICACT ‒ 2019), Faculty of Computing and Technology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Wathudura, P.D.; Peiris, C.; Navarathna, C.; Kaumal, M.N.; Gunatilake, S.R.
Biochar (BC) is a low cost carbonaceous adsorbent material widely used for the removal of toxic metal ions from aqueous systems due to their highly porous nature and presence of various functional groups. Depending on the feedstock used to produce these carbonaceous materials, the trace metal content may vary. Various digestion techniques have been incorporated to analyze the metal content of BC though a proper method has not yet been established. This study was focused on finding a suitable method to totally digest the carbonaceous material and to evaluate the matrix effect. Both open vessel and microwave digestion methods were carried out for BC derived from tea waste, king coconut husk, Douglas fir and steam activated coconut shell biochar (CSBC) using mixtures of 69% nitric acid (NA), fuming nitric acid (FNA), 98% sulfuric acid (SA) and 30% hydrogen peroxide (HP) and their turbidity were measured. Lowest turbidities for open vessel digestions were observed for SA/HP mixture for low-temperature pyrolyzed BC with no external heating (2.04 – 7.90 FNU). Microwave digestions provided satisfactory turbidity levels for NA, NA/SA mixture, FNA and FNA/SA mixture for all types of carbonaceous material (1.58 – 20.97 FNU). The matrix effects were compared using cadmium, copper, lead and zinc using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Digestion mixture containing only fuming nitric acid showed the lowest matrix effect for cadmium (1.2) for CSBC and copper (2.4) for CSBC while the mixture containing only nitric acid shows lowest matrix effect (7.6) for zinc with respect to Douglas fir BC. Recovery study confirmed the suitability of FNA as a suitable digestion mixture incorporated with microwave energy.
Sorptive Removal of Lead (II) from Aqueous Solution using Value Added Tea-Waste Biochar Produced Under DifferentTemperatures
(4th International Conference on Advances in Computing and Technology (ICACT ‒ 2019), Faculty of Computing and Technology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Kavinda, K.D.T.; Peiris, C.; Gunatilake, S.R.
The removal of lead from aquatic systems using biochar (BC) derived from tea-waste was evaluated. The customized in-house method of BC production was incorporated slow pyrolysis at 300 ℃ (300BC), 500 ℃ (500BC) and700 ℃ (700BC). The different BC types were subjected to a nitric acid modification and magnetization. Results showed reduced adsorption capacities for nitric modified BC. Batch sorption experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of pH, equilibrium time, associated kinetic models and the thermodynamic basis of lead uptake. For both Non-Modified Biochar (NBC) and Magnetized Biochar (MBC), an acceptable fit for the pseudo second order kinetic model with regression coefficients greater than 0.998 justified a chemisorption process. The dominant mechanism for 700BC can be considered as pore filling together with π electron sharing between the graphene rings and lead whereas sorption on 300BC was governed by electrostatic interactions. Adsorption isotherms modeled were Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips, Redlich- Peterson and Toth, out of which the results were seen to best fit Langmuir and Sips models. A maximum Langmuir capacity of 57.80 mg/g and 48.61 mg/ for 700NBC and 700MBC were obtained respectively. Positive enthalpies and free energies indicated a nonspontaneous and exothermic sorption. Magnetic modification decreased sorption capacities by 15.86 % but led to the easy removal of biochar after the sorption.