Our place in the Asian century: Southeast Asia as ‘The Third Way’

The report, for Asialink at the University of Melbourne, reports the findings of the Asialink Commission, which examined Australia's relations with Southeast Asia. It argues that, at a time of shifting power relations in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia take a more multilateral approach by orienting its foreign and trade policies towards Southeast Asia. By committing more attention to the Southeast Asia region, Australia will enhance its relationships with the region's two principal powers, the United States and China.

Babes in the sand and flying predators : touristic corruption, exoticism and neocolonialism in Chandani Lokugé’s 'Turtle Nest'

In Chandani Lokugé’s Turtle Nest the Sri Lankan beach is a savage environment, a dystopia, where local children are molested by Western paedophile tourists. This essay examines representations of child vulnerability, exoticism, neocolonialism and envy in the novel. It reads these issues in the context of postcolonial tourism in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. It establishes connections between the commodification of children in Lokugé’s story and the real-world progress of exoticist tourism.

Towards a global model of accounting education

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the accounting education systems in three countries - Australia, Japan and Sri Lanka - to inform the development and testing (by application) of a Global Model of Accounting Education.

Fructose-1, 6-diphosphate (FDP) as a novel antidote for yellow oleander-induced cardiac toxicity: a randomized controlled double blind study

BACKGROUND: Cardiac toxicity due to ingestion of oleander plant seeds in Sri Lanka and some other South Asian countries is very common. At present symptomatic oleander seed poisoning carries a mortality of 10% in Sri Lanka and treatment of yellow oleander poisoning is limited to gastric decontamination and atropine administration. The only proven effective antidote is digoxin antibodies but these are not available for routine use because of the high cost. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a new and inexpensive antidote for patients with life threatening arrhythmias due oleander poisoning. METHOD/DESIGN: We set up a randomised double blind clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of Fructose 1, 6 diphosphate (FDP) in acute yellow oleander poisoning patients admitted to the adult medical wards of a tertiary hospital in Sri Lanka. Patients will be initially resuscitated following the national guidelines and eligible patients will be randomised to receive either FDP or an equal amount of normal saline. The primary outcome measure for this study is the sustained reversion to sinus rhythm with a heart rate greater than 50/min within 2 hours of completion of FDP/placebo bolus. Secondary outcomes include death, reversal of hyperkalaemia on the 6, 12, 18 and 24 hour samples and maintenance of sinus rhythm on the holter monitor. Analysis will be on intention-to-treat. DISCUSSION: This trial will provide information on the effectiveness of FDP in yellow oleander poisoning. If FDP is effective in cardiac glycoside toxicity, it would provide substantial benefit to the patients in rural Asia. The drug is inexpensive and thus could be made available at primary care hospitals if proven to be effective. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled trial ISRCTN71018309.

Acute human lethal toxicity of agricultural pesticides: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: agricultural pesticide poisoning is a major public health problem in the developing world, killing at least 250,000-370,000 people each year. Targeted pesticide restrictions in Sri Lanka over the last 20 years have reduced pesticide deaths by 50% without decreasing agricultural output. However, regulatory decisions have thus far not been based on the human toxicity of formulated agricultural pesticides but on the surrogate of rat toxicity using pure unformulated pesticides. We aimed to determine the relative human toxicity of formulated agricultural pesticides to improve the effectiveness of regulatory policy. METHODS AND FINDINGS: we examined the case fatality of different agricultural pesticides in a prospective cohort of patients presenting with pesticide self-poisoning to two clinical trial centers from April 2002 to November 2008. Identification of the pesticide ingested was based on history or positive identification of the container. A single pesticide was ingested by 9,302 patients. A specific pesticide was identified in 7,461 patients; 1,841 ingested an unknown pesticide. In a subset of 808 patients, the history of ingestion was confirmed by laboratory analysis in 95% of patients. There was a large variation in case fatality between pesticides-from 0% to 42%. This marked variation in lethality was observed for compounds within the same chemical and/or WHO toxicity classification of pesticides and for those used for similar agricultural indications. CONCLUSION: the human data provided toxicity rankings for some pesticides that contrasted strongly with the WHO toxicity classification based on rat toxicity. Basing regulation on human toxicity will make pesticide poisoning less hazardous, preventing hundreds of thousands of deaths globally without compromising agricultural needs. Ongoing monitoring of patterns of use and clinical toxicity for new pesticides is needed to identify highly toxic pesticides in a timely manner.