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Sunday, February 09, 2014

සිතිවිලි උපදින සැටි සොයා ගැනේ

මිනිස් මොළයේ පසුතැවිලි සිතුවිලි ජනිත කරවීමේ සමත් ප‍්‍රදේශය සොයාගැනීමට බි‍්‍රතාන්‍යයේ ඔක්ස්ෆර්ඞ් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයයේ පර්යේෂකයෝ පිරිසක් සමත්ව සිටිති.

මේ දක්වා මිනිස් මොළය ගැන පර්යේෂණය කළ විද්‍යාඥයින්ට සොයාගත හැකිවුයේ මිනිසාගේ තීන්දු හෝ තීරණයන්හි සම්බන්ධයෙන් හොඳ නරකට මොළය බලපාන බවයි.

මුලින් අයහපත් යැයි සිතා අත්හැර දැමුණු අවස්ථාවක් හෝ තීරණයක් පසුව යහපත් බව දැක ඒ නිසා මිනිස් සිතේ උපදින පසුතැවිල්ල ජනනය වන්නේ කෙසේදැයි විද්‍යාඥයින්ට ප‍්‍රහේලිකාවක් වී තිබුණි.නව පර්යේෂණයෙන් එවන් සිතුවිලි ජනනය වන මොළයේ ප‍්‍රදේශයත් දැන් අනාවරණයව තිබේ.

පර්යේෂණය සදහා පුද්ගලයින් 25 දෙනෙක් තෝරාගනු ලැබුහ.පර්යේෂක පිරිස ඔවුන්ගේ මොළයේ කි‍්‍රයාකාරීත්වය ඔවුන් කි‍්‍රයාකාරීව සිටින විටදී හා විවේකීව සිටින විටදී ලෙස අවස්ථා දෙකකදී පරිලෝකන යන්ත‍්‍ර ආධාරයෙන් නිරීක්ෂණය කර ඇති අතර ඒවායින් ලැබුණු දත්තයන්ගෙන් මොළයේ කි‍්‍රයාකාරී ප‍්‍රදේශ 12 ක් හදුනාගැනීමට සමත්ව තිබේ.

පසුව මෙලෙසම වඳුරන්ගේ මොළ කි‍්‍රයාකාරීත්වයත් නිරීක්ෂණය කර ඇති පර්යේෂක පිරිසට හදුනාගත හැකිවී ඇත්තේ කි‍්‍රයාකාරී ප‍්‍රදේශ 11 කි.

මිනිස් මොළයේ පිහිටන අමතර ප‍්‍රදේශය එය මොළයේ අනෙක් කොටස් කරා සම්බන්ධ වී ඇති ආකාරය දෙස බැලීමෙන් පසුතැවිල්ලේ සිතුවිලි ජනිත කරවන බව සිතිය හැකි බව පර්යේෂකයො පවසති.

මෙම නව සොයාගැනීම මානසික රෝගාබාධ වලට සිදුකෙරෙන ප‍්‍රතිකාර වලදී වැදගත් වනු ඇතැයි පර්යේෂකයෝ කියති.මොළයේ කොටස් එකිනෙක හා සම්බන්ධ වී ඇත්තේ කෙසේදැයි දැන් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම පාහේ අනාවරණයව ඇති බැවින් එහි කි‍්‍රයාකාරීත්වයේ මෙතෙක් හෙළි කර ගැනීමට නොහැකි වූ තවත් රහස් ඉදිරියේදී අනාවරණය කර ගැනීමට හැකිවනු ඇතැයි ඔවුහු විශ්වාස කරති.

Facebook at 10

Believe it or not, Facebook turned 10 - just 10 - years old last week. For people who have got used to the feeling that Facebook, or FB as it is affectionately called, has been part of their lives for decades (except for teenagers who have practically grown up with FB), it may be difficult to believe that the social networking site is not yet into its teens.

FB, the brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg (now one of the world's youngest billionaires) and a few of his friends was formally born in 2004 though the groundwork was laid in 2003 in the Harvard University - if you want to know the entire back story, watch David Fincher's excellent film The Social Network, paying particular attention to Aaron Sorkin's acclaimed screenplay and dialogue.

Facebook is essentially a place where you can connect with your friends (and relatives) online and get to know their latest exploits through text, photos, graphics, video, weblinks and audio. Apart from that, almost every commercial entity on Earth has a FB page, where you can ‘Like’ their products and services. You can also give your comments on any posts that you see on FB. Facebook has given us a number of new words and phrases (or existing words which now have another meaning) such as Wall, Timeline, Like and Unfriend.

Facebook has more than 1.23 billion users worldwide. Its revenues jumped 55 percent to US$ 7.87 billion in 2013 while profits grew sevenfold. Although it is not the most widely accessed site in the world (Google is) this is a substantial number which FB is keen to take advantage of in terms of attracting advertising revenue.

It is a model which it has still not perfected yet. Facebook is now not alone in the social networking space - its biggest competitor is Twitter, where you have to say everything in less than 140 words (plus pictures, videos etc) and Google's own Google Plus site is catching up. Sites such as Pinterest, WhatsApp, SnapChat (which FB tried to buy and failed), Instragram and LinkedIn are growing.

Viability

As FB heads into its 11th year, doubts have been expressed about the long-term viability of the site. After all, there's only so much social networking that you can do online before the real world intervenes. FB has given rise to a phenomenon called Facebook Envy whereby posts about exotic holidays abroad, newly acquired vehicles, workplace promotions etc can generate envy and even jealousy among even the best of online friends. Many people are also irked by the endless photo montages of babies, families and parties that adorn Facebook. There are some things that we don't want to see repeatedly online and some things that are best kept private from 2.4 billion eyes.

Many social analysts also blame the site for a perceived lack of real (physical) social integration. We do not chat physically but we chat online on Facebook, Gmail etc. We get to know the holiday plans of our relatives and friends from FB, not personally from them. If four persons meet physically, at least three of them are online on their smartphones, getting the latest updates from Facebook and Twitter. This is not a very healthy situation at all.

But all good things must come to an end some day. Will FB face the same fate ? If a glut of recent studies are to be believed, its days are definitely numbered. Various reports suggest it is haemorrhaging users, that teenagers find it boring - one survey even comparing it to an infectious disease.

An EU-sponsored Global Social Media Impact study concluded that teenagers felt embarrassed to be associated with Facebook and that it was “basically dead and buried”.

In November the Pew Research Centre reported that teenagers were growing weary of having to sustain relationships with their parents on Facebook. Several Princeton University Researchers have used Google data to predict Facebook's imminent demise, describing it as an infectious disease. Meanwhile, iStrategyLabs has reported that the number of teenage Facebook users was declining while the number of those aged above 55 was booming. That last statistic is interesting - elderly persons could be tuning into FB as their real-life contacts fade away.

Dismissed

However, Facebook's defenders have dismissed these theories. “One of Facebook's greatest strengths is its practice of regularly adding new features and functionality to its site; this both ensures it infects new users and also makes sure existing users don't become immune to its charms,” said one commentator.

Indeed, Facebook still claims far more young users than any other social network. Nevertheless, Digital agency iStrategylabs used Facebook's own social advertising data to extrapolate that three million US teenagers had left Facebook in the past three years. While everybody who is anybody is still on Facebook, it is still struggling to find a way to target its advertising to selected groups. Companies such as Amazon also have arrangements for cross-advertising with Facebook. But Facebook could not afford to be complacent about its younger members because if they could be persuaded to stick with the social network, they would become the spenders of tomorrow.

It is very difficult to predict what tomorrow's tech will look like, but one thing is certain: Tablets and smartphones will rule. In this context, Facebook needs to keep innovating with new offerings like mobile video apps and mobile commerce. These will be essential if FB wants to get to 20 in good shape.

But it is still a mystery as to why people use FB at all when there are plenty of other methods through which we can communicate in real time. In a recent status update, Facebook's communication manager and former BBC tech desk editor Iain Mackenzie summed up why he thought it endures.

“Today people have shared the birth of their first child, wedding, hooked up, broke up, mourned, outed themselves, said something dumb, said something profound, confessed that life's got too hard for them, been brought back from the brink by a friend, or a stranger, found a job, posted something that lost them their job, learned a fact that will save their life one day, found their new favourite song, and hit ‘like’ on a cat picture - all on Facebook.”

As he says, its appeal could boil down to the fact that it taps into that most basic of human characteristics - curiosity. However, only time will tell whether that curiosity will last.

Tuesday, February 04, 2014

International award for Amantha Perera

A Sri Lankan journalist has been awarded a coveted award for climate change reporting.

Subhra Priyadarshini of India and Amantha Perera pf Sri Lanka were presented with the South Asia Climate Change Award (SACCA) recently in recognition of their contribution to climate change reporting in their respective countries.

Last year, Panos South Asia announced South Asia Climate Change Award (SACCA) Fellows, 2013 after twenty four awardees were selected by a panel of experts after careful consideration of nearly seventy applications from all forms of media from six countries in South Asia.

Amantha Perera and Apsara Kapukotuwa were among the shortlisted fellows.

Amantha Perera is a climate change reporter as well as a freelance journalist, researchers and trainer. Based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, he contributes to Thomson Reuters Foundation as well as to TIME, IRIN and IPS.

රත්නදීප ජන්ම භූමි ලංකා දීප විජය භූමි




රත්නදීප ජන්ම භූමි ලංකා දීප විජය භූමි
මේ අපේ උදාර වූ මාතෘ භූමියයි
ආදි සිංහලේ වීර මී මුතුන් ලෙයින්
සාර වූ උදාර වූ මාතෘ භූමියයි

මාණික්‍ය සේ පොලෝ ගැබේ නිධාන වී
ඇත්තෙ ඒ අතීත දූ පුතුන්
ජාතියේ නාමයෙන් සංග්‍රාම භූමියේ
ජීවිතේ පුදා හෙලූ ලේ කඳයි

සින්ධූපමාන වැව් තලා මතින් ඇදී
පද්ම රේණුයෙන් සුගන්ධ වී
රන් කරල් නමා හමා සිත් ප්‍රබෝධයෙන් පුරා
එන්නෙ උන් හෙලූ ප්‍රාණ වායුවයි

ගංගා තරංග රාව දී රිදී වනින්
මල් පිපී කුලින් කුලේ හැපී
ගායනා කරන්නේ ආකාශයේ නැගී
වීරයින්ගෙ ඒ යශෝ ගීතයයි

Sunday, February 02, 2014

ජවිපෙ නායක අනුර කුමාර

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ නායකයා ලෙස ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ 07 වැනි ජාතික මහ සමුළුවේ දෙවැනි සැසියේ දී තෝරා පත් කර ගැනිණි.
හිටපු නායක සෝමවංශ අමරසිංහ මහතා අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතාගේ නම යෝජනා කළේය.
පක්ෂ සාමාජිකයෝ එය ඒකමතිකව අනුමත කළහ.1965 ජවිපෙ ආරම්භයේ සිට රෝහණ විජේවීර හා සෝමවංශ අමරසිංහ මහත්වරු පක්ෂයට නායකත්වය දුන්හ. 
විජේවීරගේ ඝාතනයෙන් පසුව සමන් පියසිරි සුළු කාලයක් නායකයා වී සිටියේය.1968 නොවැම්බර 24 වැනි දා උපන් දිසානායක මුදියන්සේලාගේ අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක 2004 සන්ධාන රජයේ කෘෂිකර්ම, පශු සම්පත්, වාර්මාර්ග හා ඉඩම් ඇමැති ද විය.

What women should know about baby-birth

What you need to know about getting pregnant. Even if you're not planning on getting pregnant any time soon, you might want to consider learning a little more about science of baby-making. New research shows that a startling number of reproductive-age women still need to be clued-in about the basics of reproductive health. A study published in the January 27 issue of Fertility and Sterility found that about 50 percent of reproductive-age women had never discussed their reproductive health with a medical provider and about 30 percent visited their reproductive health provider less than once a year or never.

The research includes the following major findings about women's understanding of fertility and pregnancy:

- Forty percent of the reproductive-age women surveyed expressed concern about their ability to conceive.

- Half were unaware that multivitamins with folic acid are recommended to reproductive-age women to prevent birth defects.

- More than 25 percent were unaware of the adverse implications of sexually transmitted infections, obesity, smoking, or irregular menses on fertility.

- One-fifth were unaware of the adverse effects of ageing on reproductive success, including increased miscarriage rates, chromosomal abnormalities, and increased length of time to achieve conception.

- Half of respondents believe that having sex more than once a day will increase chances of conception.

- More than one-third of women believed that specific sexual positions can increase chances of conception.

-Only 10 percent of women were aware that sexual interaction should happen before ovulation, not after, to improve chances of conception.

As more women delay pregnancy until later in life, it's important to get the facts early on so your body is ready for baby when you finally do decide you want one. "Preparing yourself now helps you conceive faster, have a healthier pregnancy and an easier delivery, and makes you a healthier person overall," says Sheryl Ross, M.D., an ob-gyn at Saint John's Health Center.

"The most important thing you can do for both yourself and any future children is to be your healthiest self now." So if you think you want to have a child at some point-whether in nine months or in 10 years-our experts have some essential tips to help you prime your bod for baby.
If you want a baby...

Schedule pre-baby gyno appointment. When you're pregnant, not only will you grow an entire human being inside of you, but you'll also double your blood volume, sprout an extra organ, and have your hormones sky-rocket to the highest levels they will ever be in your lifetime.

That takes a lot of preparation, both physically and mentally. Talk with your doc about your medical history, in case you need certain genetic or blood tests before trying to conceive. You should also talk about any medications you may be taking, such as anti-depressants, since some are not safe to take during pregnancy and you need to wean off them slowly.

"It's so important to really know and understand your own menstrual cycle," Ross says. You should learn how to tell when you're ovulating based on cervical mucous, body temperature, and timing; the length of your cycle; and what a "normal" cycle feels like to you. She recommends the Maybe Baby app to help you keep track of all those stats.

"Cultivate a network of other mothers during pregnancy and beyond for support, babysitting, and friendship," says Danine Fruge, M.D., women's health expert and associate medical director.

Emerging research suggests a man's health can affect the quality of his sperm and the health of his child. "He needs to eat healthy and give up smoking, especially weed," Ross says, adding that marijuana affects both the motility and quality of a man's sperm.

Many women start pregnancy with insulin resistance (pre-diabetes) and then develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy.

This can cause delivery complications, a higher risk of emergency delivery and C-sections, prolonged hospitalization, and a higher risk of your child developing diabetes and even heart disease at a young age.

So if your blood tests come back showing high levels of blood glucose, if you have already been diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes, or if gestational diabetes runs in your family, talk to your doctor about how to safely get it under control.

If you're trying to get pregnant and it doesn't happen right away, it's easy to get stressed out...which may further hinder your odds of getting knocked up.

In a 2011 study published in the Journal of Fertility and Sterility, researchers found that when a woman is more stressed, her likelihood to conceive that month is "significantly reduced."

But when women reduced stress in their lives, their fertility returned to normal levels expected for their age.

"True infertility is relatively rare, only affecting about 10 percent of women," Ross says.

"Most women take between three and six months to get pregnant."

But if you've reduced your stress and have been trying for more than six months with no luck, Ross says to check in with your doctor.
- Healthy Living