Ruwani Lavindi

• Master of Philosophy
• Lecturer at University of Kelaniya

Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is consumed as major source of fat and present in a wide range of health, and cosmetic products. It is a major agricultural product in Sri Lanka catering over 1% of the global demand. However, fungal contamination is a critical issue with production of VCO. This study was conducted to determine the fungal species that conta...

Bioremediation of metals involves the use of living organisms, like microbes to remove or convert metal pollutants from soil, water, and other environments to innocuous forms. Metals or metalloid pollutants may be introduced into the biosphere due to natural and anthropogenic activities. Exposure to the high concentration of metals is toxic and det...

Dengue fever is a mosquito borne viral infection, caused by a flavivirus. It is rapidly spreading in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Dengue infected patients demonstrate several clinical manifestations from mild dengue fever (DF) to more serious severe dengue fever (SD).The common symptoms of dengue fever are nausea, vomiting, re...

Scrub typhus (ST) is a febrile illness in human caused by intracellular bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi (OT). OT is transmitted to humans via a chigger bite leaving an eschar at the bite site. High genotypic diversity of OT is a major obstacle in developing diagnostics and vaccines. Little is known regarding OT genotypes in Sri Lanka (SL). Present...

Scrub typhus (ST) is an acute febrile illness in human caused by obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi (OT). OT exploits white blood cells during infection. Previous studies in mouse models showed that OT infection alter host lipid metabolism. Therefore, current study was focused to investigate the changes in the fat...

Background: Severe dengue (SD), experienced by only a fraction of dengue patients, can be lethal. Due to the lack of early markers that can predict the evolution of SD, all dengue patients have to be monitored under hospital care. We discovered early oxidative stress markers of SD to identify patients who can benefit from early intervention before...

Abamectin is widely used in agriculture in controlling insect and other pests. However, its improper use is harmful to the environment due to less specific modes of action. Previously isolated Staphylococcus nepalensis bacteria can be used for bioremediation of Abamectin contaminations in soil. Bioremediation ability is dependent upon the level of...

Background Severe dengue (SD), experienced by only a fraction of dengue patients can be lethal. Due to lack of early markers that can predict the evolution of SD, all dengue patients have to be monitored under hospital care. We discovered early oxidative stress markers of SD to identify patients who can benefit from early intervention before the sy...

Phenolic extracts of coconut oil meal (CME) and sesame oil meal (SME) were compared with synthetic antioxidants for the potential of improving shelf life of vanilla cake. CME maintained hexanal (product of chemical spoilage) levels below 0.3 mg/kg in cake up to 14 days. BHT- and SME-added cakes maintained hexanal levels below 2 mg/kg, while control...

Phenolic extracts of coconut oil meal (CME) and sesame oil meal (SME) were compared with synthetic antioxidants for the potential of improving shelf life of vanilla cake. CME maintained hexanal (product of chemical spoilage) levels below 0.3 mg/kg in cake up to 14 days. BHT and SME-added cakes maintained hexanal levels below 2 mg/kg while control c...

p> Phenolic extracts of coconut oil meal (CME) and sesame oil meal (SME) were compared with synthetic antioxidants for the potential of improving shelf life of vanilla cake. CME maintained hexanal (product of chemical spoilage) levels below 0.3 mg/kg in cake up to 14 days. BHT- and SME-added cakes maintained hexanal levels below 2 mg/kg while cont...

Rice bran extract is rich in antioxidants which can preserve food by retarding the oxidation of fat or oils. There is a huge interest for using natural antioxidants as food preservatives over synthetic antioxidants. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of using phenolic antioxidant extracts of rice bran (RBE) on improving the shel...

Ready-to-eat (RTE) meat based products are a frequent source of foodborne disease outbreaks and a major public health concern nowadays. The present study aimed to isolate and identify foodborne bacterial pathogens present in RTE meat based food (noodles, kebab, hotdog, devil) obtained from highly popularized informal market in Colombo city. A total...

Ready-to-eat (RTE) food are increasingly demanding with the busy life style of the urban population, as well as result in significant number of foodborne illnesses per year, intensifying the emerging concern over the microbiological quality. This study analyzes the microbiological quality of 22 food samples of RTE meat based products, purchased in...