Papers by Professor Hemantha Dodampahala
The two separate studies conducted by the renowned psychologists Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimba... more The two separate studies conducted by the renowned psychologists Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo were both aimed at understanding human behavior in social situations. Results of these studies are compatible with each other and share a common conclusion that the Individual behavior is largely under the control of social forces and environmental contingencies rather than personality traits (1), (4). These studies also share the notoriety of being two of the most controversial studies carried out on human subjects that have grossly violated the ethics that govern the modern day research.
Problem: Antiphospholipid syndrome is associated with recurrent pregnancy loss, and specific trea... more Problem: Antiphospholipid syndrome is associated with recurrent pregnancy loss, and specific treatment improves pregnancy outcome. Laboratory diagnosis is limited in South Asia. We assessed management outcomes of definite/probable antiphospholipid syndrome treated at a tertiary centre in Sri Lanka. Method: Descriptive cross-sectional study of pregnancy outcomes with heparin and aspirin therapy. Outcome measures: miscarriage, intrauterine death and live birth when compared to previous untreated pregnancies. Results: Of 646 gestations in 145 women, 146 (22.6%) received specific treatment. In the preceding pregnancies without specific treatment, the rates of miscarriage, late fetal loss, stillbirth and live birth were 60%, 26%, 8% and 7%, respectively. Following specific treatment with low-dose aspirin AE low-molecular weight heparin in 146 pregnancies (145 women), the rates of miscarriage, late fetal loss, stillbirth and live birth were 14%, 10%, 3% and 74%, respectively. Mean birth weight was 2.54 AE 0.62 kg, preterm births complicated 32 (29.6%) with a mean gestational age at delivery 33.7 AE 2.6 weeks, with three neonatal deaths. Maternal complications were: pre-eclampsia 16 (10.9%), gestational diabetes 28 (19.2%), antepartum haemorrhage in 1 patient. Only 73/145 (50.3%) women had laboratory confirmation of antiphospholipid syndrome, while others were treated empirically. Live births in diagnosed vs. empiric treatment – 80.8% vs. 67.1%. Conclusion: Pregnant women with clinical antiphospholipid syndrome when treated with low-dose aspirin and heparin, the live birth rate of 7% in the previous pregnancy resulted in live births of 74% in a resource limited South Asian setting.
Caudal regression syndrome is a rare congenital disorder that encompasses a spectrum of anomalies... more Caudal regression syndrome is a rare congenital disorder that encompasses a spectrum of anomalies. A case of caudal regression syndrome and polyhydraminios that was associated with uncontrolled pre-gestational diabetes mellitus is presented. The outcome was a still born fetus delivered at the gestational age of 22 weeks.
Human Brain Mapping, 2004
Human Brain Mapping, 2003
BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 2006
American Journal of Epidemiology, 2008
Talks by Professor Hemantha Dodampahala
The two separate studies conducted by the renowned psychologists Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimba... more The two separate studies conducted by the renowned psychologists Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo were both aimed at understanding human behavior in social situations. Results of these studies are compatible with each other and share a common conclusion that the Individual behavior is largely under the control of social forces and environmental contingencies rather than personality traits. These studies also share the notoriety of being two of the most controversial studies carried out on human subjects that have grossly violated the ethics that govern the modern day research. Milgram's Experiment Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, in 1961, conducted an experiment focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience after the infamous Nuremberg War Criminal trials. Through his studies he wanted to analyze how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities because they had to be obedient to an authority figure. In this particular study, volunteers were recruited for a lab experiment supposedly investigating " learning ". The volunteer, who was assigned the duty of 'teacher', was introduced to a third participant, the 'learner' who was actually a confederate of the investigator. The learner was strapped to a chair with electrodes. After he had learned a list of word pairs given him to learn, the teacher had to test him by naming a word and asking the learner to recall its pair, failing which the teacher was told to administer an electric shock. The level of shock, ranging from 15 to 450 volts, was increased every time a wrong answer was given. When the teacher refused to administer a shock the experimenter gave a series of orders to ensure that they continued. After a series of experiments, Milgram concluded that an ordinary person was likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of gravely hurting and killing an innocent human being. He summed up the findings in the article 'The Perils of Obedience' writing " The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation. "
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Papers by Professor Hemantha Dodampahala
Talks by Professor Hemantha Dodampahala