Processing and Characterization of Activated Carbon from Toddy Fruit Husk

The focus of this research work was the processing and characterization of activated carbon from toddy palm fruit husk. To identify the purity of raw material, the properties of toddy palm fruit husk in terms of moisture, ash, volatile matter, fixed carbon content and bulk density were determined. Activated carbon was prepared by chemical activation of toddy palm fruit husk and then by carbonization. The effect of carbonization temperature and time on the appearance and properties of processed activated carbons were investigated. The physico-chemical properties of processed activated carbon such as moisture, ash, volatile matter and fixed carbon content were determined. The highest fixed carbon content was obtained with 25 % w/w zinc chloride as chemical activating agent at carbonization temperature 350°C for carbonization time 45 min. For the assessment of the quality of the product, the properties such as surface area, iodine sorption capacity and methylene blue number were also investigated. Furthermore, the phase and microstructure of the prepared activated carbons were determined by X-Ray Diffraction Spectroscopy (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The high iodine sorption capacity and fairly high methylene blue number indicated that the processed activated carbon had large surface area and well developed mesoporosity. Therefore toddy palm fruit was the potential to be a promising precursor for the processing of activated carbon

In vitro study of Coronal Leakage of Four Temporary Filling Materials Immersed in Alcoholic Methylene Blue Dye

Abstract Introduction: Temporary restorative materials are placed in access cavity to provide the coronal seal of the root canal during multi-visits RCT. This in vitro study was designed to evaluate the coronal microleakage of four different temporary restorative materials commonly used in endodontics in Myanmar, viz., MD.Temp, Orafil, Caviton, Zinc oxide eugenol. Materials and Methods : Forty-four extracted human premolars were selected, and access cavity was prepared. Pulp chambers were filled with wet cotton pellets leaving approximately 4 mm coronally. Forty teeth were randomly divided into four experimental groups equally. The remaining four teeth were equally divided into two control groups. Access cavities in each group were filled with one of the above tested materials, and immediately put into the water. Tooth surfaces except occlusal surface were then coated with nail varnish. Equal parts of 2% methylene blue and methylated alcohol were mixed to prepare a dye solution. Samples were immersed in dye for 10 days at 32 ± 2°C. Teeth were rinsed, dried, and sectioned mesiodistally and evaluated under a stereomicroscope at a magnification of 15X for linear dye penetration along cavity walls. Data were analyzed using KruskalWallis and Tukey HSD tests. Results : The lowest microleakage value was observed in MD.Temp and Orafil, and the highest in Zinc oxide eugenol (ZOE). Caviton was not statistically different from Orafil and ZOE, but significantly higher in microleakage than MD.Temp. Clinical Significance : ZOE which is dissolvable in alcohol was the least effective material for preventing microleakage, while MD.Temp and Orafil provided the best sealing in content of alcohol in this study

Comparative Study of Cellulose Hydrogel Films Prepared from Various Biomass Wastes

The conversion of biomass waste products to valuable products like cellulose hydrogel films is important in cell regeneration. In this study, the various biomass wastes: thanaka heartwood (TH), sugarcane bagasse (SB) and rice straw (RS) were used as cellulose resources. They were chemically treated using acid and alkali to obtain cellulose fibers. The yield percent of cellulose fibers depends on the nature of biomass materials. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses showed that the amount of lignin and hemicellulose from these samples were successfully reduced by chemical treatment. Cellulose fibers were treated using the dimethylacetamide/lithium chloride (DMAc/LiCl) system to obtain cellulose hydrogel solutions. Following this, the cellulose hydrogel films were prepared employing the phase inversion method without cross-linker. These films were transparent and flexible. In the present study, water retainable property and viscoelasticity of cellulose hydrogel films were measured. Antimicrobial activity tests of cellulose solutions have been carried out to be utilized to hydrogel films for biomedical application

Age Related Changes in Hematological Values of Myanmar Local Puppies

The hematological parameters were used to monitor the health status and its components also changed according to the ages. However, there were no reports for this issues in Myanmar local dogs. Thus, this study was carried out to investigate the age-related changes on the hematological parameters of local puppies in Myanmar. Ten local puppies with the age of 2-3 month old were used in this experiment, which was lasted for 8 weeks.The daily clinical examinations were conducted throughout the entire experimental period for general health check-up. Haematological parameters (Total WBC count and its differential counts, and RBC, HCT, MCV, HGB, MCH, MCHC and platelets) were measured bi-weekly with Abacus Vet-5 automate haematology analyser. According to the results, the total WBC and eosinophil counts were not significantly different (P>0.05), while lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils and basophils were significantly different (P<0.05) with the aging of experimental animals. The values of RBC, HGB, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC and platelets were not significantly different (P>0.05) throughout the experimental periods. Thus, the age-related changes were observed on cell counts of lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, basophils in Myanmar local puppies

Epidemiological survey on porcine cysticercosis in Nay Pyi Taw Area,

Cross-sectional surveys were conducted to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of Taenia solium cysticercosis in pigs within Nay Pyi Taw area, Myanmar. Meat inspection in three slaughterhouses, ELISA test, and questionnaire surveys were conducted in this study. Three hundred pigs were inspected in slaughterhouses and 364 pigs were randomly selected and examined from 203 households from three townships in Nay Pyi Taw area. The prevalence of porcine cysticercosis in meat inspection was 23.67% (71/300). Seroprevalence of T. solium cysticercosis in pigs in the study area was 15.93% (58/364). Significant associated risk factors with T. solium cysticercosis were gender (OR = 3.0; 95% CI = 1.7-5.4), increased age (OR = 2.3; 95% CI = 1.2-4.2), husbandry system (OR = 5.1; 95% CI = 2.4-11.2), feed type (OR = 16.9; 95% CI = 2.3-124.3), not using anthelmintics in pigs (OR = 11.9; 95% CI = 5.0-28.5), not using anthelmintics in owner (OR = 2.5; 95% CI = 1.4-4.4), no hand-washing before feeding (OR = 31.5; 95% CI = 4.3-230.9), and pork consumption of owner (OR = 37.4; 95% CI = 9.0-156.1) in the study area. This is the first report of porcine cysticercosis in Myanmar

Development of Natural Language Processing based Communication and Educational Assisted Systems for the People with Hearing Disability in Myanmar

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide people with disabilities to better integrate socially and economically into their communities by supporting access to information and knowledge, learning and teaching situations, personal communication and interaction. Our research purpose is to develop systems that will provide communication and educational assistance to persons with hearing disability using Natural Language Processing (NLP). In this paper, we present corpus building for Myanmar sign language (MSL), Machine Translation (MT) between MSL, Myanmar written text (MWT) and Myanmar SignWriting (MSW) and two Fingerspelling keyboard layouts for Myanmar SignWriting. We believe that the outcome of this research is useful for educational contents and communication between hearing disability and general people