Motor Function and Manual Ability in Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Primary Report

Abstract This descriptive study aims to describe the motor type, topographical distribution and motor function of lower limbs, and the manual ability of upper limbs. Cerebral Palsy (CP) describes a group of disorders in the development of movement and posture in the developing brain. This study was carried out during 2015 on 60 CP children. Multiple sources of assessment were used, including medical records of patients at the Physical Medicine Department in 550 Bedded Mandalay Children’s Hospital. Children were grouped according to motor type, topographical pattern, Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) and Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) scales. During the study period, 60 CP children (29 males and 31 females) aged 4-12 years were observed, with a mean (SD) age of 7.7 (3.7) years. In this study, spastic CP was the most common type (80%) and more specifically, bilateral CP (70%) was more common than unilateral (10%). With respect to the GMFCS classification, level II (30%), and to the MACS classification, level II (38.3%), was the most common. This study is only a hospital based, descriptive study and therefore there are many limitations. We are trying to establish a neuro-clinic, as well as a development clinic, with few resources and man power. This research team is in the first few steps of developing a coordinated, multidisciplinary team to help children with cerebral palsy and developmental delay. The significance of the study results will help to educate the community about the role of early intervention, the earlier the better, for children with cerebral palsy

A Review of Common Medicinal Plants in Chin State, Myanmar:

Promising sources of novel bioactive compounds include plants growing in several third-world countries where the local flora is still largely uninvestigated. A paradigmatic example is represented by medicinal plants growing in Myanmar, especially in Chin State, in northwestern Myanmar. This is one of the least developed areas of the country where the people still use natural remedies derived from a rich biodiversity. This review mainly covers the investigations done on phytochemical constituents and biological activities of 20 medicinal plants, namely Alangium chinense, Anemone obtusiloba, Anneslea fragrans, Antidesma bunius, Croton oblongifolius, Embelia tsjeriam-cottam, Ficus heterophylla, Gaultheria fragrantissima, Hydnocarpus kurzii, Leea macrophylla, Leucas cephalotes, Millingtonia hortensis, Myrica nagi, Olax scandens, Pimpinella heyneana, Pterospermum semisagittatum, Ruellia tuberosa, Smilax zeylanica, Stemona burkillii, and Tadehagi triquetrum, that have long been used in the Chin State for curing various diseases. These plants have been selected on the basis of their medicinal uses not only in Myanmar but also in the related Ayurvedic healing system. Moreover, besides their medicinal importance, most of them grow in the Chin State more abundantly than in other regions of Myanmar. Although the efficacy of some of these plants have been verified scientifically, the chemical constituents and biological activities of most of them still need to be investigated to confirm the claimed therapeutic effects

Determination of Oncogenic Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Genotypes in Anogenital Cancers in Myanmar

Molecular and epidemiologic investigations suggest a causal role for human papillomavirus (HPV) in anogenital cancers. This study identified oncogenic HPV genotypes in anogenital cancers among men and women in a 2013 cross-sectional descriptive study in Myanmar. In total, 100 biopsy tissues of histologically confirmed anogenital cancers collected in 2008-2012 were studied, including 30 penile and 9 anal cancers from Yangon General Hospital and 61 vulvar cancers from Central Women's Hospital, Yangon. HPV-DNA testing and genotyping were performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Overall, 34% of anogenital cancers were HPV-positive. HPV was found in 44.4% of anal (4/9), 36.1% of vulvar (22/61), and 26.7% of penile (8/30) cancers. The most frequent genotypes in anal cancers were HPV 16 (75%) and 18 (25%). In vulvar cancers, HPV 33 was most common (40.9%), followed by 16 (31.8%), 31 (22.7%), and 18 (4.6%). In penile cancers, HPV 16 (62.5%) was most common, followed by 33 (25%) and 18 (12.5%). This is the first report of evidencebased oncogenic HPV genotypes in anogenital cancers among men and women in Myanmar. This research provides valuable information for understanding the burden of HPV-associated cancers of the anus, penis, and vulva and considering the effectiveness of prophylactic HPV vaccination

Investigation of Japanese Encephalitis Virus Infection in Bogalay Township, Myanmar in 1999

An investigation was in Nyi-naung-wa village, Bogalay township for Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus infection and the possibility of a JE outbreak. JE virus antibody was determined among the pigs and the people living near the pig farms in that village and at an adjacent village as a control. The known JE virus vector Culex mosquito species were also identified in both villages. Haemagglutination inhibition (HAI) methods were used for the detectioon of JE and dengue antibodies. Homotypic or monotypic JE antibodies were detected in 33% of the pigs tested. No homotypic nor monotypic JE antibodis was detected among the villagers. Although there was no JE virus infection among the people, because of the presence of JE virus infection among the pigs and the presence of Culex mosquito vector in that area, the possibility of a JE outbreak in humans in that area, if the number of pig breeding per household increase and the mosquito density become higher is discussed

Myanmar Dengue Outbreak Associated with Displacement of Serotypes 2, 3, and 4 by Dengue 1

In 2001, Myanmar (Burma) had its largest outbreak of dengue—15,361 reported cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS), including 192 deaths. That year, 95% of dengue viruses isolated from patients were serotype 1 viruses belonging to two lineages that had diverged from an earlier, now extinct, lineage sometime before 1998. The ratio of DHF to DSS cases in 2001 was not significantly different from that in 2000, when 1,816 cases of DHF/DSS were reported and dengue 1 also was the most frequently isolated serotype. However, the 2001 ratio was significantly higher than that in 1998 (also an outbreak year) and in 1999, when all four serotypes were detected and serotypes 1, 2, and 3 were recovered in similar numbers. The large number of clinical cases in 2001 may have been due, in part, to a preponderance of infections with dengue 1 viruses

Surveillance to achieve malaria elimination in eastern Myanmar: a 7-year observational study

Background The collection and utilization of surveillance data is essential in monitoring progress towards achieving malaria elimination, in the timely response to increases in malaria case numbers and in the assessment of programme functioning. This paper describes the surveillance activities used by the malaria elimination task force (METF) programme which operates in eastern Myanmar, and provides an analysis of data collected from weekly surveillance, case investigations, and monitoring and evaluation of programme performance. Methods This retrospective analysis was conducted using data collected from a network of 1250 malaria posts operational between 2014 and 2021. To investigate changes in data completeness, malaria post performance, malaria case numbers, and the demographic details of malaria cases, summary statistics were used to compare data collected over space and time. Results In the first 3 years of the METF programme, improvements in data transmission routes resulted in a 18.9% reduction in late reporting, allowing for near real-time analysis of data collected at the malaria posts. In 2020, travel restrictions were in place across Karen State in response to COVID-19, and from February 2021 the military coup in Myanmar resulted in widescale population displacement. However, over that period there has been no decline in malaria post attendance, and the majority of consultations continue to occur within 48 h of fever onset. Case investigations found that 43.8% of cases travelled away from their resident village in the 3 weeks prior to diagnosis and 36.3% reported never using a bed net whilst sleeping in their resident village, which increased to 72.2% when sleeping away from their resident village. Malaria post assessments performed in 82.3% of the METF malaria posts found malaria posts generally performed to a high standard. Conclusions Surveillance data collected by the METF programme demonstrate that despite significant changes in the context in which the programme operates, malaria posts have remained accessible and continue to provide early diagnosis and treatment contributing to an 89.3% decrease in Plasmodium falciparum incidence between 2014 and 2021

Multidimensional Analysis for Census Data by Applying Star Schema Model

In recent years, the high value of multidimensional data has been recognized in both the academic and business communities. Star schemas are the primary storage mechanism for multidimensional data that is to be queried efficiently. It supports relationships between fact and dimension tables and creating combination dimensions with a key, resulted to improve query performance for large quantities of data. This paper is presented for multidimensional data model, that is called star schema to store large amount of census data. This star schema can be used for business related queries on Census data for visualization report. This paper aims to enhance the interactive visualization process with more relevant operations for manipulation of various attributes by using the Pentaho Business Analytics (BA) Suite

Collection, Characterization and Evaluation of Eggplant (Solanum spp.) Germplasm in Myanmar

In Myanmar, the specific attempt in collection and identification of eggplant germplasm was rarely found. To identify the morpho-physiological diversity of 40 germplasm, the experiment was conducted at Horticulture Section, Department of Agricultural Research (DAR), Yezin from May to October, 2016. Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications was used. Morpho-physiological divergence among 40 eggplant germplasm was estimated using cluster and principal component analysis (PCA). The germplams were grouped into four clusters. No clear association was observed between geographic origin and genetic diversity. Cluster I included 25 germplsm and scattered into this cluster, and which were early in days to first harvest. Cluster IV included only one germplasm and larger fruit size. The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster I and IV followed by that cluster I and II, suggesting a large distance between these clusters or groups of germplasm. From these findings, the germplasm of the cluster I and IV had the maximum common gene complexes and the magnitude of heterosis largely depended on the degree of genetic diversity in the germplasm. Populations with high scores for the first eigenvectors are leaf width, leaf length, fruit length, corolla color and fruit length/breadth ratio were the most important contributors towards diversity of the germplasm in PC1. The second eigenvector was mostly connected with scores of days to first harvest, fruit weight, fruit breadth and 100 seeds weight were the second most important contributors among the 31 traits for 40 germplasm. The first PC explained 17.071 % of variability and the second PC explained 13.532 %, totally 30.603% of the total variability among 40 germplasm based on 31 traits. Finally, the eggplant germplasm were separately isolated from the others and they were away from centroid. These results showed their uniqueness and divergence of the germplasm in respect to the measured 31 traits. Thus, discrimination of eggplant germplasm based on multiple traits by cluster analysis provided the insight of varietal evolution and adaptation