Diversity and Abundance of Copepods in Taninthayi Coastal Waters, Myanmar

Diversity and abundance of copepods occurring in Taninthayi coastal waters were studied and analyzed from the samples collected by R/V DR. FRIDTJOF NANSEN during the Myanmar ecosystem survey 2018. Seventy-nine copepods species belonging to calanoids (51 species), cyclopoids (21 species), and harpacticoids (7 species) were identified in the copepods community of Taninthayi coastal waters. Copepods species number and density were high at the nearshore stations (Sts 799, 842, 788) and low at the offshore stations (Sts 846, 802, 823). The resulted diversity index values of copepods were varied from 2.61 to 3.78 in species diversity index (H'), from 0.89 to 0.97 in the evenness index (E'), and from 2.51 to 7.50 in species richness index (D'). According to the correlation matrix, the abundance of copepods was positively correlated with temperature, chlorophyll a and fluorescence, and negatively correlated with salinity and oxygen

Mantle Flow and Olivine Fabric Transition in the Myanmar Continental Subduction Zone

One of the Major Advances in Mineral Physics and Seismology is the Realization that Different Olivine Fabric Types Are Functions of Temperature, Shear Stress, and Water Content in Oceanic Subducting Systems. the Distribution of Different Olivine Fabric Types and Geodynamic Processes in the Mantle Wedge above a Subducting Continental Slab Remain Poorly Understood. Here, based on Splitting Analysis of Shear Waves Recorded by 46 Stations Recently Deployed in Central Myanmar, We Reveal Trench-Perpendicular Fast Orientations between the 80 and 100 Km Slab Contours Sandwiched between Trench-Parallel Fast Orientations from the Mantle Wedge Tip to the Backarc. the Dramatic Change in Fast Orientations Indicates the Transition of Olivine Fabric Types in the Mantle Wedge Combined with Corner Flow. Cold Continental Sub-Duction and Shear Stress Reduction Caused by Partial Melting Favor B-Type and C- or E-Type Olivine Fabrics, Respectively

Human movement patterns of farmers and forest workers from the Thailand-Myanmar border

Background: Human travel patterns play an important role in infectious disease epidemiology and ecology. Movement into geographic spaces with high transmission can lead to increased risk of acquiring infections. Pathogens can also be distributed across the landscape via human travel. Most fine scale studies of human travel patterns have been done in urban settings in wealthy nations. Research into human travel patterns in rural areas of low- and middle-income nations are useful for understanding the human components of epidemiological systems for malaria or other diseases of the rural poor. The goal of this research was to assess the feasibility of using GPS loggers to empirically measure human travel patterns in this setting, as well as to quantify differing travel patterns by age, gender, and seasonality. Methods: In this pilot study we recruited 50 rural villagers from along the Myanmar-Thailand border to carry GPS loggers for the duration of a year. The GPS loggers were programmed to take a time-stamped reading every 30 minutes. We calculated daily movement ranges and multi-day trips by age and gender. We incorporated remote sensing data to assess patterns of days and nights spent in forested or farm areas, also by age and gender. Results: Our study showed that it is feasible to use GPS devices to measure travel patterns, though we had difficulty recruiting women and management of the project was relatively intensive. We found that older adults traveled farther distances than younger adults and adult males spent more nights in farms or forests. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that further work along these lines would be feasible in this region. Furthermore, the results from this study are useful for individual-based models of disease transmission and land use

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

Malaria incidence in Myanmar 2005–2014: steady but fragile progress towards elimination

Abstract Background There has been an impressive recent reduction in the global incidence of malaria, but the development of artemisinin resistance in the Greater Mekong Region threatens this progress. Increasing artemisinin resistance is particularly important in Myanmar, as it is the country in the Greater Mekong Region with the greatest malaria burden. If malaria is to be eliminated in the region, it is essential to define the spatial and temporal epidemiology of the disease in Myanmar to inform control strategies optimally. Results Between the years 2005 and 2014 there was an 81.1 % decline in the reported annual incidence of malaria in Myanmar (1341.8 cases per 100,000 population to 253.3 cases per 100,000 population). In the same period, there was a 93.5 % decline in reported annual mortality from malaria (3.79 deaths per 100,000 population to 0.25 deaths per 100,000 population) and a 87.2 % decline in the proportion of hospitalizations due to malaria (7.8 to 1.0 %). Chin State had the highest reported malaria incidence and mortality at the end of the study period, although socio-economic and geographical factors appear a more likely explanation for this finding than artemisinin resistance. The reduced malaria burden coincided with significant upscaling of disease control measures by the national government with support from international partners. These programmes included the training and deployment of over 40,000 community health care workers, the coverage of over 60 % of the at-risk population with insecticide-treated bed nets and significant efforts to improve access to artemesinin-based combination treatment. Beyond these malaria-specific programmes, increased general investment in the health sector, changing population demographics and deforestation are also likely to have contributed to the decline in malaria incidence seen over this time. Conclusions There has been a dramatic fall in the burden of malaria in Myanmar since 2005. However, with the rise of artemisinin resistance, continued political, financial and scientific commitment is required if the ambitious goal of malaria elimination in the country is to be realized

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

Comparison of biological attributes of Anagyrus saccharicola Timb. (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and Pseudaphycus mundus Gahan (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), parasitoids of pink sugarcane mealybug, Saccharicoccus sacchari Ckll. (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae)

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references.Not availabl

Nutritional values of the rhizome of arrowroot maranta arundinacea L. (Adalut)

Arrowroot is chiefly valuable as an easily digested starch. Arrowroot is a starch rich underground creeping rhizome. Its powder is one of nature's finest carbohydrates. The rhizomes of arrowroot are widely used in herbal remedies and healthy foods. Arrowroot is a very nutritious diet for people suffering from certain chronic diseases. So that the rhizome of arrowroot was chosen for chemical analysis. Firstly, it was checked for qualitative tests of sugar, carbohydrate and starch contents. In addition, quantitative tests for carbohydrate, fat, ash, moisture, protein and crude fibre in rhizome of arrowroot were determined. Finally, the mineral contents were determined by using EDXRF spectroscopy

Feature Selection of Android Malware Detection and Analysis

Mobile malware performs maliciousactivities like stealing private information,sending message SMS, reading contacts canharm by exploiting data. Malware spreadsaround the world infects not only ends usersapplications but also large organizations serviceproviders systems. Android malware isprominent to study the best classifiers that candetect these malwares effectively and accuratelythrough selecting the most suitable permissionbasedfeatures as well as comprehensivecomparison with detecting android malware.This study evaluates five machine learningclassifiers, namely BayesNet,MultilayerPerceptron, Decision Tree, K-nearestneighbour, and RandomaForest. The evaluationwas validated using malware data samples fromthe Android Malware Cantagio. This paperfocused on evaluating the best feature selectionto be employed in the best machine-learningclassifier

Score-Based Feature Selection for Malware in Android Application

Mobile malware performs malicious activitieslike stealing private information, sending messageSMS, reading contacts can harm by exploiting data.Malware spreads around the world infects not only endusers applications but also large organizations serviceproviders systems. Malware classification is a vitalcomponent that works together with malwareidentification to prepare the correct effective malwareantidote. Malware feature selection is also importantto reduce cost and time for malware identification.They may have many features in every mobile androidapplication. Score Based feature selection method isproposed in this paper based on the study of Androidapplication package (.apk)file. According to theexperiment on different classifiers, the results showthat our proposed feature selection method isapplicable as a light weight approach