A Geographical Study on Solid Waste Disposal Management in Pyawbwe

Waste generation is increasing in Pyawbwe year by year because of increasing population, developing technologies and expanding economy. Physical factors describing the study area, both now and projected for the future, size, growth patterns, population, influence the economics of the proposed solid waste management systems. Solid wastes are collected under bell ringing system and communal dump collection system and are disposed at final landfilled waste disposal site located at Ingyin Kone cemetery. By using the Pearson's Product Movement Correlation Method, it is found that the correlation between the generation of solid from households and the collection of Municipal Department of Pyawbwe, there is high degree of positive correlation. Solid waste generation is depending upon the number of Tank Carriers and garbage trucks and it is also significantly related with households in Pyawbwe. These results indicate that it is necessary for the management of household solid wastes in Pyawbwe to take prior

Investigating Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Competencies among Trainee Teachers in the Context of ICT Course

The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework developed over a decade ago is still valid and applicable in educational contexts when dealing with the use of technology in teaching and learning. With widespread availability of devices and prolific use of technology among students, teachers need to be conversant with various technologies that can be integrated and enhance the teaching and learning process. Most teacher education programmes equip trainee teachers with the integration of technology in the lessons and introduce them to instructional design that would align to the curriculum and make their teaching attractive and effective. It is important to establish the level of TPACK among trainee teachers and prepare them appropriately with necessary domain of knowledge to enable them to function well in future classrooms. This study was conducted with trainee teachers to determine the validity and reliability of the TPACK questionnaire and to identify trainee teachers’ perceived pathways to TPACK. Data were analysed using the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) procedure, and the measurement model was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The structural model was developed and the path coefficients and their statistical significance were tested to determine the correlations between TPACK competencies.Le modèle TPACK portant sur les connaissances technologiques, pédagogiques et de contenu, développé il y a plus de dix ans, demeure valide et applicable dans les contextes pédagogiques où l’enseignement et l’apprentissage sont appuyés par la technologie. La grande disponibilité des appareils technologiques et leur emploi généralisé par les élèves exigent que les enseignants soient à l’aise avec les technologies qui peuvent être intégrées pour améliorer l’enseignement et l’apprentissage. La plupart des programmes de formation des enseignants les prépare à intégrer la technologie dans leurs leçons et en aligner la conception pédagogique avec les programmes d’études pour augmenter l’efficacité de leur enseignement. Il est important d’établir le niveau de TPACK chez les enseignants stagiaires et de les préparer en conséquence en leur communiquant les connaissances nécessaires pour bien fonctionner dans les salles de classe de l’avenir. Cette étude s’est déroulée auprès d’enseignants stagiaires, de sorte à déterminer la validité et la fiabilité du questionnaire TPACK et pour identifier ce que les enseignants stagiaires perçoivent comme étant les moyens d’acquérir les connaissances liées au TPACK. Les données ont été analysées par la méthode d’estimation du maximum de vraisemblance et le modèle de mesure a été évalué par une analyse factorielle confirmatoire. Le modèle structurel a été élaboré, et les chemins et la signification statistique des coefficients ont été testés, de sorte à établir les corrélations entre les compétences du modèle TPACK.Mots clés: connaissances technologiques, pédagogiques et du contenu; enseignants stagiaires; validation; cours sur les TIC; formation des enseignant

Factors influencing attitude toward organ and tissue donation among patients in primary clinic, Sabah, Malaysia

Introduction Worldwide, the gap between organ supply and demand has widened over the years. Malaysia has one of the lowest deceased organ donation rates. Success rate of organ or tissue procurement depends on not only the approach rate by health care providers but also the awareness among the public, whereby it can be a platform for family initiation of organ donation. The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge of and determine the factors influencing attitude toward organ and tissue donation among patients in a primary clinic. Methods A cross-sectional analytical study was carried out. Self-administered questionnaires were given to 400 patients who registered at an outpatient clinic in April 2018. Convenience sampling was applied. Results Monthly income, education level, occupation, and knowledge level are significantly associated with attitude of the respondents toward organ and tissue donation. Occupation influenced attitude toward organ donation. Knowledge of organ donation and brain death both significantly affected attitude toward organ donation. Conclusion The greater the knowledge of organ donation and brain death, the more positive impression or attitude toward organ donation. Education level and income are the main predictors that influence attitude toward organ donation. Hence, it is important for public health units to promote and deliver public education on organ donation, change public misconceptions, and work parallel with hospitals to increase organ donation rates in Sabah. Previous articleNext article Worldwide, the gap between organ supply and demand has widened over the years. Malaysia has one of the lowest deceased organ donation rates (0.7 donations per million population) compared with countries such as Spain, which had the highest with a donation rate of 36 per million population in 2014. Other Asian countries are not far off from Malaysia, such as Myanmar (0.02) and Thailand (1.26) [1]. The World Health Organization defines transplantation as the transfer of human cells, tissues, or organs from a donor to a recipient with the aim of restoring functions in the body [2]. In Sabah, the Sabah Regional Transplant Procurement Management Unit has made effort for all government hospitals in Sabah to have a Tissue Organ Procurement team for identification and referral of eligible cases. Sabah is a Malaysian state with a high number of potential cadaveric or deceased donors for referral, but the consent for organ donation is still low. Transplantation is the only hope and definitive treatment for patients with organ failure. Donors can be either living or deceased. Unlike a deceased donor or cadaveric donor, a living donor can only donate part of the liver, 1 kidney, and bone marrow. A cadaveric donor can donate more organs and tissues without giving risk to the donor. Thus, a cadaveric donor is a preferable type of donor; however, cadaveric donation is very low in Malaysia. In 2015, Malaysia had its highest number of cadaveric donors, but Sabah only contributed 1 donor. The whole Malaysia had 35 cadaveric donors in 2017. Among them only 1 donor was from Sabah state. The demand and supply cannot meet up due to the lack of organs. Since 1998, the Malaysia Ministry of Health has initiated a number of activities to promote the development of organ donation and transplantation. Many countries have faced a similar problem of organ shortage for transplantation in patients with end-stage organ failure. Organ transplantation is the only hope for patients with end-stage organ failure to improve their quality of life. If a cadaveric organ donation program is not supported by the community, this may end up in organ trafficking. If the family of the deceased has a lack of knowledge of organ donation and the procurement process, this will lead to refusal in donating the organs and tissues. The deceased’s family’s consent is the last step in organ harvesting. Hence, it is important for public health units to promote and deliver public education on organ donation, change public misconceptions, and work together with hospitals to increase organ donation rates in Sabah. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors influencing attitude toward organ and tissue donation among patients, and to assess the knowledge of organ donation and brain death among patients. Methods A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted at primary health clinic Kota Kinabalu, from October 2017 to July 2018 with a total of 10 months’ duration. It is located in Sabah state in Malaysia and is under the lead of 1 family medicine specialist with 15 medical officers. Monthly patients in outpatient clinic range from 4000 to 6000. The study population targeted is registered patients more than 18 years old who visited an outpatient clinic during the study period. Data collection was done during working hours until the preferable sample size was obtained. Nonprobability convenience sampling was used. Respondents who were selected followed the Queue Management Server (QMS) numbering system from number 1 to the end of the day. Those respondents who agreed to participate were given a self-administered questionnaire. The entire questionnaire was placed at the registration counter and distributed together with the QMS number before seeing the doctor. A sample size of 383 patients was taken by calculating the pilot study samples using the Sample Size Calculator for Prevalence Studies (SSCPS version 1.0.03). All the registered patients who agreed to participate and were above 18 years old were included in the study. Patients who were not registered or had no document or refused or were less than 18 years old were excluded from the study. Respondents could choose to withdraw at any time. The items in the questionnaire for the knowledge part were mainly modified from the study by Ozturk Emiral et al [3]. This was to ensure the items were appropriate and able to be answered by respondents. The Malay version of the questionnaire was pilot tested by the patients from the Emergency and Trauma Department 1 month before data collection. Thirty respondents were obtained by using patients grouped in the green zone at the Emergency and Trauma Department for reliability test. These 30 samples were not included in the study. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the scale on 12 knowledge and exposure questions in Part B and 11 questions on attitude toward organ and tissue donation in Part C of the questionnaires. A total of 23 items were tested for reliability. Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale was 0.870. There are a total of 36 questions in the questionnaires, which can be divided into the following 3 parts: Part A: Sociodemographic characteristics; Part B: Exposure and knowledge in organ donation and brain death; and Part C: Acceptance or attitudes toward organ donation. After the questionnaire was pilot tested and obtained acceptable reliability testing, the questionnaires were distributed to the study population. The questionnaire was validated before the main study was done. Descriptive analysis was done by using frequencies, and the χ2 test was used to determine association between sociodemographic characteristics and attitude toward organ donation, and to study the association between knowledge levels of the respondents toward attitude for organ donation. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 22 (IBM, Armonk, NY, United States) throughout the study. Results A total of 400 self-administered questionnaires were distributed, of which 383 (95.75%) were successfully completed. Most of the respondents had secondary educations, which consisted of 337 respondents (88%) compared with primary education of 46 (12%). A total of 313 (81.7%) were aged less than 40 years, and 70 (18.3%) of the total respondents were aged over 40 years. The mean age for the sample was 32.69 ± 9.239. Most of the respondents, 193 (50.4%), had monthly income of at least RM2000. A total of 151 (39.4%) of the respondents were government servants. Most were married 251 (65.5%). Respondents consisted of 155 (40.5%) men and 228 (59.5%) women. Knowledge of Organ Donation A total of 339 (88.8%) respondents answered the first question correctly, which asked about the organ donation definition. For the second question, which is the age limit for organ donation, only 178 (46.5%) respondents answered correctly that there was no age limit for organ donation. Most of the respondents, 292 (76.2%), answered correctly for causes of organ transplant. Respondents correctly answered for organ transplant causes with the statement, “High blood pressure and diabetes are common causes for people to require a kidney transplant.” A total of 307 (80.2%) respondents answered correctly what organs can be donated in Malaysia (kidneys, liver, heart, and lung), whereas 211 (55.1%) respondents answered correctly what tissues can be donated in Malaysia (bone, skin, heart valves, and cornea) (Table 1). Based on organ donation knowledge questions, responses were further categorized into good and poor knowledge of organ donation. One correct answer for 1 question was considered 1 mark, thus the maximum mark for this section was 5 marks and the lowest was 0 marks, with none of the questions answered correctly. We considered respondents with ood knowledge of organ donation to be those who answered correctly for 4 questions and above (4 and 5 marks), whereas those poor knowledge answered correctly for 3 questions and below. A total of 213 (55.6%) had good knowledge of organ donation, whereas the other 170 (44.4%) respondents had poor knowledge of organ donation (Table 2)

Gestational diabetes mellitus and associated risk factors among pregnant women in Tuaran, Sabah State, Malaysia

Objective: To determine the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and its associated risk factors among pregnant women in Tuaran District, Sabah State, Malaysia. Material and Methods: A cross sectional analytical study was conducted in Tuaran. Data collection was done by interview method using structured questionnaire and antenatal records review. The study population was all the pregnant women, at and above 24 weeks of gestation who attended the antenatal care clinics in Tuaran District from March to June, 2018. The pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes were excluded from the study. Convenience sampling method was used and 195 pregnant women participated in the study. Descriptive and analytical statistics were done by using SPSS statistical software. GDM has emerged as a major public health concern all over the world. It would develop maternal and foetal adverse outcomes. The prevalence of GDM ranged from 1% to 28% worldwide and from 18.3% to 27.9% in Malaysia. Results: The prevalence of GDM among all participants in Tuaran District was 28.2%. The risk factors significantly associated with GDM were advanced maternal age (p=0.042), presence of family history of diabetes mellitus (p=0.009) and previous history of GDM (p=0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of GDM among pregnant women in Tuaran District was found to be higher than the previous studies done in Malaysia. Promotion of healthy lifestyle, provision of intense health education, quality antenatal care and early detection with proper management of GDM among pregnant women are crucial for prevention and control of GDM and reduction of adverse maternal and foetal outcomes

Copy number variants as modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1/BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers.

The contribution of germline copy number variants (CNVs) to risk of developing cancer in individuals with pathogenic BRCA1 or BRCA2 variants remains relatively unknown. We conducted the largest genome-wide analysis of CNVs in 15,342 BRCA1 and 10,740 BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers. We used these results to prioritise a candidate breast cancer risk-modifier gene for laboratory analysis and biological validation. Notably, the HR for deletions in BRCA1 suggested an elevated breast cancer risk estimate (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.21), 95% confidence interval (95% CI = 1.09-1.35) compared with non-CNV pathogenic variants. In contrast, deletions overlapping SULT1A1 suggested a decreased breast cancer risk (HR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.59-0.91) in BRCA1 pathogenic variant carriers. Functional analyses of SULT1A1 showed that reduced mRNA expression in pathogenic BRCA1 variant cells was associated with reduced cellular proliferation and reduced DNA damage after treatment with DNA damaging agents. These data provide evidence that deleterious variants in BRCA1 plus SULT1A1 deletions contribute to variable breast cancer risk in BRCA1 carriers

Application of Remote Sensing and GIS Technology in Natural Disaster Management and Rehabilitation

Cyclone Nargis was a strong tropical cyclone that caused the deadliest natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar. Satellite maps show that the storm's damage was concentrated over an area of about 30,000 sq km, stretching along the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Martaban coastlines. This area is home to nearly a quarter of Myanmar’s 57 million people. Satellite images can be used to identify storm damage from multiple vantage points and can help with the planning of disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts. Images collected before and after Nargis slammed into the Myanmar coastline illustrate just how quickly flood waters rushed and swelled over the network of creeks that meander through the lower Ayeyarwaddy delta. Using pre-impact images and post-impact images, damaged area and risk zone classification can be done integrated with remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) technique. It is firmly believed that the outcome result will surely contribute to foresee and target medical and other assistance in both ongoing and emergency relief efforts in Myanmar

Detecting Trend on Urban Warming Temperature in Mandalay City

This study developed a method for detecting urban land surface temperature in Mandalay City using Multi-temporal Landsat image data for the period 2000 to 2005. Land surface temperatures are important in studying of global warming in estimating radiation budgets in heat balance studies and as a control for climate model. The ability of the surface for emit radiation (surface emissivity) is a main parameter for detecting land surface temperature (LST). Therefore, knowledge of the surface emissivity is crucial for estimating the radiation balance at the earth surface. This study also indicated that LST data can aid in modeling urban planning and monitor environment. In this paper, evaluation the usefulness of multi-temporal Landsat image data for determining LST in Mandalay City was determined based on association surface emissivity value with land cover information

Spatial Pattern Analysis of Land Degradation Using Satellite Remote Sensing Data and GIS in Mandalay Watershed, Central Myanmar

Land degradation in term of soil erosion is the single most important environmental concern in the developing countries. Eroded sediment also acts as both a physical and chemical pollutant. It has been become an ecological, social and economic problem. This study explored the influence of major socioeconomic factors on erosion processes and conservation measures in a Dry Zone farming context for producing Erosion Risk Map of the study area. Soil erosion and relations of soil erosion factors were studied by integrating of GIS and RS. Knowing extent and severity of the land is important as a decision support system to policy makers, resource managers as well as local communities and farmers. Soil erosion susceptibility was estimated through Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). The result showed spatial distribution of different land degradation severity across the area in watershed basis. To examine land potential, land capability classification was carried out using Storie Index Rating (SIR). High soil loss can be seen in the middle part of upper watershed region and occurred at high land capability class in this case because vegetation cover is a very little in this region