New Record on the Occurrence of Cyst Nematode, Heterodera cajani Koshy, 1967 on Sesame, Sesamum indicum in Myanmar

Sesame, Sesamum indicum L. occupies for nearly half of the area sown to oilseed crops in Myanmar. It is cultivated for domestic consumption and export. During 2003, sesame cultivars, Sinyadnar3, Sinyadanar5, Magway7/9 and Khwaylayni grown in Oilseed Crop Research Farm, Department of Agricultural .Research, Magway were found to be heavily infected with Heterodera cyst nematodes. In 2004, cysts were also found from the soil samples collected from the previously infested plots. Infested field showed patches in which the plants were stunted, chlorotic, and caused wilting. When the infected plants were uprooted, curving of tap root, and red-girdling and dark browning of lateral and tap roots were observed. Lemon-shaped cysts were found attaching to the root surface. Young females were white or creamy colour whereas old cysts with eggs were tan colour. A few bullae were found on the posterior portion of the female. Larvae were vermiform with elongate conoid tail. Males were cylindrical or elongated with short tail without bursa. According to the morphological characters of the nematode and disease symptoms of sesame, the nematode was supposed to be identified as Heterodera cajani. There was no report o cyst nematode, Heterodera spp. in Myanmar. The present finding, the occurrence of Heterodera cajani on sesamum, is the first record of Heterodera spp. in Myanmar

Physician perspectives on the management of viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma in Myanmar

© 2017 Kim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background: In Myanmar, over five million people are infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Hepatitis has been a recent focus with the development of a National Strategic Plan on Hepatitis and plans to subsidize HCV treatment. Methods: During a two-day national liver disease symposium covering HCV, HBV, hepatocellular (HCC), and end-stage liver disease (ESLD), physician surveys were administered using the automated response system (ARS) to assess physician knowledge, perceptions of barriers to screening and treatment, and proposed solutions. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratio (OR) relating demography and practice factors with higher provider knowledge and improvement. Results: One hundred two physicians attending from various specialty areas (31.0% specializing in gastroenterology/hepatology and/or infectious disease) were of mixed gender (46.8% male), were younger than or equal to 40 years old (51.1% 20 to 40 years), had less experience (61.6% with 10 years of medical practice), were from the metropolitan area of Yangon (72.1%), and saw \u3c10 liver disease patients per week (74.3%). The majority of physicians were not comfortable with treating or managing patients with liver disease. The post-test scores demonstrated an improvement in liver disease knowledge (9.0% ± 27.0) compared to the baseline pre-test scores; no variables were associated with significant improvement in hepatitis knowledge. Physicians identified the cost of diagnostic blood tests and treatment as the most significant barrier to treatment. Top solutions proposed were universal screening policies (46%), removal of financial barriers for treatment (29%), patient education (14%) and provider education (11%). Conclusions: Physician knowledge improved after this symposium, and many other needs were revealed by the physician input on barriers to care and their solutions. These survey results are important in guiding the next steps to improve liver disease management and future medical education efforts in Myanmar

Hepatitis knowledge score (% correct answers on knowledge-based questions).

<p>Hepatitis knowledge score (% correct answers on knowledge-based questions).</p

Barriers to HBV and HCV disease management.

<p>Barriers to HBV and HCV disease management.</p

Participant demographics.

<p>Participant demographics.</p

Perceived barriers to liver disease management.

<p>Perceived barriers to liver disease management.</p

Preferred physician interventions to improve education and screening for liver disease management.

<p>Preferred physician interventions to improve education and screening for liver disease management.</p

Physician’s level of comfort managing and monitoring patients with liver disease.

<p>Physician’s level of comfort managing and monitoring patients with liver disease.</p