Early Success With Retention in Care Among People Living With HIV at Decentralized ART Satellite Sites in Yangon, Myanmar, 2015–2016

Introduction: Myanmar is one of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region hit hardest by the HIV epidemic that is concentrated among urban areas and key populations. In 2014, the National AIDS Programme (NAP) launched a new model of decentralized service delivery with the establishment ART satellite sites with care delivered by HIV peer workers.Methods: ART satellite sites are implemented by non-government organizations to service high burden HIV areas and populations that suffer stigma or find access to public sector services difficult. They provide continuity of HIV care from outreach testing, counseling, linkage to care, and retention in care. Anti-retroviral (ART) initiation occurs at health facilities by specialist physicians. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of people living with HIV (PLHIV) who were initiated on ART from 2015 to 2016 at five ART satellite sites in Yangon, Myanmar to assess outcomes and time from enrolment to ART initiation.Results: Of 1,339 PLHIV on ART treatment in 2015–16, 1,157 (89%) were retained, and 5% were lost from care and 5% reported dead, at the end of March 2018. Attrition rates (death and lost-to-follow-up) were found to be significantly associated with a CD4 count ≤ 50 cells/mm3 and having baseline weight ≤ 50 kg. Median time taken from enrolment to ART initiation was 1.9 months (interquartile range: 1.4–2.5).Conclusion: We report high rates of retention in care of PLHIV in a new model of ART satellite sties in Yangon, Myanmar after 3 years of follow-up. The delays identified in time taken from enrolment to ART initiation need to be explored further and addressed. This initial study supports continuation of plans to scale-up ART satellite sites in Myanmar. To optimize outcomes for patients and the program and accelerate progress to reduce HIV transmission and end the HIV epidemic, operational research needs to be embedded within the response

Seismic Risk Analysis for Critical Infrastructure: The Case Study of a Medical Center and its Supporting Systems in Yangon, Myanmar

Myanmar has a great strike-slip active fault called the “Sagaing Fault Zone” besides the Sumatra-Andaman Subduction Zone. Major cities (Yangon, Naypyitaw, Bago and Mandalay) are at risk along this fault. Recently, in 2012, Thabeikkyin earthquake with Magnitude of 6.8 caused collapse of many residential housings and ground failures near Mandalay. Therefore more attention should be paid for Yangon which has no large earthquakes since 1930 and is the largest not only in population but also in socio-economic activity. One of the most important concerns after an earthquake is to survive under any disastrous conditions. The medical care is requested not only for emergent injured people after an earthquake, but also for various types of patient and aged people from several weeks to longer periods. So medical center must be always functional before and after earthquake. For this purpose, medical buildings should be structurally resilient and also be functional for medical services by sustainable supply of electric power, water and any other delivery service which can be carried out by urban lifeline systems. This research is to investigate the structural vulnerability of hospital buildings and facilities, to assess the performance of urban lifeline systems and to check the operational capability of medical services in which surgical capability and life safety management method should be discussed. The water supply system is adopted as a typical lifeline system in Yangon in this study. One sample medical center in Yangon is adopted to carry out this analysis. Finally, the performance of medical services after the earthquakes can be assessed in a probabilistic manner

XRD and SEM Analysis, and Semiconductor Type Determination of TiO2 for Dye-sensitized Solar Cell

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a wide band-gap n-type semiconductor. Anatase TiO2 is the most common structure used in high performance dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Nanoporous TiO2 serves double-duty as an electron acceptor and a scaffold to hold large numbers of dye molecules in DSSC. The porosity of TiO2 is a key feature as it has roughly a thousand times greater a surface area than the equivalent flat area. In this work, TiO2 crystallite size (43.55 nm) has been calculated by using XRD data, and the morphology and the grain-size of TiO2 (average grain size of 0.2 mm ~ 0.3 mm) with different solvents have been also studied by SEM

Clinical importance of the Mandalay spitting cobra (Naja mandalayensis) in Upper Myanmar – Bites, envenoming and ophthalmia

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Toxicon on 03/06/2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxicon.2020.05.023 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Examination of 18 cobras brought to three hospitals in the Mandalay Region by patients bitten or spat at by them distinguished 3 monocled cobras (Naja kaouthia) and 15 Mandalay spitting cobras (N. mandalayensis), based on their morphological characteristics. We confirm and extend the known distributions and habitats of both N. mandalayensis and N. kaouthia in Upper Myanmar. Clinical symptoms of local and systemic envenoming by N. mandalayensis are described for the first time. These included local swelling, blistering and necrosis and life-threatening systemic neurotoxicity. More information is needed about the clinical phenotype and management of bites by N. mandalayensis, the commoner of the two cobras in Upper Myanmar. Since the current cobra antivenom manufactured in Myanmar has lower pre-clinical efficacy against N. mandalayensis than N. kaouthia, there is a need for more specific antivenom therapy.Published versio

Rapid embedded system software development ganerator for manufacturing engineers

Rapid prototyping, system simulation, modelling, coding, testing and verification are major phases in embedded system software development process. Compilers, parsers, generators, linkers, and debuggers are tools for developers to design, verify, and test in hardware-software co-design and simulation. Choosing a right tool in a right process and methodology to develop a rapid embedded system is very important.Master of Science (Computer Integrated Manufacturing

STUDI TENTANG PERTUMBUHAN MASYARAKAT SIPIL DI MYANMAR

Penelitian ini berusaha untuk menggambarkan problem pertumbuhan masyarakat sipil di Myanmar antara lain faktor- faktor yang menjadi pemicu pertumbuhan dan berkembangnya NGOs dan CBOs di Myanmar, dan prospek masyarakat sipil di Myanmar. Penggambaran dilakukan dengan menggunakan teori NGOS dan CBOs, teori Kebijakan Publik dalam konteks NGOS dan CBOs, dan teori karakteristik NGOS dan CBOs Myamar. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kajian literatur tentang masyarakat sipil dan isu-isu yang terkait di Myanmar. Dilakukan dengan cara diskusi dan wawancara dengan staf NGOs dan CBOs serta pejabat pemerintah. Dari 62 NGOs maka pemerintah hanya mempertimbangkan LSM yang bonafide saja. NGOS lain sama sekali tidak memenuhi kriteria tujuan kesejahteraan sosial. Di antara 62 organisasi adalah 35 yang dapat dianggap 'institusional', menyediakan layanan bersubsidi kepada orang-orang di rumah, sekolah, dan rumah sakit. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa hampir setengah (219, atau 48%) adalah CBOs agama (dan dari jumlah ini, hampir dua-pertiganya adalah Buddha),18 jenis umum lainnya dari CBO adalah Asosiasi Orang Tua Guru (PTAs: 108, atau 24%), CBOs urusan sosial (95 , atau 21%), pertanian CBOs (8, atau 2%), dan kesehatan / sanitasi air CBOs / (7, atau 2%). jenis lain dari organisasi berbasis komunitas mencapai 18, atau 4%. Terdapat 59% dari CBO menganggap diri mereka menguntungkan masyarakat. Selain itu, 59% CBOs tersebut menawarkan bantuan mereka kepada orang-orang di luar kelompok penerima manfaat utama. Akhirnya, hasil penelitian ini, merekomendasi bahwa untuk pengembangan masyarakat sipil disebuah Negara maka LSM dan CBOs harus mendapat perrhatian utama. Selain itu. LSM agar mampu berperan maksimal harus membuka dialog tentang isu-isu sosial inti, terutama kemiskinan dan marginalisasi, mungkin melalui konferensi atau acara lainnya. Mereka secara bertahap bisa meningkatkan kesadaran publik tentang penyebab kemiskinan, bersama-sama dengan mitra internasional

Deep Neural Network Based Model for Phishing-Sites Detection

The evolution of web has positivelytransformed the paradigm of communication,trading, and collaboration for the benefit ofhumanity. However, these benefits of the Web areshadowed by cyber-criminals who use the Web as amedium to perform malicious activities motivated byillegitimate benefits. Phishing is a growing threat toInternet users and causes billions of dollars indamage every year. The replicas of the legitimatesites are created and users are directed to that website by luring some offers to it. In this paper weintroduce a model of our ongoing research PhishingWebsite Detection for Advanced Persistent Threats.In this model we used deep neural network techniqueon some features of phishing sites

Occurrence of Bird Species at Laihka, Southern Shan State

The present study was conducted at Laihka area of Laihka Township in Southern Shan State and bird species were recorded from three study sites. The study period was from March to September, 2017. A total of 62 bird species belonging to 48 genera of 27 families under eleven orders were observed in three study sites of Laihka during the study period. In the present study, the most abundant bird species were recorded in order Passeriformes with 24 species (38.70%), followed by Ciconiiformes ten species (16.13%), Accipitriformes with six species (9.6%), Coraciformes with five species (8.06%), Charadriiformes with three species (4.84%) and Columbiformes with two species (3.23%).Among landbirds, 38 species are resident and seven species in winter visitors while one species of migrant and 19 species of resident are water birds