Aesthetic Evaluation of Royal Palace in Yadanapon Period (Eastern Royal Zone)

Mandalay is one of the old cities in Yadanapon Period (1858.AD-1885.AD), and the last devastating war had seriously destroyed the palace buildings and left with only the memories of the past grandeur of the seat of the two kings: reign Mindon and Thibaw. In Yadanapon Period, the Royal Architecture or Palace Architecture arouse the desire to visualize the glittering halls and spires that they stood on the platform in the center of the fort. It remains many architectural significant of Myanmar Architecture for our future generation. Therefore, the author traces back the style of Mandalay Old Palace at first, which is derived from which previous styles and then he studies on the layout, functional relationships and spatial relationships of Palace Buildings which are mainly taken into consideration. Then, the author analyzes the architectural aspects and design elements of Palace Buildings. The purpose of this paper is to conserve the ritual expression, architectural styles, and characteristics of Myanmar Architecture. Moreover, the author would like to figure out the aesthetic evaluation of Royal Architecture in Yadanapon Period with systematic analysis which is based on literature review, site studies, observations and his opinions

Antenatal care practice and pregnancy out come at Sikuati area, Kudat, Sabah

Antenatal (AN) care is vital for all pregnant women and for reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity. AN care knowledge and specific AN care practices are some of the crucial components of what determines effective AN care. In developing nations, the health of pregnant women can be even more sensitive to these factors. Objectives of this study was to assess the antenatal ( AN) care practice and pregnancy outcome of ever-married women aged 18 to 49 years old having at least one pregnancy experience, residing in kampongs of Sikuati area, Kudat between March to December 2015. Cross–sectional descriptive study, non-probability convenient sampling method was used and 150 eligible participants were interviewed through face to face by trained interviewers using a semi- structured questionnaire and their knowledge of AN care, their AN care practices and outcomes and complications of their pregnancies were recorded. 99% of all the women received AN care, and 64% of the women received essential AN care practice (AN visit of minimum 4 times). The study revealed that overall knowledge amongst the women with good knowledge was 48% and low knowledge was 52%. Despite this, it was found that low knowledge of AN care was associated with essential AN care practice. Additionally, AN care practices, assessed through timing of first AN care visit and frequency of visits, was not significantly associated with pregnancy complications. Despite these results, outcomes were good and all complications were properly and successfully addressed. This may reflect the effectiveness of current programs in place promoting importance of AN care and delivery practices. Maintenance of current programs with targeted interventions to address low knowledge level and the low level of compliance with essential AN care completed are recommended

Preferred modalities for learning anatomy: medical students’ opinion

Learning anatomy is the basic and essential component of medical study when students start to learn in medical career. Since five hundred years ago, the human cadaver has been used as the silent mentor for students in learning anatomy. Later, pre-dissected specimens were used in addition to hands-on dissection of human cadaver. Current advances promote the use of anatomical models as well as plastinated specimens. This study focused on analyzing the preference of students towards different learning modalities available for anatomy teaching. It was conducted on first year medical students at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Malaysia Sabah (FPSK, UMS). A total of 76 students (27 males and 49 females) participated in this study. Out of 76 students, 57 (75%) students preferred using human cadaver for anatomy learning. Four students (5.3%) opted for plastinated specimen while 15 students (19.7%) chose the plastic model. Knowledge gained in learning Anatomy was said to be easier from cadaver (67.1%), followed by plastinated specimen (35.5%) and plastic models (52.6%). In the present study, 97.4% responded that plastic model was easier to apply their knowledge in objective structured practical examinations. The present study found that using cadaver was still favoured by medical students. Further studies are required to determine the preference between hands-on cadaveric dissections versus pre-dissected specimens

Antenatal care practice and pregnancy out come at Kudat area,Sabah,Northern Borneo

Women have been fulfilling their reproductive responsibility of propagating human race, many have died and many more faced death in the process of delivering babies, but this can be prevented by taking appropriated antenatal care, clean and safe delivery and essential obstetric care. Antenatal care is the first phase to be encountered once a woman has conceived. The objective of the study was to assess the antenatal (AN) care practice and pregnancy outcome of ever-married women aged 18 to 49 years old having at least one pregnancy experience, residing in kampongs of Kudat area, Sabah, East Malaysia, Northern Borneo from December 2015 to October 2016. Crosssectional analytical study, non-probability convenient sampling method was used and 300 eligible participants were interviewed face to face by trained interviewer using pretested questionnaire. 99.3% of all the women received AN care, and 97% of the women received AN care practice (AN visit of 4 times and above). Mean AN visit was 9 times. The study revealed that overall knowledge amongst the women with good knowledge was 47.2% and low knowledge was 52.8%. Additionally, there was significant association between education and knowledge, income and knowledge, AN care practices and knowledge. But there was no significant association between AN practice and complication. Despite these results, outcomes were good and all complications were properly and successfully addressed. This may reflect the effectiveness of current national maternal health programs

Evaluation of Plant Extracts Against Rice Blast Disease Caused by Pyricularia grisea

This study was carried out to determine the effect of plant extracts such as Siam weed, Eucalyptus, Swallow-wort, Neem, Lemongrass, Basil, Oleander and Golden trumpet on rice blast disease fungus Pyricularia grisea in vitro and in vivo. Percentages of disease control for rice blast with different plant extract spraying times (2 days before inoculation, 2 days after inoculation and after symptom appearance, i.e. 5 to 7 days after inoculation) were compared to find out the most effective spraying time. The experiments were conducted at the Department of Plant Pathology during May 2015 to August 2016. Antifungal activities of different plant extracts were evaluated on mycelial growth and spore germination using poison food technique and five effective plant extracts were selected for the next experiment. The results indicated all the tested plant extracts had antifungal effect with inhibition percent (10% - 39%) on mycelial growth and spore germination (67% - 88%). Among the extracts, Siam weed showed the maximum inhibition percent on both mycelial growth and spore germination followed by Eucalyptus, Swallow-wort and Neem extracts. In the greenhouse test, the test variety Shwe Thwe Yin was used to evaluate the effect of five selected plant extracts at different spraying times on rice blast disease by inoculating the plants at 21 days after sowing. The results indicated that Siam weed extract gave the higher disease control percentage (36%) compared with other treatments such as Swallow-wort (32%) and Eucalyptus (31%) at 11 days after inoculation. Spraying of plant extracts at 2 days before inoculation showed the highest disease control in comparison to other two spraying times

Population Density of Rice Root Nematode, Hirschmanniella oryzae (Luc and Goodey, 1964) in Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory

Soil and root samples from 44 rice fields were collected on 5 summer rice varieties (Manawthukha, Sinthukha, Shwethweyin, Palethwe and Yet-90) in 5 townships (Lewe, Tatkon, Pyinmana, Zabuthiri and Dekkhinathiri) to determine the population density of Hirschmanniella oryzae. It was observed that 98.89 % out of 44 fields sampled were infested with the rice root nematode, H. oryzae. Based on the prominence value (a combination of the frequency of occurrence and abundance) of H. oryzae, Tatkon Township was the most infested region and the lowest population was found in Lewe Township. The highest population of H. oryzae from soil and root was observed in Sinthukha and the lowest population was found in Shwethweyin. All summer rice varieties surveyed were observed to be either susceptible or highly susceptible to H. oryzae. In two different cropping sequences, rice-blackgram-rice cropping sequence had the lower nematode population than that of rice-rice cropping one. Moreover, the lower nematode population was also found in direct seeding than in transplanting method

Detection of Blast Resistance genes on Cultivated Rice in Myanmar using SSR and InDel Markers

The present study was conducted to detect the presence of blast resistance genes in cultivated rice in Myanmar. Thirteen blast resistance genes _Pib, Pik, Pik-h, Pik-m, Pik-s, Pi7, Pish, Pita, Pita-2, Piz-t, Pi(5)t and Piz-5_were screened on 57 released varieties by using 13 linked markers; 12 Simple Sequence Repeats and one Insertion Deletion, through polymerase chain reaction based methods. The genetic frequencies of these 13 major blast resistance genes ranged from 43.86% (Pik-m) to 7.02% (Piz-t) whereas Pita resistance gene amplicon was not observed on all tested varieties. The Pik-m gene was detected as the most prevalent one amongst the genotypes followed by Pi7 which distributed in frequency of 42.11%, Pik , Pita-2 and Pi5(t) (22.81%), Pik-s (21.05%) , Pib and Pik-h (19.30%), Pik (17.54%), Piz-5 (14.04%) and Pish (12.28%). The genotypic variation between the released varieties was detected. Among 57 released varieties, two varieties — Manawthuka and Mote Soe Ma Kyway Pyay line MMK 03-23-3 — possessed seven blast resistance genes the other 12 varieties carried single genes, five varieties five resistance genes, 13 varieties four resistance genes, six varieties three resistance genes and 15 varieties two resistance genes. In the rest four varieties resistance genes could not be amplified by tested markers. This study provided the information of resistant varieties that will be beneficial in pre-breeding program for developing of rice blast resistance varieties

Palmaris Longus Agenesis (PLA) among major ethnic groups of rural sabah

The functional role of Palmaris longus muscle is little to human upper limb, but its long tendon is very useful as a donor tendon in hand reconstructive surgery. In the human body, Palmaris longus muscle is often described as one of the most variable muscles in both number and form. It is only to be consistently found in mammals especially in those using forelimbs for weightbearing and ambulation. The absence of Palmaris longus in human appears to be hereditary but its possibility through genetic transmission has not been proven yet. The first report in 1559 estimated the Palmaris longus agenesis (PLA) was 17.2% among Indians and 12-24% in Caucasians. It was reported to be 4.6% among Singaporean-Chinese while 12.6% and 26.6% in Nigeriablack and Turkish people respectively. A 2007 UKM study shows prevalence of PLA in Malays was 11.3% followed by Indians (10.7%) and Chinese (6.0%). Studies had indicated that PLA would be associated with other anatomical variations of hand. Borneo is the third largest island in the world and located in the centre of the Maritime Southeast Asia. Sabah, once known as north Borneo, is the second biggest states in Malaysia after Sarawak. Sabah, the land below the wind, has over 32 ethnic groups of people who make up the multicultural state. The largest indigenous ethnic group in Sabah is Kadazan-Dusun residing mainly on the West Coast region of Sabah, making up about 30% of population. They traditionally work as paddy and vegetable planters. One famous feature of Kadazan-Dusun culture is the Harvest Festival where these people give thanks to Rice spirit for harvest. Bajau is the second largest indigenous ethnic group and they are well known as Sabah's cowboy horsemen. They live in east coast of Sabah. Murut is the third largest indigenous ethnic group in Sabah and mostly live in South W cst region of Sabah and remote area like the interior residency between Keningau, tenom and Pensiangan. They were great hunters, using blowpipes and poisoned darts during hunting. Some are still living in Palmaris longus agenesis among major ethnic groups of rural Saba