Explaining Myanmar's Regime Transition: The Periphery is Central

In 2010, Myanmar (Burma) held its first elections after 22 years of direct military rule. Few compelling explanations for this regime transition have emerged. This article critiques popular accounts and potential explanations generated by theories of authoritarian ‘regime breakdown’ and ‘regime maintenance’. It returns instead to the classical literature on military intervention and withdrawal. Military regimes, when not terminated by internal factionalism or external unrest, typically liberalise once they feel they have sufficiently addressed the crises that prompted their seizure of power. This was the case in Myanmar. The military intervened for fear that political unrest and ethnic-minority separatist insurgencies would destroy Myanmar’s always-fragile territorial integrity and sovereignty. Far from suddenly liberalising in 2010, the regime sought to create a ‘disciplined democracy’ to safeguard its preferred social and political order twice before, but was thwarted by societal opposition. Its success in 2010 stemmed from a strategy of coercive state-building and economic incorporation via ‘ceasefire capitalism’, which weakened and co-opted much of the opposition. Having altered the balance of forces in its favour, the regime felt sufficiently confident to impose its preferred settlement. However, the transition neither reflected total ‘victory’ for the military nor secured a genuine or lasting peace

Enhanced melioidosis surveillance in patients attending four tertiary hospitals in Yangon, Myanmar.

Abstract To investigate the current epidemiology of melioidosis in Yangon, Myanmar, between June 2017 and May 2019 we conducted enhanced surveillance for melioidosis in four tertiary hospitals in Yangon, where the disease was first discovered in 1911. Oxidase-positive Gram-negative rods were obtained from the microbiology laboratories and further analysed at the Department of Medical Research. Analysis included culture on Ashdown agar, the three disc sensitivity test (gentamicin, colistin and co-amoxiclav), latex agglutination, API 20 NE, antibiotic susceptibility testing, and a subset underwent molecular confirmation with a Burkholderia pseudomallei specific assay. Twenty one of 364 isolates (5.7%) were confirmed as B. pseudomallei and were mostly susceptible to the antibiotics used in standard therapy for melioidosis. Ten patients were from Yangon Region, nine were from Ayeyarwaddy region, and one each was from Kayin and Rakhine States. A history of soil contact was given by seven patients, five had diabetes mellitus and one had renal insufficiency. The patients presented with septicaemia (12 cases), pneumonia (three cases), urinary tract infection (two cases) and wound infection (four cases). Eighteen patients survived to hospital discharge. This study highlights the likelihood that melioidosis may be far more common, but underdiagnosed, in more rural parts of Myanmar as in other countries in SE Asia.</jats:p

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

URINARY FIBRIN (-OGEN) DEGRADATION PRODUCTS IN RUSSELL&apos;S VIPER(DAB0IA R USSELII SIAMENSIS) BITE VICTIMS

Abstract. Serum and urine concentrations of fibrin (-ogen) degradation products (FDP) were estimated in 20 proven Russell&apos;s viper bite (RVB) cases with severe defribination. All patients had similar degrees of high serum FDP levels. However, the ten who developed into acute renal failure (ARF) had significantly (p&lt;0.001) higher urinary FDP levels than those who did not. The urinary FDP levels of ARF cases increased correspondingly with high serum FDP levels but not in cases without ARF. Serial comparison of serum and urinary FDP levels in RVB cases with severe defibrination may be of value in predicting the likelihood of developing ARF. The present study favored disseminated intravascular coagulation as the main cause of ARF in Myanmar RVB cases

Sex Differences in NAFLD: State of the Art and Identification of Research Gaps

In spite of tremendous research advancements in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), our understanding of sex-differences in NAFLD remains insufficient. This review summarizes current knowledge on sex differences in NAFLD, identifies current gaps, and discusses important considerations for future research. The prevalence and severity of NAFLD are higher in men than in women during the reproductive age. However, after menopause, NAFLD occurs at a higher rate in women suggesting that estrogen is protective. Sex differences also exist for the major risk factors of NAFLD. In general, animal models of NAFLD recapitulate sex differences observed in patients with more severe steatosis and steatohepatitis, more pro-inflammatory/pro-fibrotic cytokines, and a higher incidence of hepatic tumors in males than females. Based on computer modeling, female and male livers are metabolically distinct with unique regulators modulating sex-specific metabolic outcomes. Analysis of the literature reveals that most published clinical and epidemiological studies fail to examine sex differences appropriately. Considering the paucity of data on sex differences and the knowledge that regulators of pathways relevant to current therapeutic targets for NAFLD differ by sex, clinical trials should be designed to test drug efficacy and safety according to sex, age, reproductive stage (i.e., menopause) and synthetic hormone use. CONCLUSION: Sex differences do exist in the prevalence, risk factors, fibrosis, and clinical outcomes of NAFLD suggesting that, while not yet incorporated, sex will probably be considered in future practice guidelines. Adequate consideration of sex differences, sex hormones/menopause status, age, and other reproductive information in clinical investigation and gene association studies of NAFLD are needed to fill current gaps and implement precision medicine for patients with NAFLD. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Tectonic, diapiric and sedimentary chaotic rocks of the Rakhine coast, western Myanmar

The western margin of Myanmar is the northern extension the active Sunda (India-Eurasia) subduction zone. Coastal regions and offshore islands have remarkable exposures of chaotic rock terranes along wave-cut terraces that allow characteristics of tectonic, sedimentary and diapiric mélanges to be recognized. Tectonic shear zones (tectonic mélanges) contain fragments of Cretaceous ophiolites (chrome-spinel-bearing peridotites and radiolarian cherts) that are in contact with thrust packets of Eocene turbidite units (broken formations). The turbidites contain shale-rich beds that have been sheared during soft-sediment deformation (sedimentary broken formations) and are sandwiched between undeformed thick sandy beds. These are mass transport deposits (MTDs) that most likely formed during deposition of the initial detritus of the Himalayan orogenic zone, probably trench slope basins on the accretionary prism. The ophiolitic and turbiditic thrust slices have been exhumed and are currently being intruded by active mud volcanoes that bring fragments of units up from depth to the surface, forming diapiric mélanges. These diapiric mélange bodies contain only small fragments (<50 cm) that are randomly oriented and do not exhibit shear fabrics. Because the region lacks superimposed deformation characteristic of most orogenic belts, the origins of all three rock bodies can easily be distinguished.Partially funded by US National Science Foundation Grant #OCE-1260718. SOEST contribution # 10634