Feeding values of conventional diets and their effects on the performances of dairy cows in Central Myanmar

The conventional diets have been fed to dairy cows since many years ago in Myanmar, however there is a little scientific information regarding the use of those diets as feed. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the feeding values of conventional diets and their effects on the performances of dairy cows in Central Myanmar. Nine cross-bred Holstein Friesian cows (460±22kg) with the 12th week of lactation were randomly allocated to one of three treatment groups with three replicates in a completely randomized design. The three treatments were Diet-ST (common diet from Sin Tel, Tatar U Township), Diet-MN (common diet from Myay Ngu, Tatar U Township) and Diet-AM (common diet from Amarapura Township). Cows were fed treatments for 60 days. The roughage to concentrate ratios ranged from 53:47 to 72:28 and the nutritive values were significantly different (p<0.05) each other. The highest nutrient intakes were observed in dairy cows fed on Diet-MN, however the nutrient digestibility were not different (p>0.05) except the CP and ether extract digestibility (CPD and EED). The nitrogen utilization was highest in dairy cows fed on Diet-ST and the lowest value was observed in the dairy cows fed on Diet-AM. Although the milk compositions were not different (p>0.05), the average milk yield of dairy cows offered the Diet-MN was significantly higher (p<0.05) than those of dairy cows fed on other diets. The highest total feed cost (p<0.05) was found in Diet-AM and the lowest value (p<0.05) was in Diet-MN. According to these findings, it was concluded that the highest feeding value was observed in Diet-MN and its effect on the performances of dairy cows was also greater than others. Moreover, it would be suggested that better bean residues and sesame residues could be used as fibre sources in the diets of dairy cows

In vitro fermentation of conventional diets commonly fed to dairy cows in Central Myanmar

This study consisted of two experiments conducted to evaluate the effective net gas, fermentation kinetics (experiment 1), methane gas concentration, partitioning factor (PF) for microbial protein synthesis and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) (experiment 2) of conventional diets commonly fed to dairy cows in Central Myanmar. The conventional diets from four areas [diet from Sin Tel area (Diet-ST), diet from Myay Ngu area (Diet-MN), diet from Ta Pel area (Diet-TP) and diet from Amarapura area (Diet-AM)] were used as experimental diets in this study. In most of conventional diets, rice straw, sorghum stover and natural grass were used as roughage source and cotton seed cake and broken rice were used as concentrate. However in some diets, sesame residue and butter bean residue were used as roughage source instead of sorghum stover and natural grass. The roughage to concentrate ratio and crude protein (CP) content of conventional diets ranged from 53:47 to 72:28 and 11.46 to 17.96%, respectively. In experiment 1, the effective net gas volume of Diet-TP was lower (p<0.05) than Diet-ST and Diet-AM and generally, the fermentation kinetics (a, b, c and a+b) of Diet-TP were also lower than those of other diets. In the experiment 2, the lower value (p<0.05) of short chain fatty acid (SCFA) was found in Diet-MN and Diet-TP while the higher values (p<0.05) of metabolizable energy (ME) and organic matter digestibility (OMD) were observed Diet-AM and Diet-TP. Although methane gas concentration of Diet-TP was higher (p<0.05) than those of other diets, the greater values of IVDMD and PF were observed in Diet-TP. According to these findings, it was perceived that all conventional diets have different nutritional qualities which are useful for production and health of dairy cows; however the Diet-TP possessed the highest nutritional qualities among the conventional diets

Virulence factors and genetic characteristics of methicillin-resistant and - susceptible staphylococcus aureus isolates in Myanmar

Staphylococcus aureus produces virulence factors, including various exotoxins and adhesins, which are associated with a variety of symptoms caused by its infections. In the present study, the prevalence of these virulence factors was analyzed for 23 S. aureus strains isolated from wound infections in hospitals, nasal swabs, or vomit from patients and cooks in a food poisoning case and from healthy adults in Yangon, Myanmar. Among these strains, five were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) derived from pus (four strains, SCCmec III, ST239) and a healthy adult (one strain, SCCmec-IVa, ST5). The Panton-Valentine leukocidine (PVL) gene was detected in five methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) clinical strains belonging to ST121 (CC121). The MRSA clinical strains had only a few or no staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) genes, whereas PVL-positive MSSA and an MRSA strain from a healthy adult possessed an enterotoxin gene cluster (seg, sei, sem, sen, seo, and selu). Strains from the food poisoning case had either SE genes or only etd and edin-B. Adhesin genes, which are associated with binding to fibronectin, fibrinogen, and elastin, were detected in all the MRSA and most of the MSSA strains examined. However, the bone sialoprotein-binding protein gene (bbp) and the variant form of the elastin-binding protein gene (ebpS-v) with an internal 180 bp deletion were identified only in the MSSA strains harboring the PVL gene. These findings suggest that those genetic traits are characteristic of PVL-positive ST121 S. aureus strains in Myanmar

Uterine artery pseudoaneurysm : A case of late intraabdominal haemorrhage after caesarean section

Uterine artery pseudoaneurysm (UAP) is a rare acquired vascular malformation associated with vaginal bleeding or intraabdominal haemorrhage occurring after pelvic surgery. Pseudoaneurysm may present with delayed, severe haemorrhage after a seemingly uncomplicated initial postoperative period. Treatment is therefore necessary to prevent further complications. We describe here a case of a 32-year-old mother, who presented with abdominal pain and intraabdominal bleeding, 20 days after Caesarean Section. Computerised Tomography (CT) scan showed the presence of haemoperitoneum, suggestive of pseudoaneurysm at the right cervical artery which was successfully managed with emergency angiographic embolisation

Comparisons on the nutritive values of local and introduced forages and feed mixture for ruminant feed in central dry zone of Myanmar

This study aimed to compare nutritive values of local (Sorghum) and introduced (Mombasa) forages and their feed mixtures for ruminant feed in central dry zone of Myanmar. Sorghum based feed mixtures (FeedMix-1, 2 and 3) were the commonly used feed mixtures for cattle in dry zone of Myanmar and other feed mixtures (FeedMix-4, 5 and 6) were based on Mombasa. The lower CP and higher fibre contents (P<0.05) were observed in sorghum and its feed mixtures. The highest gas volumes (P<0.05) were observed in the FeedMix-4 and 6, and then the lowest gas volume (P<0.05) was observed in FeedMix-3. The gas production from quickly soluble fraction (a) of sorghum was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of Mombasa, inversely the gas production from insoluble fraction (b) of sorghum was significantly lower (P<0.05) than that of Mombasa. Moreover, potential gas production (a+b), ME, OMD and SCFA of sorghum were also significantly lower (P<0.05) than those of Mombasa. The value of “a” was lowest (P<0.05) in FeedMix-1, whereas the highest value was found in FeedMix-6. The lowest values (P<0.05) of “b”, “a+b”, ME, OMD and SCFA were observed in FeedMix-3 and the highest values (P<0.05) of those parameters were found in FeedMix-4. Thus, the higher nutritive values observed in the introduced forage, Mombasa and its feed mixtures were indicating that Mombasa should be used instead of sorghum for the feed of cattle in dry zone of Myanmar.&nbsp

Visual Inspection of Acetic Acid (VIA) to Detect PreCancerous Cervical Cancer in Rural Areas of Sarawak

Introduction: Cervical cancer is still the leading cause of gynaecological cancer in Sarawak. Low awareness on cervical screening and logistic problems are the main reasons for delay in diagnosis, especially in rural areas. Although pap smear screening had been implemented for decades, failure to get early treatment and frequent defaulters are factors that need to be tackled for rural women. Objectives: The Sarawak Travelling Women Health Project is aimed to improve pre-cancerous cervical cancer detection in rural areas using the Visual Inspection of Acetic Acid (VIA) method. This project also helps to shorten the duration of follow up and treatment for patients with pre-cancerous lesion of cervix. Methods: Cervical screening campaigns outside Kuching areas were conducted from June until December 2018 by the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) in collaboration with Pink and Teal Empower, a Non-Government Organization. VIA was performed for all women below 50 years old. Patients with positive VIA were a colposcopy appointment and cervical biopsies are taken at the clinic. Results: During the campaign period, 83 out of 333 women were found to be VIA positive, but only 47 women turned up for the colposcopy. This high number of defaulters is mostly due to logistic reasons. Two cervical biopsies were confirmed as Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN) 2, 15 cases with CIN 1, one case of microglandular hyperplasia while 19 biopsies turned out to be cervicitis. The pickup rate for CIN during the outreach was about 20.4%. Conclusion: VIA is useful in low resource area with difficult access to tertiary centres as it enables faster diagnosis for CIN. However, proper training is needed to avoid false positive results and unnecessary intervention. To reduce the rate of defaulters, cervical biopsy for VIA positive women should be done in the field during the same setting

A Rare Presentation of Carcinoma Endometrium

Background Normally endometrial carcinoma presents with post-menopausal bleeding in the majority of cases. It rarely presents with haematometra. If it does, it rarely reaches the term pregnant uterus size. Case presentation This case report is a rare presentation of endometrial carcinoma which was at first diagnosed as a huge ovarian mass later found out to be haematometra intraoperatively. There was a discordant finding between the endometrial invasions with distant metastasis (Local invasion of stage 1A with lung metastasis which should be stage 4B). Conclusion It is an uncommon combined occurrence but at least we learnt there can be possible different presentation for endometrial cancer. It further proved that almost all of haematometra can turn out to be associated with endometrial carcinoma