Data to the earthworm fauna of Myanmar with notes on some little known species (Annelida, Oligochaeta)

The earthworm fauna of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burma) is quite well studied due to the studious works of Gordon E. Gates. However, after the publication of the comprehensive monograph Burmese earthworms (Gates 1972) there has been no new data published from this country. In the last year the last author collected several earthworm samples from Burma, resulting in 7 species records belonging to the families Moniligastridae, Benhamiidae, Octochaetidae and Megascolecidae including some little known species like Tonoscolex depressus (Gates, 1929) and Eutyphoeus constrictus Gates, 1929. Examination of the E. constrictus specimens revealed that they show different states of metandry, they are morphologically very similar to E. hastatus Gates, 1929, and only differ by the functionality of the testes in segment 10, therefore it should be regarded as a synonym of E. constrictus

Caregiver experience and perceived acceptability of a novel near point-of-care early infant HIV diagnostic test among caregivers enrolled in the PMTCT program, Myanmar: A qualitative study

Background: The majority of HIV infection among children occurs through mother-to-child transmission. HIV exposed infants are recommended to have virological testing at birth or 4–6 weeks of age but challenges with centralized laboratory-based testing in Myanmar result in low test- ing rates and delays in result communication and treatment initiation. Decentralized point- of-care (POC) testing when integrated in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services, can be an alternative to increase coverage of early infant diagnosis (EID) and timely engagement in HIV treatment and care. Aim: This paper aims to explore experiences of caregivers of HIV-exposed infants enrolled in the PMTCT program in Myanmar and the perceived acceptability of point-of-care EID testing compared to conventional centralised laboratory-based testing. Methods: This is a sub-study of the cluster randomised controlled stepped-wedge trial (Trial registra- tion number: ACTRN12616000734460) that assessed the impact of near POC EID testing using Xpert HIV-1 Qual assay in four public hospitals in Myanmar. Caregivers of infants who were enrolled in the intervention phase of the main study, had been tested with both Xpert and standard of care tests and had received the results were eligible for this qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 caregivers. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English. Thematic data analysis was undertaken using NVivo 12 Software (QSR International). Results: The majority of caregivers were satisfied with the quality of care provided by PMTCT ser- vices. However, they encountered social and financial access barriers to attend the PMTCT clinic regularly. Mothers had concerns about community stigma from the disclosure of their HIV status and the potential consequences for their infants. While medical care at the PMTCT clinics was free, caregivers sometimes experienced financial difficulties associated with out-of-pocket expenses for childbirth and transportation. Some caregivers had to choose not to attend work (impacting their income) or the adult antiretroviral clinic in order to attend the paediatric PMTCT clinic appointment. The acceptability of the Xpert testing pro- cess was high among the caregiver participants and more than half received the Xpert result on the same day as testing. Short turnaround time of the near POC EID testing enabled the caregivers to find out their infants’ HIV status quicker, thereby shortening the stressful wait- ing time for results. Conclusion: Our study identified important access challenges facing caregivers of HIV exposed infants and high acceptability of near POC EID testing. Improving the retention rate in the PMTCT and EID programs necessitates careful attention of program managers and policy makers to these challenges, and POC EID represents a potential solution

Operational experiences associated with the implementation of near point-of-care early infant diagnosis of HIV in Myanmar: a qualitative study

Background: Timely diagnosis and early initiation of life-saving antiretroviral therapy are critical factors in preventing mortality among HIV-infected infants. However, resource-limited settings experience numerous challenges associated with centralised laboratory-based testing, including low rates of testing, complex sample referral pathways and unacceptably long turnaround times for results. Point-of-care (POC) HIV testing for HIVexposed infants can enable same-day communication of results and early treatment initiation for HIV-infected infants. However, complex operational issues and service integration can limit utility and must be well understood prior to implementation. We explored and documented the challenges and enabling factors in implementing the POC Xpert® HIV-1 Qual test (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) for early infant diagnosis (EID) as part of routine services in four public hospitals in Myanmar. Methods: This sub-study was part of a randomised controlled stepped-wedge trial (Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number 12616000734460) designed to investigate the impact of POC testing for EID in Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. Infants recruited during the intervention phase underwent POC testing at the participating hospitals as part of routine care. Semi-structured interviews with 23 caregivers, 12 healthcare providers and 10 key informants were used to explore experiences of POC-EID testing. The research team and hospital staff documented and discussed implementation challenges throughout the study. Results: Overall, caregivers and healthcare workers were satisfied with the short turnaround time of the POC test. Occasional delays in POC testing were mostly attributable to late receipt of samples by laboratory technicians and communication constraints among healthcare staff. Hospital staff valued technical assistance from the research group and the National Health Laboratory. Despite staff shortages and infrastructure challenges such as unreliable electricity supply and cramped space, healthcare workers and caregivers found the implementation of the POC test to be feasible at pilot sites. Conclusions: As plans for national scale-up evolve, there needs to be a continual focus on staff training, communication pathways and infrastructure. Other models of care, such as allowing non-laboratory-trained personnel to perform POC testing, and cost effectiveness should also be evaluated

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Eye Problems among Older People in Central Tropical Region, Naypyitaw Union Territory, Myanmar

Purpose:Vision is essential one and it is proximately linked with their quality of life. In the meantime, older populations are increasing rapidly in the whole world and thus, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataract and diabetic retinopathy are becoming common. Hot and dusty environment, inadequate access to water and poor facial hygiene are risk factors for blindness. Design: Lewe Township was purposively selected due to its high prevalent on eye problems. This cross-sectional study was conducted and simple random sampling was applied to achieve desired sample size. The structured questionnaires were used to collect data including screening of eye problems from 414 older population. Frequency, percentage, mean, SD and other descriptive analysis were determined and chi-square test for associations was constructed. Findings: Cataract was the highest prevalence rate with 40.8% followed by refractive error (27.3%) and pterygium (12.8%) among older people population in research area. While knowledge level indicated good level (88.4%), good attitude level (21.3%) and good practice level (27.1%) were noticeably low among older people. In the meantime, there were significantly associations between age (p=0.003) and education level (p=0.001) with knowledge level of older people while age (p=0.001), education level (p=<0.001), occupation (p=0.038) showed statistically association with attitude level. Originality:The study noticed that higher prevalence of eye problems while relatively poor level of eye care seeking practice and unawareness on risk factors in targeted community. Knowledge and awareness for changing attitude about eye problems, eye care seeking behavior and preventive practices should be accomplished more

Anti-hyperglycemic Activity in Vitro, Actuate Toxicity in Vivo and Antioxidant Activity of the Crude Extract of the Root of Plumeria alba L.

Medicinal plants are the single most productive sources for the development of drugs and play an important role in treating and preventing a variety of diseases through the world.  Plumeria alba Linn. commonly known as Tayoke-sakar-aphyu in Myanmar is one of the medicinal plants belonging to Apocynaceae family. The pharmacological studies were carried out to investigate antimicrobial activity, antioxidant activity, anti-hyperglycemic activity in vitro and acute toxicity in vivo. The main aim of the present research is to evaluate the biological activities of the root of Plumeria alba L, Firstly, phytochemical screening of the collected sample was performed. Elemental composition of the crude sample was examined by EDXRF (Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence) spectroscopy. Moreover three different solvents such as ethanol, ethyl acetate and n-hexane extracts of the sample were examined for their antimicrobial activities against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus pumilus, Candida albicans and E. coli by Agar- well diffusion method. The antioxidant activity of ethanol extract of the root of Plumeria alba L. was studied by DPPH (1,1-Diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrayl) assay. The acute toxicity of ethanol extract of the root of Plumeria alba L. on Artemia salinna were investigated. The glucose lowering activities of the water and ethanol extracts of the sample were determined by iodometric titration

Study on the Treatment of Liquid Waste from Rare Earth Processing by Chemical Precipitation

This paper describes treatment of liquid waste from rare earth processing by chemical precipitation. Monazite ore from Moemeik Myitsone area was used as raw material for rare earth processing. Large amount of solid and liquid wastes were generated after rare earth oxide processing. Solid waste was stored in the storage tanks and liquid waste needed further treatment before discharges to the environment. Research process serves the purpose of reducing the volume of the waste as much as possible to protect men and the environment from any undesirable effects for the present and future generation. Treatment methods are selected based on the composition, quantity and form of the waste materials. The used method is chemical precipitation method. For liquid waste treatment, the most coagulation treatment used is the Fe +++ co-precipitation followed by settling, decantation and filtration of the supernatant liquid. The efficiency of the process can be improved by careful control of the pH and the settling the decantation procedure. The sludge was filtered, dried in oven and collected in plastic bags and temporary stored in 100 liters plastic drums.   Finally all of the decontaminated effluents are safety discharged to the environment. All of the experiments were analyzed by the X- ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRF). Before treatment, thorium and uranium contained <2000 ppm,  < 300 ppm and this is in the low level waste. After treatment result in decant water gives uranium (< 1 ppm) and thorium (< 10 ppm).According to the threshold limits for the UK radioactive classification system,   liquid waste from rare earth processing was less than (0.4 Bq/g) and this range is in exempt waste and can be discharge to drain and to the environment safety. The safety regime was in place and improved simultaneously by survey monitoring by using Alert Monitor 4 meter Scale in USV/H

Study on Processing of Rare Earth Oxide from Monazite, Mongmit Myitsone Region

The present study investigates to support the production of rare earth oxide, which has been used for next research work of individual rare earth elements purification process from monazite, Mongmit Myitsone Region. The processing of rare earth oxide in this study involves four main parts, digestion of monazite concentrate, selective precipitation of rare earth hydroxide, precipitation of rare earth oxalate and calcination of rare earth oxide. The chemicals used in this study were commercial grade from local market. The products from each processing process were characterized by XRD and XRF. The final product contained (> 95 %) of total rare earth oxide and fulfilled to apply next purification process. This paper review the cheaper and easily way to extract rare earth oxide from Myanmar monazite

Gender differences in civic engagement among the youth attending Yangon University of economics

This study focuses on civic engagement and attitudes of youth attending Yangon University of Economics (YUE) in Myanmar, towards increasing understanding of gender differences in leadership and civil society activities. Interviews reveal that youth are more inclined to participate in non-political activities. Female students largely avoid leadership roles. Male youth are a minority at YUE, yet they still hold leadership positions. Civic engagement is very vulnerable to political conflict. One of few studies (2014) found little citizen engagement due to poor information, lack of freedoms, and overall restrictive norms. Currently, Myanmar is in political transition

Caregiver experience and perceived acceptability of a novel near point-of-care early infant HIV diagnostic test among caregivers enrolled in the PMTCT program, Myanmar : a qualitative study

Background The majority of HIV infection among children occurs through mother-to-child transmission. HIV exposed infants are recommended to have virological testing at birth or 4–6 weeks of age but challenges with centralized laboratory-based testing in Myanmar result in low testing rates and delays in result communication and treatment initiation. Decentralized point-of-care (POC) testing when integrated in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services, can be an alternative to increase coverage of early infant diagnosis (EID) and timely engagement in HIV treatment and care. Aim This paper aims to explore experiences of caregivers of HIV-exposed infants enrolled in the PMTCT program in Myanmar and the perceived acceptability of point-of-care EID testing compared to conventional centralised laboratory-based testing. Methods This is a sub-study of the cluster randomised controlled stepped-wedge trial (Trial registration number: ACTRN12616000734460) that assessed the impact of near POC EID testing using Xpert HIV-1 Qual assay in four public hospitals in Myanmar. Caregivers of infants who were enrolled in the intervention phase of the main study, had been tested with both Xpert and standard of care tests and had received the results were eligible for this qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 caregivers. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English. Thematic data analysis was undertaken using NVivo 12 Software (QSR International). Results The majority of caregivers were satisfied with the quality of care provided by PMTCT services. However, they encountered social and financial access barriers to attend the PMTCT clinic regularly. Mothers had concerns about community stigma from the disclosure of their HIV status and the potential consequences for their infants. While medical care at the PMTCT clinics was free, caregivers sometimes experienced financial difficulties associated with out-of-pocket expenses for childbirth and transportation. Some caregivers had to choose not to attend work (impacting their income) or the adult antiretroviral clinic in order to attend the paediatric PMTCT clinic appointment. The acceptability of the Xpert testing process was high among the caregiver participants and more than half received the Xpert result on the same day as testing. Short turnaround time of the near POC EID testing enabled the caregivers to find out their infants’ HIV status quicker, thereby shortening the stressful waiting time for results. Conclusion Our study identified important access challenges facing caregivers of HIV exposed infants and high acceptability of near POC EID testing. Improving the retention rate in the PMTCT and EID programs necessitates careful attention of program managers and policy makers to these challenges, and POC EID represents a potential solution