A Geographic Study on Level of Markets in Meiktila

The study area, Meiktila is situated in the southwestern part of Mandalay Region. Meiktila has good transport system with various regions of Myanmar. There are 9 markets in Meiktila. The main aim is to study the markets which serve as tertiary system in the study area. Normally the tertiary functions are consumer oriented and they need a certain number of consumers or the threshold population for their existence. They, therefore, used to locate in population centers or in areas with high accessibility. In this paper, the distribution of market is determined by using GIS based buffer analysis. As a result, distribution of these markets is a great difference with respect to their tributary area, size of their functions, transportation facilities, accessibility and location of market place. Therefore, it is needed to build better transport system to develop for levels of markets in the study area

Case Study: Phaung Daw Oo International University

The case study discusses an unconventional path to education in Myanmar, one that serves as an alternative to government-controlled institutions. The article highlights the challenges faced by students and educators in the country and presents Phaung Daw Oo Monastic School (PDO) and its mission to contribute to society through excellence in education and lifelong learning. The school provides necessary schooling for children who did not receive adequate education at the traditional age, students who are up to five years off from what is considered aligned with the expectations of state-sponsored education. The article also discusses the establishment of Phaung Daw Oo International University (PIU) in 2014, aimed at supporting students\u27 college education aspirations. PIU collaborates with international universities from foreign countries, providing students with the opportunity to attain an affordable associate degree, regardless of their educational background

Tobacco smoking among school adolescents in Northern Sabah

Tobacco smoking in adolescent age group has become a major public health concern as it is one of the major risk factors for non-communicable diseases leading to burden of adverse health effects in their later life. Those who start smoking tobacco at an early age are more likely to develop nicotine addiction and continue smoking throughout their adulthood. The general objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of tobacco smoking, their initiation and perception towards tobacco smoking among school adolescents in Kudat District, Sabah State, Malaysia. It was a school based cross sectional descriptive study which employed a two-staged stratified random sampling method and used self-administered structured questionnaire for data collection. A total of 257 students aged between 15 to 19 years old from two upper secondary schools participated in the study. This study revealed that (26.6%) were ever smokers and (8.6%) were current smokers. The earliest age of started smoking was 7 years old and 9 years old among male and female ever smokers respectively. Majority of the respondents perceived that smoking was a bad habit which would cause environmental pollution and harmful effects on health. The most common reasons to start smoking among ever smokers were peer pressures, curiosity and experimenting and to relieve the feeling of pressured and stress. Among the current smokers, 86.4%had ever attempted to quit smoking but they failed to stop smoking because they thought smoking could give feeling pleasure (50%), relieve their anxiety or craving (27.3%) and because of peer pressures (22.7%). The findings suggested that although tobacco smoking prevalence among school adolescents in Kudat was comparatively lower than that of national prevalence reported by GYTS, there is still need for early interventions with holistic approach to prevent them from initiation and to help them for cessation of tobacco smoking

Application of red pitaya powder as a natural food colourant in fruit pastille

Background: Confectionary products meet the important consumers’ need states of fun and enjoyment, especially among children. Synthetic colourant had been applied as a colouring agent in confectionery products for decades, however various adverse health effects have been reported after consumption. Hence, usage of natural colourant has increased enormously as it confers functional and nutraceutical benefits. Red pitaya, a common and popular fruit cultivated in South-east Asian countries. It is rich betacyanin content that gives the fruit a red-violet colour. Hence, red pitaya is a potential source of natural colorant as an alternative to the synthetic colorant.Objective: This research was aimed to produce fruit pastille with red pitaya powder applied as a natural colourant.Method: Production of red pitaya powder was achieved through spray drying process. Fruit pastille was prepared and subjected to antioxidant, stability and sensory analysis.Results: The Physicochemical study showed that pastille incorporated with red pitaya powder exhibited significantly (p<0.05) higher antioxidant properties than the blank pastille (control). An eight weeks storage stability study revealed that betacyanin content of pastille incorporated with pitaya powder remained stable for the first four weeks of storage. Besides, no significant change was observed in redness (a*) of pastille throughout the storage study. Sensory study was carried out to assess the consumer preference on pastille incorporated with pitaya powder and synthetic colourant. Colour attribute of pastille incorporated with red pitaya powder has gained significantly (p<0.05) higher liking that the one added with synthetic colour.Conclusion: Red pitaya powder could be a potential natural colourant for gummy confectionery

Medical and nursing students’ knowledge of accurate blood pressure measurement procedure in University Malaysia Sarawak

Blood pressure measurement is a basic, frequently-used clinical procedure. Nowadays with increasing use of automatic devices, blood pressure measurement procedure is the most inaccurately performed by the healthcare professionals. The medical and nursing students need good knowledge of accurate measurement procedure for correct diagnosis of hypertension. Our study assessed the knowledge of blood pressure measurement procedure among medical and nursing students in Faculty of Medicine and Health Science of University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). This was a quantitative, cross-sectional study. Data were collected from total 242 students (171 medical and 71 nursing programmes) with a pre-tested questionnaire including patient’s position, application of instruments, and measurement technique and blood pressure reading. Of 16 items tested, correct answers for 9 items were less than 70%: proper patient’s position (66.9%), choice of the arm (59.1%), appropriate cuff size(51.2%), chest piece (bell or diaphragm) of stethoscope used for listening of Korotkoff sound(11.6%), estimated inflation cuff pressure(66.1%), recommended deflation rate(65.3%), preference of last digit of blood pressure reading(60.7 %), awareness of the auscultatory gap (31.0 %), and habit of palpatory method (27.7%). 51.7% of total students (n= 242) had good knowledge scores. There was no significantly different between the medical and nursing students’ mean knowledge scores (p value=0.099). Our study found that the students need subsequent learning and practices to improve their knowledge for accurate blood pressure resul

Remodeling in the Prefrontal Cortex of a Brain-related to Higher Executive Functions in Adolescence: Its effects on Behavior

Adolescence is a critical stage of the developmental trajectory, where a child’s transition to independent living may result in lead healthy or unhealthy styles. During this period, it is easier to mend an individual as a healthy adult; at the same time, misguided children may enter into risky behaviors. The aim of the study to get an insight into changing brains of adolescents and their behavioral outcomes. The current review search engine proceeds with reviewing the literature in the past through electronic databases such as PubMed, Medline, and Scopus databases using keywords such as adolescent stage, the brain of teenagers, risk behaviors, reduction in gray matter in the prefrontal cortex. The current study reviewed and analyzed 20 articles. The reviewed articles would increase the awareness and insights regarding brain changes and their behavioral outcomes. This insightful information’s drawn out of the study may help professionals and parents who intervene in the adolescent’s problem behaviors

Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus in Women with Abnormal Cervical Smears from Sarawak, Malaysia

Introduction Cervical cancer is common cancer and ranked in fourth place in both incidence and mortality worldwide. It is 3rd most common female cancer in Malaysia with a lifetime risk of 1 in 116. Infection with high-risk oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) is recognized as one of the substantial risk factors for the development of cervical cancers. Methods It was a cross-sectional study conducted to determine the prevalence of HPV infection and its subtypes among women with various degrees of abnormal smears, who were seen in the colposcopy clinic of Sarawak General Hospital within six months’ period from January to June 2018. We recruited 56 participants. There were 23 each for an atypical squamous cell of undetermined significance (ASC-US) and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) and 10 high- grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). DNA was extracted, and HPV genotypes were determined via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using two primer pairs MY09/MY11 and GP5+/GP6+. Results The age ranged from 23 to 56 years, with a mean age of 42.96 years. HPV was detected in 20 out of 56 (35.7%). There were 6 high-risk oncogenic HPVs (18, 51, 52, 56, 58, 68) detected in participants and the most prevalent subtypes were 18, 52, and 58 (20% each). Four low-risk HPVs detected were 6, 53, 70, and 84. There was a significant association between the severity of cervical lesions and HPV positivity (P < 0.004). HSIL had the highest positive predictive value to have HPV infection as 70% compared to 43.4% of LSIL and 9.3% of ASC-US. Conclusion Distribution of HPV subtypes from women with abnormal smears from Sarawak indicated a high prevalence of HPV 18, 52, and 58. We also identified HPV 70, which has never been reported in West Malaysia. These findings could contribute valuable information for HPV vaccination strategies, particularly for Sarawakian women

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