Estimating causes of community death of adults in Myanmar from a nationwide population sample: Application of verbal autopsy.

In Myanmar 84% of deaths occur in the community, of which half are unregistered and none have a reliable cause of death (COD) recorded. Since 2018, Myanmar has introduced improved registration practices and verbal autopsy (VA) to assess whether such methods can produce policy relevant information on community COD. Community health midwives and public health supervisors grade II collected VAs on over 80,000 deaths which occurred between January 2018 and December 2019 in a nationwide sample of 42 townships in Myanmar. Electronic methods were used to collect and consolidate data. The most probable COD was assigned using the SmartVA Analyze 2.0 computer algorithm. Completeness of VA death reporting increased to 71% in 2019. Most adult (12+ years) deaths (82%) were due to non-communicable diseases, primarily stroke, ischemic heart disease and chronic respiratory disease, for both men and women. VA results were consistent with Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study estimates, except for cirrhosis in men, which was more common, and had a younger age distribution of death than the GBD. Large scale implementation of improved death registration practices and COD diagnosis using VA is feasible and provides plausible, timely, disaggregated and policy relevant information on the leading causes of community death. Addressing the burden of non-communicable diseases, particularly cirrhosis in young men, is an important public health priority in Myanmar. Improving completeness of VA death reporting in poorly performing townships and in neonates, children and women will further improve the policy utility of the VA data.

Biochar characteristics produced from rice husks and their sorption properties for the acetanilide herbicide metolachlor.

Rice husk biochar (RHBC) was prepared for use as adsorbents for the herbicide metolachlor. The characteristics and sorption properties of metolachlor adsorbed by the RHBC prepared at different pyrolysis temperatures were determined by analysis of physico-chemical characteristics, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Boehm titration, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermodynamics and kinetics adsorption. With increasing pyrolysis temperature, the RHBC surface area greatly increased (from 2.57 to 53.08 m2 g-1). RHBC produced at the highest temperature (750 °C) had the greatest surface area; SEM also showed the formation of a porous surface on RH-750 biochar. The sorption capacity of RHBC also increased significantly with increasing pyrolysis temperature and was characterized by the Freundlich constant K f for the adsorption capacity increasing from 125.17-269.46 (pyrolysis at 300 °C) to 339.94-765.24 (pyrolysis at 750 °C). The results indicated that the surface area and pore diameter of RHBC produced with high pyrolysis temperature (i.e., 750 °C) had the greatest impact on the adsorption of metolachlor. The FTIR, Boehm titration, and SEM analysis showed that the greatest number of surface groups were on RHBC produced at the lowest temperature (300 °C). The biochars produced at different pyrolysis temperatures had different mechanisms of adsorbing metolachlor, which exhibited a transition from hydrogen bonds dominant at low pyrolytic temperature to pore-filling dominant at higher pyrolytic temperature.

Determination of amylopectin structure and physicochemical properties in rice endosperm starch of mutant lines derived from Malaysian rice cultivar MR219.

BACKGROUND: Characterization of starch properties and functionality can apply breeding program selection for desirable traits such as eating, cooking and processing qualities to meet consumer preference. Low amylose content is generally preferred in Malaysia because of cohesive, tender and glossy cooked rice. Rice high in short-chain amylopectin has a lower transition temperature of starch gelatinization. In the continuing search for improved starch quality in rice cultivars a study was carried out with new mutant lines MR219-4 and MR219-9, derived from MR219. RESULTS: MR219 and its mutant lines contain L-type amylopectin, being high in amylopectin of intermediate chain length with degree of polymerization 12-21. The apparent amylose content (AAC) in MR219-4 had lower AAC value (19.2%) compared to other lines. A strongly negative correlation was found between chain-length fraction of amylopectin and transition temperatures-onset temperature peak temperature, and conclusion temperature (0.992, 0.958, 0.950; P < 0.01)-with fraction b1 (fb1), respectively. CONCLUSION: The Malaysian lines studied contain L-type amylopectin and offer a better understanding of grain quality improvement in terms of starch properties and functionality. This information will be directly applicable to select for desirable traits in future breeding programs.