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Background: Reliable and accurate estimates of body composition are essential when studying the various health correlates of disease. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is an affordable and feasible body composition assessment technique for clinical and field settings. Total body water (TBW) and hence fat-free mass is estimated by predictive regression algorithms using anthropometric measurements plus the resistance index. Aim: The study aimed to develop a BIA prediction equation for TBW in children in Myanmar using the deuterium dilution technique as the reference method. Methods: The study design was cross-sectional in a school setting with convenience sampling of participants. One hundred and two healthy children (57 boys and 45 girls) with aged 4 and 8 years participated; randomly divided into the prediction group (29 boys and 22 girls) and cross-validation group (28 boys and 23 girls). Whole-body impedance, anthropometric and TBW (by D 2 O dilution) measurements. The prediction equation was cross-validated using a split-group design and compared to published equations for contemporaneous populations. Results: TBW could be predicted by the following equation. TBW = 0.4597 * Weight (kg) + 0.1564 * Impedance index + 0.6075 ( R 2  = 0.891, P  < 0.0001) with a correlation coefficient of 0.942 and limits of agreement of 0.98 kg TBW on cross-validation. Conclusions: This equation can be used to predict body composition in young (aged 4-8 years) children in Myanmar but because the age range of the participants in the present study was relatively narrow, more research in different age groups is required to establish its broader applicability., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Author Ward provides consultancy services to ImpediMed Ltd, manufacturer of impedance devices. ImpediMed had no input into the design, conduct or reporting of this study. All other authors have no conflicts to declare.

Myanmar indigenous chickens play important roles in food, entertainment, and farm business for the people of Myanmar. In this study, complete mitochondrial D-loop sequences (1232 bp) were analyzed using 176 chickens, including three indigenous breeds, two fighting cock populations, and three indigenous populations to elucidate genetic diversity and accomplish a phylogenetic analysis of Myanmar indigenous chickens. The average haplotype and nucleotide diversities were 0.948 ± 0.009 and 0.00814 ± 0.00024, respectively, exhibiting high genetic diversity of Myanmar indigenous chickens. Sixty-four haplotypes were classified as seven haplogroups, with the majority being haplogroup F. The breeds and populations except Inbinwa had multiple maternal haplogroups, suggesting that they experienced no recent purifying selection and bottleneck events. All breeds and populations examined shared haplogroup F. When 232 sequences belonging to haplogroup F (79 from Myanmar and 153 deposited sequences from other Asian countries/region) were analyzed together, the highest genetic diversity was observed in Myanmar indigenous chickens. Furthermore, Myanmar indigenous chickens and red junglefowls were observed in the center of the star-like median-joining network of 37 F-haplotypes, suggesting that Myanmar is one of the origins of haplogroup F. These findings revealed the unique genetic characteristic of Myanmar indigenous chickens as important genetic resources., (© 2021 Japanese Society of Animal Science.)

The genetic diversity of native chicken populations from Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos was examined by using 102 insertion and/or deletion (indels) markers. Most of the indels loci were polymorphic (71% to 96%), and the genetic variability was similar in all populations. The average observed heterozygosities (H O ) and expected heterozygosities (H E ) ranged from 0.205 to 0.263 and 0.239 to 0.381, respectively. The coefficients of genetic differentiation (Gst) for all cumulated populations was 0.125, and the Thai native chickens showed higher Gst (0.088) than Myanmar (0.041) and Laotian (0.024) populations. The pairwise Fst distances ranged from 0.144 to 0.308 among populations. A neighbor-joining (NJ) tree, using Nei's genetic distance, revealed that Thai and Laotian native chicken populations were genetically close, while Myanmar native chickens were distant from the others. The native chickens from these three countries were thought to be descended from three different origins (K = 3) from STRUCTURE analysis. Genetic admixture was observed in Thai and Laotian native chickens, while admixture was absent in Myanmar native chickens.

The efficiency of insertion and/or deletion (indels) polymorphisms as genetic markers was evaluated by genotyping 102 indels loci in native chicken populations from Myanmar and Indonesia as well as Red jungle fowls and Green jungle fowls from Java Island. Out of the 102 indel markers, 97 were polymorphic. The average observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.206 to 0.268 and 0.229 to 0.284 in native chicken populations and 0.003 to 0.101 and 0.012 to 0.078 in jungle fowl populations. The coefficients of genetic differentiation (Gst) of the native chicken populations from Myanmar and Indonesia were 0.041 and 0.098 respectively. The genetic variability is higher among native chicken populations than jungle fowl populations. The high Gst value was found between native chicken populations and jungle fowl populations. Neighbor-joining tree using genetic distance revealed that the native chickens from two countries were genetically close to each other and remote from Red and Green jungle fowls of Java Island.

Objectives: Reproductive tract actinomyces have been associated with the use of intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD). Thus, there is a need to evaluate the prevalence of colonization with Actinomyces israelii in a cohort of Singaporean women using an IUCD. Second, the occurrence of actinomycosis in colonized women and the clinical need to remove the IUCD and/or possibly the need to treat asymptomatic carriers with antibiotics were evaluated., Methods: The study population consisted of 1,108 IUCD users attending the Fertility Control Clinic, National University Hospital, Singapore., Results: In our study, the prevalence of actinomyces-positive cervical smears among IUCD users was 13.7%; the incidence of actinomyces-positive smears was similar with Copper T (34.2%), Multiload (32.9%) and Nova T (32.9%) IUCDs. We found no association with the duration of use of IUCD and actinomyces infection. In our study, 150 out of 152 (98.7%) IUCD users with actinomyces-positive smears were asymptomatic, and only 2 out of 152 (1.3%) who had actinomyces-positive cervical smears developed pelvic inflammatory disease at 6 months., Conclusions: Our study suggests that removal of the IUCD in asymptomatic women with actinomyces-positive cervical smear is not necessary. Moreover, we suggest that asymptomatic carriers of actinomyces do not require preemptive antibiotic treatment.