OBJECTIVEMyanmar has a long history of using medicinal plants for treatment of various diseases. To the best of our knowledge there are no previous reports on antiglycation activities of medicinal plants from Myanmar. Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate the antioxidant, antiglycation and antimicrobial properties of 20 ethanolic extracts from 17 medicinal plants indigenous to Myanmar.

METHODSIn vitro scavenging assays of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), nitric oxide (NO), superoxide (SO) radicals were used to determine the antioxidant activities. Folin-Ciocalteu's method was performed to determine the total phenolic content. Antiglycation and antimicrobial activities were detected by bovine serum albumin-fluorescent assay and agar well diffusion method.

RESULTSTerminalia chebula Retz. (Fruit), containing the highest total phenolic content, showed high antioxidant activities with inhibition of 77.98% ± 0.92%, 88.95% ± 2.42%, 88.56% ± 1.87% and 70.74%± 2.57% for DPPH, NO, SO assays and antiglycation activity respectively. It also showed the antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans with inhibition zone of 19, 18, 17, 25 and 15 mm, respectively. Garcinia mangostana Linn. showed the strongest activities for SO and antiglycation assays with inhibition of 93.68% ± 2.63% and 82.37% ± 1.78%. Bark of Melia sp. was the best NO radical scavenger with inhibition rate of 89.39%± 0.60%.

CONCLUSIONThe results suggest that these plants are potential sources of antioxidants with free radical-scavenging and antiglycation activities and could be useful for decreasing the oxidative stress and glycation end-product formation in glycation-related diseases.

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; analysis ; pharmacology ; Anti-Infective Agents ; analysis ; pharmacology ; Antioxidants ; analysis ; pharmacology ; Bacteria ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Biphenyl Compounds ; metabolism ; Candida albicans ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Fruit ; Garcinia ; chemistry ; Glycation End Products, Advanced ; metabolism ; Humans ; Magnoliopsida ; chemistry ; Medicine, Traditional ; Melia ; chemistry ; Myanmar ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Phenols ; analysis ; pharmacology ; Phytotherapy ; Picrates ; metabolism ; Plant Bark ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Plants, Medicinal ; Superoxides ; Terminalia ; chemistry

There has been significant magnitude of problems of diabetes in Myanmar, according to the estimates of International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the recent National Survey on the prevalence of diabetes. There has been a wide gap of equity between the urban and rural healthcare delivery for diabetes. Myanmar Diabetes Care Model (MMDCM) aims to deliver equitable diabetes care throughout the country, to stem the tide of rising burden of diabetes and also to facilitate to achieve the targets of the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs (2013-2020). It is aimed to deliver standard of care for diabetes through the health system strengthening at all level. MMDCM was developed based on the available health system, resources and the country's need. Implementation for the model was also discussed.

Objective: To understand the pattern and burden of neurological disorders at Department of Neurology, Yangon General Hospital (YGH), Myanmar. Method: All patients admitted to Department of Neurology had been prospectively registered and then analyses were performed on one year data from 1st January to 31st December 2019. Results: Among study population of total 17606 cases, 65.5% attended to neurology out-patient clinics, 20.1% were seen as referral cases and 14.4% were inpatients at neurology ward. When analyzed the inpatients, 58% were male. Mean age was 47.2 ±19.1 years and 41-65 year age group was most commonly affected. The most common inpatient neurological diseases were cerebrovascular diseases (CVD)(40.8%), central nervous system (CNS) infections (15.2%) and peripheral nerve lesions (9.4%). Autoimmune diseases and headache disorders were more common in women. Mortality rate in inpatients was 4.6%, among which stroke occupied for 55.1% and CNS infection was 23.7%. Three most common neurological diseases in out-patient clinic were seizure disorders (21.9%), CVD (20.7%) and headache disorders (11.2%). Among the referral cases, 43.7% were CVD, 17.8% were CNS infections and 11% had seizures disorders. The most referred patients (93.3%) came from general medical wards. Conclusions: Entire range of neurological disorders was present in YGH. CVD and CNS infections were the most common cause of incidence as well as the mortality. Knowing the burden can raise the awareness about it and point out the prioritizing provision of essential health services. As similar in controlling the communicable diseases, the importance of health education, preventive measures on non-communicable disorders should be considered as national concern.