This research contrasts quantitative mortality rates and intermediating contributory factors experienced by snakebite victims in Myanmar versus Thailand. Afterward, using a qualitative narrative approach, the author explores decolonial leadership and management challenges unique to the Myanmar context in the current decade. Findings underscore the impact of weakened post-colonial infrastructure, outdated management strategies, and embryonic public health leadership proficiencies in Myanmar—as opposed to deficits in understanding epidemiology, pharmacology, or biostatistics, with which Myanmar is relatively robust. Finally, the research unpacks the origins of the most acute causal factors of snakebite mortality in Myanmar and offers policy recommendations to support decolonising leadership, training, and national development in pursuit of mitigating the unnecessarily high snakebite mortality rate in Myanmar.

Throughout the years, it was widely believed that strength training involving that knee that exceeded angles of 90 degrees increased pain and injury risk in the knee. More recently, studies are finding that training through a full range of motion may be beneficial for the knee and can reduce pain. This causes debate on whether one style of training may be better than the other in terms of reducing knee pain. The purpose of this study was to try to find if one style of strength training was better than the other at reducing knee pain. If strength training reduces knee pain, then strength training through a greater range of motion may reduce knee pain more effectively. Two programs were created using similar exercise structures that incorporated the two different styles of training. Two participants with similar knee pain and profiles were placed on each program and data was collected at the end of each week. At the end of the study period, the participant on the full range of motion program saw his pain levels decrease 50% from the initial data point while the participant on the 90-degree program saw a 20% decrease in pain. (Bar graph 1) These results support the claim that training through a full range of motion may be more effective at reducing knee pain than stopping at 90 degrees. This may suggest that in the future, more full range exercises may be used in physical therapy sessions to reduce knee pain.

Corneal ulcers are among the major causes of corneal blindness. The cause of corneal ulceration is a variety of infections. The key to improving clinical and visual results in cases of corneal ulcers is an accurate, speedy diagnosis and rapid treatment. However, there are no established standards or guidelines for treating corneal ulcers. Even seasoned eye care professionals occasionally have trouble predicting how the disease will progress in most patients. This article makes an effort to offer a general overview of the diagnosis process and treatment plan for a corneal ulcer.

In the last decade, additive manufacturing techniques, commonly known under the term "3d printing" have seen constantly increasing use in various scientific fields. The nature of these fabrication techniques that operate under a layer-by-layer material deposition principle features several de facto advantages, compared to traditional manufacturing techniques. These advantages range from the precise attribution of pre-designed complex shapes to the use of a variety of materials as raw materials in the process. However, its major strong point is the ability to fabricate custom shapes with interconnected lattices, and porous interiors that traditional manufacturing techniques cannot properly attribute. This potential is being largely exploited in the biomedical field in sectors like bio-printing, where such structures are being used for direct implantation into the human body. To meet the strict requirements that such procedures dictate, the fabricated items need to be made out of biomaterials exhibiting properties like biocompatibility, bioresorbability, biodegradability, and appropriate mechanical properties. This review aims not only to list the most important biomaterials used in these techniques but also to bring up their pros and cons in meeting the aforementioned characteristics that are vital in their use.

Approximately 69 million people worldwide are annually affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI). In Malaysia, the traumatic injury was the leading cause of hospital admission and death, accounting for one in three emergency visits. Among the most recognised complication of TBI is post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE), which is an essential contributor to morbidity and mortality. However, there is a lack of local epidemiological data on PTE in Malaysia. This study aims to describe the incidence and predictors of PTE among TBI patients admitted to a tertiary healthcare centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We hypothesised that increases in age, race, and severity of brain injury are among the main potential predictors of PTE. It will also provide evidence that patients with epilepsy following TBI are associated with significant impairment in cognitive performance than TBI patients without epilepsy. An analysis of a two years retrospective cohort will be employed, of which adults with a history of admission for TBI in 2019 and 2020 will be contacted, and the development of epilepsy will be ascertained using a validated tool and confirmed by our neurologists during visits. The patients will then be grouped into two, with PTE and without PTE, and assessed their cognitive performance by clinical psychologists. Given that the management of TBI and PTE patients involves a multidisciplinary team, the findings might be significant to many healthcare providers in determining policy and strategise a better treatment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought substantial attention to the systems used to communicate biomedical research. In particular, the need to rapidly and credibly communicate research findings has led many stakeholders to encourage researchers to adopt open science practices such as posting preprints and sharing data. To examine the degree to which this has led to the adoption of such practices, we examined the “openness” of a sample of 539 published papers describing the results of randomized controlled trials testing interventions to prevent or treat COVID-19. The majority (56%) of the papers in this sample were free to read at the time of our investigation and 23.56% were preceded by preprints. However, there is no guarantee that the papers without an open license will be available without a subscription in the future, and only 49.61% of the preprints we identified were linked to the subsequent peer-reviewed version. Of the 331 papers in our sample with statements identifying if (and how) related datasets were available, only a paucity indicated that data was available in a repository that facilitates rapid verification and reuse. Our results demonstrate that, while progress has been made, there is still a significant mismatch between aspiration and the practice of open science in an important area of the COVID-19 literature.