Chiang Mai (chiang + mai)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Low prevalence of insulin resistance among HIV-infected children receiving nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based highly active antiretroviral therapy in Thailand

HIV MEDICINE, Issue 2 2009
B Lee
Background Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is reported to cause insulin resistance among adults, but effects on children are less clear. We attempted to describe the prevalence of insulin resistance among HIV-infected children receiving HAART. Methods Insulin resistance was assessed at 96 weeks of treatment with nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based HAART (nevirapine or efavirenz with stavudine and lamivudine) among children in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Insulin resistance was defined as homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) ,3.16, fasting c-peptide ,4.40 ng/mL or fasting insulin ,25.0 ,U/mL. Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) was defined as glucose ,110 mg/dL. Measurements were analysed for associations with age, lipodystrophy, treatment regimen and clinical data. Results The prevalence of insulin resistance was 6.5%; no child had IFG. Those with insulin resistance were older with higher body mass index. Children ,10 years had higher HOMA-IR, c-peptide and insulin, but no difference was seen in the frequency of insulin resistance. No associations between insulin resistance and lipodystrophy or treatment regimen were detected. Conclusions Insulin resistance is uncommon among children receiving NNRTI-based HAART and is unrelated to lipodystrophy. [source]


Morphometric and genetic variation of small dwarf honeybees Apis andreniformis Smith, 1858 in Thailand

INSECT SCIENCE, Issue 6 2007
ATSALEK RATTANAWANNEE
Abstract The small dwarf honey bee, Apis andreniformis, is a rare and patchily distributed Apis spp. and is one of the native Thai honey bees, yet little is known about its biodiversity. Thirty (27 Thai and 3 Malaysian) and 37 (32 Thai and 5 Malaysian) colonies of A. andreniformis were sampled for morphometric and genetic analysis, respectively. For morphometric analysis, 20 informative characters were used to determine the variation. After plotting the factor scores, A. andreniformis from across Thailand were found to belong to one group, a notion further supported by a cluster analysis generated dendrogram. However, clinal patterns in groups of bee morphometric characters were revealed by linear regression analysis. The body size of bees increases from South to North but decreases from West to East, although this may reflect altitude rather than longitude. Genetic variation was determined by sequence analysis of a 520 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit b (cytb). DNA polymorphism among bees from the mainland of Thailand is lower than that from Phuket Island and Chiang Mai. Although two main different groups of bees were obtained from phylogenetic trees constructed by neighbor-joining and unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages programs, no clear geographic signal was present. Thus, while the minor group (B) contained all of the samples from the only island sampled (Phuket in the south), but not the southern mainland colonies, it also contained samples from the far northern inland region of Chiang Mai, other samples of which were firmly rooted in the major group (A). [source]


An investigation of solar erythemal ultraviolet radiation in the tropics: a case study at four stations in Thailand

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 12 2010
Serm Janjai
Abstract Our study examines a 5-year data set of erythemal ultraviolet radiation (EUV) collected at four locations in Thailand: Chiang Mai (18.78°N, 98.98°E), Ubon Ratchathani (15.25°N, 104.87°E), Nakhon Pathom (13.82°N, 100.04°E) and Songkhla (7.20°N, 100.60°E). Seasonal changes are strongly influenced by the wet and dry season in this tropical environment, with maximum daily and noontime irradiances being reached in April or May, prior to the onset of the wet season. Transmission by aerosols, estimated by comparison of cloudless measured irradiance with a cloudless sky model, ranges from 51% at Chiang Mai to 83% at Songkhla during the dry season. By contrast, higher transmissions characterise the wet season when values around 90% are reached. Cloud cover further depletes the EUV irradiance and wet season transmissions range from 68% at Chiang Mai to 79% at Songkhla. Three of the four stations record increases in EUV irradiance over the study period. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


Supply-side perspectives on ecotourism in Northern Thailand

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 5 2010
Nick Kontogeorgopoulos
Abstract This study provides a supply-side perspective on ecotourism by exploring the ways in which travel agents and tour operators in Chiang Mai, Thailand conceptualise, prioritise and furnish ecotourism. Although travel agents and tour operators serve as crucial intermediaries between tourists and destinations, the ecotourism literature has largely ignored the ways in which retailers and suppliers of tourism experience approach and define ecotourism. Using quantitative data gathered from 300 travel agents and tour operators, this paper illustrates that the conceptualisation of ecotourism among agents and operators in Chiang Mai is expansive, flexible and, in some ways, internally contradictory. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Molecular characterization of VP4, VP6, VP7, NSP4, and NSP5/6 genes identifies an unusual G3P[10] human rotavirus strain

JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY, Issue 1 2009
Pattara Khamrin
Abstract An unusual strain of human rotavirus G3P[10] (CMH079/05) was detected in a stool sample of a 2-year-old child admitted to the hospital with severe diarrhea in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Analysis of the VP7 gene sequence revealed highest identities with unusual human rotavirus G3 strain CMH222 at 98.7% on the nucleotide and 99.6% on the amino acid levels. Phylogenetic analysis of the VP7 sequence confirmed that the CMH079/05 strain formed a cluster with G3 rotavirus reference strains and showed the closest lineage with the CMH222 strain. Analysis of partial VP4 gene of CMH079/05 revealed highest degree of sequence identities with P[10] rotavirus prototype strain 69M at nucleotide and amino acid levels of 92.9% and 94.6%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of the VP4 sequence revealed that CMH079/05 and 69M clustered closely together in a monophyletic branch separated from other rotavirus genotypes. To our knowledge, this is a novel G,P combination of G3 and P[10] genotypes. In addition, analyses of VP6, NSP4, and NSP5/6 genes revealed these uncommon genetic characteristics: (i) the VP6 gene differed from the four other known subgroups; (ii) the NSP4 gene was identified as NSP4 genetic group C, an uncommon group in humans; and (iii) the NSP5/6 gene was most closely related with T152, a G12P[9] rotavirus previously isolated in Thailand. The finding of uncommon G3P[10] rotavirus in this pediatric patient provided additional evidence of the genetic diversity of human group A rotaviruses in Chiang Mai, Thailand. J. Med. Virol. 81:176,182, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Another country is the past: Western cowboys, Lanna nostalgia, and bluegrass aesthetics as performed by professional musicians in Northern Thailand

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 2 2010
JANE M. FERGUSON
ABSTRACT Within the popular music scene of Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, a handful of restaurants feature live bluegrass bands, with musicians often dressed in U.S. western-style cowboy attire. By intermingling English-language songs with Lanna (Northern Thai) popular songs performed in the style of Appalachian bluegrass music, they use their illusion of the cowboy myth to point to notions of an authentic Lanna past. However, in their borrowing of this international code, they affirm established (Central) Thai boundaries of ethnonational gatekeeping. [Lanna, Thailand, cowboys, music, nostalgia, bluegrass, identity] [source]


Proteomics viewed on stress response of thermophilic bacterium Bacillus stearothermophilus,TLS33

PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 14 2005
Supachai Topanurak
Abstract Thermophilic bacterium Bacillus stearothermophilus,TLS33, isolated from a hot spring in Chiang Mai, Thailand, usually produces many enzymes that are very useful for industrial applications. However, the functional properties and mechanisms of this bacterium under stress conditions are rarely reported and still need more understanding on how the bacterium can survive in stress environments. In this study, we examined the oxidative stress induced proteins of this bacterium by proteomic approach combining two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. When the bacterium encountered oxidative stress, peroxiredoxin, as an antioxidant enzyme, is one of the interesting stressed proteins which appeared to be systematically increased with different pI. There are four isoforms of peroxiredoxin, denoted as Prx,I, Prx,II, Prx,III and Prx,IV, which are observed at the same molecular weight of 27,kDa but differ in pI values of 5.0, 4.87, 4.81 and 4.79, respectively. The H2O2 concentration directly increased Prx,II, Prx,III and Prx,IV intensities, but decreased Prx,I intensity. These shifting of peroxiredoxin isoforms may occur by a post-translational modification. Otherwise, the longer time of oxidative stress had not affected the expression level of peroxiredoxin isoforms. Therefore, this finding of peroxiredoxin intends to know the bacterial adaptation under oxidative stress. Otherwise, this protein plays an important role in many physiological processes and able to use in the industrial applications. [source]


Annual sex hormonal profiles, gonad development and age determination of the Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas, Chevey)

AQUACULTURE RESEARCH, Issue 15 2003
A Manosroi
Abstract Annual sex hormonal profiles, gonad development and age determination of 18 (13,14 kg body weight) and three (145,226 kg body weight) Mekong giant catfish (MGC) (Pangasianodon gigas, Chevey) reared in earthen ponds in Chiang Mai and from the Mekong River in Chiang Rai, Thailand, respectively, were investigated. The hormonal profiles were determined from blood samples of the fish by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay during May to August in 2000. The highest testosterone levels of 0.06 ng mL,1 in both sexes and the highest oestradiol of 47.8 and 14.23 pg mL,1 in females and males, respectively, were observed in May. The gonadosomatic index was found to be 0.07 for males and 0.38 for females from ponds in comparison with 2.27 for males and 8.29 for females from the Mekong River. Higher development stages of spermatocytes and oocytes of the cultured fish in May than in February and November were demonstrated. No mature germ cells were obtained from either the males or females, indicating no sexual maturity. The average age of fish was determined from the annual rings of the cross-section of the pectoral fins by a stereomicroscope. The average age of fish in earthen pond determined from the annual ring was 8 years, which agreed with the actual culture records, while those from the Mekong River were 21 years. This information will be beneficial for the breeding programmes and conservation of the MGC. [source]