5 Kyat currency note in central London

I think it was in last July. I went to Tottenham court road where I normally buy books. I was surprised when I saw this 5 Kyat note with the Bogoke's head. Just sharing what I saw.

Corruption: Burma, Iraq, PNG and the UK

According to the news, Papua New Guinea will remain one of the most corrupt pacific countries. In east Asia, Burma and in middle east, Iraq are at the bottom of the list of most corrupted countries.

Malaysia’s score in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has not improved this year. The country’s ranking declined to 47 out of 180 countries in 2008, compared to 36 out of 91 countries in 2001 and 43 out of 179 countries in 2007. Source. Thailand has risen from 84th to 80th in the rankings. Source

The UK had dropped from a score of 8.4 out of 10 to 7.7 out of 10 in the last 12 months - the first time it has ever fallen below 8. That means the score put the UK joint 16th on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), alongside Ireland but one place above the USA. Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand were judged to have the lowest levels of corruption on a score of 9.3, followed by Singapore on 9.2 and Finland and Switzerland on 9.0. Somalia was bottom of the list with a score of 1.0, with Burma and Iraq on 1.3, Haiti on 1.4 and Afghanistan on 1.5. (Source).

Full result is here.

As far as I remember, in Burma (Myanmar), teachers corrupt. Students have to give bribes in the name of gift to pass exam or to secure a high mark. Doctors corrupt. Most give more medical attention on paid patients. Judges corrupt for less or heavier sentences. Income tax officers corrupt for less taxation. Immigration officers corrupt. I saw some Chinese with Myanmar passport in London. They never speak Burmese. Civil servants corrupt by saying their salary is quite low. Bribery is everywhere at hospital gates, at the check-points at border areas, On the streets when traffic police stopped the cars. At the offices.

At the same time, partiality is very common in employments, company permits, export and import permits and many thousands of partiality going on.

The worst thing is people in Burma are no longer aware that they have been corrupting. They think that it is a usual thing they are doing.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Lately, I watched Captain Corelli's Mandolin as 7th time in past 7 years. It is a 2001 film based on Italian and German invasion in the island of Kefalonia during the WW II. It is a kind of war, politics and romance.Really nice mixture, I think. Music is also good.

Platic Surgery

Well, today is the first day of Autumn 2008. Sunny in the morning and gloomy from afternoon. I am on holiday and watching TV, chatting on gtalk. A friend of mine shared this link. Apparently it is an interesting web page showing time with gymnastic animations.

When I checked its root, I found some youtube clips. One of them made me shocked. It is about plastic surgery i think.



According to the news, in England, New Castle is the most popular for plastic and reconstructive surgery. But South Africa is an oversea destination for this purpose while the service in Iran is good and cheap, attracting UK customers.I heard that South Koreans easily go this surgery, such as eye lid, earlobe and nose corrections.

One well-known glamorous model benefiting from cosmetic surgery is Katie Price (Jordan)

A trip to Bath

View Larger Map


Today I went to the city of Bath which is famous for nearly 2000 year-old Roman Baths complex . My navigator showed it's 120 miles away from my London place. Some photos here.

Historically, 20 centuries ago , England was a part of Roman empire. Romans built a bathing complex where natural hot spring was available. After many centuries, it was discovered and today it is a tourist attraction place. Here is more info about Roman Baths

By the way, today is the last day of summer 2008 in England.

Some facts about Uni education in Britian

Some facts about Uni education in Britain (2008)

Nowadays, more and more Burmese students are coming to Britain to gain university education. We can see them in London, Oxford, Northampton,Southampton, Sunderland, Surrey and so on. It is great to see them. On this post, I am going to share my knowledge how and what about attending Uni in Britain as my junior relatives have been on that system. First of all is Tuition fee.

Tuition fee :

Let me share you about this. Tuition fees for 'Home' and EU students enrolling on an undergraduate BA or BSc programme in 2008 is £3,145 per Annam in the most of the universities.

Home rate is for home students and those with "Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK" status (Permanent residency).Basically, over-sea rate is roughly 3 times as much as home rate. When I searched it for more details, I found out on University of East London as follows. Fees vary slightly from one Uni to another. But not too much different.

Most undergraduate programmes are £9000 per year for the academic year 2008-2009 *

Exceptions:

* Architecture £11,040 per year

* Computing Based Programmes: £9,240

* Podiatric Medicine £12,500

* Physiotherapy £12,500

Tuition fees in 2008-2009* for postgraduate taught programmes vary by academic
school:

* MBA £12,210

* Other business-related programmes range from £9,900 – £11,130

* MSc Computing/Engineering Programmes £9900

* Law programmes £9,900

* Health and Bioscience programmes £9,900

* Architecture and Visual Arts programmes range from £9900-£11,130

* Psychology programmes from £11,130 to £14,220

* Education Programmes £9,600 to £9,900

* Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies £9900

Ranking:

According to timesonline,

Oxford and Cambridge universities are top ones and Thames valley is at the bottom of 99. Also available on Guardian Education. Apparently university ranking is important for your future job although there are many more influencing factors to become a high earner.

Check here for full ranking :

Interestingly, Many Burmese's London Metropoitan University is not included in the top 99 list. This does not necessarily mean it is in a low rank although its requirement for assignment, essays, dissertations is less than other London universities, such as UEL. See this message from the Times Online. Swansea Metropolitan (the other new university created since last year),
Liverpool Hope and London Metropolitan are not in the tables because they instructed the Higher Education Statistics Agency not to release their data.

What will happen after graduation:

Plan A.

As you have spent colossal amount of money for study, you need to take it back by working. At the same time, government encourages British trained people to work and serve in Britain. Now, former HSMP (High Skill Migrant Programme) has been shut down a couple of months ago. New system is Tier 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Tier 1 is basically equivalent to HSMP. In Tier 1, there are a few categories, one of which is Post-study work. The recent university graduate can apply it. It is simple and straight forward if applicant's evidence and documents are simple and straight
forward. What happens among Burmese students is in first a couple of months after arrival, the majority suffers home sick. After 1 year, more comfortable and start to enjoy British life style. After 3 years, they don't want to go back. :)

Plan B

Some move to South East Asian nations. Even though, pay is low there, the quality of life and social well-being is better for Burmese, many have claimed.

Plan C

A few people go back to Burma and run own business.

To conclude, more Burmese students welcome :)

Sainsbury's dental service

It is a good news. Sainsbury is going to give a dental service in its branches. People in Britain has been facing a shortage of NHS dentists. Last time in the news, there was a long queue of people since mid night as they were offered a free service. Nowadays, many people have to go DIY because private dental clinics are expensive and NHS dental service is not available easily.

Sainsbury's say that the private dentist clinic in its Sale branch is the first in a supermarket in the UK.

It will be open seven days a week and follows the opening of a GP surgery at a Sainsbury's supermarket at Heaton Park, Manchester, in March.

The private surgery will go head to head with the NHS, charging £16 for a check up, which is slightly less than NHS fees.

more on
......

Aung San Oo is a useless bastard?

It was in 1988. Many people in Burma were expecting Aung San Oo to come back and take a lead. But it never happened. For me, it is understandable that people may be struggling for their survival, prioritizing personal or financial matters. But now, it is over 20 years on. He is still silent while Burma has been passing through several man-made disasters and natural disasters. What he has done are building a luxury mansion house in historic area of Bagan and trying to own her late mother’s lakeside property in Yangon.

Many Burmese wonder why he did not pay attention to own people. Being a naturalized American is not an enough reason. Is he a workaholic? Is he an alcoholic? Is he a schizophrenic? Was he in jail when the country needed him? Is he a womaniser? or has he been chasing young boys?

Those questions came to our mind. Because many believe that Aung San Oo has been ethically doing wrong. His father, General Aung San, was a national leader, whose performance in such a short time was fantastic, while fathering unpopular Aung San Oo and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. But now Aung San Oo has been where?

According to the Burmese tradition, the eldest son ,like Aung San Oo, has a moral duty to complete what his assassinated father wanted. He should support Burmese people who are in the hell these days. He just neglects.

There is an English proverb. Like father, like son. In Aung San Oo's case, Father national hero, Son the useless.

But, as a doctor, whenever I see people, I have got a habit of checking from the medical point of view, from their pattern of walking, their appearance to the way of their thought and believe. Everybody has their own reason why they do or do not. You can’t blame easily. Some people may have some sort of phobias. Some people have fear of open space. This condition is called Agoraphobia. Other examples of phobic conditions are:

-Entomophobia-Fear of Insect (common among young girls)
-Spectrophobia- Fear of specters or ghosts. (common among Buddhism)
-Xenoglossophobia- Fear of foreign languages. (a proportion of Myanmar bloggers, they keep posting only in Burmese, claiming that they love Burmese language, Burmese culture)
-Xenophobia- Fear of strangers or foreigners (the majority of officials in Burma)
-Ochlophobia- Fear of crowds or mobs. (In Burma, gathering of people not allowed)

Do you think Aung San Oo has a kind of phobia?
Tell me he has what kind of phobia?

Once Burmese, always Burmese. But

Lately, a friend of mine has tried to claim that I have been away from Burmese things despite the fact that I was born in Burma. Yes, it is true that I was born in Dufferin Hospital, now called Yangon Central Women's Hospital.

I moved to England for some but strong reasons. Basically I like Burma and Burmese people. But there is a proportion of Burmese culture and tradition I can not accept or tolerate. I can not follow unfortunately. I am not happy with some traditions and cultures. The easiest example is too much discrimination against age, sex and social class in Burmese society. Moreover, many people believe that if they donate the best foods and materials to Buddha monks, they would get back similar things in the future while neglecting the starving dogs waiting outside the monastery. So-called holy people might feed dogs only when some rice and bones are left after their meal. I must say today's Buddhism in Burma is not so practical in many ways even though Buddha's philosophy is awesome. I think it happens when people mess up their ego with religion.

Now I have been in Great British. You may ask if I do like western culture. Generally I would say yes. It is more convenient for me. More practical. Less discrimination. But I must say it is not so perfect either. But so far, I am happy with it. OK, on the day, I can not able to tolerate, I might move to another place. Easy and straight forward. Other British people have been living across the world for many reasons. Why not me? In whatever natural disaster or bomb blast happened anywhere, British casualty involved. That means British people are in all places logically.

To be honest, I like to see Burmese . A few days ago, Myanmar bloggers did gathering in Singapore. They also prayed from detainee Nay Phone Latt who is a Buremse blogger. It was nice when I checked the photos. Apparently, people, including me, like party, gathering and celebrations. It is amazing to see loads of Burmese young chaps abroad.

Obviously, nowadays, more and more Burmese people are moving out of their own country. What does that mean? Is that a sort of Brain drain? No, it is just an out-dated philosophy. Now we are in Internet era. We connect. Wherever the brain is, we can use it through networks. That is what I believe. Do you think the brain of newly graduated doctor from Burma is ready to treat patient effectively. That kinds of brains need upgrade at somewhere.

Good to see many Burmese across the world, from New Zealand, Singapore to Norway, Jamaica and Canada. In fact, Burmese migration is late. Other people have already built their strong society for many years or decades. Anyway, I am an optimistic despite today's political and economcail situation in Bumra. I like more Burmese moving out of country. I like this situation. Who made it? Have U Than Shwe and his generals been pushing many youngsters to go abroad ? or Has Daw Aung San Suu Kyi been sacrificing to create this situation. Or Is that the consequence of what Burma has been a victim while USA, Russia and China playing power and opportunist Asean countries taking advantages from Burma?

To conclude, once Burmese, always Burmese, but

Glucagon like peptide is far away from Glucagon

I am just sharing basic science after thinking about some rubbish social posts :)

Glucagon and Glucagon-like peptide are quite different in their origins and actions despite name whch could come from the ground of structural similarity. Anyway ,more or less they are opposite. 

Glucagon

*an important hormone involved in carbohydrate metabolism. 
*Produced by the pancreas
*released when the glucose level in the blood is low (hypoglycemia), causing the liver to convert stored glycogen into glucose and release it into the bloodstream. 
*The action of glucagon is thus opposite to that of insulin, which instructs the body's cells to take in glucose from the blood in times of satiation.

Regulatory mechanism

Increased secretion of glucagon is caused by:

* Decreased plasma glucose
* Increased catecholamines - norepinephrine and epinephrine
* Increased plasma amino acids (to protect from hypoglycemia if an all protein meal is consumed)
* Sympathetic nervous system
* Acetylcholine
* Cholecystokinin

Decreased secretion of glucagon (inhibition) is caused by:

* Somatostatin
* Insulin

Function

Glucagon helps maintain the level of glucose in the blood by binding to glucagon receptors on hepatocytes, causing the liver to release glucose - stored in the form of glycogen - through a process known as glycogenolysis. As these stores become depleted, glucagon then encourages the liver to synthesize additional glucose by gluconeogenesis. This glucose is released into the bloodstream. Both of these mechanisms lead to glucose release by the liver, preventing the development of hypoglycemia. Glucagon also regulates the rate of glucose production through lipolysis.

Glucagon production appears to be dependent on the central nervous system through pathways which are yet to be defined. It has been reported that in invertebrate animals eyestalk removal can affect glucagon production. Excising the eyestalk in young crayfish produces glucagon-induced hyperglycemia.

* Increased free fatty acids and ketoacids into the blood
* Increased urea production

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is derived from the transcription product of the proglucagon gene. The major source of GLP-1 in the body is the intestinal L cell that secretes GLP-1 as a gut hormone. The biologically active forms of GLP-1 are: GLP-1-(7-37)and GLP-1-(7-36)NH2.

GLP-1 secretion by L cells is dependent on the presence of nutrients in the lumen of the small intestine. The secretagogues (agents that cause or stimulate secretion) of this hormone include major nutrients like carbohydrate, protein and lipid. Once in the circulation, GLP-1 has a half life of less than 2 minutes, due to rapid degradation by the enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase-4.

GLP-1 possesses several physiological properties that make it a subject of intensive investigation as a potential treatment of diabetes mellitus.

The known physiological functions of GLP-1 include:

* increases insulin secretion from the pancreas in a glucose-dependent manner.
* decreases glucagon secretion from the pancreas.
* increases beta cells mass and insulin gene expression.
* inhibits acid secretion and gastric emptying in the stomach.
* decreases food intake by increasing satiety.

Currently the synthetic GLP-1 analogue, Exenatide is licensed for combination therapy in the management of type 2 diabetes.

Source: