The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand (IJRST) is a peer-reviewed journal and all rights reserved.

IJRST publishes original articles of all academic disciplines (e.g. science, law, history, arts, music) including

• Research articles
• Brief reports/communication
• Review articles
• Book reviews
• Perspective commentaries
• Letters to the editor
• Other related academic articles

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1. Maynard Leigh Associates, Rivington Street, London, UK
2. Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit and Department of Tropical Hygiene, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

Correspondence to Wirichada Pan-ngum (PhD),
Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 420/6 Rajvithi Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand. Email: wirichada.pan@mahidol.ac.th; pan@tropmedres.ac

Abstract

In the fast-changing world of today we need to lead under many uncertainties. What skills and approach will a young generation of leaders need in order to make a difference to an organization and to the people within it? This challenging question was the starting place for developing a 2-year Leadership Development and Personal Effectiveness programme at two collaborations between Oxford University and medical research units at Mahidol University, Thailand (MORU) and Ho Chi Minh City’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Vietnam (OUCRU). The Make a Difference programme aims to support an upcoming generation of leaders. Many scientists and others have found themselves taking increasing responsibility in their jobs and before they know it, they are supervising and managing people and doing what is required to get things done. This 2-year training and coaching programme seeks to identify and promote critical capabilities for emerging leaders who wish to create positive change. This article details the philosophy and content of leadership development that places self-knowledge, skilled communication, emotional intelligence and relationship building at the heart of leadership and asks questions regarding the transferability of typically western leadership approaches in an South East Asian context.

Keywords: Leadership, Coaching, Cultural, Academia, Emotional intelligence

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Department of Foreign Languages, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand

Correspondence to Namthip Anantsupamongkol (MA in TESOL),
Department of Foreign Languages, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand. Email: nthanikkul@gmail.com

Abstract

Literacy education plays a vital role in preparing students for their future career. One of the current challenges that teachers face is concerned with the evolution of technology and the media created with it. New technologies have dramatically changed the way people communicate. This has a vast impact on the definition of literacy in terms of what it means to be literate. Consequently, there comes a demand for students to have different skills to operate successfully in the digital era as text-based instruction is no longer considered a uniform standard for an education. This paper, thus, discusses how the pedagogy of multiliteracies informs the teaching of English reading in this digital era.

Keywords: English reading, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading, graphic organizer, multiliteracies

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1. Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine,
   Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
2. Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine,
   University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
3. Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
4. The Royal Society of Thailand, Dusit, Bangkok, Thailand

Correspondence to Weerapong Phumratanaprapin (MD),
Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 420/6 Rajvithi Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand. Email: weerapong.phu@mahidol.ac.th

Abstract

Newspapers have a responsibility to report the truth to their readers, and the trustworthiness of the print media remains crucial in our age of decentralized, social media and online commentary. Honest reporting of the evidence and the uncertainties around health claims are especially important as there may be serious consequences if incorrect information is disseminated. Letters to the Editor can fall into a grey area where the responsibility for statements are unclear.

Recently there have been examples of misleading claims printed in letters appearing in many local and English language newspapers in many countries. One letter to a newspaper in Thailand made incorrect statements about vaccine safety which, if believed, could potentially discourage infant vaccination and thereby place children at risk of preventable infectious diseases. Another letter contradicted Thailand’s national policy for malaria treatment with artemisinin combination therapies and advocated instead the use of unlicensed, unproven herbal remedies, which if followed could result in the mismanagement of a potentially fatal disease. Both articles risked causing harm and should not have been printed without qualification.

Improved editorial guidelines may help avoid such oversights in future. Such guidelines might include additional steps prior to publication to verify and fact-check health claims, the adoption of a risk-based approach before deciding whether the public interest is best served by publication, and consultation with relevant medical experts. The public deserve to read a range of opinions from readers, including on health matters, but there is an editorial responsibility to ensure in as far as is reasonable, that such claims are evidence-based, appropriately referenced, and accountable.

Keywords: Ethics, evidence-based medicine, malaria, media, Thailand, vaccination

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Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand

Correspondence to Chatchawan Srisawat (MD, PhD),
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand. Email: chatchawan.sri@mahidol.ac.th

Abstract

The porphyrias are a group of disorders caused by defective enzymes in the heme biosynthetic pathway; there are 7 main types of porphyrias, presenting with various clinical symptoms ranging from dermatological to neurological manifestations. Because the diseases are quite rare, many patients are often misdiagnosed clinically. Therefore, the laboratory investigations are necessary for accurate diagnosis. In this study, the porphyria cases confirmed by our laboratory at Siriraj Hospital are reported. Urine and blood samples from the patients with clinical suspicions of porphyrias from Siriraj Hospital and other hospitals in Thailand during 2000 to 2019 were sent to the service laboratory at the Department of Biochemistry, Siriraj Hospital, for porphyria investigations. Porphyrins in random urine specimens were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques, while delta-aminolevulinic acid and porphobilinogen were determined using spectrophotometric assays; the values were then normalized against urine creatinine. Plasma and erythrocyte specimens were analyzed for the presence of porphyrins using the fluorescence spectroscopic method. Nineteen patients were confirmed by the laboratory to have porphyrias as follows; porphyria cutanea tarda (13 cases), variegate porphyria (3 cases), acute intermittent porphyria, congenital erythropoietic porphyria, and erythropoietic protoporphyria (1 case each). Although porphyrias are rather uncommon, 5 types of porphyrias were identified at Siriraj Hospital, with porphyria cutanea tarda as the most common type. Awareness of porphyrias and appropriate laboratory investigations can lead to accurate diagnosis and effective management of those disorders.

Keywords: Porphyria, Porphyrin, Delta-aminolevulinic acid, Porphobilinogen, Acute intermittent porphyria, Congenital erythropoietic porphyria, Porphyria cutanea tarda, Variegate porphyria, Erythropoietic protoporphyria

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1. Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
2. Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK
3. MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
4. Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

Correspondence to Olivo Miotto (PhD),
Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 420/6 Rajvithi Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand. Email: Olivo@tropmedres.ac

Abstract

The elimination of malaria is a public health priority in the Greater Mekong Subregion, where the spread of drug-resistant strains has undermined progress and threatens worldwide drug efficacy. Recent advances have increased the availability of genotyping technologies which can support these elimination efforts, alongside other established clinical and epidemiological methods. For example, genotyping can be used to estimate the prevalence of genetic markers of resistance in malaria parasite populations. A wide spectrum of genotyping technologies is available and it is important to appreciate the differences between the different approaches, and their suitability for different applications and different settings. We review a number of the most common genotyping technologies available, and discuss some of the key considerations that must be evaluated when choosing an approach for monitoring drug resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

Keywords: genotyping technologies, drug-resistant malaria, genetic surveillance

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1 Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Bangkok, Thailand.
2 Centre for Tropical Medicine, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
3 Service de Médecine Tropicale et Humanitaire, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, La Suisse
4 Department of Tropical Hygiene, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

Correspondence to Walter RJ Taylor (FRCP),
Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 420/6 Rajvithi Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand. Email: bob@tropmedres.ac

Abstract

Plasmodium vivax has a unique life cycle in that the hypnozoite is key to the continuing cycle of blood infections called relapses. Treating the liver hypnozoites is an essential step to realising the elimination of P. vivax.
Just two drugs are available currently for killing hypnozoites: primaquine, which is about 60 years old, and the newly registered tafenoquine. Both cause acute haemolytic anaemia in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PDd) and this is a major stumbling block to deployment primaquine and tafenoquine.
Herein, we summarise the current status of the global vivax burden, discuss the challenges in treating vivax-infected patients and what can be done to overcome these hurdles to take elimination forward.

Keywords: Plasmodium vivax, primaquine, tafenoquine, hypnozoite

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1. Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
2. Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK
3. Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mae Sot, Thailand
4. Ingvartsen Arkitekter, København K, Denmark
5. Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademis Skoler for Arkitektur, Design og Konservering—Arkitektskolen, Copenhagen, Denmark
6. CSK Research Solutions, Dar es Salam, Tanzania
7. Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines

Correspondence to Lorenz von Seidlein (MD, PhD),
Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand. Email: lorenz@tropmedres.ac

Abstract

Traditional, rural homes in tropical sub-Saharan Africa are often ground floor, waddle and daub structures and differ from the Asian elevated, air-permeable houses even though the climate zones are similar. We assessed the relative comfort of living in a Thai-style bamboo house compared with a traditional African mud house in a hot and humid zone in Africa.

A team of Thai craftsmen built a bamboo house in Magoda. Tanzania. The bamboo was locally sourced. We compared the relative comfort of living in a Thai style house with a traditional African house using temperature and humidity recordings over 4 months, particularly between 19:00 to 22:00 when decisions are made where to sleep and assessed acceptability of the Thai house to local residents.

The construction of a Thai-style bamboo house took two weeks after the construction materials were in-site. The indoor climate assessment of the house indicated that residents in the bamboo house are likely to feel comfortable 85% of the time while the residents in the mud house would only feel comfortable 34% during that time between 19:00 to 22:00. The bamboo house was well accepted by the villagers and has served as accommodation for the residents since hand-over in 2015.

The typical Thai bamboo house in Tanzania provided a substantially more comfortable indoor climate compared to the traditional African mud house. The residents were happy with the house design and continue to use the Thai bamboo house. Novel designs hold considerable promise as a sustainable approach to provide housing for the rapidly expanding population of Africa and may carry health benefits.

Keywords: malaria, vector borne diseases, mosquitoes, respiratory tract infections.

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1. The Royal Society of Thailand, Dusit, Bangkok, Thailand
2. Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine. Faculty of Tropical Medicine. Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU). Mahidol University. Thailand

Correspondence to: Borimas Hanboonkunupakarn (MD-PhD),
Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine. Faculty of Tropical Medicine. Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU). Mahidol University. Thailand. Email: borimas.han@mahidol.ac.th

Abstract

Malaria is one of the most important tropical diseases with 200 million cases worldwide. The malaria control and elimination programmes, initiated by WHO in 2005, have been adopted by more than 50 countries. Thailand has aimed to eliminate malaria in 2030. A key strategy to eliminate malaria is “to reduce malaria transmission” including transmission of the infection between the human host and the vector. Ivermectin, an old anthelmintic drug, is known to have a mosquito-cidal effect. Mosquitoes will die after biting people who have ingested ivermectin. Ivermectin is, therefore, a potential new tool for the control and eventual elimination of mosquito vectors. Ivermectin has been used in mass drug administrations for example for the control of lymphatic filariasis but there is currently no consensus on the usefulness and the most appropriate regimen for ivermectin in malaria control. The Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University recently conducted two phase1 clinical trials on ivermectin. This review describes the results of recent studies on pharmacokinetic properties and mosquito-cidal effects of ivermectin, conducted in the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University.

Keywords: malaria, ivermectin, malaria elimination,

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The President of the Royal Society of Thailand

The Royal Society of Thailand is the national learned institution established by King RAMA VII in 1926. Members of the society are royally appointed as scholars of the King. The Royal Society of Thailand is recognized as a leader in the field of academic excellence consisting of three institutions: the Academy of Science, the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, and the Academy of Arts. The Royal Society is responsible for the academic work of the government and is a Thai language reference center. The society provides intellectual resources for research, reference and educational services. The Royal Society of Thailand routinely publishes academic-specific dictionary textbooks and encyclopedias of all disciplines and issues regular journals both in Thai and English.

The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand (IJRST) is one of the official journals of the Royal Society of Thailand. IJRST is an international forum for the communication and sharing of knowledge from all major disciplines. The theme for this 2018 volume is “Tropical Science and Education”. The Royal Society of Thailand supports academic work related to the Tropics, and outside the region. As a clinician in the field of medicine, I am aware that global warming, population growth and the growth in international travel mean that tropical diseases are increasingly linked to global health. It is gratifying to note that the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, is well recognized as a leader in tropical medicine.
I would like to congratulate the Journal on publishing the 2018 volume and convey my sincere appreciation to all contributing authors from the Royal Society of Thailand and other international organizations, and to the Journal editors for their diligence and expertise. I am confident that the knowledge shared through this publication will lead to further positive developments in health and education in the Tropics and beyond.

Professor Surapol Issaragrisil, FRS(T)
President of the Royal Society of Thailand

This 2018 volume of the International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand is published under the theme of ‘Tropical Science and Education’. The Tropical zone is the center of the equator between Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn span 23° of latitude north and south of the Equator, a belt around the planet characterized by hot and wet climates. This Tropical Zone contains over a third of the world’s surface area and population, and demographic trends suggest that by the middle of this century half of the world’s population will live in the Tropics. Such a vast area is richly diverse in geography, peoples, culture, development, and of course also in health and education. In my own professional field, the term tropical medicine is the study of those diseases particular to, or prevalent in tropical regions but uncommon outside of them. Some now believe the name to be outdated, perhaps because of colonial connotations, however it does describe something coherent, even if it is hard to define this precisely. I have borrowed this flexible use of the word tropical for the current volume on education and science in the tropics. These articles cover a wide range of subjects, but all relate to issues that are prevalent or in some aspect specific to the tropics.

Tropical diseases include both the communicable and non-communicable illness. In the modern world it is becoming harder to classify diseases as tropical or not because of the increasing scale and frequency of people moving between regions. Moreover, it is predicted that the effects of global warming may extend the range of what we still think of as tropical diseases. Within these developments there is great heterogeneity and we face both challenges and opportunities. The emergence into human populations of new communicable diseases appears to be becoming more common; while many endemic tropical diseases are now the targets for elimination programmes. Malaria, the most famous tropical disease and the most important parasitic disease of humans, is targeted for elimination and much progress towards this has already been made in recent decades. In the 21st century, a great threat is that some of the many epidemic viral infections may become pandemics and become global problems. The most important of these are likely to be influenza and coronavirus infections due to their high transmissibility. The changing ecology of global warming and urbanization, as well as other rapidly developing social and environmental factors, has already caused a shift in thinking about tropical and infectious diseases.

This volume is intended to provide a platform for different voices on tropical science and education. All of the nine articles have been submitted by experts working in Thailand and the neighboring countries in Southeast Asia. The authors represent internationally renowned institutions and include members of the Royal Society of Thailand, Mahidol University, Kasetsart University, the Mahidol-Oxford University collaboration, and Maynard Leigh Associates. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude for the support given by the board of reviewers, and I give special thanks to Professor Surapol Issaragrisil, the President of the Royal Society of Thailand. I hope that the knowledge and ideas contained in this volume will inspire further research and interest. The continuing development of tropical science and education will support improvements in health and good governance in tropical regions and beyond.

(Professor Emeritus Sasithon Pukrittayakamee)
Editor, Fellow of the Royal Society of Thailand

The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand Volume X – 2018

Advisor

Professor Surapol Issaragrisil, FRS(T)

Editor

Professor Sasithon Pukrittayakamee, FRS(T)

Editor Board

Professor Narattaphol Charoenphandhu, AFRS(T)
Professor Pornsan Watanangura, FRS(T)
Professor Pasuk Phongpaichit, FRS(T)
Professor Srisurang Poolthupya, FRS(T)
Professor Sir Nicholas John White, FRS
Professor Nicholas PJ Day, FRCP
Dr. Thomas J Peto, PhD
Mrs. Duangta Tancho, Secretary-General
Ms Saengchant Sansupa, Literateur
Miss Piyaratt Inorn, Literateur
Miss Parichat Kitinun, Literateur
Miss Yolada Yaiprayoon, Literateur
Miss Kanokporn Chuenjaidee, Literateur

Language Editors

Assit Prof. Namthip Anantsupamongkol
Dr. Thomas J Peto

Cover Design

Mrs Siwaporn Panphoowong

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