PHÁT TRIỂN DU LỊCH CHĂM SÓC SỨC KHỎE TẠI TỈNH THỪA THIÊN HUẾ: GÓC NHÌN TỪ KHÁCH DU LỊCH

Wellness tourism has been around for a long time, and in the context of the pandemic, it has emerged as a new global tourism trend. Vietnam in general, and Thua Thien Hue in particular, have a lot of promise, but there aren't any specific products or services to help boost wellness tourism. Based on liturature review, the study focuses on estimating the necessity of wellness services/activities that should be available in Hue based on six major groups of: (1) physical; (2) mind and body; (3) spiritual and self-connected; (4) personal growth; (5) nature-oriented; and (6) social activities. Using a questionnaire survey method with 200 tourists who are knowledgeable about wellness, a number of activities such as visiting natural landscapes, cycling, walking, spending time experiencing with family/friends, reading books, spending time for yourself, bathing in hot springs... were rated as highly necessary. Simultaneously, the results demonstrate that different groups of tourists have varied perspectives based on demographic criterion. Some orientations and proposals for developing wellness tourism products in Thua Thien Hue province are offered through 6 main solutions on primary groups of activities.Du lịch chăm sóc sức khỏe đã xuất hiện từ lâu và trong bối cảnh dịch bệnh đã trở thành một xu hướng mới của du lịch thế giới. Việt Nam nói chung và Thừa Thiên Huế nói riêng có rất nhiều tiềm năng nhưng chưa có sản phẩm dịch vụ cụ thể để phát triển du lịch chăm sóc sức khỏe. Dựa trên tổng quan lý thuyết, nghiên cứu tập trung xác định mức độ cần thiết của các dịch vụ/ hoạt động CSSK nên có ở Huế trên cơ sở 6 nhóm hoạt động chính về: (1) thể chất; (2) tâm trí và cơ thể; (3) tâm linh và kết nối bản thân; (4) cảm xúc cá nhân; (5) thiên nhiên và (6) xã hội. Sử dụng phương pháp điều tra bằng bảng hỏi với 200 khách du lịch có hiểu biết về chăm sóc sức khỏe, một số hoạt động được đánh giá ở mức độ cần thiết cao như: tham quan các cảnh quan thiên nhiên, đạp xe, đi bộ, dành thời gian trải nghiệm cùng gia đình/bạn bè, đọc sách, dành thời gian cho bản thân, tắm suối khoáng nóng… Đồng thời, kết quả cũng cho thấy sự khác biệt trong ý kiến đánh giá của các nhóm du khách theo một số đặc điểm nhân khẩu học. Từ đó, bài viết đề xuất 6 nhóm giải pháp về phát triển sản phẩm du lịch chăm sóc sức khỏe tại tỉnh Thừa Thiên Huế

The influence of human genetic variation on early transcriptional responses and protective immunity following immunization with Rotarix vaccine in infants in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam : a study protocol for an open single-arm interventional trial [awaiting peer review]

Background: Rotavirus (RoV) remains the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in infants and children aged under five years in both high- and low-middle-income countries (LMICs). In LMICs, RoV infections are associated with substantial mortality. Two RoV vaccines (Rotarix and Rotateq) are widely available for use in infants, both of which have been shown to be highly efficacious in Europe and North America. However, for unknown reasons, these RoV vaccines have markedly lower efficacy in LMICs. We hypothesize that poor RoV vaccine efficacy across in certain regions may be associated with genetic heritability or gene expression in the human host. Methods/design: We designed an open-label single-arm interventional trial with the Rotarix RoV vaccine to identify genetic and transcriptomic markers associated with generating a protective immune response against RoV. Overall, 1,000 infants will be recruited prior to Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) vaccinations at two months of age and vaccinated with oral Rotarix vaccine at two and three months, after which the infants will be followed-up for diarrheal disease until 18 months of age. Blood sampling for genetics, transcriptomics, and immunological analysis will be conducted before each Rotarix vaccination, 2-3 days post-vaccination, and at each follow-up visit (i.e. 6, 12 and 18 months of age). Stool samples will be collected during each diarrheal episode to identify RoV infection. The primary outcome will be Rotarix vaccine failure events (i.e. symptomatic RoV infection despite vaccination), secondary outcomes will be antibody responses and genotypic characterization of the infection virus in Rotarix failure events. Discussion: This study will be the largest and best powered study of its kind to be conducted to date in infants, and will be critical for our understanding of RoV immunity, human genetics in the Vietnam population, and mechanisms determining RoV vaccine-mediated protection. Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, ID: NCT03587389. Registered on 16 July 2018

Emission reduction opportunities in a rapidly growing economy:\ua0a case study of Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam’s Green Growth Action Plan for the period 2014–2020 sets out an overall plan for the sustainable development of the country. One of the cornerstones of that plan is the development of a greenhouse gas inventory and emission reduction opportunity assessment for Ho Chi Minh City. This provides a basis for the roadmap towards green growth in Ho Chi Minh City, one of Vietnam’s largest cities. Marginal costs of 38 emission reduction measures were determined for two main economy sectors, namely energy (32 measures) and agriculture, forestry, and other land use (6 measures). From that analysis, a marginal abatement cost curve was compiled for the energy sector. The total emission reduction opportunities available in 2020 are estimated to be 8.97 million tCO2e, which represents a 14.7% reduction compared to business as usual. Even when the city only implements reduction measures with negative marginal costs (i.e., abatement that saves money), significant reductions of 5.25 MtCO2e (8.6% reduction compared to business as usual) would be achieved. There are significant similarities in abatement opportunities between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital. The case study shows significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved in fast-growing cities with an appropriate level of investment and government support

Species and geographical origin authenticity of green coffee beans using UV–VIS spectroscopy and PLS–DA prediction model

Coffee with different regions and species tends to have different chemical compositions and, therefore, gains variable commercial values. This means that the authenticity of green coffee beans, the raw material for coffee beverages, is necessary for coffee supply chains. This paper focused on the application of ultraviolet–visible (UV–VIS) spectroscopy combined with the Partial Least Squares with Discriminant Analysis (PLS–DA) model to authenticate Vietnamese green coffee beans. Spectra of 147 samples were used to build prediction models. PLS–DA model combined with the Standard Normal Variate (SNV) and second order of derivative performed excellently in predicting coffee species with a percentage of cross–validation accuracy at 100.00%. With the treatment of SNV and the first order of derivative, percentages of cross–validation accuracy for the PLS–DA model authenticating the origin of samples from all provinces varied from 88.23% to 95.80%. The results showed a high potential of the UV–VIS spectroscopy techniques in the authenticity of green coffee beans

Maternal and neonatal outcomes related to Zika virus in pregnant women in Southern Vietnam: An epidemiological and virological prospective analysis

International audienceBackgroundIn 2016-2017, 68 women in Southern Vietnam had RT-PCR confirmed Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy. We report here the outcomes of the pregnancies and the virological analyses related to this outbreak.MethodsWe collected clinical and epidemiological information from the women who were enrolled in the study. Medical records related to the pregnancy in 2016–2017 were retrieved for those who were not able to be enrolled in the study. Children born to women with ZIKV infection during pregnancy were also enrolled. Serum samples were evaluated for presence of ZIKV antibodies. Phylogenetic analyses were performed on Zika virus genomes sequenced from the 2016–2017 serum samples.FindingsOf the 68 pregnancies, 58 were livebirths and 10 were medically terminated. Four of the medical records from cases of fetal demise were able to be retrieved, of which one was consistent with congenital ZIKV infection. Of the 58 women with a livebirth, 21 participated in the follow-up investigation. All but two women had serologic evidence of ZIKV infection. Of the 21 children included in the study (mean age: 30.3 months), 3 had microcephaly at birth. No other clinical abnormalities were reported and no differences in neurodevelopment were observed compared to a control group. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a clade within the ZIKV Asian lineage and branch at the root of samples from the 2013–2014 French Polynesian outbreak. The prM S139N mutation was not observed.InterpretationWe have been able to demonstrate a clade within the ZIKV Asian lineage implicated in adverse pregnancy outcomes in Southern Vietnam

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN