Ultimate pretreatment of lignocellulose in bioethanol production by combining both acidic and alkaline pretreatment

Alkaline pretreatment has been known as the most popular method to process lignocellulosic materials for bioethanol production due to its simplicity and high efficiency. However, the waste water of the process has a very high basicity, which requires neutralization with acids upon further disposal. In this study, rubber wood saw dust (Hevea brasiliensis) was employed as lignocellulosic material and its pretreatment was inspected with both diluted H2SO4 and NaOH in different combination ways. Hereby, acid was used not only for waste water neutralization but also to contribute to lignin removal. Analysis results showed that an aqueous solution of 2.0 - 2.5 wt.% H2SO4 can be used to treat the biomass followed by alkaline pretreatment. By this so-called combo-pretreatment technique, cellulose was well preserved without significant hydrolysis while the final pretreatment efficiency was up to 63.0%, compared to 48.2% of using only the alkaline solution and 13.7% of using only the acidic solution. Finally, alkaline waste water can be mixed to be neutralized with acidic waste water from the two previous steps. This innovated technique improved the pretreatment efficiency almost without increasing in chemical cost

A modern purification by accelerated solvent extraction and centrifugal partition chromatography and biological evaluation of capsaicin from Capsicum chinense

A special alkaloid compound known as capsaicin, which can only be found in the fruit of the Capsicum plant, was isolated and tested for its anti-inflammatory activity. The purpose of this work is to establish a simple and quick approach for capsaicin purification utilizing centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) as well as an effective method - accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), for extracting capsaicin from Capsicum chinense. After purification, capsaicin was validated by HPLC-DAD at 281 nm to be > 90% purity. The in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of the isolated capsaicin was also investigated, and the IC50 value of the capsaicin was determined to be 57.61 µg/mL. The current work emphasizes how an ASE and CPC system may combine to extract high-purity capsaicin from Capsicum chinense, which have the anti-inflammatory activity, as we evaluated in the experiment

SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE ADOLESCENT’S MENTAL HEALTH BY THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 IN GIA LAI, VIETNAM FOLLOWING “STRATIFIED COMMUNICATIONS MODEL”

COVID-19 endangers people's lives and causes many mental health problems for society, especially for young people. Adolescents’ awareness of this problem is essential to control the pandemic and improve their mental health. This study aims to apply a stratified communication model to affect knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) about COVID-19 and evaluate their effects on adolescents' mental health. A cross-sectional study was conducted before and after the intervention based on questionnaires and online and in-person activities launched in Gia Lai from August to December 2021. Students attending Hung Vuong High School for the Gifted (Ts), a community teen group (Tc), and their parents (Ps and Pc) were invited to participate in this study. Most participants (82.5% of Ts and 52.4% of Tc) comply with the pandemic prevention regulations. COVID-19 affected adolescents’ mental health that caused worry, fear, and loss of attention in 76.1% of Ts and 80% of Tc. The results also illustrated that the KAP of Tc was lower than that of Ts, and their academic level influenced the KAP. After the stratified communication intervention, the KAP of the participants, as well as their mental health improved. This model offers a solution to the minimal impact of COVID-19 on young people and the control of this pandemic

Ultimate pretreatment of lignocellulose in bioethanol production by combining both acidic and alkaline pretreatment

Alkaline pretreatment has been known as the most popular method to process lignocellulosic materials for bioethanol production due to its simplicity and high efficiency. However, the waste water of the process has a very high basicity, which requires neutralization with acids upon further disposal. In this study, rubber wood saw dust (Hevea brasiliensis) was employed as lignocellulosic material and its pretreatment was inspected with both diluted H2SO4 and NaOH in different combination ways. Hereby, acid was used not only for waste water neutralization but also to contribute to lignin removal. Analysis results showed that an aqueous solution of 2.0 - 2.5 wt.% H2SO4 can be used to treat the biomass followed by alkaline pretreatment. By this so-called combo-pretreatment technique, cellulose was well preserved without significant hydrolysis while the final pretreatment efficiency was up to 63.0%, compared to 48.2% of using only the alkaline solution and 13.7% of using only the acidic solution. Finally, alkaline waste water can be mixed to be neutralized with acidic waste water from the two previous steps. This innovated technique improved the pretreatment efficiency almost without increasing in chemical cost

Application of Fe3O4/thiamine Magnetic Particles in the Removal of Methylene Blue

Fe3O4/thiamine particles were prepared in this work via precipitation method. The synthesis method is based on the principle of precipitation of Fe3O4 particles in the presence of thiamine coating agent. Also, the potential application of Fe3O4/ thiamine in the removal of methylene blue (MB) was investigated. Several factors that affect the synthesis of Fe3O4/thiamine such as base concentration, mass ratio of FeCl2 to thiamine, reaction temperature, and reaction time were determined. Optimal conditions for preparing Fe3O4/thiamine are NH4OH concentration = 10%, mass ratio of FeCl2:thiamine = 5:1 (g g-1), reaction temperature = 30 °C, reaction time = 120 min. The average particle size of Fe3O4/thiamine is 293.7 nm while the specific surface area, pore diameter, and magnetization of the obtained Fe3O4/ thiamine particles are 57 m2 g-1, 192.67 Å, and 2.4 emu g-1, respectively. The interesting point of this work is to obtain the Fe3O4/thiamine at low temperature with less amount of NH4OH used. Furthermore, 79.08% of MB could be removed using Fe3O4/thiamine as an adsorbent, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 31.63 mg g-1 at pH of 10, a MB concentration of 50 mg L-1, and an adsorption time of 15 min. Adsorption kinetics studies showed that the pseudo-second-order model fitted the experimental data better than the pseudo-first-order and the adsorption process is physical adsorption following the Freundlich adsorption isotherm model. An adsorption mechanism of MB onto Fe3O4/thiamine was also suggested. The synthesized Fe3O4/ thiamine particles could be a potential material for treating wastewater

The clinical features and genomic epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infections at a tertiary hospital in Vietnam

ABSTRACT: Objectives: To characterise the clinical features of Acinetobacter baumannii infections and investigate the phylogenetic structure and transmission dynamics of A. baumannii in Vietnam. Methods: Between 2019 and 2020, a surveillance of A. baumannii (AB) infections was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Risk factors for in-hospital mortality were analysed using logistic regressions. Whole-genome sequence data were used to characterise genomic species, sequence types (STs), antimicrobial resistance genes, surface antigens, and phylogenetic relatedness of AB isolates. Results: Eighty-four patients with AB infections were enrolled in the study, 96% of whom were hospital-acquired. Half of the AB isolates were identified from ICU-admitted patients, while the remaining isolates were from non-ICU patients. The overall in-hospital mortality was 56%, with associated risk factors including advanced age, ICU stay, exposure to mechanical ventilation/central venous catheterization, pneumonia as source of AB infection, prior use of linezolid/aminoglycosides, and AB treatment with colistin-based therapy. Nearly 91% of isolates were carbapenem-resistant; 92% were multidrug-resistant; and 6% were colistin-resistant. ST2, ST571, and ST16 were the three dominant carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB) genotypes, exhibiting distinct AMR gene profiles. Phylogenetic analysis of CRAB ST2 isolates together with previously published ST2 collection provided evidence of intra- and inter-hospital transmission of this clone. Conclusions: Our study highlights a high prevalence of carbapenem resistance and multidrug resistance in A. baumannii and elucidates the spread of CRAB within and between hospitals. Strengthening infection control measures and routine genomic surveillance are crucial to reducing the spread of CRAB and detecting novel pan-drug-resistant variants in a timely fashion

Raphiocarpus taygiangensis (Gesneriaceae), a new species from central Vietnam

Raphiocarpus taygiangensis, a new species of Gesneriaceae family discovered in Tay Giang District, Quang Nam Province, Central Vietnam, is here described and illustrated. The new species is diagnosed by the combination of its stem up to 2 m long, sericeous hairs on young stem, leaf petiole and adaxial mid-vein, sparsely and minutely serrate leaf margin, axillary inflorescence spreading along stem, sparsely long gland-tipped hairs on peduncle, pedicel, calyx, outside corolla and pistil, calyx 5-disparted from base, purplish white flower with purple stripes inside corolla tube, and dish-shaped stigma formed by 2 semi-orbicular lobes horizontally expanding. Distinct features of the new species and its morphologically closest congener, Rhaphiocarpus axillaris, are compared and discussed. The conservation status of the described species is estimated as Vulnerable (VU D2) according to the IUCN Red List Criteria

SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE AWARENESS AND IMPROVE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, PRACTICE (KAP) ABOUT COVID-19 FOR ETHNIC MINORITY PEOPLES IN GIA LAI PROVINCE, VIETNAM

COVID-19 is a global health threat and an international public health emergency. Right awareness, good knowledge, positive attitude, and good practice are one of the central issues to ensure the successful prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in some remote rural areas with difficult living conditions, social media about COVID-19 has not reached them. So, this study aims to present a possible solution to improve their awareness about COVID-19 among ethnic minorities in Gia Lai province, Vietnam. This study was conducted with 674 people in the community from September 1 to December 20, 2021. An intervention design using the stratified communication model and structured questionnaire was used to collect information regarding sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge (eight questions), attitudes (three questions), and practice (three questions). Of the total study participants, 64.31% were female and 95% lived in rural areas. The results showed that the poor knowledge, attitude and practice of the before intervention group improved compared to the after intervention and compared with the control group significantly increased with P < 0.05. Therefore, health education programs to improve awareness and raise KAP about COVID-19 are essential, especially for illiterate people, poor people, and a lack of means to communicate.&nbsp