Using 2D Animation with Interactive Elements to Create a Culturally Interesting Web Experience

Despite efforts to introduce Vietnamese culture to a global audience, most Vietnamese folktales and legends stay rooted within the country. When looking for examples of animated or interactive media, related to Vietnamese culture, the results often fall short. This project exists to fill that deficiency and teach aspects of Vietnamese culture through interactive storytelling. This project aimed to retell a culturally significant Vietnamese tale, the Legend of Hoan Kiem Lake, while providing a visually stimulating and interactive web experience to those not familiar with Vietnamese culture. The project also aimed to determine if an interactive website can be more informative through engagement, as opposed to a static web presence. The project utilized Webflow as the bridge to integrate illustration and animation into an interactive web experience. “The Tale of Hoan Kiem Lake” started off as a passion project and remained such until the end

Indirect dark matter search in the Galactic Centre with IceCube

It is assumed that dark matter can annihilate or decay into Standard Model particles which then can produce a neutrino flux detectable at IceCube. Such a signal can be emitted from the Galactic Center thanks to the high density of dark matter abundance being gravitationally captured. This analysis aims at searching for neutrino signals from dark matter annihilation and decay in the Galactic Center using $\sim$9 years of IceCube-DeepCore data with an optimized selection for low energy. In this contribution, we present the sensitivities on the thermally averaged dark matter self-annihilation cross-section for dark matter masses ranging from 5 GeV up to 8 TeV.Comment: Presented at the 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023). See arXiv:2307.13047 for all IceCube contribution

Biocompatible chitosan-functionalized upconverting nanocomposites

Simultaneous integration of photon emission and biocompatibility into nanoparticles is an interesting strategy to develop applications of advanced optical materials. In this work, we present the synthesis of biocompatible optical nanocomposites from the combination of near-infrared luminescent lanthanide nanoparticles and water-soluble chitosan. NaYF4:Yb,Er upconverting nanocrystal guests and water-soluble chitosan hosts are prepared and integrated together into biofunctional optical composites. The control of aqueous dissolution, gelation, assembly, and drying of NaYF4:Yb,Er nanocolloids and chitosan liquids allowed us to design novel optical structures of spongelike aerogels and beadlike microspheres. Well-defined shape and near-infrared response lead upconverting nanocrystals to serve as photon converters to couple with plasmonic gold (Au) nanoparticles. Biocompatible chitosan-stabilized Au/NaYF4:Yb,Er nanocomposites are prepared to show their potential use in biomedicine as we find them exhibiting a half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) of 0.58 mg mL–1 for chitosan-stabilized Au/NaYF4:Yb,Er nanorods versus 0.24 mg mL–1 for chitosan-stabilized NaYF4:Yb,Er after 24 h. As a result of their low cytotoxicity and upconverting response, these novel materials hold promise to be interesting for biomedicine, analytical sensing, and other applications

Effects of calpastain (CAST) polymorphisms on carcass and meat quality traits in Mongcai pigs

Calpastain (CAST) activity plays a major role in muscle growth and proteolytic changes post-mortem and the CAST gene has been considered as a candidate gene for carcass and pork quality characteristics. The aim of this study was to analyze the association of two polymorphisms namely CAST_HinfI (allele A and B) and CAST_MspI (allele C and D) with carcass and meat quality traits in Mongcai, a Vietnamese indigenous pig breed. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to genotype the animals at these loci. Results indicate that the CAST_HinfI single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) had a low frequency of allele A as compared to allele B, while the C and D allele distribution was almost the same for the CAST_MspI SNP. In the association analysis, significant effects on dressing percentage of carcass were detected. The CAST_HinfI locus was associated with the pH24, while the CAST_MspI position was in association with pH45 min, drip loss48 and redness color. Additional analysis showed a variation in muscle fiber type composition with higher proportion of IIx fiber in pigs with AB genotype (P < 0.05). Three constructed haplotypes namely AB/CD, AB/DD and BB/CC also had significant effects on carcass, type IIa and IIb fiber percentages.Keywords: Association, carcass, pork quality, Vietnamese local pi

PHÂN LẬP VÀ KHẢO SÁT HOẠT TÍNH GÂY ĐỘC TẾ BÀO UNG THƯ CỦA MỘT SỐ HỢP CHẤT TỪ CÂY BÙ LỐT (Grewia bulot)

Three compounds, including β-amyrin (1), quercetin (2) and β-sitosterol (3), were isolated from the leaves of Grewia bulot. Their structures were elucidated by using infrared spectroscopy (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and by comparing them with spectroscopic data in the literature. The cytotoxic testing results of the isolated compounds against four tested cancer cell lines (MCF-7, Hep-G2, SK-LU-1, and KB) showed that β-amyrin had weak activity on three cell lines MCF-7, Hep-G2, and SK-LU-1 with IC50 values ranging from 72.3 to 96.15 µg·mL–1. This is the first time these compounds were isolated from Grewia bulot and evaluated for their cytotoxic activity.Ba hợp chất β-amyrin (1), quercetin (2) và β-sitosterol (3) được phân lập từ lá cây Bù lốt (Grewia bulot). Cấu trúc của chúng được xác định thông qua việc phân tích các phổ IR và NMR và so sánh với số liệu trong các tài liệu tham khảo. Kết quả thử nghiệm hoạt tính gây độc của các hợp chất phân lập với bốn dòng tế bào ung thư thử nghiệm (MCF-7, Hep-G2, SK-LU-1 và KB) cho thấy hợp chất β-amyrin có hoạt tính gây độc yếu trên ba dòng tế bào MCF-7, Hep-G2 và SK-LU-1 với giá trị IC50 từ 72,3 đến 96,15 µg·mL–1. Đây là lần đầu tiên các hợp chất này được phân lập từ cây Bù lốt và thử hoạt tính gây độc tế bào ung thư

The first genome sequences of human bocaviruses from Vietnam.

As part of an ongoing effort to generate complete genome sequences of hand, foot and mouth disease-causing enteroviruses directly from clinical specimens, two complete coding sequences and two partial genomic sequences of human bocavirus 1 (n=3) and 2 (n=1) were co-amplified and sequenced, representing the first genome sequences of human bocaviruses from Vietnam. The sequences may aid future study aiming at understanding the evolution of the pathogen

Age-time-specific transmission of hand-foot-and-mouth disease enterovirus serotypes in Vietnam: a catalytic model with maternal immunity

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is highly prevalent in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in Vietnam. To develop effective interventions and efficient vaccination programs, we inferred the age-time-specific transmission patterns of HFMD serotypes enterovirus A71 (EV-A71), coxsackievirus A6 (CV-A6), coxsackievirus A10 (CV-A10), coxsackievirus A16 (CV-A16) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from a case data collected during 2013–2018 and a serological survey data collected in 2015 and 2017. We proposed a catalytic model framework with good adaptability to incorporate maternal immunity using various mathematical functions. Our results indicate the high-level transmission of CV-A6 and CV-A10 which is not obvious in the case data, due to the variation of disease severity across serotypes. Our results provide statistical evidence supporting the strong association between severe illness and CV-A6 and EV-A71 infections. The HFMD dynamic pattern presents a cyclical pattern with large outbreaks followed by a decline in subsequent years. Additionally, we identify the age group with highest risk of infection as 1-2 years and emphasise the risk of future outbreaks as over 50% of children aged 6-7 years were estimated to be susceptible to CV-A16 and EV-A71. Our study highlights the importance of multivalent vaccines and active surveillance for different serotypes, supports early vaccination prior to 1 year old, and points out the potential utility for vaccinating children older than 5 years old in Vietnam