Modeling the determinants of job satisfaction in Vietnam

The study focuses on a number of policy-relevant variables such as wage policy and training plans for workers, as well as absolute and relative wages, union membership, and job position. Possible differences in job satisfaction of workers in domestic versus Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) firms are examined. The research utilizes a unique employer-employee matched survey conducted by the North-South Institute (Canada) to investigate the determinants of job satisfaction, and survey data from the Center of Analysis and Forecasting, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences

Assessing decentralised policy implementation in Vietnam : The case of land recovery and resettlement in the Vung Ang Economic Zone

From 2006 plans were implemented to create a deep-sea water port linked to an Economic Zone in the coastal Province of Ha Tinh, located in north central Vietnam. The multi-purpose Zone entitled ‘Vung Ang’, was to attract foreign investors, while the port would provide a link to nearby Laos and Thailand. The project obviously had large implications for the administrations at various levels of governance from Hanoi to the coastal communes and villages, but even more serious impacts on the people living in the affected areas. A large area of about 23,000 hectares was to be cleared, affecting the people of 9 communes, in some of which all inhabitants had to leave their houses and homesteads, to be relocated to completely new settlements about 10 miles inland. These tightly knit communities were not too happy with the prospect to leave their homes and land, the burial places of their ancestors, and the long term comforts of community support networks. While initial decision making process started at the highest levels of Vietnam Governance, the implementation of port and industrial park construction and the related relocation policy was delegated to Ha Tinh province, which is consistent with current decentralisation policies in Vietnam. Actual implementation was carried out by the affected District and Commune level officials – with support from the Communist Party led Mass Organisations – who were in charge of the planning and implementation of the relocation process. This entailed a complex and sensitive series of steps to inform affected households, prepare relocation areas and allocate compensation and alternative housing. This paper describes the implementation dynamics of relocation by depicting and assessing the roles of all stakeholders involved, including the impacts - for better or for worse – of the relocated households. It brings out the way local authorities dealt with affected people, including efforts linked to the ideal of grass-roots democracy. Key areas of contestation are uncovered, such as inadequate infrastructure and low compensation rates. The paper has a second objective to assess the degree to which decentralisation in Vietnam has been actually implemented, and how this affects policy making processes such as the Vung Ang port/industrial zone project. The paper concludes that the relocation policy was implemented in a fairly efficient and harmonious way – with a very intensive engagement of the entire provincial administrative machinery, but that it is too early to assess the livelihood opportunities of the relocated households

CYP1A1 Induction in the Colon by Serum: Involvement of the PPARα Pathway and Evidence for a New Specific Human PPREα Site

International audienceBackground: We previously showed that blood serum induced cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) monooxygenase expression in vitro.Objective: Our purpose was (i) to identify the molecular mechanism involved and (ii) to characterize the inducer compound(s) in serum involved at least in part.Methods: Serum was fractionated on hydrophobic columns. PPARα involvement was demonstrated by gene reporter assays, DNA mutagenesis and EMSA. Gene expression was evaluated by qRT-PCR. Serum samples were analyzed using HS-SPME-GC-MS.Results: The inductive effect of serum did not depend on the AhR pathway and was enhanced by cotransfection of PPARα cDNA. Mutations in the PPAR response elements of the CYP1A1 gene promoter suppressed this effect. One of the PPRE sites appeared highly specific for human PPARα, an unreported PPRE property. A link was found between CYP1A1 inducibility and serum hydrophobic compounds. Characterization of sera showed that hexanal, a metabolite produced by peroxidation of linoleic acid, was involved in CYP1A1 induction by serum, possibly along with other serum entities.Conclusion: We demonstrate that serum induces CYP1A1 via the PPARα pathway and that hexanal is one of the serum inducers. The two PPRE sites within the CYP1A1 promoter are functional and one of them is specific for PPARα

Multiple Recurrent Acute Ischemic Strokes Treated by Thrombectomy in a Patient with Acute Pulmonary Embolism

BACKGROUND: Thrombectomy is recommended to treat for an acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patient with anterior large vessel occlusion. However, there were neither detailed guidelines nor systematic reviews of acute ischemic stroke patients having multiple times or re-occluded arteries. CASE REPORT: In our case report, we struggled a multiple (4-times) AIS patient underwent by one intravenous r-tpA and 3 remaining of endovascular treatment of thrombectomy. Especially, the finding of both pulmonary embolism and cerebral arteries occlusion in this patient made us difficult to decide the appropriate treatment plan. The patient was considered having multiple cardiac thrombi pumping out to the brain and pulmonary vessels even in treatment with NOAC (New Oral Anticoagulant). Our priority, normally, was to recanalize the brain vessels compared to the pulmonary arteries. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, based on this noticed case study, we want to share our experiences on the diagnosis of ischemic stroke, the strategy in treatment and prevention with anticoagulant therapy

Spatiotemporal evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Delta variants during large nationwide outbreak of COVID-19, Vietnam, 2021

We analyzed 1,303 SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequences from Vietnam, and found the Alpha and Delta variants were responsible for a large nationwide outbreak of COVID-19 in 2021. The Delta variant was confined to the AY.57 lineage and caused >1.7 million infections and >32,000 deaths. Viral transmission was strongly affected by nonpharmaceutical interventions

Awareness and preparedness of healthcare workers against the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey across 57 countries.

BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave. METHODS: This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected COVID-19 patients and prior COVID-19 case-management training. RESULTS: We surveyed 24,653 HCWs from 371 hospitals across 57 countries and received 17,302 responses from 70.2% HCWs overall. The median COVID-19 preparedness score was 11.0 (interquartile range [IQR] = 6.0-14.0) and the median awareness score was 29.6 (IQR = 26.6-32.6). HCWs at COVID-19 designated facilities with previous outbreak experience, or HCWs who were trained for dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, had significantly higher levels of preparedness and awareness (p<0.001). Association rule mining suggests that nurses and doctors who had a 'great-extent-of-confidence' in handling suspected COVID-19 patients had participated in COVID-19 training courses. Male participants (mean difference = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.46; p<0.001) and nurses (mean difference = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.53, 0.81; p<0.001) had higher preparedness scores compared to women participants and doctors. INTERPRETATION: There was an unsurprising high level of awareness and preparedness among HCWs who participated in COVID-19 training courses. However, disparity existed along the lines of gender and type of HCW. It is unknown whether the difference in COVID-19 preparedness that we detected early in the pandemic may have translated into disproportionate SARS-CoV-2 burden of disease by gender or HCW type

Ventilator-associated respiratory infection in a resource-restricted setting: impact and etiology.

BACKGROUND: Ventilator-associated respiratory infection (VARI) is a significant problem in resource-restricted intensive care units (ICUs), but differences in casemix and etiology means VARI in resource-restricted ICUs may be different from that found in resource-rich units. Data from these settings are vital to plan preventative interventions and assess their cost-effectiveness, but few are available. METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study in four Vietnamese ICUs to assess the incidence and impact of VARI. Patients ≥ 16 years old and expected to be mechanically ventilated > 48 h were enrolled in the study and followed daily for 28 days following ICU admission. RESULTS: Four hundred fifty eligible patients were enrolled over 24 months, and after exclusions, 374 patients' data were analyzed. A total of 92/374 cases of VARI (21.7/1000 ventilator days) were diagnosed; 37 (9.9%) of these met ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) criteria (8.7/1000 ventilator days). Patients with any VARI, VAP, or VARI without VAP experienced increased hospital and ICU stay, ICU cost, and antibiotic use (p < 0.01 for all). This was also true for all VARI (p < 0.01 for all) with/without tetanus. There was no increased risk of in-hospital death in patients with VARI compared to those without (VAP HR 1.58, 95% CI 0.75-3.33, p = 0.23; VARI without VAP HR 0.40, 95% CI 0.14-1.17, p = 0.09). In patients with positive endotracheal aspirate cultures, most VARI was caused by Gram-negative organisms; the most frequent were Acinetobacter baumannii (32/73, 43.8%) Klebsiella pneumoniae (26/73, 35.6%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (24/73, 32.9%). 40/68 (58.8%) patients with positive cultures for these had carbapenem-resistant isolates. Patients with carbapenem-resistant VARI had significantly greater ICU costs than patients with carbapenem-susceptible isolates (6053 USD (IQR 3806-7824) vs 3131 USD (IQR 2108-7551), p = 0.04) and after correction for adequacy of initial antibiotics and APACHE II score, showed a trend towards increased risk of in-hospital death (HR 2.82, 95% CI 0.75-6.75, p = 0.15). CONCLUSIONS: VARI in a resource-restricted setting has limited impact on mortality, but shows significant association with increased patient costs, length of stay, and antibiotic use, particularly when caused by carbapenem-resistant bacteria. Evidence-based interventions to reduce VARI in these settings are urgently needed

Resveratrol Increases Glucose Induced GLP-1 Secretion in Mice: A Mechanism which Contributes to the Glycemic Control

Resveratrol (RSV) is a potent anti-diabetic agent when used at high doses. However, the direct targets primarily responsible for the beneficial actions of RSV remain unclear. We used a formulation that increases oral bioavailability to assess the mechanisms involved in the glucoregulatory action of RSV in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed diabetic wild type mice. Administration of RSV for 5 weeks reduced the development of glucose intolerance, and increased portal vein concentrations of both Glucagon-like peptid-1 (GLP-1) and insulin, and intestinal content of active GLP-1. This was associated with increased levels of colonic proglucagon mRNA transcripts. RSV-mediated glucoregulation required a functional GLP-1 receptor (Glp1r) as neither glucose nor insulin levels were modulated in Glp1r-/- mice. Conversely, levels of active GLP-1 and control of glycemia were further improved when the Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor sitagliptin was co-administered with RSV. In addition, RSV treatment modified gut microbiota and decreased the inflammatory status of mice. Our data suggest that RSV exerts its actions in part through modulation of the enteroendocrine axis in vivo