Smoking and Periodontal Disease in Vietnamese Middle-Aged Population

Current understanding of periodontal disease derives from studies mostly conducted in developed countries. However, the disease process among those studied populations may be confounded by the professional dental care. There have been few attempts to investigate factors related to the disease among populations of developing countries where the natural history of the disease is minimally confounded by care. This imbalance is evident in risk assessment research on the associations between periodontal disease and smoking-one of the most significant risk factors for the disease. Also, most studies on smoking used convenience or purposive samples, which may bias the findings. Therefore, there is a need for research conducted among a representative sample of a developing country. The present study aimed to describe the prevalence, extent and severity of chronic adult periodontitis among representative Vietnamese middle-aged adults. Also, it aimed to investigate smoking, which is highly prevalent in Vietnam, as a risk indicator for periodontal disease in a population with minimal access to dental care. The study was designed as a cross-sectional population-based study with a multistage, stratified random sample with probability of selection proportional to population size. The US National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR) protocol was used to assess loss of periodontal attachment among 575 dentate subjects in two randomly selected provinces. Assessment was made at mesial and buccal sites of every present tooth, excluding third molars. A parallel social survey collected socio-demographic information and smoking history, which were assessed for possible association with the disease status. Periodontal disease was highly prevalent among the sample. The patterns of the disease were similar to those reported from other populations. Virtually all subjects expressed some levels of disease, whereas only a few subjects or sites had severe disease. Bivariate analyses revealed significant associations between smoking and lower socio-economic status with more severe expression of the disease. Smoking was consistently associated with poorer periodontal status irrespective of outcome measure investigated. Multivariate models showed that smoking was the most predictive factor for the disease. The Odds Ratio of having severe periodontitis (that is, having 2+sites with loss of attachment more than or equal to 5 mm and 1+sites with pocket depth more than or equal to 4 mm) was 7.93 for heavy smokers compared to non-smokers. A dose-response effect of the association between smoking and the outcomes of the disease was also evident. The study provided a picture of the periodontal status of the representative sample from Vietnamese middle-aged adult population where the disease was less confounded by dental care. Furthermore, the study contributes consistency, strength and dose-response effect to the association of smoking as a risk indicator for periodontal destruction. The study should be used to assist the public health agencies in planning appropriate policies for Vietnam to address smoking and periodontal disease.Thesis (M.Sc.)--Dental School, 2001

Extraction and Quantification of Carpaine from Carica papaya Leaves of Vietnam

Our previous research indicated that carpaine and its derivative pseudocarpaine extracted from Carica papaya leaves had anti-cancer activity. In this study, we extracted the total alkaloid from Carica papaya leaves, then extracted carpaine and quantitative analyzed carpaine in the total alkaloid. Carica papaya leaves was crushed, and then extracted with EtOH to obtain the total extract. This extract was extracted with suitable solvent to obtain total alkaloid. Continued to extract the total alkaloid by using open column chromatography and crystallizing method to purify carpaine. The research result showed that the total alkaloid in Carica papaya leaves was 0.2% comparing with dried material. Quantitative analyze of purified carpaine by HPLC determined that carpaine was the main alkaloid with the content was 63% of the total alkaloid extracted from Carica papaya leaves

Probabilistic models for contextual agreement in preferences

Singapore National Research Foundation under International Research Centre @ Singapore Funding Initiativ

Mining Revenue-Maximizing Bundling Configuration

With greater prevalence of social media, there is an increas-ing amount of user-generated data revealing consumer pref-erences for various products and services. Businesses seek to harness this wealth of data to improve their marketing strategies. Bundling, or selling two or more items for one price is a highly-practiced marketing strategy. In this pa-per, we address the bundle configuration problem from the data-driven perspective. Given a set of items in a seller’s in-ventory, we seek to determine which items should belong to which bundle so as to maximize the total revenue, by mining consumer preferences data. We show that this problem is NP-hard when bundles are allowed to contain more than two items. Therefore, we describe an optimal solution for bundle sizes up to two items, and propose two heuristic solutions for bundles of any larger size. We investigate the effective-ness and the efficiency of the proposed algorithms through experimentations on real-life rating-based preferences data

A Comparison by Milk Feeding Method of the Nutrient Intake of a Cohort of Australian Toddlers

Breastfeeding is recommended beyond 12 months of age, but little is known about the contribution of breastmilk and infant formula to the nutritional intake of toddlers as they transition to a family diet in the second year of life. This study is a cross-sectional analysis of data collected from a birth cohort study in Adelaide, Australia. Dietary intake data were collected when children were approximately 1 year of age by an interviewer-administered multi-pass 24 h recall and a mother-completed 2 days food diary. Children were categorized according to their milk feeding method, i.e., breastmilk, infant formula, combination or other, and their nutrient intakes compared with recommended nutrient reference values. Complete data were available for 832 children, of which 714 had plausible energy intakes. Breastmilk and formula made a substantial contribution to the nutrient intake of those toddlers, contributing 28% and 34% of total energy, and 16% and 26% of protein intake, respectively when not drunk in combination. In general, Australian toddlers transitioning to the family diet consumed nutritionally adequate diets, although almost one quarter of all children and half of breastfed children with plausible intakes had iron intakes below the estimated average requirement, placing them at risk of iron deficiency

El proceso de desarrollo en las experiencias de construcción socialista de Viet Nam y Cuba: un análisis comparado

This paper analyses the development process of two experience of socialist construction, Viet Nam and Cuba. Also, the results, positives and negatives, of the implementation of the development strategies applied by each country, are exposed. The latest has been closely linked to the development conditions prevailing in each region. An econometric model was applied using the Eviews software package, to measure the impact of the growth obtained by each country on the development levels achieved by them, in terms of human development.En este trabajo se analiza el proceso de desarrollo en el contexto del socialismo histórico. En este sentido se exponen las experiencias vietnamita y cubana, destacando los resultados, tanto positivos como negativos de las estrategias de desarrollo adoptadas en estos países, lo cual ha guardado estrecho vínculo con las condiciones de desarrollo que prevalecen en cada región. Para ello, se empleará un modelo econométrico a partir de la herramienta del paquete informático Eviews, para medir el impacto del crecimiento obtenido en el proceso de construcción socialista sobre los niveles de desarrollo alcanzado por cada país, en términos de desarrollo humano