A Retrospective Cohort Study of Kawasaki Disease in Hue Central Hospital for 10 Years (2010-2019)

INTRODUCTION: Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute self-limited systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology which affects mainly children <5 years of age. If the disease is left untreated, it can lead to serious complications such as inflammation of the blood vessels. AIM: We aim to evaluate the clinical and laboratory findings and response to therapy of KD at Hue Central Hospital. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of patients with KD at Pediatric Center of Hue Central Hospital between January 2010 and December 2019. Clinical and laboratory examinations as well as the echocardiograms finding were analyzed. RESULTS: All patients were under 5 years old, in which boys were more than girls. Fever lasting over 5 days, changing in the mouth mucosa, and peripheral extremities were seen in all patients. About 73.2% had bilateral conjunctivitis and 78.0% had rash. About 42.3% of patients had cervical lymphadenopathy. Laboratory findings were noted with 84.5% of patients had hyperleukocytosis (>12,000/ mm3), 76.2% of patients had high serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (>100 mg/dl), 56% of patients had erythrocyte sediment rate >60 mm in the 1st h, and 34.5% of patients had thrombocytosis (platelet count >500,000/mm3) at the time of diagnosis. About 26.2% of patients had coronary artery lesions. Most patients (84.4%) had good outcome since the first dose of gamma-globulin and 13% of patients needed the second dose. There was a significant correlation between coronary artery abnormalities and no or late treatment of gamma-globulin. CONCLUSION: KD was very common in children under 5 years old with the high rate of coronary artery lesion. Treatment with gamma-globulin on or before 10 days of fever resulted in better coronary outcomes and decreased the total length of time of clinical symptoms

Anti-DreamBooth: Protecting users from personalized text-to-image synthesis

Text-to-image diffusion models are nothing but a revolution, allowing anyone, even without design skills, to create realistic images from simple text inputs. With powerful personalization tools like DreamBooth, they can generate images of a specific person just by learning from his/her few reference images. However, when misused, such a powerful and convenient tool can produce fake news or disturbing content targeting any individual victim, posing a severe negative social impact. In this paper, we explore a defense system called Anti-DreamBooth against such malicious use of DreamBooth. The system aims to add subtle noise perturbation to each user's image before publishing in order to disrupt the generation quality of any DreamBooth model trained on these perturbed images. We investigate a wide range of algorithms for perturbation optimization and extensively evaluate them on two facial datasets over various text-to-image model versions. Despite the complicated formulation of DreamBooth and Diffusion-based text-to-image models, our methods effectively defend users from the malicious use of those models. Their effectiveness withstands even adverse conditions, such as model or prompt/term mismatching between training and testing. Our code will be available at \href{https://github.com/VinAIResearch/Anti-DreamBooth.git}{https://github.com/VinAIResearch/Anti-DreamBooth.git}.Comment: Project page: https://anti-dreambooth.github.io

EXTRACURRICULAR SPORTS: POPULAR CONTENTS AND FORMS AMONG STUDENTS IN THE DORMITORY OF VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY

This article is written to provide thorough information about popular contents and forms of extracurricular sports performed by university students at a dormitory of Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNUHCMC). The study uses document references, surveys, and statistical mathematics to investigate what extracurricular sports are favored by the students and how they organize their practices. The results indicate that the majority of students choose to practice football, volleyball, badminton, athletics, and martial arts. They play with themselves and/or in teams, without instructors, from 30 minutes to 02 hours in the afternoon after school time and/or in the morning, at the dormitory and/or sports centers.  Article visualizations

PHYSICAL CONDITION OF MALE STUDENTS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY DORMITORY

The purpose of the study is to provide information about the current physical condition of 19-year-old male students of the Vietnam National University of Ho Chi Minh City (VNUHCMC) dormitory. The research used the methods of synthesizing sport-related documents, interviewing experts, applying pedagogical tests, and statistical analysis to determine appropriate physical fitness assessment tests. Afterward, the figures for the physical condition of male students at the VNUHCMC dormitory were compared with that of the average Vietnamese people, of Hanoi National University (HNU), University of Danang (UD), Can Tho University (CTU), and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) students at the same age and gender, and with the standard shown in Decision 53/2008/BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training. The results show that the “good” group accounts for 28.75%, the “acceptable” group for 23.19% and the “failed” group for 48.06%. It is notable that the agility, leg muscular strength, endurance, and motor skills of 19-year-old male students at the VNUHCMC dormitory are greater than the average physical fitness of Vietnamese people, as well as students of the same age and gender at HNU, UD, and CTU. Their endurance is also higher than that of male HCMC pupils of the same age, but their leg muscular strength and motor abilities are almost comparable.  Article visualizations

A solution for synchronous incremental maintenance of materialized views based on SQL recursive query

Materialized views are excessively stored query execution results in the database. They can be used to partially or completely answer queries which will be further appeared instead of re-executing query from the scratch. There is a large number of published works that address the maintenance, especially incremental update, of materialized views and query rewriting for using those ones. Some of them support materialized views based on recursive query in datalog language. Although most of datalog queries can be transferred into SQL queries and vise versa but it is not the case for recursive queries. Recursive queries in the data log try to find all possible transitive closures. Recursive queries in SQL (Common Table Expression – CTE) return direct links but not transitive closures. In this paper, we propose efficient methods for incremental update of materialized views based on CTE; and then propose an algorithm for generating source codes in C language for any input SQL recursive queries. The synthesized source codes implement our proposed incremental update algorithms according to inserted/deleted/updated record set in the base tables. This paper focuses mainly on the recursive queries whose execution results are directed tree-structured data. The two cases of tree node are considered. In the first case, a child node has only one parent node and in the second case, a child node can have many parent nodes. Those two cases represent the two types of relationships between entities in real world, that are one–to–many and many–to–many, respectively. For the one–to–many relationships, the relationship data is accompanied with the records describing the child using some fields. Those fields are set as null in deleting a concrete relationship. For the many–to–many relationships, it is stored in a separate table and the concrete relationships are removed by deleting describing records from that table. Considering of enforcing referential integrity may help to reduce the searching space and therefore, help to improve the performance. However, the set of tree nodes or tree edges can be manipulated. All those combinations lead to different algorithms. The experimental results are provided and discussed to confirm the effectiveness of our proposed method

A solution for synchronous incremental maintenance of materialized views based on SQL recursive query

Materialized views are excessively stored query execution results in the database. They can be used to partially or completely answer queries which will be further appeared instead of re-executing query from the scratch. There is a large number of published works that address the maintenance, especially incremental update, of materialized views and query rewriting for using those ones. Some of them support materialized views based on recursive query in datalog language. Although most of datalog queries can be transferred into SQL queries and vise versa but it is not the case for recursive queries. Recursive queries in the data log try to find all possible transitive closures. Recursive queries in SQL (Common Table Expression – CTE) return direct links but not transitive closures. In this paper, we propose efficient methods for incremental update of materialized views based on CTE; and then propose an algorithm for generating source codes in C language for any input SQL recursive queries. The synthesized source codes implement our proposed incremental update algorithms according to inserted/deleted/updated record set in the base tables. This paper focuses mainly on the recursive queries whose execution results are directed tree-structured data. The two cases of tree node are considered. In the first case, a child node has only one parent node and in the second case, a child node can have many parent nodes. Those two cases represent the two types of relationships between entities in real world, that are one–to–many and many–to–many, respectively. For the one–to–many relationships, the relationship data is accompanied with the records describing the child using some fields. Those fields are set as null in deleting a concrete relationship. For the many–to–many relationships, it is stored in a separate table and the concrete relationships are removed by deleting describing records from that table. Considering of enforcing referential integrity may help to reduce the searching space and therefore, help to improve the performance. However, the set of tree nodes or tree edges can be manipulated. All those combinations lead to different algorithms. The experimental results are provided and discussed to confirm the effectiveness of our proposed method

Pathogenic Escherichia coli Possess Elevated Growth Rates under Exposure to Sub-Inhibitory Concentrations of Azithromycin.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the ten major threats to global health. Advances in technology, including whole-genome sequencing, have provided new insights into the origin and mechanisms of AMR. However, our understanding of the short-term impact of antimicrobial pressure and resistance on the physiology of bacterial populations is limited. We aimed to investigate morphological and physiological responses of clinical isolates of E. coli under short-term exposure to key antimicrobials. We performed whole-genome sequencing on twenty-seven E. coli isolates isolated from children with sepsis to evaluate their AMR gene content. We assessed their antimicrobial susceptibility profile and measured their growth dynamics and morphological characteristics under exposure to varying concentrations of ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, tetracycline, gentamicin, and azithromycin. AMR was common, with all organisms resistant to at least one antimicrobial; a total of 81.5% were multi-drug-resistant (MDR). We observed an association between resistance profile and morphological characteristics of the E. coli over a three-hour exposure to antimicrobials. Growth dynamics experiments demonstrated that resistance to tetracycline promoted the growth of E. coli under antimicrobial-free conditions, while resistance to the other antimicrobials incurred a fitness cost. Notably, antimicrobial exposure heterogeneously suppressed bacterial growth, but sub-MIC concentrations of azithromycin increased the maximum growth rate of the clinical isolates. Our results outline complex interactions between organism and antimicrobials and raise clinical concerns regarding exposure of sub-MIC concentrations of specific antimicrobials

Unexpected cases in field diagnosis of African swine fever virus in Vietnam: The needs consideration when performing molecular diagnostic tests

Background: The first confirmed case of African swine fever (ASF) in Vietnam was reported officially in February 2019. To date, ASF virus (ASFV) have been detected in 63/63 provinces in Vietnam. Currently, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is considered to be a powerful tool for viral detection in field samples, including ASFV. However, some recent reports have suggested that mismatches in primer and probe binding regions may directly affect real-time PCR qualification, leading a false-negative result.Aim: This study aims to further examine a conflicting result obtained from two OIE recommended methods, conventional PCR and real-time PCR, for ASFV detection.Methods: Two ASF suspected pigs from different provinces in the north of Vietnam were selected for this study based on clinical signs and postmortem lesions. The different results obtained by OIE-recommended conventional PCR and real-time PCR were further analyzed by the Sanger sequencing method and virus isolation in combination with hemadsorption (HAD) test using porcine alveolar macrophages cells.Results: The results showed that when the primer sequence matched perfectly with the sequences of field isolates, a mutation in probe binding region was found, indicating that a single mismatch in the probe binding site may cause a false-negative result by real-time PCR in detecting ASFV in clinical samples in Vietnam. An agreement between conventional PCR, using PPA1/PPA2 primers and two golden standard methods, virus isolation in combination with HAD assay, and sequencing method was observed in this study.Conclusion: A single mismatch in the probe binding site caused a failse-negative result by realtime PCR method in field diagnosis of ASFV. The needs consideration when selecting the appropriate molecular diagnostic methods is based on the current databases of ASFV sequences,  particularly for epidemiological surveillance of ASF. Keywords: African swine fever, PCR, Pigs, Real-time PCR, Vietna

Efficacy of Adding Oral Simvastatin to Topical Therapy for Treatment of Psoriasis: The Vietnamese Experience

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis, the prevalence of which ranges from 2% to 3% of the general population, has been recently recognised as not only a chronic inflammatory skin disorder but also an immunometabolic systemic disease. Dyslipidemia is one of the most important comorbidities of psoriasis. Statins, frequently used as anti-hyperlipidemic agents, may be beneficial in the treatment of several autoimmune diseases, including psoriasis, due to their anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory characteristics. Hence, we hypothesised that using this medication was not only beneficial for reducing hyperlipidemia but also improving psoriatic conditions. AIM: We conducted a study to determine the prevalence of dyslipidemia in psoriatic patients as well as whether the addition of statins (simvastatin prescribed forms) to standard topical antipsoriatic treatment can improve skin lesions in psoriatic patients. METHODS: A group of 128 psoriatic patients and 128 healthy controls who were matched with the patients regarding ethnicity, age, and sex were enrolled, and their lipid concentrations were determined. Furthermore, sixty patients were randomly selected from the former group and divided into two treatment subgroups to evaluate the effect of statins on the severity of psoriasis using the PASI score. RESULTS: We found that the rate of dyslipidemia in the patient group was significantly higher than in the healthy group (53.9% versus 21.9%, p < 0.001), particularly the triglyceride concentration (1.86 ± 1.17 versus 1.43 ± 0.79 mg/dL, p < 0.001). Also, the PASI score reduction in the simvastatin-treated subgroup was significantly different from that in the placebo-treated one after eight weeks of therapy (8.63 ± 4.78 versus 5.34 ± 3.59, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: This study showed that simvastatin might play a role in controlling hyperlipidemia and in turn decrease the PASI score in psoriatic patients

Clinical implications of reduced susceptibility to fluoroquinolones in paediatric Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri infections.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to quantify the impact of fluoroquinolone resistance on the clinical outcome of paediatric shigellosis patients treated with fluoroquinolones in southern Vietnam. Such information is important to inform therapeutic management for infections caused by this increasingly drug-resistant pathogen, responsible for high morbidity and mortality in young children globally. METHODS: Clinical information and bacterial isolates were derived from a randomized controlled trial comparing gatifloxacin with ciprofloxacin for the treatment of paediatric shigellosis. Time-kill experiments were performed to evaluate the impact of MIC on the in vitro growth of Shigella and Cox regression modelling was used to compare clinical outcome between treatments and Shigella species. RESULTS: Shigella flexneri patients treated with gatifloxacin had significantly worse outcomes than those treated with ciprofloxacin. However, the MICs of fluoroquinolones were not significantly associated with poorer outcome. The presence of S83L and A87T mutations in the gyrA gene significantly increased MICs of fluoroquinolones. Finally, elevated MICs and the presence of the qnrS gene allowed Shigella to replicate efficiently in vitro in high concentrations of ciprofloxacin. CONCLUSIONS: We found that below the CLSI breakpoint, there was no association between MIC and clinical outcome in paediatric shigellosis infections. However, S. flexneri patients had worse clinical outcomes when treated with gatifloxacin in this study regardless of MIC. Additionally, Shigella harbouring the qnrS gene are able to replicate efficiently in high concentrations of ciprofloxacin and we hypothesize that such strains possess a competitive advantage against fluoroquinolone-susceptible strains due to enhanced shedding and transmission