Boosting project outcomes through goal alignment: a case study of Vietnam

Goal alignment among members of a project team is important so that individual team members can work towards common project outcomes.  This study aims to identify effective goal alignment practices to improve construction project outcomes in Vietnam. With the aid of a survey questionnaire, data were collected from practitioners in Vietnam’s construction industry. The overall results show that although there is significant schedule overrun, projects in Vietnam are generally completed within budget.  These projects also have significantly good quality and client satisfaction.  The results show that goal alignment practices relating to having shared objectives, effective communication, flexibility, and fairness are significantly correlated with schedule performance, quality, and client satisfaction.  It is recommended that project team members share, align and adjust their goals and objectives in order to achieve a better schedule outcome.  Effective communication of problems pertaining to delivery and quality may lead to better client satisfaction.  It is also recommended that consultants and contractors make adjustments and customize their products to derive higher quality and client satisfaction.  Clients should also be fair in sharing project benefits and valuing variations. 

Safety and efficacy of fluoxetine on functional outcome after acute stroke (AFFINITY): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Trials of fluoxetine for recovery after stroke report conflicting results. The Assessment oF FluoxetINe In sTroke recoverY (AFFINITY) trial aimed to show if daily oral fluoxetine for 6 months after stroke improves functional outcome in an ethnically diverse population. Methods AFFINITY was a randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial done in 43 hospital stroke units in Australia (n=29), New Zealand (four), and Vietnam (ten). Eligible patients were adults (aged ≥18 years) with a clinical diagnosis of acute stroke in the previous 2–15 days, brain imaging consistent with ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke, and a persisting neurological deficit that produced a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 1 or more. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 via a web-based system using a minimisation algorithm to once daily, oral fluoxetine 20 mg capsules or matching placebo for 6 months. Patients, carers, investigators, and outcome assessors were masked to the treatment allocation. The primary outcome was functional status, measured by the mRS, at 6 months. The primary analysis was an ordinal logistic regression of the mRS at 6 months, adjusted for minimisation variables. Primary and safety analyses were done according to the patient's treatment allocation. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12611000774921. Findings Between Jan 11, 2013, and June 30, 2019, 1280 patients were recruited in Australia (n=532), New Zealand (n=42), and Vietnam (n=706), of whom 642 were randomly assigned to fluoxetine and 638 were randomly assigned to placebo. Mean duration of trial treatment was 167 days (SD 48·1). At 6 months, mRS data were available in 624 (97%) patients in the fluoxetine group and 632 (99%) in the placebo group. The distribution of mRS categories was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (adjusted common odds ratio 0·94, 95% CI 0·76–1·15; p=0·53). Compared with patients in the placebo group, patients in the fluoxetine group had more falls (20 [3%] vs seven [1%]; p=0·018), bone fractures (19 [3%] vs six [1%]; p=0·014), and epileptic seizures (ten [2%] vs two [<1%]; p=0·038) at 6 months. Interpretation Oral fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke did not improve functional outcome and increased the risk of falls, bone fractures, and epileptic seizures. These results do not support the use of fluoxetine to improve functional outcome after stroke

IMPROVING RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS IN VIETNAM

Bachelor'sBACHELOR OF SCIENCE (PROJECT AND FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Boosting project outcomes through goal alignment: a case study of Vietnam

Goal alignment among members of a project team is important so that individual team members can work towards common project outcomes.  This study aims to identify effective goal alignment practices to improve construction project outcomes in Vietnam. With the aid of a survey questionnaire, data were collected from practitioners in Vietnam’s construction industry. The overall results show that although there is significant schedule overrun, projects in Vietnam are generally completed within budget.  These projects also have significantly good quality and client satisfaction.  The results show that goal alignment practices relating to having shared objectives, effective communication, flexibility, and fairness are significantly correlated with schedule performance, quality, and client satisfaction.  It is recommended that project team members share, align and adjust their goals and objectives in order to achieve a better schedule outcome.  Effective communication of problems pertaining to delivery and quality may lead to better client satisfaction.  It is also recommended that consultants and contractors make adjustments and customize their products to derive higher quality and client satisfaction.  Clients should also be fair in sharing project benefits and valuing variations.  </p

LTA4H genotype is associated with susceptibility to bacterial meningitis but is not a critical determinant of outcome.

Adjunctive dexamethasone saves lives in the treatment of tuberculous meningitis but this response is influenced by the patient's LTA4H genotype. Despite less certain benefit, adjunctive dexamethasone is also frequently used in the treatment of pyogenic bacterial meningitis, but the influence of LTA4H genotype on outcomes has not been previously investigated. We genotyped the LTA4H promoter region SNP (rs17525495) in 390 bacterial meningitis patients and 751 population controls. rs17525495 was associated with susceptibility to bacteriologically confirmed bacterial meningitis (P = 0.01, OR 1.27 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-1.54) but did not influence clinical presentation, disease severity or survival following dexamethasone treatment

Dried blood spots perform well to identify patients with active HCV infection in Vietnam

International audienceRecently, treatment advances in direct-acting antivirals have radically changed the management of HCV patients. However, in resource-limited countries, identification of patients with active HCV infection is still challenging in remote settings due to the limited access to laboratories able to measure HCV viral load. This study evaluated whether dried blood spots (DBS) transferred to a central laboratory could overcome this challenge. A total of 315 HCV-infected patients, naïve to anti-HCV treatment, provided each three type of samples: plasma, DBS with calibrated quantities of venous blood and DBS with uncalibrated quantities of capillary blood. Qualitative comparison was conducted in terms of detection of HCV viral load on DBS as opposed to plasma to estimate sensitivity and specificity. Quantitative comparisons were conducted by means of correlation estimation. Of the 250 patients with detected plasma HCV viral load, 245 also had detectable DBS HCV viral load (capillary or venous) leading to a sensitivity of 98.0% (95% confidence interval (CI): 95.4%-99.3%); importantly, all measurements with a plasma HCV viral load >118 IU/mL were also detected in DBS. When HCV was not detected in plasma, it was also not detected in DBS resulting in 100% specificity (95% CI: 94.5%-100%). Quantitative HCV viral load results were very similar when utilizing plasma or DBS sample types as illustrated by correlations >0.99. In conclusion, DBS sample types, with either uncalibrated capillary blood or calibrated venous blood, performed well to distinguish patients with active HCV infection, and who therefore need treatment, from other patients

<i>LTA4H</i> genotypes, dexamethasone and survival in bacterial meningitis patients.

<p>Kaplan-Meier estimates of survival among BM patients stratified by their rs17525495 genotype in, (A) all BM patients (bacterially confirmed and probable), (B) all BM patients who received placebo, (C) all BM patients who received dexamethasone (D) definite BM patients (bacterially confirmed), (E) definite BM patients who received placebo and (F) definite BM patients who received dexamethasone. Solid line denotes TT, dash line denotes CT, and dot-dash line denotes CC genotype group. Comparisons of survival between genotypes were based on Cox regression models adjusted for the randomized treatment group</p

rs17525495 is associated with susceptibility to bacterial meningitis.

<p>^<i>a</i>frequency</p><p>^<i>b</i>cytosine</p><p>^<i>c</i>thymine</p><p>^<i>d</i>additive model</p><p>^<i>e</i>odds ratio (95% confidence interval)</p><p>^<i>f</i>general model; a genotypic model where one genotype group (e.g. CC group) is baseline</p><p>^<i>g</i>estimates of odds for general model, comparing baseline (CC) to CT</p><p>^<i>h</i>estimates of odds for general model comparing baseline (CC) to TT</p><p>^<i>i</i>recessive model</p><p>^<i>j</i>Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium</p><p>^<i>k</i>definite. NB: data for dominant and heterozygote advantage model were not significant and are not shown here.</p><p>rs17525495 is associated with susceptibility to bacterial meningitis.</p

Variation at HLA-DRB1 is associated with resistance to enteric fever.

Enteric fever affects more than 25 million people annually and results from systemic infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi or Paratyphi pathovars A, B or C(1). We conducted a genome-wide association study of 432 individuals with blood culture-confirmed enteric fever and 2,011 controls from Vietnam. We observed strong association at rs7765379 (odds ratio (OR) for the minor allele = 0.18, P = 4.5 × 10(-10)), a marker mapping to the HLA class II region, in proximity to HLA-DQB1 and HLA-DRB1. We replicated this association in 595 enteric fever cases and 386 controls from Nepal and also in a second independent collection of 151 cases and 668 controls from Vietnam. Imputation-based fine-mapping across the extended MHC region showed that the classical HLA-DRB1*04:05 allele (OR = 0.14, P = 2.60 × 10(-11)) could entirely explain the association at rs7765379, thus implicating HLA-DRB1 as a major contributor to resistance against enteric fever, presumably through antigen presentation