Oil pollution in the Vietnamese waters

Enumeration of hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms (HDM) and their degradative capacity studies were carried out in area IV of South China Sea (Vietnamese water). Microbial most probable number (MPN) varied from 101 to 105 cell/ ml of surface seawater or gram of sediment. Some microbial communities and bacterial strains isolated from 97 collected samples show high hydrocarbon degradation and surfactant producing abilities. Preliminary results of our microbial study indicated that oil pollution in IV area was not found in 30 research stations. Slight oil contamination was observed in 28 survey stations

Oil pollution in the Vietnamese waters

Enumeration of hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms (HDM) and their degradative capacity studies were carried out in area IV of South China Sea (Vietnamese water). Microbial most probable number (MPN) varied from 101 to 105 cell/ ml of surface seawater or gram of sediment. Some microbial communities and bacterial strains isolated from 97 collected samples show high hydrocarbon degradation and surfactant producing abilities. Preliminary results of our microbial study indicated that oil pollution in IV area was not found in 30 research stations. Slight oil contamination was observed in 28 survey stations

Investigation of Thermal Annealing Condition on the Optical and Electrical Properties of Hybrid Silver Nanowires/Reduced Graphene Oxide (AgNWS/rGO) Films

Herein we report a electrode in the hybrid  structure of the silver nanowires (AgNWs) with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) deposited on glass or PET substrate. The assembly and contacting in procedures of this hybrid film have been strongly affected by preparation conditions, especially annealing temperature. In this work, we have investigated the effects of thermal annealing on interconnected at nanowire junctions and between AgNWS network and rGO films via their sheet resistance and transmission. The annealing temperature was varied from 120$^{\circ}$C to 180$^{\circ}$C with 10$^{\circ}$C step to find out optimal temperature at which the wires can be joined together. The results show that at 170$^{\circ}$C, the sheet resistance and transmission of the hybrid rGO/Ag NW film are $R_{s} = 10.7\;\Omega$ sq$^{ - 1 }$ and $T = 77$% (at wavelength 550 nm) corresponding to the ratio of direct conductivity to optical conductivity $\sigma _{DC}/\sigma _{OP} = 126$ which is the best obtained value. It is expected that the hybrid AgNWS/rGO film can replace ITO film in the near future

Helicobacter pylori-Negative Gastric Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma in a Girl

Introduction: Extranodal marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) arises in a number of epithelial tissues, including the stomach, salivary gland, lung, small bowel, thyroid, ocular adnexa, skin, and elsewhere. It has also been called low-grade B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT). MALT lymphoma predominantly occurs in adults and is rare in children. Case Presentation: We report a case of MALT lymphoma involving the stomach, which is the most common subtype, in a 12-year-old girl. Initially, the patient relapsed after antibiotic therapy but achieved successful treatment subsequently through irradiation. Conclusion: Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy should be given to all patients with gastric MZL, irrespective of stage. In patients who do not respond to antibiotic therapy, treatment options such as irradiation and systemic cancer therapies should be considered, depending on the disease stage

The impact of albendazole treatment on the incidence of viral- and bacterial-induced diarrhea in school children in southern Vietnam: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Anthelmintics are one of the more commonly available classes of drugs to treat infections by parasitic helminths (especially nematodes) in the human intestinal tract. As a result of their cost-effectiveness, mass school-based deworming programs are becoming routine practice in developing countries. However, experimental and clinical evidence suggests that anthelmintic treatments may increase susceptibility to other gastrointestinal infections caused by bacteria, viruses, or protozoa. Hypothesizing that anthelmintics may increase diarrheal infections in treated children, we aim to evaluate the impact of anthelmintics on the incidence of diarrheal disease caused by viral and bacterial pathogens in school children in southern Vietnam.This is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial to investigate the effects of albendazole treatment versus placebo on the incidence of viral- and bacterial-induced diarrhea in 350 helminth-infected and 350 helminth-uninfected Vietnamese school children aged 6-15 years. Four hundred milligrams of albendazole, or placebo treatment will be administered once every 3 months for 12 months. At the end of 12 months, all participants will receive albendazole treatment. The primary endpoint of this study is the incidence of diarrheal disease assessed by 12 months of weekly active and passive case surveillance. Secondary endpoints include the prevalence and intensities of helminth, viral, and bacterial infections, alterations in host immunity and the gut microbiota with helminth and pathogen clearance, changes in mean z scores of body weight indices over time, and the number and severity of adverse events.In order to reduce helminth burdens, anthelmintics are being routinely administered to children in developing countries. However, the effects of anthelmintic treatment on susceptibility to other diseases, including diarrheal pathogens, remain unknown. It is important to monitor for unintended consequences of drug treatments in co-infected populations. In this trial, we will examine how anthelmintic treatment impacts host susceptibility to diarrheal infections, with the aim of informing deworming programs of any indirect effects of mass anthelmintic administrations on co-infecting enteric pathogens.ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02597556 . Registered on 3 November 2015

New Variant of Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Associated with Invasive Disease in Immunocompromised Patients in Vietnam.

Nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS), particularly Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, is among the leading etiologic agents of bacterial enterocolitis globally and a well-characterized cause of invasive disease (iNTS) in sub-Saharan Africa. In contrast, S Typhimurium is poorly defined in Southeast Asia, a known hot spot for zoonotic disease with a recently described burden of iNTS disease. Here, we aimed to add insight into the epidemiology and potential impact of zoonotic transfer and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in S Typhimurium associated with iNTS and enterocolitis in Vietnam. We performed whole-genome sequencing and phylogenetic reconstruction on 85 human (enterocolitis, carriage, and iNTS) and 113 animal S Typhimurium isolates isolated in Vietnam. We found limited evidence for the zoonotic transmission of S Typhimurium. However, we describe a chain of events where a pandemic monophasic variant of S Typhimurium (serovar I:4,[5],12:i:- sequence type 34 [ST34]) has been introduced into Vietnam, reacquired a phase 2 flagellum, and acquired an IncHI2 multidrug-resistant plasmid. Notably, these novel biphasic ST34 S Typhimurium variants were significantly associated with iNTS in Vietnamese HIV-infected patients. Our study represents the first characterization of novel iNTS organisms isolated outside sub-Saharan Africa and outlines a new pathway for the emergence of alternative Salmonella variants into susceptible human populations.IMPORTANCESalmonella Typhimurium is a major diarrheal pathogen and associated with invasive nontyphoid Salmonella (iNTS) disease in vulnerable populations. We present the first characterization of iNTS organisms in Southeast Asia and describe a different evolutionary trajectory from that of organisms causing iNTS in sub-Saharan Africa. In Vietnam, the globally distributed monophasic variant of Salmonella Typhimurium, the serovar I:4,[5],12:i:- ST34 clone, has reacquired a phase 2 flagellum and gained a multidrug-resistant plasmid to become associated with iNTS disease in HIV-infected patients. We document distinct communities of S Typhimurium and I:4,[5],12:i:- in animals and humans in Vietnam, despite the greater mixing of these host populations here. These data highlight the importance of whole-genome sequencing surveillance in a One Health context in understanding the evolution and spread of resistant bacterial infections

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

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

Analysis and modelling of spatial organization of 3D tissues in biological images

Nombreux travaux ont été menés pour analyser automatiquement des cellules dans des images de microscopie. Néanmoins, ces travaux se concentrent principalement sur l’application de traitement et d’analyse d’images sur des cellules individuelles. Il y a un manque d’un outil générique pour analyser les interactions entre les cellules et leur organisation spatiale au sein de tissus biologiques. De plus, il existe une demande pour une approche qui est plus efficace pour gérer des images de cellules en 3D à haut débit. Car l’étude des cellules dans l’espace tridimensionnel (3D) donne une meilleure impression et est plus réaliste en ce qui concerne les propriétés physiques et biochimiques du micro-environnement des cellules par rapport aux approches bidimensionnelles. Nous avons proposé un ensemble de méthodologies et un outil pour l’analyse de l’organisation des tissus dans des images biologiques. Cette combinaison d’outils logiciels se propose d’algorithmes pour i) l’identification automatique de plusieurs noyaux individuels et ii) des marqueurs cytoplasmiques, iii) prédiction de la position de la membrane cellulaire, et enfin iv) la reconstruction du réseaux cellulaire. Nous avons appliqué notre outil pour étudier l’organisation spatiale de l’îlot de Langerhans en essayant de comprendre son mécanisme interne. Nous avons aussi appliqué notre outil pour explorer la fonction des cellules de type delta cell dans l’îlot, dont le rôle n’est pas encore déterminé. Nous avons introduit une procédure générique pour modéliser l’organisation spatiale des cellules dans un tissu, qui peut être utilisée pour créer des modèles virtuels de tissus et créer des données à tester.Cells within the tissue preferentially form a network that works together to carry out a specific function. Thus, the role of a tissue is affected by its cell types as well as the architecture of cellular interactions. A question is to what degree the spatial organization of these cells affects the function of the tissue. We first propose a set of methodologies to analyze the multi-cellular structure of tissues at both local and global scale. The goal is to analyze, formalize, and model the spatial organization of the tissue captured by fluorescence microscopy images. At the local scale, we investigate the spatial relationship of several structures with both direct and indirect cellular interactions. At the global scale, we apply spatial statistic approaches to investigate the degree of randomness of the cell distribution. In addition, an open source toolbox is developed which allows researchers to perform investigations of the position of different cells within a 3D multicellular structure. We apply the toolbox to study of the spatial organization of the islet of Langerhans, a special kind of tissue that plays an important role in regulating the blood glucose level. With a good segmentation accuracy, we have been able to perform our analysis of the islets of Langerhans on several different species such as mouse and monkey. We also utilize our toolbox to explore the structural-functional mechanism of the delta cell, a specific kind of cell within the islet whose role has not yet been determined, but could potentially influence the islet function, in mouse and human. Our generic toolbox is implemented with unbiased analytical capabilities in software platform ImageJ

Analyse et modélisation 3D de l’organisation spatiale des tissus dans des images biologiques

Cells within the tissue preferentially form a network that works together to carry out a specific function. Thus, the role of a tissue is affected by its cell types as well as the architecture of cellular interactions. A question is to what degree the spatial organization of these cells affects the function of the tissue. We first propose a set of methodologies to analyze the multi-cellular structure of tissues at both local and global scale. The goal is to analyze, formalize, and model the spatial organization of the tissue captured by fluorescence microscopy images. At the local scale, we investigate the spatial relationship of several structures with both direct and indirect cellular interactions. At the global scale, we apply spatial statistic approaches to investigate the degree of randomness of the cell distribution. In addition, an open source toolbox is developed which allows researchers to perform investigations of the position of different cells within a 3D multicellular structure. We apply the toolbox to study of the spatial organization of the islet of Langerhans, a special kind of tissue that plays an important role in regulating the blood glucose level. With a good segmentation accuracy, we have been able to perform our analysis of the islets of Langerhans on several different species such as mouse and monkey. We also utilize our toolbox to explore the structural-functional mechanism of the delta cell, a specific kind of cell within the islet whose role has not yet been determined, but could potentially influence the islet function, in mouse and human. Our generic toolbox is implemented with unbiased analytical capabilities in software platform ImageJ.Nombreux travaux ont été menés pour analyser automatiquement des cellules dans des images de microscopie. Néanmoins, ces travaux se concentrent principalement sur l’application de traitement et d’analyse d’images sur des cellules individuelles. Il y a un manque d’un outil générique pour analyser les interactions entre les cellules et leur organisation spatiale au sein de tissus biologiques. De plus, il existe une demande pour une approche qui est plus efficace pour gérer des images de cellules en 3D à haut débit. Car l’étude des cellules dans l’espace tridimensionnel (3D) donne une meilleure impression et est plus réaliste en ce qui concerne les propriétés physiques et biochimiques du micro-environnement des cellules par rapport aux approches bidimensionnelles. Nous avons proposé un ensemble de méthodologies et un outil pour l’analyse de l’organisation des tissus dans des images biologiques. Cette combinaison d’outils logiciels se propose d’algorithmes pour i) l’identification automatique de plusieurs noyaux individuels et ii) des marqueurs cytoplasmiques, iii) prédiction de la position de la membrane cellulaire, et enfin iv) la reconstruction du réseaux cellulaire. Nous avons appliqué notre outil pour étudier l’organisation spatiale de l’îlot de Langerhans en essayant de comprendre son mécanisme interne. Nous avons aussi appliqué notre outil pour explorer la fonction des cellules de type delta cell dans l’îlot, dont le rôle n’est pas encore déterminé. Nous avons introduit une procédure générique pour modéliser l’organisation spatiale des cellules dans un tissu, qui peut être utilisée pour créer des modèles virtuels de tissus et créer des données à tester