FACTORS RELATED TO THE AWARENESS AND BEHAVIOR OF MARIJUANA USE AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN CAPITAL HANOI, VIETNAM

Abstract The increasing use of addictive substances, especially marijuana, among university students has increased the burden of disease and social issues. However, the specific data about the prevalence and factors relating to marijuana use among university students is still limited. This study aims to provide the initial research literature about factors affecting the awareness and behavior of marijuana use among university students in Hanoi. The study employed two primary methods: a survey questionnaire and an in-depth interview with a sample of 324 diverse university students. According to research findings, students are generally uncertain about the effects of marijuana and take a neutral stance on its social acceptability. The overall prevalence of marijuana use among university students in Hanoi is 7.4%, of which the rate of use in males is 9.4% and in females is 4.1%. Marijuana use is also influenced by peers' behavior, and parents' false perception of their children's drug prevention capability and marijuana's accessibility may also play a factor

Survey on Vietnamese teachers’ perspectives and perceived support during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented damage to the educational system worldwide. Besides the measurable economic impacts in the short-term and long-term, there is intangible destruction within educational institutions. In particular, teachers – the most critical intellectual resources of any schools – have to face various types of financial, physical, and mental struggles due to COVID-19. To capture the current context of more than one million Vietnamese teachers during COVID-19, we distributed an e- survey to more than 2,500 randomly selected teachers from two major teacher communities on Facebook from 6th to 11th April 2020. From over 373 responses, we excluded the observations which violated our cross-check questions and retained 294 observations for further analysis. This dataset includes: (i) Demographics of participants; (ii) Teachers' perspectives regarding the operation of teaching activities during the pandemic; (iii) Teachers' received support from their schools, government bodies, other stakeholders such as teacher unions, and parents' associations; and (iv) teachers' evaluation of school readiness toward digital transformation. Further, the dataset was supplemented with an additional question on the teachers' primary source of professional development activities during the pandemic

Factors affecting the creativity of high school students

Creativity is a vital personality quality of each individual. Each person has their potential for creativity, and it can be nurtured and developed in an appropriate and safe environment. The purpose of the study was to find out which factors from schools and students themselves affect creativity as well as the association between creativity and age, gender and giftedness of students, which then a basis to adjust and establish appropriate methods from schools, families, and students themselves to develop elements and their creativity. The study was conducted on 108 high school students in three grades from giftedness and non-giftedness schools. The data was collected through a survey method using a self-constructed questionnaire and drawing creativity test TCT-DP to determine students' creativity levels and personal information. The study's finding, which uses mathematical methods and one-way analysis of variance, reveals that factors affecting elements and creativity level are objective factors including education environment from school; behavior of teachers, and subjective factors including interests, perspectives, and thoughts of students. It was also found that there were no significant differences in the components of creativity and creativity among students in different grades, gender, and groups of giftedness schools

Reduced Need of Infiltration Anesthesia Accompanied With Other Positive Outcomes in Diode Laser Application for Frenectomy in Children

Introduction: The abnormal maxillary labial frenum is common in children during the primary or mixed dentition stage. A conventional surgery for this abnormality usually requires infiltration anesthesia which leads to fear in children and consequent noncooperation during the surgery. The aim of present study was to evaluate the reduction in the need of infiltration anesthesia, intraoperative bleeding control and postoperative pain and wound healing in children when using the diode laser for abnormal labial frenum in the maxilla.Methods: The present study was carried out among 30 children attending the Hanoi Medical University, Vietnam. A Diode Laser with 810 nm wavelength and power of 0.8 W was used for frenectomy.Results: The proportion of procedures without any need of infiltration anesthesia was 70%, while 93.34% of children demonstrated positive and very positive behavior. Proportion of indolence on the first day after surgery was 83.3%. While 83.3% of children did not take any analgesics, not a single child complained of any pain 3 days after surgery.Conclusion: Our results indicated that the use of diode laser showed several benefits in maxillary labial frenectomy in children. These included reducing the need of infiltration anesthesia, increasing the children’s cooperation as well as decreasing the postoperative pain

Hypoxia-Induced Lysyl Oxidase Is a Critical Mediator of Bone Marrow Cell Recruitment to Form the Premetastatic Niche

SummaryTumor cell metastasis is facilitated by “premetastatic niches” formed in destination organs by invading bone marrow-derived cells (BMDCs). Lysyl oxidase (LOX) is critical for premetastatic niche formation. LOX secreted by hypoxic breast tumor cells accumulates at premetastatic sites, crosslinks collagen IV in the basement membrane, and is essential for CD11b+ myeloid cell recruitment. CD11b+ cells adhere to crosslinked collagen IV and produce matrix metalloproteinase-2, which cleaves collagen, enhancing the invasion and recruitment of BMDCs and metastasizing tumor cells. LOX inhibition prevents CD11b+ cell recruitment and metastatic growth. CD11b+ cells and LOX also colocalize in biopsies of human metastases. Our findings demonstrate a critical role for LOX in premetastatic niche formation and support targeting LOX for the treatment and prevention of metastatic disease

Morphological characterization and classification of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) in Vietnam

The aim of this study was to establish the morphological basis for the classification of major cassava cultivars (Manihot esculenta Crantz) planted in Vietnam. Twenty typical descriptors were observed in various specific growth stages. Four traits related to mature leaves and two traits related to leaf veins were detected in cassava plant after the 4-month stage. At the same time, 12 root- and stem-related descriptors were collected in cassava plants from 8-months to harvest. We found that two traits in the apical leaves can be observed in every growth stage. A classification tree based on these traits was constructed with 6 essential morphological descriptors to recognize the 7 most common cassava cultivars in Vietnam. KM 140 variety is distinguished by purplish-red in apical leaves, while KM 98-7 can be classified with straight or linear shapes of central leaflet. The irregular orientation of the petiole is a unique descriptor of local cultivar XVP. In the case of SM 937-26, weak foliar scars are observed. Finally, KM 94, KM 419, and KM 98-5 varieties can be classified by the color of the stem epidermis. These morphological descriptors will be a foundation to classify all cassava varieties planted in Vietnam.

Neurotrophic factor GDNF promotes survival of salivary stem cells

Stem cell-based regenerative therapy is a promising treatment for head and neck cancer patients that suffer from chronic dry mouth (xerostomia) due to salivary gland injury from radiation therapy. Current xerostomia therapies only provide temporary symptom relief, while permanent restoration of salivary function is not currently feasible. Here, we identified and characterized a stem cell population from adult murine submandibular glands. Of the different cells isolated from the submandibular gland, this specific population, Lin-CD24+c-Kit+Sca1+, possessed the highest capacity for proliferation, self renewal, and differentiation during serial passage in vitro. Serial transplantations of this stem cell population into the submandibular gland of irradiated mice successfully restored saliva secretion and increased the number of functional acini. Gene-expression analysis revealed that glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (Gdnf) is highly expressed in Lin-CD24+c-Kit+Sca1+ stem cells. Furthermore, GDNF expression was upregulated upon radiation therapy in submandibular glands of both mice and humans. Administration of GDNF improved saliva production and enriched the number of functional acini in submandibular glands of irradiated animals and enhanced salisphere formation in cultured salivary stem cells, but did not accelerate growth of head and neck cancer cells. These data indicate that modulation of the GDNF pathway may have potential therapeutic benefit for management of radiation-induced xerostomia

Fabrication and Evaluation of the Photocatalytic, Antibacterial Activity of Ag–TiO2_2 Thin Film

Ag–TiO2 thin film was fabricated by DC magnetron sputtering and photoreduction methods. Characteristics of the film such as surface area, crystal structure, and chemical composition were investigated by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X–ray diffractometry (XRD) and UV–vis spectra. The photocatalytic activity of Ag–TiO2 thin film was determined by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution under various irradiation conditions. The antibacterial property of Ag–TiO2 thin film was conducted in E. coli bacteria. Results showed that the photocatalytic and antibacterial property of Ag–TiO2 thin film are better than those of pure TiO2 thin film in the visible region. Ag–TiO2 thin film shows a great potential application in the antibacterial and environment field