Investigation of salt-tolerant rhizosphere bacteria from seawater-intruding paddy rice field in Vietnam

Salt‐tolerant plant growth‐promoting rhizobacteria (ST‐PGPR) are known as potential tools to improve rice salinity tolerance. In this study, we aimed to investigate the plant growth‐promoting rhizobacteria community richness of the paddy rice fields in Soc Trang and Ben Tre Provinces where were seriously affected by sea level rise. The salinity in the sampling sites ranged from 0.14‰ to 2.17‰ in November 2018, the rainy season. The microbial abundance of samples was evaluated by spreading the samples in tryptic soy agar (TSA) medium supplemented with various concentrations of NaCl. With the increase of salt concentration up to 10% NaCl, a total number of bacteria decreased for all the samples, ranging from 106 to 104 CFU/g, and bacterial colonies were not observed at 30% NaCl. Among a total of 48 salt-resisting bacteria isolated from the rice paddy field mud surrounding the rice root, 22 isolates were able to produce indole-3-acetic acid (IAA: phytohormone for the plant growth). Seventeen out of 48 isolates were able to grow in the medium without nitrogen or phosphor sources. Six isolates having high IAA producing activity, nitrogen fixation and phosphate solubilization were belonged to Bacillus (DT6, LT16, and LHT8), Halobacillus (DT8), Aeromonas (LHT1), and Klebsiella (LHT7) genera. All the sequences of the strains DT6, DT8, LT16, LHT1, LHT7, and LHT8 were registered in the GeneBank with the accession numbers MK335670, MK335671, MK335672, MK335673, MK335674, and MK335675, respectively.

Lovastatin for the Treatment of Adult Patients With Dengue: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Dengue endangers billions of people in the tropical world, yet no therapeutic is currently available. In part, the severe manifestations of dengue reflect inflammatory processes affecting the vascular endothelium. In addition to lipid lowering, statins have pleiotropic effects that improve endothelial function, and epidemiological studies suggest that outcomes from a range of acute inflammatory syndromes are improved in patients already on statin therapy. METHODS: Following satisfactory review of a short pilot phase (40 mg lovastatin vs placebo in 30 cases), we performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 5 days of 80 mg lovastatin vs placebo in 300 Vietnamese adults with a positive dengue NS1 rapid test presenting within 72 hours of fever onset. The primary outcome was safety. Secondary outcomes included comparisons of disease progression rates, fever clearance times, and measures of plasma viremia and quality of life between the treatment arms. RESULTS: Adverse events occurred with similar frequency in both groups (97/151 [64%] placebo vs 82/149 [55%] lovastatin; P = .13), and were in keeping with the characteristic clinical and laboratory features of acute dengue. We also observed no difference in serious adverse events or any of the secondary outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS: We found lovastatin to be safe and well tolerated in adults with dengue. However, although the study was not powered to address efficacy, we found no evidence of a beneficial effect on any of the clinical manifestations or on dengue viremia. Continuing established statin therapy in patients who develop dengue is safe.Chinese Clinical Trials Registration. ISRCTN03147572

H'mong mustard seed production calendar

H’mong mustard seed production calendars for awareness creation and capacity building activities in vegetable and seed production and storage among ethnic minority vegetable farming households in Northern Vietnam. Particularly designed with and for the H’Mong and Dao people in Lao Cai province and Thai people in Son La province in English and Vietnamese

French bean seed production calendar

French bean seed production calendars for awareness creation and capacity building activities in vegetable and seed production and storage among ethnic minority vegetable farming households in Northern Vietnam. Particularly designed with and for the H’Mong and Dao people in Lao Cai province and Thai people in Son La province in English and Vietnamese

Effect of Differential N-linked and O-linked Mannosylation on Recognition of Fungal Antigens by Dendritic Cells

BACKGROUND. An experimental approach for improving vaccine efficacy involves targeting antigens to mannose receptors (MRs) on dendritic cells (DCs) and other professional antigen presenting cells. Previously, we demonstrated that mannosylated Pichia pastoris-derived recombinant proteins exhibited increased immunogenicity compared to proteins lacking mannosylation. In order to gain insight into the mechanisms responsible for this observation, the present study examined the cellular uptake of the mannosylated and deglycosylated recombinant proteins. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. Utilizing transfected cell lines, roles for the macrophage mannose receptor (MMR, CD206) and DC-SIGN (CD209) in the recognition of the mannosylated, but not deglycosylated, antigens were demonstrated. The uptake of mannosylated antigens into murine bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) was inhibited by yeast mannans (YMs), suggesting a mannose-specific C-type lectin receptor-dependent process, while the uptake of deglycosylated antigens remained unaffected. In particular, antigens with both N-linked and extensive O-linked mannosylation showed the highest binding and uptake by BMDCs. Finally, confocal microscopy studies revealed that both mannosylated and deglycosylated P. pastoris-derived recombinant proteins localized in MHC class II+ compartments within BMDCs. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE. Taken together with our previous results, these data suggest that increased uptake by mannose-specific C-type lectin receptors is the major mechanism responsible for the enhanced antigenicity seen with mannosylated proteins. These findings have important implications for vaccine design and contribute to our understanding of how glycosylation affects the immune response to eukaryotic pathogens.National Institutes of Health (RO1 AI25780, RO1 AI37532

Smoke-free environment policy in Vietnam: What did people see and how did they react when they visited various public places?

Introduction: Since Vietnam has signed WHO framework on tobacco control (FCTC) in 2003 and has issued tobacco control law in 2013, there has been little research concerning about what impacts smoke-free regulations have had on public compliance. The objective of this study was to assess public exposure to secondhand smoke and reaction toward smoke-free policy regulations in Vietnam and the associated factor. Methods: Using the design of GATS (Global Adult Tobacco Survey), a nationally representative sample of 8,996 adults were approached for data collection. Logistic regression was used to examine the associated factor.Results: The study revealed that the prevalence of respondents exposed to secondhand smoke was much higher in bars/café/tea shops (90.07%) and restaurants (81.81%) than in any other public places, universities (36.70%), government buildings (31.12%), public transport (20.04%), healthcare facilities (17.85%) and schools (15.84%). 13.23% of respondents saw smokers violate smoke-free regulations. Among those who saw them violate smoke-free regulations, just one-third cautioned them to stop smoking. Strikingly, a higher rate of cautioning smokers to stop smoking was observed among the older, married, and better educated respondents. Respondents who were married, better educated and in lower economic status were more likely to remind smokers to stop smoking.Conclusions: The study has called for strengthening two of the six MPOWER (Monitor, Protect, Offer, Warn, Enforce and Raise) components of the tobacco free initiative introduced by WHO, Monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies and Protecting people from tobacco smoke

Criteria of “persistent vomiting” in the WHO 2009 warning signs for dengue case classification

Introduction: Dengue is a viral disease that spreads rapidly in the tropic and subtropic regions of the world and causes 22,000 deaths annually. In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a new classification of dengue infections, which divided them into three categories: dengue without warning sign (D), dengue with warning sign (DWS), and severe dengue (SD). However, researchers have been using different criteria to define persistent vomiting; therefore, we aimed to evaluate the ability of the number of vomiting times in early prediction of SD development among D/DWS patients. Method: A hospital-based cohort study was conducted in Ben Tre-south of Vietnam. We enrolled confirmed dengue patients with D and DWS at admission. The final classification was determined on the discharged day for every patient based on the classification of WHO 2009 without using vomiting symptom, using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to evaluate the ability of the number of vomiting times in early prediction of SD development among D/DWS patients. Result: The prevalence of vomiting symptom was higher in SD group than D/DWS group (92 versus 46 %, p = 0.006), and the median of the number of vomiting times was higher in SD group than D/DWS group (2.5 versus 0, p = 0.001). To distinguish SD from D/DWS, the ROC curve of the number of vomiting episodes showed that the area under the curve was 0.77; with the cut point of two, the sensitivity and specificity were 92 and 52 %, respectively. Conclusion: The number of vomiting times could be a good clinical sign which can early predict SD from the group of D/DWS. We suggest the definition of persistent vomiting should be vomiting two times or more per day

A modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score for dengue: development, evaluation and proposal for use in clinical trials

Background Dengue is a neglected tropical disease, for which no therapeutic agents have shown clinical efficacy to date. Clinical trials have used strikingly variable clinical endpoints, which hampers reproducibility and comparability of findings. We investigated a delta modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (delta mSOFA) score as a uniform composite clinical endpoint for use in clinical trials investigating therapeutics for moderate and severe dengue. Methods We developed a modified SOFA score for dengue, measured and evaluated its performance at baseline and 48 h after enrolment in a prospective observational cohort of 124 adults admitted to a tertiary referral hospital in Vietnam with dengue shock. The modified SOFA score included pulse pressure in the cardiovascular component. Binary logistic regression, cox proportional hazard and linear regression models were used to estimate association between mSOFA, delta mSOFA and clinical outcomes. Results The analysis included 124 adults with dengue shock. 29 (23.4%) patients required ICU admission for organ support or due to persistent haemodynamic instability: 9/124 (7.3%) required mechanical ventilation, 8/124 (6.5%) required vasopressors, 6/124 (4.8%) required haemofiltration and 5/124 (4.0%) patients died. In univariate analyses, higher baseline and delta (48 h) mSOFA score for dengue were associated with admission to ICU, requirement for organ support and mortality, duration of ICU and hospital admission and IV fluid use. Conclusions The baseline and delta mSOFA scores for dengue performed well to discriminate patients with dengue shock by clinical outcomes, including duration of ICU and hospital admission, requirement for organ support and death. We plan to use delta mSOFA as the primary endpoint in an upcoming host-directed therapeutic trial and investigate the performance of this score in other phenotypes of severe dengue in adults and children

Awareness and preparedness of healthcare workers against the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey across 57 countries.

BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave. METHODS: This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected COVID-19 patients and prior COVID-19 case-management training. RESULTS: We surveyed 24,653 HCWs from 371 hospitals across 57 countries and received 17,302 responses from 70.2% HCWs overall. The median COVID-19 preparedness score was 11.0 (interquartile range [IQR] = 6.0-14.0) and the median awareness score was 29.6 (IQR = 26.6-32.6). HCWs at COVID-19 designated facilities with previous outbreak experience, or HCWs who were trained for dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, had significantly higher levels of preparedness and awareness (p<0.001). Association rule mining suggests that nurses and doctors who had a 'great-extent-of-confidence' in handling suspected COVID-19 patients had participated in COVID-19 training courses. Male participants (mean difference = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.46; p<0.001) and nurses (mean difference = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.53, 0.81; p<0.001) had higher preparedness scores compared to women participants and doctors. INTERPRETATION: There was an unsurprising high level of awareness and preparedness among HCWs who participated in COVID-19 training courses. However, disparity existed along the lines of gender and type of HCW. It is unknown whether the difference in COVID-19 preparedness that we detected early in the pandemic may have translated into disproportionate SARS-CoV-2 burden of disease by gender or HCW type