Design, fabrication, and testing of a microfluidic system for cardiac cell culture.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States and accounts for nearly 1,372,000 deaths each year. In addition, ~81 million Americans suffer from some form of CVD. Understanding the molecular basis of various manifestations of CVD requires cellular-level studies. However, current technologies for cell culture, fail to recreate the in-vivo environment where cells are subject to pressure and stretch as a consequence of normal hemodynamic loading and unloading. Therefore, to study cardiac cells with physiological relevance, the mechanical loading environment needs to be accurately replicated in-vitro. In order to create an appropriate platform for cardiac cell culture, a micro fluidic cardiac cell culture model (µCCCM) was designed and fabricated. This system consists of a pump, cell culture chamber, pneumatically actuated collapsible valve and a tunable resistance element in series. By varying the pump flow rate, valve closure frequency and the outflow resistance, various conditions associated with normal and dysfunctional heart function were recreated. A rat left ventricle heart muscle cell line (H9c2) was used to establish proof-of-concept and demonstrate the ability of the µCCCM to sustain cell culture under normal physiological conditions. Microscopic evaluation of these cells using phase contrast and immunofluoresence demonstrated that cells cultured within the µCCCM achieved an in-vivo like phenotype in comparison to static unloaded controls

The second generation of the CCCM system for in-vitro cardiac tissue engineering.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. When a myocardial infarction occurs, scar tissue compensates the damaged myocardial tissue. This scar tissue increases the stiffness of the heart tissue, reduces the heart’s function, and finally leads to the heart failure (HF) disease. To have the tissue engraftment, in-vitro cardiac tissue should have the same properties as the native mature cardiac tissue. However, current in-vitro cell culture technologies fail to accurately recreate the in-vivo like mechanically physiological environment for in-vitro cardiac tissue culture, and therefore, fail to regenerate the in-vivo like mature cardiac tissue. Hence, a microfluidic cardiac cell culture model (CCCM) system was developed to better recreate the cellular environment and advance cardiac regeneration. CCCM system replicates the hemodynamic loading and unloading conditions occurring inside the left ventricle of a heart. With this system, different pressures of human heart conditions may be replicated for a variety of clinical and physiologic conditions. For proof-of-concept, embryonic chick cardiac cells with normal heart condition were applied. Compared to the tissue cultured in a static condition, tissues stimulated in the CCCM system achieved an in-vivo like cardiac matured phenotype, had higher proliferating rate, showed more maturity, and expressed more contractile proteins. These results demonstrated that the CCCM system can be used to study the behavior of cardiomyocytes in different mechanical heart conditions and to create mature cardiac tissue which will benefit cardiac tissue transplant for HF

Current situation of microfinance implementation at Vietnamese commercial banks

Microfinance is considered an effective tool in the strategy of hunger eradication, poverty reduction, income generation and improving living standards for the poor in countries. Among the subjects providing microfinance, commercial banks are a special and important subject. In the context of official microfinance institutions in Vietnam developing quite slowly, not attracting much attention from state management agencies, socio-political organizations, donors and related parties; Researching the current status of microfinance implementation at commercial banks in Vietnam is necessary. The goal of the article is to understand the current status of microfinance implementation at commercial banks in Vietnam, thereby providing some suggestions to develop this activity, towards the goal of comprehensive finance

Research of the market of housing for rent in Hanoi City

Housing for rent is the trend of choice for many subjects living in Hanoi city. This article analyzes the concept and characteristics of the market of housing for rent. The current situation of the market of housing for rent is analyzed according to three contents: (i) supply of housing for rent, (ii) demand of housing for rent and (iii) price and quality of housing for rent. The basis for analyzing the current situation is aggregated data on the real estate market in Hanoi city. On that basis, the authors propose some solutions to increase the efficiency of the market of housing for rent in Hanoi

The reality of traditional craft villages development in Vietnam from a financial perspective

In Vietnam, traditional craft villages represent a specific type of production and business that promotes local resources and leverages the comparative advantages of each regional area. Thereby, this field supports creating employment opportunities, increasing income, and improving the livelihoods of the local population. Based on the characteristics of scale, structure, and the production and business features of traditional craft villages, our research group has examined the reality of traditional craft village development in Vietnam and proposed solutions from a financial perspective including: (i) Capital mobilization, (ii) Revenue and profits, and (iii) Costs. The research results reveal spontaneous and small formation and development; small-scale capital, manual production equipment, outdated technology, low efficiency in fuel utilization, limited production grounds of traditional craft villages resulting in low business performance for some; products often lack competitiveness due to their monotonous designs; high production costs are incurred due to manual production methods; and the export market is limited in scope

The influence of scalar unparticle on the production of multiple photons in the Randall- Sundrum model

The influence of scalar unparticle on the production of multiple photons in the Randall- Sundrum model at muon colliders with the center of mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 3 - 10$ TeV is evaluated in detail. The results indicate that the total cross-sections depend strongly on the polarization of the muon and antimuon beams, the collision energy $\sqrt{s}$, the scaling dimension $d_{U}$ of the unparticle operator $\mathcal{O}_{U}$ and the energy scale $\Lambda_{U}$. Numerical evaluation shows that the cross - sections for the production of four - photons at the final state are much larger than the associated production of two - photons with the unparticle under the same conditions.Comment: 13 figures, 1 table. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1807.0045

English discourse awareness in Vietnamese tertiary education

The term “Discourse Awareness” is a new concept in Vietnam. Discourse awareness, conceptualized as a classroom pedagogy, can improve students’ language capacity and has gained popularity over time. Our literature review suggested that there has been little research into this domain locally in Vietnam. This paper aims to discuss the ecology of the concept, examine its developments in Vietnamese tertiary education, and make some arguments for raising students’ discourse awareness in teaching and learning English. It introduces the literature review on discourse awareness in Vietnam, which presents an overview of the supportive role of discourse awareness development in English language teaching and learning. Findings outlined how discourse awareness-raising activities have extensively and successfully been exploited in language classrooms through teaching and learning practices, teacher education, literacy development, and maximizing the cultural competence of language learners. Since then, it is reasonable to hold a strong belief that discourse awareness can serve as an enabling tool to facilitate students’ communication

Student Satisfaction with Quality of Accounting and Auditing Education: The Case of Vietnam

This research is conducted to examine and evaluate determinants influencing the level of student satisfaction in the quality of auditing and accounting training at Vietnamese universities. Data were collected from 213 students of accounting and auditing field in three universities of National Economics University, University of Commerce and Academy of Finance. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and linear regression models were employed to determine the determinants influencing student satisfaction about quality of accounting and auditing. The findings show that the strongest impact on student satisfaction was the ability to serve; then training program; infrastructure component, and the last of teaching team. Based on the results, some recommendations are proposed for improving the satisfaction levels of students of accounting and auditing. Keywords: Quality of service; Quality of training; Satisfactio

Aspects of Life Insurance Agents' Performance in Vietnam: A Study from the Impact of Customer-Oriented Behavior

This study examined the influence of life insurance agents' customer-oriented action research on aspects of agents' personal sales performance. In particular, the agent's performance is considered in terms of behavioral effectiveness and outcome performance. The research was conducted through interviews and surveys of insurance agents of life insurance businesses in Hanoi city, with 158 feedback forms received. Data collection is group processed through supporting software support SPSS and PLS-SEM. The study results show that customer-oriented behavior substantially impacts life insurance agents' behavioral performance more than outcome performance. At the same time, behavioral performance also plays a mediating role in providing the performance of customer-oriented behavior to the performance outcomes of life insurance agents. The research results are the basis for the authors to propose some key tips for life insurance businesses in the current context of Vietnam's insurance market