The development of a conceptual framework and model for Information, Education and Communication (IEC) to reduce antibiotic misuse among the Vietnamese population in Nam Dinh province

The development of a conceptual framework and model for Information, Education and Communication (IEC) to reduce antibiotic misuse among the Vietnamese population in Nam Dinh province The literature, Vietnamese health statistics reveal problems with the antibiotic use with misunderstanding leading to the irrational and inappropriate use of these drugs resulting in bacterial resistance together with its consequences. In Vietnam the public healthcare service is provided at community level based on a system of communes. Here it is accepted that health centres are located in each rural area but that, public health workers are disadvantaged especially with regard to their educated/training, but are still mainly responsible for provision of healthcare including administration of antibiotics. The main aim of this study was to develop a conceptual framework for an education and training model for public health workers to reduce antibiotic misuse. It was piloted among the population in Myloc district, Nam Dinh province Vietnam but could be transferable to other rural areas in Vietnam. Thus, as a starting point baseline measures were taken using method triangulation in order to evaluate the current situation of antibiotic use in this study location. This survey revealed a very high rate of antibiotic administration (79.8%) of which more than half (54%) were incorrectly prescribed for non-infectious conditions. It also revealed misunderstandings and limited knowledge and perceptions regarding the use of antibiotics, and that staff had received little post basic training and education. These findings provided baseline data for the development of the training programme. Through reviewing theories of learning, principles of adult learning and teaching, the basic philosophies of experiential learning from the western world were taken into account then adapted to the Vietnamese context, especially to the situation of the commune health workers. The model was developed, based on Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning cycle, with modifications to fit with Vietnamese condition. The model named the ‘Modified Kolb’s Model for Vietnam’ (MKMVN) then was used to design and implement the training programme, taken place in each commune health centre. The programme, assessed through a time-series questionnaire, using participant observation and focus groups, was found to have led to positive changes in the health workers’ knowledge and practical ability regarding the use and administration of antibiotics. The health workers’ enthusiasm for ongoing learning was evident in the focus groups held as part of the final evaluation. The overall mean score for correct responses to the questionnaire elevated significantly from 58.43± 8.77 points before the programme to 99.25 ± 1.00 points after the completion of the programme and remained comparatively high at 79.76 ± 9.02 points after three months. Considerable improvements were seen in solving patients problems, providing appropriate treatment and administration of medicines and antibiotics in particular. Instructions to patients regarding courses of antibiotics contained greater detail. The most significant finding from this study is that the model and training programme were accessible, acceptable and appropriate for the commune health workers, and required minimal resourcing.There are clear the possibilities for applying this model (MKMVN) and programme on a larger scale and for applying this approach to other key health issues

A Method for Authentication Services in Wireless Networks

With the widespread use of wireless network services and applications, security is a major concern. From wireless network security aspects, authentication for services is very important especially in Internet banking. In this paper, an authentication method for wireless networks using dynamic key theory is presented. The dynamic key theory is used to produce “one time keys” for authentication. These one time keys will improve the efficiency and security of wireless authentication. It can be applied for Internet banking and services in wireless networks

LEARNING INTERACTION MEASURE WITH RELEVANCE FEEDBACK IN IMAGE RETRIEVAL

Relevance feedback is an eective approach to bridge the gap between low-level featureextraction and high-level semantic concept in content-based image retrieval (CBIR). In this paper,we further improve the use of users feedback with multi-feature query and the Choquet integral.Taking into account the interaction among feature sets, feedback information are used to adjust thefeature's relevance weights that are considered as the fuzzy density values in the Choquet integralto dene the overall similarity measure between two images. The feature weight adjustment andintegration aims at minimizing the dierence between users desire and outcome of the retrieval system.Experimental results on several benchmark datasets have shown the eectiveness of the proposedmethod in improving the quality of CBIR systems

A hierarchical architecture for increasing efficiency of large photovoltaic plants under non-homogeneous solar irradiation

Under non-homogeneous solar irradiation, photovoltaic (PV) panels receive different solar irradiance, resulting in a decrease in efficiency of the PV generation system. There are a few technical options to fix this issue that goes under the name of mismatch. One of these is the reconfiguration of the PV generation system, namely changing the connections of the PV panels from the initial configuration to the optimal one. Such technique has been widely considered for small systems, due to the excessive number of required switches. In this paper, the authors propose a new method for increasing the efficiency of large PV systems under non-homogeneous solar irradiation using Series-Parallel (SP) topology. In the first part of the paper, the authors propose a method containing two key points: a switching matrix to change the connection of PV panels based on SP topology and the proof that the SP-based reconfiguration method can increase the efficiency of the photovoltaic system up to 50%. In the second part, the authors propose the extension of the method proposed in the first part to improve the efficiency of large solar generation systems by means of a two-levels architecture to minimize the cost of fabrication of the switching matrix

Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma genitalium detection and sperm quality: A cross-sectional study in Vietnam

Background: Ureaplasma urealyticum (U. urealyticum) and Mycoplasma genitalium (M. genitalium) may colonize the male genital tract. However, the negative effects of these bacteria on overall sperm quality, including semen pH, sperm concentration, motility, morphology, and total sperm count remain unclear. Objective: This study aimed to determine the presence of genital U. urealyticum and M. genitalium in semen and evaluate the effect of these organisms on sperm quality. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 380 men from infertile couples at a tertiary university hospital from July 2017 to June 2018. Semen quality was analyzed according to the World Health Organization 2010 standard, and U. urealyticum and M. genitalium were detected in the semen samples using polymerase chain reaction. Results: 338 men (88.9%) presented with at least one abnormal semen parameter. The detection rates of U. urealyticum and M. genitalium were 16.05% and 0.79%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the Ureaplasma-positive group and the Ureaplasma-negative group in terms of sperm characteristics. Sperm motility and sperm vitality in the Mycoplasma-positive group were much lower than those in the Mycoplasma-negative group (p = 0.02 and p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: The presence of U. urealyticum in the semen of infertile men did not affect the sperm characteristics. Although the positive rate of M. genitalium was low, colonization by these bacteria was more likely to negatively affect sperm quality. Key words: Ureaplasma urealyticum, Mycoplasma genitalium, Infertility, Spermatozoa

The nexus among green financial development and renewable energy: investment in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic

Environmental protection has become a significant issue around the globe. The extensive use of renewable energy and green finance is considered as the solution to this dramatic issue, especially in the Covid-19 lockdown. To answer this demand, the present study examines the impact of green financial development such as green credit, green investment, and green securities along with corporate social responsibility (CSR) in reporting renewable energy investment based on evidence from an emerging economy. Economic growth was used as the control variable of the study. The data was gathered from the central bank and World Development Indicators (WDI) from 1976 to 2020. The error correction model (ECM) was used to test the nexus among the variables. The findings revealed that green credit, green investment, and green securities along with CSR reporting and economic growth have a significant positive nexus with renewable energy investment in the selected emerging economy. These outcomes are helpful for new arrivals to investigate this area in the future along with regulators who want to formulate policies related to green finance and renewable energy usage and investment in the context of emerging and developing countries

WHO's service availability and readiness assessment of primary health care services of commune health centers in a rural district of Northern Vietnam

The objective of this study was to assess the availability and readiness of the primary health care (PHC) services of commune health centers (CHCs) in Quoc Oai, a rural district of Northern Vietnam based on the World Health Organization's Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool. The study was done in 2 steps. First, the heads of the 21 CHCs of Quoc Oai district were interviewed using SARA, a quantitative survey, and the responses were then validated by direct observations of each facility. The results showed that although the average number of health staffs in each CHC met the national standards (at least 5 staffs per CHC), its allocation within each CHC was not properly met because some CHCs had only 2 health staffs. Several health equipment and facilities were not fully available in many CHCs, and although the majority of the PHC services were available at the CHCs, their readiness remained limited. Several significant correlates between the availability of health care workers and the availability of the facilities and the PHC services were observed, suggesting that they depend upon and affect one another in the health system. Using the SARA-based inventory, the study helps health managers and policy makers to prioritize efforts and allocate resources more appropriately. To be effective, attention should be given to how to make facilities, services, and human resources for health ready for PHC activities—more investment and support from the system (from higher to lower level) and the government. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Characterization of Vibrio cholerae O139 of an Aquatic Isolate in Northern Vietnam

During the cholera survey in Namdinh province (northern Vietnam) in July, 2010, one strain of Vibrio cholerae O139 was isolated from 7 environmental water samples positive for ctxA, toxR, VCO139 genes and named as V. cholerae O139, ND1 strain. This strain was lysogenic harbouring a genome similar to the filamentous phage fs1. The replicative form DNA of this phage (named as ND1-fs1, 6856 bp) was sequenced and compared with the other filamentous phages. The filamentous phage ND1-fs1 integrates into the region between ctxB and rtxA genes. The genetic organization of the CTXϕ of V. cholerae O139, strain ND1 was determined and the schematic representation of the genetic organization was shown together with the ND1-fs1 prophage

Enhancement of photocatalytic activity of TIO2 for gaseous toluene removal by simple mechanical mixing with modified zeolite

A zeolite Y was modified by the microwave-assisted method (MWA) for generating mesopores and was mechanically mixed with TiO2 for photocatalytic application. The external surface area, which is represented to the mesopore, was significantly increased about 5 to 10 times in the modified zeolites compared to the parent zeolite. The catalysts were used to catalyze the gas phase photodegradation of toluene, a volatile organic compound (VOC). The photocatalytic activity and stability of the catalyst were improved when the mesoporous zeolite was presented. The mechanical mixture contained 30 wt%. TiO2 and 70 wt%. mesoporous zeolite showed the highest toluene removal efficiency

Two different mechanisms of ampicillin resistance operating in strains of Vibrio cholerae O1 independent of resistance genes.

Autoagglutinable strains of Vibrio cholerae O1 (seven nonfimbriate strains and one fimbriate strain) were transformed to obtain resistance to ampicillin. Two distinct mechanisms were found in these strains. One was operating in nonfimbriate strains by reducing OmpU protein production and the other was operating in a fimbriate strain (Bgd17) by newly overproducing cpxP protein. The twitching motility in the fimbriate Bgd17 strain disappeared depending on the production of cpxP protein, suggesting that fimbriation of V. cholerae O1 is controlled by a two-component signal transduction system