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

Torsion of Ileum Due To Giant Meckel's Diverticulum – A Case Report

Background: Meckel’s diverticulum (MD) is detected in approximately 2% of all individuals and only 2-4% MD patients may develop symptoms. Small intestinal obstruction is a frequent complication in adults. Case report: A 48-year-old male was admitted to emergency department for high intestinal obstruction symptoms. The imaging examinations were failed to detect the underlying causes. A median laparotomy revealed small bowel obstruction (SBO) due to a segment of ileum twisted around a giant MD axis. Conclusion: Thus, a giant MD generating torsion of ileum is an unusual complication. Preoperative diagnosis is challenging. Emergency surgery is preferred to make an accurate diagnosis and for treatment.    &nbsp

Serial Excision for the Treatment of Giant Congenital Melanocytic Nevus: The Vietnamese Way

AIM: To investigate the efficacy of plastic surgery in the treatment of giant congenital melanocytic nevus (GCMN). METHODS:  We enrolled 20 patients with 44 lesions and performed one of the following procedures: serial excision, skin grafting, tissue expansion, primary skin closure, distant flap, and adjacent flap. We assessed the outcome at 10 days and 6 months after surgery. RESULTS: Of 44 surgical sites, the most commonly used reconstruction surgeries were serial excision (16), skin grafting (16), and tissue expansion (6). Other types were rarely used. All patients with serial excision had good outcome. A total of 81% and 19% of the patients with skin grafting had good and fair outcome, respectively. Around 83% and 17% of the patients with tissue expansion had good and fair outcome. No cases had bad outcome. CONCLUSION: In conclusion plastic surgery is effective in the treatment of GCMN. There are different techniques but serial excision, skin grafts, and tissue expansion are most commonly used

Pragmatic economic valuation of adaptation risk and responses across scales Case study in Vietnam

Vietnam is one of the countries particularly vulnerable to climate change. Increased temperatures, increased salinity intrusion due to sea-level rise and altering precipitation patterns significantly affect livelihood options of smallholder farmers, resulting in losses in agricultural production. These impacts are projected to become increasingly severe, hence, adaptation to climate change and sensitivity needs to be assessed and adaptation measures taken. This study provides a vulnerability assessment based on the results for exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. This includes present and projected future climatic conditions and hazards, crop suitability analyses and socioeconomic assessments on a district scale. In addition, a case study is presented focusing on the two provinces of Tra Vinh and Ben Tre, identified as highly vulnerable in the Mekong Delta area. The case study shows opportunities, economic trade-offs and barriers of adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices to adapt to progressive climate change

Differential Cytotoxicity of Curcumin-Loaded Micelles on Human Tumor and Stromal Cells

peer reviewedAlthough curcumin in the form of nanoparticles has been demonstrated as a potential anti-tumor compound, the impact of curcumin and nanocurcumin in vitro on normal cells and in vivo in animal models is largely unknown. This study evaluated the toxicity of curcumin-loaded micelles in vitro and in vivo on several tumor cell lines, primary stromal cells, and zebrafish embryos. Breast tumor cell line (MCF7) and stromal cells (human umbilical cord vein endothelial cells, human fibroblasts, and human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells) were used in this study. A zebrafish embryotoxicity (FET) assay was conducted following the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Test 236. Compared to free curcumin, curcumin PM showed higher cytotoxicity to MCF7 cells in both monolayer culture and multicellular tumor spheroids. The curcumin-loaded micelles efficiently penetrated the MCF7 spheroids and induced apoptosis. The nanocurcumin reduced the viability and disturbed the function of stromal cells by suppressing cell migration and tube formation. The micelles demonstrated toxicity to the development of zebrafish embryos. Curcumin-loaded micelles demonstrated toxicity to both tumor and normal primary stromal cells and zebrafish embryos, indicating that the use of nanocurcumin in cancer treatment should be carefully investigated and controlled.3. Good health and well-bein

Point-of-care C-reactive protein testing to reduce inappropriate use of antibiotics for non-severe acute respiratory infections in Vietnamese primary health care: a randomised controlled trial

Background Inappropriate antibiotic use for acute respiratory tract infections is common in primary health care, but distinguishing serious from self-limiting infections is diffi cult, particularly in low-resource settings. We assessed whether C-reactive protein point-of-care testing can safely reduce antibiotic use in patients with non-severe acute respiratory tract infections in Vietnam. Method We did a multicentre open-label randomised controlled trial in ten primary health-care centres in northern Vietnam. Patients aged 1–65 years with at least one focal and one systemic symptom of acute respiratory tract infection were assigned 1:1 to receive either C-reactive protein point-of-care testing or routine care, following which antibiotic prescribing decisions were made. Patients with severe acute respiratory tract infection were excluded. Enrolled patients were reassessed on day 3, 4, or 5, and on day 14 a structured telephone interview was done blind to the intervention. Randomised assignments were concealed from prescribers and patients but not masked as the test result was used to assist treatment decisions. The primary outcome was antibiotic use within 14 days of follow-up. All analyses were prespecifi ed in the protocol and the statistical analysis plan. All analyses were done on the intention-totreat population and the analysis of the primary endpoint was repeated in the per-protocol population. This trial is registered under number NCT01918579. Findings Between March 17, 2014, and July 3, 2015, 2037 patients (1028 children and 1009 adults) were enrolled and randomised. One adult patient withdrew immediately after randomisation. 1017 patients were assigned to receive C-reactive protein point-of-care testing, and 1019 patients were assigned to receive routine care. 115 patients in the C-reactive protein point-of-care group and 72 patients in the routine care group were excluded in the intention-to-treat analysis due to missing primary endpoint. The number of patients who used antibiotics within 14 days was 581 (64%) of 902 patients in the C-reactive protein group versus 738 (78%) of 947 patients in the control group (odds ratio [OR] 0·49, 95% CI 0·40–0·61; p<0·0001). Highly signifi cant diff erences were seen in both children and adults, with substantial heterogeneity of the intervention eff ect across the 10 sites (I²=84%, 95% CI 66–96). 140 patients in the C-reactive protein group and 137 patients in the routine care group missed the urine test on day 3, 4, or 5. Antibiotic activity in urine on day 3, 4, or 5 was found in 267 (30%) of 877 patients in the C-reactive protein group versus 314 (36%) of 882 patients in the routine treatment group (OR 0·78, 95% CI 0·63–0·95; p=0·015). Time to resolution of symptoms was similar in both groups. Adverse events were rare, with no deaths and a total of 14 hospital admissions (six in the C-reactive protein group and eight in the control group). Interpretation C-reactive protein point-of-care testing reduced antibiotic use for non-severe acute respiratory tract infection without compromising patients’ recovery in primary health care in Vietnam. Health-care providers might have become familiar with the clinical picture of low C-reactive protein, leading to reduction in antibiotic prescribing in both groups, but this would have led to a reduction in observed eff ect, rather than overestimation. Qualitative analysis is needed to address diff erences in context in order to implement this strategy to improve rational antibiotic use for patients with acute respiratory infection in low-income and middle-income countries